Lunamor

Jenny grabbed Edgar’s other hand, holding them both. “Always.” She repeated. She couldn’t stop staring at him, unconsciously leaning forwards.

“I will.” Jenny’s voice was filled with an uncharacteristic, quiet intensity. Don’t lie, Jenny. ”Always.” She stared into his amber eyes, her own filled with absolute sincerity.

Jenny nodded, hope driving away some of her defeat. ”You’ve gotta be able to fly to find it.” She stepped closer, bumping against Edgar’s shoulder and staring at the crickets. ”And thank you.” She almost apologized for being a burden, but that would’ve been contradictory to what she’d been saying. So she just stood there, glad that Edgar hadn’t left.

“Then you can’t help me find my head again.” You’re wasting your time. Jenny looked down, her expression almost defeated in a way. Maybe the voice was right. Maybe Edgar would never listen to her. She might not be good enough to make him happy again. That terrified her.

Jenny didn’t notice his hand reach for hers, too absorbed in her tale. When she finished, she looked at him, oddly solemn. ”The story won’t end well for the crickets if they don’t figure out how to fix themselves. Crickets eventually become crazy without a head and sad without wings.” She grabbed his hand, not in a romantic way but in a sincere way. ”You need to stop clipping your wings, Edgar.” ”Art imitates life and all that. Or art imitates art, I guess.”

“Hmm…” She thought for a moment. ”Their story isn’t over right now. It’s been mostly happy so far, but one got beheaded and the other broke his wings so that stinks for them. They’re still trying their best to be happy, though. They’re doing a pretty good job, all things considered. Ariana’s father doesn’t approve, though. You see-“ Jenny then proceeded to tell what was essentially an abridged version of Romeo and Juliette, minus the tragic ending.

Antagonistic

“Nathan. That fits him too.” Jenny added a tiny A + N inside of the heart and drew a tree trunk behind it. She liked the short story that it told. Perhaps they were forbidden lovers, sneaking to the tree together when they could. Or they just liked the tree. It was barren of leaves. ”You’re great at naming things.”

Hostile

“Ariana. That’s really pretty. It fits her well. It sounds musical, and Ariana liked to play cricket songs.” Jenny started on a second cricket. This one had broken wings, but the legs were a normal length this time. She was oddly determined to finish it, so she completed it quite quickly. She sat back for a moment. It was missing something. She added a little heart between the two. “He also needs a name.”

After a while, Jenny added the final touches to her drawing. She proudly admired it, satisfied with her work. She’d already managed to get dirt all over her clean clothes, but she didn’t notice. She glanced over at Edgar to see if he was still there and found that he was smiling. That was probably good, so she smiled too. Jenny turned so that she was facing both Edgar and the cricket. ”She needs a name. Any ideas?”

Brazen

Shor, Mara, Dibella, Kynareth, Akatosh. Divines, please help me.

“‘Cause I like them. They’re easy to draw, too, since they’re based off of creatures I’ve reanimated. I have a real-world reference.” Jenny smiled slightly, remembering Roy’s reaction to her let down hair. ”You get spooked pretty easily.” She decided to give the cricket unsettlingly long legs. Jenny remembered how Edgar had appreciated similar drawings and smiled wider, but it slipped into a frown after a moment. She didn’t know if Edgar still liked her weirdness or not.

Jenny didn’t believe Roy, but not because of his reaction- it went unnoticed, as usual. She just didn’t trust him because that was what she defaulted to when it came to Roy. ”Okay…” She stared at him for a moment more, then shook her head and grabbed a stick. She dragged it through the dirt, creating a decent picture of a cricket. Unlike the bird with the snapped neck, this bug was completely headless.

Jenny looked at Roy funny. Had that been a compliment? Sure, it was a bit backhanded, but it was still a compliment. Had he tripped and hit his head a little too hard at some point during the fight? “…are you feeling alright?”

General Tullius, sir! The headsman is waiting!

Jenny eyed Roy for a moment. At this point it probably couldn’t hurt to tell him. ”It says you believe that I’m weak. It wants me to show you that I’m not, I think.” She looked at her previously bloodstained hands. Remembered how powerful she had felt when she split the Earth. ”I’ve done a pretty good job of that.”

Outspoken

Jenny nodded. “It’s probably safer to stay with the others.” She headed back over to the area that Aaron had helpfully cleaned of vegetation and sat down, leaning against a tree ringing the edge of the clearing. Jenny kept an eye on Roy. She had a plan for if he antagonized Edgar again.

Jenny squinted, scrutinizing Edgar’s expression and attempting to see if he really believed her. It was as futile an effort as it always was. She nodded, deciding to drop the conversation for now. She then proceeded to stand there awkwardly. Jenny wanted to move closer again, have him hold her in his arms. But she had no idea if it was an ok time for that. They probably needed to leave, too, but she felt rather frozen in place. She spoke, her words a bit slow as she carefully chose them. ”Do you think we should start traveling again or rest for a while longer?”

A Nord’s last thoughts should be of home.

Jenny was getting fed up with this. ”Edgar, that’s how relationships work. People care about you, so they do things for you. You build me a blowgun and I punch Roy’s face.” She poked Edgar’s forehead. “And right now I can say for a fact that you’ve caused more healing than harm with me. I know that hasn’t been the case with other people sometimes, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to stay like that forever. But it will stay like that if you insist upon it.”

“What is it that’s worse that you’ve done?” Jenny genuinely couldn’t think of anything worse that Edgar could have done. Was he just saying that for the sake of it, finding excuses to hate himself?

“That’s not fair, Edgar. I know I’ve already said this, but I will say it again and again until you understand it. You are a good person. Good people deserve to be happy.” She paused for a moment, thinking. ”Is there anything worse than murdering someone you can point to as a reason you shouldn’t be happy? Worse than being on the edge of violently snapping and doing it again?”