"So, what was that she did?" Robin asked, the team once again assembled in the rec room while Black Canary and Wonder Woman were in the med bay with Sigrid to make sure her vitals were stable and that she had not sustained any injuries during the fight.
"We don't know. We were hoping the six of you could give us answers on that." His mentor answered.
"The attack happened when Artemis apologized for what happened. When we did not run from the Hydra as Sigrid told us to, she knocked us back somehow, and encased us in something." Kaldur relayed, "I for one could not see out to what was going on until it was gone and everything had finished."
"That 'something' you were encased in," Wonder Woman said as she entered the room with Black Canary, "was your own shadow. She manipulated them into shields to protect you all, it seems. They dissolved and returned to normal when she became unconscious from the exertion."
"Will she be alright?" M'gann asked, concern clear on her face as any other emotion.
"We're sure she'll be fine." Black Canary assured, and the Martian relaxed.
"Yeah, but how was she able to do that? Control shadows I mean?" Artemis asked.
"Demigods inherit powers from their parents." Wonder Woman explained, "My own power of flight comes from my father Zeus. Sigrid's ability to control shadows to an extent is due to her own father's abilities as well."
"And what about that other thing? It disintegrated that monster like it was nothing!" Superman exclaimed, and Wonder Woman sighed.
"That, was black hell fire." She paused as the team looked at one another, bewildered, "It painfully destroys whatever or whoever is in its path, and is even capable of inflicting damage to spirits and one's soul if the user is experienced or exceptionally careless. We are fortunate that it died out when she no longer had the energy to sustain it. If it had continued with her not conscious to control it we would have had a city wide disaster on our hands in minutes."
"Wait wait wait, so who would her parent have to be in order for those to be her powers? That's just plain dangerous!" Wally cried out, earning him a sharp glare.
"Once again, she has good reason to not wish to tell you her heritage, and whether you figure it out or not doesn't matter. She is here because she needs help and safety, and that is what I have promised. I expect only the best from the six of you. Do not ask about her past or her family unless she is willing to give the information. We ourselves are not sure what she has been through, and she is not going to open up about it until she is comfortable. Understood?"
She was answered with a chorus of yesses, and nodded.
"She will be in the room between M'gann and Conner once she is out of the infirmary." With that, Wonder Woman picked up Sigrid's luggage and left, taking them to the girl's new room. The other three adults said their goodbyes and parted to places either within the cave or through the zeta tubes, and the team was left alone again.
"Well, summer break is going to be interesting." Wally commented, putting an arm around his girlfriend's shoulder, glad that she wasn't trapped in her own shadow anymore.
"Yeah, once it gets here." she replied, leaning her head into his neck as the others, minus Kaldur who did not go to school, nodded in agreement.
"So what will we do when she wakes up?" M'gann asked.
"Congratulate her on defeating the monster?" Conner suggested.
"Perhaps we should thank her for shielding us all. Even if we would have been able to help her, she only wished to defend us." Kaldur commented.
"It's the thought that counts." Robin added, trying to lighten the serious mood left behind by the adults.
"Indeed." Kaldur agreed.
Ten minutes later Sigrid walked in, gauze pads taped to her knees, and one on her arm.
"Hey." Robin greeted casually."
"Hi."
"You okay?"
"I am fine." She said briskly, eyes traveling around to them all. He could tell she was checking them all for injuries.
"So a sea monster, huh?" Wally asked, "You deal with that kind of thing often?"
"Often enough" she said vaguely.
Then Black Canary entered the room.
"Sigrid, I'm glad to see you're alright. Could you come with me please? I'd like to talk to you."
Sigrid made eye contact with Robin again, and after him giving her a barely noticeable nod, she sighed and followed the woman to the waterfall room, where all her sessions were held. The two sat across from one another in the green chairs, Black Canary's face soft, and Sigrid's stone.
"How much do you know about your family?" Black Canary asked, and Sigrid sighed again, bouncing her right leg.
"My father is Hades, Lord of the Dead. My mother is Mirja Mustonen. My... grandparents are the Titans Rhea and Cronos, and the... mortals Hilja and Conrí Mustonen. My only extended family is on my father's side. My half sister by him is Melinoë, and my... adopted sister, daughter of his wife Persephone, is Makaria. They are both goddesses. I have no other siblings."
"What's your relationship with them?"
"Who?"
"Any of them."
"Well, I don't know Rhea, but dad says nothing but good things about her, and Cronos is in bits in Tartarus where he belongs so I don't know him. Melinoë is… odd, but both her and Makaria don't like me much… because I'm only here because dad cheated on their mom. We all still talk though."
"What about your other grandparents?"
"They aren't family."
Black Canary raised her eyebrows at the blunt statement.
"So you consider half sisters who don't like the circumstances of your birth family but not your mother's parents?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"They thought Mirja was a disappointment… and she avoided them as much as possible. I met them after I was born, which was the first time she had seen them in 14 years… and then again when I was ten and we all met for a weekend… because my grandmother didn't think it was fair for Mirja to keep me from her like that… And then last week. They don't want me around either anyway."
"Why do you call your mother by her first name?"
"That's what all the adults called her."
"But you call your father 'dad', not Hades."
"She always called him my dad."
"Did she tell you about who he was?"
"Yeah."
"Has that ever made you feel alienated from other kids?"
"I don't understand."
"Has that made you feel… distanced, or isolated from other people your age."
Sigrid shrugged.
"I don't really talk... to people my age."
"Why not?"
She shrugged again, and looked at the floor, growing uncomfortable.
"I was… homeschooled… until I was eleven… because we moved around alot."
"Did you not have many friends?"
"Some."
"What are their names?"
"Mathis was nice. He had to move though… after my first year."
"Are there any people you miss from school now?"
"Kiarra, Matthieu... Sophia was alright."
"Do you like school?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"It takes me too long to do things and it annoys everyone."
"What kind of things?"
"Um… I'm not good with reading… or concentration."
"What's your best class?"
"Gym… or art."
"Are you involved in sports?"
Sigrid nodded.
"I've swam competitively since I was little, and I did archery, and I did gymnastics, and I did Longsword fighting as a sport."
"Longsword fighting?"
"Historical European Martial Arts. I worked with daggers and the basic… wrestling moves they teach you at the beginning also… but what I trained with most was the longsword… I did learn some polearms which is nice… with the whole halberd thing"
"Your mom really wanted you to know how to fight, didn't she?"
"Things like what happened earlier were not exactly uncommon, even before she had me to worry about."
"Do you want to talk about what happened to her?"
Sigrid's face paled to an extent that most would not believe possible and Black Canary backpedaled with haste.
"You don't have to if you don't want to of course-." But the damage was already done.
Sigrid quickly left the room, and Black Canary followed her.
"Sigrid please, we'll talk about something else."
"Do you know where my room is?"
"Yeah, of course. I'll take you."
They walked to the door, and when Sigrid opened it she stopped suddenly, making Black Canary look over the girl's head to see what was wrong. She looked at what she could see from the doorway in surprise. It didn't look like the regular rooms. Someone had changed the furniture, and painted the walls a cheery pastel yellow. It looked lived in and personal, with knick knacks and cd's on a large wooden bookshelf, a colorful floral quilted comforter on the four-poster bed, a low table with a cloth, candles, bowls, and other objects Black Canary couldn't name arranged on top of it carefully, and many other things. The air seemed to buzz with energy when they walked in. On the bedside table was a note written in bold, spaced out, capital letters, underlined, seemingly for even more emphasis. Sigrid picked it up and read it.
, , E. L.
E,
R
"Does he always write like that?" Black Canary asked.
"No," Sigrid responded, grinning, "He just knows it's easier for me to read when it's like this."
Black Canary took another look around the room. All of the furniture was a dark wood, the red tone of the stain going well with the yellow of the walls. Across from the bed that was on the right wall from the door was a desk with drawers, flanked by two bookshelves filled with CD cases, jars of shells, smooth grey stones, dried herbs, scraps of ribbons and fabric, and polished crystals. Above the desk was a cork board with twine on the top of it. Clipped to the twine with pastel painted clothes pins were photographs. A boy with brown hair in a red hoodie and jeans balanced on a rock at the edge of a creek; the picture taken from the opposite side of the water. The same boy hanging from the tree branch of a large oak with a blonde haired girl in a green long sleeved sweater sitting on the branch across from his, leaning against the trunk. Sigrid, looking a couple years younger, smiling with braced teeth between the girl and boy from the previous picture, they all have wildflowers in their hair. The boy smiling wide, outside in the fall; he had what looked like an all black, extra padded fencing mask tucked under his left arm, a steel broadsword casually held up leaning flat side against his heavily padded shoulder. Around his neck is a medal. The next picture is of Sigrid and a woman with eyes like the ocean and hair the gold of the setting sun. They're sitting on a bench under a flowering dogwood tree, smiling. Sigrid looks older than in the last picture she was in, but it still doesn't seem recent. The following photograph looks to be from the same time, of her and a brown haired, chestnut eyed girl in a classroom. The other girl's side swept bangs are dyed a royal blue, and she and Sigrid are wearing matching necklaces. The next picture features her as well. She's on a pool deck, hair in a wet braid. She's tan with a thick, athletic build compared to Sigrid's pale, bony athletic build. They stand next to one another, Sigrid's arm around the girl's waist and the girl's arm around her shoulder, Sigrid's head coming only up to the girl's chin. They wear matching black swimsuits with thick royal blue straps, both of them holding blue caps and a pair of goggles. The last picture is of the two of them again in what looks like a grassy schoolyard. The girl is carrying Sigrid on her back. They're both mid laughter, but the picture is crisp and without any blur. Pinned to the cork board are a few things, among which is a small piece of paper with a metal trash can drawn on it in pencil. Underneath it are the words "I drew you" in english, with a winking smiley face next to them. In the corner of the page it says "from Laura, Sept. 2010 3".
On the desk is a jar of colored pens, a sketch book, what looks like it may be a journal, and a laptop. Next to the jar of pencils are three framed photographs. One is of Sigrid on a couch, held in between the gold haired woman and a man with long curly black hair and a crisp lined beard. It looks like a family portrait. The picture next to that is of Sigrid, the two girls, and a black haired boy that isn't in any of the pictures from the same time the first three hanging pictures were taken. They all sit on the steps leading up to someone's house, and it seems to be fall. The last picture is of the brown haired girl, and looks like one of the most recent. She's sitting in a patch of sun in a field of wildflowers wearing jean shorts and a flowy cotton blouse. Her hair is braided with flowers into complex knots, and the light shines off of her smiling face.
Pulling her eyes away from the pictures Black Canary looks at the rest of the room. Next to the bed, in the opposite side of where the nightstand is, is a dresser with a mirror over it, and a large wardrobe, where Sigrid is standing now. On the other side of the dresser was a low table with a white cloth, and incense burner, and several other things. On the other side of the bed next to the nightstand is a wooden rocking chair with a blue blanket folded over the top of it, and a plastic box next to it. On the nightstand is a lamp, a digital alarm clock, and empty candle holder, and a white vase of dried but still fragrant lavender. On the wall across from the door was a window, and under it was a small end table with what looked like herbs in little pots. One was a small rosemary bush, another was basil, she also recognised mint and oregano. The silvery plant she didn't recognise. A second end table held a larger pot of just lavender.
When she heard the wardrobe door be opened Black Canary turned to see that there were three swords hanging on the inside of the door, a wooden one, a synthetic one, and a true steel one, though that one had a dull edge and was currently sheathed. There was also a wooden pole with a rubber polehammer head. Sigrid noticed Black Canary staring and grinned.
"I told you I did European martial arts."
"Yeah, you did."
She could also see the shape of a guitar case behind the sparring gear hanging in the right side of the wardrobe.
"Do you play an instrument?" She asked, nodding towards the case.
"Yes, Acoustic guitar."
"How long have you played?"
"Four years."
"Do you have any other hobbies?"
"I, uh… I knit… and do art"
"Cool. How long have you been knitting?"
"Two years. I made that blanket." She said, pointing to the blanket on the rocking chair.
"You like a lot of physical activities?"
"Yeah."
"Who are the people in the photographs?" Black Canary asked after a moment of silence where Sigrid closed the door of the wardrobe and she walked back over to the desk. Sigrid walked to her and pointed to people.
"That's Matthieu in the red...sweater, and that's him and Kiarra in the tree, and then the three of us together. We were eleven. That's Matthieu again, he won a competition in class. That's me and Mirja, I was 12." She pauses at the girl with the blue fringe. "That's Laura. We're thirteen in that last one."
"You didn't mention her like you did Kiarra and Matthieu. Are you still friends?"
"That one's dad and me and Mirja," Sigrid continued, quickly avoiding the question and pointing at the framed family picture. "And the black haired boy in this one is Mathis. We took that one before he moved at the end of the school year." Black Canary decided to not pursue the issue.
"Well, it was nice getting to know you Sigrid." She said instead, "Do you want to go back and be with the team?"
"Y-yeah, hold on," Sigrid said, going to the plastic box by the rocking chair and taking out a ball of yarn attached to the makings of a hopeful green sock. "I like having something to do with my hands…"
Black Canary grinned, and Sigrid seemed to relax at that.
Maybe her second meeting with the team would go better than the first.