Quarrels and Quills

Eve Travers

Eve had anticipated a difficult reunion with Liam. Whatever he had last seen of her - when it was Darren, not her - well, it couldn't have been good. Surely it had reminded him of what she had been in the past. Made him doubt her future. Doubt that there was any place for his birth mother in his life.

The conversation had gone much better than she had expected. A shaky, tearful apology from her. And then, from him, "It's okay, Mum. It's not your fault." Then a return to normal subjects.

Could that really be all? Could she be so easily forgiven?

Even as she was released from the hospital wing and settled back into her routine, as classes and meals in the Great Hall and time with Cambria and Rosemary became normal parts of her days again, as she worked late into the night in the potions lab working on a cure for the Maledictus curse, then crawled exhausted into bed beside Cambria, who was sometimes still in her human form and sometimes already in the form of a Sphynx... Eve waited for the other shoe to drop with Liam.

That potential dropped shoe came in the form of a dinner invitation. Eve, Cambria, and Rosemary were all invited to the London flat for a meal with Liam and Shishguk.

Eve stood nervously on the doorstep, a bottle of wine clutched in her shaking hand, but they were welcomed with smiles and open arms. No mention was made of the crisis of the recent past, other than for Liam to briefly assure Eve that her former husband was still safely behind bars. Although the thought of anyone in Azkaban made Eve shiver, even one as evil as Darren, she couldn't help feeling a sense of relief that he couldn't harm them anymore.

The meal was a pleasant and jovial affair, unbroken by fear or discord...

At least until an elderly goblin man staggered through the front door and collapsed on the parlor rug.

Rosemary Bain

Eve's nervousness was palpable. She understood, in part. Eve had connected Darren with Liam. Unintentionally, of course, but she had been the piece that allowed Darren to find their son. And that weighed on her friend's mind. It was unfair. Cruel and unfair. No one asked to be a conduit for evil.

She hoped that this dinner would help Eve forgive herself.

It was nice to be invited somewhere. Lovelier still that it was an invitation from her dear friend's son and his girlfriend. Such a sweet couple. Their hospitality was so comfortable that it set her completely at ease.

Being at ease didn't mean that she sat gawking when an injured goblin fell through the door. In a moment, she'd stepped past the prone man and through the open door to look both ways down the hallway. Wand in hand, she stood prepared to deal with whomever might have caused the man's injuries, learned incantations on the tip of her tongue. She didn't speak any of them, but asked, "How is he?"

Eve Travers

"Uncle Granrod!" Shishguk cried as the elderly goblin hit the floor.

He was her uncle, then - not that Eve was surprised. She had assumed he was a family member or close friend, since she had noted that he had been able to let himself in without knocking or counterspelling the door.

The goblin was in rough shape. It didn't take a medically trained wizard to see that he had been beaten. The downward angle of the blows suggested the culprit or culprits were significantly taller than the goblin. In other words, almost certainly human. Which wasn't exactly a surprise either.

"Ferula!" Cambria muttered, tapping the unconscious goblin lightly with her wand to apply the a Bandaging Charm.

Eve nodded approvingly, then asked, "Liam, do you have any healing potions?"

"Just the Meyer's Miracle Mending Medicine..." At Eve's deep frown, he started to explain, "It was on sale at the apothecary, Mum, and we didn't think we'd actually need it..."

Eve shook her head. "I'll make you something better. Later. But for now, give me that... and do you have any lacewings?"

"Sure..." Liam rummaged around in a cabinet drawer and produced a small jar.

Eve carefully picked out three of the dried insects, crushed them into powder between her fingers, and dropped the dust into the (subpar though she might consider it) healing potion. Then she stalked into the kitchen, and after she had disappeared around the corner, the others would hear sounds of hasty rummaging through cabinets. She returned a moment later, shaking the re-capped potion, then handed it to Shishguk. "It'll work. Better now. You can give it to him."

Shishguk knelt beside her uncle and poured the contents of the bottle into his mouth, careful not to choke him.

Eve allowed a few seconds to pass to give it a chance to work, lest she wake him in too much pain, then pointed her wand at the unconscious uncle and said, "Rennervate!"

He woke with a start. "Did I make it?" he asked blearily. "Are they gone?"

"You made it, Uncle Granrod," Shishguk said reassuringly.

Rosemary would still see no signs of his pursuers in the corridor, so it did appear he had effectively lost them.