Her voice is a fearless proclamation of protection
She lives what's within her out loud
She lives what's within her out loud
She tucks her head over his nape as he slides into her, rubbing her cheek over his scruff to spread her scent onto him while providing comfort. Even if it’s not a fix, it will help. Trust me. It was why she had avoided the Citadel streets after Enzo’s death, why she’d moved back into the spa after her loved ones and their lives had inevitably moved on and she no longer had someone in the house to sleep beside her or comfort her through her nightmares.
Unease, disgust, and a much quieter begrudging admiration for Dahlia’s effective cruelty and curtailing of resistance squirms in her stomach. To her it’s not a matter of like-for-like. It’s a show of force, and a sure way to make you hesitate to move against her again. Just as killing Flora and Jack was a way to try and take them off the board while also crippling myself and her fathers. Both of them - or perhaps three, these days? Regardless, Sah is not the only one who is contending with the terror of a child caught in the balance. She understands more than anyone else possibly could.
Pressing her head into his dark fur, Hotaru closes her eyes. Her own echoing fears align with those vague sentiments she can hear in him, snippets of words and thoughts and feelings. An ache that will never leave. All the worse for the comparisons she draws between herself and the other demigods in Flora’s life, and the way she always comes up short. Because we aren’t, Sah. How could we be? Even the strongest among us can’t face them alone. Hardly even together. There is no child in Caido who could claim to be safe from the Family because of the might and sanctuary of their parent. Not even their collective region. Their safety would have lied in their anonymity and lack of power. But we unintentionally took that from them. Our strength normally protects them, but we’re outclassed enough that it’s a target instead.
But pessimism and despair will not fix this. The power struggle or his suffering heart. That doesn’t mean it’s our fault. Making ourselves stronger in their name, protecting them successfully in the past, it wasn’t a mistake. Maybe they can’t trust us to protect them, but nobody can. Not until the Family is gone. Golden eyes open, staring unfocused past the dark strands of his fur brushing against her cheek. War takes victims in more ways than death. We can’t spare our children the fate of changing from living through one. All we can try to do is win it for them.
Unease, disgust, and a much quieter begrudging admiration for Dahlia’s effective cruelty and curtailing of resistance squirms in her stomach. To her it’s not a matter of like-for-like. It’s a show of force, and a sure way to make you hesitate to move against her again. Just as killing Flora and Jack was a way to try and take them off the board while also crippling myself and her fathers. Both of them - or perhaps three, these days? Regardless, Sah is not the only one who is contending with the terror of a child caught in the balance. She understands more than anyone else possibly could.
Pressing her head into his dark fur, Hotaru closes her eyes. Her own echoing fears align with those vague sentiments she can hear in him, snippets of words and thoughts and feelings. An ache that will never leave. All the worse for the comparisons she draws between herself and the other demigods in Flora’s life, and the way she always comes up short. Because we aren’t, Sah. How could we be? Even the strongest among us can’t face them alone. Hardly even together. There is no child in Caido who could claim to be safe from the Family because of the might and sanctuary of their parent. Not even their collective region. Their safety would have lied in their anonymity and lack of power. But we unintentionally took that from them. Our strength normally protects them, but we’re outclassed enough that it’s a target instead.
But pessimism and despair will not fix this. The power struggle or his suffering heart. That doesn’t mean it’s our fault. Making ourselves stronger in their name, protecting them successfully in the past, it wasn’t a mistake. Maybe they can’t trust us to protect them, but nobody can. Not until the Family is gone. Golden eyes open, staring unfocused past the dark strands of his fur brushing against her cheek. War takes victims in more ways than death. We can’t spare our children the fate of changing from living through one. All we can try to do is win it for them.
