Heyyyy! This fic was written for the lovely Clover (Medicine Cat of the Opera, go check her out!) as part of the Caesar's Palace Fic Exchange. I used the prompts "Don't you have any idea what's going on?" and the witch clans.
I hope you like it, and sorry for the lateness, Clover! {3
At first, when Asterin went missing, Manon didn't think too much of it. The Crochans had been getting harder and harder to find. Manon was often away on her own missions, too, and there was the possibility of the the two of them just kept missing each other when they came back to the Keep.
She was preoccupied with hunting Crochans herself, too. Figuring out where her Second had been could wait for later.
Manon had just returned from a mission. She had been able to devour several of the cruel men in the towns, but as always, there were no Crochans. She could almost believe that they had wiped them all out, but it was probably just bad luck. Bad luck was not preferable for the Blackbeak heir.
With her blood-red cloak swishing behind her, Manon strode into the Keep with waves of smaller and less important covens parting to the sides to let her through. A sentinel hesitantly approached her, but Manon waved her away. She already knew her grandmother wanted to see her.
When she reached her grandmother's office and shut the door behind her, there was no greeting.
"Well, Manon? I expect much better from my heir," the leader of the Blackbeak clan said, coldly staring into her eyes.
Manon dipped her head. "The damn Crochans have gotten better at evading us, Grandmother. I have plans to strategize with my Thirteen and figure out what the rutting hell is going on with them."
"Make sure none of your Thirteen comes back to the Keep empty-handed again." There was no hint of approval from her grandmother, but she also didn't shoot her down, so Manon excused herself out the door.
Just outside of the office, Manon knew her Shadows were standing guard, melded into the darkness effortlessly. She didn't look at them as she passed by, but she told them, "Tell the Thirteen we're having a meeting."
There wasn't even one small rustle as they went to get the others.
On her way to one of the meeting rooms in the Keep, Manon passed by one of the towers, just like she always did. This time, though, the doors were locked and two shivering sentinels were standing guard.
"Who's inside this tower?" Manon asked, stopping in her tracks. The sentinels hesitated to answer, so Manon repeated her question.
"The Matron told us not to tell anybody," the taller sentinel said, obviously trying hard not to stutter.
Of course. Manon was silent as she walked away again, but her mind was whirring about who her grandmother had locked up in the tower.
Manon did a headcount of her Thirteen. And then did one again. She knew Asterin was off somewhere, but she had at least expected her Third, Sorrel, or Vesta to show up to an important meeting. Nevertheless, the meeting went on as normal, and they discussed the Crochans.
Crochans were the last thing on Manon's mind after the meeting ended, though. She cornered one of the witches in her Thirteen on her way out. If anybody knew where Sorrel, Vesta, and most importantly Asterin were, it would be this witch, who had gone to a mortal school.
"Ghislaine. I need to talk to you in private," Manon said, staring at the gold flecks in her eyes. Ghislaine let out a small, almost unrecognizable snort, which Manon twitched at but let go. She stayed behind with Manon anyway, though.
Finally, the rest of the Thirteen had filed out. There was no guarantee that the Shadows weren't watching, but Manon trusted them enough.
"Do you even know what's going on?" Manon asked Ghislaine, leaning back against a wall.
"Well, do you, Manon?" Ghislaine was the only one Manon would let speak to her in this way, although she still sometimes got on her nerves. Besides, she needed Ghislaine's intelligence.
Manon opened her mouth to speak, but Ghislaine answered for her. "No, you don't, because your grandmother doesn't tell you one damn thing about what happens. Anyway, you're her to ask me about Asterin, right? Nobody's been able to access the locked tower, but I believe Asterin, and Sorrel and Vesta are in there. Can't tell you what they're doing in there, though. Best to put it out of your mind for now and focus on the Crochans."
Manon passed by the tower several more times, and then one day, it was unlocked and back to normal. It was as if nothing had ever happened inside of it.
Sorrel and Vesta were back as if nothing had ever happened. But Asterin took some more time to return, even after the tower was unlocked.
One day, Asterin returned with three Crochan hearts in a box for Manon's grandmother. Manon grinned wickedly at her and held a feast in honor of her Second.
"You're a damn fine Second, Asterin," she said, lifting up her glass to toast her. Asterin merely grinned back at her ferociously. Manon had missed that unchecked wildness. It was what made Asterin who she was.
Nobody asked where she had been all those years. She had come back and killed three Crochan witches, and that was something to remember.
In fact, over the years, Manon nearly forgot entirely that Asterin had been gone at all.
Manon stared at the dark, branded letters on Asterin's abdomen. Unclean, they read. Manon's grandmother had burned the word onto Asterin.
She had seen Asterin shirtless before, though, hadn't she? Manon wracked her mind for the last time, but no, the last time was when they were little witchlings.
Asterin didn't speak again for a moment, and Manon took it all in again. Asterin had fallen in love with the hunter, had become pregnant, but then her witchling was stillborn and Manon's grandmother had burned the word into her.
Sorrel and Vesta had been there, too, guarding the room, but Manon had had no idea that that was what had been going on. And it had happened to witches in the lesser and younger covens, too, except nobody heard about it. All this time it had been happening.
She wondered what other pieces of cruelty her grandmother had hidden from her.