THOTH & MORVEREN
“Uhhh,” Thoth blinked in bewilderment at Danny. “Yeah, I guess.”
He tried to ignore the note-taking as he worked, but it was weirdly off-putting. He supposed he should be flattered, but it just felt… wrong, sustaining awed attention like this. Danny had known of him, sought him out, and was now jotting down everything he was saying like he was some kind of celebrity. ‘This must be what it feels like to be Tris,’ Thoth mused as he wrapped the bandages carefully. An inexplicable weight dropped like a stone in his stomach. ‘And also my mother.’
And probably his father too, but he shrugged that thought away with forceful will and gritted teeth. Thoth’s father had been famous, in his day, both as a saviour of Shaman and as the man who helped raise the once and future king, Arthur. Before the civil war, long before Thoth was born, Adonis had turned the Shady Labyrinth into a sanctuary for fairies looking to hide from the dictator. He took in the type of people Gwythr targeted: single women, predominantly. He’d been smitten with Thoth’s mother, Aura, and the pair had had an understated on-off relationship until they had their happy little accident. Thoth barely had any memories of his father, since Adonis had left when he was still only young, and Aura had always been vague about his reasons. When he had met Adonis properly at the age of seven, his father had explained to him that he couldn’t handle the concept of having a son who was so weak, fragile and defective.
That was hard to hear, as much as it was hard from anyone, but Thoth had never had a father-son relationship to get tearful over. In terms of actually being a father and not just a biological sperm donor, his was Joel: the carpenter and former partner of Nimueh, who had gone missing about five years previously. At the age of thirteen, Thoth had already lost three parents.
Fortunately, Danny helped to divert his attention by refocusing it on General. Thoth wrinkled his nose, not quite sure what to do with the boy’s raw enthusiasm. He wasn’t sure he was happy leaving the sparrow in the hands of an over-eager novice but, then again, he had been exactly the same when he’d started out.
“Umm,” he looked a little doubtful. “You’ll need to provide a safe environment which discourages her from trying to fly, and preferably one which imitates the temperature and humidity fluctuations of her natural environment. You’ll also need to provide suitable nourishment which tests her intellect and hunting prowess, since you don’t want her to lose her ability to fend for herself while she’s recovering.”
He gave Danny a scrutinising, slightly sceptical look. The kid seemed okay. Thoth doubted anyone would go to such extravagant lengths to try and bully him, so he was probably genuinely interested and caring. He wrestled with his natural distrust for a moment before picking General up carefully and gesturing Danny towards the door. He waited until the younger boy had stepped outside before following him out, and turned back to glance at Junebell.
“You staying here?” He asked. She winked, which he took to mean yes.
Leaving the pony to her leisure, he pulled the door to the lab shut behind them and locked it carefully with a key which took him five minutes to fish out of his pocket. In the process of trying to find the key, he pulled out a pen, several pieces of paper, a live mouse and a handful of pony nuts.
“C’mon,” he grunted to Danny once the door was locked, turning away from it and shoving his hands in his pockets. He led the way down the corridor in silence for a few minutes, before asking suspiciously, “did Dr. Gupta tell you about me?”
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