Rifiuto: Non Miriena
A/N: Written: 2008.- Licia
Kathleen's eyes widened in shock. What. the. Hell...?
Though both parts of the bar were still intact, there was a good-sized chunk missing from the middle. Avianna's bright gaze darted between the bar and Kathleen and back. She'd never heard of such a thing being able to happen, let alone actually happening. And yet, there it was, the strongest iron in all the realms, crafted by the darkest magic of the Unseelie Court, crumbling before her eyes at the touch of a mere-
"A marteal... ye... ye're a marteal-"
"Yeah, I got that." Kathleen replied, finally finding her voice. She looked down at her hands, gaze dancing across her fingertips. Her son's magic came from his fingers, but there had to be something more to it. What had Tim told her once?
"Magic- especially strong magic- has to have emotion behind it- Anger. Fear. Sadness. Joy. Love. It's like when we cause the majority of the electronics to short circuit or the weather to shift. If Sarah and I are fighting, that emotion is there. That's what makes our magic really powerful, Mama. The emotion behind it."
She shook her head. "But there's no emotion behind this, my son. None whatsoever."
Avianna glanced at Kiertan, before stepping towards Kathleen. "Wha' are ye sayin'?"
The paramedic's gaze darted from her hands to the selkie, and she bit her lip. "Tim... Timothy told me once that... that magic has to have an emotion behind it. That if there's emotion behind it..." She stopped. "That it's more... more powerful with emotion behind it." She shook her head slowly. "But there's no emotion behind this."
"Are ye sure 'bout tha', Lass?" Kiertan asked, and slowly, Kathleen met his gaze.
"Calling to you? Timmy, are you sure?"
He nodded. "I've never been more sure about anything in my life, Sarah. It was... this... this strong... almost... dark..." He shook his head. "It... it was almost like there was this... this darkness about it... this really, really strong darkness." Sarah met her brother's gaze, fear flashing in her eyes.
"Darkness? Timmy, that's bad. Darkness is bad. Don't you remember the Harry Potter novels? Or... or like the dark casters from Beautiful Creatures-"
"You've been reading too many fantasy novels, Sarah." Her brother replied as they fell into step together, continuing away from the house. She grabbed his arm, turning him to face her.
"Timmy-" The look on her face caused him pause, and he sighed before they continued on.
"Don't you remember your mythology, Sarah?" She opened her mouth to speak, before stopping. He snorted softly. "In traditional fairy mythology, there are two courts- the Seelie and-"
"The Unseelie." She finished softly, and he grinned in response.
"The Unseelie are dark, and the Seelie are light. Good and bad. Both sides of nature."
"So when you touched those rings-"
"It was dark. The energy I felt. I don't necessarily think it was bad, but it wasn't light or good either." He stopped, thinking. "And didn't our birth mother say something about our birth father being a dark fairy?" His sister shrugged. A moment passed before he furrowed a brow. "I don't remember either. But if those are the rings she told us about, then they have to have some connection to the court, regardless of whether it's light or dark."
"Which means they have some connection to our birth father." Sarah finished. Her brother nodded.
"I... I don't know that I can do it again. Maybe it was a fluke, a one-time thing-"
Slowly, Avianna pulled away from Kiertan, going to Kathleen. She extinguished the small flame in her palm, casting them all into darkness, and reached up, taking the other woman's shoulders. "Kat'leen. 'tis our chil'ren a' stake. I know ye wan' 'em back as badly as I, ev'n though they 'twill no' r'turn t' ye-"
Kathleen looked up, meeting her gaze. "What do you mean, 'won't return to me'? They're my children. I may not have given birth to them like you, but I love them as though I had. I raised them, I made sure they had a roof over their heads and food in their bellies. I made sure they were loved, and that they understood that even though they were adopted, they were still a part of my family. They're my children, Avianna, whether you like it or not. And they have lives in my world, not yours. Regardless of what you think of my world, their lives are there. Their friends, their family."
The selkie took a deep breath, pulling away from the paramedic. She was silent for several minutes, gaze turned away, as though she couldn't bear listening to the other woman's words, before finally meeting Kathleen's gaze. "So ye woul' steal me chil'ren from me?"
Kathleen's tone bit as she spoke, closing the distance between them. "You are planning on stealing them from me. Or are you suddenly going to pretend like that wasn't your plan from the very beginning?" She turned back to Kiertan, who watched them in stunned silence. Without a word, she brushed past the selkie, going to the fairy prince. Without touching the bars, she leaned close, meeting his silver gaze. "You may have created them, and she may have birthed them, but they are mine. They belong to me; they have for the last twelve years. They are my children, and I am getting them back, regardless of what you both want."
Avianna's words came back to her. Do not speak with offense.
She bit her tongue, thinking. "If I release you, you will help return my children to me. You may be their true father, but I am their mother. They know my world, not yours. My husband is their father, not you." He raised an eyebrow, studying her briefly. There was a fire in the young woman that would do her well to protect her against the darkest of horrors they would face- for to go against the Unseelie Court would spell disaster. And for a marteal to cross the Court...
Yes, this young woman would make a strong ally, if not to Avianna, then to him. He knew the selkie was resisting the woman's help, no matter how she tried to hide it, and he sighed internally. Had her ordeal really turned the girl he loved as bitter as her words betrayed? Was she so desperate to regain what was rightfully hers, that she would destroy the family her children had grown up in? When had the girl he'd fallen in love with turned as dark as the court he had been born to rule over?
He glanced at Avianna, before turning back to Kathleen. He was not like either woman, for though he had known Avianna had been with child, he had had no idea that she had borne twins. He did not have the connection either Kathleen or Avianna did with them, and so his deepest desire was much simpler than theirs. His gaze darted to Kathleen's fingers, and he watched as she lifted a hand to the bars, fingers skimming the iron slowly. It crumpled away like dust in the wind. Their eyes met, and he nodded. He knew what he wanted in regards to his children; he wanted one thing, and one thing only.
"I ask f'r nothin' in r'turn, but t' mee' me chil'ren, Lass."