Trinity~A Raven and Snakes story

Undercroft bonding

Iris was repeatedly chanting in her head, "just going to go get some more dueling practice, not a big deal", again and again in her head ever since she got the owl from Sebastian. She had only been to the Undercroft once, and that had NOT gone over well with Ominis. She was nervous about being alone with Sebastian, and nervous about Ominis being upset if he heard she had returned.

She was hoping to be able to act confident and knowledgeable about dueling, and not like one of the many female admirers that Sebastian had. She honestly didn't think he even knew they followed his every move so closely. Good hair, easy manners and trouble maker vibes is like catnip for girls. She honestly knew she needed to give it a rest when it came to Sebastian. She had so much already on her plate as is with catching up on school, and all the mysteries that kept popping up all around her. "He is just a side quest" she told herself to feel better.

Upon entering the Undercroft, she was surprised to see both Ominis and Sebastian already both firing spells all over the room. She suddenly felt like running the other way, worried that Ominis would be upset she was there.

Ominis however, had heard her enter over the spells. He cocked his head towards her and said "Welcome to the Undercroft Iris" he said smoothly.

Iris let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding in and smiled brightly. "Thank you boys, for inviting me, I hope that I am able to help keep things interesting" she answered, hoping it came off more cavalier than she felt inside.

Ominis chuckled again and responded, "oh I expect you to help me gang up on this boisterous oaf". He glanced at Sebastian who was mumbling something about thinking that would be an unfair arrangement.

Iris laughed out loud and responded, "you are on". They proceeded to fall into a somewhat natural rhythm of trying to outdo Sebastian's spells. Iris found the whole encounter surprisingly enjoyable.

Sebastian was openly complaining about how unfair this was now, but his huge smile said otherwise. He looked at Ominis and they shared a knowing look.

Iris made note of the look and began puzzling what it could mean. While the boys were exchanging verbal barbs, Iris pulled back. She watched them, and as Sebastian looked over his shoulder and asked her to please help him correct Ominis, that he was right instead; she realized that they had been missing their third member to their trio with Anne out of school.

Her heart softened and her nerves subsided. This was something she could help with. She walked up and joined right in on the teasing.

After a while, Ominis went and sat on a small bench they had created using a piece of wood between two barrels. Sebastian began describing a new spell he learned and asked Iris to sit by Ominis so he could show them his technique.

The bench was small so she ended up sitting leg to leg with Ominous. She turned her head to the side to get a closer look at what Sebastian was showing them. Some of her hair swung close to Ominis and he immediately sat straight up as if something startled him. Iris noticed and asked him if he was ok.

Ominis made a thoughtful expression and said, "forgive me, being blind, my other senses are quite heightened. Your scent is familiar to me, I'm trying to place it".

Iris was worried for a second, got self conscious, but then realized that this was the way Ominis "saw" the world. She gently leaned it so gently could take a deeper inhale of her smell. He looked at her closely, and she could see his expression soften by her gesture. He took a deep inhale and then he smiled.

Ominis informed her, "I've danced with you before, I can't recall the age, but I recall that you were the only person that was kind to me that whole evening". He continued, "you smell of traces of wildflowers, vanilla and rain covered meadows".

Iris was touched, and didn't quite know how to respond in a way that wouldn't show how his words affected her. She looked between the boys and decided to be honest. She let the emotion stay in her voice and she timidly responded, "you were the only one who kind to me that whole night too, I remember the night well".

He nodded in understanding, unspoken between them that those events were awful, especially for the kindhearted.

"Are you two even listening to me AT ALL??? I am sharing valuable lessons here!" Sebastian yelled out to them.

Ominis and Iris began laughing and that made Sebastian even him more irritable. Ominis stood up and walked over to him and whispered something to him. Ominis rubbed his back lightly and said, "give us another shot, teach away".

Ominis returned and whispered, "I already know this spell. He just seems so excited to show us". Iris giggled and responded, "same".

They sat and watched Sebastian show them the spell. Iris leaned over and told Ominis, "he is different around you. So much happier and you are good to him". She continued, "I am glad he has you, and it's obvious to me how special you are to him".

Ominis looked like he was struggling with words. He started and stopped to form a response twice, but then ended up just shyly smiling. Iris thought, "he doesn't need to say anything, that look said it all."

"Thanks for showing us Sebastian, shouldn't we go take turns actually dueling now?", Iris yelled out. Sebastian agreed and responded, "me and Ominis first, you need to see what a beast this guy is in a fight, Abbott".

As they were walking back through the castle, Sebastian grabbed her hand and pulled her back a bit. "Thank you for tonight, thank you for making friends with Ominis, this means a lot to me".

Iris smiled back and said "of course, I know HE means a lot to you", and winked at him. Sebastian blushed a bit and gave her hand a quick squeeze. She bid them goodnight and headed towards her common room.

Sebastian rejoined with Ominis, "glad you are beginning to trust her, I told you we could". Ominis haughtily responded, "Sebastian, I trust her completely at this point, I just needed to smell her, now I know she dislikes pure blood beliefs", Sebastian looked at Ominis, jaw dropped.

"That's all it takes? You are so weird Om!?". Laughing, the boys returned to their common room.