"Matilda?" Rain chewed her lip. "Isn't that the name of your great aunt who emigrated from Australia to live in North America to marry Crazy Uncle Abner?"
Noble's expression relaxed, and she raised an eyebrow. "How did you… never mind. While I am impressed at your knowledge of our family history, I was meaning a more recent usage of the name."
The mother indicated the shard Rain was holding in her lap. The girl brought it and the note back onto the fresh tablecloth. Noble glanced at the unsteady handwriting with a frown.
"Have you ever seen or heard anything strange while out on a hunt?"
Rain chuckled. "You'll have to be more specific."
Noble nodded.
"Have you seen or heard signs of someone beyond yourself out there?"
"Someone?" Rain repeated. "I have never run into anyone named Matilda either here in Ravenheart or in the wilderness."
The girl's emotions spiked as she struggled to maintain a neutral expression.
'Ah, she is worried that I'm after Sunny…'
Noble hadn't meant to put Rain on the spot. Sunny had been kept a secret for so long, but any hint of him still made the girl nervous—perhaps more nervous due to the length of the deception.
Fortunately for Rain, Noble wasn't after the Saint that lived in her daughter's shadow.
"Whoever returned that shard thinks it belongs to you. Did you leave one behind recently?" Noble felt Rain's emotions recede, much to her relief.
The girl thought for a moment.
"I had an encounter about a week ago where I had to abandon a kill. I tried to return later, but it was gone. I assumed it was eaten by the other creature."
"Did you see the other creature?" Noble paused as their food arrived. "Was it large or small?"
Rain shook her head. "I didn't see it at all. My tea—intuition told me to get out of there, so I fled."
Noble glanced at Rain's shadow, who seemed to want to face palm at her slip-up.
This line of questioning was not going to get Noble the answers she sought. Using her fork, she smashed her small potatoes together and dragged the tines of her fork through them in a series of lines.
"Have you seen tracks like these before?"
Rain was confused by the question until she looked down at the plate. Her eyes widened in surprise.
"Where did you see those?"
"They were around where that shard and note were left behind." Noble was no artist, but the lines were clear enough for Rain to nod.
"I see them occasionally when I hunt down on the ash plains. I've tried tracking them a few times, but they often lead to dead ends or cliffs. I caught sight of the owner of them once, though."
"You did?" The mother pulled back her plate and began to eat.
"It was a cute little thing. It looked a bit like a… squirrel? Anyway, it didn't attack. It tilted its furry little head, sniffed the air, snorted, then scurried away."
Rain took a bite of food and enjoyed the depth of flavor of the gravy with an appreciative hum.
"I'm not the only one who has seen it either. When I was poking around the bounty board the other day, I overheard a couple of Awakened mention seeing it in the wild, too."
This was news to Noble. She hadn't been back long enough to get all the gossip, and even then, the professor didn't exactly frequent the same circles as the hunters.
"What did they say?"
Rain dabbed at her mouth with a napkin.
"They agree it's not a Nightmare Creature. Since there are no Noble Creatures left, one of them thought it must belong to the Hermit living out in the dunes. The other made fun of him for believing in old wives' tales. I left when they began to argue."
The legend of the Hermit was a story Noble had heard in various versions, both from the whispers of children in Ravenheart and from anyone who spent too many nights in the wilderness.
Depending on who was telling the tale, the Hermit was either a man or a woman who had been abandoned by their cohort to enter a Nightmare alone. The Awakened had somehow succeeded in the trial but had not decided to return to the cradle of humanity.
Now the Hermit roamed the wilds of the Dream Realm, doing all manner of strange feats in order to be left alone. Almost every caravan traveller had some tale to tell about a sighting or encounter with the mysterious lone wolf.
"And what do you think?" Noble was more interested in her daughter's take than the campfire legends.
"About the squirrel? I think it must belong to a fellow bounty hunter. It makes a good little scout. It must be an honorable hunter, though, to return this to me. I'll be sure to thank it if I see it again."
"That sounds like a good idea. I am glad there are still some honorable people in the world." The mother smiled.
While Rain's assessment of the situation was plausible, Noble didn't feel like it was the whole picture. Something else stuck out in their conversation. Australia. Rain hadn't commented on the word Sheila being Australian, but she had pointed out that the name Matilda was once quite common there.
'Hm. It can't be a coincidence, can it?' Noble's fork hovered between her fingers as she contemplated.
"Eat up, Mom. It's going to get cold!"
Rain set aside the shard and dug into her food earnestly.
Taking the cue, Noble did as well. The food was as fantastic as she had imagined, and it helped to heal her weary soul. Soon, a trickle of essence flowed into her, pushing her above the threshold that she needed to not float away.
Noble began once again constructing the wall to block out the emotions around her. It hadn't worked before, but the woman was nothing if not persistent.
'If at first you don't succeed, try again! Though trying something over and over and expecting different results is the definition of insanity...There are some mixed messages in there...'
Rain swallowed a bite and cleared her throat. "So about earlier...that emotional sensitivity problem. Have you told Dad?"
"I have not, but I will." Noble looked at the candles being relit, thankful that the incident had been so minor.
No one except her children and Abyss knew she had been responsible.
"I will find a way to contain it soon enough and be back to normal."
"Contain it?" the girl frowned.
"Yes. I need to separate myself from all of the emotions, and that should help me regain control. It will take a week, tops." Noble announced more confidently than she felt.
She added another invisible brick to the emotional wall, blocking out a little more of the dining hall from its influence.
"Is that what you've been doing? Don't you think that's counterproductive?"
Noble raised one eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Judging by the result, it looks like you just bottled things up until you burst." Rain pointed to the door, which now had a slight lean to it. "That can't be healthy."
The young woman was perceptive, and Noble had to admit that a bigger outburst would likely hurt those around her. Her goal was the opposite! She wanted to protect them and herself. Noble sighed.
"What do you suggest?"
Rain opened her hand. "Let it go."