Taniora looked a little shaken, raising a trembling hand to her cheek, breathing slowly. Her big violet eyes were watering significantly and Cass couldn’t remain seated. He got up slowly, Edgar dropping his hand from Cass’ body so that he could do so.
As he approached Taniora, she seemed rather hesitant to even touch him or be near him. Cass wasn’t even sure if he could offer her comfort, but something told him that he could.
"Taniora." He said softly before hesitantly offering her his arms. He watched as her eyes spilled over, but instead of true tears, as soon as they left her cheeks they changed from tear drops into something else. As soon as they left her skin they began to sparkle, hardening until they hit the floor with a small ’tink!’. Cass didn’t notice since it wasn’t something on his radar, but the fairies did.
They looked at Taniora with even more reverence as Cass and Taniora hugged. Her grip was tight, tighter than he expected from someone who looked so thin. She buried her face into his shoulder, taking comfort in Cass while he held her.
It was something he had gotten experience in in the months before he had to leave his sister’s side. Her emotions had gotten...heavier. Wilder. She had been filled with worry and concern for herself, her child, and her husband. He had worked a dangerous job, after all, and Cass had read up on how pregnancy made hormones even crazier.
The siblings who had normally barely touched had occasionally hugged, usually when his sister was overwhelmed by her own thoughts. It was all Cass had thought he could do, and it was what the books told him would help.
Cass swallowed thickly, tightening his grip around Taniora. Fuck. How many times was he going to do this before he learned his lesson? Not every woman who was nice to him was like his sister, and he couldn’t keep seeing her in every woman either. It only made him feel like shit as he realised he wasn’t by her side, and it was a disservice to the women around him.
Fiona had burned him, Ser Hune was worth more than that, and Taniora was just a woman who had been brought back against her will, but people he was probably related to. Hell, it could have even been Cassian’s Mom who had done all of these shitty things to them.
Cass really hoped that wasn’t the case. While it was true that she would know how to hurt the fairies the most, that she had all the knowledge and information to really stick the knife in, Cass hoped that she wouldn’t. She’s already sold her son in her own name. The least she could do for her race was show them even a shred of respect.
Taniora and Cass hugged for a long, long time, before she finally pulled back, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. She looked embarrassed, but because she was a ghost, her appearance hadn’t changed at all. She didn’t have red-rimmed eyes, didn’t look like she had been crying.
She looked...perfect.
Cass’ clothes weren’t even soaked, either. In fact, Cass realised that he was covered in fine dust particles. He was a bit confused, and when he went to brush it off, a sudden gust of wind surrounded him and Cass froze. He had no idea what was going on, but he knew something was.
He watched as the dust all around him was gathered up, condensed, and brought over to one of the fairies. They began putting it into a jar, while Cass felt completely at a loss. Taniora, who was now gathering herself, began to give a soft laugh. She was still wiping at her eyes, but she moved over to the fairy gathering everything and shook her hands, the shiny, pretty tears falling into the fairy’s lap.
"I had no idea they were doing that." She admitted, her smile a little bitter. "Well, at least I am still useful in death." She joked. None of the fairies laughed, while Cass found himself rather confused.
"What do you mean by that?" He asked and Ser Hune explained.
"She’s a holy spirit." Ser Hune explained. That explanation needed another explanation, and Ser Hune grinned as Cass gave her a rather confused look. "It doesn’t mean she’s a holy ghost in the sense that she’s tied to the temple. It actually refers to a fairy or a nursery tree who in their last moments sheds tears or ’water’ or ’sap’ that then hardens into the precious crystals you are seeing here. There have been a few times outside of Hero Taniora where a fairy has come back as a ghost, shed tears, and left. These tears are then used to make jewelry and worn when a Matron goes to war." That was a surprising fact to learn.
"You make jewelry specifically for when you go to war?" Cass asked and his Aunt, Aunt Alysora, nodded. She crossed her legs, staring at Cass before her gaze darted to Taniora and then went back to him.
"Of course. We do everything with intention. What better way to honour our dead than to wear their own tears into battle? To bring them the honour they were not afforded in their lifetime?" Cass was a bit surprised to hear that.
"To go off of what Mom is saying, usually you’re going to war shortly after they have died, and usually with what caused the death." Ah, Cass could understand it if Ser Hune explained it that way. Gideon looked rather excited to hear all of this.
"This is so interesting. I had seen drawings of the regalia that you wore into battle as fairies, but I had never known the meaning behind it." Gideon was speaking quietly to himself. Aunt Alysora chuckled.
"You like to know things and learn things, don’t you little holy knight?" Gideon gave a shy nod. "Well, sometimes you need to be careful about what you learn. It could get you killed." It was a warning if Cass ever heard it. Gideon went pale, but he didn’t get upset that Cass’ Aunt had essentially threatened him. He could have easily done so.
Instead, Gideon gave a slow now, swallowing.
"I am learning that as well." He whispered. Cass watched from where he was standing as his Aunt’s expression softened.
"He’s also not just a holy knight." Cass said. "He’s the second saint." Cass exhaled. "Like how I am the second hero." Taniora jerked, her eyes wide as he heard Cass’ words.
"Second hero? What happened to the first?" Cass wanted to snap and say that she had abandoned them, but that wasn’t how he became the hero in the first place. Honestly, while it was annoying that he didn’t know where she was, especially because she was the one who killed him, he was happier not to have her, and especially, Lady Ava, around.
"Some things...happened, and about two months ago the gods summoned me and told me that they needed a second hero, and that I was going down a path that there was no way to return to if I didn’t stop. So, I got designated the second hero who had a different task to protect everyone this time around. Things don’t get better just because we kill the Demon Lord this time around." Cass said with a shrug, like it wasn’t a big deal.
Cass realised, belatedly, that maybe he should have run that past Edgar and Gideon. Cass had told them that, right? He had said that to them before, right?
Edgar didn’t look like he had heard the whole story, while Gideon was doing that strange hand gesture, like he was blessing himself or something.
Taniora looked like she needed to sit down.
"They aren’t the final threat?" She whispered, and Cass felt a bitter, angry smile touch his lips. His eyes shifted, glowing slightly, making his already pale skin look lighter.
He looked more like a ghost than Taniora looked in this moment.
"My Mother made a deal with the Demon King. I was unaware of it until recently. I had to go and speak to them personally, because my Mother, a fairy, is now a demon. She did something no one should do, that is an affront to the gods who currently run this world. Who have for a long time, and now? Now I have to deal with the damn consequences of her actions." Cass told the room.
Ser Hune looked furious once more, as did his aunt, the other fairies, and even Taniora looked like her rage was growing.
"She did what? We do not make deals with demons." She growled, her violet eyes flashing. Cass didn’t have the heart to tell her that a lot of tragedies had happened in the time that she had been gone that had made some fairies think that they could.
Cass’ line, especially.
"No, Taniora, it’s more that fairies can’t make deals with demons. They aren’t supposed to be able to." Cass clarified. "We aren’t of the same race. While we can create offspring with humans and other human-adjacent beings, we aren’t actually the same creatures. We were created by different gods." That was a revelation that rocked everyone’s minds, except the Matron of the Southern forests. She looked calm.
Like she had always known this.
Taniora seemed the least shocked of the fairies present, but she was closer to the older age. Some of this had probably not been lost when she had been alive, while Cass stood there calmly, resigned.
"How do you know of this?" His Aunt asked and Cass winced.
"Think of it as knowledge that was important for me to know for my hero duties." Cass mumbled. Taniora moved, reaching out for him, grasping his shoulder. She looked very, very concerned.
"Then how...how was she able to make a deal? How was she able to make a deal if..." She trailed off, her eyes watering once more as she could practically see the answer in Cass’ eyes. Taniora was shaken, so were Edgar and Gideon.
That didn’t stop either of them for coming to support Cass.
Gideon, surprisingly, was the first to do so. He was already standing, remaining nearby as a guard since that was his more comfortable form. He shuffled closer to Cass, his expression stark as he’d just discovered world-shattering information, but he wasn’t about to leave Cass alone in his revelation.
He reached for Cass, awkwardly taking his hand in his and giving it a squeeze. Feeling his rough hand in his own, Cass gave it a squeeze. This part would never be easy, not for him, nor for Cassian.
"My Mother bargained away my human side while I was in the womb to the demon and made it so that I have to fulfil her contract in her stead." Cass admitted quietly. The fairies were shocked and horrified.
"In her stead? In her stead?" One of the fairies repeated, sounding absolutely horrified. Ser Hune’s eyes were spilling over with tears.
"What monster did we accept into our folds?" She whispered. Her Mom and Dad reached for her, comforting the woman on a pregnancy journey. This was probably hitting too close to home for Ser Hune right now. Cass sighed.
"Do you know what the deal was?" Aunt Alysora asked and Cass’ expression grew even more grim.
"Yeah, and no one is going to like it." Cass said darkly.