cheated

[mute_pen]

The castle is livable indefinitely. Etty flies over the space around it, but she's not as fast as the Baron was in his owl form, and she can't fly for very long if she's hungry and can pack nothing if she travels as a swan; she doesn't range farther than she can travel in a half-day, and she doesn't find Astgabels or anyone who knows where it is. (Not many people are willing to talk to a girl in a feather dress from out of nowhere, but a few are.) She flies home to Nona after each failed journey. They feast on what appears on the dining table. They snuggle. They pick through the library. Etty writes her thoughts. They sleep, curled up together in Nona's bed.

One morning they wake up together and are lying there in comfortable silence when Etty scoots up and kisses Nona.

Comments

[growcrooked]

"Yes," she says, puzzled. "Of course I had sex with him. He's lovely. You already know how much I like to fuck myself - I thought you didn't like hearing about it, or I would've said something earlier. Why are you upset?"

[mute_pen]

"I thought - that -"

[subtly_artistic]

"Khersis Dei. You cheated on her," says Bella wearily.

[growcrooked]

"What's that mean?" she asks, bewildered and unhappy.

[subtly_artistic]

"You don't know what it - okay," says Bella, putting a hand over her eyes and engaging Explaining Humans Mode in spite of Nona being a human already. "By default, if two humans are being all snuggly and lovey with each other, they don't also have sex with anyone else. If they do it anyway, that's called "cheating". People make different arrangements, sometimes, and obeying the rules of a different arrangement isn't cheating, but apparently you didn't make one with Etty, and the only reason this hasn't bitten you before is because you live in a castle in the middle of nowhere. This is not a small deal; people end decades-long marriages and kill each other over cheating. It is a form of betrayal. The fact that you apparently aren't familiar with the word is probably a mitigating factor."

[growcrooked]

"Oh," says Nona in a small voice.

[mute_pen]

Etty scrunches in towards herself.

"I know I'm being," she murmurs, "slow."

[growcrooked]

"What?" says Nona, mystified again.

[subtly_artistic]

"She thinks you got fed up with waiting for her to have sex with you," translates Bella.

[growcrooked]

"What," says Nona. "No! What? I just - he offered, and I like him. I didn't know it would upset you! I didn't know you'd even have an opinion on it at all, you don't on what I do by myself! I didn't mean to upset you," she sniffles.

[mute_pen]

"When it's yourself it's just - you," murmurs Etty. "Not you and somebody else. I - I guess you didn't know."

[growcrooked]

"I didn't know at all," she says. "I'm sorry."

[mute_pen]

Sigh.

[subtly_artistic]

"...And now I'm wondering to what extent Celo acting like a nymph is because he's actually a nymph. Is monogamy something you could even do?"

[growcrooked]

"I do it really easily when I'm in a castle in the middle of nowhere!" she says, hugging herself.

[pythbox]

She'd have a seriously hard time with it, says Celo. Like maybe dealbreakingly hard. We're a lot alike that way.

[subtly_artistic]

Bella reports this assessment.

[mute_pen]

Etty looks at her knees.

[growcrooked]

Nona hugs herself some more.

[mute_pen]

"I love you," Etty murmurs.

[growcrooked]

"I love you too," she says. "I'm sorry. Is it - will we be okay?"

[mute_pen]

"I need to think."

[subtly_artistic]

Bella has a notebook on her. She flips it to a clean page, hands it over with a pen.

[mute_pen]

Etty takes a moment to figure out the unfamiliar writing utensils, but eventually she's scratching away.

[growcrooked]

Nona curls up on the ground and doesn't say anything.