In the Midst of the Lonely Sea of Loneliness 17

With a gentle creak of the door, Nia carried a tired Leeli over to her bed and carefully tucked her in with the sketchbook still in hand.

As Leeli had the covers pulled up to her chin, she took her arm out of the covers and gently grabbed her mother's paw.

Neet paused and looked down at Leeli curiously, wondering why she had stopped her from fully tucking her in.

Leeli yawned and patted the fur on the top of her paw like it were very soft. "Goodnight, mama... I love you."

Such a simple and innocent gesture made Nia's eyes fill with tears as she pulled Leeli's hand to her face. "I evol uoy oot." She said before leaning down and kissing her daughters forehead. "Thgindoog."

Leeli softly smiled and let go of her mother's hand before she turned over in bed to get comfortable.

Nia watched her daughter for a few seconds more before she carefully creeped over to her sons and planted a gentle kiss on their foreheads. Afterwards, she tiptoed out of the room and closed the door behind her.

When Nia turned around, she discovered her mother, Wendolyn, was standing outside of the bedroom waiting for her.

Neet looked at her mother with confusion, wondering why she hadn't gone to sleep yet.

"You're doing a good job, Nia." Wendolyn smiled and gave her daughter a tight hug. "I'm so proud of you."

The sound of her own name caused a horrible ringing in Neet's ears for a moment but she quickly shook it off in order to hug her mother back.

"Knaht uoy, am." Neet replied and returned the hug.

Wendolyn did not let go of Nia for the next couple minutes, trying reaffirm what she had already said to her. She understood that Nia had faced horrors and that she needed to know she was still wanted and loved despite all of that. Wendolyn would not let Nia slip away from who she was before all of this and was focused on helping her daughter recover.

Thankfully, Nia didn't cry whilst in the embrace but instead, felt comforted and happy to be home with her family again. She sighed just as her mother pulled away.

"Try to get some sleep, dear." Wendolyn gently touched the side of Nia's face. "It may be difficult with that long nap you had today but be sure you get enough so we can spend time together tomorrow, okay?"

Neet nodded in response, not making much effort to talk since she wasn't understood.

"I love you. Sleep well. If you need a snack during the night, I baked some biscuits and they're in a basket in the kitchen." Wendolyn grinned before she turned and headed to hers and Podo's bedroom.

"... I evol uoy oot." Neet replied just as she watched her mother leave and then headed back downstairs to try to rest.

However, the thought of her mother's biscuits redirected her to the kitchen, where she intended to grab a snack and maybe a drink before lying down.

Nia found Artham in the kitchen with the same idea- gathering two biscuits to bring with him to bed.

She tilted her head and laughed softly, causing him to look back at her.

"Doesn't my mother still hate crumbs in the bed sheets...? I remember her saying it made laundry a bear."

Artham had already taken a bite of one of the biscuits he was sneaking so he nearly choked when he heard Nia speaking normally. He coughed and patted his own chest before asking, "Wh-What did you just say?"

Neet scrunched her eyebrows together with confusion, appearing as though she didn't realize she was understood.

"Nia- Neet... You just spoke." He explained with his eyes widened.

"... Tahw?" Neet asked, her speech returning to how it was formally. "I t'ndid ecuton yna ecnereffid ni woh I saw gnikaeps...?"

"Didn't you just ask me about your mother and the particulars of her laundry?" Artham asked, making sure he wasn't just hearing things.

"... Sey...?" Neet replied with a confused look on her face.

"How did... How did you just speak?" He questioned, feeling a bit hopeful that they might be able to help Neet with the speech problem after all.

"I t'nod wonk, Mahtra." She replied with a very obvious shrug.

He stared at her in contemplation for a while before he shook his head. "I see... We'll figure it out later but for now..." He offered her one of the biscuits he had just snagged. "We should try to rest."

Nia nodded in response before meekly taking the biscuit. "Knaht uoy."

"You're welcome." Artham nodded in return. "Goodnight..." He passed by her and out of the kitchen, eventually ending up on the second floor where he retired to his room.

As for Neet, she just stood there in disbelief of that whole interaction but still began to eat the biscuit Artham had given her.

How could Artham have heard her speak coherently?

The issue with Nia's speech wasn't that she couldn't understand English. As seen already, she could understand perfectly but couldn't respond in a way that was understood by others. Her mind could comprehend and think without it being jumbled but as soon as the words left her mouth, something changed. Something was stopping her from speaking but what could it be? How was it she could speak normally after her interaction with her mother? What was different?

Alas, no answers were obvious to her when Neet laid her head down on her pillow and she soon fell into a deep sleep.

Meanwhile, Artham laid awake in wonder of what he had just heard. He wondered the same questions as Nia but had no clue of her interaction with Wendolyn. As far as he knew, Nia had just had a moment of clarity. In fact, he could have sworn he really saw Nia- like *really* seen her for the first time. For that moment, Nia wasn't Neet, she was just Nia Wingfeather, mother of three and daughter of the Hollows... Wife of his brother, King Esben of Anniera.

Unfortunately, Artham couldn't figure out what the difference was no matter how many times he ran it through his mind so he just ate his biscuit and tried to get some sleep.

-

The next thing Nia knew was opening her eyes in the depths of the Throg, chained to that same cold and damp wall across from the beaten High King of Anniera. It was dark but just light enough to see his face.

Esben Wingfeather, beaten with untreated burns and in filthy condition hung chained to the wall by his wrists with no strength to yell or thrash as he had in the past couple of months. His head hung low, struggling to find hope in this forsaken dungeon kept by the evil Gnag.

Besides the royal couple hanging against the walls, a sweet and dreadful song also hung in the air, tempting their pain and poisoning their strength with its call.

"Just sing the song."

Nia considered the temptation under the immense amount agony she was in.

"Just sing a note or two. Then we can be free."

She tried to lift herself up with her feet to relieve the pain from her wrists but she was only met with pain from the rest of her body. Nia groaned, feeling as though her shoulders were dislocated from hanging so long.

Her groan made Esben shake.

"Make it stop..." He said with a quivering voice.

The sound of the jail door opening sent both Nia and Esben into a panic, wondering what horror was coming toward them this time.

It was a large gray fang, probably the tallest the two had seen since this whole nightmare had began. It made its way over to them.

"Good news from the Nameless one." The beast snarled as he neared Esben's face. "He's letting you have your own room. How generous."

Esben's head lifted as a surprising amount of resistance filled his already tired body. "Don't you dare!" He shrieked. "Don't you dare take her!" He boldly kicked the fang in the abdomen.

The gray fang quickly retaliated by smacking Esben across the face. Thankfully, he did not use his claws but it still left a big red mark on his face.

"Orders are orders. You'd think a former King would know that." The fang snarled again before approaching Nia quite menacingly.

Nia froze in terror, certain the fang meant for her death.

"Stop! Don't take her!" Esben shrieked and kept kicking his feet despite the lack of strength he still held.

The gray fang ignored Esben as he unlocked Nia's shackles and quickly caught her from falling.

"Let me go!" Nia cried and struggled in vain in the fang's arms. "Esben!!!"

"Let her go!" Esben shouted in agreement as he saw the fang carry his wife out of their cell. "Don't take her from me! NIA!"

"ESBEN!" Nia shrieked before her voice was cut off by the sound of the loud cell door slamming shut behind them.

Even though Esben could no longer hear her, Nia continued screaming his name behind the closed door.