witching hour

Strangely, Miread’s door wasn’t latched tonight. Mios had grown used to scratching against the wood until she was roused or whimpering softly through the crack underneath, but there was no need for that now. He squeezed through the gap and plodded across the small room to the bed that was half shrouded in shadow, half illuminated by moonshine. Ever since he’d first started sneaking in, he’d noticed it gradually moving further out of the darkness. Miread would never admit to it, but Mios smiled each night, knowing she rearranged it for him.

He crept underneath one of the fluffy skins, bundling up as closely to his sister as she would allow and half-expecting an unconscious shove. When it didn’t come, he set his head on his chunky paws. Miread had become a security blanket that Mios clung to, but even her comforting presence did not entice sleep tonight. His sides heaved a discontent sigh, watching the snowflakes accumulate on the window.

As long as he focused on them, he wouldn’t see the shadows moving in his periphery.

Miread would take her secret to the grave. She now slept with her door unlocked, having grown tired of waking almost every night to let Mios in. It was far easier to assume he'd be arriving her room at some point during the night and just leave the door unlocked so he could let himself in. Tonight, her assumptions had been correct. A small ear twitched when she heard the low groan of her door opening and her brothers heavy pawssteps enter.

Another thing she would never admit to was the slow movement of her bed. The tiny Tiamat much preferred to sleep in total darkness, the shadows comforting as the cocooned her into sleep. But Mios always cared for the light. So, slowly but surely she began moving her beg, casually searching for the perfect place so that she could still rest in the dark while her brother slept in the moonlight.

A shift in the bed and the sudden rush of cool air under the blankets would announce Mios. One eye cracked open to glare at him, just as she did every night, before she settled back in. But Mios wasn't here to sleep. Snuggled up beside her, a contact she suffered silently through every night, her brother huffed. Begrudgingly, she peeled back her eyelids, dragging herself into consciousness.

She wouldn't move, omly her eyes shifting towards the mound under the blankets that was Mios. She knew something was weighing on his mind because much weighed on hers. The recent months had been unkind to the Tiamat house and she wondered how much more they would have to suffer.

manip + code: clae