Daughter, mine.
Disclaimer – As you all should know, Tamora Pierce owns the majority of this and not I.
Authors note: Do me a favor and check out Icefall. It's a Tammy fanzine written for and by Tammy fans. It's linked in my profile.
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"Must you leave?" Aly asked of her brother. She sat outside of Pirates Swoop in the early morning sunlight, Alan next to her.
"You may not want to follow in mothers footsteps, but I do," Alan told her, quietly but confidently. "No matter how late I may be."
"I could come with you." As soon as she spoke the words, Aly wished she could take them back and devour them whole. She braced herself for her brothers' reaction.
"I don't trust you to be around so many men and not get up to mischief," Alan said honestly.
Aly grinned wickedly in reply.
"Alianne of Pirates Swoop," he warned.
"That's Alianne Cooper, to you!"
"Cooper…?" Aly watched as her brother pulled faces, a sign he was concentrating, apparently. It slowly smoothened out to one of recognition. "Ah, Cooper. Won't mother be delighted."
"Don't you dare." Aly pulled a face. "I'm already her least favourite."
"Oh don't worry. You're not her least favourite," Alan said, a familiar mischievous twinkle to his eye. "Yet."
Aly stood and sighed with mock hurt. She stood and slowly began walking towards Pirates Swoop, knowing her brother wouldn't be too far behind. Aly was feeling something close to shock, when finally at home, she found her mother sitting idly. There were very few times the Lioness didn't have her hands full.
"Guess the name Aly has given herself," Alan called out to their parents from the door frame.
George looked thoughtful. "Aly the Great?"
Alan shook his head.
"What is it, Alan?" The Lioness wasn't one for guessing games.
"Alianne Cooper," Alan said, straight-faced. He took only the time to glance at his parents varying expressions, before leaving.
Coward, Aly thought.
Not quite daring to look at Alanna, Aly sought her fathers' reaction. He wore a crooked grin. "I don't think you should use the name so lightly," he told his daughter.
Alanna sat ridged, anger creasing her forehead. "What did you say?"
"That I am Alianne Cooper," Aly said defiantly.
"You are Lady Alianne of Pirates Swoop," Alanna reminded her. George slowly shook his head.
"What?" Alanna asked him.
"Nothing," was the calm reply.
"Imagine the trouble she could get into, flouting that name around," Alanna said after a minute of silence. Aly thought she could hear a note of panic in her mothers' voice.
"Flouting?" Aly asked, outraged. She was, however, ignored.
"Looking at the trouble she's already getting into," George said, his eyes locked on his wife.
"That's exactly my point!" Alanna exclaimed.
"Must you speak of me as if I'm not in the room?" Aly asked.
Both Alanna and George looked towards her as if only truly noticing their daughter's presence for the first time. "Please leave for a moment," George said.
Aly left without objection, but positioned herself behind the door. Surely they couldn't expect that she wouldn't eavesdrop.
"Ashamed of the name?" George asked, somberly.
"Never," Alanna replied. It was the barest of whispers.
As Alanna moved towards her husband, Aly decided to give them a minute of privacy. Real privacy, not the lip reading, spying at key holes kind of privacy, either. Patiently, Aly waited at the end of the corridor.
Soon her mother came to find her, and with one of the most maternal instincts Alanna ever had, she pulled her Aly close, and embraced her. Alanna whispered, "Daughter, mine."
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Happy Reading,
Madame-S-Butterfly
xx