Elven Queen-Queen Riniya (Mama) Witch Queen- Queen Elvira (Mum)

*Nymeria's P.O.V*

I stare at the blood on my hands, my chest heaving. My ears are ringing and I can't hear anything over that and the sound of my own breathing. I see hands go over mine, jerking my head up to look at Mama. She has her hands on top of mine, her eyes holding fear.

"Mama," I cry, my bloody hands pulling free from her hold as I thrust them out at her. She scoops me up, resting me on her hip as I inspect her for any injuries. I had to figure out where the blood was coming from.

"Nym...Nymeria," Mama's voice finally breaks through the ringing, making me jerk my head up as I look at her. My eyes must show something, like my wild desperation to stop her bleeding or fear or both because she cups my face.

"Mama, stop bleeding," I choke out, my bloody hands pulling at her dress. She can't stop me from doing that without dropping me or without stopping the gentle affection I'm getting from her cupping my face and I can tell she wants to do neither.

"Nymeria, I'm not bleeding," Mama sets me down, kneeling down so that we're at the same height. She must be wrong though! I can see the blood, she must be bleeding.

"Blood," I show her my bloody hands, my nails coated in them. It would be pretty if I wasn't so worried about Mama right now.

"Your blood Nymeria, you've made yourself bleed," Mama says, making me shake my head. When I move my head, I'm suddenly very aware of the pain in my neck. I lift my hands up slowly, touching my neck and feeling the scratch marks that have left gouges in my skin.

"Me bleed?" I ask, my lower lip trembling in shock. I didn't bleed, not unless I got owies. And why would I have owies if Mama was holding me? She wouldn't let me hurt myself.

"I left to get you a present and when I came back, you were clawing at your neck and screaming that you couldn't breathe. I tried to stop you darling, I held your hands away from your throat when I came back but you had already done the damage," Mama says, making me sniffle miserably.

"Bad dream," I whisper as she tilts my head back, inspecting my neck as she tsks softly.

"Well I am very very sorry you had a bad dream and that I wasn't in here to stop it. How about we go see Mum and she heals your ouchies up?" Mama asks, gently tracing one of the cuts on my neck and trying to gauge how deep it is.

"Mum fix," I agree as she scoops me back up and lets me rest on her hip. She carries me out of the room, trying to keep me as settled as possible as I sniffle softly. She was so good at holding me, I love it.

"Mama say present?" I ask, remembering her earlier words. She coos softly, nodding her head as she continues to rock me. I nuzzle into her, looking at her expectantly for an answer.

"Yes, you'll get it once we get these ouchies fixed," Mama says as she gently strokes my cheek with her thumb. I nuzzle into her, happy with the gentle touch and the fact that I was getting a gift!

"Elvira," Mama says as she moves to knock on a door, the door opening after a moment. I blink in surprise when Mama steps inside, staring at the dimly lit room with wide eyes. A small coo escapes me as I see all of the candles and the parchments littering the room.

"Yes Rini? Do you need me dear?" Mum sounds so soft, her attention flickering to us. Her eyes widen as she sees me, my bloody hands reaching for her.

"She had a nightmare and scratched herself all up! I'm sorry Elvira, I just left for a moment," Mama says as Mum crosses the room, snapping her fingers which made the lights flick on. She inspects my neck, humming slightly.

"It's fine Riniya, I can heal her. Yes Mum can get you all better again," Mum says as she walks away, cooing at me. I reached for her, squealing in delight when Mama moved to follow her. I stare with wide eyes when Mum pulls out a little pink vial.

"Dat?" I ask as I reach for it, wanting to hold the pretty glass vial but Mum doesn't let me.

"Oh darling girl, this is going to go on your neck," Mum explains as she opens the vial, pouring the liquid that looks thick. I wrinkle my nose up, knowing it's going to be slimy. I hated slimy things.

Mum moves her hand closer to me, gently applying the liquid to my neck. Surprisingly it's not slimy at all! It actually felt very nice, my owies feeling much better now that she had put it on.

Mum also cleans my hands up with her magic, getting rid of every trace of blood on my hand. I was quite happy to let her do that since it was all icky and dried up now.

"Present now?" I ask Mum, earning a chuckle from her. She pulls out a small box from her pocket, just slightly bigger than my hand. I let out a small noise as I tug at the ribbon, tilting my head as I look at it.

The ribbon is very pretty. I puff out my cheeks slightly as I keep tugging on it, unraveling and unraveling the ribbon as I go. I hum happily, cooing when I finally get it off.

I kick my legs out, trying to rip the box open. I grin happily, seeing the little gemsbok! I used to be obsessed with them when I was little, I had read all the books and knew every single thing about them!

"An..antelope?" Mum asks, making me give her a dirty look.

"Gemsbok," I correct, cuddling the plushie close.

"Same thing," Mum snorts as I kiss the plushies head, being gentle with him.

"Gemsbok," I repeat as I hold the plushie even tighter, squeezing him.

"Hmm, Castien told me that you liked Gemsboks," Mama says as I play with the Gemsbok's tail.

"They live in herds of up to 10 to 40 and can live up to 20 years," I tell Mama happily, making my Gemsbok move up her arm.

"What are you going to name him?" Mum asks, earning another dirty look from me.

"Gemsbok," I say, not understanding why that wasn't obvious. Mama chuckles, cooing softly when I look at her.

"My apologies, your royal pain in the butt," Mum says as she twists one of my curls, making me giggle slightly at her.

"Gemsbok," I tell her again, showing her the toy which she appropriately oohs and awws over. A good decision if she didn't want to be in trouble with me. I couldn't wait to show everyone else!

Riniya and Elvira are like sisters if it wasn't obvious with Elvira's softness with her. Rini is the nickname only she is allowed to use 🫰🏻

Gemsbok plush that Riniya got for little Nym