like the stars chase the sun

He tucked her into his arms, letting his chin rest on her head as she tried to find her strength again. If his presence was the only thing she needed, he would gladly give every bit of himself, but Arthur knew she needed to say it as much as he needed to hear it. He listened to her heartbeat for a moment, and then to her words as she found them, arms tightening around her the more she spoke. “You did well, Ahuvati, you protected them and you protected yourself,” he murmured against her hair, pressing a kiss there. One of his hands sought out one of hers, holding on gently, careful to avoid the damages done to it. He only stilled in his touches when the name popped up, one they only discussed in reference to Cora’s own past or a far distant threat. “Did she look familiar? Maybe someone you knew in the past?” Unlikely. How else would they know that name specifically? It wasn’t so common, and yet could it be a coincidence? He sighed quietly, trying to figure it out, and then just as quietly he let it go. The mysteries of it would wait until Cora was ready. “Good. Whoever this woman was, she doesn’t deserve mercy from you and if you had done worse, I would not be upset,” he promised, stroking her hair for a fleeting second before standing up with her still in his arms, walking them over to the bathroom. Arthur settled her on the counter carefully, taking off her bracelet and setting it on the counter beside her, grabbing a cloth to clean off her wrist gently. “Whoever this was, they thought you were someone else. It is not your fault, not a single part of it.”

She heard his questions, but the words wouldn’t come to answer them. Too much to think through now that the had stirred her thoughts into a maelstrom. There were many and more reasons a person would want to attack her mother. She was cruel, she was a social climber who chose blood and fire as her hands up the ladder, and she...oh. As Arthur sat her on the counter it came to her, sudden as thunder. “Morrigan, she steals children like the old fashioned Fae. I do not know what for, it is not like she wanted the ones she had.” Cora said hoarsely, watching Arthur clean her scraped wrists for a moment before seeking out his eyes with her own. This woman must be one of those, and little wonder she escaped the Otherlands with a deep seated fear of someone who looked like her shadow. It didn’t excuse what she did, not by any means, but Cora could feel the shock melting away little by little now, like wax. “That must be why she was yelling that I had stolen the children. I do not...well, I look enough like her to make it hard to tell apart at a distance. Her hair is darker, her eyes are greenish, but it is close.” She had refused to talk to the police past a bare minimum in her panic, the urge to leave and go home was too strong, but Arthur had. Arthur might have learned something more. “Ahuvati, who was she? Did they tell you anything? I am not going to pretend that I care too much about her hurts, but I want to know. Know your enemy, that is the saying in English, yes?” Cora realized belatedly she was grabbing onto the shoulder of his shirt in her fervor and she let it go at once. “I am sorry. Can we hold each other, after bandages? For a while?”

This is an errand she’d meant to run weeks ago, but it had fallen by the wayside. As had many things – training sessions and phone calls and the like, all easily forgotten. But this is the sort of thing that happens when death is knocking at your door, isn’t it? Even with what feels like a gray cloud overhead, Aurélie conjures a tight smile and a head shake at the reprimand. “You already did so much for us, helping with the wedding as you did – I cannot possibly take this from you.” She protests, but it’s weak at best, and Cora goes on with her commands. With a sigh wearier than she’d realized she’d been feeling and without any further argument, Aurélie settles into the chair, lips pursing as she observes Cora’s work for a moment. The smile she gives then is more genuine than her previous attempt. “I am afraid your other niece would be rather upset about that comment.” They are truly family now, aren’t they? So she should ask: “How are you, then? I only heard recently about the, ah, altercation you got into. I’m sorry I did not reach out sooner.” She knows Cora well enough to know any concern would have been admonished, but still, it should have been given. Another thing forgotten. “And Phoebe and Ciaran, how are they? No autumn colds, I hope. They looked so precious at the wedding in those lovely little outfits.” An attempt at more lighthearted conversation, but it feels wrong. In the midst of everything, how can they chatter about babies? But they have to, don’t they? Life can’t stop, as much as it feels like it already has.

The subject they truly needed to discuss wasn’t the dress or Fiona or the children, though they would inevitably bounce from one to the other to avoid the more pressing issue, of course. Cora expected that, just as she expected Aurelie’s attempt to return the gown, which most certainly would not happen. If she had to mail it to the house she would, and without a return address either. “Take it from me? Chrysí, that dress is for you and no one else. So you will take it with you when you leave. And Fiona is not the type to get upset over something like that, do not worry.” Cora said, playing along for the moment as she pulled another thread through a satin stitch for the body of the orchid she was embroidering on the hem of a dress for a customer. “I am fine. They are well, thank you. Ciaran has learned many words recently, but he is very picky about who he will say them for. Phoebe though, Phoebe will not stop talking. That is alright though, she is learning. Too fast though, koukla! They grow so fast.” The altercation she doesn’t wish to discuss at all. Not here. Not now. So she brushes it away, makes a quick gesture with her hand as if to brush away the dust on a shoulder or a hair into place. Instead she set down her needle and reached across to Aurelie’s hand, cold on the marble countertop and gave it a quick squeeze. “Aurelie, you do not have to pretend that a shadow isn’t hanging over your head. I know about Gabriel. And I want you to think you can talk to me. We are family now, are we not? There are things on your chest. So talk.”

A muscle in his jaw hadn’t stopped clenching since the phone call hit his ears, and not even in the hours they had spent stuck at the police station helping them make a file about it. Too public not to be reported, even if the look on Cora’s face said she would rather be home. A statement, questions, reassuring words of keeping the other idiotic woman away – all of it was drifting in and out of his ears without registering, the only thing sticking out being Cora’s wide eyes. He kissed the side of her head as she went to their room, and the nap time routine he went through with the twins went a little faster than normal, but it was worth it. It calmed him, enough that he could come back to her and spot her tears and not lose it, too. Arthur crossed the room, kneeling down on the floor at her feet and taking her face in his hands. He pressed a kiss to her forehead, and then to her cheeks, one for each, uncaring of the tears that clung there. “You’re okay now, sweetheart, you don’t have to be strong,” he murmured, forehead resting against hers. She didn’t cry much, but enough that he knew how to handle it, or as close as he could, and he stood up after several seconds of syncing their breath together. He pulled her up, too, but only to settle down on the bed again with her in his lap, his arms wrapped around her, mindful of the marks on her arms. Once she was calmer, he would fix those, but he couldn’t bear stepping away from her long enough to clean them. “Do you wanna tell me what happened? Or do you wanna sit here? We can do either one, you just tell me what you need.” Choices, she deserved those, something to settle her mind on, if only for a second.

They were safe. She had that much going for her, though it felt like a hollow victory right now. They were safe, Arthur had put them to bed and she had Arthur, who was comfort incarnate to her in so many ways. She let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding when he kissed her forehead, shaky and uneven. She didn’t have to be strong, yes. Not around him, that was the part he left unspoken, and she gave in to it by the time he pulled her up again, then into his arms. Lukewarm arms, but that wasn’t his fault. They would grow warm in time with the longer they touched. The tears still fell, they rolled down her cheeks in between the breaths she was trying to steady, but she had to find herself again, didn’t she? Arthur said she didn’t have to be strong, but she had to pull herself together enough to...exist, to function at the very least. “She said I took them. That I took them, like I took her. That she wasn’t going to let me hurt anyone else.” Cora said finally, her voice barely above a whisper as she nestled herself closer to him, as close as she could. There she would find the little strength she needed to explain. He deserved an explanation, did he not? “I stood in front of the stroller, asked her what she was talking about. Told her these were my children, that she was mad. And she...” Her voice cut out and she fell silent for a long moment, fiddling with the bracelet on her damaged wrist as if she needed the reminder of pain to make the outlines of her shock clearer. “She called me Morrigan. Called me a liar, a cruel bitch and...I blasted her when I fell.”

@aureliemarchand​

She sees the garment bag first, then the woman behind it, but it is the latter that brings a smile to her face. One that she had to force to brighten a tad when she felt the emotions tumbling into the shop with her. Fear, doubt, worn gratitude, and bare grief all rolled into one. Oppressive but not something she hadn’t expected. “Now what did I tell you before, koukla? You keep the dress, I do not need it back!” Cora said taking the bag from her niece only to hang it on a spare rack and out of the way for a moment. She shook her head slightly, as if to chastise, but she couldn’t do it seriously. Not when Gabriel’s illness clearly weighed on his wife heavily, even if Arthur’s reprieve stood in the way of a clear cut death without revival. “You are busy, I know. You are upset, what with Gabriel’s sickness. But I am thinking you missed the part where I made that dress for you and only you. So you will be taking it home with you again, but for now, why not visit a little? Keep your old aunt Cora company a little.” Cora gently smacked the chair beside her working table, gesturing for Aurelie to take it. “Embroidery is a social art and I could use some time with my favorite niece.”

@fionalaughlin​

“Oh and there she is, Ciaran! Look, there’s cousin Fiona!” Cora said loudly once she saw her niece enter the room, though her son had noticed first and begun saying ‘Fi! Fi! Fi!’ as he pulled himself shakily to his feet and began to hobble her way. One thing she had forgotten about being a mother was how you couldn’t hold your child’s hand always, that you had to let them learn cause and effect, even if that meant minor scuffs when their behinds fell to the carpet. So she bit her lip a little instead of following him, offered Phoebe the toy she had just thrown a moment before, and let him grab onto Fiona instead. The babies were loud enough as it was, but her brother had told her of Fiona’s misfortune during the parade and her stubbornness after, which had left her with hearing damage, so she was trying to compensate. Trying and possibly failing once Phoebe plunked her hand down on a singing duck, but you could only do so much. “Sit with me, koukla. I was not exaggerating too much with them wanting to see you. And it has not been quiet in our family lately, yes? So we can talk and play.”

@arthur-talbot​

The bleeding had stopped, but nothing more than that. So her arms were still raw, sore, thoroughly scratched and scuffed by the tumble onto the concrete she had taken earlier when the woman had rushed her. The woman, that was all Cora was willing to call her. She didn’t have the energy to heal herself, let alone assign pejoratives to someone she didn’t know. Arthur had guided her to the end of their bed after they got home, sat her there and told her to rest a moment while he settled the twins. So she rested, though whether it was out of obedience or sheer exhaustion she didn’t really know. No, not exhaustion. It was past that and yet not so far. She did not feel sleepy, that would have required that she feel safe and steady. Instead she felt rattled, too aware of every creak in the hallway and breeze past the windows. A tear dropped from her cheek to her lap and she frowned at it, as if confused by how it got there. Was she crying? She hadn’t realized before now. Cora had just raised her hand to her cheeks to find them slick with tears by the time her husband returned, but she could find no words to give him. No questions that she wasn’t asking already with her eyes. So she just stared at him, eyes still brimming with tears, and she waited.

Date: August 21st, 2020 Time: 5PM Location: Cora’s garden, bordering the Lethe woods

@faolanmeadowes

“So you did not find him, I am assuming?” Her tone was flat, disappointed, but Faolan would have sense enough to realize her ire was directed at their brother rather than himself. For running, for upsetting Fiona so badly, for then brushing paths with Gabriel as well who was still scrubbing his car seats to get the blood out of them. Running was one thing when you were hale and hearty, when you didn’t need assistance as badly as Fionn did right now. Cora had done it, Faolan the same, but Fionn seemed to run from himself too. From anything that could get beneath the barest layer of his skin, his mind, his very self. She didn’t think it was likely he could die of those injuries he had, but they weren’t healing quickly either if the look she had gotten of him this afternoon had been any indication. And he had never been a healer, not like she had. Arms folded across her chest, she sighed deeply, then let them fall to her sides. “I do not know what we should do. He is not supposed to be in Lethe, so would it be safe to use one of those witch diviners? Or would they kick him out again?” Cora said, taking her older brother’s arm in her own as she guided them towards her well lit patio. He deserved a rest after all that searching, a drink or three if he’d like one, and they needed to figure out what to do about the perpetual thorn in their sides that was hiding out in backyards and in the woods. “Fiona will be very upset if that happens. I do not...I would love to tell you it would upset me to see him gone. Me personally, I mean. But it does not. She is soft though, Fael. Not like us.”

Date: August 21st, 2020 Time: 7PM Location: Fiona’s apartment

@fionalaughlin

“Fiona, koukla, I know you are not sleeping this early. And I know you are in there too, dolly mou.” Cora said as she leaned against her niece’s front door, picnic basket on her arm chock full of sweets and other goodies from her own kitchen in the hope that she could cajole the younger woman into eating some of them. Eating something, from what her brother was telling her about Fiona’s state of mind since bumping into and promptly losing her father to his own fecklessness a week before. So she knocked again, less softly this time. Footsteps followed, reluctant ones, but she’d take any at this point. It was debatable whether or not Fionn deserved the look on his daughter’s face when she opened the door, but Cora knew full well that her niece was softhearted. Kind, unspoiled. The kind of person who took pride in helping and healing whenever she could, and who took failure very hard indeed. Cora sighed audibly when she saw the weariness in her eyes and in the slope of her shoulders. “You do not know how good your uncle is at tracking, let alone at tracking Fionn. When he was a child, he pulled this sort of thing on him all the time. It will work out.” Fiona didn’t look like she believed a word of that, but she hadn’t expected her to anyway. Gently, she nudged Fiona back into the apartment and shut the door behind her. The basket she sat on the kitchen counter before returning to wrap Fiona in a tight hug. “Your uncle and I, we are black sheep compared to the Otherlanders we grew up with. Your father is more like them. And he...he is stubborn, as you are too. So why don’t you sit with me a little, koukla. Talk to me about what you are thinking, what you are afraid of. Yes?”

@fionnolonan

Date: August 21st, 2020 Time: 2PM Location: Irving Park

It wasn’t that she couldn’t handle two ten month olds at once. She had given Fiona the sharpest look she thought the girl could handle at the very suggestion earlier, but it required a certain meticulousness. A je ne sais quoi, found in keeping one occupied while you dealt with the other, with handing them both a slice of orange while you set up the blanket in the park under an enormous oak tree. She felt as if she was doing quite well with the whole thing, at least until she looked up from wiping Phoebe’s face to find that Ciaran was crawling around the trunk of the tree in the opposite direction of the rest of his family. Cussing in Sidhe under her breath, she hoisted Phoebe onto her hip and went after him. “Ciaran Faolan, you are being a rascal today! Testing your mother like th-” Cora said, her words cutting off when she saw that Ciaran had clambered onto the lap of someone who had been sleeping on the far side of the tree. Someone...well, someone she hadn’t seen in many years. Someone she didn’t think she would see again, given his fecklessness and the fact that they couldn’t seem to find a way to get along. In the best circumstance she would be able to snatch her son away before he woke up her brother, then pack up and find another stretch of park that didn’t involve talking to him. Being near him. Feeling that anger at his abandonment of Fiona well up in her like fire. Unfortunately Ciaran chose that moment to shriek joyfully and grab Fionn’s nose with his chubby fingers. “Koukla mou! Very unkind, we do not grab faces.” Cora said, inching over so she could grab her son without incident as soon as possible. Except then he turned his huge blue eyes at her and there was no mistaking the woman in front of him, was there? Cora made an exasperated noise, then sighed. “You are sleeping on the dirt again, hmm? Too proud to apologize to your family, maybe sleep in a bed instead and eat a meal. And you are...what happened to you? You are all over bruises and bandages, Fionnán.”

@riley-voss

Date: July 16th, 2020 Time: 1:27PM Location: The Threaded Needle

“Mhm, you are saying these things but I have seen the way that you look at that young man. And his behind.” Cora said, threading her embroidery needle with a fresh color as she worked on the petals of another flower for the hem of a sundress. She wiggled her eyebrows at her stepdaughter as she mentioned the physical attributes of their new upstairs tenant, though it would have been far more satisfying if Riley could blush to match the look on her face. “Such a handsome young man. Smitten with you, and do not tell me otherwise. He looks at you like you are the only sunlight he’s seen in all his life.” It was easier than not for a Fae to read another Fae’s emotions at a distance, especially one like this Isaac who seemed unable or unwilling to mask his empathy in the slightest. Even so, she sensed worry coming from dear Riley and a flash of Arthur’s face in her mind as well. Ah, now she understood. “You are afraid that Arthur will not approve, yes? Because this young man used to make his living like Arthur did in the past. Kyrie mou, I interrogated this Isaac before I let him rent the apartment upstairs. His past is checkered, but his heart? Not so much. It will be fine.”