Heavy thunder rolls through the night air, cascading across the silenced war-scape. The voices inside and around the dense forest have now died down, leaving only the soft hooting of an owl and the distant croaking of shrill frogs audible beyond the pouring rain.

Hineni, standing under the cover of the growing tree, stares into the little doll-house that hangs there from a rope, swaying in the wind.

But there’s nobody home.

The man exhales, looking around the area. It’s pitch black. Only campfires and the occasional piece of magic fill the night with any essence of light.

It’s not too unusual for Eilig to vanish for a while. She’s done it before, a few times. Although, in one of them she had been turned to stone. But still.

Hineni rubs his head, not sure if he should be worried or not. He assumes Eilig knows what she’s doing. But still… he doesn’t like having his people be anywhere but here, in his immediate vicinity.

“Damn…” mutters Hineni as he realizes that he may have become clingy? Or maybe he’s just over-attaching now that he has something to attach to?

His eyes wander the night.

“What is the matter?” asks a voice from above him. Hineni lifts his head, looking at the large, yellow eyes hovering just above him. The owl-god floats there, upside down, in her half-human form. She turns her head to look at the doll-house. “Do you miss the Icig-fairy?”

“Guess so,” says Hineni, shrugging.

The owl-god floats downward, hovering sideways in front of him. “Am I not enough to fill your heart?” she asks, holding her hands by her face.

“Nope,” replies Hineni. She hoots in offense, clicking with her mouth. “Don’t get me wrong. You’re number one, or uh… three,” says Hineni, reaching out to touch her. “But I want everything now,” he shrugs. “What can I say? You rubbed off on me.”

Obscura sighs, lowering herself down to land on the grass.

“Do you want to go and look for her?”

“Where?” asks Hineni. “She can fly. She could be anywhere,” replies the man.

“Wherever he wishes,” says the owl-god. “We will walk through the city and then through the forest, yes?”

Hineni shakes his head. “No… thanks,” he says, grabbing her hand. “There’s no point. She’s not gonna be there.” He looks up to the tree. It’s grown massive.

“Would you like to look for her from up there?” asks the owl-god.

Hineni feels something grabbing his arms and his feet lift the ground, as they rise up into the air. He looks down at his dangling feet and then back up to her, as she rises towards the top of the large tree, not even having transformed out of her current shape. “Since when were you strong enough to lift me like this?” he asks.

They rise up into the thick foliage of the giant tree, floating through several heavy branches, before coming to land on the highest one up that has a good view out over the landscape.

Looking down, Hineni clambers onto the branch, leaning back against the trunk of the tree where he feels a little more secure. Obscura lands next to him, somewhat further out and lays back, laying her head on his lap. The two of them stare at each other for a time, his hand finding its way to the top of her head to pet it. She hoots.

The two of them turn their gazes out over the night-washed landscape.

“So… why are you up here hooting by yourself?” asks Hineni. “Should I be worried about competition?”

“Fool!” says the owl-god, leaning her head back to snap her teeth at his fingers that he pulls back just in time. “My heart belongs to you,” says Obscura. “Do not forget this,” she warns, placing a talon against his heart.

“Forget what?” asks Hineni playfully. She rolls her eyes and looks back out over the world. His hand rests itself back on top of her head, running itself over it.

“Listen,” she says.

Hineni listens.

“The frogs, you mean?” he asks, looking towards the forest from where the croaking comes. “There’s probably a pond or a river out there.”

She reaches up, grabbing his hand from her head, pulls it down to her face and starts nibbling on the side of it.

“No?” asks Hineni, leaving his hand behind as he looks back towards the forest.

She bites down one more time, before pulling the side of his palm back out and placing it above her head. “Hi~ ne~ ni may be three, but his three are heart, body and soul,” says the owl-god. “His mind is the forth, and so, it sometimes fails.”

“Does it?” he asks.

“Fear not, however,” says the owl-god. “For you will always have me to fill your gaps!”

“— Isn’t that my job?” he remarks, nudging her.

An instant later, a cloud of feathers fills his vision as she vanishes in a dusty explosion. Hineni looks around himself, not seeing her. But the hissing, clicking above his head gives away that she’s above him. Lifting his gaze, he looks at the two wide, yellow eyes glaring down from above, attached just above a snipping beak. “Crude! Hineni is crude, like foul frogs!”

“I mean, come on, that one was right there,” he says. “I had to go for it.”

She hisses at him, and the two of them stare at one-another for a while once again.

“So…”

The owl-god hisses again and then vanishes into the foliage.

Hineni stares for a moment longer.

It’s quiet.

— She pops her head back out.

“So, wicked Hineni,” says the owl-god. “The frogs have never croaked on nights before this one, no?” she asks. Hineni considers it. He doesn’t recall hearing any frogs, actually. He looks back towards the forest. “They sing of the return of queen Obscura,” says the owl-god. “They have heard, and so their croaks fill the forest with fear.”

“Well… damn…” says Hineni. “Do we have to be on the watch again?” he asks. “I was hoping the whole frog thing was done for, honestly.” He thinks about it for a moment. Then again, they do have one more shot left, the frogs. Their fourth attempt at stopping them, at kidnapping him, hasn’t taken place yet.

Maybe he’s been too hopeful? Of course they’re not going to just drop it. Win or fail, they have to try the fourth time. It’s just the nature of the beast.

“The forest reeks of dirty frogs,” says Obscura. “Their slimy odor sticks to the trees and stains it with swamp-water.”

“I’ll tell Sockel and the guards,” says Hineni. “You don’t think Eilig’s in there, do you?” he asks.

Obscura clicks with her beak a few times. “It is not for me to say,” she replies. “But the fairy would go nowhere without reason,” explains the owl-god. “The world is large, and she is very, very small. It is a great danger, and she knows this.”

Hineni runs the back of his head, feeling bad. So, whatever it is that Eilig is out there doing, likely for his sake, if she’s to be believed, is a risk.

“There is little that we can do tonight,” says the owl-god. “The frog-song hints that they are not ready for anything,” she explains. The owl climbs down the trunk of the tree, finagling herself along with her beak and her talons, as she lowers herself back to him. “So let us stay up here for now and rest, yes?” she asks. “In preparation for when the tree is large enough for all.”

Hineni reaches out, grabbing her, and leans back against the trunk of the tree. The small owl ruffles its feathers, pulling itself into a dense ball that he holds against his stomach. “Just don’t let me fall,” says the man, closing his eyes.

Something nibbles on his fingers in response.