Chapter 2
Scorpia frowned and gave a small hmph. Boorman followed her gaze towards jade and kit, now eagerly trying every different desert on the massive table, laughing and exclaiming to each other.
“What?” he asked softly.
Scorpia narrowed her eyes and gave a small shake of her head. “The princess of tir asleen?”
Boorman shrugged. “But they are so cute together.”
Scorpia watched as they settled onto a bench, shoulders pressed against each other, hands not occupied with cakes threaded together. “It will only end badly,” she warned.
“You don’t know that for sure,” Boorman argued. He shifted closer. “I mean, they are so in love with each other its disgusting.”
Scorpia gave him a hard look and raised an eyebrow. “Sometimes, love isn’t enough. You know this.”
Boorman scrunched his face distastefully. “Maybe,” he offered.
Scorpia turned back towards Boorman and tangled her fingers in his thick beard. “Maybe,” scorpia agreed. “They are young. They don’t want to see things as they are.” She shifted so she held onto his broad shoulders. “They want to believe they can change things.”
Boormans tilted his head. “Maybe they can? After all, we just survived diving off the edge of the world…”
Scorpia studied boormans face. Her eyebrows furrowed. “You really believe that.”
Boorman shrugged. “Kit is the princess of tir asleen, youre right. Which means shes destined to be married off for political reasons. Hence her disastrous engagement to Graydon.” Boorman closed his eyes briefly as his heart clenched at the absence of his dear friend.
Scorpia gave a slight chuckle and shook her head. “Yeah, the two of them…”
Boorman let out a short huff. “The point is, kit IS a princess. And jade-“
“Is a bonereaver,” scorpia said emphatically. “It doesn’t matter that they took her, that they stole her from her family, that they robbed her of the life she should have had. She may have grown up there, but she belongs here!” scorpia eyed him furiously, daring him to disagree.
“Right.” Boorman squinted at the twinkle lights above them and stopped himself from pointing out that, maybe it was up to jade to decide where she belonged, and tried to continue making his more critical point. “But more importantly-“
“And as a bonereaver, she is an enemy of tir asleen.” Scorpia cut him off.
Boorman blinked and held up a finger. “Unless she wasn’t?”
“Wasn’t what?”
“An enemy.” He leaned closer to scorpia. “Think about it. King hastur is going to be pissed that elora has been found and he has to swear fealty to her. Boormans face darkened. “The power hungry schmoog…” he mumbled under his breath.
“Not to mention the loss of his heir.”
Boormans face clouded further and he clenched his jaw tightly. “And that,” he agreed even though he knew king hastur couldn’t give a shit about graydon. “So, he may not be feeling quite so chummy with dear old queen sorsha and tir asleen after this.”
Scorpia eyed him carefully. “Whats your point?”
“My point,” Boorman huffed. “Is that jade is a bonereaver. But more importantly, she is a bonereaver PRINCESS.” Scorpias eyes twitched, but Boorman kept going. “The queen is going to need new allies…what brings two warring peoples together better than a wedding?” Boorman asked with a grin.
Scorpias eyes narrowed dangerously. “I am NOT about to offer up my BABY SISTER in exchange for a political alliance,” she hissed, shoving her finger into his chest.
Boorman let out a pained grunt and shifted away slightly. “Fine,” he said rubbing at his sternum. “Forget the marriage part. But my point about sorsha needing new allies is accurate. Now might be as good a time as any to end the bloodshed...”
Scorpias lips curled and she eyed him harshly. Just when Boorman was sure she was going to leave in a huff, scorpia tilted her head. Her features relaxed and she gave a thoughtful nod. “Maybe,” she offered.
Kit and jade stumbled into the tent assigned to their group. Airk was already snoring in one corner and elora occupied another. They quickly spread out their bedrolls onto unclaimed parts of the floor and lay down. They had always slept right next to each other on their journey, but now they didn’t hesitate to share the same blankets or hold eachother all night long.
Kit tightened her arms around jade and snuggled further into the knights back. She buried her nose in the hair at the base of jades neck and softly kissed the skin there.
Jade murmured in appreciation but was too tired to move or even open her eyes. She relished the warmth of kit behind her and feel of kits strong arm holding her close. She rested one hand on top of the princess’ and pulled, causing kit to reflexively tighten her arms even further. Jade smiled and stroked her thumb back and forth slowly. Even if they spent a lifetime together like this, jade didn’t think she would ever get over how right this felt.
Kit grumbled and pulled jade back down when the knight shifted and tried to get up.
“Kit,” jade said disapprovingly, hiding her smile.
“Where are you going?” kit asked sleepily.
“Its morning kit. I’m going to find breakfast.”
Kit burrowed further into jade and her warmth and mumbled, “Its too early.”
Jade gave a quick laugh. “Its not that early. The others got up half an hour ago.”
Kit gave a heavy sigh then finally let go of jade and rolled over. Now that she had her eyes open, she could see sunlight pouring in and hear the birds tweeting their morning songs. She stretched then rubbed her eyes with a giant yawn. “Fine,” she grumbled.
The travelers had agreed that they would spend a day at the bonereaver encampment to rest, resupply and do repairs before heading the rest of the way to tir asleen.
Kit rubbed a soft cloth over her fathers sword for about the hundredth time. It was immaculate, but she had nothing else to do. So she studied the sword and wondered which dings and scratches were from her use, and which were her fathers. She tried to ignore the ever-present ache in her chest at his absence, and instead focused on the day when she would (hopefully) be able to give the sword back to him.
Kit glanced around the clearing. She was amazed at how full of life it was. There were people of all ages, sizes, colors and temperament yet there was an undeniable undercurrent that seemed to bind them all together. A sense of…family.
Kit chewed her lip and wondered why this made her feel a little…sad. Shaking her head to clear away her discomfort, kit couldn’t help but spot jade (she was impossible to miss).
Jade sat with scorpia on a mountain of pillows, chatting up a storm, dappled in the early morning light that filtered through the trees. Several of jades gaggle from the night before were present in the clearing but, and kits smile surely had nothing to do with this, tasia was not there.
Kit finally put the rag down and slowly returned her fathers sword to the pile of weapons resting against the massive oak tree on the edge of the clearing. She wandered over to where elora sat surrounded by a group of bonereaver children. She leaned up against a tree and crossed her arms and watched as elora enthusiastically waved her hands and dramatically recited the magical words to produce bright sparks from her fingertips.
The children roared with laughter and clapped their hands, begging for more. Elora laughed and twirled her hands in an even more complicated motion before whispering into her cupped hands. She raised her eyebrow and leaned in closer. After a moment of hushed excitement from the kids she opened her hand and released several beautiful green and blue butterflies.
The bonereaver kids let out gasps of appreciation and amazement. They sat entranced, staring as the butterflies swooped and flitted around their heads. One landed gracefully on a dark haired girls shoulder and she went completely still, staring at the delicate wings slowly opening and shutting.
Kit watched the adorable spectacle from the shadows of her tree. She liked the way her sisters eyes sparkled and lost the haunted quality that had been in their depths since Graydon. It didn’t surprise her in the least that elora was a natural when it came to kids. Everyone loved her anyways so of course the bonereaver children would adore her too.
“You will have to have willow show them his disappearing pig trick,” she said to elora, nodding her head in the direction of the sorcerer playing some sort of a board game with a giant bonereaver who looked like he might crush the game if he even looked at it wrong.
Elora gave a small laugh. “It is a classic,” she agreed with kit.
Kit smiled. Elora wore several adornments gifted to her by various bonereavers and had a crown of flowers woven into her red hair. She tilted her head at kit. “Do you want to join us?”
Kit blinked and after a moment shook her head. “No. I’d better check on airk. Make sure hes…okay.”
Elora nodded knowingly with another soft smile. Since the immemorial city airk had been different, more subdued and uncertain. He had given in to the will of the crone and tried to kill both kit and elora, so to say he felt a bit lost, was an understatement.
Kit pushed herself off the ancient tree and let her arms drop. She scanned the clearing, noting several young bonereavers sparing playfully at the other end. Jade still sat with scorpia, but they were now joined by several others, ranging from one truly ancient looking woman to a small child staring at jade like she was the sun and the moon.
Kit spotted Boorman hanging by the cookfire, eating his (third?) breakfast. He wore several different pieces of bonereaver jewelry and laughed amiably with the others gathered around as they swapped terrible jokes. He nodded to kit when her eyes landed on him. She raised an eyebrow and opened her mouth, but he cut her off before she could say anything, pointing with his spoon towards airk.
Her twin stood at the far end of the clearing watching several of the younger bonereavers spar. They all moved with a lightness and a grace that kit found enviable. She joined her twin as he watched, entranced, as one pair glided around each other.
A tall, lean boy with dark hair and toned muscles faced off against a tiny but slightly feral looking girl. They feinted, testing defenses, until they came together in a flash of fists and feet.
Kits eyes widened at the speed of the girl. She was short (even shorter than kit!) and stocky, but insanely fast. She was so light on her feet as she ducked under a wild strike that it looked like she was floating. She quickly dismantled her opponents defenses and landed a hard blow to his stomach before she danced away.
Kit blinked and before she even knew what was happening, the girl had her opponent flipped on his back and pinned to the ground. There was a raucous cheer from their fellow fighters as well as a few onlookers.
“T-that was amazing,” kit sputtered. “How did you do that?”
The short girl grinned fiercely at kit as she jumped back to her feet. She graciously stuck out a hand to easily pull her opponent back to his feet, but her eyes never left kits.
Kit had thought from a distance that the girl was about 12 since she was so tiny, but up close she could see that the bonereaver was around her age, maybe just a bit younger. She had wild hair flowing back from her tanned face in shades of red, blonde and brown like the mane of a fantastical creature. Her eyes were a striking blue green with specs of gold that caught in the sunlight.
“Would you like me to teach you, princess?” she asked, her voice surprisingly soft and sweet. There were several silver strands with tiny bells tied into the hair just behind her ear with vibrant, red ribbons that tinkled softly when she moved her head.
“I-“ kit started, but stopped when she saw her brother shifting closer to her. “Maybe another time,” she said chewing her lip.
The girl tilted her head. “I look forward to it.” She winked mischievously then disappeared into a series of backflips before finally stopping by her water skin. She eyed kit as she took a long drink then wiped her mouth with the back of her hand with a satisfied smirk.
Kit followed the girls movements, fascinated, before she blinked and looked over at airk. She sighed when she saw more hopefuls batting their eyelashes at the prince and practically licking their lips. “Hey airk,” she called coming to stand with one arm slung over his shoulder.
“Kit,” he breathed, relieved.
“I need a drink,” kit said turning them both towards the barrel filled with ale. “Come on.”
Airk followed next to kit; she had dropped her arm from his shoulders after several steps. “Isnt it a bit early? Even for you?”
“Um, first off, screw you,” kit stated, turning to glare at her twin. “And second, youre welcome.”
“For what?” airk asked as he grabbed a cup.
Kit gave him a hard look. “From saving you from becoming a bonereaver snack. Seriously, you are like catnip to these people.”
Airk scoffed and took a sip of his drink. “Youre one to talk.”
Kits blinked at him in surprise. “What are you talking about?”
Airk smiled at how clueless his sister could be sometimes. The night before kit had been too distracted by jade to notice the numerous, appreciative looks she had received. More than a few had tried to approach her but kit had flitted around so chaotically that none had been able to pin her down. Even now airk watched, bemused, over the rim of his cup as the tiny but ferocious fighter followed kit with intense eyes.
“Nothing.” He shrugged. “Just that jade might not be the only one the bonereavers find captivating.”
Kit glowered at the memory of tasia and her all too friendly manner with jade. “Whatever,” she huffed, clearly unconvinced.
Whatever else kit was going to say stopped short when two aged bonereaver women came and placed gentle, worn hands on airks arms. “Come on princeling,” one said in a warm, melodious voice. “I need an impartial person to keep score while we play cards. Marigold always cheats.”
“I do not, rose. You just don’t like to lose,” the other argued.
Airk looked to kit with raised eyebrows but she just shrugged with a smile.
“Um…sure,” airk agreed amiably. He held out his arm like the gentleman he was and the woman, rose, cackled in delight. She clapped her hands once then took off one of her many beaded necklaces and slipped it over airks head before linking her arm in his.
“Don’t worry,” marigold, the other ancient woman said to kit, her voice understanding. “We will make sure no one bothers him.”
Kit tore her eyes away from airk with a breath of relief. “Thanks. Hes…”
Marigold smiled showing warm brown eyes. “His soul needs time to heal.” Kit looked at her sharply, but she just nodded knowingly. She smiled at kits unasked question. “When you have lived as long as I have, you learn how to See.”
Kit raised an eyebrow slightly unnerved by the way those soft brown eyes seemed to pierce straight through her to her very core. “W-what do you See when you look at me?” she couldn’t help but ask hesitantly, not sure if she wanted the answer.
Marigold scanned kit before meeting her eyes once more. Her dark eyes danced and a slow smile lit her face. She rested a warm hand on kits shoulder. “Don’t worry about your brother. He will find his way.”
Kit made a small noise as marigold dropped her hand. “But. What did you see?” She wrapped her hands around her stomach as she took a half step forward.
Marigold cupped kits cheek with a weathered hand. She stared intently at the princess. “You need only believe in yourself. Trust your heart. It will not fail you.”
Kit swallowed and searched the fathomless brown eyes infront of her.
Then marigold dropped her hand and her easy smile returned. “Don’t worry about your brother,” she said again, her voice cheerful. “We will mind the princeling. Of course, no guarantees on rose keeping her hands to herself. But shes 82, so shes harmless.”
Kit barked with laughter. Her eyes sparkled as she watched rose guide airk onto a plush cushion surrounded by four other elderly ladies. They all fawned over him, remarking how skinny he looked and how he needed to eat more.
“Hes been through a lot lately,” kit said softly.
Marigold surprised kit by returning her warm hand to kits cheek and stroking softly. “You all have, daughter.”
Kit blinked, unprepared for the emotion that welled up in her at this white haired womans unexpected kindness. She nodded stiffly. “Thanks. Again.” She repressed the urge to place her hand over top of the one cupping her cheek.
Marigold just smiled knowingly and let her hand drop before wandering back over to the group of bickering octogenarians. “Rose!” she scolded as she glided onto an empty cushion. “What did we talk about?”
Kit grinned at airks face, flushed red at something the ancient woman had said. She shook her head and glanced back towards jade. The child from earlier was now sitting in jades lap and absently playing in her red hair as jade talked with the grownups.
Kit drained her cup as she studied the clearing again. There were lots of things she could be doing but nothing she really wanted to do, since jade was busy. At home, this would usually be the time she found herself getting into trouble.
Jade blinked at the assorted bonereavers in front of her. Scorpia sat next to her and gently squeezed her shoulder. “Your family,” she said softly, nodding at the group.
Jade couldn’t believe it. Growling up an orphan, she had always dreamed of having a long lost family, somewhere, searching for her, missing her, loving her. To have actually found them was…
Jades eyes burned and her throat felt tight. She looked hesitantly from scorpia back to her…family.
An ancient bonereaver tottered forward, her hair a shocking white and her face lined with wrinkles. She took both of jades hands in her own and squeezed with surprising strength. She slowly leaned her head forward until it rested against jades. “You have returned, granddaughter. Welcome home.”
Her voice was strong and deep, like the roots of an ancient tree. Her eyes held jades as the knights lip quivered and she drew in a ragged breath. She released jades hands and tenderly wiped away the tears that now lined jades face before folding her into a crushing embrace.
Jade gasped and buried her nose into the old womans, her grandmothers, neck and felt something in her snap. She let out a sob and held desperately to the woman she previously only dreamed existed. She let herself melt against the warmth and strength supporting her and fisted her hands into her grandmothers shirt. She held on with all her strength, terrified that if she let go, this would all disappear, that she would wake up and find herself alone once more.
Scorpia wrapped one arm around jade and the other around the ancient woman and rested her head against her sisters temple. “Its okay now, jade.” She squeezed. “Youre home.” She held her sister as she shook with half smothered sobs. “We love you, jade.” She placed a gentle kiss to her sisters temple before returning her forehead there. “Its okay to let it out.” She held her sister as she finally broke down completely and wept.
It felt like a dam had broken deep in jades soul and everything she had tried to bury suddenly burst free. She could barely breath at how hard she sobbed and clung to the women holding her. Her whole body shook and for once she didn’t try to stop it. She just let go, cradled in her familys arms.
Scorpia held her sister and whispered reassuringly. Her heart twisted at the depth of jades pain. She wished she had done something, had found her sooner, had been able to save her. Instead scorpia held her baby sister and vowed she would never lose her again.
Eventually jade felt the torrent of emotions within her begin to dwindle to a manageable level. She sniffed and slowly let her arms relax their frantic hold. She breathed deeply, nose still buried in her grandmothers neck and was amazed that she knew, on a visceral level, that smell; it was the smell of love and safety, of warmth and…home.
Jade eventually lifted her head and smiled as her grandmother wiped away her tears once more. Scorpia brushed the hair back from her face and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. She held onto jades eyes for a moment longer and squeezed her hand before she began to introduce her to the rest of the of her family.
Jade laughed as countless aunts and uncles trouped forward. She had nieces and nephews and didn’t even know it. And cousins! So many cousins it was unbelievable.
Jade smiled at her youngest nephew as he stared at her with wide eyes. She patted her leg and he needed no further encouragement before scrambling up into her lap.
Jade wrapped an arm around his tiny middle like shed been doing it all his life and placed a soft kiss to the top of his head. He looked up at her with a smile and tugged hesitantly at one of her curls. He looked at it confused before looking back at her. “Red?” he asked.
Jade laughed and kissed his head again. “Yep,” she agreed. Her freckles danced and her eyes sparkled. She gazed at her family and her heart felt a lightness she wasn’t used to.