His Dark Materials

Chapter 7

Lyra frowned, she wasn't supposed to touch another humans daemon, though she never truly understood why. Besides, she looked at her mother, she was in no fit shape to look after anyone but herself. Lyra nodded and held them close, trying to keep her own injuries hidden. She saw Mrs Coulter fall to the floor but she deeply ignored it. Not wanting to make her feel weak. Lyra, as soon as they were both on, put her head against her mother's shoulder, trying not to fall asleep. She just wanted to go home, with a bath, though she knew every single cut and scratch on her body would hurt. She clenched her jaw, focusing on ahead. "mother... You.. You're hurt..." for some reason, she couldn't exactly put her finger on it, she trusted her, felt bad for her. "shouldn't we rest in the town for tonight?" she asked. "what about the witches?" she'd been walking around the magestirium long enough, she'd heard a few whispers of seraphina. "ma..." she shuddered, stroking oz slowly, comforting him, and she was glad, to see that Mrs Coulter didn't reject it.

mrs coulter’s heart ached every time lyra called her ‘mother’, she also had to agree with her daughter on this, they were both seriously injured and they won’t be able to get any further in this condition. lyra was very exhausted and marisa, as her mother was the one who needed to provide comfort for the girl. so she changed directions and dove to the nearest village. it was still way up north, far from their home at london.., but it was their only choice, they had to spend a night at one of the hotels and tomorrow morning she’ll book the tickets for an airship to get home. she was hurt and weakened but so was her daughter so she didn’t want lyra to worry about her. “lyra, i’ll be fine, hold on” they reached the village and its atmosphere wasn’t.. pleasurable, these grey colors and the slight sadness it held within did not spoke to her pleasures at all, the place was a complete dump.., yet frankly they had no other choice than to stay. lyra’s mother got off from the snowbike and offered lyra to take her hand. they both left the transport behind and walked down the empty streets of decay, something about this place just seemed so off, that caused her grip on lyra tighten, she was enfolding the girl very closely to her breasts as they practically stumbled into a freaky, quite suspicious hotel. this place looked as if it was abandoned but there were some golden lights that shone trough its dusty windows. she noticed a sleeping, snoring man sitting across the front desk, he looked like an untidy pirate. such laziness, he was supposed be awake, waiting and receiving bookings from travelers. “hmm..” she whispered and gently shaked the creepy old man’s shoulders, meanwhile still holding lyra close to her body with one arm.

Lyra was glad Marisa listened, she didn't know what she'd do to help her mother if her condition worsened or she passed out. At this moment, she didn't care if her mother's coat was covered in at least three sets of blood, she was so warm, it was right about what they say, skin on skin contact did work. If it was up to her right now, lyra would have closed her eyes and snuggled into her mother's chest, getting as close to her as possible, but she needed to see, they were both injured, so as long as they were in a room, she truly could then relax. Lyra flinched when the man groaned suddenly and sat up quickly, she buried her head into her mother's breast, still slightly traumatized by tonight's events, she subconsciously grabbed onto marisas shirt tighter, knowing her side was hurt she was careful. The man didn't look pleased or unpleased by their presence, he simply handed them a key, and went back to sleep, lyra tried not to sob but she was failing, trying to keep the tears in were hard, she wished that she could be a little bit stronger.

mrs coulter sighed in relief when she noticed the man was not paying them any attention whatsoever, for they were both almost completely soaked in blood. she murmured an unpleasant ‘thank you’ and grabbed the key. lyra and her mother made their way upstairs to their room as quickly as possible. she was silently praying to the authority there was some soap and hot water. ozymandias immediately jumped down from lyra’s hands to the old, wooden bed and laid pantalaimon down on the soft, dark green blanket that was placed onto the bed. mrs coulter shut the door behind them and her first movement of instinct and exhaustion was to slip down on the cold floor. her back was now resting against the wall, she kept looking into her daughter’s eyes, giving her a tiny smile. the woman was too drowsy and couldn’t give lyra any words of comfort or love, mrs coulter knew lyra understood that very well but she still felt guilty about it. for she owed lyra at least one thousand explanations. oz however went to sleep next to pan, she knew he was glad to have the girl and her daemon back, now he had no doubts about lyra staying with his human.