It hadn't taken Eon long to pluck his own frond from the plants and return to her, the both of them now smiling with dabbles of blood dripping from their gums and mouths. Seeing the bursts of energy, the recovery from his coughing, it meant her magic had worked better than she had thought. Good. Hopefully it would mean he'd recover more quickly naturally. At his question, she smirked at him as she answered, "Well, that depends on how comfortable you want your bed to be. If you don't mind sleeping on hard rock and rough sand, then just these two will do. If it were me sleeping there, however, I'd probably want... oh, say ten or so?" In reality, she wanted a bed from her old kingdom, made up of sheep pelts and soft furs piled on beds of freshly fluffed hay. Her bed had been the softest bed she'd ever had, and she desperately missed it.
Positioning the frond between her paws, she chewed at the plant bits to pull and strip them off of the main branch. Once peeled and broken off, the pieces were much more flexible and softer. With a toss of her muzzle, she threw them into a pile off to her side, then started to work the other side of the same frond. "If you want to fetch them, I'll strip them. Or, we can swap. Whichever you would prefer. I don't mind a little pain here or there." An honest truth, and one of the reasons she made such a good fighter. She could take a beating and still keep up the fight.
"Say, Eon," she started, pausing in her frond stripping to turn and look at the small canid. Her grin and smiles from before had disappeared and a more stoic expression had appeared. Her face was harder, yet not unkind. "I know you just got here and all. But before... back in the lands we shared before. Did you... did you ever see my children? Do you know if they're well?" She was afraid to ask Eon, afraid to learn an answer that she didn't like. And yet, the part of her that had to know was stronger, so she asked her question anyways. The hope that he would say yes, and that they were safe and prosperous outweighed the fear that he might say that they had met Tsillah. It was likely, in reality, that Eon wouldn't even know her children if he had met them. It was unlikely they were running around and telling everyone that Enya was their mother, especially since she hadn't really acted as one to begin with. No, it had been a stupid question to ask. She should have thought it through more before she had spoken. Her heart, however, had gotten the better of her, so she spoke with it first instead of her brain, as was usual for Enya.
His question was quickly answered and it was up to his own preference how many of the leaves were needed. “Then I’ll probably need 20,” he said sarcastically followed by a slight chuckle. Though if he were being honest with himself, he was only half joking. Eon liked luxuries, and he wasn’t afraid to admit that most of the time. However, right about now, he was happy with just about anything. He was mostly just thankful he had run into Enya to help him set up a place to rest at all, and thankful he wasn't dead after his relatively stupid decisions that had landed him here. He didn’t want to ask much else of Enya, but if she were willing to help gather a few more he’d certainly let her.
He watched as she shredded the leaves from the branch. He’d study her method for a moment so he would be able to mimic it himself, but it seemed he wouldn’t have to as she suggested he fetch the leaves and she stripped them. He’d nod, agreeing to her first proposal. While he didn’t necessarily like the feeling of his gums bleeding he would have felt bad letting Enya do it. She had already done more than enough for him, and though she said she wouldn’t mind, it would still feel wrong to ask her to switch parts. He’d give a nod and head back over to the bushes, ripping off as many as he could - carefully this time, and running them over to Enya where she could peel them. He stopped when he heard his name. Turning to face her once more, he took a few more steps towards her so he could clearly hear her. Her serious expression made him worry, and that feeling didn’t stop as she mentioned the lands they had shared before.
He wished he could help her, have some good news - but he didn’t. He did not even know she had children, never mind seeing them, or having an inkling of where they might be. He fell silent for a moment, trying to think of a way to explain he hadn’t seen them without upsetting her. He didn’t know much about her history and only knew now that she had children, but he knew no matter the circumstances it must have been hard to be a mother and not know where her children were, or if they were even okay. “No, I haven’t” he’d say rather quietly, still contemplating his next words. “But if you and I both ended up here in the realm, perhaps there’s a chance they did as well.” He didn’t know how good the odds were that her children ended up here, but fate had a funny way of playing out sometimes, and you just never knew.
“I’m sure they’re fine, assuming they take after you, they might be off ruling their own kingdoms for all we know.” Eon has learned a few things from the interactions he had with Enya. He knew she was strong, and determined, but also kind, and caring. Those were all traits that would help in survival, no matter where they may have ended up. If her children had but a fraction of Enya in them - he was certain they were doing fine. The thought did lead to his own question, however. It burned in his mind for a mere second before he decided to voice it. “If you don’t mind me asking, how did you end up here? I just find it strange that the first face I run into is a familiar one.”
Her heart had begged her to inquire, and it was appropriately crushed with Eon's response. At his words, she turned her face away to continue stripping the fronds that he had brought to her. It helped her bite back the sudden tears that fought to well up in the corners of her eyes. 'Stupid decision. Stupid, stupid decision' she scolded herself internally, now ripping the fronds in anger at herself. His words he offered to comfort her were touching, but did little to do so. Sure, there was a chance that they ended up in this new world, there was a chance that they were well and prosperous, but there was also the chance that she may never see or hear about them again, a chance that they were dead, or suffering, or perhaps something even worse than that. She should have been a better mother. She should have been present and she should have put aside all of her personal grievances. She knew that now, but hindsight was 20/20 as one might say.
Enya was grateful for Eon's change of subject, helping her deviate her mind from thinking about how shitty of a parent she had been (for the billionth time) to instead speak of something more recent. She paused in her fond tearing and instead moved to nose the pile she'd made into a neater one. Her tongue flicked from her mouth several times and her face twisted for a moment as she worked a stray piece from between her teeth before she turned to answer Eon. "I don't mind at all. My arrival here was both lackluster and life-changing all at once. I went to sleep with my son and familiar beside me out deep in the woods and when I woke up, I was here and they weren't." She remembered hardly being surprised when she had awoken and realized what had happened. The shock of her familiar and son being gone had been a lot, but the actual shifting of worlds? Well, it hadn't been her first experience with such a situation. "Funny enough, I think this realm does something strange with who others meet when they first arrive here. It almost seems like it knows who to connect who with. Like you, when I first arrived here, I also was met with a familiar face." She'd seen glances of others when she'd first arrived, but none had been close enough to her to actually make an acquaintance. "The first wolf I encountered here was Caedwyn" She watched Eon as she mention his name, to see if there was a response and associated expression presented. "I don't really know what this place is, but there's definitely magic at work in this world's core. I can feel it."
