What About Everything?

The apothecary study that his mother, Aliana, has is as beautiful as it is daunting. Smells of various herbs and concoctions fill Strix’s nose as he peeks in, hoping that his beautiful clouded mother will be out doing… well anything other than be in here. Ah, but fate is not that kind and the boy groans inwardly as she calls out to him, her sweet voice always so full of happiness when one of her sons shows up. Head lowers, eyes downcast to the floor as he shuffles forward, doing his best to hide the set of scratches along his cheek. Of course, she spies them immediately, her trained healer’s eyes spotting them as she glances over her shoulder to greet him.

His mother’s sweet, kind voice dies mid-sentence and Strix looks up to her with shame-filled mismatched eyes. The boy loves his parents and he can see the worry in his clouded mother’s face which only twists the knife of guilt further into his gut. She is there in a moment, gentle paws manipulating his face to get a better look at the small wounds. Suddenly, everything is a flurry of movement, emotion, and semi-panic as his mother questions him and then moves to quickly grab the antiseptic and a clean cloth. The boy tries to soothe his worried, protective mother, saying with gentle reassurance, “Its nothing. Really mom. Dad just… wanted me to make sure they get cleaned.”

Truthfully, Strix wonders if his dad thought that the antiseptic would be more of a punishment then any words he could offer. It seems that luck is laughing at him today as, of the three boys to attack the jaguars, the smallest one had to walk away with scratches. Aliana reappears, a whirlwind of activity and Strix tries to back away from the sting that is soon to come. She tells him not to squirm before quickly moving to dab the stuff onto the open wounds. He hisses, tears springing to his eyes from the sudden pain but Strix does not shy away, standing his ground to allow his mother to work. He decides to talk in hopes that he can ignore the pain, saying, “I was out by the palm trees and I found some mean jaguars that were trying to invade our home.”

Another hiss as the pain suddenly intensifies and Strix has to blink several times to clear his vision before continuing on, “Rev, Ren, and I fought ‘em! We were winning too but uh… dad decided we needed help.” As his mother finishes cleaning the scratches, the boy gives his head a good shake to try and forget the sting. A smile is on his lips as he jokingly says, “Gee mom. What do you put in that? Stuff to cause pain?” Mismatched eyes look to her and, for the first time, he notices that she looks distressed. His boyish grin falls away and Strix moves to press into her, softly saying, “I’m sorry mommy. I didn’t mean to upset you.”


"Strix Klein"