Ghost Roots

[MadEmperor]

It took the wind spirit a moment to process the unfamiliar feeling. Eventually, he took Abigail's offered hand and allowed himself to be pulled into his first ever group hug. Something new was blossoming in the core of his being, something planted in him by the same love that spawned Asta. Was this what humans called "joy"?

[DragonSong]

Abigail chuckled wetly and reached out with one hand to brush her thumb under Zephyr's eyes.

Asta sniffled and looked between the two of them, still unable to form proper words.

"How..." Abigail sniffed a bit herself, then cleared her throat. "How did you find her?"

[MadEmperor]

"In my own animal form, I let myself get captured by a traveling menagerie. They put me in the same tent as a white doe. I had already planned to free the rare creatures being cruelly treated as objects, but when I saw the person within, I knew immediately why fate had led me there. So, I helped her escape."

"The winds of fate led us to Ardyn's Glade, where I was told of my 'sister'. Needless to say, we were shocked and confused. I didn't... I didn't even think being a father was possible for my kind."

[DragonSong]

Abigail went suddenly still with a kind of cold fury. "A menagerie?" she repeated in all but a growl, tightening her grip on Asta's shoulders.

Then she took a breath and shook her head. "No. You're out now, you're both safe. That's what's important." She smiled and took Asta's face gently in her hands. "Oh, my baby girl..."

Asta found herself blushing and dropping her eyes, but she didn't pull away. "Not exactly a baby," she murmured wryly.

Abigail's eyes flickered sadly. "No. You're not." She glanced up at Zephyr a quiet sigh. "I didn't know either. After you first left, I wanted to confirm my suspicions about what you were—and I'd barely done so, I'd been planning to leave you a message when I realized I was..." Another sigh. "I—I'm ashamed to admit it, but that might have been why I eventually believed my parents. You know I studied magic; I had read too many accounts of how the half-mortal children of magical creatures were so rarely viable..."

[MadEmperor]

Zeph smiled sadly. Regret didn't come naturally for him, but he had felt much lately that he rarely, if ever, felt. "I wish I had kept looking for you. Maybe then I could have spared Asta such a hard life."

"May I... ask what gave me away?"

[DragonSong]

Abigail's smile twitched up a little higher on one side. "I had my suspicions from the moment we met," she told him. "I was studying pre-Fell folk history, do you remember? The Four Guardians were mentioned in my research. And the wind elemental...well. The descriptions rang a few bells."

Asta smiled a bit, still looking back and forth between these two near-strangers. Her parents.

She had parents.

[MadEmperor]

Zephyr smirked, impressed. "I really met my match with you, Abigail Blythe. I'm lucky you have such an open mind. We both are."

"And you may know the name they gave me, Borai'us, but you don't know the name I gave myself. It's Zephyr."

It felt incredible to be honest with her after so many years apart. Not that she didn't have a leg up on any lie he spun. It would be insulting at this point.

[DragonSong]

"Zephyr," Abigail repeated softly, and she smiled again. "I like it."

She cupped his cheek in her palm for a moment, then chuckled and withdrew her hand to brush a few strands of snow white hair back from Asta's face. "God, I think I might actually be too old for you now," she told the elemental with a wry laugh. "And this one here..."

She held her daughter at arm's length for a moment, shaking her head in quiet wonder. "Stars above us, you look just like me, don't you? Well, except for the freckles."

Asta giggled, she couldn't help it. "I like yours," she told Abigail quietly.

[MadEmperor]

Once he was done chuckling, he smiled softly at the display. "I can make myself look older, if you'd like."

His face fell a little. "But... you deserve someone you can grow old with, someone you don't have to risk everything to be with."

[DragonSong]

Abigail's smile turned soft and fragile. "I think I'm the one who gets to decide what I deserve, don't you?" she murmured, drawing Asta's head down to rest gently against her shoulder.

But before she could say anything else, there were footsteps in the hall just outside her receiving room. Her eyes went a little wide and she quickly got to her feet.

"My brother," she murmured, her eyes going hard and sharp. "Asta, love, I'm sorry, but--"

The shifter nodded quickly. "I know," she said, and in the next breath she was the little stray cat who had entered with Zephyr.

[MadEmperor]

Zephyr wiped his eyes and looked down at the cat. Well? What do you think? She might be older now, but she's exactly the woman I remember.

[DragonSong]

Asta nodded at him; she was honestly still processing all that had happened, so she didn't entirely know how to answer him.

Abigail herself looked torn, but as the footsteps drew nearer, she urged quietly, "The two of you should leave, for now. Find the south district library--I can meet you there later this evening, and we can talk without fear of interruption."

[MadEmperor]

Zephyr nodded reluctantly, a little afraid he wouldn't see her for another twenty years. But, he picked up Asta and headed for the door. Looking back at Abigail, he smiled. "May fate not keep us apart so long this time."

With that, he left.


That night, they waited on a bench outside the south district library. Zephyr was growing more and more anxious the later it got. Even on a good day, sitting in one place for so long went against his nature. This time it was excruciating.

[DragonSong]

Asta was perched stiffly on the bench beside Zephyr, starting slightly with every person that bustled passed them. Abigail had been unable to give them an exact time, so she found herself simply counting breaths as each second passed, growing more an more anxious.

Not long passed sundown, though, that same staid blue dress was hurrying toward them down the slim lane. Abigail did not seem to hold much with typical Connlaothian fashions, as she'd simply pulled her hair back in a simple braid and had spurned the delicate slippers more upper-class women wore in favor of sturdy walking shoes.

She smiled when she saw them, expression changing from dour to delighted in an instant. "Thank you for waiting," she called once she was close enough. "Andre knows I've come to meet you," she told Zephyr, "but he doesn't know about Asta. He doesn't know I know. We should be able to talk in one of the reading rooms."

[MadEmperor]

Once inside the reading room, he breathed a sigh of relief. "I was starting to worry that something had happened, that you were discovered or worse."

[DragonSong]

Abigail sighed, her shoulders slumping slightly. "Andre--my whole family--they still don't know who you really are," she told him. "As far as they're concerned, you are Hermes' legitimate son, who likely caught wind of the affair your father had in his youth. They are...suspicious of why you've contacted me."

She looked to Asta, her mouth turning down at the corners. "I...I don't know if I can stay in that house. Knowing what they did..." She swallowed and looked away, fists clenched and trembling lightly.

Not sure what she was supposed to do, Asta looked to Zephyr, then cautiously approached her mother. "You could...come with us?"

Abigail started, looking between them with wide eyes.

[MadEmperor]

Zephyr nodded. "Yes. I could take you to a place in Northern Serendipity. We won't have to worry about the Church there. Or southern Hyoite, but it's cold there. I... can't go any further than that without getting weak."

He sighed sadly. "I so wish that I was free to go anywhere and to live any life I wanted without an unshakable duty driving me to roam."

[DragonSong]

"I...I thought about leaving," Abigail whispered. She reached up to cup Asta's face in her hands with a sad smile. "When I first found out about you," she told her daughter, "I thought, maybe...I could contact your father, and we could go somewhere. But then..."

She sighed and looked away. Asta caught her hand as it dropped. "It doesn't have to be too late," the shapeshifter whispered.

Abigail smiled at her softly. "I'm not the girl of twenty I used to be," she murmured, "eager for adventure and ready to see the world. But...maybe..."

[MadEmperor]

Zephyr put a hand on Abigail's shoulder. "It doesn't have to be an adventure, but a fresh start. You're not too old for that. You deserve to be happy"

"I want you to be happy. And, even though I won't be able to always be at your side, I'll do anything else I can to make that happen."

[DragonSong]

Abigail turned her smile onto him, eyes shining. "I know." She reached out to place her hand lightly on his cheek. "I would never ask you to be anything but what you are," she told him quietly.

She looked back to Asta, then nodded slowly. "Alright. We'll...we'll find somewhere. Maybe your home, if you'd like?"

Asta chuckled a little sheepishly. "I've mostly lived in the woods."

Abigail looked sad for a moment, then shook her head. "Right. Right of course. A little house somewhere in Northern Serendipity, then. I'm afraid I'm not much of a homemaker, but between the two of us I'm sure we'll get on alright." She took her daughter's hands in hers, looking into her face earnestly. "You're sure? You want this?"

Asta nodded, speechless. Yes. Yes, she wanted this. A home, a family. It was all she'd ever wanted.