Hope Falls

“When it comes to Draven you don’t.” Izsak pointed out bluntly.

---

“Being loved is a horrible fate?”

"Not having a choice, and being unlucky enough for it to be someone as anxious as she is."

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"He was almost my brother, Izsak. Søren would... It is complicated, okay?"

(( Omg just managed to get a too good to go bag from Aldi so BRB an hour or so ))

“He was almost your brother, you had feelings for him, he tried to reciprocate and had he done it a few months earlier it would’ve been what you wanted. He’s possessive, he’s Draven. I don’t want him near our daughter. If it wasn’t for him and his war a mother and a father wouldn’t be the only family she had.”

---

“Humans are funny things mm?”

"No, she wouldn't exist because everyone would have starved to death from lack of farming, hunting and gathering. Those wars were called for, Izsak, and you played just as big of a hand in them as everyone else. Do not blame Draven and Sarika for leading."

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"I agree, but in what way are we referring to this time?"

“The sensitivity.”

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“No, no no. No. You do not get to implicate me in starting a fucking war. You don’t get to do that because doing that implies that me getting caught and locked up by the Fae was just a consequence of my own actions. Getting fucking tortured, raped - my own fucking fault. It implies that my mother and sister are dead because of a choice I made. You do not get to do that.” Izsak snapped then, placing Eris back down and heading into their bedroom to dress himself.

"Fighting in it, supporting it. We all fucking supported it!" Matilda called after him, throwing a hand in front of her in frustration as she followed him. "Don't you dare accuse me of thinking, or implying, that any of that was your own fault. Of course it wasn't, idiot." She continued, voice softening at the last tone. "Don't you for a moment believe that, Izsak."

---

"Ah, yes. They never lose it either, do they? Any of them born human, they always struggle here."

“I didn’t make a single fucking choice about either war them two started. I was a soldier that followed fucking orders or else I ran the risk of them deciding I was more trouble than I was worth and just cutting my throat. You contributed. You made choices. You supported it. You can’t spend the last few years telling me that I was young and manipulated by Sarika and then place responsibility for her shit on me.” Izsak shook his head as he sat down to lace up his boots before walking past her to the door.

---

“She probably thought I was being cruel, but it was just the truth.”

"Don't walk away from this," Matilda requested quietly, gripping onto the doorframe of the bedroom as she kept her gaze steady on the other side of the room. "I don't mean to place any blame on - on anyone. I think - I think I am feeling home sick, at the minute, and it is making me.. hurtful. That isn't the purpose."

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"She'll get over it, she has to. You are the closest person she has as a friend figure."

“Go fucking live with your brother then. Home still stands as his prison. But you’re not taking our daughter.”

---

“She’s very highly strung of late - it must seem forever to her though, I suppose. Such a short amount of time.”

"I'm okay, thank you." Matilda whispered, moving to the piano in the corner and tracing the ghost of tune against the keys. Not using enough pressure to actually make a sound. "I'm sorry."

---

"She showed up here in the midst of a war, she is finding her place for the first time too, I suppose."

“You’re saying it because you think it’s what I want to hear. Whatever. I’ll be a back day after tomorrow, I can sort my shift out myself.” Izsak shook his head, closing the door behind him as he left.

---

“It’s been years now, since her change, since peace, since finding Wyatt. Surely she should be settled.”

"In all the years she has been with us I don't think anyone has understood how that girls mind works. Let's not worry about her any longer." Aodhän hummed

“Mm, agreed.”

"How has your morning been?" Aodhän questioned quietly, slipping an arm around her waist to pull her against him.

---

A few hours later, Matilda's knuckles would have lightly grazed the door to Thea and Magnus' quarters, holding Eris against her hip.

"Ignore it." Magnus advised, lazily brushing his fingertips against the skin of Thea's stomach from where he lay in bed. "We've only just settled the children down for a nap."

“The guards don’t allow just anyone to knock on our door… it could be important.” Thea replied quietly, her eyes closed as she enjoyed his touch.

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“Uneventful, I didn’t hear you leave this morning. It must’ve been early, even for you?”

"The guards have a lost of expections, it doesn't mean that our expections can't take the piss-"

"Thea... We don't even have to talk, if you are busy, I'll only be a minute. Please open the door." Matilda called, voice hoarse.

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"I couldn't rest; so I started on the day earlier than normal. If we get enough done, maybe we can leave to see Kael even earlier."

“Ah couldn’t sleep with excitement?” Isolde chuckled, leaning back into him.

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“She sounds upset… I won’t be long.” Thea murmured apologetically as she opened her eyes, pulling herself off the bed and pulling her robe from the hook on the back of the door before heading through their quarters and eventually pulling their front door open. “Matilda?”

"Hearing through letters isn't the same, I need to see for myself how much he has grown. The environment he has created." Aodhän laughed, pressing his lips to the crook of her neck. "I am excited."

---

Matilda stared at her for a moment, lips parted as she tried to find an explanation. Though she simply shook her head instead, ducking to rest her cheek against Thea's shoulder as she leant into her slightly.

“Ah and if we turn up and the Palace is every young man’s wildest dream of excess and indulgence come true?” Isolde teased as she raised an eyebrow, moving to take his hand.

---

“What’s happened?” Thea frowned as she moved her hand around Matilda gently.

"Just a bad day, and Izsak won't be home until the day after tomorrow... probably evening time." Matilda whispered sadly. "Just a bad day."

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"Then I fear for what you will do to him, and once you have dealt with our son you can scrub my eyes so I risk not ever seeing anything like it again." He laughed

“Ah, but I was always fun as aunt Isolde, now I’m mother it seems you have become the fun parent and I the ones with the orders.” Isolde laughed properly then, turning round to place her arms on his shoulders. “As much as I believe if it came down to it Ada and Dmitri would indeed side with Kael, I believe for now if it were bad they’d have told us.”

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“Zaria is in the nursery with Karina’s children… settle Eris in there and come back? We can talk about it if you need to.”

"If I tell you too much you will dislike me too," Matilda whispered. "He thought I was dismissing his trauma, or... planting responsibility onto him and perhaps it seemed that way but it wasn't the intention. He got it all confused."

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"I think they are wise enough to tell us if he is risking his life, but not wise enough to tell us if he is being morally wreckless." Aodhan grinned, brushing his thumb in small circles against the small of her black.

“We can talk about it, Eris will be fine with Zaria’s minders for now. One less thing for you to worry about mm?”

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“As long as no children result from his recklessness - we can write it all off as experience for him. We were all young and mildly foolish once, he has the right to be too.” Isolde rested her forehead against Aodhän’s shoulder then, moving to pull him into an embrace.

"Okay, I'll... I'll be right back." Matilda whispered, pulling herself away and hesitantly wandering down the hall.

"Thea," Magnus groaned. "You do not owe her for the rest of you like, you can tell her to leave."

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"I never let my father know about it, or see it. I don't want to hear about my sons antics either." Aodhän laughed, securing his arms around her and squeezing gently. "Mm, are you okay?"

“The more Kael grows the more I wonder what Síofra would’ve been like at his age… I imagine I would’ve handed over to her by now. I wonder what kind of Queen would she have been. It’s not a case of comparison with Kael… just a wonder.”

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“How will I not owe her when she’s the reason I’m alive?”