Rune
~~
After all the emotional moments died down, Farris came down the stairs with Amadio and August.
"Where is Vidal? We all need to talk?" he demanded upon noticing Vidal's absence.
August quickly volunteered, "I will go get him" then as though just realizing he did not know the whereabouts of Vidal, he turned to Rune and the women. "Where is Vidal?" he inquired.
"Outside" Calliope answered him.
Instantaneously, he went out the door to call his buddy in.
Or were they ex-buddies? Rune wondered.
However, she knew this was but a simple misunderstanding between the two men which would get settled soon.
Definitely, Vidal could barely do without August as August couldn't do without the former. The two were like time and the air. They worked together and move together.
They were companions in terms of irresponsibility.
"Rune?" Farris's voice calling out to her drove her attention away from August and onto him.
As her eyes met with the only fatherly figure she ever came across, the emotions in his eyes almost caused her to break down in tears yet again.
"I'm sorry for lashing out back there. I was just— my mind has— I felt irresponsible that you had to suffer like that and I couldn't have noticed sooner so, I took my anger out on you"
Oh, this man!
She would forever place him in a grand part of her heart.
She blinked assuringly at him. "It's okay Farris. I understood your emotions. You don't have to plead"
The door creaked and opened while Vidal and August walked in.
The tension between them was getting lesser and they were back to looking like the unserious duo of the family.
"Now that everyone is here—" Farris began after taking his seat on the sofa while the others who were on their feet did the same.
Farris's two palms were facing each other below his legs as he began to speak. "Rune– we will need your grave contribution and corporation to solve this mess. In the end, the life and death line Fender is caught in all points to you" he was looking at Rune straight in the eye with utter seriousness and empathy.
She would do whatever it takes to end this mess she unknowingly started. Whatever at all.
"You don't need to sound so pleading. I will do whatever it takes to save Fender. He is my brother after all" she said to him.
Farris stuffed his lower lip into his mouth and finally let go of the poor thing before continuing. "I know you have no interest in searching for a cure. I know you think this extinction is an escape. That it is what you deserve"
There was a pause.
Damn- how was this man able to analyze her thoughts and plans so well?
" However, I am saying to you now that it is time to discard that thought" Farris had proceeded but Luna cuts in.
"Saving Fender means saving you. You have to work with us to find your cure quickly before things go haywire"
Amadio also chirped in. "Yes, but before finding the cure, we need a liter of the fluid you soaked the toilet paper in. It is what the healer demanded as pay"
That would be the herculean task albeit it was not as difficult as finding her cure still.
"I am not sure about the time duration given by the healer because the fluid drips from my eyes and it are barely much to fill a liter in a week" she provided.
Luna had gasped when she heard the mention of the liquid dripping from her eyes.
When Rune turned around, she saw her twin sister's head bowed in sorrow, and Calliope close to tears.
August and Vidal both had a pitiful look which made their face seem ugly to her.
Amadio was the only one mature enough that she wouldn't appreciate sympathy in this situation because he had an indifferent look on his face.
Farris's two fingers were covering his mouth and his two eyes were shut.
This— this was the reaction she loathed. Funny how it made her sicker than even when her symptoms surfaced.
If only they could all be like Amadio.
Not that the others were not mature enough to know what she wanted. They merely loved her too much that they couldn't keep their emotions in check.
"But you have to try harder Rune. For Fender, you have to" Amadio said to her when no one else seemed to want to speak.
She wanted to tell him the fluids dripping were endless. It was the mixture of both cold and hot water that she was always able to soothe and stop the dripping. If it were to provide three liters in a week, the fluids would be more than enough.
But, the excruciating stinging of her eyes when it comes to the fluids was what she meant by not being able to meet up. She was always in way too much eagerness to put an end to her misery and stop the dripping.
However, to right this trouble she had caused, she would do it. She gulped and swallowed down her pain and brought herself to answer. "I will do it," she announced but when she saw the inquiring face of the others, "You know— try harder to satisfy the healer's wish"
Farris finally was able to talk now. He was nodding with gratitude. "Thank you, Rune. We will be one step to saving Fender after this"
"Now that we have found a temporary answer to saving Fender. I think we should investigate more on why there is a hole in our garden and why someone disguised as the old woman but looked like someone else in the camera. Someone came to give us those chickens in the skin of someone else. Am I the only one feeling so unsafe knowing that there is someone like that watching us?" Vidal said, almost hollering.
August gave a squeeze of his face. "Come on buddy! This is not about your ex anymore. Is it?"
August was back at calling Vidal, buddy. Cool!
Vidal vigorously shook his head. "No August. This is not about Catherine. Someone is out there laughing at our miseries. Making us stressed and worked out while they watch and enjoy. I can not help but think they will attack us soon and we will be unprepared"
Luna spoke totally out of the concept. "Vidal? You shouldn't speak so confidently now because you think since the problem did not come from you, that makes you safe. Nothing changes the fact that you have created God knows how many ferals"
Amadio stood and went to stand behind her then, he covered her mouth with his palms.
The situation was. A little humor like that would ease some of the stress- Rune thought as they all laughed.
" I can not help but decide that this is the work of a skinwalker since there are no more options left"
A skinwalker?
"What about the mud Rune found in the house next door and the hole in our garden?" Gizem asked thoughtfully.
Something came across Rune's mind and she decided to let her hypothesis out. "What if those two— I mean, the one who came to deliver the chicken and the hole in the garden with a matching mud in the house next door do not relate? What if they are two different things and we are looking at two different opponents?"
"What have we done to deserve two opponents?!" Vidal cried.
Luna snapped sarcastically at him. "How about turning healthy originals to feral for a change?"
Again, Amadio covered her mouth.
"I haven't had past encounters with skinwalkers. Has any of you had?" Gizem asked everyone.
"No"
"No"
"No"
They all chanted except for Calliope.
When they all turned to her, "What?! Unless skinwalkers seek revenge for a one-night stand then I'd say she is after me for it. I had a one-night stand with a skinwalker" she confessed.
Bull.
That wasn't a point. No one seeks revenge for a one-night stand.
Farris cupped his face with his palms. " We are back right where we began"