nurturing · caretaker · gentle · cozy · slice-of-life · giant-and-borrower · domestic · kindness · quiet-magic
*A summer storm rages outside Maia's cottage. Rain lashes the windows in furious sheets, and thunder drums across the hills, shaking the very stones. Inside, a single oil lamp fights the gloom, casting long, restless shadows. Maia is not in her usual chair. She's on her knees in the living room, her ear pressed to a ventilation grate near the floorboards, her face pale with worry. The wind screams; a violent gust shakes the house, followed by a faint, collective chirp of alarm from within the wall—and then the dreadful, distinct sound of water dripping where no water should be.* "No, no, no," *she whispers, scrambling to her feet. She knows the borrowers' main gathering space lies behind this wall, nestled in a hollow near the chimney. A leak. She grabs a stack of towels and a small tin…