[Otto's POV]
"Why, hello there," Otto said smiling happily when she noticed Jack walk up the path. She was sitting on the porch with baby Sophie on her lap, in exactly the same way Annabelle had when Otto had arrived herself. "You're back earlier than I expected. I'm not out of food yet."
"Huh?" he replied sullenly.
"Because that's the last thing you told me before you vanished for two days?" Otto challenged with a laugh in her voice.
Honestly, the past two days at the inn had been delightful. Everything was so peaceful and quiet here. Plus, she'd discovered that she got along brilliantly with Annabelle.
The only downside was that she'd started to understand what Jack had meant with "my own time stands still". Usually, she'd be cranky if she didn't get three meals a day. But here? She simply didn't get hungry! She had to force herself to eat even one slice of bread yesterday. Which in turn resulted to her provisions barely slinking.
"Oh, I actually didn't bring any food," he said so awkwardly and antsy, that it made Otto think he'd taken her seriously for a second. Wait, were those tears glistening in his eyes? Was he biting them back?
"Hey! Hey! What's wrong? Are you OK? I meant it as a joke, you don't need to bring food to visit," she said as she held out an inviting hand towards him. She would have hugged him, but she didn't want to wake the sleeping baby she was holding.
He drew closer even though he looked reluctant to do so. He reminded her of her little brother. When her little brother got away with something naughty, the guilt would eat away at him and he would seek a listening ear to confess to.
She waited patiently until he took her hand, gave his hand a little squeeze and offered a reassuring smile. Jack broke down in tears almost immediately, sobbing and falling to his knees, clutching her hand as if it was his lifeline.
"There, there," she soothed as Jack hid his tear stricken face in the skirt of her dress. Well, strictly speaking, it was Annabelle's dress. Annabelle had given it to her so she could change out of the clothes she'd arrived in the day before. When Otto pried her one free hand loose to gently stroke Jack's hair, he immediately clutched on to the skirt. "Would you like to tell me what's wrong?"
He shook his head violently.
"OK, then I'll tell you about my day," she said, still gently raking her fingers through his medium long, golden locks.
"I'd like to thank you for bringing me here. This place is truly beautiful," she chimed happily. "At first I was afraid I would get bored really quickly, but I really didn't need to worry! This morning little Eva was the one to wake me up. I think she had meant to complain about the fact that I like to sleep in, but she'd completely forgotten because she'd spotted a little butterfly inside the house. Today we were all doing chores together in the house and one of the girls cried out that she'd spotted a rabbit outside. So we all went outside to try and catch it instead. We didn't succeed, but it was great fun."
Since Jack didn't want to talk about his worries, Otto had hoped that if she chatted away happily, Jack would be able to forget his worries and calm down. But his shoulders only started quacking harder and harder. Sometimes he mumbled things like "I should have known." and later it turned into "Please don't leave me?"
She was about to say "Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" when she suddenly felt Sophie's weight disappear from her arm.
When she looked towards the babe, she saw the last bits of a content smile dissolve into bright blue firefly-like lights that drifted off peacefully in the air. Otto felt how Jack looked up towards her in surprise, but she couldn't bring herself to look away from the spectacle that was unfolding before her.
"Never seen a rebirth before, have you?" Jack asked quietly. Otto nodded wordlessly. Annabelle had warned her that this would happen. It was this world's equivalent of dying, equally beautiful as it was terrifying.
She hadn't known Sophie very well, but Otto still hoped she'd been born safely. That she was being held in the warm arms of a loving mother. She knew this was a happy occasion. Yet, she couldn't help the single tear burning a path down her cheek.
As the last of the fireflies disappeared, she noticed that Jack had been staring at her instead of at the disappearing baby. His brows and cheeks were twitching as if he couldn't decide between a happy or a crying expression.
"You're a crybaby!" he finally said in an accusatory tone of voice.
"Me?!" Otto asked offended. "A tear escaped me because of the sheer beauty of it all. You're the one with tears and snot dripping down your face!"
Jack quickly rubbed his face clean with his sleeve.
"Am not!" he said.
"You are such a kid!" Otto yelled exasperated, although she was glad he was smiling again. They fell in an amicable silence. Otto kicked the rocking chair into a slow gear and Jack took a seat on the porch.
"Are you feeling better then?" Otto asked after a while. Jack nodded.
"Thank you for lending me your lap. I feel much better now," Jack said. "You know? You are really kind. And really beautiful too. If my mom was anything like you, I think I'd understand why my father was that heart-broken. Maybe I'd even be able to forgive him for forgetting me here."
"You shouldn't," Otto said drop-dead serious. "Forgetting or neglecting a child, in whatever way, is simply inexcusable! It is your duty as the child to give your parent hell for it."
Jack chuckled, but didn't comment.
"You know? That's the second time you've told me that I remind you of your mother," Otto said, curiosity getting the better of her. "Do I resemble her that much?"
"Honestly, I wouldn't know," Jack said with a little shrug. "I've never met her, remember? She died of childbirth. All I know about her is what other people told me about her."
"Then tell me that," Otto said while leaning her head against the backrest of the rocking chair as she enjoyed its gentle rocking pace.
"Uhm," Jack hummed in thought. It looked like he hadn't thought about his mother in a long time. "My uncle used to say that she was the most incredible woman. The kind beauty that tamed the beast. The queen delivered by the gods. Others say that she had the most beautiful singing voice. Whenever she sang, wherever her voice reached, people would stop whatever they were doing just to listen to her. A woman so beautiful and graceful, my father had fallen head over heels in love with her."
"I'm sorry to tell you this, but I think those tales are horribly exaggerated," Otto said after it became clear Jack was done talking. "And I'm not like that at all. I can't sing to save my life. And frankly, I think no woman is that perfect."
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Jack said as he thought about it. "Yet, I can't help but think some parts of those stories were true. For example; there was this troop of musicians that visited us regularly. Apparently, my mom used to be a performer in their troop. So she'd need to have some talent, right?"
"I guess," Otto said in a non-committal way and a comfortable silence fell between them as they watched the sun sink towards the horizon for an instant.
"Will you stay the night this time? I'd love to talk to you some more," Otto broke the silence. Jack chuckled, but then sighed.
"I'd love to, but I can't," Jack answered with a very heavy sigh. "An acquaintance of mine showed up at my doorstep a few days ago and I don't trust him enough to leave him alone for long."
"And yet, you're here," Otto observed.
"We had a fight and I stormed out angrily," Jack admitted sheepishly, obviously ashamed of the fact.
"Sounds to me like you'd better hurry back then. My grandma always says you should kiss and make-up before you go to sleep, because if you don't, the argument might spiral out of control. And it's already starting to get dark."
"I'm not going to kiss the guy!" Jack exclaimed with a horrified expression. "Besides, he said so himself, he doesn't actually need me there."
"Bullshit," Otto said angrily. "He wouldn't have shown up at your door if he didn't actually need you, now would he?"
This caused Jack to frown deeply, his mouth pressed into a dissatisfied line.
"Damn it! Now I feel guilty for leaving him alone!" he cursed as he got up and started going down the path that lead up to the house.
"Off you go!" Otto laughed.
"I'll be back when I can! I promise," Jack said as he turned around to wave and left.