Quinn shifted from phoenix to faery before Eselda's wide eyes; she applauded him with delight, as if he'd just performed some sort of amazing trick just for her. She beamed at him, her smile only brightening further when he spoke directly to Lucie; so many grownups would roll their eyes at her for chatting with her animals - without the Zoolingual skill it just seemed silly, apparently, but Zel thought that just because an animal was an animal didn't automatically mean they were dumb!
"Hear that, Lucie! And that's coming from another bird," she told the robin sternly. It peeped as if in reply, making her giggle, and she grinned at Quinn again. "I like your phoenix form. Sooo prettyyyyy."
"Eselda."
She turned back to Aura at the sound of her name, beaming at the woman as well. Her grin took a slightly concerned turn; the woman looked a bit... She wasn't sure, exactly, but she could tell Aura was feeling something, and it wasn't one hundred percent positive. And then Aura said her name again, and revealed the truth. Zel's mouth fell open, her eyes growing wide with shock and surprise.
"You're.... You're Aura?! THE Aura?! YOU'RE MY GRANDMA?!" Zel exclaimed. She threw her arms up, accidentally sending Lucie back into the air in the process; the robin looked rather unperturbed by this unceremonious removal from her girl's hand - it had probably happened before, truth be told - but Zel looked quite startled, as if she'd forgotten the bird in her shocked excitement. Lucie took a safe perch - on Quinn - while Zel stared at Aura, her hands still straight up in the air. And then, after an awkward pause, she threw herself towards Aura, apparently quite intent on hugging the woman. It didn't matter to Zel that they'd never met, or that Aura and Poppy had never seemed to have the best of relationships (even a child like her could understand that). Her "long=lost grandma" was right there before her so of course Zel was going to hug her. |