Afraid of the Dark

Chapter 12: The Dark

No. They did not have any garlic bread.

After that was established, the herbalist – who's name she told them is Desdemona Palatine – had Todo carry Corb to a table so she could examine him and assess what needs to be done to help him recover. Reela has kept her eye on Todo more than anything, as he has been at his brother's side the whole time. As much as those two bicker and fight, Reela knows that Todo would do anything for Corb.

It makes Reela wonder what having siblings must be like. The closest thing she's had to a sibling is Hope, but they're a whole ten years younger than her, so it's hard to have fun with them like she would with Corb and Todo. She has to be a 'good role model' for them, or whatever Regan was talking about while both she and Cree chose to ignore him and proceeded to be menaces to society.

But maybe that's something of what having a younger sibling is like. A small human you have to behave around, otherwise you're irresponsible. But twins are clearly a different experience.

When Reela was eight, Corb and Todo were hesitant to be friends with her. Corb more than Todo, mostly out of doubt that she would be able to keep up with them. At first, she did struggle a bit with the constant roughhousing, but after Cree started training her, she was actually able to hold her own and prove herself durable – and stupid – enough to hang out with the centaur boys.

Desdemona pokes Corb's unconscious face and shrugs. "Probably dead," she says carelessly. "I ain't no Life Mar. I can do funky things with plants in bottles but if you're looking for the fancy stuff, you came to the wrong place. Try the Dev'al... whatever the fuck it's called," she says.

Reela tilts her head at the old woman. "The Dev'al Ordon's been gone for ten years," she states from where she's walking around the edge of the room, eyeing the bookshelves and keeping a watch on Toya after she caught the fox trying to steal a potion from a shelf.

The old woman lifts her head a little. "Those dumb fucks," she sighs, and the frog, who is sitting on Corb's chest, lets out a croak at Desdemona. She tilts her head and looks down at Corb again. "Oh, he's a centaur? Well, shit. That makes things easier," she says and Todo sighs and shakes his head.

"I told you that already," he deadpans. "Again, we're brothers."

Desdemona shrugs again. "Look, I'm not gonna assume. Maybe you're half-brothers or something. You ever seen a half-centaur? I haven't, but I imagine they'd be fucking weird. I have seen a half-merfolk though. Freaks of nature, them," she says.

Reela just watches the old woman with curious eyes. She can tell that Todo is also able to sense it, the magic, but he's too focused on Corb to pay it much mind. But Reela can tell that this old woman has some powerful magic. She's already said that she's not a Life Mar, so it must be something else. Maybe Summoning? That would explain the weird tongue door. But it's strange for a Summoning Mar to turn to alchemy, but it's not hard to figure out that this woman isn't all there.

Desdemona flicks her wrist to the frog. "Ganon, gather the ingredients for a lofty health poultice, this big boy's gonna be a doozy," she says and the frog croaks again before hopping down to the floor and starts going around the various shelves scattered around the large room. The most beautiful thing Reela has ever witnessed is the sight of Toya vigorously fighting a frog over the possession of a glowing stick that hums violently when shaken.

"As for you two," she turns and points her cane over at Reela and then at Todo. "Feel free to make yourselves at home. Just don't touch anything. Or go anywhere. If you're hungry, I can have Ganon run to the tavern later, just write down your orders on a sticky note and slap it to him. He'll get the gist," she says and shuffles over to the stone table to start clearing her alchemy station as the frog – Ganon, apparently – brings her one ingredient at a time.