Florence cocked an eyebrow at the dismissive response she got from Xevon, watching his dark wings vanish into the house. Her eyes narrowed at the feathers until she heard Callisto’s shuffled steps and it snapped her eyes back over to see him staring right back up at her.

Callisto’s own gaze was narrowed into thin slits, trying to gauge just what the woman was looking so closely at. He didn’t want to linger outside, not when he could hear the others talking, he slipped inside and tried to push the weird look that Florence was giving Xevon to the back of his mind. If she had hurt or abandoned the others, then there would be hell to pay, but for the time being she could brood up there all she liked.

He blinked repeatedly at the sound of his own name, looking between Xevon and Renissa in vague confusion before he processed what he had been asked. With a short wave of his hand and a small smile to the woman.

“I am just fine, thank you.”

Renissa returned his smile with a strained one of her own before her attention was brought to the taller man as he made his request. Her face etching with concern as he explained this woman’s injury to her.

“Eyes are nasty business.” She nodded, turning back to the kitchen. This felt right. Being in her home, where she knew her place and what she was good at. Yes, this was good.

“You say injured, how so? How fresh?” All key components to creating the best concoction to aid this woman, whom she assumed she would meet soon enough. These two seemed nice, hopefully they all were. She liked them. It was nice to have been found by them.

Renissa let out another sound, similar to a hum as she debated what she was going to do. There was still very little information.

“She is blind..” Her head tipped back as she searched the cupboards high above her head, sorting through the tinctures in tiny glass bottles. Each labelled with a hand written paper tag. “Does she still possess her eye? Or is it gone completely?” She pushed, hiking herself up onto her toes to reach towards some vials and cradled them as she brought them down to the kitchen counter.

“I will be able to make something for your friend, to help with any lingering ache.” Renissa gave a small knowling glance over her shoulder towards Xevon. This tall man seemed to have more pain beneath his skin than the other one, the pale one looked frail and sickly but there was something following the dark haired one.

–

Lily frowned lightly at Onas.

“You won’t know if she hates you until you see her.” Then her eyes were brought over towards Xevon and she felt a lighter feeling in her chest, they were back and seemed safe at the cottage. That was a relief.

What was not a relief, was Florence who was sat on the roof. Watching them approach. Lily’s muscles tensed up in apprehension, would the pair start arguing again? If it happened again, Xevon would get involved and then Callisto. It would be a mess. Then the thought struck her.

Did Xevon and Callisto know about Florence? Had she flown back to tell them before they had the chance? Lily didn’t think so. Not from the way she was sitting so casually on the house, the lack of tension in Xevon as he stood there waiting. They didn’t know.

"The eye is still there," Xevon confirmed. "But as far as I know she is blind in it. Not all the way, she still can see through the other eye--" he paused as she glanced back at him. He knew that look... and he didn't appreciate it. It had him feeling... broken.

"I think they're coming," he said, slipping out the door, standing at the gate. One. Two. Three... four. They were all there--including the brooding brat on the roof.

Finn's eyes narrowed slightly as he spotted Florence on the roof. "Oh look, if it isn't a coward," he muttered to Lily, "sure, leave the moment we actually get to doing something useful."

Alma looked back at him but stepped forward as Xevon opened the gate. "Renissa is back," he said briefly, looking down toward Onas.

The man looked up in return, almost... astounded at the size of the man. Xevon's broad shoulders came up to about the chin of the former god, his shoulders squared--a thick build to him while Onas was thin.

He had the potential to be large as well but Xevon had the height.

"You..."

"This is Xevon," Alma responded to Onas's unspoken question.

Onas scanned him with golden eyes. "... and you needed to bring me back why? You've got a warrior right there...?"

"I'm no warrior anymore," Xevon said briefly, his voice dry and low. "Renissa has tea inside."

Finn glanced toward Lily and then to Xevon. "Yeah, so do we. We have a lot of tea--"

Renissa had been nodding along to what was being said; she gathered up her items and placed them neatly beside a pestle and mortar. This was right, she knew how to make these, how to help people. She was good at that.

Her head rose up at the mention that more people were coming, she hadn’t seen so many people in one place for years. Her eyes scanned over the newcomers as she walked away from the kitchen to poke her head out the door, a slightly misty expression on her features. She had to lean around Xevon to see who he was looking at, her eyes brightened at the sight of Onas.

Renissa quickly stumbled out from behind Xevon, an excited smile on her lips as she moved towards the other god.

“Onas! Where have you been?” She questioned, letting her excitement fade into concern as she took in his condition. “What happened to you?”

Callisto was too occupied with the words that had slipped from Finntello, what on earth was this man on about.

“You found…tea? Where is it?” He questioned, raising an eyebrow as he surveyed the taller man closely. They weren’t carrying anything, the confusion was blatant on his face.

Florence remained where she was, she had caught the look from Finntello as he made his approach, but she didn’t react. She was waiting for him to expose her heritage, at least if she was on the roof she could make a hasty escape if Xevon were to turn on her. That and the cats would take too long to clamber up onto the cottage roof. At least, that was her theory.

Lily looked between Finn and Callisto before shaking her head lightly. “He’s talking about..information, Callisto.” Which made his expression only more bewildered. What was the correlation between tea and information? These people were so strange.

“Right…” He murmured, letting his eyes move back towards Xevon.