The Orb And The Onslaught {COMPLETE}

hhhS sihT roF dlO ooT

     Florence snorted, shifting in her wet clothes, that seemed to be drying unbelievably quickly.

"Not even close. So, you mean to tell me that this was your plan? To find me in my eighties and recruit me for a dangerous quest? To not even tell me, just make me follow stupid clues and almost get killed multiple times? To put me through the mill again and again, when you could have just brought me straight here?"

    Nathan was shaking his head, "No, we couldn't tell you before now because we couldn't speak until we arrived on the island. And no, we didn't know that would happen. When we set the clues, they were designed for the Chosen One and them alone. We didn't know at that time who would follow them or that we would become so closely involved with said person. We were never supposed to reveal ourselves to you in the first place, to stay impartial but... things changed."

     Florence caught Nathan's hesitance and she narrowed her eyes, "What changed? Because I have to admit it's upsetting to hear you weren't even going to bother with me at all. Were you forced into it?"

Florence didn't want to get emotional, she needed a clear head for what was to come. But hearing that she might never have met the cats was hard, though thinking of them as just cats now was even harder.

      Nathan frowned, which looked almost comical on his cat features. "We weren't forced into anything, we had been watching you for some time before we actually met. To make sure you were exactly who we wanted and we could lie in wait until the Orb resurfaced and brough about the inevitable return of Onslaught. But... events happened in your life that changed our plans to stay away."

"And what was that?" Florence asked, unsure what would change their minds so suddenly.

    "Bernard's passing..." Nathan said gently. "You came home from the hospital and you broke down, you were alone in that big house and though you were strong, this looked as though it would break you. We decided in this state you wouldn't be strong enough to go on the quest; that is if you didn't die of a broken heart first. You needed some comfort, or maybe we did, seeing you like that was tough for us, too.

     "We'd grown quite fond of you without realising it, so when a reason to meet you came up we jumped at it. And that's how we came to be in your garden and why we haven't left you since. You may be a fair few years younger than us, but you've cared for us like a mother and we'll always be grateful to you for that."

    Florence was lost for words, she didn't bother to hide the tears that fell. She stared open mouthed at Nathan for the longest time. Bernard's passing had been one of the hardest times in her life; she couldn't have said what kind of person she'd be had it not been for the three of them turning up. They had given her a distraction of sorts, but they had also been company when she thought she didn't need any. They were her family, regardless of who or what they were before.

     When she tried to convey these thoughts to Nathan, they became jumbled and nonsensical, however he seemed to get it.

"I understand and I swear, if we could have told you all of this sooner then we would have. We tried many, many times but the words wouldn't come out, I assume being back here has triggered some kind of magikal communication breakthrough."

    Florence shrugged, "It would have made things a lot easier, those clues were very complicated. I still don't understand a few things though, like how did you know where Skyrah would be? And the burning of Blackford? Or about Quentin knowing how to use the old style computer? You said you didn't know who would end up on this quest when you set things up."

    Nathan half smiled, making him look like he was about to sneeze, "We didn't at the time but we've been around since then. We've been able to monitor the situation as it unfolded, make sure things went exactly as they needed to. We have friends to help us, acquaintances who followed instructions given to them long ago."