Love After Awhile

Chapter Five

Chapter Five - Lyon

On the way back home, Nall could sense the boy's presence and life force. She keeps an eye on him that way. Thoughts of the recent conversation had with a past character come into mind as she treads the path. Her heart seems to attempt to ache, but she doesn't even notice.

She treads through the dark forest, a ball of light floating whimsically above her palm as she carries it with her. There are many different creatures living amongst these woods, but she isn't worried about them. They're usually tame and many have taken a liking to her and Lyon.. a few maybe too much, but not that she minds.

Once home, she is met with only the mossy roof of the underground cottage, which blends in perfectly with its surroundings. She goes ahead and reinforces the magical barrier around the proximity before heading in. The exotic parrot from inside could be heard shrieking in excitement, having somehow figured out that Nall, his feeder, is home.

The witch enters the lone wooden door before casting a lock spell on it. Here, she is free to practice her magic as she pleases.

"Nall!" calls a high-pitched voice in excitement, with rapid footsteps to follow.

The woman in the room quickly turns around, just in time to be embraced at the hip by the little boy.

She looks down at him, a small smile surfacing on her face. She crouches down to be at his level, her hands on his shoulders.

"Hey there. Did you—"

"Yes," he answers, cutting her off along with some sharp nods of his head.

The black-haired boy raises a finger to point at the incense burning by the window on its sill, showing that he remembered to put it up this time.

To that, Nall smiles at him approvingly. "Good job. Are you hungry?" she questions, standing up to her feet to begin preparing the bird's feed.

It is still squawking rather loudly, but the two of them are used to it by now. The parrot flies over to perch himself on her shoulder as she pours his feed into the palm of her hand. She then raises it up for the multi-colored bird to peck its pick from her hand.

Lyon proceeds towards the tall wooden table with unusually high chairs with no backs. He strongly dislikes this table and these chairs, but he no longer complains about it.

"Yes, I'm very hungry," he answers calmly.

Tired and hungry. That's what he is, as far as Nall can tell.

Lyon's big, innocent and curious eyes watch as the bird balances on his guardian's shoulder. Nall approaches the messy counter, cluttered with daily items. She lowers her hand to place the food into a small wooden bowl for Bleet, the parrot. Lyon named him that.

She continues on to prepare the boy's meal for the night, and maybe scrounge up something for herself in the process. She "earned" a decent amount last time she was out, but she didn't buy much from the market, which might have been a mistake.

Nall fills a wooden bowl with seasoned leaves and a few cooked snails for Lyon, which are his favorite. Bringing the bowl over to the table, she smiles at him. She then places the bowl down in front of him and his eyes light up, despite having just eaten this the night before as well.

"Yay!" he exclaims, though rather quietly as he is never very loud.

He begins eating his food, finding a bitter snail here and there, which he plucks from his mouth and places directly on the table.

Nall begins to clean up the clutter. Humming silently to herself, she takes the empty bottles and pans, and such all alike, and places them in neat rows to the side. She has to move Bleet out of the way, who squeals once in protest. That's when something catches her eye. Her tarot cards. She thought she put them away, but how are they out here now? She swoops them up into her hand and turns to Lyon, who is now watching silently, finished eating, with a somewhat guilty or ashamed look on his face.

"What are these doing out of the cupboard?" she asks him, holding them up for him to see.

Lyon shifts uncomfortably in his seat. "I wanted to practice the unlocking enchantment you taught me by myself," he explains, unable to meet her gaze until now, as he asks his next question: "Did I hurt you?"

To that, Nall sighs and approaches him, letting her arm drop. She then smiles and sits beside him on a stool. She places the cards down on the table. "Of course not. You did good. You will be an amazing mage someday," she tells him, her features soft and calm, hopefully reassuring to the little boy.

Lyon watches his mother figure with an overwhelmingly innocent look, eyes filled with wonder, like how someone would look at the stars after a long day, and be taken to another world by them. That's it. Oftentimes it looks as if he's in another world.

"Want me to teach you how to read tarot cards?" Nall proposes, knowing how fascinated Lyon is with everything she does, including magic.

The little boy, perched in a chair, nods his head with wide, inquisitive eyes.

Though she hasn't done it in a while, she still possesses her skill for tarot reading. "Who do you want me to look at?" she questions, setting up the cards in front of her.

"Me! Look at mine!" answers Lyon, a smile coming to his face in anticipation.

Nall giggles, and while a bit nervous, she decides to oblige. She sets out her card spreads, glancing up at Lyon. She's just going to do a general reading, but even so, she's nervous as to what she will see in her son's future.

She has four cards placed in front of them, and she turns the first one over.

To be continued in the next chapter...