You squint at your phone as you see close to a dozen missed calls, voice mails and text messages, all from the same person. After viewing/listening to a couple, you quickly come to the conclusion that they all basically have the same gist, the caller really, really wants you to get in contact with him ASAP. You let out a sigh and dial his number. He picks up after one ring.
"--Nessa?"
"Teddie, why are you blowing up my phone?"
"Nessa. Look. Are you back in town yet?"
"Yeah, for a little while - Teddie, I just needed you to bring in my mail and feed my cat, what could possibly go wrong in just a couple days? Did a pipe explode or something? Did something happen to Puck?" You gasp as what is, to you, the worst case scenario crosses your mind. "Did something happen to my stuffed animals?!"
"No, it's -- why did you sound so much more worried about -- no, nothing like that! Just...look, if you're back in town, can you just come back to your apartment? I don't know how to describe this over the phone!"
"Goodness, fine. I'll be there in a bit." You hang up and resume heading home with a little bit of extra speed. You can't imagine what happened that's so serious, but Teddie isn't an easily rattled individual, so you're inclined to give some credence to his urgency.
"Alright, I'm home," you say a short time later as you open the door to your apartment. "The place seems to still be intact and relatively un-exploded, so I'm waiting for an explanation on - oh."
Your eyes find Teddie standing next to your couch - sitting in your easy chair is a black-haired young woman, couldn't be older than 18 or 19. You quirk an eyebrow as you toss your purse on your couch.
"Who's this? Your niece?" You ask.
"No -- look, Nessa. She showed up, and she said she doesn't have anywhere to go, and she--"
"Oh, Teddie." You let out a sigh. "That's very empathetic of you, but we're not social workers, we're educators. There's proper systems in place for this kind of thing." You reach into your purse. "Which, luckily, I have bookmarked, so I guess it was correct to call me after all," you murmur as you get out your phone and start flipping through it. You pause to jab Teddie in the chest. "But you should have them bookmarked too!"
"Nessa, that's not what I'm saying, she's--"
"Teddie, don't worry, I'll handle this from here," you murmur, only half-paying attention to him at this point. "Darling, what's your name?"
"A-actually, it's Nell," she says in a quiet voice.
"Okay, and what's your last name?"
"I, um." You're looking at your phone, so you only catch the grimace on her face out of the corner of your eye. "I don't. I don't have one?" You let out a little sigh and look at her.
"Nell, darling, everybody has a--"
It's only when you say the name yourself and make eye contact with her that it actually sinks in.
"....what did you just say?" The girl averts her eyes from yours and stares at the ground.
"I..." She swallows and raises her eyes back up, looking at you. "My name is Nell." Your breath catches in your throat. You and the girl stare at each other for what feels like a very long time, her waiting for some kind of reaction from you, you waiting for.....you're not really sure? For Teddie to laugh and declare that he got you good. But you're pretty sure Teddie hates pranks and...there's no way he would know that name anyway.
"....Nell," you repeat. "Nell...as in...?" You don't finish the sentence. The girl seems to get the gist anyway and gives you a couple nods, her lips tightly pursed.
"F....from Grandmother Lilith's c--"
"Shhhh." You react very quickly to that name, putting a finger over your mouth. Because, despite how absou-freaking-lutely not prepared for this situation you are, you do know one thing. Teddie is still here. You turn your head to him. "Thank you, Teddie. You were right to call me. I can handle it from here." Teddie, up to this point, was just looking between the two of you.
"So...she's really your family?" He asks. A grimace slowly spreads on his face. "...are you sure you want me to go?" Dammit. It must be really obvious how distressed you are on your face. You try to get back to some measure of neutrality, but even you know it's forced.
"Yes. She's my cousin. I can't go into it right now, but she has a difficulty family situation and it's been a very long time since our families have spoken. If you could just..." You gesture. "Let us have the room, please."
You know Teddie doesn't fully believe that explanation, but just the same, he knows he's just intruding now, so he concedes.
"...okay. Call me if you need me, okay?"
"I will. I'll call you in a little bit." He starts to leave, you reach out a hand and stop him briefly, touching his shoulder. "Teddie....thank you. Really." He gives you a nod and continues out the door, closing it behind him. You let out a breath and toss your phone on your couch again.
"N-Nessa, I--" The girl starts to get up from the couch.
"Stop. Sit back down."
Before you even know what you're doing, you've raised your hand, -11- primed a Void Bolt and pointed it right at the girl's head. She immediately obeys, dropping back into the chair.
"I'm going to ask one time. Who are you?"
"I'm..." The girl was already anxious and is clearly growing moreso. "I'm...I'm Nell?" She repeats.
"That's not--" You really want to start yelling, but you really don't want anybody to overhear this, be it Teddie in the hallway or one of your neighbors and you know you don't have any sound dampening or anti-detection fields around your apartment right now. "...if you're Nell, you know that that has to be very hard for me to believe."
"...yes. Yes, I do," the girl says, sounding almost apologetic. "Is there any way I can prove it to you? If there isn't, I..." She looks down again. "I can go."
The way she says that gets you to lower your hand and dismiss the Void Bolt, at least. Every single fiber in your brain is telling you to tell her to leave, but...
"Tell me something only Nell would know."
She looks up at you. She looks a little surprised that you said that. The feeling's mutual, frankly.
"Ah...ah, okay." She blinks a couple times, clearly trying to think of something. Her eyes widen a bit when she does. "Do you remember when we would race?" She asks. Now your eyes go a bit wide. "We would start at the trees behind your house and...we would run in a circle around the village. But...we would always stop and go really slowly when we got to Esmau's house so she wouldn't hear us and catch us. It just, um. Never occurred to us to not go by her house..." She trailed off. "There was also that tree by Gale's house...I was too scared to climb it, but you kept trying to, I remember one day you almost made it to that big branch that was really high up...which I guess, would probably just be in arm's reach today..."
The girl is so deep in recollection at this point that she hasn't noticed that your arms are fully at your sides and your mouth is hanging open. She just continues on as she stares at her own hands.
"And...you took me into your mother's room and showed me the book she kept under her bed and Aunt Lyra caught us reading it, and she told me to keep it a secret because nobody was supposed to know about it, and, um. Aunt Lyra knows about that, because she found us, but...she didn't know that we had already read it together a few times before that, and..." She's looking back up now because she's noticed that you've started walking towards her. She's not sure what to make of this, given you almost attacked her just a moment ago. "I...I know that's just a couple things, but um, I can come up with more if--"
"Shh."
That's all you say before you throw your arms around her.
"That's enough. Just...sshhhhh."
Nell's arms are stiff at her sides at first. But eventually, she brings them up and hugs you back. She lets out a breath that you realize she had probably been holding in since you came through the door.
"I really missed you."
You don't respond right away, but. The feeling is mutual.
01
You squint at your phone as you see close to a dozen missed calls, voice mails and text messages, all from the same person. After viewing/listening to a couple, you quickly come to the conclusion that they all basically have the same gist, the caller really, really wants you to get in contact with him ASAP. You let out a sigh and dial his number. He picks up after one ring.
"--Nessa?"
"Teddie, why are you blowing up my phone?"
"Nessa. Look. Are you back in town yet?"
"Yeah, for a little while - Teddie, I just needed you to bring in my mail and feed my cat, what could possibly go wrong in just a couple days? Did a pipe explode or something? Did something happen to Puck?" You gasp as what is, to you, the worst case scenario crosses your mind. "Did something happen to my stuffed animals?!"
"No, it's -- why did you sound so much more worried about -- no, nothing like that! Just...look, if you're back in town, can you just come back to your apartment? I don't know how to describe this over the phone!"
"Goodness, fine. I'll be there in a bit." You hang up and resume heading home with a little bit of extra speed. You can't imagine what happened that's so serious, but Teddie isn't an easily rattled individual, so you're inclined to give some credence to his urgency.
"Alright, I'm home," you say a short time later as you open the door to your apartment. "The place seems to still be intact and relatively un-exploded, so I'm waiting for an explanation on - oh."
Your eyes find Teddie standing next to your couch - sitting in your easy chair is a black-haired young woman, couldn't be older than 18 or 19. You quirk an eyebrow as you toss your purse on your couch.
"Who's this? Your niece?" You ask.
"No -- look, Nessa. She showed up, and she said she doesn't have anywhere to go, and she--"
"Oh, Teddie." You let out a sigh. "That's very empathetic of you, but we're not social workers, we're educators. There's proper systems in place for this kind of thing." You reach into your purse. "Which, luckily, I have bookmarked, so I guess it was correct to call me after all," you murmur as you get out your phone and start flipping through it. You pause to jab Teddie in the chest. "But you should have them bookmarked too!"
"Nessa, that's not what I'm saying, she's--"
"Teddie, don't worry, I'll handle this from here," you murmur, only half-paying attention to him at this point. "Darling, what's your name?"
"A-actually, it's Nell," she says in a quiet voice.
"Okay, and what's your last name?"
"I, um." You're looking at your phone, so you only catch the grimace on her face out of the corner of your eye. "I don't. I don't have one?" You let out a little sigh and look at her.
"Nell, darling, everybody has a--"
It's only when you say the name yourself and make eye contact with her that it actually sinks in.
"....what did you just say?" The girl averts her eyes from yours and stares at the ground.
"I..." She swallows and raises her eyes back up, looking at you. "My name is Nell." Your breath catches in your throat. You and the girl stare at each other for what feels like a very long time, her waiting for some kind of reaction from you, you waiting for.....you're not really sure? For Teddie to laugh and declare that he got you good. But you're pretty sure Teddie hates pranks and...there's no way he would know that name anyway.
"....Nell," you repeat. "Nell...as in...?" You don't finish the sentence. The girl seems to get the gist anyway and gives you a couple nods, her lips tightly pursed.
"F....from Grandmother Lilith's c--"
"Shhhh." You react very quickly to that name, putting a finger over your mouth. Because, despite how absou-freaking-lutely not prepared for this situation you are, you do know one thing. Teddie is still here. You turn your head to him. "Thank you, Teddie. You were right to call me. I can handle it from here." Teddie, up to this point, was just looking between the two of you.
"So...she's really your family?" He asks. A grimace slowly spreads on his face. "...are you sure you want me to go?" Dammit. It must be really obvious how distressed you are on your face. You try to get back to some measure of neutrality, but even you know it's forced.
"Yes. She's my cousin. I can't go into it right now, but she has a difficulty family situation and it's been a very long time since our families have spoken. If you could just..." You gesture. "Let us have the room, please."
You know Teddie doesn't fully believe that explanation, but just the same, he knows he's just intruding now, so he concedes.
"...okay. Call me if you need me, okay?"
"I will. I'll call you in a little bit." He starts to leave, you reach out a hand and stop him briefly, touching his shoulder. "Teddie....thank you. Really." He gives you a nod and continues out the door, closing it behind him. You let out a breath and toss your phone on your couch again.
"N-Nessa, I--" The girl starts to get up from the couch.
"Stop. Sit back down."
Before you even know what you're doing, you've raised your hand, -11- primed a Void Bolt and pointed it right at the girl's head. She immediately obeys, dropping back into the chair.
"I'm going to ask one time. Who are you?"
"I'm..." The girl was already anxious and is clearly growing moreso. "I'm...I'm Nell?" She repeats.
"That's not--" You really want to start yelling, but you really don't want anybody to overhear this, be it Teddie in the hallway or one of your neighbors and you know you don't have any sound dampening or anti-detection fields around your apartment right now. "...if you're Nell, you know that that has to be very hard for me to believe."
"...yes. Yes, I do," the girl says, sounding almost apologetic. "Is there any way I can prove it to you? If there isn't, I..." She looks down again. "I can go."
The way she says that gets you to lower your hand and dismiss the Void Bolt, at least. Every single fiber in your brain is telling you to tell her to leave, but...
"Tell me something only Nell would know."
She looks up at you. She looks a little surprised that you said that. The feeling's mutual, frankly.
"Ah...ah, okay." She blinks a couple times, clearly trying to think of something. Her eyes widen a bit when she does. "Do you remember when we would race?" She asks. Now your eyes go a bit wide. "We would start at the trees behind your house and...we would run in a circle around the village. But...we would always stop and go really slowly when we got to Esmau's house so she wouldn't hear us and catch us. It just, um. Never occurred to us to not go by her house..." She trailed off. "There was also that tree by Gale's house...I was too scared to climb it, but you kept trying to, I remember one day you almost made it to that big branch that was really high up...which I guess, would probably just be in arm's reach today..."
The girl is so deep in recollection at this point that she hasn't noticed that your arms are fully at your sides and your mouth is hanging open. She just continues on as she stares at her own hands.
"And...you took me into your mother's room and showed me the book she kept under her bed and Aunt Lyra caught us reading it, and she told me to keep it a secret because nobody was supposed to know about it, and, um. Aunt Lyra knows about that, because she found us, but...she didn't know that we had already read it together a few times before that, and..." She's looking back up now because she's noticed that you've started walking towards her. She's not sure what to make of this, given you almost attacked her just a moment ago. "I...I know that's just a couple things, but um, I can come up with more if--"
"Shh."
That's all you say before you throw your arms around her.
"That's enough. Just...sshhhhh."
Nell's arms are stiff at her sides at first. But eventually, she brings them up and hugs you back. She lets out a breath that you realize she had probably been holding in since you came through the door.
"I really missed you."
You don't respond right away, but. The feeling is mutual.