#this is getting too long I’ll stop 4now

[solargeist]

I’m thinking more abt the Xelqua stuff , this is quickly becoming incomprehensible to anyone but me, but anyway, weird one shot AU of grian being a strange kid found by young watchers in training

-Aether and Flora find little Grian while on a Watcher challenge/task/whatever in a magic forest. He looks like 5 years old and doesn’t know his age. Flora says to leave him, these woods are dangerous so it’s probably a trap, Aether says look at him he doesn’t even have shoes.

-They bring Grian along, mostly carrying him, he seems content with this, but doesn’t rly explain what he’s doing here.

-they all sleep in a small hollow dead tree, Grian tucked away in the back of it. It’s not easy sleeping in a small space with a child, especially when you have wings and he keeps stepping on them

-they have eggs for breakfast. Grian doesn’t like them, so he points out you can eat these glowing mushrooms growing here, and he takes a bite before anyone can say anything. Aether almost has a heart attack and makes him spit it out, he says it’s fine because he’s eaten them before.

-they ask him who his patron is, he proudly exclaims its Xelqua, the saint that leaves destruction, the one almost forgotten abt. The child’s confidence is exactly like you’d expect from Xelqua

-when it rains, he cries and tucks himself under Aether’s wings, he really hates lightning, he says people die when there’s lightning, but doesn’t go any further into that. Waiting out a storm in a hollow tree also sucks, so much.

-When they eat meals, Aether has to repeatedly remind Grian to sit still and not wander off, saying ‘Ah’ when she wants him to turn his attention back and take a bite of food. Flora says that’s gross, sharing a fork, and Aether reminds her they’ve done the same thing before, but Flora says thats different.

-One day the three get cornered by a large creature, it’s mouth snapping at them as their legs kick and hold the jaw back, neither have a moment paused enough to try and fight, stuck on defence in a small corner. Grian—far too happy sounding—loudly states he’ll handle it, he points a small finger at the beast, and a thin purple line appears, shooting directly between its eyes. Portal magic, this young ? A tiny strip of brain teleported to who knows where, in an instance, to the sound of breaking glass. The creature drops dead, pouring blood. Aether and Flora stare at each other, Grian eagerly waits to be told good job.

-Aether and Grian pray before meals, to different saints. Flora does not

-Grian sees Flora fishing one day, he tells her there’s a better way, she tells him to go away he’ll scare them off. Grian sits by the edge of the water, wide eyed with his hand hovering above the surface. He quickly stabs down and pulls out a fish, fingers digging into it and eyes faintly purple, but he looks back and smiles widely waiting for approval.

-They walk past little saint statues at the bed of trees, so small they blend in with the mushrooms, Xelquas not there so Grian doesn’t care

-Aether and Flora get lost, they have a vague Watcher challenge to find a building in these woods, but the trees are too tall, too thick, they can’t fly and look around. They ask if Grian could possibly draw a map, he lives here right? He draws a straight line in the mud and doesnt elaborate.