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The last thing Aelwyn expected to find when she misty-stepped right into their tower room from the stairs was her sister pacing the room and muttering something unintelligible under her breath.
Well, she did expect to see Adaine. In fact, the whole reason she left work early is because – loathe as she is to admit it out loud – she missed her sister. Ever since her senior year started, Adaine had been busy, socially withdrawn, already trancing when Aelwyn gets home in the early hours of the morning and gone doing something or another for school when Aelwyn leaves.
Jawbone had mentioned to her, the other night, that he was worried about Adaine, in fact. She's barely around for me to tell her myself, he had admitted, but when she's not out working on her senior project, she's up in her tower studying and she's always mortified when I drop in on her. Maybe you could help?
It was one of the most cordial conversations she's had with the man who has been raising her sister for the past several years. Aelwyn would also never admit this out loud, but she was also worried–namely because Adaine had, apparently, stopped responding to her party's groupchats altogether in the past week, a fact that was apparently so unusual that Aelwyn had been cornered by Ayda in the library just a few nights ago, who had been at the mercy of her paramour whining about Adaine "abandoning them".
Whatever was truly happening, it was definitely very out of character for Adaine. Aelwyn had swung by her favorite bakery in Elmville, had cleared her schedule for the night, and dragged herself up half a flight of stairs before giving up and misty stepping the rest of the way.
"Good evening, sister mine," she sang as she appeared in the doorway, the tower door still closed to improve on her surprise. "Clear your schedule, we are bonding."
Adaine does not answer, which is the first sign that something is truly wrong. Adaine always snips back at Aelwyn when she gets like this: Adaine had dubbed it overcompensation mode. Even if she were merely studying, she'd at least flip Aelwyn off behind her shoulder, a gesture that has since lost its heat ever since Aelwyn joined her in the tower.
But no, Adaine just keeps pacing. She doesn't even flinch at Aelwyn's presence, which is another sign that something is most definitely wrong; Adaine always flinches at a sudden presence, a habit left by their oh-so-wonderful parents.
"Adaine," Aelwyn says more insistently, and she frowns, dropping the package of cookies on her desk before marching right over to where Adaine's walking in circles around her window. "Hello? Adaine? Did you not hear me?"
Finally, she gets a good look at her sister's face as Adaine continues to ignore her. Adaine's eyes are foggy, clouded over and bloodshot, and the color has drained from her face, her hands trembling even as she continues muttering in what Aelwyn now recognizes as barely-audible elvish.
Bloodshot eyes, no awareness of her surroundings, pale, clammy skin… it all adds up to a conclusion that Aelwyn desperately, desperately wants to be wrong about.
"Adaine," she repeats, and this time she places both hands on Adaine's shoulders, gritting her teeth as she forces her sister to stop pacing. "Oh, little sister, what trouble have you gotten yourself into?"
Adaine's head tilts, but she still doesn't acknowledge Aelwyn's presence– though she does stop pacing, mercifully.
Aelwyn can only sigh, and she uses what remains of her strength to forcibly shove Adaine towards the bottom bed. Thankfully, Adaine goes willingly, though she almost immediately collapses right into Aelwyn's mattress, body going completely limp as she flops down.
At least the haze over her eyes seems to be lifting a little. Aelwyn takes a seat on the edge of the bed, and she presses a hand to Adaine's forehead, frowning a little harder. It doesn't… seem like a bad trip gone wrong, Aelwyn thinks she would know if Adaine had gotten into snuff or anything harder, but the rest of the signs are there. She looks… well, she looks like Aelwyn did when she was in the height of her own addiction.
It's not a sight she ever wanted to see, that's for certain. Aelwyn sighs again, and she draws a blanket over Adaine's still-trembling frame, waiting ever-so-patiently for the fog to completely clear from Adaine's eyes and for Adaine to slowly, slowly regain her awareness.
"Aelwyn?" Adaine croaks, and she groans, rubbing at her eyes even as Aelwyn rearranges her so that she can lay comfortably in Aelwyn's own pile of pillows. "When did you get here?"
"Twenty minutes ago," Aelwyn answers, and she raises an eyebrow, fixing Adaine with her certified Evil Stare that has always made Adaine tremble in fear. "So, dearest sister of mine, what are you taking?"
Adaine bites at her lip, and her gaze fixes off somewhere in the distance, pointedly not meeting Aelwyn's eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about," she says, but the quiver in her voice says otherwise.
"Adaine, you can't lie to me, you've never once been any good at it," Aelwyn huffs, and she takes one of Adaine's clammy hands in her own– it's remarkably thin, small even for as small as Adaine has always been compared to her family. "Don't make me ask you again. What are you taking."
"It's… it's not a big deal, I'm fine," Adaine tries to say, but she quickly shuts up when Aelwyn fixes her with her murderous glare again. "Really, I just didn't expect you to be home. Don't you have work tonight?"
"I got the night off, Ayda was worried about you," Aelwyn tells her, and she merely rolls her eyes when Adaine still stares off into the distance nervously. "Honestly, are you going to make me go get Jawbone? I'm sure he'd recognize whatever drug you're on, he'll be plenty happy keeping you under surveillance."
"Don't tell Jawbone!" Adaine immediately protests, and this time when Aelwyn raises a brow at her, she seems to concede, her expression falling. "Listen, it's… it's not what you think."
"Then tell me," Aelwyn's free hand goes to her pocket, fishing out her crystal. "Let me look up whatever you've done to yourself this time."
Adaine opens her mouth, but then she hesitates, her brows knitting together. "It's not a big deal–"
"--like the hells it is, you were so out of it you didn't notice me teleporting into our room and dragging you to the bed," Aelwyn snaps, " tell me, Adaine, or I'm calling Jawbone up here."
"It's divan!" Adaine finally blurts, and the immediate panic in her eyes almost had Aelwyn drop the act; for all that she needed to intimidate her sister into giving her concrete answers, she doesn't want Adaine to work herself into a panic attack about it. "It's just divan. That's all."
"Divan?" Aelwyn frowns. "That's… Isn't that a divination enhancer? Why in all the stars are you taking a divination enhancer? You're the Oracle!"
"Because… because…" Adaine bites at her lip again, and then she slumps, flopping into the pillows with that look of panic still written all over her face. "Aelwyn, I'm just so tired of it." The admission seems to leech the rest of the fight out of her, her lashes fluttering precariously. "I thought going to the Court of Stars to plead my case would stop the elves from teleporting in to bother me, but it only got worse. I was getting harassed at Basrar's, at the library, on my way home from school. I thought… I thought…"
She doesn't finish her sentence, but Aelwyn can put two and two together well enough.
"You thought giving them what they wanted would make them leave you alone," she finishes, and she rubs at her own temples, briefly closing her eyes in mild frustration. "Adaine, our homeland is full of ignorant, self-centered bastards who would rather have you on their soil serving them and who believe that they'll have hundreds of years to wear you down. Of course they won't stop even when you give them what they want."
"Well I know that now," Adaine mutters petulantly, her lashes still fluttering– now that she's not fighting back, she looks on the verge of passing out entirely. "It wasn't supposed to be… like this. But I can't focus without it now."
"That's how addiction works, sweetheart," Aelwyn tells her, and she sighs again, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I really should get Jawbone, he knows so much more than I about this."
"Jawbone can't know, he'll be so mad at me," Adaine whispers, and to Aelwyn's surprise there are genuine tears pricking the corners of her sister's eyes, even as she fights back the exhaustion she's surely facing from the drug. "Please, Aelwyn, don't tell him."
Aelwyn knows it's wrong, she knows. However, as she stares at the form of her little sister begging her for help – so similar to their childhood – placing all of her trust in Aelwyn for the first time in as long as Aelwyn can remember… how can she say no?
"Alright, alright," she relents, reaching up to gently smooth hair out of Adaine's face, fingers lingering against her cheek. "But we've gotta get you clean somehow. I'm not letting you ruin my reputation as the most irresponsible Abernant sister."
"Mm," Adaine hums, and her eyes close for a moment, even as she leans into Aelwyn's touch like she's feverish. "Sorry. Guess I ruined bonding night."
"Whatever are you talking about?" Aelwyn snorts, "my favorite bonding activity is babysitting my little sister who's been secretly taking a stimulant for who-knows-how long. Speaking of, if we're going to get you clean, we can either do this the easy way or the hard way."
Adaine's eyes crack open again, and she peers up at Aelwyn with apprehension. "What's the difference?"
"I suppose it depends on the approach." Aelwyn hums thoughtfully, thinking back to a time in her life she's not exactly fond of. "Option one, quitting cold turkey. You'll be terribly sick for at least a few days and the chances of relapse are stronger, but you'll get clean much, much faster."
"I've tried quitting, I could barely get through class," Adaine frets.
"Well, then that's probably the hard option. You'd need constant supervision too; someone to make sure you don't relapse and also ensure you're being fed," Aelwyn shakes her head. "If I took off that much time to be that person, people would get suspicious and if Ayda questions me directly about why I need the time I won't be able to lie to her, you understand?"
Even in her drugged-out haze, Adaine seems to comprehend the point that Aelwyn is making; if Ayda finds out Aelwyn is babysitting her, it won't take long for her to put pieces together and, worse, she'll immediately tell Fig, who will tell the rest of Adaine's friends, who will definitely let it slip to Jawbone even accidentally.
"That's not even mentioning how quickly Jawbone will get suspicious, he literally works at your school. We can tell him that you're ill, but darling, I've known your guardian for nearly two years now and I would say from the bottom of my heart that if he knows you're ll, he'll be in here checking on you and trying to nurse you back to health." Aelwyn holds up two fingers, and then curls one of them, shaking her head again. "That would be the hard option, but it would be the fastest."
"And the other?" Aelwyn watches Adaine's face drain of even more color at the thought of Jawbone seeing her, the panic returning to her eyes.
"The other will be easier, but it will also take time. Option two would be to slowly lessen the amount of divan you're taking, until your body relearns how to function without it in your system. That process could take… weeks, months, but it won't be nearly as suspicious." Aelwyn curls her second finger, and she gives Adaine a very pointed look. "What do you think?"
"Option two sounds better," Adaine mumbles, and she weakly draws the blankets around herself, sitting up a little straighter against the pillows.
"Alright. Then you'll have to give me all of the details," Aelwyn hesitates, then reaches out to take one of Adaine's hands– for comfort, because she knows her little sister is quite fond of physical affection. "Starting with how much and how often you were taking the drug."
Adaine bites at her lip, and then she stares down at her lap, suddenly unable to meet Aelwyn's searching gaze. "It wasn't a lot at first," she says quietly, "but more recently… two vials every other day. Sometimes more."
Two vials. Aelwyn simply doesn't understand how she didn't catch on that this was happening sooner. "And where did you get it?"
"The wizarding store downtown, it's over the counter and legal and everything," Adaine says, fidgeting in place now that she's being questioned again. "I have some in that box next to Boggy's terrarium."
"Good. That should be easy enough to track down." Aelwyn hesitates again, and then she squeezes Adaine's hand. "We'll start slow, cut down to a vial and a half every other day and see where that goes. It's still not going to feel great, but you've always been persistently stubborn, I'm sure you'll manage."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Adaine says dryly, and her lashes flutter again, her hand almost going limp in Aelwyn's grasp. "Can I sleep it off now? I'm so tired."
"Alright, alright. Get some rest. You can even stay in my bunk tonight, I doubt you'd be able to climb the ladder into yours anytime soon." Aelwyn leans over her prone sister, pressing a light kiss to the top of her head.
"Yeah," Adaine says smartly, and her eyes flutter closed, her hand falling out of Aelwyn's grasp entirely and coming to rest against her own blanketed chest.
Like this, she looks… still sickly, but peaceful, more like the child that Aelwyn always failed to protect in the past and less like the too-adjusted too-grown-up teenager she's become in Aelwyn's absence. Aelwyn would be tempted to sit there forever, but she knows her body will hate her for it in the morning and besides, if she's going to be stuck in the manor for long periods of time she will need to find some way of passing the time.
So she stands, pressing one last kiss to Adaine's temple before making her way back over to her desk. The package of cookies sits there untouched, and she doesn't feel even the slightest bit guilty for taking one out of the package, plopping it right into her mouth as she digs around for her old books.
"...hey Aelwyn?"
When Aelwyn turns her head mid-bite, Adaine's eyes aren't open and she's barely moved an inch.
"Yes, Adaine?"
"Thank you. For taking care of me."
Something fond and heavy settles over Aelwyn's chest, and it's all she can do to bat it off, force a light chuckle and an easy smile that her sister cannot see. "I promised I would protect you from now on," she reminds Adaine, "even from the horrendous fate of Abernant drug addiction." She tries to keep her tone light, but that heavy fondness seeps into every word.
Luckily, Adaine doesn't pry – and maybe she doesn't have to pry, she's always been better at knowing Aelwyn better than she knows herself – and after a few minutes of silence, Aelwyn realizes that miraculously, her sister has fallen asleep.
It's certainly not what she expected coming back to the manor tonight, but as Aelwyn takes another cookie out of the package and turns open her favorite romance novel, she finds that she's not as remiss about it as she thought she would be.