"Before you leave, which one is your Mom?" Cass asked, and Byron gave a big, cheesy smile. It caught Cass off guard.
"What? You can’t tell our relation right away? Isn’t it obvious?" He asked, teasing. Cass wanted to give the man the middle finger in response, so he did.
"Shut up. You know that’s not the case." Cass said and he laughed. Sam was watching him with an expression that felt rather raw. It was something that Cass felt awkward watching, but not because it was a bad feeling. It was because he had a feeling that Byron and Sam were going to be a lot later coming back then Byron was aware of.
Sam may not be a sex demon, but he was in the company of one. Maybe some things rub off on other demons, particularly imps, when they spend enough time around more powerful demons.
"She’s the really pale one. She’s a little older than the rest, but she’s wise and kind. She handled a rambunctious child like me fairly well. Don’t be too harsh on them about the spying thing. They didn’t really put me up to it, and honestly? I wasn’t that good at it either. You sniffed me out right away." Byron told him with a cheeky grin. Cass shook his head with a sigh.
If Lucian was here, he could see the other dragon grabbing the younger, cheekier one and wrestling with him. It was a sharp pang of absence that had Cass’ good mood fading ever so slightly.
"Go on before I decide you have to stay." Cass said, waving a hand. In his other he held the blue bag. He hadn’t told Taniora what was going on yet. He was fairly certain that she couldn’t hear about what was going on when the bag wasn’t open. It was truly its own little pocket dimension.
Cass wondered if he should brief her on what was about to happen, but realised he didn’t have enough time to do so. He felt a little guilty as he walked towards the door, hearing the chatter of family and friends behind the door.
Cass hesitated on opening it before finally, he knocked and then just pushed it open. The fairies inside had rearranged the room. Before, the room had felt like a regal place. Two couches facing each other, a chair at the end so that no one had their back to the door. Dark lighting, a few cabinets and accent furniture around the room to fill the space.
In the few days that Cass had been gone they had changed the room. The couches and chairs were still there, but they had been changed. Moved around. The room had been accented with a few plants, a creeping vine going across the wall, suspended with what Cass could only assume was magic. There were ferns, other plants decorating the room that made the air feel less stuffy.
A few rugs had also been brought into the room, sprucing up the space, and some of the paintings inside had been taken out and exchanged for landscapes of monstrous trees, birds, life. It was a rather jarring change, since Cass could not imagine making the nobles beg like he had in a room with this much life.
Hell, he couldn’t even imagine having that awful conversation with Sam in this same room. It had been changed. Elevated. Cass wasn’t sure how he felt about it.
"Oh wow." Edgar breathed. "This space is amazing." He muttered. A few of the fairies watching them chuckled. Gideon was also in shock behind them, while Cass found himself frozen. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do or say.
Ser Hune, who was watching Cass quietly, got to her feet. She had been sitting on a couch with her Mom, Sir Sanders behind her, his hand on her shoulder. She wasn’t wearing her knight clothes, instead wearing something a little more flowy, that honestly reminded Cass of what Taniora had worn, was still wearing, when Cass met her.
Ser Hune came forward, taking Cass’ hand in her own and giving it a squeeze.
"I told them they could only start on one room while you were away. They insisted on this one, saying it had a lot of negative energy. Is it alright?" She asked and Cass took in a deep breath. He wasn’t sure how to respond.
Negative energy was one way to put it.
"Well, I’m just a little confused, I think. This was the room I used for meetings. It feels more like a sitting room now." Cass said. Ser Hune smiled at Cass, but when she turned her head to look at her family, her gaze sharpened.
"This is why I told you to keep it to only one room. Sometimes negativity is needed." Her voice was sharp, cutting, but instead of anyone in the room getting sad or upset, they all just laughed.
"Ailia my dear, you don’t need to practise your misbehaving child voice on us, that’s for Dustin." Ser Hune’s Mom said with a wink. She made a pointed look towards Sir Sanders, but the man didn’t bat an eye.
That told Cass either he was used to this, or he had an incredible poker face. Cass would put money down on both.
"I’m not mad, I’m just...startled." Cass told them, and Ser Hune’s Mom got to her feet, coming over to Cass. She held out her hands, taking Cass’ hand that wasn’t in Ser Hune’s with both and giving it a squeeze.
"Well, we can always change it back if you don’t like it. I just thought that a room that held so much negative energy wasn’t good for you." She said. Cass swallowed.
"I’m sorry, I’m not trying to sound um, ungrateful for the work you’ve done. The place does look really good, I just...I can’t imagine someone begging me not to take their livelihoods from them in this room." There was a long moment of silence before Edgar burst into laughter, followed by the other men and women in the room. Gideon looked uncomfortable, but since he had been someone who had begged for his livelihood, he had no say beyond voicing his opinion on whether he would beg or not.
"Well then, that might be the problem if that was what this room was used for. We’ll come up with a solution. Is it the way the chairs and couches are angled?" She asked and Cass nodded slowly.
"I think so. I do think the plants are a good addition, I just worry that they might die." Cass told her. She laughed.
"That’s what the other fairies are for, my dear. They will water them, and thus they will get their own life from them as well. It’s a win-win situation." She smiled. "Oh, right! Ailia reminded me that I should introduce myself. I am the Matron of the southern forests, the protector of all wild things, Matron Alysora, but you may call me Auntie." She said with a cheeky grin that was all Ser Hune.
Cass blinked, before he nodded.
"I’ve never had an Aunt before." He said quietly and the fairies all seemed to get up as a force and surround him. Cass should have felt cornered, or even bothered. Instead, his chest felt tight, his eyes watery, and he knew that his feelings weren’t his own. Cassian was feeling emotional as well, but he somehow managed to keep both of their feelings in check.
Neither one of them was upset, just...confused. Not used to this kind of tenderness. The questions he was asked, the small, affectionate touches. They came so easily from the others, from the people who were supposed to be his extended family. Who had been robbed from him by his own Mother, and then his own grandfather.
It was heartbreaking to realise and consider. Cass wasn’t even aware of the fact that Edgar had stayed by Cass’ side, offering him silent support and very physical support as well. He had his arm around him, a protective gesture that had even Gideon staying behind them, keeping himself between the door and Cass and the others.
Cass wasn’t aware of it until he was sitting down on a couch, Edgar beside him, Cass squished between Edgar and his-his aunt, Alysora.
"Now, you said you had something you wanted to show all of us, including the nursery tree, right? Do you have it with you?" Alysora asked and Cass blinked. Right. That was the reason he had called them, not for them to fawn over him. Cass was mildly embarrassed for a moment before he gathered himself.
This was going to be a hard topic to broach. Cass realised that so much time and pain had passed between when Taniora had passed and the Kingdom was formed, and now. Cass didn’t even know if they would view her in a good light, so Cass felt like he owed her a fighting chance.
"Before that, can I ask you a brief question? It’s related, I promise." Cass glanced at her, the Matron, and watched as she nodded easily.
"Of course."
"What do you know of the founding of this particular Kingdom?" Cass asked. He felt the mood in the room shift. The anger coming in, pouring into the space around him.
"They built this Kingdom on the backs of those who weren’t human, and then turned their backs on those who helped them do so. They are terrible beasts, worse than any demon I know." That didn’t bode well for Taniora. It sounded to Cass that they might blame her. Cass swallowed.
"Did you know that there was a fairy in the original hero party that fought the demon king and helped found the Kingdom?" He asked. He watched a few of those around him tense, while his Aunt nodded.
"I did."
"Did you know she was the King’s original lover and she perished in a dungeon?" He asked and that seemed to confuse them.
"We were aware that she died, not that she was the King’s lover nor that she died in a dungeon." She said and Cass nodded. He swallowed.
"She was also...apparently good friends with Lucian." Cass told them carefully. "He was friends with the King who formed the Kingdom because he was in the hero party that helped form this Kingdom. It’s why he’s written into the very fabric of the Kingdom. My guess? His grieving friend wanted his other friend to be able to put a stop to things if they ever grew to be too bad." Cass shook his head. "That’s just a theory though, but..." Cass trailed off.
"Why are you asking us about this?" Ser Huned asked. She was able to sense that something was wrong. "Was there something about the last dungeon that involved the past?" She asked. Cass nodded. He wanted to explain more about the dungeons, but now was not the time.
"The demons did something they shouldn’t have." Cass said quietly. "They disrupted her resting place and...I don’t know what exactly they did, but I have an awake and aware Taniora in my bag right here. It’s like a little pocket dimension, and since she doesn’t need to breathe, she’s safe. I couldn’t leave her in the dungeon, and I don’t think Lucian would have forgiven me if I had." Cass told them.
No one breathed for a second.
Then, it was chaos.
"The demons took her body?"
"Where was she resting for that to be possible?"
"How did this happen?" All the while, Cass’ aunt remained silent, pensive.