Chapter Text
Gwyndolin sat on their bed, knees up to their chest, hugging them tightly while burying their face in the pillow they rested their head on just a few minutes prior in a sleeping state. Their eyes were wet with tears that they soon gave up trying to wipe away because they wouldn't stop coming, accompanied by quiet sniffles, in an attempt to not wake up their siblings, as all four of them shared a room, except for Filianore, who had been sent to the Ringed City some time ago.
They had a horrible nightmare again, and they couldn't sleep anymore because of it, too afraid. It wasn't the first time they had this nightmare. It was very upsetting and stressful, so every time they had it, they found themself wide awake, unable to sleep, terrified out of their mind, stressed out.
Usually they would wake one of their older siblings, who would comfort them. But with how frequent these nightmares were becoming, they felt like they would be a nuisance if they woke any of them each time. So they just sat it out on their own, until morning came, or until they passed out from being too tired to stay up.
They muffled their sobs with the pillow, worried to wake anyone right now. They remained like this for a while, not moving except from their shaking and trembling out of fear.
Eventually, though, they felt something weird. It was a bit like a stinging feeling, not really painful, more as if you had the needle of a tiny cactus like those they kept in their small garden stuck in your finger. At first, they thought it was that, and went to try and see the tiny needle in the moonlight to pull it out with their fingernails. But as they move to have a look at where the stinging came from, they quickly notice something is wrong.
Claws. And scales to match, glimmering white in the light of the half moon. At first, they thought they must be imagining things or seeing wrong, but running their other, still normal hand over the draconic features quickly proves them to be very real. The scales were smooth, but definitely dragon-like in nature.
And upon closer insepction, they recognize that that hand looked less like their other hand, and more like a dragon's... paw? Claw? Not that the terminology mattered right now.
Naturally, Gwyndolin freaks out at the sight, unsure if this was still a part of the nightmare or if this was as real as they thought it was. They want to scream, but are afraid to startle their siblings or anger their father, so instead, they quickly climb out of their bed and rush over where their older sister, Gwynevere, slept.
It's not like they'd never seen dragon features before - after all, their younger sister, Yorshka, clearly had them due to being part dragon. But Yorshka only had a small dragon tail and a few stray scales. Gwyndolin had neither of those, and they were pretty certain you don't suddenly get dragon features AFTER being born.
In a panic, they shake Gwynevere awake with their still normal hand, whispering her name to try and not wake up the other two. "Gwynevere, Gwynevere!" they urged, tugging at their sister's blanket. She grumbled, turning around to look at her little sibling, a bit annoyed to be woken up in the middle of the night, wondering what has got Gwyndolin in such a panic. She needs a moment to really wake up, slowly blinking her eyes open.
Once she has opened them, though, she sees the issue nearly immediately. Gwyndolin held out their hands, one normal as it always has been, but the other was clearly ridden with draconic features. At a closer look it was even a bit disproportionate to the other hand, though it was not a great difference. And Gwyndolin's eyes... they were not the usual extremely soft faded violet, instead a strong lavender tone, shining brightly - yes, shining - even in the darkness, not illuminated by the moonlight.
Gwynevere quickly sits up, taking Gwyndolin's scaly hand in her own and running her other hand over it to feel the scales, just to make sure they were actually there and she was not just seeing things. Yes, they were very real indeed, almost as smooth as the silk of her little sibling's gloves, even matching the white color of them. Gwyndolin looks at her with an obviously still panicked look, likely having millions of questions on their mind, but Gwynevere first and foremost tries to calm them, even if she was definitely freaking out on the inside herself.
"Hey, hey, it's gonna be okay," she murmurs, as to not wake their other two siblings, and pats the spot next to her on the bed for Gwyndolin to sit down in and try to ground themself first. Her little sibling takes their spot next to her, and the two do some breathing exercises for a few minutes, helping Gwyndolin gradually calm down until they have at least stopped shaking. Once that has happened, Gwynevere decides to ask Gwyndolin about what exactly had happened.
"I- I had a nightmare, and then I woke up, and I couldn't sleep anymore, but I didn't want to annoy any of you again... but then I suddenly noticed this stinging feeling, and I thought it was just a cactus needle, so I went to pull it out, but then I saw... this," they explain, and show off their weird draconic hand again, which had since gotten worse still, even more dragon-like than just a few minutes ago, claws fully like those of one now and scales disappearing beneath the beginning of their fingerless gloves, likely making their way up the rest of Gwyndolin's arm slowly but surely.
Gwynevere looked at the hand with a hint of worry on her face, holding it again to have a closer look. "I see," she says, "it doesn't hurt at all though, right?" Gwyndolin quickly nods. "Is there anything else that feels weird?" she asks her sibling. Gwyndolin begrudingly nods again, before pulling their upper lip upwards with a finger from their still normal hand, showing off a row of sharp teeth. Not just that, but Gwynevere notices the forked tongue as well, even though Gwyndolin closes their mouth again just seconds later. The younger of the two looks up at the other.
"You keep staring at my eyes," Gwyndolin says, having observed their sister's gaze, "is there anything weird about them, too?" Gwynevere seems hesitant, but gives a hum of affirmation. "They're more lavender than violet, and they're glowing even though there's no light here," she says after a short pause.
Gwyndolin buries their face in their hands, giving off a frustrated and shaky noise of anger. "What is happening to me?!" they ask, even though they know their sister would probably not have an answer. Gwynevere softly pats her little sibling's head, thinking, before looking over at their older brother. "I don't know," she says, "but Gwynsen knows more about dragons than the both of us combined. Maybe he can make sense of it?" she offered, and Gwyndolin hesitantly agrees. Gwynevere gets up from her bed, walking over to her older brother, tapping his arm.
Just like she did before him, he grumbles, clearly not excited to be up at midnight. "What do you want, Gwynevere?" he asks in an annoyed, half-asleep tone. Gwynevere huffs. "Gwyndolin and I need your help," she says, "we need your knowledge of dragons." Gwynsen blinks, seeming to wake up pretty quickly after those words. He yawns, sitting up. "Why do you need to know things about dragons in the middle of the-" he asks, though he cuts himself off once his eyes fall on Gwyndolin, who is already holding out their dragon paw.
He quickly inspects it closer, just like Gwynevere did earlier - he did everything the exact same, asking the same questions, having Gwyndolin show him their teeth and the forked tongue. However, he looked just as perplexed as the other two had before, seeming deep in thought.
"I have never heard of someone turning into a dragon," Gwynsen says, "but it's clear that's what's happening." He sighs. "I'm afraid I know no more than you two, I have no idea why or even how that's happening," he admits. Gwyndolin looks down at the floor, gaze filled with disappointment, worry and fear.
"What will happen with me now?" they ask after a few minutes of silence between the siblings. Gwynevere ponders, before looking like she had an idea. "We could ask one of the Four Knights," she suggests. "They're older than all of us. Maybe one of them has an idea,"
The other two think, but both of them end up agreeing to the plan. After all, they all knew there was no way they could lose a word of this to their father. He would probably freak out completely, considering his history with dragons, a big reason why Gwynsen kept his fascination with them and his trips to dragon nesting grounds very secret. The Four Knights were much more chill on the matter, luckily.
Yorshka had since woken up too from the ruckus, wondering what her siblings were up so late at night for, but the three of them quickly filled her in on the situation. Gwyndolin and Yorshka stayed behind in the room while Gwynsen and Gwynevere went to find whoever of the knights had guard duty tonight, hoping that they could help the four of them out.
Gwyndolin only worried what they would do if they couldn't find a way to reverse this. What if they didn't turn back? Would they become a full dragon? Would they be like this forever? What would their father do if he finds out? Could they never go outside again, for fear of being killed on sight by some dragon slayers, if they were to fully become one? What if they were found like this? They didn't want to die!
As their stress got more intense again, so did the changes. While originally the speed of the change had slowed down after Gwynevere calmed them a bit, it didn't stop, but now it was picking up its pace again. As Gwyndolin panicked again, they began crying in terror of what might happen, the uncertainty of the future scaring them greatly. Their younger sister, Yorshka, did what she could to try and comfort them, saying that the others would find a way and that it would be okay, and holding them tight. Gwyndolin wanted to believe those words so bad.
By the time Gwynevere and Gwynsen had returned with two of the Four Knights, Ornstein and Artorias, not only had Gwyndolin's other hand changed to match their draconic one, complete with scales and claws, they were now also sporting two feathery wings that matched their height nearly entirely, as well as a long tail with feathers at the end. Their feet had those same, white scales now too, but they didn't look like a dragon's foot yet, at the very least.
The two siblings rushed to their younger ones sitting on Gwyndolin's bed, asking what happened. Yorshka explained that Gwyndolin got really upset, and before the two even knew it, they had grown wings and a tail. Gwyndolin cried in fear, hiding themself behind those two feathery wings, not wanting anyone to see them like this. However, a bit of cooing from their older siblings, Gwyndolin dared to reveal their face, now spotted with some scales here and there, as well. The amount of gazes make them feel embarassed, and they gaze down at their feet in shame, even though it didn't seem like they could do anything against their changes.
Artorias and Ornstein close the door behind them, walking closer to the four siblings. For the moment, they only try to calm Gwyndolin down again, trying to assure them that everything would be okay and that they would figure out what's up. Gwyndolin expressed their fears, but Gwynsen reassured that he would make sure nobody, not even their dad, could hurt Gwyndolin for being in this state, and that he would make sure of that himself. That seemed to soothe the young deity's nerves, at least.
After a brief pause, Artorias asks to inspect Gwyndolin's draconic features. Gwyndolin reluctantly agrees, letting Artorias have a closer look at the wings in particular, though they aren't really in control of them and they jerk a few times while Artorias carefully tries to hold them open to have a closer look, slapping him in the face. Ornstein was pondering while watching the scene.
However, none of the dragon features give any clue as to why Gwyndolin was changing. The two knights were stumped, having never seen something like this in their fairly long lifetimes. Ornstein does mention that the phenomenon wasn't completely unheard of, but that this sort of thing only happened to half dragon kids, as far as he knew, and they were all pretty certain that Gwyndolin was definitely not a half dragon. If anything, it would've been more likely that Yorshka's dragon features would've expanded, but for someone who has had no connection to dragons to have that happen to them?
Gwyndolin is definitely disappointed by the fact that neither knight had an answer for them, but the two reassured again that they would help figure this out and would make sure Gwyndolin would not be hurt in the process, by anyone, even if they had to stand up against their boss, Gwyn. Gwyndolin certainly felt a bit better knowing that even the two knights would defy orders to protect them, should things come up, but they simply hoped that nothing would happen.
Eventually, the siblings agree to sleep on it for now and figure out what to do next in the morning. The two knights take their leave, and the siblings go back to sleep, as best as they could. Gwyndolin had noticed that at least the changes seemed to have stopped by the time they tried going to sleep, laying flat on their belly, as any other position seemed difficult and uncomfortable. They drifted away to sleep pretty quickly.
~~
Gwyndolin awoke before the sun had even risen behind the walls of Anor Londo, grumbling from their lack of sleep. They stretch, sitting up for a moment, rubbing their eyes. As they are doing that, though, they notice a lack of scales that they'd previously noticed whenever touching against their bare skin. Their sleepiness goes away pretty quickly as they begin inspecting themself.
No wings, no tail, no claws, no scales.
All those draconic features they had gained overnight were gone.
Gwyndolin couldn't believe it. Was it all just a dream, after all? They shuffled out of bed, looking at themself in the window just to make sure everything was actually gone. Even their eyes had their regular color again. They got so excited, they could hardly contain themself.
Gwynsen had noticed the shuffling, sitting up in his bed, looking at Gwyndolin sleepily, who turned around when they noticed they woke him up. "Oh, I'm sorry, brother!" they say, trying to dial down the excitement. Gwynsen blinks. "Hey, your dragon features are gone!" he says, getting up to get a closer look. No scales, no claws, nothing! It was all gone. Gwyndolin happily nods, but then realizes the implication.
"So I didn't just dream that?" Gwyndolin asks, looking a bit nervous. Gwynsen begrudgingly nods. "I'm afraid so," he responds. "But they're gone now - hopefully we can avoid whatever made them appear in the first place, or figure out what caused it,"
Gwyndolin hums in agreement. Honestly, they didn't care so much about the fact that it happened, they were only happy that it was gone now and hope that it wouldn't happen again.
They ended up being so giddy that they could hardly even try to sleep a bit longer. By the time their sisters had gotten up, they were already long awake, happily preparing for the day. It didn't take too long for those two to notice the lack of wings and the like on Gwyndolin, either.
The day went by quickly, without much trouble for the four, who were going about their usual business, and the incident had already been pushed into the back of their mind for all four of them by the time they met up back home in the evening. Gwyndolin didn't really think about it anymore, trying to put it off as a one-time occurence that would never bother them again.
~~
However, it soon became evident that this was not just a one-time incident, because the very same evening, after Gwynsen and their father had a fight over something really stupid, they got really upset when the siblings went to their room.
And not long after Gwyndolin became so upset, the changes set in again, prompting panic from the four, though Gwyndolin the most. It was the same as the night before - first the hands and the eyes, then the feet and a tail. At least this time, no wings had spawned, but for that, the scales on their face were less in a few tiny patches and instead strongly gathered arond their eyes and nose. Gwyndolin began crying, confused and terrified by the fact that this was happening again. They wanted to stop having to deal with this mess.
The night was restless for the siblings. They noticed the changes stopped and even reverted whenever Gwyndolin was calm for an extended period of time, usually over an hour, but as soon as they got upset and distressed again, the features returned quicker than they were previously gone. Yorshka even noticed the fact that Gwyndolin's breath was like ice when the transformation was at its worst. Gwyndolin was extremely frustrated, trying to stay calm, but constantly falling back into distress when even thinking about the fact that this was happening again.
At the very least, they seemed to have found what kept triggering these changes in Gwyndolin, but the why and how was still a big question for all of them. Shortly after midnight, Gwyndolin was done constantly changing back and forth out of their control and tired of keeping their siblings up with this, crawling underneath their blanket when their changes spiked again, refusing to come out. No amount of convincing from their siblings managed to get them to come out of hiding, so the other three gave up after over half an hour of trying.
Gwyndolin eventually fell asleep underneath the blanket, too tired to remain awake, but the sleep they drifted off to was uneasy.
Even when they first awoke the next morning, when sunrise had already passed, and they found themself back to normal again, and tried their best to avoid getting distressed over the situation again, they couldn't help but be annoyed with the situation and themself, surpressing any actual terror over what was happening underneath that layer of annoyance to keep themself from changing again, to the point that even some of the knights arounds the castle commented on how grumpy they seemed that day.
Yorshka argued that there might be books on this in the library, or maybe Seath had a clue about this, but Gwyndolin wasn't really keen on going to the Archives right now, when they were barely keeping it together as is, and they didn't need to burst out and turn in the middle of the public, well knowing if they changed anywhere outside of their private quarters, they'd probably be killed on sight.
Their siblings were equally distressed with the situation. As much as they wanted to avoid it, Gwynevere eventually got all of them to gather up in their room in the middle of the day, at which point Gwyndolin was basically at their breaking point and ended up partially changing once more, though not quite as bad as the night before, but they were well aware they couldn't just keep surpressing all negative emotion in hopes of this never happening again. They knew they were far too emotional to keep up with this for more than a day - hell, they broke before even half the day had passed. This frustrated Gwyndolin more, prompting them to grow a tail again, annoyed.
Their siblings weren't without worry either, obviously. They were all concerned that with as unstable as Gwyndolin's form was right now, they might turn in the middle of Anor Londo if something just riled them up enough, and they were all well aware that their father was extremely good at making people angry, especially his own kids. Gwynsen and Yorshka had no idea where Gwyndolin would be safer, though.
Gwynevere, however, did have an idea.
"You guys know the Kingdom of Lothric? Dragon Slaying isn't really that big of a thing there - it used to be in the past, but they've long shifted to Dragon Taming instead. Probably because of the new king, I don't know," she shrugs. "Anyways, because of dad, -and him trying to set me up with one of the princes, I guess? I don't know?-" she said under her breath, seeming very evidently annoyed, "but either way, because of that, I ended up befriending the then Queen of Lothric, Agatha, and the two princes, Lorian and Lothric. She ended up splitting from the King and took her two kids with them, though. Nowadays they live in a pretty small settlement near the border to Lordran. I could ask them if Gwyndolin could stay with them for a while - just until we've figured out what to do. Who knows, they might have an idea what's going on, too!"
The group was silent for a bit as they all pondered the idea. Gwyndolin themself was not exactly a fan of the idea, much rather wanting to stay with their siblings, but it was a lot better than being shot out in the street for suddenly growing a tail. Besides, Gwyndolin had only heard good things about the Queen of Lothric and her kids from Gwynevere in the past, and if their sister judges them to be good people, they were more than willing to trust that judgement.
"If things did work out the way we're thinking right now, and I stayed with them until we can get this figured out... you'd come visit me, right?" Gwyndolin asks hesitantly, nervously looking at their siblings. They knew that the answer is probably a resounding yes, but the doubt in the back of their mind could not be banished without the answer, so they just wanted to be reassured.
Their three siblings seemed shocked they would even think that the three of them wouldn't come to see Gwyndolin in their temporary new home. "Of course!" Gwynsen responds nearly immediately, followed by general sounds of agreement from Gwynevere and Yorshka. "We wouldn't just leave you with them and never check in on you," Gwynevere says, patting Gwyndolin's back. Yorshka chuckles. "If anything, we'd probably check in so often that you'd be bound to get annoyed with us sooner or later,"
Gwyndolin laughs, happy with the response. They highly doubt their siblings could annoy them with visiting much, but they found the thought entertaining.
It's by this point that the group had already made up their mind that this was their plan, not even considering a back-up plan for now. If it didn't work out, Gwyndolin decided that they would just stay in their room and play sick until they had a new plan on what to do, but for now, they just hoped that Gwynevere's idea would simply work out the way they intended.
Luckily, they didn't need to rely on their father for anything in this plan, as all of them except for Yorshka were adults anyways and didn't need to get permission from their father or do what he said. Sure, he may be angry with them, but what's the worst he can do? Banish Gwyndolin? If he did, the rest of them would simply follow, and they knew he wouldn't risk that. It was the same when the three brought back Yorshka, who they'd found abandoned, who they ended up adopting into their family as a little sister. Their dad certainly wasn't too happy taking in a half dragon child, but he didn't refuse, knowing that, if he did, his kids would just turn against him and leave. He wasn't too keen on that.
~~
The trip to the small settlement of Eldham was not as long as Gwyndolin had anticipated, expecting the journey to be farther than it turned out to be - however, Gwyndolin had very lacking knowledge of the world beyond Anor Londo, so it wasn't very surprising that they had no clue.
The former Queen of Lothric and her two sons agreed to have Gwyndolin stay with them until the trio of siblings could figure out something more about the moon deity's sudden condition. They also reassured them that despite the kingdom's past as a dragon slaying kingdom, Gwyndolin had nothing to fear, as dragon hunting was pretty looked down on nowadays, with only a few select areas of the kingdom still actively engaging in it, like Irithyll of the Boreal Valley, under the leadership of a pontiff named Sulyvahn, who preferred to keep newcomers out. However, Gwyndolin need not worry about such things, as Irithyll itself was far away from the settlement of Eldham and Sulyvahn and his army really came beyond the walls of their frozen capital.
They had passed through that city on their way here, as it was one of the main roads from Lordran to Lothric. The three siblings and the silver knights that accompanied them on their journey were not disturbed and allowed to pass through without further incident, but Gwyndolin is sure that if they had to go through there alone, something horrible would've happened - while making their way out of Irithyll, they constantly felt like there were hundreds of eyes watching them with evil intent. They shuddered just at the thought after they'd finally left.
From there, they passed Farron Keep, and Gwyndolin greatly admired it by just looking at the castle walls from afar, not having seen a fortress quite like this, aside from in the books they've read. The group made no stop there, though, only passing by without actually traversing the area, much to the moon deity's disappointment.
Shortly after, they arrived in Eldham, a small, peaceful settlement. It was quite apparent that a while ago, a lot of inhabitants had abandoned the village, as a lot of houses were standing empty, some partially damaged. However, it seems like it was getting populated again slowly but surely, with either old or new people moving into the once abandoned buildings, with some houses clearly in a sort of patchwork manner, with new spots to replace old broken ones.
Gwyndolin has never lived in a small town. As a matter of fact, they've never even lived in a town. When they were born, Anor Londo was already a huge city bustling with life, and they've never known how life was outside the protected city walls, never having strayed beyond them - the furthest they've gone from their home was the Archives, on top of the hill just barely within Anor Londo's walls, where Seath the Scaleless resided. At least until now that was the largest distance travelled - but certainly, their stay in Eldham was changing that.
However, despite growing up in the city, Gwyndolin never really liked that life, considering that they generally preferred not to have to interact with too many people that they didn't know. Another reason why much of their time was spent either at home, in the castle or cathedral, or within the Archives, studying the books there.
Originally, Gwyndolin was not too keen on staying in Eldham for an extended amount of time, but seeing the town itself kind of.. fascinated them. They were almost a bit excited to be remain here until them and their siblings could figure out what was wrong and how to reverse it. They certainly thought that they were not as disappointed with this choice as they had originally been, when they left Anor Londo early this morning.
The sun was already setting - the path between Anor Londo and here was long, so they weren't exactly surprised. Gwyndolin had yet to spot the exact house they would be residing in for the time being - maybe it was that one? Or the one over there... no, wait, that building stood abandoned, even if not obvious at first sight.
They were ripped out of their fascination when Gwynevere tapped them on the shoulder, causing them to look up at their big sister. "You sure seem a lot more excited about this trip than six hours ago," Gwynevere said, a smirk creeping up on her face. Gwyndolin rubbed the back of their neck, knowing that there's no point in trying to pretend that was not the truth now that their sister had already noticed. "Maybe," they replied sheepishly.
"C'mon, we're almost there. Lorian and Lothric are probably already waiting for us with their mom," Gwynsen said, leading the group through the settlement. The few villagers still walking around the town seemed a bit startled by the group of siblings accompanied by their silver knights, but Gwyndolin supposed this was probably an uncommon sight around here.
They stopped in front of a decently sized house in the middle of Eldham, a very modest home for an ex-Queen and two princes, Gwyndolin thought. Gwynevere softly knocked at the door, waiting for it to be opened. Not even a minute later, the door carefully open, with a fairly short boy peeking around the corner - not as short as Gwyndolin, but definitely shorter than Gwynsen and Gwynevere. He had a black hood over his head, obscuring his expression briefly until he lifted his head enough to look at the group properly. Once the hood wasn't hanging in his face anymore, the moon deity could quickly make out that he seemed to be a bit sickly and frail, his skin even a bit paler than Gwyndolin's, with deep, dark circles under his eyes, and long, greyish blond hair, almost like ash. And Gwyndolin wasn't sure if they were just seeing things, but for just a few seconds, they thought they had seen what seemed to be a hint of pale grey dragon scales right beneath his eyes, but as soon as they noticed, they were gone again, leaving Gwyndolin to only see the freckles on his face, leading them to believe that maybe they'd mistook those in combination with the small craters in the boy's face for scales on first sight.
As soon as the boy had noticed Gwynevere, he opened the door fully, a smile spreading across his face. "Hello, Gwynevere," he said timidly, voice quiet. Their older sister smiled back at him. "Hi, Lothric! It's been a while," she replies, giving a short wave. The boy nods, before looking at the two siblings of Gwynevere (as Yorshka had remained home due to the length of the journey) and their companion silver knights. "Are those your siblings?" Lothric asks, to which Gwynevere nods. "This is Gwynsen," she points to the taller of her two siblings, "and this is Gwyndolin," pointing towards her little sibling. "Nice to meet you," Gwyndolin and Gwynsen say at the same time, exchanging a look of amusement.
Lothric smiles again shyly. "Same to you," he says, before moving to the side of the door, holding his hand towards the inside of the house to welcome the three in. Gwynevere asked the three Silver Knights to stay outside and that Gwynsen and her would be back in a moment.
Inside, it was certainly cozy. Warm, as Gwyndolin noticed, much needed against the evergrowing cold of their journey, especially when they passed through Irithyll, where everything was frozen over. It also smelled of freshly cooked food - Gwyndolin believes it is potato soup, though they're not certain. Lothric had closed the door behind the three siblings, motioning them to the chairs neatly set up around a table.
Gwyndolin quite liked how modest it was. They'd lived their life so long in the royalty of Anor Londo, it was quite fascinating to be in a place where everything was so ordinary. They felt like they might really love it here, after all, even if they didn't want to stay for too long.
The creaking of the stairs announced the arrival of who Gwyndolin assumes is Lothric's twin brother, Lorian. Lorian was definitely taller than all three of the Gwyn siblings, with only Gwynsen coming even close to his height. Gwynevere gave a wave, which Lorian returned, though he did not speak, taking a seat next to Lothric.
From where Gwyndolin presumes the kitchen is, a woman came out - Lothric's and Lorian's mother, Agatha, former Queen of Lothric. Her features greatly matched that of her sons, except for the hair, as her's was a strong, dark brown color.
"Ah, Gwynevere! It's good to see you," Agatha says, shaking Gwynevere's hand, who greets her back. She then turns to Gwynsen, also shaking his hand. "And Gwynsen - it's been a very long time," the lady says, to which the oldest of the three nods. "Yes, it has," he replies, a small smile on his face. Agatha then turns to Gwyndolin.
"And you must be Gwyndolin, then?" she asks, holding out her hand for Gwyndolin to shake. Gwyndolin nods, taking it to be polite, even though they felt a bit overwhelmed with all these new faces. "Yes, ma'am," they respond, pulling their own hand back once Agatha lets go, "thank you for allowing me to stay here for the time being."
Agatha gives a hearty laugh. "Of course! Anything for a friend." That... was a bit heartwarming for Gwyndolin - to be welcomed with such open arms, despite the fact that they didn‘t even know Gwyndolin until now.
The lady invited Gwynevere and Gwynsen to stay for just a bit longer, however they explained that they needed to make their way back to the Anor Londo before the next day, so they couldn‘t stay. She seemed disappointed by the response, but wished them the best and safe travels on their way home, as well as giving them two neatly packed glass bowls with lids and some cloth wrapped around them, filled with what Gwyndolin had indeed correctly identified as potato soup earlier.
Begrudgingly, Gwyndolin watched as their two siblings made their way home, who promised to come back in two days time at the very latest, should Gwyndolin not already hear from them beforehand, which was extremely unlikely.
They were also given a bowl of the soup, being offered to either stay with the small family in the dining room or also given the offer to take their food up to the room where they‘d be sleeping, should they need some alone time for themself. Gwyndolin thanked them kindly for the offer, but chose to stay with them, not wanting to seem rude. The three engaged in smalltalk, mainly over things Gwyndolin had no clue of, but they tried to include Gwyndolin in the conversation, asking them questions here and there.
Afterwards, the two brothers showed Gwyndolin where they would be staying at - their room. They made a joke about this being their room, but Gwyndolin may stay if they like, which made the moon deity chuckle, even though they didn‘t exactly get it.
The room felt like it was missing a person. Gwyndolin wondered if the twins had another brother, but decided not to pry, thinking that it was probably a very sensitive topic for the family, considering what they‘d heard about the current king, Oceiros.
Despite Lothric‘s initial shy demeanor, he quickly revealed his more teasing side, though it was only in regards to his twin, who didn‘t shy away from teasing back. Gwyndolin kind of…saw themself and their siblings in that - they were no different in that regard, really.
That was also the first time Lorian spoke, almost surprising Gwyndolin a bit. They quickly learned that Lorian was the older of the twins, a fact he very much used to tease his little brother. It was all in good fun though.
They were both extremely welcoming to Gwyndolin, showing them around the house and Lothric promising to show them the rest of town the following morning, an offer Gwyndolin could not resist, who was really starting to quite enjoy their time there, even feeling a bit at home already.
It was only much later, at night, that the fact that their siblings weren‘t right next to them really settled in, leaving them with a severe feeling of homesickness and loneliness they couldn’t just pretend away. So intense, in fact, that they partially shifted again, causing them to become even more restless.
Following some failed attempts of ignoring it and sleeping, Gwyndolin opened the window of the room the twins and them were in partially and clumsily climbed out onto the roof, deciding to watch the moon if they couldn’t just sleep - at least that would comfort them.
As all townsfolk were asleep, nobody minded the now mostly draconic Gwyndolin, sitting on the roof, tail swaying from one side to another, feathered wings around them to keep the cold out, something they weren’t quite used to. This was likely the most dragon they’d ever been, only missing the usual shape of one. At this point, they might as well just be a dragon.
A few minutes later, they heard a rustling sound that startled them greatly. They turned to the source, seeing Lothric poke his head out the window, looking up at them on the roof.
“I figured you’d be out here,” he says, already having climbed through the window and onto the roof, crawling over to where Gwyndolin was sitting, who looked at him confused.
Lothric grinned a toothy grin, reading their expression easily. “When Gwynevere said you‘ve been having a problem only half dragons have, I didn’t quite believe it. But I guess she was telling the truth after all,“ he says, patting Gwyndolin on the back.
“You‘re not that different from my brother and I,“ he says.
“What do you mean?“
“Eh, I‘ll show you tomorrow.“
Gwyndolin didn’t pry.
“You miss home, right? Your siblings?“
Gwyndolin nods, slowly and sadly.
“I get that feeling… but they’re thinking of you even now, I’m sure of it. They really care for you.“
The two sit in silence for some time, just watching the moon together. It’s a comfortable silence, not awkward at all.
After a while, a cold breeze starts picking up and it gets frosty. Lothric looks over at Gwyndolin, shivering in his thin cloak, clearly not made for the weather.
“C‘mon, let’s go inside. It’s getting frosty out here.“ Lothric starts to crawl back to the window. “Plus, you don’t wanna oversleep, right?”
”No,” Gwyndolin, nearly completely reverted again, says while climbing in through the window that Lothric is holding open for them.
The two whisper a few more words and goodnights between each other before crawling underneath their bkankets again. Gwyndolin feels like Lothric has a lot to show them - but they dont mind that.