Spiral of Ants

Make Meaning

Nora had taken countless creatures under her care over the past 300 years. Some only needed her help for a few weeks while recovering from something. Others stuck around for a couple years. A handful of times she cared for someone for most of their life.

This was a first, however. Two humans seeking out her help for an oddity child. They had encountered someone Nora had helped get on their feet, and from what Nora heard, practically begged them to ask Nora to help.

She was hesitant to meet up with them. Sure, not all humans were deceptive, but enough were for her to tread lightly. However after hearing about their desperation to protect the oddity child, Nora decided it would be against everything she stood for to not give them the time of day.

So she traveled to the humans home to assess the situation herself.

She came late at night, but they knew what she was. As far as she was concerned, it was a nessisary inconvenience for her assistantace. It took them a moment to answer the door after she rang, but eventually a tired-looking woman opened the door.

"My name is Nora. I was told you wanted to talk to me"

This seemed to instantly wake the woman up, "You actually came- Yes, yes we did. Thank you so much-" she opened the door wider "Come in, come in. We have... no clue what to do"

Nora stepped in, "It's difficult to navigate. Would you mind giving me more information on your situation?"

"Of course, right" The woman, said, leading Nora to the living room "I'm sorry, where are my manners. My name is Becca. David, my husband will probably be down in a minute. Emmy woke up to the doorbell so he's trying to get her back to sleep"

"Emmy is the kid, right?"

"Yes. She's um... I don't know if there's proper terminology for it...? But she has these... deer-like features. I don't know how it happened, she was just... born that way. She was an at-home birth, and David and I agreed that it was best to keep her a secret. It's... been alright. We love her, and she's happy, but we're afraid. We have no clue what the stakes are or if we can hide her forever. I mean, when she grows up, then what? She can't just... go out on her own, can she? When we heard theres others, and that you in particular help people like her we felt like it might be our only chance to give her the best life we can"

"I see. Well, I can start off by saying keeping her a secret was a smart choice. She's lucky, and it seems like you're doing the best you can with what you've been given," Nora said. She could tell this mother was panicking. Unsure of herself and what she was doing. This was normal with motherhood, and undoubtedly worse with a situation this complicated

"Thank you," Becca said, shakily sitting down on the sofa across from Nora "It hasn't been easy, and we've... had a lot of doubt. So thank you"

A man who Nora assumed to be David came in "I got her back to sleep" he said, rubbing his eyes, before his eyes landed on Nora. Becca spoke up "David, this is Nora. I just filled her in on the basics"

His shoulders relaxed a little "Oh thank goodness. We were starting to think we wouldn't hear from you-"

"I considered it. No offence, but I don't usually trust humans.. but this seemed like a worthwhile cause. So how much do you two know about oddities?" Nora asked.

"Not... much," Becca said.

"We ran into another one, She looked human, but she slipped up, and I saw it. I guess she had like... illusion abilities?" David chipped in. "I was able to start a conversation before she ran off, and I told her about Emmy, desperate for... any help. She told me a little about the... bigger scheme of it all. How it's all unpredictable and she had human parents too, that there's... evil people after you guys. Most importantly that you helped her and people like her"

Nora nodded, "That's the Reader's Digest of it, at least. I've been around for a long time, and I do my best to help who I can. Now, I see a handful of options you two have. I have a strong opinion on what would be best for the kid, but I've never worked with someone's parents before. I suppose I'm going to have to leave the choices ultimately up to you, but I want to precursor this with the fact that I have a hundred percent success rate with keeping people alive when under my care. Which you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere else with oddities."