A rude awakening

Birdsong breaks into the edges of Lux’s awareness. With a contented sigh, she shifts slightly on the verge of waking. She can feel the warmth of Willow’s body, their limbs tangled together, skin to skin, cheek to cheek. How long has she slept like this? It could be whole days, for all she knows or cares. She feels refreshed, cleansed – that which she feels cleansed of has faded, for now, to the reaches of mercifully fuzzy memory – and so very comfy.

A perfect moment. Nothing…could ruin…

The birds’ tweeting becomes more insistent. It’s not birds. A different repetitive, high-pitched noise –

“Wake up! Hey! Listen! Geddup!”

Lux prises an eye open. Minn is hovering over them, yelling. Impatient, petulant, and apparently in no danger of running out of breath.

“I saw that! You’re awake! C’mon! Bosslady wants to see you! Unless you’re gonna have some fun first, I’m down for that too!”

“F’fukssake, Miiiihnn.” Lux closes her eye again and nestles her head in against Willow’s gently stirring chest.

“Hey, I’ve been bored out of my skull here without you!” Minn whines. “Get up.”

Willow sighs and kisses the top of Lux’s head. “I’d better see what Mother wants,” she murmurs. “Do you want to stay here?”

“Naw.” Lux groans and slowly begins to disentangle herself from Willow, cold disappointment replacing the feeling of that soft, warm embrace. “We should go see ‘em.”

Willow stands, stretches, unabashed by her nakedness in the shaded clearing. Lux is a little more circumspect as she picks herself up from the bank of the stream and looks around for her clothes. By the time she finds them and starts to dress herself, Willow has already donned her silk gown – spotless, somehow – and has strolled over to draw Minn’s prying gaze away, giving Lux a limited kind of privacy.

Lux tries to gather her thoughts as she squeezes herself into the tight confines of her fey-mended outfit. If she had any regrets about passing up the opportunity to leave the Valley, her time with Willow has banished them well enough for now. The only question is, what happens next?

Dressed and as ready as she’s going to get, she prepares to face the world. At the clearing’s edge, Willow holds a leaf-laden branch aside, and Lux steps through into the familiar glade, with the others following close behind.

Sylvia is there, and Juniper, and – what Lux initially takes to be an oddly-positioned tree, but as her gaze follows up its towering, bark-covered form, she makes out a face, eyes beneath mossy brows looking down at her, branches in the shape of arms – a treant, then. The looming creature gives her a creaking nod of greeting.

“Welcome, Luxara,” Sylvia says. “Daughter. I have begun to gather our allies, as you see, but there is bad news, as well.”

“Of course there is,” Lux mumbles. “Sorry. Just woke up.”

“Lucky you.” Juniper, at least, doesn’t sound any more acerbic than usual. “The Naga’s thralls are on the move. Scouting, probably looking for us. I imagine the Erlking has told her that Mother is the counterbalance to his power.”

“Swift they walk,” the treant rumbles from on high, “careless, mindless. Bound only to serve their serpent liege.”

Sylvia notices Lux’s blank expression, and translates. “Mere charms will not stop them,” she says. “Their hearts belong to Athisz. We must deal with this problem at the source.”

“Alright,” Lux says, rubbing the corner of her eye, “so what are we gonna do about it?”

“I will continue seeking out those sympathetic to our cause,” Sylvia says, “but I need eyes and ears out there in the meantime. If you are willing to go – ”

“What?” Willow steps forward. “No! No, I won’t allow it.” Hurriedly she wraps her arms around Lux, pulling her into a smothering protective hug. “I won’t let you send her out to be hurt again!”

Sylvia bows her head slightly. “None of us will be safe here for long, daughter,” she says. “I share your concern, but I have no other to go in her stead. The choice must be Luxara’s.”