"Once upon a time, there was a sphinx that lived terribly alone on a remote mountain. She was an Oracle, blessed with sight of the future and the past. The hopeless and the curious traveled miles to see her, climbing her mountain and braving traps just to ask the Oracle their questions. She was the latest in a long line of sphinx Oracles, upholding the ancient tradition."

"Then a cunning, beautiful thief with a great patootie came to the mountain. And she didn't want one answer. She wanted all of them. So she schemed a wicked little scheme to steal the Oracle of the mountain. That thief was your cool mom."

Rachael held her baby Felix up to her face and grinned a wicked grin. Felix giggled at the face she was making, so she kissed him on the nose.

"Alas, the dashing villain of our story couldn't steal the Oracle. Too heavy. With knowledge and with feathers. Shoulda brought a wheelbarrow but she forgot. But a thief won't leave empty handed if she can help it, so before she left she stole something of the Oracle's and gave her a gift in its place. She stole the Oracle's heart and gave her loneliness."

"The Oracle had never known what loneliness was. She was raised to wait alone with her duty to keep her company. But while the thief stayed on the mountain, the Oracle got used to having another person in her life. And when the thief left, the Oracle felt how empty and quiet her home was for the first time."

Rachael yawned.

"The Oracle couldn't stand to be alone so left the mountain in search of her heart. She met many silly characters and learned what pizza was. But finally her journey led her back to the thief. Whose own journey had made her a mom. Home is where the heart is so the Oracle became Aunt Felicity and decided to live with the thief and her beautiful son. And she was never lonely again and also she helped the thief with the dishes."

Felix grabbed Rachael's hair and tugged on it.

"Baby, I told you a bedtime story! How are you not tired?" wondered Rachael. "I'm tired! I'm sleep."

She handed Felix over to Felicity and then lay down on the couch, leaning against the sphinx and dangling her paws over the armrest.

Felix, being a handful, grabbed Felicity's nose. She didn't mind. What Rachael said in her somewhat true story was true. Felicity was not lonely living here. And she did most of the dishes.

"Say… Why did you come back?" Rachael asked drowsily. She yawned and shimmied into a more comfortable position against Felicity. "Never mind, I know. I’m so delightful, you couldn’t keep away…"

"That surely must be it," Felicity agreed. She bounced and rocked baby Felix in her arms.

The truth was… complicated.

When Felicity had her existential crisis after returning to the mountain, the full breadth of Oracular sight was available to her.

She looked at a future where she coupled with a demon and bore the next Oracle. The baby was taken away to be trained and eventually returned to replace Felicity on the mountain. The rest of Felicity’s life was her own, freed of purpose and responsibility. The ancient tradition of the sphinxes continued on. One more link in an endless chain.

And Felicity looked at another future where she spat on everything she had been raised to believe. And all she saw was this. Sitting on the couch, holding baby Felix, as Rachael snoozed at her side. An uncertain future.

What made up Felicity’s mind was remembering what she’d said to Felix before leaving for the mountain. Wishing that he grow up to be something really awesome, like his mom but in his own way.

Felicity could bear the loneliness on the mountain, the way the role of Oracle eclipsed everything about her. She was raised to believe in the importance of the Oracle, she did believe in it. But she imagined Felix being forced into such a life. Or Sadie and her friends, living out roles written for them untold ages before they were born. And Felicity could not bear that, could not create a child only to idly stand by as they were shaped into not a person but a role.

Would the Oracle of the Mountain end in her absence? Maybe. Probably not. There were many sphinxes in her family, not deemed worthy to sit upon the mountain. Maybe one would be reassessed as worthy after all in Felicity’s absence.

The only future Felicity saw for herself was on this couch. With the devious raccoon that lured her into a world more interesting and beautiful than even an Oracle could have guessed. With the charming baby Felix, who had his whole life ahead of him. With space in her heart for Sadie and all of her wonderful friends at Grimaldi University.

Felicity wrinkled her nose and carried Felix over to the changing table.

The future might also hold a dirty diaper, for that matter.

"My pillow walked away," Rachael complained, half-asleep.

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I’ve been sitting on this picture for over a year. Originally, this was just going to be a picture of Felicity visiting with Rachael and Felix before returning to the mountain. And then at some point, when Felicity’s path in life changed, it became her returning to Rachael from the mountain.

Valenthemes picture 3: the odd pair out.

Eleanor and Jonas, Christina and Maggie. These are clearly romantic couples.

It’s not so clear what Rachael and Felicity are to each other, besides important. They are incredibly important to each other. They each changed the other’s life. Whatever form it takes, it’s definitely a kind of love and trust.

It doesn’t start weirder than attempted kidnapping and it doesn’t get more comfortable than whatever they have between them now.

I’ll note that a detail I requested was for Rachael to be wearing Felicity’s traveling hoodie. The money pants Felicity is wearing are probably Rachael’s. They match the cash she stuffed inside a sofa because she’s robbed too many banks to trust her money to a bank. (I imagine there’s little cash stockpiles everywhere around her safehouse. She did steal A LOT to prepare for Felix.) The shirt Felicity is wearing is definitely something Rachael got for Felicity because of the silly wordplay. Baby Felix is wearing a little onesie made to look like a prison jumpsuit because Rachael is a silly person.

I hope you all enjoyed the Valentines theme week. There’s a lot of other kooky couples around my cast to celebrate. Jasiri/Leopold, Sadie/nerd boobs, Jessica/Louis, Dr Science/science.

Maybe next Valentimes.

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Felicity, Felix Reynard, and Rachael Reynard owned by me
Art by  kaemantis