Chapter 32: Chapter 31 : Homecoming

As Klaire stood at the threshold of the gate, a distorted vision of her home lay the other side. It was a home she had nothing but fond memories of and yet the thought of taking that final step was unbearable.

“Mum, why am I so weak?” She asked as her hands began to shake.

“We all are Klaire, compared to the likes of even Leanna, let alone Faylorna, Kyubi and Lillim and in turn they are weak compared to the likes of Samael and the gods that blessed your marriage. Your problem isn’t weakness, your problem is the scars it earned you, so take a breath, then a step and find the strength you need to heal them.” Danielle said as she observed with patience.

Klaire took her advice and the step, finding herself in a small settlement surronded by a dense mist. The moist air carried a chill that possessed the comfort of home, the mist wasn’t natural and through it could be seen the emerald green grass, but that was only because she carried the blood of a banshee.

This was land claimed by Faylorna, the land she knew in her fleeting human life. The moment the realm gates appeared, the first banshee had tore her way through to claim this land before any other had the chance.

Only the main family and the head two branch families were permitted to live here, it was sacred ground and any intruder would face the full wrath of the Bashe clan.

As Danielle led her towards their family home, members of the branch families stopped to bow in respect. Klaire, though she scarcely acted it, was essentially the princess of this isolated kingdom, her mother would have been the acting queen already had the humans not demanded she be disinherited for her heavy-handed involvement in the equality movement.

As they entered the home of her grandmother they found themselves immediately in a hall that was far larger inside than the humble outer appearance made seem possible. It carried an air of the ancient Irish caisleán that existed before Faylorna’s rebirth.

There was no entrance partition, the moment you stepped inside you were in the throne room, in sight of the elderly queen who was surrounded by an air of power and carried the experience of two-centuries in how to properly use that power.

Despite how others treated her outside, inside, it was her who had to show respect and until recently her grandmother’s presence used to fill her with awe and a sense of majesty, the respect however was the only thing that remained after all she had experienced since their last meeting.

“Dia dhuit, Rigan Maeb” she said, simply meaning “Hello, Queen Maeb”.

“You are my granddaughter, do not speak to me as a stranger. I wouldn’t even be queen still if your mother could keep her howl to herself… Speaking of which, how goes it with that boy, still pining for him?” Her voice was old and carried the rhythmic accent of their ancestors.

“Actually grandmother, I asked Mother to keep quiet so I could speak for myself, but…” She held out her hand to show off her ring, “I apologise for the lack of formality, we were married suddenly, by his grandmother Lillim, our union was recognised by nine gods as well…” She spoke with the nervousness of one expecting harsh words.

“So you finally tell me, I was a bit perturbed I had to hear of it from Faylorna and even then I only heard of it after that celestial fox nearly killed hi- Hmm, you didn’t know?”

“No, I didn’t… He was more concerned with making sure I knew she tried to use him to repopulate.” Klaire grumbled, annoyed that she hadn’t heard the whole story.

“Your man has a way with dangerous women it seems.” Maeb laughed, which only made her angrier. “Anyway, you didn’t come here to chat, so follow me and we will go see her. Will you be going alone? I thought he’d at least send that Squidge you were so fond of.”

“Actually, I have my other baby. Levi, meet great-grandmother, don’t be shy.” Levi revealed herself and swam over to introduce herself.

’Mum, can I grow to say hello?’

“Sure. She’s wants to speak, but she needs to get bigger first.” Maeb gave her permission by way of a nod.

Levi began swimming through the air in a spiral, gradually filling the space of the twenty by thirty hall and still had to coil around some of the thick wooden support beams to fit. When she was finished however she lower her head to be lower than Maeb’s and spoke as softly as she could.

“Dia Dhuit, err Grandma Maeb.” Levi said nervously, though surprising everyone with her competent attempt at the old tongue, though she got nervous when Maeb laughed.

“A fine attempt. I look forward to getting to know you and your brother Squidge, Levi was it? You need to tell that Dad of yours to come see me to before I die of old age.”

“I will! Oh and we have sister Kitsunoko as well, she looks more human but has a fluffy tail. Though I guess she might want to bring Auntie Kyubi and I don’t know if Lillim would want to be left out… It gets confusing when they do whatever they want.”

Maeb continued to laugh. “I must say, the boy may not know how to treat a woman but he certainly knows how to make an interesting creature, what did he call your speies dear?”

“I’m an all-seeing leviathan.” Levi was speaking proudly, but quickly falling back into her immature speech patterns, which only made her more darling in Maeb’s opinion.

“Why “all-seeing”? Your eyes are beautiful but can they really see everything?” Maeb asked with the same intruige everyone did upon hearing it.

“Grandmother, I should warn you, showing you will paralyse you.”

“Paralyse me? Well I do believe you just made it a challenge. Now, on the count of three Levi; one… two…three!” The moment she said three, the eyes snapped open and Maeb found herself completely frozen as though she had just had a staring contest with medusa herself.

“Okay Levi, you win, exclude Grandma Maeb.” At Klaire’s command Maeb found herself free.

“My word! She is a marvel. How does she fair against those two?”

“She can give Lillim pins and needles for a split second. It seems to target the soul though and Kyubi is incredibly skilled in spiritual defence, which she is teaching us but Grandma Lillim just says “I am a teacher, not a student, if my defence was any better, then killing would be no fun!” Then we all tend to change the subject.” Klaire rambled, while gesturing for Levi to shrink down.

“No surprise I guess, though I would love to see how Faylorna would react… Speaking of which, we should be going. I’ll ask you once, are you sure?”

“Yes, I can’t stay as weak as I am.”

“I would hardly call you weak, but given your recent experiences I can understand the sentiment. Let’s be off, she has been waiting eagerly for you and don’t forget that you are still in her bad books at the moment. I suspect this will be both a trial and a Howling in one.”

Even before she stopped talking, she had stood up from her throne and began walking to a gap in the wall behind her. From there it immediately descended into a tight spiralling staircase.

The think stone walls and wooden beams already gave the place a sense of antiquity, but as Klaire followed without her mother and began her descent the echo of each footfall made it feel like she was on her way to a dungeon.

“I will never get used to how this journey feels.” Maeb mused as she led the way.

“Strangely enough it doesn’t feel that scary to me anymore, I was honestly scared at the thought of these steps after my last visit.”

Maeb didn’t respond, she could hear the honesty in Klaire’s declaration and was all too aware of how horriffic something would have to be to make someone say this place “doesn’t feel that scary”.

The steps became a curse upon her as she began to wonder what her granddaughter must have been through. She had heard the reports from Danielle of course, but things like that were difficult to describe, the level of change she was displaying was by far the most telling means.

“Why don’t you tell me about that mad Omina-class.”

“Absolutely not… I don’t want to think about that. I want to forget it entirely, but that’s not an option, so I have no choice but to move passed it. I refuse to talk about that though, I’d even deny Faylorna.”

Maeb knew her words weren’t mere reluctance, she could sense adamant resolve behind them. No banshee would deny Faylorna, whether half-breed or full and yet her eighteen year-old granddaughter was more scared of that man than her own progenitor, which told her more than any description Klaire could have given anyway.

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