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Standing underneath the giant tree towering above them, Raine has never felt smaller.
“Eda,” they say nervously, gripping their cowl tight between the crevices of their hands. “Are you sure this is... safe?”
Their knuckles are practically white from how hard they’re squeezing and wrinkling the fabric, and they know that once they let go, it’ll be in dire need of ironing. They bring their hands down to the skirt of their tunic now, continuing the never ending spiral of their anxiety.
“Positive, rainstorm!” Eda beams, climbing up further on the massive, like, absolutely gigantic, seventy something foot tall tree.
They’re deep in this particular neck of the woods, looking for... something, Eda didn’t really say or care to specify. Still, Raine had followed them anyway, half out of concern for their best friend’s safety and the other half just because they’d follow them anywhere.
Besides, they trusted them, and wasn’t that reason enough?
“You gonna come up, slowpoke?” Eda shouts from higher up above, her voice teasing. She doesn’t look afraid in the slightest, enjoying this, even, and Raine gulps. They steal a quick glimpse up at her, then glance back down at the safe, safe, ground, wondering just how their life had come to this.
Their friendship had started with something shaped like a promise that filled the hole in their heart. It was shaped a little something like love, if they were being honest.
But all the love in the world would never be able to erase how the ground had never felt so far away. They weren’t even climbing yet, but they knew they were going to, and they longed for the steadiness of the dirt beneath their feet already.
“I’m a member of the bard track, not the tree-climbing-death-seeking track!” Raine complains, trying to buy themself some time. “I think this should go against the terms and conditions for our friendship.”
“Well, you’re in the Bad Girl Coven track with me now, so make sure to file all your complaints to...” Eda pauses to think, somehow finding the balance to lift up a hand and bring a finger to their chin. “Me! Resident president of the bad girl track. Ooh, that rhymed. Bonus points for me.”
Raine can’t even offer a laugh in return at Eda’s antics, that’s how stressed they are. “Are there any requirements for where to submit the complaints?” they yell back, cupping their hands around their mouth to amplify their voice because Eda is so high up. “I think we’re under a small time constraint here, calamity!”
“Hey, relax. Class isn’t going to start for another...” Eda looks at the demon watch clamped on their wrist- how is she doing that without falling? Raine gapes- “...Negative ten minutes! So… I guess we’re taking the day off,” Eda continues sheepishly. “Well, taking breaks is important, you know! This is good for you!”
“I’m almost certain this is not the definition of a break,” Raine groans, sweat beading at their brow, holding onto the tree trunk for dear life as they try to shift up slowly. They attempt to dig their boots into the bark and propel themself upward, but it’s hard and they’re panicking just a little so that makes it harder.
See, this is why they didn’t sign up for Grudgby. This is why they didn’t climb trees. This is why they were going to fall off and die and Eda was going to be tried for their murder and—
“Rainstorm, I can hear you stressing from all the way up here,” Eda calls down, her voice echoing from where she is on the tree canopy. “You can just make it to the next branch and stay there and wait for me, okay? I’ll just grab the thing and we can go back down together.”
Raine exhales softly in relief and nods in mildly renewed determination. They could do this. One foot up, one hand up, repeat. They could do—
“Raine!” Eda’s yelling, and suddenly they’re falling and the air is rushing in their ears, and oh Titan their hands and feet aren’t on the tree anymore and they’re going to DIE—
Well, there’s a different kind of break.
Right before they meet certain death, a shaking hand reaches down and grasps their wrist tightly, nails digging into their shirtsleeve. Raine can’t even afford a few seconds to catch their breath, so winded and on the verge of passing out.
They force themself to look up, and Eda’s crouched on the branch they meant to get onto, eyebrows furrowing as they try to lift them up.
“Caught you,” Eda says breathlessly, extending their other hand now and pulling them onto the branch with them. Finally on some semblance of solid ground, Raine gulps down air into their lungs shakily.
Eda’s quiet as she waits for Raine to calm themself down from the scare of the fall, her hand a reassuring presence on their back. Raine counts to twenty in their head, then reins their senses back in by doing the trick the healer at school taught them.
Sight: the bright orange of Eda’s hair and the worried shine of their eyes, looking at them with such care it made their heart ache.
Smell: the fresh scent of the woods, mixed with the… Raine scrunches up their nose in disgust as they register the following- Was that a skunk?
Touch: Eda’s hand on their back, steadily rubbing circles they can match the pace of their ragged breathing to. The rough bark of the tree, enough to dig into their skin a bit, but not enough to bother them. Not after that fall.
Hearing: the chirp of birds in the distance, singing discordant melodies that had no pattern at all. It’s reassuring, in a way- they don’t need a reason to sing, or to be good at it. Raine almost feels jealous.
Taste: the blood on their lips from when they bit down on their tongue in sharp, paralyzed fear, the metallic flavor finding its way into the corners of their mouth.
With their senses regained, oxygen in their system, and only a half-racing heart left to show for their fall, they gaze at Eda, eyes widening in realization.
“Eda, your thing!” they manage to gasp out. “It was important, and you were almost at the top, and you came down to catch me… now you’re going to have to go all the way back up to get it!”
“Nothing is as important as you,” Eda says softly, earnestly, and Raine would be lying if they said their heart didn’t skip a beat at that.
Eda hops down from the tree, then, holding out her arms for them to fall into, and they hesitate before jumping down into them. Eda’s arms are warm, clutching them protectively, and Raine does their best not to blush from the close contact. They step out of her grasp and scratch at the back of their neck gingerly, a little flustered from Eda’s words and how close they just were.
“You’re, uh. Important to me too, calamity,” they stumble, words tripping over each other. Almost as clumsy as they were when they fell.
“I wasn’t just going to let my best friend fall to the ground like that,” Eda grins. “But I didn’t forget about the thing! Just stay safe on the ground, and I’ll be back in a second.”
With that, they start running towards the tree, climbing up the trunk with practiced ease and grabbing a branch to swing themself upwards. Raine watches, starstruck, as Eda makes their way up the branches, higher and higher, almost impossibly so, until—
“Got it!” Eda yells from the top of the tree, holding their hand above their head like they’ve just won a tough Grudgby match against Glandus and the object is their prize.
Raine squints, curious about the unknown object Eda’s gripping in her hand, but Eda’s too high up for them to be able to tell. And before they know it, Eda’s swinging down, smoothly jumping from one branch to the other like they’ve been doing this for their entire life. Who knew? Maybe they had.
“Miss me?” Eda says triumphantly, panting for breath once she lands. Her hair is all over the place, ruffled up and coated in a layer of dust and twigs. A few stray leaves have found their way in as well, and Raine lifts a hand to brush Eda’s hair back into place, maximizing their effort to shake out all the dirt.
“Yes, actually,” they reply, matter-of-factly. “I’m thrilled that you’re back on the ground, where it’s steady, and you won’t get hurt.”
It was true- while it was infinitely relieving to feel the ground steady under their feet again, there was another sort of steadiness they felt when they were with Eda. It was a sense of peace that they didn’t feel with anyone else, and they hoped Eda was able to feel the same with them.
“Hey, I’m plenty capable of getting hurt on the ground, too!” Eda huffs, twisting their arm and lifting their sleeve to show Raine a myriad of assorted scars and scratches as proof.
“You’re a menace, calamity,” Raine laughs, shaking their head.
“You know it,” Eda smiles winningly. “Now, are you going to ask what’s in my hand, or am I going to have to do all the hard work by myself?”
Raine’s eyes get comically wide at the challenge. “I’m asking,” they say decisively, lunging and swiping for the object in Eda’s hand.
Eda darts away instantly, always too fast for Raine to catch. “Too late!”
A giggle punctuates the end of her sentence, and she takes off, dashing between the trees, the sound of her laughter echoing as she runs. Raine can’t imagine a time when the two of them would be any less happy than this, and they hope beyond hope that they’ll never have to.
But the future would have its own turn in due time, whether it brought joy or misery or anything in between. Now, it was just Raine and Eda, Eda and Raine, and they were chasing each other through the woods, running just fast enough to shed all their troubles behind them.
Eventually, Eda slows down, hands bent on their knees as they pant and catch their breath. Raine stops next to her, and for the moment it’s just them, trying to get back into sync.
“Okay, rainstorm,” Eda says at last, straightening. “Let’s make a deal. The surprise is in one of my two hands—” Eda makes a show of shifting her hands behind her back, moving the object from one hand to another. “If you get it, I’ll give it to you. If not… well, you better start running.”
Raine rolls their eyes at the empty threat, unafraid. Then their gaze flickers from one hand to another, and they look back up into Eda’s eyes for any hint at all. (Eda doesn’t give anything away, as expected.)
“I accept your challenge,” they concede. After a moment’s thought, they touch Eda’s left hand, letting their own hand linger for a second longer than they normally would. “This one.”
Eda smirks devilishly, letting their hand fall open to show… nothing.
“Wrong!” they announce, not bothering to hide the glee in their voice. “I’ll tell you a secret, though. I was lying.” At Raine’s visible confusion, they continue: “About not showing you if you guessed wrong! It’s your present, I can hardly keep it away from you, can I?”
Before Raine can even process the implications of Eda climbing a giant tree to get a present for them, Eda unfurls her other hand.
“Look! It’s a rock!” Eda says proudly, offering it to them. Raine picks it up carefully, turning it around in their fingers from side to side. It catches the afternoon light from every angle, shining in a hundred different ways.
“It’s beautiful,” Raine murmurs, their whisper full of awe. “Where did you find it?”
“You’re right, it is beautiful!” Eda says cheerily. “It was my all time favorite rock, except now it’s yours, so it’s your all time favorite rock!”
Eda bounces from one foot to another, waiting further for Raine’s reaction. They don’t know what to say, really. This was Eda’s favorite rock, and now they were giving it to them, and did they even deserve this? The honor of having something that their best friend loved so much… it was too much to comprehend at once.
“Thank you,” is all Raine manages to say. “But if it’s your favorite, then—”
Eda cuts them off immediately. “I found this rock two years ago, way before I met you at Hexside. Lilith was the best sister I could ever hope for, but I had always, always, always wanted a best friend. So I told myself I would hide this somewhere where I would be able to find it, and I’d come back when I had a best friend. And now I do, and it was absolutely worth the wait, don’t you think?”
Raine can’t agree more. They’re so lucky to have Eda in their life, to know her at all, and they’d like for the two of them to stay for as long as they can.
Eda smiles at them and holds out her hand to take theirs, a thousand hopes and promises and memories contained in that single gesture.
“So it’s your rock now,” she says happily, “And you’re not allowed to argue with me about it. Because as long as you have that rock, it means we’re the bestest best friends ever. And forever, by the way.”
“Forever sounds pretty good to me,” Raine replies, a matching smile on their face. With one hand clasped in Eda’s, and the other holding the rock, they can’t imagine anything less.