Chapter XXXIII ~ Luxembourg

 The first sensation that reached him was the soft rubbing of the cloak against his body. Faer gave a deep groaning stretch from where he was laying. His memory entirely fogged but together nonetheless. He gazed up, only able to only see the very top of the shafts of the stable they were staying in. The loss of time was emacculate, apparently, so he merely stayed put as the thoughts hit him. When he was close to considering to move, he felt a rag softly dab his brow. He clenched his eyes shut for a moment, his face scrunching up before trying to see through the watery haze of his own eyes. Odette's pale hand dabbed the rag along his brow after dipping it into a heated bowl of water.

“E - Ette? Is that ya…?” the poor elven struggled to speak until he was hushed.

“Ssh, yes Faer. It’s me…” Odette’s voice rang through the quiet air, amidst the sparks of the fire.

Realization hit him when he noticed that she was human, and began to lift himself forward. She pressed him back down still. “… ugh!”

“Easy, easy…” she calmed him down. He managed to relax.

“ulg, m’head.” Faer slowly ruffled the fur over his own head before he gazed back onto her beautiful face. He shook himself, confused while his eyes adjusted to the flickering firelight. “… lady, y-you’re here - with, with me? Why are ya…?” he trailed off, other than realizing that he was still an elf, wrapped in her precious cloak amidst the warm hay.

“Yes, I am here tending to you. Quasimodo made it very clear that you were staying.” she told him, with her brown eyes aglow with affection.

“Quasi’s here … too?” Faer found himself asking as he picked up on the shadow of the Cricket coming down by use of his open parasol to land precisely on her shoulder. He was wide awake.

“We have gone a ways for a while…” he provided, with warmth. “It’s good to see you talkin’ again, sport.” Jiminy smiled. To that, Faer smiled back before he felt his wrist twinge.

“We have been on hoof for two days.” Odette brought the news of lost time for the poor elven. She brushed some of her brown hair safely aside as she flashed a half lit smile. Her eyes were tired though. “We finally found shelter at a local village just off the course to Luxembourg…”

Seeing him blink with worry for a second, she settled her hand over Faer’s cheek. “… grop - I’ve been a lump for two days.” he croaked before more familiar faces had come into view.

“Nonsense, you silly bird.” Odette gave him a sure smile with Dopey sweetly coming to her side with more clean wraps for his wrist. She gave him a sweet hugging squeeze in thanks. Dopey’s cheeks flushed as more of the Seven carefully stepped in to see how he was doing. 

“Good on ya~” Grumpy spoke, naturally relieved. He took a careful step over the piles of hay and extra wools collected to keep the chill at bay. He was without his cap, and he bore more fitting attire for their current affairs. That being new shoulder guards and knee caps, along with armor plates and boots. Not only him, but Dopey had his own, and so did Happy, who also threw the cap aside. Certainly time had brought surprises since the the forest prison, no doubt.

“His Honor spoke true. You did snap a wing…” Odette noted, quietly as she unraveled some of the wraps she was brought before she inspected Faer’s fragile wrist that was due for fresh bandages. “Can you lift it a little?”

“It ‘urts still a bit…” Faer’s bouncy little tone was quite exhausted yet. 

“We want ev’ry bit of ya back, bird lad.” Grumpy gave a gruff little chortle. 

“Where Quasi…? He were ‘olding me and you.” Faer asked, as he kept his wide eyes on Jiminy and Odette. 

Odette held a tight yet sad smile. To those around her, they would be able to see the tears trying to hide in the corners of her eyes.

“He’s about,” she told the elf as she worked by taking off the new and began to wrap with the new. “Over the distant foot, he’s been in hiding at night… so not to startle the townsfolk here, as of late… His father has made it clear to the people that hunting for game is out of bounds until we leave.”

Faer made an odd sound, that was partial to a sob while he let her to wrap his spindly little paw. As far as their predicament went, it would seem that they were now far away from that storm and brambled filled horror that kept their whole family separated, and scared. They almost lost each other to the Black Swan, and something in the air had seemed to turn… That something regarding how they had to live their lives for the present time.

“Our plight, for the time being,” Odette continued as she finished her work. “… we’re homeward bound to Paris but it’s still a very long way yet. I don’t know how this will wind up, but our hearts are full of hope.”

“Y’have your memories returned, it’s like the night I found ya.” Happy spoke up between them, reassuringly. That earned a sweet gaze from her eyes, at the very least. 

“We would be nowhere near, and nowhere sane without any of you.” she whispered in return. “… without any of you to keep us on… my father would be gone, and so would I. Each and every one of you is precious to us. This voyage, as it stands, will be worth it.”

Eleonor stepped closer with Ida by her side, wearing small smiles. Antoinette, with her glorious red hair all tied up in a bun, brought in more linens for themselves as though they were tailored. It would seem their voyage through the forests were at an end, for now. 

“Yes, terribly worth it.” Eleonor prodded with her basic tease. “Now one of our strongest people now has to hide his face in the woods until that peek of sun. It seems our enemy adores playing this game of cat and mouse.”

“Must we, Elle?” Odette confidently turned to her. Jiminy gave a very patient sigh.

“No, truly. She loves this game.” Eleonor seemed to very honest right then, as she took a seat directly beside their Diamond swan. “I can remark that she’s very happy with herself.”

“Well, if we know her better now, I do not believe for one minute that she thought you would stroke the belly of a bear when he stood over you.” Ida pointed out, still amazed by that single moment in the woods. 

“But look at us now. We’re with people again, and we can buy things.” Eleonor smirked as she piled the new linens to warm up by the fire. Faer’s crooked smile widened as he was able to sit up better.

“We’re on a complete time clock when it comes to our basic humanity and you find solace in the fact that we can buy and sell?” Odette had to have herself a chuckle. “… because of the Parisian front, no doubt.”

“Yes, look at this! A new holster… and this happened to be the first thing I ever bought for myself.” Eleonor needed to have her moment. “In a very… very long time.”

“Enjoy it while you can, ladies,” Jiminy warmly spoke with a hint of laughter in his voice as he hopped to a spot closer to the heat of the fire, just far enough for his small self. “… Heaven knows we do need it.”

Odette was given a bowl of stew that kindly cooked above that same fire. “We’re in no hurry, only that we return as swans at sunrise, as usual. And he… back to himself. Everything that he did, I still cannot even fathom —“ Odette remarked, while unable to finish the sentence without letting her voice to crack a little at the thought. “… he was willing to die for us, Eleonor.”

“Indeed. No truer of a man, so willing.” the blackwing replied, her tone turning serious right then.

“We would still be trapped on that enchanted lake if it were not for that dream or those prisms…” Antoinette sighed, while sweeping one shawl over her shoulders.

“Forgive how I was, though, Ette. Projecting onto you as though you were this chosen one in this fate when it always involved each and one of us. When it was envy that nearly took our lives in the first place.” Eleonor expressed as she braided some of Odette’s hair. The Diamond was loose and yet held tenderly close in the palm of Odette’s hands, with its light firmly and tenderly bright. The reflection of the home within was still prevalent and true to both Jiminy’s and Faer’s eyes. It’s natural sliver of light remained a constant for their eyes to always find as some time went on, and the stable was a kind place to recalibrate. Jiminy remained settled over the hearth, being given a tiny thimble full of healthy broth while he peacefully watched and listened into the group’s conversations. 

“I believe we have been on the move for almost five weeks…”

“Until those brambles. Like a very intricate love letter from Hers Truly,” Eleonor responded to Dorothea as they each took small wood bowls of their cooked meal and sat around and beside the now awake Faer.

“We have a few hours still,” Odette noted. “I might want to head out to check on him…” she stated, naturally worried and weary.

Faer listened with wide empathetic eyes before glancing at the cloak he was given for his own time of healing. “Ma’am? Take this back…” he offered. “… pretty please? Tell ‘im I’m okay, b’cause of all of you, cus of him…” he told her as he was still quite comfortable currently in the hay alone.

“Oh Faer,” she cooed, touched that this momento laced garment was so beloved, for good reason. As she took it and draped it over her own shoulders, there came a rumble of thunder from the world outside the stable. Without a doubt, Dopey’s eyes lightened up in an instant and pointed a finger up at the ladies first as though he had just remembered something. Much to their surprise, as well as Faer and Jiminy’s, he darted out of the stable. Curiously, the sisters looked at one another, as it seemed that he only just remembered something. As soon as she fastened her cloak, as with them, the Seven returned to through the doors with something uniquely special. 

“Oh, we wondered these past few days…” Doc began as he placed a basket before the women. A basket that held a caught fish inside - a salmon. “W-wince- since he is not inclined to hunt,”

“Oh! Oh, Doc — Grumpy, Dopey - Happy… you all caught this?” Odette smiled, her heart falling into song at the thought.

“We knew he would simply wait through the hours without eating…” Happy noted.

“… as it would be his way.” Odette sighed as she studied the specimen.

“Come, let us bring this to him, together.” Ida gathered with a tearful smile as she helped to pick up the basket.

*

The rumbles in the distance were the least of their worries as they all walked out as one into the rocky, and grassy paths off to side of the bustling village of Luxembourg. There was the foot of the forest, to what they were most accustomed to. Full of glens, where a creak bubbled along through the lush green brush and grass. Ida held her arms about herself against the natural chill of the night as Eleonor and Mary remained by her side. Odette took the lead, holding the basket with Quasimodo’s pouch dangling from her waist holding the Diamond close and sure. 

“He keeps himself so well hidden…” Dorothea noticed, her eyes not quite adjusting to the dark just yet. Odette did a slightly emotive scoff.

“Indeed… Old habits die hard,” she returned as she set the basket down to a nestled spot beside a tree. “I understand him, and he already knows how loved he is…”

They followed her lead by kneeling down as soon as she had as they listened to calming rest of the forest. How beautiful it all seemed to be especially after their imprisonment inside the brambles. They were finally somewhat free, still holding each other by heart and soul. Odette’s blossomed devotion, hatched ever since first sighting, became cast iron. Even more so, the more she listened. To their tuned hearing, there was a shuffle and the crunching of leaves nearby from the dark between two trees. Odette gazed down to the grass as her eye picked up on a mark in some loose dirt, of an indent of claws. She brought her gaze up to the darkness before she caught onto that single light in there… A faint groan was all they needed to know, and each rose to their feet to greet him.

“Hey…” Odette hummed, confident as she locked eyes with the hidden Bear. “We were worried, my love.”

There was the distinct sound of the licking of teeth and snout as she approached, as though he was trying to clean something that he may have been eating. He had found a prickled berry bush. “Oh…” she noticed, sounding as though her heart were pierced. Concerned, her sisters neared behind her.

She reached to him, only brushing against his wet, gruff nose as he inclined to sniff her hand, and she was able to feel the velvet fur of his face. Tooth and lip slightly grazed her finger as she happened by his side to see that he had collected a few of these berries.

“Oh, you… trying to insist? … I know, but we all brought something special for you. Much better than this.”

“When the morning comes, you will feel better if you have eaten well…” Eleonor pressed in as she motioned to the woven basket.

“Trust this, it will surely help, sir…” Ida urged.

“It will take some time to get used to it, but we will endure through this. This will not be forever.” Odette spoke, lastly.

He gave a deep lick across the rest of the berries at his paws before he rose his head up toward the smell of the salmon. Odette and the sisters heard that familiar chuffing as he rose up his mighty frame to step out of the small dark glen. Odette took in a shaken gasp as he moved. Not in fear, but in mere awe. There was a sort of wisdom though that he possessed immense power in this body, but he was still the same soul, the same voice of the bells of Notre Dame who controlled it. Eleonor’s eyes widened at the sight of that paw as it set itself deep into the ground, followed by another as he came over the log. Those claws glimmered in their torch lights, however they did not shine as brightly as his eyes had, particularly the right. 

“Quasimodo. It is really you, sir…” Ida’s voice broke the initial spell of shock in the group.

Odette came close beside him when he paused at his name for a moment, his nostrils carefully smelling the gift, but he blinked brightly at the ladies before giving a brisk chuff. He stepped closer, lowering his head a little more as he watched where he was stepping until he found the basket. Sensing Eleonor’s unease, by all nature, he placed his head near her for a moment and flattened his ears as a way to help her know that he was truly himself. It’s me, Eleonor… It’s me. his thoughts rang. Odette, even though her eyes were stinging, took her spot right by the basket…

“I found out that he does like a good ear rub…” she cracked a bit at the blackwing.

“Oh, and only you would know that?” Eleonor prodded back, although she felt much better.

Quasimodo slowly sat for a moment, swishing a paw over his head as though to show her. After a moment, the other girls giggled.

“Oh, you’ve got to be blooming joking! You actually want me to scratch your ear?” Eleonor asked.

There came another ‘chuff’, and a blunt low bob of the head. Giving an endearing chuckle, Eleonor shook her head before she reached up began to knead and scratch behind his tufty left ear that flickered a bit at the touch. After she settled in, he leaned in some more before the moment came when a gravelly sort of moan or purr began to vibrate from deep in his throat. Odette joined in on the other ear. At that point before the eyes of the shocked women, he soon rose his head up when Odette began to scratch a deep itch on his throat… His black lips stretched into a sort of grimaced smile as he faced his snout to the sky in a stretch before Odette soothed over the fur, ending the bout of bliss in a very necessary fashion. To them, he gave a deep sigh in deep gratitude before he playfully ruffled Odette’s hair with his nose, and a graze of his claw softly close to her arm… He soon went low again to the fish in the basket. 

As he began to eat, gratefully, the girls each exchanged dear looks at each other. Those thickened fangs dug into the soft flesh of the salmon with careful precision, with heartbroken gentleness until the impulse to satisfy that hunger took over, and he began to eat. As he ate, Jiminy darted through the dark after the girls, coming to the very scene of him nourishing himself at their vigil. The Dwarf’s gift was wholly accepted. Relieved, Jiminy watched them, sitting on one of the limbs, directly at the edge, resting a cheek in his hand. His black eyes remained glimmered with warm tears.

“That’s swell to know,” he choked into the quiet, cool air. “That’s swell…”

In favor of the inn that nurtured the newcomers who accompanied the Parisian army, under the rule of one of the King’s own Justices who managed to live through the disease that was the Born. The undead extension of the Lich as legend had gone on about. These same dark beasts that surrounded them inside those old mines seemed gravitate closer to them still as they journeyed outside of the forests. So certain mandates had to be placed — harsh ones, especially for the sheltering and protection of these women and the miners of the Seventh, the cricket of Collodi and a specific man who remained shrouded in mystery for the villagers. Quasimodo.

Eleonor took Mary to her side to keep sharp vigil at the foot, as they were able to see the village from a sparingly far enough distance. Eleonor was quiet on the fact that she could see Humbert seeming to mingle with the commoners. Personally, she was still on edge over the fact that he laid claim over the safety of Quasimodo’s person on these late nights. 

“He stated he was under thrall, but perhaps I am dwelling far too deep into it…” Eleonor expressed, sourly as she crossed her arms. 

“We all have been under a thrall ever since we denied that Queen’s insatiable hunger.” Ida spoke to that. She carefully looked over her shoulder back into the glen before she continued. Eleonor drew in a deep breath and let it out through her lips.

“It is all so fragile, you know. Just having him admit defeat and eat without shame, Jiminy’s eyes are never dry anymore. Grumpy’s heart is always open, and Happy’s voice changed…” Eleonor continued to list.

“We are certainly a changed people. Human, dwarfs, sleeping kings and birds alike… and now a bear.” Ida added.

“I have noticed a light little pattern,” Odette’s voice softly pressed in. She held both her arms, respectfully, as she approached her sisters. “… rather, not so light.” she began when their eyes met hers. “It does not matter what you are on the outside, but it’s what inside that counts. And our fair witches - particularly that one - had been trying to hallow us out for… those two lonely years. I was becoming someone else, wasn’t I? I truly recall saying things, and speaking differently… but my heart remains with every single one of you… The mirror swept my mind clean but it didn’t touch my core.”

With her, the pair saw that she held the Diamond securely in her hand as she joined them at the foot.

“That kiss was true. Our first kiss was very true, and then the second one at the hallow before he went out…” she recalled, pulling her gaze away from them, toward the lively village. She was holding her Diamond directly over her heart. “I finally understand of this love — This love that rules over this land. Why each maiden, queen and princess dream of it so often.”

“I was very on edge on the night our men saw his vision in the prisms.” Eleonor thought. “I was very sour on the idea that Quasimodo was that very specific doorway to salvation, that I did not wish to believe it. Thoughts about our plight, and toward my own heart were not safe or good to have. The betrayal at the Tower awoken me to this truth that… in its own way — was going to happen whether any of us agreed with it or not. He is very beautiful, in ways I did not expect from most men I’ve encountered. Most would have cowered or have used us in some way… However, my reservations still stand for the Huntsman.”

“We’re still very protective of you both…” Ida entered in, softly. Odette gazed out, seeing that Humbert was well on his way back with a purchased donkey. “His sudden allegiance seems… forced.”

“I remember him.” Odette spoke up once more. “He was in Grimhilde’s castle, the night I met you, Ida. Before I was transformed when I joined the flock. By the Black Swan’s shadow… I awoke after being swept in by a shadow of either of her making or Maleficents, but… I awoke in another cell in the Germanian castle. He was sent down to bring me to her, to be interrogated and perhaps siphoned of my youth, or what she had planned that night. He - Humbert - he… he seemed to be under a strong thrall, as he stated himself. Strong is the key word. His eyes - like mine were - were hazed and stone empty. His voice sounded… so wrong. I had not known him then only that he was the man who disobeyed his Queen once, when the little princess Snow White was her first victim… He was ordered to murder her and bring Grimhilde her heart, but no. He could not bring himself to do the deed, and he told Snow White to flee into the forest… He saved her.”

“He saved her even though he knew he could have been executed…” Ida knowingly replied.

“The men who found us first, they are purely chosen by something greater than we may believe…” Eleonor hummed in return. “I remember what Antoinette said during our fly away from Mondfall… T’was love that gotten us so far. Beyond what we all endured…”

“The point I am trying to make is that… yes, he was used as a weapon against us, against himself. But his true will was never in anything she had made him do.” Odette shifted at where she stood. “… much like how my memory was slowly depleting, losing sight of who I was. Her magic, it’s like a parasite that… eats away at any soul it comes upon.” she went on with a growing disgust. “… but Evangeline, she - she has made a path for us. We have to continuously train ourselves to stick to it. We cannot ever stray off these paths again or we will lose ourselves, and our loves. Those precious seconds with every moonrise and every sunrise, there is that moment of just nothing…”

“The lull of the lights, it only leaves headaches now.”

“Quasimodo’s eyes… They took that same sheen Humbert’s had. When he caught sight of the sun. I do not wish to see that again…” Odette admitted. “We have four months until that tender second on that Last Sunrise… We have to help him to fight it. It’s a matter of life and oblivion… for us all.”

Eleonor drew her cloak tighter around her shoulders, the fresh leather of her new holster squeaking softly against her linen dress in the quiet night air. Her sharp gaze lingered on the dark treeline where the massive shadow of the bear had retreated to rest.

“Four months…” Eleonor murmured, the usual sharpness in her tone yielding to the raw, heavy truth of the deadline. “Four months to unravel what two dark queens spent these small years entangling.”

“Then we do not waste a single hour," Ida said softly. She reached out, placing her warm palm over Odette’s trembling fingers where they held the glowing Diamond key against her chest. “He carried us through the lake and the brambles when we had no strength left to stand, Ette. We will hold him when the sun tries to steal his mind.”

Odette looked down at the Diamond resting in her hand. Within its deep, sapphire-lit facets, the faint, comforting reflection of her father’s house in Los Angeles and the soaring spires of Notre Dame shimmered in perfect balance—a reminder of the peace waiting at the end of the road. Odette blinked at the vision of the spires, having just now noticed of them at the turn of the stone.

A distant roll of thunder echoed over the grassy hills of Luxembourg, signaling the slow approach of twilight's end. The air grew still, subtle, and cold—the familiar, heavy lull that always preceded the turn of the sky. In less than an hour, the first pale rays of morning would release Quasimodo from his bear mask, while calling the maidens back into the sky as white swans for another long leg of their journey toward Paris.

“He won't lose himself,” Odette whispered, her voice filled with quiet, cast-iron conviction as she turned her eyes toward the sleeping village. “Not while we all have a voice to say his name. Like he had for mine,”

Sundown was when the rain had decided to pierce down onto Luxembourg, directly at the brink of twilight. The lyre and the flute flittered music through the damp evening, seemingly unawares of the magic existing alongside it. Even through the downpour, Dopey and Bashful scurried out of the tavern beneath their doused hoods whilst heading straight back to the stable just across the dirt road. 

“That was y’r idea of fun, were it, Dopey?” Bashful chuckled through his exhaustion. The pair threw off the doused fabric until it landed with a wet flop onto the soil and hay. Dopey silently chuckled at the fun that was had until he realized how dark it became, so quickly. Bashful gasped before they pressed themselves against the stable doors before lightly knocking on it. To their worry, there was no answer until Grumpy unlatched the door to rush them in.

“Git - git - git, y’fools!” he spoke to them, hushed. Gripping their sleeves and a collar or two, the pair were almost tripping in before the doors were latched again. 

His deep dark eyes were tensed at them. “What were ya thinkin’!? It’s after sunset!” he hissed.

“We was just thankin the vender’, Grumpy-“

“At grand time it is to go lurkin’ out somewhere we’re not known!” Grumpy continued to scold, as careful as he kept his voice. Dopey began to look cowed. “The moonlight, the shade outside the wind’r, an’ ya come now?”

“We’re s-sorry, we weren’t far,” Bashful began to explain further as a white swan calmly sauntered her way towards the trio.

“It don’t matter how far, you had to stay in this stable ’til their change was complete.” Grumpy firmly corrected, swishing Dopey’s cap from his head, wringing it tight of water before slapping it back onto his head. It completely covered his eyes.

They heard a subtle little twrrr from the swan and they each paused.

“Lady,” Grumpy’s tone softened. 

“Only one of ‘em?” Bashful spoke hushed right after, wondering.

“They went to Quasimodo…” Grumpy reminded them. “To make the morn softer f’r him. It’s her… Them brown eyes glow.”

Odette arched her head slightly, naturally turning it from side to side as she opened her wings a little, gesturing. In a sense, she wanted them to follow her. It was clear that no danger had followed them, but nonetheless, Grumpy was never too careful. There was a shuffle of someone dragging a belt inside one of the stalls, and that flash of red hair was enough to calm their worries. Dopey’s face lit up and he nodded at his brothers in reassurance. 

Quasimodo gave a gruff clearing of his throat as he seemed to be getting himself adorned for the long endurance of this new day. 

“Sire… You good on there?” Grumpy was careful as he approached around the corner. Odette re-entered to be by his side.

Running his hand through his hair, Quasimodo only glanced at them without too much of a turn, seeming out of breath for a moment. “Good morning,” he managed.

Even hearing that voice sound dry and strained, it urged them to step in. Even when they offered to come in and help, he raised a hand to calm them. “Do not worry yourselves, friends. I’m coping f-fine,” he replied. “Sore, but fine…”

“Aye, y’look like ya rolled down jagged rocks, and that’s jus’me bein’ nice.” Grumpy winked tightly at him, rubbing an itch on his forehead.

Quasimodo’s lip curved awkwardly upward as he gave a swift scoff. In a sense, it was reminiscent of the Bear’s natural chuffing he used to speak to them prior.

“That’s deep kindness, if that’s the truth.” his voice was perked was a small amount of laughter as Odette took to his side, soothing the back of her head against his knee, as though in on the little joke. 

“Bah!”

“Secret’s safe with us, although I prefer something else other than worrying,” Quasimodo replied as he went on to tie on his boot.

“All we’s got is worry, you auborn, sky eyed fool.” Grumpy’s remarked honestly sparked laughter from him. Odette shook her head. “oh, laugh it up, lassie… I find these two havin’ a minute in the tav’rn when either o’us could’been whisked off again.”

“I have been the ears of the forest. I find my hearing splendid compared to now, one slight boon with this endurance,” Quasimodo replied as soon as he finished the last boot and began to slip on what was his renewed Woodsman’s vest up, around and over his tunic. “They deserve some old fashioned frivolity after all the tantruming our dearest Enemy has been throwing.”

Bashful’s cheeks flushed at this however he chose to hold his tongue at Grumpy’s sharpened glance. Dopey was covering his mouth, by habit.

“Look at it this way, sir… You have a Woodsman, shaped like a bear at night. He may look and sound different, but he’s same old, same old.” Quasimodo lightly reassured as he finally tightened his belt.

“Answers he survived almost fallin’ off a cliff.” Grumpy then crossed his arms, even at Odette’s low and graceful dip of her head.

She was sitting loafed in the hay, seemingly content in being by his side. “Well,” Quasimodo’s voice sounded lighter and kept. He stroked along her arched wing, gently. “… we owe our very lives to you, the Seven. Guarding the jewels of forests, regardless of curse or stature.”

“What on this green earth goes on today?” piped one little airy voice from up in the beams. The voice of Jiminy as he bound down to them, with use of his parasol to float right on down. “Grumpy, you seem stewed.”

“Stew is m’middle name, gen’leman.” Grumpy remarked much to Dopey’s amusement. “We should not be getting too comfortable is all. Pardon me a wink this morn. And where were you, Voice?”

“I’m a wanderer by nature.” Jiminy took his parasol and tapped it against the fence wood. “You ought to know that by now. Faer is eating his breakfast, and he is more awake now. Humbert had made a decent trade for a donkey to travel with us, so one of you can lead the bucks more efficiently.”

“M’arse is getting quite sore.” Grumpy darkly joked. “The sooner we make it to Pari’ before that single dawn, the better.”

“Aw now, sir. No need to be crude.” Jiminy politely warned. “We all have been pushed to our limits, haven’t we, Quasimodo?”

“I shall say we all have.” Quasimodo replied, with a small crack in his tired voice. Jiminy rose his gaze up to the Woodsman after giving a tender good morning to Odette.

“How are the aches, sir?” he asked, those well read eyes searching Quasimodo’s own that seemed a little reddened and tearful.

Quasimodo shared a sad little smile, lowering a palm so Jiminy could safely sit on his palm. “Enough worry for the night, gentlemen.” he soothed with a more softened voice to share. “I can easily imagine how you all were with the Maidens when Odette first endured her change…”

“Her firs’ change…” Grumpy winked, however he could not help to wipe some moisture from the corner of that winked eye.

“I understand the stress of it, don’t try to hide to what is keen to my own eye.” Quasimodo’s voice softened to its regular tenor.

“I bark because I worry, so grant me so’of that there, Woodsman. Now we have you sufferin’ the same as her, and we had no way of stoppin’ it,”

“Unless I never had left the hallow, is that so?” Quasimodo asked. “Or it would have happened somehow, regardless, or… worse. Personally, I would not want it any other way.”

Grumpy crossed his arms in a silent huff, however his eyes held that haunted gaze once again.

“My love for her, Grumpy, is resolute. If one of us had been killed…”

“Ain’t gonna dwell on that, sir.”

“I had. I only had one wish, and I told this to Doc. I told him I was willing to do anything. Anything, to see her free. Her sisters, all of us… and yet I am still here with the blessing to touch her, even in this avian form. She is able to speak to me - to touch me - in mine.”

“There is a time,” Bashful then hoped, brightly. 

“There is a time. The old Enemy had tried to tear us asunder, yet here we are… all in this stable together. That is why I am not angered about them going to the tavern, Grumpy. We’re surrounded by my father’s army.” he reassured, and to that Grumpy gave a truly deepening sigh. He watched with firmness as Quasimodo carefully slipped the Diamond back into the silken pouch that was tied well to his belt. Those eyes softened more as a silence fell between each of them. Odette’s head rose in fond alertness as more flat feet shuffled along the grass and hay. 

The sisters have returned from their first swim in the local pond had soon returned to the warmth of the hearth to dry their feathers after their swim. Eleonor flashed her black tipped wings, flapping to dry them. Preening the ones on her back she moved on to preen the back of Ida’s neck, pecking the others as they passed her to greet the men conversing in the quiet of the morning. Quasimodo observed them with tired yet caring eyes as they gathered with them to the march of the soldiers slowly coming from the riverside. Doc returned with some freshly baked bread and fish in a single basket after the donkey with their basics had stood outside. 

“We were given some boons, b’fore we take to our next path.” Doc spoke up as he entered, having an all manner of eyes rested on him. Many stomachs were famished, as well as their minds were. 

“Why Doc, you didn’t need to.” Quasimodo sweetly smiled as the basket was set down before the ladies. 

“Humbert were-was very persuasive… as it’s gonna be long and y’ll need your strength. S-sir” Doc insisted with care as he placed a baguette into Quasimodo’s palm that was still warm from the local bakery. 

Quite touched by the notion, Quasimodo took the gift before swiftly splitting the bread into two pieces, while taking one bite out of one before returning the one half to Grumpy. Even at that stewed gaze, the dwarf rolled it before humbly taking the gift in return. Quasimodo gave a silent chuckle at that act of his as he sat sorely back onto the hay bale. Doc gave some side eye at Grumpy who gave a sigh at all the attitude he was getting.

“F’give an old fart of his nature to not relax, even at these times. I am d’rn near confuzzled that yer even smilin’ after all that happened. Lass, even you!”

Odette blinked her brown eyes at him and swiftly shook her head as she felt a shiver ruffle her feathers. She was directly in the middle of preening Mary’s back feathers. There was laughter in their movements, how they arched their neck, swift little honks escaping their bills. 

“While I know she was whispering to me to keep breathing — wasn’t that true, Jim?” Quasimodo continued to state before glancing at the cricket on the hearth.

“She held no fear in her voice, sir,” Jiminy remarked with great confidence. As Quasimodo felt his eyes well up at those words, even as he was smiling. “She knew. The whole while, she knew.”

“Could it be true that your first kiss — that it may have been the one thing that brought her back to us?” Happy asked, that lovely high hope ruling his spry voice again.

Quasimodo lingered on some thought on that specific moment, when he was simply there as she was grieving. At her motion of nesting nearside his leg, his gleaming gaze rested on her crown as he drew in a thoughtful sigh.

“I can’t say, Happy. That’s often the pattern in stories like these, isn’t it? One kiss to break the spell… I do have a firm belief that the moment she trusted me, the moment she confided in me, it opened a door. It opened something… That kiss, it was her choosing a home. I will never stop being that home.”

As soon as he spoke those sweet words, his strong hand lowered to her, touching the feathers of white on the back of her resting neck. At his touch, she raised her head slow and high, bill aimed straight at the rafters with her eyes fully closed with trust. She was resting her body with him, with her sisters who kept close to ease the chill of the morning. A little whistle left her throat as she rubbed and soothed her head into her lover’s palm.

“She has it bad, Quasi.” Jiminy poked gently, his airy voice carrying a warm lilt of amusement through the quiet stable. He prompted a smile from the latter. “No love as pure as this, that I have ever seen. It’s blinding our enemies so much that they are just annoyed at this point.”

“Annoyed is putting it lightly, my friend.” Quasimodo murmured back, his voice a rich, gravelly tenor that carried the quiet confidence of a man who had stared into the abyss of oblivion and found his salvation. “This witch believed she could break her entirely. To turn her heart to stone. A beautiful figure she could control. If she could control her, then she would be able to control anyone for that matter. No matter how our bodies seem at the surface, we’re a union now.”

Landing on that thought, at last, Quasimodo drew out the one cloak they both shared… Swiftly sniffing in some moisture, he draped the beautiful thing over his lap to choose a spot for his turn to weave a new momento. Whilst tenderly studying the Diamond as it stayed nestled between them, Quasimodo sighed as he took some needle and strand from his sleeve. He had a one single idea of what should be next on their personal road.