Archive of Our Own ^beta

After Luz left for the library, King in tow, Eda was left feeling like the house was oddly empty.

Sure, Hooty was there. And Lilith….

Well, Lilith had gone back to their parents the night before.

Which might actually explain it.

Though it did kind of surprise her. Had she really gotten used to having Lilith around?

Lilith had only been living with her for a little over a month now. It seemed a bit silly almost.

Though, she already knew the answer to that question.

Which was yes.

Eda was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of noise outside. Hooty being  the one who alerted Eda to a visitor the following afternoon.

“Lulu, your back!”

“Hootcifer, I am glad to see you as well, but I need you to be slightly quieter.”

“That was fast.” Eda said, poking her head out. “I thought you would last a bit longer at Mom’s place.”

It’s half teasing, half concerned. Why was Lilith back already? It hadn’t even been a day.

Though, she has a suspicion by the way Lilith is leaning forward slightly. Aches and pains after a transformation were commonplace.

And Titan, had Lilith’s cursed form been big.

Ah, the joys of post transformation.

“Please tell me you have some elixir for the pain.”

“Mom out of pain potions?”

Though, really the non-prescription stuff wouldn’t do much in their case. Lilith was going to need something stronger.

Which might have been why she came by in the first place.

“She tried to shove healing crystals on me.”

That...actually lined up with their mother more than Eda wanted to admit. 

Looks like the curse cure wasn’t the only bad thing they needed to get their mother to kick.

“Well, guess it was too much to hope for Mom to completely drop the all natural stuff overnight.” Eda said massaging the bridge of her nose. “Come on inside. And give me a second and I’ll be back with my usual batch.”

Years of managing the curse meant that the elixir wasn’t the only trick she used to help deal with it. She knew what best worked to deal with the aches and pains that came with it. 

“Thank you.” Lilith said, slipping into the kitchen. 

As Eda started pulling some vials from her stock. Been a while since she had needed them. But she usually only needed them after a full transformation. So thankfully, she wasn’t short on hand. Before finally plopping three vials down in front of Lilith.

“Now, these will taste disgusting on the way down. But give them a half hour and you’ll be feeling a whole lot better.”

“Thank you, Eda. I would have asked last night but…”

“Didn’t expect Mom to not have anything to help.”

“Pretty much.”

“Yeah, well she’s been on this kick since she found out I was cursed. So I can’t say I’m surprised.”

“I am so sorry.”

“You can’t control Mom, Lily.”

“Not about that.”

Eda lets out a sigh. Not fully sure what to say anymore when this comes up.

Sure, she wasn’t happy about the situation. But didn’t Luz like to say Misery loves company? And well, they were both miserable with the curse.

So at this point, it felt almost redundant to drag Lilith too much about the curse. Especially considering yesterday.

That didn’t mean she was always happy about it.

But there was a time and a place to drag. And now wasn’t it.

“Also, you might want to hide them from Mom.” Eda says, finally deciding to opt to change topics.

Lilith gave her a confused look at that. “Why?”

“Well, just because she’s finally accepted the curse, doesn’t mean she might not try to lecture you on taking other potions.”

Titan knows her teenage years could have been a lot less painful. For a while, she had gotten by on human pain meds, which by some Titan miracle had worked.

Until she had been old enough to go to the healers on her own.

Not that it had stopped other problems…

Lilith winced at that. “I hadn’t considered that. How bad was it...”

“Back when I was a teen? Lets just say I relied on human pain meds for a bit.” Thank the Titan those had worked on witch biology. “Until I got tired of fighting Mom about my treatment and moved out.”

Lilith let out a groan at that. “Maybe she’ll change?” She suggested weakly.

“Maybe.” Eda agreed.

Though, both aren’t very hopeful about it.

“You know you could just keep staying here and go visit Mom. It’s not that long of a flight home. And you don’t have to deal with Mom trying to hide the good stuff.”

Or anything else she might pull.

Eda was not kidding when she said her mother had a history. And not a good one. When it comes to natural healing techniques.

“Would she really try to do that?”

“Let's just say moving out wasn’t my first choice.”

Lilith winced at that.

“I’m not sure if you would want me around after yesterday.” Lilith said, finally breaking the silence after a moment.

“What because of the transformation?” Eda asked, quivering an eyebrow.

“Because I attacked you.”

“And whose fault was that?”

“Mine?” Lilith asked uncertainly.

“No, Mom’s. She’s the one that hid the dang elixir to begin with.”

Lilith relaxed a little bit at that. “I suppose that is true.”

Eda let out a long sigh at that. “Lily, something I had to learn a long time ago is you can’t do much about what happens when the beast takes over. Only repair the damage when it's all said and done. Otherwise it becomes a self fulfilling cycle.”

“I still don't quite understand.”

“Remember how I told you the curse feeds on stress?”

“...yes?”

“Well, if you think and worry about what happens every single time you might transform, it builds up the stress. And makes it worse. Thus a cycle.”

“Oh.”

Eda’s not sure she likes the look of dawning realization on Lilith’s face.

And she likes even less what Lilith starts to say next. “Wait, does that mean before the duel-”

Oh boy, better cut off where she was pretty sure Lilith was going with that.

Even if it, unfortunately, definitely had a dose of truth to it. That the curse getting worse and the stress from the raids probably did at least go hand and hand.

Lilith had enough issues without confirming that.

“Lily, don't worry about it.”

“But-”

“Just trust me. What’s done is done at this point. It will only make things worse if we linger on the what ifs and has been.”

Lilith looked doubtful for a moment. But thankfully does drop it at that point.

“Also, keep in mind. I’m still the only one who really knows how to really manage it.”

Their mother’s information on the curse was based on one off quick interactions over the past years. And outdated information. 

So that left Eda with still the most knowledge.

“You really would not mind me staying?” Lilith asks, after a moment.

“Of course, I wasn’t kidding when I said I wanted to reconnect when you moved in.”

Eda might not say it, but she might have also been slightly disappointed when Lilith had decided to move back in with their parents. It felt like she had just got her sister back. And she was going away again.

Even if she really wasn’t going far away, it was a bit of a silly sentiment. 

“Well, I will have to pack my things back up. But I should be back by nightfall.”

Barring any arguments with their mother, they both supposed.

“Yeah, probably don’t tell Mom all of why you're coming back here.”

That definitely would not go well.

“And welcome back to the house, sis.”

“It’s good to be back.”

Even if she had only been gone for less than a day.

“Oh, make sure to tell Hooty on the way out. So he doesn’t turn into a sobbing mess again.”

“Will do.”

Eda watched Lilith go back outside again, knowing exactly when Lilith told Hooty the news, since the excited yelling restarted.

Yeah, this felt just about right.