Farron sat with an empty plate and a world's worth of impatience. It'd been almost an hour since Claire had gone inside with them. What could possibly be taking this long in questioning her? She didn't like it. From what Farron had seen of Raina's Umbra sisters so far, they were as scheming and manipulative as Raina had painted them out to be. There were bad and good apples in every batch, Farron knew, but every moment this took longer was much more than Farron had expected and it made her nervous. She wanted her girl out of there and soon.

Raina reached out a hand, detecting her anxiety. She laid it over Farron's arm gently. "She'll be out soon," Raina promised without knowing. "Jeanne's not going to let anything happen to our baby."

Farron breathed in aggravation. Fang had gone off, taking Rhea and Serah to watch over them again, and Farron had a good feeling about her to let Fang do that. Claire seemed to trust her every bit, even after what they'd been through together. That was enough to convince Farron alone. Her words had been kind too, much earlier in the evening. It was almost turning day already. Farron would otherwise be sleeping with her mate at this time, and she didn't mean literally.

"Are you alright?" Raina asked again; having been there right next to Farron the whole council meeting, she'd known of difficult he situation had been for a Yun. Farron had intended to fuck her after, but that'd been before this whole ordeal. "If you want to pass some time," Raina offered, "A little release?"

Farron appreciated the offer. Raina had been sweet in understanding of their predicament, but until she had Lightning back safe and sound, she didn't even think she'd be able. "Later today," Farron promised, knowing her mate probably craved it too. They'd been apart a full week. Farron couldn't remember the last time that'd happened.

Raina nodded patiently in infinite understanding. "Claire's been excited to meet you, you know," she told her gently, "You're what broke her of the Sage; even I couldn't do that completely."

"Lucky I have the hair." Farron agreed. "Indisputable proof right there."

"I think she would've known," Raina said gently, "Even without. She just needed to see you to come to herself again."

"She'd be better if there weren't all this interrogation," Farron said with a heavy sigh. She couldn't imagine all the Umbra meetings and chit-chats Lightning had had to endure before she came here, but if it'd been anything like that last session she'd had with the Umbra, Farron knew she'd have to be exhausted. Who but an Umbra could put up with all of that? Sheesh.

"Have you thought about the war?" Raina asked gently, the subject soft after the Umbra had made a fool out of the idea of her coming.

"I still intend to go," Farron told her mate resolutely. "Those bastards molested my daughter, Raina. You can't expect me not to go with you."

"Farron…" Raina began softly, and it was tentative. Farron knew she didn't want to fight again, but this circumstance was absolute. She wasn't going to stay back here and do nothing while her daughters rapists were taken out by some other people not her.

"I don't care if it's dangerous, Raina. If I can't kill the Sage, fine, you take him out. But I'm not leaving the men unpunished who touched and scarred my little girl."

"I could die, Farron." Raina said gently, but when Farron looked at her face, she found it full of conviction. "You could die. It's more likely that you would. You know Sages have magic, and Yuns don't know anything about the skill of that."

"Raina— "

"I have to know they'd be okay, Farron." Raina pressed on regardless. "If I perish in Cocoon, I don't want our girls to be parentless in this place. You know the Umbra. Even Jeanne's had to sacrifice a piece of herself to these women. I need to know they won't have that; that you can take Serah and Claire away." Farron's jaw stiffened. "Please, Farron," Raina begged, and though it was quiet, Farron could hear it was a plea in asking. "They can't be raised in this place. I don't want you throwing your life away for revenge… not when we still have them after everything."

Farron stared hard at the table because she knew she'd give if she saw Raina's face. "Broken pieces of one," Farron mumbling said, her anger over what they'd done to her daughter an inconsolable offense. Raina didn't say anything and only squeezed her hand in begging. Farron's tightened on the table, throat tightening up with her hand. Raina knew what she was asking, of course, and she was right… the stronger of them was her, and if either of them had a chance, it would only be Raina. Much as Farron loathed what that merciless Umbra had said in council, her vicious words weren't untrue either. It didn't make this any easier to deny. They had raped Claire, their firstborn daughter. How could she…

Farron closed her eyes and tried to loosen her jaw enough to speak. She only managed after a few moments. "You'll slaughter them dead?"

"I wouldn't show a speck of mercy." Raina promised. "I'll promise to torture if it makes you stay."

Farron's jaw shifted again. Raina wasn't joking, she knew. Farron didn't need to hear the promise to know she'd inflict pain, but… her little baby, un-avenged by her father with the right Farron had to it. She had such a bridge in trying to tackle that one. Claire's captors deserved worse than death, and it should be by Farron's hands and her mother's. Not all these random Umbra who's daughters hadn't suffered the way. "I'll think about it." Farron said because she couldn't commit to laying off and doing nothing just yet. Maybe if Claire asked her to stay… maybe.

Raina's hand ran down her arm to hand and squeezed.

Something sounded a few rooms away. Farron's head picked up.

"Do you hear them?" Raina asked, "Are they finished?"

"A door's opening," Farron stood immediately. "They may be finishing up." She quickly picked up her empty dish and slid it onto the counter by the sink on her way to the door. Raina followed close after and Farron hastened to the end of the hall where Jeanne, Cereza, the Phony Umbra, and her girl were coming out of with Jihl. "Claire," Farron ignored the Umbra, sidestepped them, and took Claire into her arms.

"Dad…"

"Are you okay? What took so long? What were they asking in there?"

Claire pulled back only enough to smile a little bit and promised, "I'm okay, Dad. It wasn't bad. We were just detailing plans."

"Detailing for what felt like hours," Jihl, her daughter's lover, complained. "I need to eat, Light."

"Okay," Claire excused her, "I'm going to take a walk with my dad."

"Find me when you're done," Jihl said, offhand in leaving with her mothers to the kitchen. "I am days overdue for a good fingering. I'll be in the back, crushing roses."

"Okay," Claire agreed with another little smile, looking from Farron to her mother as well. "Mom, Dad."

"Let's take a walk," Farron agreed in a breath. Claire smiled, took the space between them, and seemed easier than she'd been the first two times Farron had seen her. More lighthearted without the pressure of the world weighing her down. "So, it wasn't bad in there?" Farron pressed, her demeanor not matching what Farron would've expected after an hour-long meeting being grilled in there.

"It wasn't bad," Claire assured again. "They just asked questions of the castle and of Sage."

"That wasn't too stressful, I hope." Raina read her thoughts straight.

"I'm okay, Mom. I feel better now, really." Farron wondered at that. Perhaps the confession had lifted her spirits some. "Telling them was the right thing… you'll be okay with five others, Mom, right? Jeanne seemed to think so."

"We'll get through, Claire." Raina promised her daughter, "No Sage is going to get the best of me after what he's done to my daughter."

"Jeanne said she had trinkets." Claire brought up, "Things that could protect the Umbra… you'll wear one, Mom?"

"We're not going into this half-cocked, Claire." Raina vowed. "I'll be careful."

"Are you going, Dad?"

"That's yet to be seen." Raina answered in understandable hesitation. Claire took Farron's hand and completely warmed Farron to her heart, that Claire already felt comfortable enough to do that with her, to reach out and touch; after everything she'd been through with her last 'dad.'

"Dad…" Claire looked like she wanted to say something on it, but at last second, she changed tactics. "Tell me about Mom," Claire asked finally, "How did you meet? How did you fall in love? I still don't know barely anything of that."

Farron's heart warmed. "You didn't tell her yet?" she asked Raina, surprised.

"Not everything," Raina shook her head. "It seems like so little time we've actually had. Between Roma watching over us and the meetings they constantly have…"

"I know what you mean," Lightning breathed in agreement, and Farron thought she could relate by that last one.

"Well," Farron started as they led back up a path to the far trees. "The Yuns and Umbra weren't at odds a few decades ago, you know that."

"It seems so short," Raina said with a sigh. To her, it might seem like just months. It was a bit longer to Farron.

"Umbra went to young, unattached Yuns all the time," Farron filled in, "They weren't like us. Once they found one Yun or a couple who wanted to share and give them child, they stuck with them for decades. Stubborn if you ask me, though Raina'll say it's just proper."

Raina snorted. "Twenty years ago, maybe."

Farron gave her daughter a smile. "I've converted her since."

"Farron was my first Yun," Raina filled in then, "I wasn't as ready as the others to have children. The war had just ended what seemed like months ago,"

"She means centuries," Farron supplied.

"And I missed my wife." Raina continued over anyway.

"Aletheia?" Lightning asked.

"You heard our conversation," Raina picked out. "I'd wondered… you have your father's nosy ears, Claire."

"My ears aren't nosy." Farron objected.

"Sorry," Lightning started to apologize, but Raina waved her off.

"It doesn't matter." Raina shook her head, "You're right, Claire. Aletheia was my first wife."

"Pretty tough something for a 23 year old to live up to, huh?" Farron prodded charmingly with her little smile.

"She didn't, at first," Raina said with an equal grin to Farron's shrewd pout.

"I saved myself nine years for you!"

"Saved yourself," Raina chuckled, "That's what Yuns call safe sex. 'Saving' themselves." She winked at Claire, "But really, Claire, Farron was a sweetheart about it."

"It used to be an honor, you see." Farron explained, "Umbra would choose of us when we were young and unattached as potential prospects. You could say no if you already had mating plans or something, but most of us considered it something to be held reverent. I was 16 when I'd been picked as a prospect, and I don't think it was by Raina."

"It wasn't," Raina confirmed with an amused smile.

"But I was thrilled," Farron explained, "I hadn't given any Yuns children yet, and from that point forward, I made it an aim to save myself to give the Umbra my first child. It was honorary enough just to be selected as a candidate they favored, but even more if I could give one of them something special of myself. So, from then on out, I only had safe sex with any girl I ever had sex with."

"'Saving herself.'" Raina grinned.

"It was hard!" Farron protested.

"I'll bet," Raina chuckled.

"You waited nine years on the chance of being selected by the Umbra to give them a child?" Lightning asked in disbelief. "They say that can take twenty years or more to accomplish!"

"That's true," Farron confirmed with a nod, "But it was a different time back them. I was flattered, and willing to wait. But maybe the years did a toll on me more than I thought. When Raina picked me of the selected nine years later, I was overcome with the notion to give her a baby."

"She was charming," Raina filled in, "Of the lot of them, beautiful and impish. Eager as high heavens as well. I wanted you to inherit her hair." Claire touched at it on top of her head as Raina continued. "So I picked her of the group. She'd waited a long time in Yuns years, and told me how she 'saved herself.' I thought it cute."

"I thought you didn't fall till after?" Lightning asked.

"Oh, we didn't." Raina assured, "This was all baseline observation and choosing what we'd like to see in our children. Farron spoke easily to me, she was eager, and I found her cute, both physically and interally, all things I thought would be good traits to pass to a baby."

"Cute, pah," Farron scoffed. "She means she saw my hardy and her eyes grew wide." Raina smacked the back of her head. "Ow!" Farron complained, "That's how it went!"

"That's a part of how it went." Raina corrected, and Claire glanced between them in utter disbelief.

"Really, Dad?"

"The damn thing pops up to that Umbra scent!" Farron complained. "It wasn't my fault! It was something the Umbra liked, though, let me tell you something." Another light smack tapped the back of her head. "Hey! It's more truth!"

"You know the next part from there," Raina told, moving the subject on. "Farron and I worked for fourteen years on making you."

"It was a damn long time," Farron said, "And you wonder why I got so attached to my firstborn baby."

"I don't wonder," Raina said with a little smile.

"Wait, Dad," Claire paused her, "If it took fourteen years…" she quickly did the math. "You're 59?" Lightning gawked.

"Your mother's thousands!" Farron protested, "Don't look at me like I'm old. Damn woman's a cougar over there."

"I was the first to fall for Farron," Raina filled in comfortably, "She fell in love with you first, me after."

"Raina just kept coming back with you," Farron grumbled, "She addicted me, is what she did. How can you not love a woman who repeatedly sneaks away to share her child with you when she's not supposed to? I was damned from the start to mate her. She even let me give you a Yun name and that pendant." Farron tsked as Claire's fingers lifted to it on her chest. "I'm surprised you still have it," Farron added, "That they let you keep it over there. Damn stunned to hear anyone call you 'Lightning,' I'll tell you."

"They gave me to a wet nurse," Claire explained, fondling it. "She named me from it… " Claire breathed out unevenly, "Serah told me you had given me the name."

"Figures," Farron nodded in agreement, "Men aren't that intelligent to draw the connection."

"You've known a man?" Claire asked in surprise.

"Bah. No," Farron admitted in her disgruntled anger, "Let me have my prejudice. Fucking bastards for what they did to you."

Claire squeezed her hand gently in understanding. "I wasn't alone, Dad. Jihl carried me through it. I made it out because of her."

"At least you had her," Farron agreed, shaking her head, hard-pressed to let go of the storming anger so easily. "Gonna have to hug her for taking care of you all those years. She sounds loyal, Claire. That's what I like to see in a woman for my daughter."

Claire seemed unused to hearing such things. She shifted as they reached the trail at the edge of the trees, a little shyly. "I hope you don't look bad at her for being pregnant with Fang's, Dad. That really wasn't her fault."

"I understand how it went, Claire." Farron assured with another shake of her head. Fucking bastards warped her little girl's mind so bad, she hadn't had the intentions to hurt anyone when she'd went to Fang. That's how pure-hearted her girl had turned out. Even coming out of lifelong rape as she had, her priority in following such a mucked up path had only been to help someone else; a whole people of someone else. How had her daughter pulled through like that? "And your mother and I will help you and Jihl however you need. Pregnancy's a big thing, and I know you must be scared now that it's happened." Farron breathed out a sigh, "I would like to talk to her though, and actually meet the girl you're courting."

"You can, Dad," Claire promised, "I want you to know her too. Jihl has some rough edges, but she's always been protective and caring over me. She's smart and blunt; has a good heart, and I love her."

"Sounds like your mother," Farron said with a smile over Claire sharing tastes of a strong, shielding woman like she had. Claire blushed at the comment, glancing to her mother with it.

"Maybe a little different than Mom." Farron grinned and Claire's eyes returned to her. "So… what happened after I was gone?" Claired asked. "How did you… get together?"

"I practically flew to Farron after I'd thought you'd died," Raina confessed. "I was crushed. Already had feelings for Farron like I did Aletheia, and I didn't know where else to go. Farron had to know what'd happened."

"We both were crushed," Farron added. "I was a first-time father, but Raina had it infinitely worse. There's nothing like a mother losing her baby like that." Farron shook her head. "I did what I could for Raina, but I'd been hammered with it too. I wouldn't have made it if she hadn't kept coming back. It might've started as comfort for me, having her instead of you, but there was nothing not to love about your mother. Even in tragedy. I couldn't keep from loving her back. We grew together over the loss, but I think it would've happened anyway, even if we'd gotten to keep you. Raina's impossible not to love."

"I got lucky," Raina confessed, "I hadn't felt so comfortable with anyone since Aletheia. But Farron made me feel whole again. I wouldn't have made it without her."

"Neither of us would've," Farron claimed, "Not so wholly anyway. I think that's what went wrong with the Umbra," Claire looked at her in surprise. "They were broken over their children." Farron explained it out, "A decade is like months to them; none of them could've been ready by the time Fang showed up."

Claire didn't seem to know how to respond. "But…"

"Don't get me wrong," Farron filled in for her, "From what I'd seen in that hall, they've all become selfish, entitled vipers, seeing us as they do now, like their breeding stock." She shook her head, disturbed by it. "I'm just saying, I can see how they got there by first hand experience, is all. We had loved them like royalty, and after a loss like that with the untimely appearance of Fang not a decade after…" Farron sighed, "They're afraid. Kind of peculiar, that. The immortals are more afraid of dying than we are."

Raina looked sad and strained when Farron next checked her mate; Farron could understand. She'd hardly want her only living 'sisters' to be seen in such degradation. "There's no excuse for what they've done," Raina agreed, "But my sisters didn't all have a Farron to heal the holes after so much loss. Take the ones who've done 'well,' since it happened: Thalia and Ariadne who are both still in mourning and healing over Adelaide. They haven't touched Fang because of it, because they're healing in a healthy way. Jeanne and Cereza have been forced to, and they're pressured under all their weight. Jeanne's barely surviving it for the decisions she's had to make. It's a miracle Jihl made it back to her when she did because I don't know how they'd survive this otherwise.

None of my sisters left share the same mate they fell in love with before the war. Only Nerites had that, and she lost her love to Fang. Most married too soon after for first pick of the few of us left." Raina looked at Claire, strained. "Take that against the couples most enthused with Fang: Roma's turned Cybele into her lap dog after they lost Carme, and Persephone can't even express her will to stop sleeping with Fang to Nephelai." Raina breathed out in long sigh, "Galene and Soteria are friends more than wives. Athena and Selene are constantly at odds in fighting, but they'll never leave each other, and Tethys married Lethe out of need, not love. Hecate and Techne may be doing the best of us all, and it's only because both of them are fully warped into following Roma's lead."

Raina closed her eyes in pain. "None of them were selfish, petty women once. Desperation has warped them beyond repair."

"It's not your fault, Mom."

"—fault, Raina." Claire and Farron said in unison.

Raina opened her eyes to offer the most meager of pained smiles to the both of them for the claim. Farron pushed it so she'd know. "Look what happened to Jeanne, Raina. You had to get out of there."

"I'm glad you did, Mom." Lightning added. "I wouldn't want you to have stayed."

"My family," Raina said with a shake of her head, "How did I get so lucky?" she clung to Claire at her side, hugging her close. Claire took a moment before she asked softly.

"Mom, Dad…"

"Yeah, Claire?" Farron asked gently.

"There's one other thing," Claire confessed. "I was hoping you could do for me…"

"Anything, Claire," Farron promise. "What do you need?"