I hope everyone has realized by this point that I am a huge fan of the Hawthorne sisters. As much as I love them, I often write stories revolving around Dahlia that just simply feature Iris, but I never really write stories that are precisely centered on Iris, despite the amount of love I have for her.

So, here is some self-indulgent Fey bonding, since I love, love, love it so much. Pairings include Larry/Iris because wow that was super cute despite Larry being Larry; Phoenix/Maya, though that is few and far between - I do like them quite a bit, though; and Feenbut/Iris, and there are less mentions of them than of Phoenix/Maya, which you can imply as friendship in this fic if you'd like.

Please enjoy. I don't own anything but the writing. You can also read this on my AO3, if you'd like.

the synonym of a sister

i.

Iris's journey in prison had not been a very pleasant one, though she supposed it was like that for everyone in jail, especially for herself and Dahlia. Dahlia had been on her mind as of late, but then again, she circled through plenty of topics in jail. As of her release, she had wondered for a bit, wondering if they would still accept her back at the Temple. Iris knew she didn't belong there, with her lack of spiritual powers despite the rich ancestry running through her veins. Even Sister Bikini had a little bit of spiritual power.

Iris didn't particularly take interest in spiritual things, but she couldn't help feeling jealous.

Nonetheless, she found herself back in the snow covered area, standing in front of the warm Temple she called home. Maybe she didn't actually belong there, but this place was her home, and no matter the fact that she was a misfit, Bikini had been like her mother, and always made her feeling like she belonged there.

When she walked into the main room, she was yelled 'surprise!' at, and there was a huge 'Welcome Home, Iris!' banner up. Bikini was not the only person there, to Iris's surprise. Maya - more like Master Maya - and Pearl were also there, and she was glad to have such nice women throwing her a welcome home party. They were all her family, too; Bikini, her surrogate mother; Maya, her newfound cousin and friend; and Pearl, her sister - well, half-sister.

Bikini threw her arms around Iris, and the latter let a warm smile envelop her features. "I missed you, Iris."

"I missed you, too, Bikini."

Despite her not knowing the others as well as she knew Bikini, Iris also received hugs from Maya and Pearl, but they were her friends, as well as her family, so she didn't care. It was nice to have company, after all.

Around that time, Larry - Laurice, Iris corrected herself - came barging in, upset that they had started the party without him. He was not as forward with his affection for her as he once was, which was perhaps a blessing, but Iris was happy to see him, anyway. He never failed to light up smiles on her face.

Maya brought burgers aplenty with her, and as they were eating, Iris could not remember the last time she had felt so warm. Laurice made them laugh often, and for once Iris started to feel like she was truly home.

Maya and Pearl, her family by blood, and Bikini, her family by adoption, as well as Laurice, a dear friend, made such a nice, conventional family. Moments like these were what Iris really needed and wanted, and she wished that Dahlia could have had moments like this, too.

But as much as she missed her sister, despite how crazy said grieving of Dahlia sounded, Iris knew she had a new family.

ii.

Bonding with her cousin, the new Master of Kurain, was easier than it had sounded.

Maya loved to hear stories about silly, stupid things that Nick had done, and despite Iris about knowing Maya's feelings... for Nick, the Master didn't seem to mind Iris's stories about Nick trying to impress his ex-girlfriend. She didn't even seem to mind that most of these stories were from the time period in which Iris and Nick had been dating. Maya simply loved to laugh at her close friend.

"Are you serious?" Maya had asked, and Iris nodded, and then they both laughed.

Maya, too, had stories to share about the spiky-haired attorney, and most of the times that the two had a chance to talk, they simply laughed at the poor man's actions. Though their chats were laced with serious affection, Iris sometimes felt bad about laughing at Nick the way the two did.

But Maya did like to ask Iris about other things, and they found that they had much in common despite their age difference.

Once, when Iris was braiding Maya's hair - on request; she had a meeting with the elders and she was worried about not looking her best (though Iris really disagreed - the Master truly showed herself to her cousin.

"You're so pretty, Iris. I wish I could be as pretty as you are..."

Maya had mumbled it, softly and ever-so-slowly, and Iris stared at her cousin with large, wide, brown eyes, stopping her braiding movements, accidentally tugging on Maya's raven hair.

When the Master reacted, she looked up to see Iris's face, and said Sister was not pleased in the slightest. She hadn't known Maya was this insecure about herself, and she wondered, then, if it was her fault, since Maya had certain feelings for their attorney friend that she was worried he wouldn't recuperate. Maybe she thought Iris was an obstacle, and Iris was also worried about that.

"Master Maya!" Iris started, placing her soft hands gently on Maya's face, "You are a beautiful woman! And I will not let you tell yourself otherwise!"

Maya nodded, slowly, but she thanked Iris silently, who went back to braiding the Master's hair. There was a silence, but when she was finished, Iris told Maya to look into the mirror.

"See? You're beautiful."

With Maya's arms around her, Iris was glad she could be of some emotional support to her strangely insecure Master. It was the first time someone besides Bikini had hugged her so tightly, and Iris was, at first, unsure how to react, but she eventually moved her arms to wrap around the younger woman's torso.

It was warm, and nice, and Iris finally felt attached to her almost unattainable cousin, the Master of Kurain.

iii.

It had been Maya who suggested that Iris go shopping with Pearl. Though they were sisters, they had spent limited time together, and Iris was not particularly fond of that fact. She had become closer with Maya, but she wished that it wasn't limited to Maya. There was Pearl, too, who had, at first, been wary of Iris, seeing as she had something that could interrupt her plan to get Nick and Maya together, and then Pearl had become a friend, and she often enjoyed being in the company of Iris and Maya, listening to their girl talk, waiting to get older so she could also join in.

But Pearl was still distant, and Iris did not want it to stay that way until Pearl was enough to girl talk with them.

So, here she was, in a semi-large department store with the young girl, who was currently going crazy looking at everything. Iris had to stifle her giggles, as she knew Pearl, who had grown up without seeing things like this, would not appreciate it. But she couldn't help smiling at Pearl's wide eyed wonder.

Pearl had picked out a number of garments and Iris didn't mind that some of them weren't particularly in season, because Pearl hadn't had any experience with shopping, since she wore her Kurain robes almost everywhere. Iris often did, too, but today she had dressed casually, and she thought that Pearl would appreciate some casual clothes.

Pearl giggled as she followed Iris so they could check out and be on their way, and once they were done there, they bumped into Laurice.

"Larry - oh, I mean Laurice!"

The man smiled. "Nah, it doesn't matter what you wanna call me anymore."

Iris smiled back, and when he asked what they were doing, Iris replied, "Oh, we just finished some shopping," she started, gesturing to the bags they were holding, "And I was thinking about taking Pearl out for some ice cream."

Pearl blinked, "What's ice cream?"

As Iris went to explain, Larry freaked out. "You've never had ice cream?! What kind of life are you living, kid?!"

Iris started to laugh, and Larry grabbed Pearl's hand and ran out the door with her, obviously determined to get the little girl some ice cream, and fast. She had a little trouble keeping up with him since he was on such a rush, but once she caught up, they were already at a nearby ice cream parlor.

Pearl was in wonder at the frozen treat, and as Larry requested flavors to her, Iris smiled fondly. She was glad that she had decided to take Pearl for ice cream, and she was even happier that Larry was now requesting a huge sundae for Pearl. The three of them split it, and eventually, Larry went on his way, but not without a kiss on the cheek from Iris. She had found him exceptionally endearing today, and that meant a great deal to her, so she had to repay him somehow.

Blushing as he left, Larry smiled at Iris and the latter found herself watching him walk away.

"Looks like you have a special someone~" Pearl practically shouted, giggling intensely.

Iris blushed a bright red at her younger sister, and Pearl was still laughing at this point, but as Iris went to suggest otherwise towards Pearl's statement, the young girl smiled fondly, interrupting the embarrassing situation with kind, gentle words.

"Thank you for today, Iris."

Pearl encased the older woman in a hug, and Iris hugged back tightly.

She had gotten pretty good at this hugging thing.

iv.

Girl talk had always been interesting. Usually it was just Maya and Iris, but Pearl had recently joined in, too, and then there was a lot more blushing, more laughing, and just as much smiling.

Pearl had been teasing Iris and Maya about their special "someones," as per usual, and Maya raised a brow at Pearl's newest suggestion for Iris's special someone; in other words, Larry.

Maya had questioned her, but the older woman's only response had been: "He makes me smile."

And with that, that part of the conversation was over, and it was focused on Maya. Pearl's relentless teasing had shifted the mood, and Maya had been sad, then, for Nick hadn't called to check in on the Kurain girls in a while, and it was usually that time of month where he called, and asked about Maya and her Master duties, Pearl, and Iris. Bikini waddled in, bring a tray of tea, like she always did before she sat and joined in for a round of laughs.

But this time, along with the tea, she brought a newspaper and a sad face.

When Maya read the headlines, she fled out of the room, obviously upset at whatever had been on the paper. When Iris and Pearl looked upon the paper, they saw it, too: Nick had been disbarred. They were all wearing distraught faces, and Maya was obviously angry that he had not had the decency to call her and tell her what happened. The paper was from a few days ago, and Bikini did not see fit to bother the Master when she was so busy. Today had been her first day off in weeks.

With the Master out of the room, and the other three worried, Bikini and Pearl had agreed to clean up while Iris went to check on her. Pearl had been so worried and it was almost a shock to not see her flying to Maya's side, but growing up had changed her for the better, and she suggested that the older Iris go talk to her. Perhaps Iris could understand better.

Iris found the Master crying. Not hard, but tears were gently streaming down her face.

Maya stared at her, explaining her tears before Iris could even ask, "I'm not upset that he lost his badge and didn't tell me, I'm upset because when I called it seemed like he had given up all hope."

Tears of worry, as it seemed. Iris could not even begin to try to empathize with the Master, so she instead pulled said Master close and held her tight. When Iris used to cry, Bikini would do this for her, and it always calmed her down. Pearl came in, as well, and did not bother asking, but simply placed her arms around her dear cousin. Bikini, eventually, followed suit, and so the four Fey women sat there, three of them comforting the poor, worried Master.

v.

It was quiet after that day, and Nick would no longer pick up or return calls from any of them, so the Fey women eventually had to move on and continue with their lives. Maya would smile less, but she was still bright and bubbly and such a wonderful Master, and Iris would never see her upset often.

When she was, however, Iris would hug her and promise her that things would get better, and Pearl would occasionally come in, too, and they'd sit there, comforting each other. It had been a long time since a day like that, as most of these present days were spent moving on and being happy, but this day was different.

Iris walked in on Pearl being sad, hugging Maya, and suddenly, Iris dropped what she was doing to make sure everyone was okay.

Iris hugged the both of them, (her hugging skills were now exceptional, thank you), and then Bikini brought in a chocolate cake and left again, her duties never ending, but she promised she'd back for a hug fest. But Iris also knew that Bikini did not want to intrude, as Bikini really enjoyed Iris being so close to her real, blood family. Iris would never let go of Bikini though, as she was practically her real mother, having raised her and all.

Maya stared at the chocolate cake, and then looked to Iris.

"You remind me a lot of Mia. When I was sad, Mia used to hold me like that," Maya said, smiling softly at the memories of her departed sister.

Pearl smiled fondly, too, clasping her hands together, "Yeah. Big sister Iris. You may not exactly be our big sister, but you're as close as we can get, and that makes us the luckiest people in the whole world!"

Iris's smile was warm and wide, from ear to ear. It was the first time she had been called something so important. It was a warm, family moment, and Iris was so fond of her unconventional family at this point that she started to cry out of happiness.

She liked playing big sister. It was her first and foremost priority now.