Ghost Roots

[MadEmperor]

Zephyr stepped back a little farther, and the wind picked up. Instead of the quick shift Asta had seen before, his form billowed out into a white cloud. Slowly, it took on a vaguely animalistic shape. When the wind settled and the obscuring mist parted, a huge, white tiger stood in his place. He was easily twenty feet long, and covered in a wavy pattern of blue stripes.

The great beast bowed his head, his strange red horns glinting in the sunlight. "This... is me."

[DragonSong]

Both women were silent for several long moments. Then Abigail smiled and tilted her head slightly. "You've always been beautiful, Zephyr," she told him softly.

Asta shook her head wonderingly. "I just...can't believe someone like you helped make, well...me. I just--how."

Abigail, despite the awe in her eyes, smiled crookedly. "Well, you see, darling, when an ancient elemental embodiment and an over-eager scholar love each other very much--"

"No! No no no no, thank you, no," Asta squealed, clapping her hands over her ears while Abigail burst into gales of laughter.

[MadEmperor]

The spirit laughed, deep and rumbling like a storm. He came close enough to gently nudge the mother of his child. "That's enough teasing the young woman."

[DragonSong]

"Oh, I suppose," Abigail chuckled, and Asta dropped her hands, pouting theatrically.

"You know, if ever I thought of having parents, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind," the shapeshifter grumbled, but she was smiling.

Abigail reached out a hand toward Zephyr, hesitated, then asked, "May I...?"

[MadEmperor]

"Of course." He nuzzled her hand with a purr. His fur was as soft as a cloud, producing a barely noticeable tingle where it touched her skin.

[DragonSong]

Abigail smiled and stroked his fur a little more confidently, her smile widening when Asta cautiously moved forward to join her.

"I could never be something like this," their daughter murmured, sounding just a bit awestruck. "I could try to learn this shape a thousand years, and I just know I would never find it."

[MadEmperor]

He purred more fervently as Asta joined in. "Even I don't take this form often. Far too conspicuous. But it does feel good to unwind."

Thinking he heard a leaf crunch, he suddenly turned his head to listen.

[DragonSong]

Asta turned her head at the same time; though her human ears weren't quite as sensitive, she both trusted Zephyr's senses, and had enough hunted-animal instinct herself to be automatically wary.

Abigail paused, looking between the two of them. "What is it?"

"I..." Asta frowned. "I'm not sure..."

[MadEmperor]

A squirrel raced out from a bush and up a tree. Zephyr chuckled, and the tension left him. "False alarm. Sorry. I'm just on edge, especially in this form."

"Perhaps it's best I change back."

[DragonSong]

Both Asta and Abigail relaxed, relieved, and nodded at him. "Of course. Whatever you're most comfortable with," Abigail told him gently.

Seeing Zephyr shift had made Asta a little antsy in her human skin herself. She shifted from foot to foot, debating the merits of changing her form for a while--she wasn't used to being in one shape for so long.

[MadEmperor]

Zephyr arched his back with a pleased sound before he compressed himself back into his human guise. He sighed wistfully. "It was nice to stretch a little."

"Come, we should get back on the road," he said, starting to head back.

[DragonSong]

"Of course." Abigail nodded in agreement, then started slightly when Asta decided she needed to shift after all and took the shape of a smallish white squirrel. She smiled and bent to hold her hand out, and Asta quickly scurried up onto her shoulder.

"Right then. Off we go."


It was nearly a week later by the time they were approaching the Serenian border, and Abigail began talking about the actual logistics of their plan. For example: where exactly were they going to live?

"I have enough coin to find us a small bit of land," she was saying as they approached a small border town. "But I don't know the sort of thing you'd like?"

The last was mostly directed at Asta, who gave her mother a helpless little shrug. "I'm...not sure that I know the sort of thing I'd like," she admitted with a tiny laugh. "I know I don't like manors."

Abigail chuckled as well. "I don't think we need to worry much about that possibility, dearest."

[MadEmperor]

"I know a few people where we're going who can help us find a place," Zephyr supplied. "They've helped me smuggle mages out of Connloath before, so we trust them."

Observing the town ahead, he said, "We're not out of Connloath yet, though. But people near the border aren't as paranoid about magic as the rest of the country."

[DragonSong]

"Right, of course." Abigail looked to her daughter. "Do you prefer to stay human for the night?"

Asta smiled a bit, as she did every time Abigail asked. It was a quiet wonder to her, that after the initial shock of their meeting, Abigail didn't seem to care one whit that she could change forms as easy as breathing; she only made a point to ask after her comfort.

"I think so," she replied with a grateful nod. Abigail nodded.

"We'll need a room to sleep three then," she said easily.

[MadEmperor]

"It's agreed then." Zephyr smiled warmly, making himself look closer to her age. "A night as a normal family on the road sounds wonderful. Well, as normal as possible."

The past week had been the happiest time that the spirit could remember, and he found himself remembering more than he had in a long time. He could now remember every moment with Abigail, and that he genuinely never connected with any other being than he had with her. Perhaps that was how he actually fathered a child.

Dusk stained the world in red and orange by the time they reached town. Somehow, it seemed more red than usual, but he chalked that up to his own anxiety. He couldn't escape the thought that Fate would try and prevent him from straying for its plan.

[DragonSong]

Abigail snorted quietly. "You would age well," she teased Zephyr lightly. "You know, if you actually aged."

Asta lifted a hand to hide her smile as she trailed a bit behind them on the road, watching the way they walked--close together, but not quite touching. Abigail's hand would occasionally drift over to rest on his arm for a moment, but she didn't seem to want to risk proper physical affection.

It was...sweet.

She chuckled to herself again as they reached an inn, reflecting that there were probably rather few people who would be genuinely joyful to see their parents acting like a newly courting couple.

[MadEmperor]

Zephyr held the door open like a gentleman before following them inside.

The inn was small but cleaner than one would expect so far from a city. Hungry, they found an empty table in the corner and sat down. After ordering food, they had an opportunity to play the family that they wanted to be.

"It's a far cry from Uthlyn, but it seems like an upstanding place."

[DragonSong]

Asta nodded, as ever more observant than she was talkative. She looked around the common room of the inn curiously, distractedly sipping at a mug of a warm, spiced wine that Abigail had procured for her.

"I hope you still like peach cider," her mother said quietly as she slid another glass to Zephyr, smiling softly.

[MadEmperor]

"I never stopped ordering it." Zephyr smiled. "It helped me to keep you fixed in my mind like you are in my heart."

Predicting rolled eyes, he looked to Asta and said, "Just be glad your parents found each other again after all this time."

[DragonSong]

Asta rolled her eyes and giggled at them even as Abigail blushed and leaned in to peck his cheek. The shifter hadn't seen the two of them display much open affection, despite the obvious love that was in the way they simply looked at one another, and she found it...sweet.

"I am glad," she told Zephyr unironically, sipping at her drink again.

"I'm glad to know I haven't entirely lost my touch," Abigail chuckled lightly, clinking her own glass against Zephyr's before she drank. Now that they looked the same age again, she seemed suddenly much more comfortable showing casual affection.