Reflections of Stars

The park

Nyx pushed the pram along the path, as the twilight grew dark around her.
Inside the pram, Abigail watched the world go past, smiling toothily and gurgling away in baby language. Nyx smiled happily at her.
"You like going to the park, don't you? You like the pond with all the ducks and you like watching the children in the play area and you like wailing at the ice-cream van until I buy one to share. And look, here we are, just around this corner..."

Nyx stopped dead in her tracks.

Ahead of her, in the middle of the park Nyx could see the one woman she didn't particularly feel like encountering.
Lady Mater.
And she wasn't alone.

She was talking to a tall, hooded figure dressed in black. Who it was, Nyx couldn't see.
But Lady Mater did not look happy.
In fact, if they weren't in a public place, Nyx bet she would have been yelling.
Nyx stood in the pathway, slightly hidden behind a bush. She was torn between leaving to avoid Mater, which meant missing out taking Abby to the park (Which the baby would never forgive- she tended to hold grudges when things didn't go her way.) Or the other option, which was go into the park and possibly end up facing Lady Mater.

Lady Mater had been acting all weird around Nyx lately. The few times they'd seen each other she'd been over apologetic and humble. But that wasn't the bit Nyx had issues with. It was the far away, almost longing look she had in her eyes whenever she looked at Nyx.
Rachel was also being weird, particularly towards Lady Mater, but somehow Nyx could deal with that. Probably because she didn't come across as the real life depiction of Severus Snape's daughter.

A slap resonated through the air from the pair in the park.
That made up Nyx's mind.
"Sorry, Abby, we'll come back another day. Let's go home and see if there's ice cream in the freezer."