Some time after arriving in Drybone...
Antimony emerged from the Immortal Flames office looking weary. Her clothes were dusty from a day and a half straight of travel, her fur and hair sweaty. The Blades officer on duty there had taken her money – or, the money Ulanan had given her – rather eagerly and instructed her to wait outside for her supposed escort. She descended the steps and stopped off to one side to wait, ears drooping tiredly. After a moment, she glanced briefly across the courtyard, towards the few merchant stalls set up, then frowned and looked away, shifting her weight. She had little money left after the impromptu journey.
A young miqo’te wearing the uniform of the Brass Blades rounded the corner of the office building just then, carrying a big sack with the words "Confiscated" written in bold black letters on one side. She passed by Antimony without paying her more attention that to avoid crashing into her. She entered the building, opening the door with a very weak kick.
Antimony blinked, looks confused for a moment, but soon went back to wearily waiting.
Inside the office building, it only took the Blade woman a moment to drop the bag in the depot and give the officer at charge a list. In return, he handed her a letter and pointed to the door, telling her that a new assignment was waiting outside. She saluted and exited the place from where she came in (kicking the door again), the letter open between her hands.
Antimony's tail twitched and after a moment, she looked back towards the merchant stalls, considering once again their foodstuffs, her empty stomach, and almost just as empty coinpurse.
The Blade woman climbed down the steps and with eyes still on the letter she asked: "Excuse me, Antimony? I'm the bodyguard that was requested for you!"
Antimony started, ears swiveling, and turned to the miqo'te looking as though she'd seen - or heard - a ghost. She blinked rapidly behind her glasses and then managed a faint, "... Yes? Ah, that's... me. Hello."
The Blade woman smiled and nodded to the letter. "Hello! I hear you want to reach the Shro-" she never finished the line. Raising her head to actually see the person in front of her, she froze in place with the oddest smile.
Antimony looked distracted for several seconds, a vague frown on her features. Then she swallowed, her ears shaking and ventured uneasily, "The... Shroud. Yes. Ah, I need to get to... Coerthas?"
The Blade woman’s following reaction was very professional. She basically lunged forward and surrounded Antimony with her arms before squeezing her in a hug of uncanny affection. “MOM!â€
Antimony grunted at the force of the hug, eyes widening, and went very, very still in the Blade's arms. Her mouth opened, but no sound made it out.
The younger woman kept the hug going, nervously hopping in place. "We thought you died! But you are alive!" She pushed away without letting her mother go. "You are alive!"
Antimony just kind of hung in the woman's grip for several, long moments, looking utterly lost. Then, something clicked in her expression and her features were flooded with a mix of relief, disbelief, sorrow, and joy; her brain could not pick just one. Her arms moved to either side of the woman as though afraid to touch her. "Ai... Airos?"
K'airos smiled broadly and followed with yet another hug. "Yes! It's me! And this is you! Where have you been? And you use glasses! And a weird name...and...and you are alive!" she said, the words trampling over each other in quick succession. She sounded so happy you could almost touch that happiness and place it inside a bottle.
Antimony's hands shook. Her ears shook. Her whole tail shivered as though it were about to fall off. Then her expression crumpled and she simply threw herself against her daughter, wrapping her arms around the armored woman and sobbed.
K'airos placed one armored hand on her mother's head. She quickly retrieved it, as gauntlets made for poor hugging tools. She still hopped in place. "I missed you! You have to tell me where you've been!"
Antimony just shook her head, pulling frantically at K'airos's mask-bandana to take it from her face. Once it was off, she held her daughter's head, stared wide-eyed for several seconds, and then just pulled her tighter, sobbing. "My baby... my... you died...!"
K'airos's first reaction was to shut her eyes and exclaim "I know!" She only needed one second to process what was being said and corrected: "That's what everyone thought. But Aijeen found me and nursed me back to health!"
Antimony trembled into the hug, still crying desperately, and then a shock ran through her tail, the limb lashing. "... Aijeen...?"
“Yes! We live together! She's probably at the church. She's a volunteer there!â€
Antimony looked very faint then and kind of sagged against K'airos. "My..."
K'airos tried to hold her on her feet. "Are...are you okay? Do you want to sit?"
Antimony clungs to K'airos as though she might disappear any moment now and took a long while in responding. When she did, it was only a weak, "Aijeen... too." One hand petted at K'airos's hair, reassuring herself of the woman's presence.
“We are both here! Well...she's not here -here- but...she's around here! So she's here but not...you know...†K'airos gave two small hops. "We should go tell her!"
Antimony sobbed at that, her shoulders shaking her arms around K'airos. "My babies," she repeated and then, after another long moment, she nodded.
 K'airos  took Antimony by one hand and pulled her away towards the ramp, sporting a bright smile. "I'm sure she'll be happy to see you!" Antimony looked as though even the slightest breeze might topple her, but she followed with K'airos, absolutely unwilling to let her daughter out of her sight.
K'airos kept pulling her mother to the ramp, seldomly turning around, walking backwards, then turning around and hurrying up before looking back and repeating the sequence. “You should see her! She's a lady, now! Fancy clothes, fancy vocabulary. She looks so pretty! Though she dyed her hair.â€
Antimony blinked past tears at that, looking confused, but she couldn’t quite talk around the lump in her throat. Instead, she just watched her daughter and listened to her voice, a voice she'd never thought she'd hear again.
“Oh, and she studies! Magic, of course. I think she knows all branches of it! Though I don't get any of it, but I know she's talented!â€
Antimony's ears drooped at old, ill memories, and she ventured quietly, "Does she still...?"
K'airos stopped briefly to respond to that. "No, there are no more monsters! She got past that. Those mages educated her well, I reckon!" And with that said she turned around, smiling, and walked up the ramp again.
Antimony let out a faint, shaky sigh but said nothing else.
“Oh! And she's good with people! She was friends with another tribe in Ul'dah, and they helped her with her education. It was quite nice! Though that was before the Battle. But she keeps in touch! Or...they keep in touch. Or one of them does, anyway!†K'airos's speech pattern was fast and excited, as if she couldn't hold any bit of information and had to get it out of her throat as fast as possible.
Antimony listened with a vaguely dazed expression. The tears had slowed, though not stopped completely, and they dragged pale tracks down her somewhat dusty face.
“After Aijeen healed me, I went into the Immortal Flames office, and they were 'But you are dead!' and so I told them 'But I'm not dead!'. Then they went 'I guess you are not dead!' and I was reintegrated. A bit later I joined the Blades. Less war, better work hours and less dangers overall. It's a good job!†As her daughter spoke, Antimony nodded weakly, but again, couldn’t really seem to manage much more than that. K’airos continued, “I haven't got enough for a home yet, but I'm saving enough! Oh, here we are. Aijeen should be around here. Let's go look for her, and you can tell me what you have been up to!â€
Antimony looked up the path into the lichyard and hesitated, a worried expression crossing her face. "With... the dead...?"
K'airos failed to notice her mother's worry. "Told you, she's a volunteer at the church! Many refugees try to get to Ul'dah, but not all of them get here. And then there's the Amalj'aa, and the dead from the Calamity..." Some sadness leaked out of her words, and she sighed. "But it's good work! Giving peace to the families of those poor souls."
Antimony swayed slightly, her tail shivering, and then took a step forward. "I... where is she in this then...?"
“I don't know...oh! I have an idea! I'll go look for her and I'll bring her here!â€
Antimony shivered and then turned immediately to K'airos with a nearly-shouted, "No!" Her hands moved to clutch her daughter. "Don't--I'll... I will go with you."
K'airos grabbed her mother's hand. "Alright. Then let's go find Aijeen! She can't be far!" With that said, she moved to the cemetery, pulling Antimony with her. As they walked, she looked around, searching for familiar white clothes and green hair. Antimony kept close to K'airos as they moved along the path, looking both extremely distressed and uncomfortable at their surroundings.
Very suddenly, K'airos stopped and pointed excitedly with one hand. "There she is!"
Antimony looked up sharply and followed K'airos's gesture with a desperate look. "Aijeen..?"
“Come!†K'airos tried to not run off, seeing how Antimony was probably too tired to follow suit. “She still has her temper, so let me talk to her first.â€
The promise of seeing her youngest daughter again overrode any exhaustion she may have felt, and Antimony took several, uncertain steps forward, and then a moment later moved faster, at an almost frantic pace. “Ai... Aijeen...!†Her cry is hesitant, almost afraid.
“I guess that will work, too!†K’airos smiled at her mother’s back and followed.
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Antimony frowned slightly as she approached, not recognizing the white-clothed woman several yalms off. She glanced at K'airos worriedly.
The green-haired woman dressed in white was lecturing a corpse that lay in the shade near a gravestone, "... and if you'd only taken better care of your eyebrows in life, you would've made a much prettier corpse and I'd have graduated you to the deluxe graves. Alas! Your imperfections have earned you a few gravemates that are- ... Hm?" She turned, looked back to who called her, and…
The girl squinted into the sun and brightened at one she saw. "Oh, doll! You've finally come!" She ran towards Antimony and attacked the woman with an intimate hug. Next to her, K’airos was so happy she almost expeled luminosity.
Antimony staggered under the white-clothed woman’s hug, wearing the same, dazed expression she'd had when she first saw K'airos. "My... Aijeen. It's you...?" Her voice shook.
The green-haired girl nodded, squeezing Antimony, "Yes. You're Aijeen. Oh, you've made me so happy!" She kissed Antimonys cheek and nuzzled into the crook of her neck.
Antimony blinked rapidly to try and fend off further tears, though she wasn’t particularly successful. She didn’t object to the girl's affections, and brought her hands up to try and get a better look at her face. "It's you," she breathed shakily. "You and... my baby girls..."
K'airos watched, delighted with the scene. She placed one hand on each one's shoulders. "I told you she'd be happy!"
D’aijeen lifted her face and beamed into Antimony's features. "Oh, doll. Don't call me that in front of Airos! It's embarrassing," she blushed accordingly. And dropped her hands to Antimony's lower back and squeezed. And leaned forward towards her face. "I like the glasses, but I don't know about the hair. Are you trying to look older? It's cute!"
Antimony's ears twitched along with her tail, a look of confusion passing over her features. "Aijeen? What do you mean...?"
K'airos chuckled in nervous confusion. "Why are you calling mom a doll?"
D'aijeen glanced towards Airos, a bit confused. She frowned for a moment, then smirked, "You two are conspiring together. I adore you both! So cute." She leaned forward to kiss the side of Antimony's jaw in a manner most inappropriate.
Antimony startled and half chides, "Aijeen! What are you doing...??" She set shaking hands on her daughter's shoulders, leaning back to look at her face worriedly.
D'aijeen let herself get pushed back, a little hurt. "Uhm. What do you..." She paused, appeared suspicious, and sloooooowly withdrew her hands from the hug. She looked over at K'airos, "This is D'ahl, right?"
Antimony's ears drooped, a sad look crossing her face for a moment. "Aijeen, you... don't recognize me?"
K'airos's intuition kicked in and she grabbed her sister from both shoulders, looking directly at her eyes. "Please do not freak out." She took a deep breath, and then added: "No, this is not D'ahl. This is mom. Our actual mother."
D'aijeen blinked, "Oh," and stepped away from Antimony. She manages a small smile at K'airos. "I won't freak out. It's fine." Antimony watched her youngest daughter silently, bringing her hands together in front of her.
K'airos let her sister go with a large sigh. "Well, I guess this wasn't the big happy family reunion I had hoped...so let's fix that!" And with those words, she lunged forward to hug both of them with a broad smile. "I'm so happy to have both of you!"
D'aijeen went stiff and yelped as she got bodily forced back up against her mother, "Airos! Please! Don't!"
Not resisting the hug – because whyever would she? – Antimony reached for her daughter with one trembling hand, touching the side of her arm. "Aijeen, I... I can't believe you're..."
K'airos kept hugging both of them, placing her head on her mother's shoulder, facing Aijeen. "Please don't ruin the moment!" she said lowly to her sister.
D'aijeen grit her teeth, flushing red in humiliation, "There is no moment! Airos, please, let go! I can't do this!"
Antimony's ears swept back with a brief look of despair, but she reached forward again, past K'airos, to hug her youngest daughter full-on. "I can't believe you're here," she breathed. "Alive. I...â€
K'airos let Aijeen go. She used her best puppy eyes and let her ears drop down to the sides. "Please, please, please, please! Just his once!" she begged, hopping in place.
D'aijeen pushed against her mother, though her motions were exceptionally weak. "No! This is a lie! Let go of me!"
“A lie...? Aijeen, I don't understand.. I--You're here...! Airos is--she's alive...!†Antimony's words broke towards the end as the tears returned, and she clutched at D'aijeen.
“It's not a lie! She's alive and fine! I got hired by her employer to escort her to the Shroud!†K'airos waved the letter she was given back at the office, as if it was some kind of magical proof.
D'aijeen continued to struggle, shouting, "No! Let go of me! K'airos, please, I command you to make this woman release me!†At this, Antimony looked up at D'aijeen's face, confused and emotionally pained.
K'airos automatically stopped waving the letter to grab her mother and pull her away from Aijeen. "Let's...let's give her some space to process this, okay?" she said quite naturally.
“What--no! I'm not... I am not leaving... either of you!†Antimony's hands tightened on D'aijeen.
K'airos surrounded Antimony with her arms and pulled with more strength. "It's okay, mom! We are not leaving! She's just...confused! You know how she is."
Antimony did not willingly release her daughter, but K'airos was considerably stronger than her and so she was, eventually, pulled away. Then she turned to K'airos and wrapped her arms around her instead, burying her face in her older daughter's armored neck.
D'aijeen collapsed to the ground after being released, suddenly appearing very tired. She breathed deeply, clutching at her chest. "Liar. Deceiver!"
K'airos patted Antimony's shoulder slowly and repeatedly. She looked over her to her sister. “Aijeen! What are you talking about?â€
D'aijeen groaned out, "Oh, my beautiful, perfect Airos, you're being deceived." And then she growled at Antimony, "Even D'ahl is a more convincing fake than you are! What is your name?"
“Stop that!†K’airos protested.
Antimony looked up and then half-turned from K'airos to blink in tearful confusion at D'aijeen. "What... what do you mean? I... I'm your mother!" The last sentence was practically begged from her throat.
D'aijeen laboriously rose to her feet, saying in a pleading voice, "Airos, please. You must listen to me, obey me, and reject this woman as your mother. She's lying!"
K'airos's grip on Antimony lessened, and she took a step away. She turned to her, her eyes wet. “She isn't! She smells like her! She sounds like her! It's mom! It's mom!â€
“What--no!†Her legs shook. “No, I'm not--K'piru! I'm K'piru! I... I helped you carve your--your first spearhead, Airos. I--Aijeen, I let you take some of my... herbs when you were young, even when it was against the rules, because I knew--I knew you'd...†Antimony looked desperately towards her younger daughter.
“Stop this at once!†D'aijeen stomped her foot, "Airos, I command you to get away from that woman! Come here that I might protect you!"
K'airos let her mother go completely and went to Aijeen's side without further questioning. She looked deeply troubled, however. When she passed Antimony, the frantic woman reached out, took two steps to follow, and then just tried to grab at her. "No--! Airos, please you--don't leave me!"
D'aijeen intercepted the reaching hand and smacked it away meanly, "Stop! I won't allow you to continue!"
K'airos hopped in place, tapping her hands together with louds clanks. "But I have orders to escort her..."
When D’aijeen intervened, Antimony only redirected her attention to the younger girl, utterly desperate, and made to cling to her. "Please!" She all but sobbed, "Aijeen, it's me... Please, do not leave me again--!"
D'aijeen stiffened under the woman's grip, but served as a well between her mother and her sister. Oh so metaphorical. "I do not know your motivation in this deception, but do not repeat it. Airos is my sun and my fire, the most precious and valuable thing I have ever touched, and I will not let her be further damaged by constructed phantasms like you. If you chose not to relent, you will find nothing but opposition and defeat here."
Antimony shook her head furiously and just cried again, "Please don't leave me! My babies--my... Airos, Aijeen, it's me--please..." She did not relent in her grip on D'aijeen.
K'airos just stood awkwardly with her mouth open, unable to move and her eyes darting around the place.
“You will go and request a different escort. You will not bother us further. You will do this immediately. Understand?†The green-haired woman huffed in frustration.
Antimony did not seem to understand at all, for she only shook her head and repeated a sobbed, "No... don't leave me."
K'airos pulled on her sister's sleeve. "Aijeen, stop." she said weakly.
D'aijeen snapped her gaze to K'airos, "I'm not wrong, Airos. I'm sorry. Please, just... walk away and let me deal with this, precious Airos."
K'airos shook her head. "No, she's...she smells...she sounds...she's...she..." she mumbled, never finishing the idea. She bit her own tongue, literally, trying to say whatever it was.
“Airos, I command you to go to the church and wait for me inside. You know that it is right to trust me with this.â€
K'airos dropped her eyes to the ground and walked away, just as Aijeen told her to.
Antimony half leaned away from D'aijeen, eyes flicking between her and K'airos frantically, utterly torn as to what to do. Suddenly, she ripped herself away and went to reach after K'airos with a pleaded, "No! Airos--not when... not when I've finally got you back!"
D'aijeen grabbed her mother's ear to restrain her, the action callous. She yelped at the sharp pain and desperately tried to extricate herself. "Airos! Please! I promise you--it's me!"
“I'm sorry...I have to wait in the church...†And she continued to walk away, her steps heavy and a bit erratic. Antimony let out a wail and tried again to follow her.
D'aijeen pinched down on Antimony's ear and held her as best she could. She was pretty frail, so it was very possible that Antimony could escape. "Stop it and talk to me!"
Antimony turned to D'aijeen suddenly, heedless of the girl's grip on her ear, and clasped her hands upon her shoulders. "Why must you do this, Aijeen! I don't... I don't understand--you know who I am... please!"
K'airos’s walking speed became unbearably slower as she got further away. She did not stop, though.
D'aijeen let go of Antimony's ear, putting her hands on the woman’s arms, and dropped her voice, "Airos is beautiful, perfect. Immaculate. I worship her. I love her more than my mother ever could have. And Airos loves me. Why would I let you intrude on our life? Even if you were our mother?"
Antimony's expression fell, along with her ears. "I... I love you, Aijeen. Both of you... How could you think that I don't...?" Her voice, quieter suddenly, shook.
“If you loved me you would leave me to my happiness. I saw that advertisement in the Tonberry's Lantern, so tell any other imposters you might have stashed around to stay away too. I'll defend my Airos. She's mine.â€
The older woman’s hands quaked on D'aijeen's shoulders. "I'm not... I'm your mother," she protested weakly. "You're my..."
“Then I'm going to take Airos and leave, and you're never going to find us.â€
Antimony's hands fell away then and her expression grew very distant. "Please, don't... don't leave me again."
D'aijeen dropped her hands and said in a commanding, biting tone, "Let go of me."
Swaying almost imperceptibly, Antimony brought her own hands close to herself. "Aijeen," she managed before her words choked off.
"Thank you. Remember my message for your associates." D'aijeen stepped away from Antimony, pausing to see if the woman was going to pursue her again.
Antimony did not follow. Instead, the strength in her legs gave way and she dropped to her knees in the dry grass. Green eyes watched D'aijeen retreat with a lost look.
Nodding, wavering, D'aijeen said, "I loved my mother, in a way, but she did not love me. She also didn't have glasses and her hair wasn't so gray, so your impersonation needs a great deal of work." With this, she turned on her heal to walk away.
Antimony did not move from where she collapsed in the grass, nor did her eyes leave the spot where D'aijeen had stood.
Antimony emerged from the Immortal Flames office looking weary. Her clothes were dusty from a day and a half straight of travel, her fur and hair sweaty. The Blades officer on duty there had taken her money – or, the money Ulanan had given her – rather eagerly and instructed her to wait outside for her supposed escort. She descended the steps and stopped off to one side to wait, ears drooping tiredly. After a moment, she glanced briefly across the courtyard, towards the few merchant stalls set up, then frowned and looked away, shifting her weight. She had little money left after the impromptu journey.
A young miqo’te wearing the uniform of the Brass Blades rounded the corner of the office building just then, carrying a big sack with the words "Confiscated" written in bold black letters on one side. She passed by Antimony without paying her more attention that to avoid crashing into her. She entered the building, opening the door with a very weak kick.
Antimony blinked, looks confused for a moment, but soon went back to wearily waiting.
Inside the office building, it only took the Blade woman a moment to drop the bag in the depot and give the officer at charge a list. In return, he handed her a letter and pointed to the door, telling her that a new assignment was waiting outside. She saluted and exited the place from where she came in (kicking the door again), the letter open between her hands.
Antimony's tail twitched and after a moment, she looked back towards the merchant stalls, considering once again their foodstuffs, her empty stomach, and almost just as empty coinpurse.
The Blade woman climbed down the steps and with eyes still on the letter she asked: "Excuse me, Antimony? I'm the bodyguard that was requested for you!"
Antimony started, ears swiveling, and turned to the miqo'te looking as though she'd seen - or heard - a ghost. She blinked rapidly behind her glasses and then managed a faint, "... Yes? Ah, that's... me. Hello."
The Blade woman smiled and nodded to the letter. "Hello! I hear you want to reach the Shro-" she never finished the line. Raising her head to actually see the person in front of her, she froze in place with the oddest smile.
Antimony looked distracted for several seconds, a vague frown on her features. Then she swallowed, her ears shaking and ventured uneasily, "The... Shroud. Yes. Ah, I need to get to... Coerthas?"
The Blade woman’s following reaction was very professional. She basically lunged forward and surrounded Antimony with her arms before squeezing her in a hug of uncanny affection. “MOM!â€
Antimony grunted at the force of the hug, eyes widening, and went very, very still in the Blade's arms. Her mouth opened, but no sound made it out.
The younger woman kept the hug going, nervously hopping in place. "We thought you died! But you are alive!" She pushed away without letting her mother go. "You are alive!"
Antimony just kind of hung in the woman's grip for several, long moments, looking utterly lost. Then, something clicked in her expression and her features were flooded with a mix of relief, disbelief, sorrow, and joy; her brain could not pick just one. Her arms moved to either side of the woman as though afraid to touch her. "Ai... Airos?"
K'airos smiled broadly and followed with yet another hug. "Yes! It's me! And this is you! Where have you been? And you use glasses! And a weird name...and...and you are alive!" she said, the words trampling over each other in quick succession. She sounded so happy you could almost touch that happiness and place it inside a bottle.
Antimony's hands shook. Her ears shook. Her whole tail shivered as though it were about to fall off. Then her expression crumpled and she simply threw herself against her daughter, wrapping her arms around the armored woman and sobbed.
K'airos placed one armored hand on her mother's head. She quickly retrieved it, as gauntlets made for poor hugging tools. She still hopped in place. "I missed you! You have to tell me where you've been!"
Antimony just shook her head, pulling frantically at K'airos's mask-bandana to take it from her face. Once it was off, she held her daughter's head, stared wide-eyed for several seconds, and then just pulled her tighter, sobbing. "My baby... my... you died...!"
K'airos's first reaction was to shut her eyes and exclaim "I know!" She only needed one second to process what was being said and corrected: "That's what everyone thought. But Aijeen found me and nursed me back to health!"
Antimony trembled into the hug, still crying desperately, and then a shock ran through her tail, the limb lashing. "... Aijeen...?"
“Yes! We live together! She's probably at the church. She's a volunteer there!â€
Antimony looked very faint then and kind of sagged against K'airos. "My..."
K'airos tried to hold her on her feet. "Are...are you okay? Do you want to sit?"
Antimony clungs to K'airos as though she might disappear any moment now and took a long while in responding. When she did, it was only a weak, "Aijeen... too." One hand petted at K'airos's hair, reassuring herself of the woman's presence.
“We are both here! Well...she's not here -here- but...she's around here! So she's here but not...you know...†K'airos gave two small hops. "We should go tell her!"
Antimony sobbed at that, her shoulders shaking her arms around K'airos. "My babies," she repeated and then, after another long moment, she nodded.
 K'airos  took Antimony by one hand and pulled her away towards the ramp, sporting a bright smile. "I'm sure she'll be happy to see you!" Antimony looked as though even the slightest breeze might topple her, but she followed with K'airos, absolutely unwilling to let her daughter out of her sight.
K'airos kept pulling her mother to the ramp, seldomly turning around, walking backwards, then turning around and hurrying up before looking back and repeating the sequence. “You should see her! She's a lady, now! Fancy clothes, fancy vocabulary. She looks so pretty! Though she dyed her hair.â€
Antimony blinked past tears at that, looking confused, but she couldn’t quite talk around the lump in her throat. Instead, she just watched her daughter and listened to her voice, a voice she'd never thought she'd hear again.
“Oh, and she studies! Magic, of course. I think she knows all branches of it! Though I don't get any of it, but I know she's talented!â€
Antimony's ears drooped at old, ill memories, and she ventured quietly, "Does she still...?"
K'airos stopped briefly to respond to that. "No, there are no more monsters! She got past that. Those mages educated her well, I reckon!" And with that said she turned around, smiling, and walked up the ramp again.
Antimony let out a faint, shaky sigh but said nothing else.
“Oh! And she's good with people! She was friends with another tribe in Ul'dah, and they helped her with her education. It was quite nice! Though that was before the Battle. But she keeps in touch! Or...they keep in touch. Or one of them does, anyway!†K'airos's speech pattern was fast and excited, as if she couldn't hold any bit of information and had to get it out of her throat as fast as possible.
Antimony listened with a vaguely dazed expression. The tears had slowed, though not stopped completely, and they dragged pale tracks down her somewhat dusty face.
“After Aijeen healed me, I went into the Immortal Flames office, and they were 'But you are dead!' and so I told them 'But I'm not dead!'. Then they went 'I guess you are not dead!' and I was reintegrated. A bit later I joined the Blades. Less war, better work hours and less dangers overall. It's a good job!†As her daughter spoke, Antimony nodded weakly, but again, couldn’t really seem to manage much more than that. K’airos continued, “I haven't got enough for a home yet, but I'm saving enough! Oh, here we are. Aijeen should be around here. Let's go look for her, and you can tell me what you have been up to!â€
Antimony looked up the path into the lichyard and hesitated, a worried expression crossing her face. "With... the dead...?"
K'airos failed to notice her mother's worry. "Told you, she's a volunteer at the church! Many refugees try to get to Ul'dah, but not all of them get here. And then there's the Amalj'aa, and the dead from the Calamity..." Some sadness leaked out of her words, and she sighed. "But it's good work! Giving peace to the families of those poor souls."
Antimony swayed slightly, her tail shivering, and then took a step forward. "I... where is she in this then...?"
“I don't know...oh! I have an idea! I'll go look for her and I'll bring her here!â€
Antimony shivered and then turned immediately to K'airos with a nearly-shouted, "No!" Her hands moved to clutch her daughter. "Don't--I'll... I will go with you."
K'airos grabbed her mother's hand. "Alright. Then let's go find Aijeen! She can't be far!" With that said, she moved to the cemetery, pulling Antimony with her. As they walked, she looked around, searching for familiar white clothes and green hair. Antimony kept close to K'airos as they moved along the path, looking both extremely distressed and uncomfortable at their surroundings.
Very suddenly, K'airos stopped and pointed excitedly with one hand. "There she is!"
Antimony looked up sharply and followed K'airos's gesture with a desperate look. "Aijeen..?"
“Come!†K'airos tried to not run off, seeing how Antimony was probably too tired to follow suit. “She still has her temper, so let me talk to her first.â€
The promise of seeing her youngest daughter again overrode any exhaustion she may have felt, and Antimony took several, uncertain steps forward, and then a moment later moved faster, at an almost frantic pace. “Ai... Aijeen...!†Her cry is hesitant, almost afraid.
“I guess that will work, too!†K’airos smiled at her mother’s back and followed.
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Antimony frowned slightly as she approached, not recognizing the white-clothed woman several yalms off. She glanced at K'airos worriedly.
The green-haired woman dressed in white was lecturing a corpse that lay in the shade near a gravestone, "... and if you'd only taken better care of your eyebrows in life, you would've made a much prettier corpse and I'd have graduated you to the deluxe graves. Alas! Your imperfections have earned you a few gravemates that are- ... Hm?" She turned, looked back to who called her, and…
The girl squinted into the sun and brightened at one she saw. "Oh, doll! You've finally come!" She ran towards Antimony and attacked the woman with an intimate hug. Next to her, K’airos was so happy she almost expeled luminosity.
Antimony staggered under the white-clothed woman’s hug, wearing the same, dazed expression she'd had when she first saw K'airos. "My... Aijeen. It's you...?" Her voice shook.
The green-haired girl nodded, squeezing Antimony, "Yes. You're Aijeen. Oh, you've made me so happy!" She kissed Antimonys cheek and nuzzled into the crook of her neck.
Antimony blinked rapidly to try and fend off further tears, though she wasn’t particularly successful. She didn’t object to the girl's affections, and brought her hands up to try and get a better look at her face. "It's you," she breathed shakily. "You and... my baby girls..."
K'airos watched, delighted with the scene. She placed one hand on each one's shoulders. "I told you she'd be happy!"
D’aijeen lifted her face and beamed into Antimony's features. "Oh, doll. Don't call me that in front of Airos! It's embarrassing," she blushed accordingly. And dropped her hands to Antimony's lower back and squeezed. And leaned forward towards her face. "I like the glasses, but I don't know about the hair. Are you trying to look older? It's cute!"
Antimony's ears twitched along with her tail, a look of confusion passing over her features. "Aijeen? What do you mean...?"
K'airos chuckled in nervous confusion. "Why are you calling mom a doll?"
D'aijeen glanced towards Airos, a bit confused. She frowned for a moment, then smirked, "You two are conspiring together. I adore you both! So cute." She leaned forward to kiss the side of Antimony's jaw in a manner most inappropriate.
Antimony startled and half chides, "Aijeen! What are you doing...??" She set shaking hands on her daughter's shoulders, leaning back to look at her face worriedly.
D'aijeen let herself get pushed back, a little hurt. "Uhm. What do you..." She paused, appeared suspicious, and sloooooowly withdrew her hands from the hug. She looked over at K'airos, "This is D'ahl, right?"
Antimony's ears drooped, a sad look crossing her face for a moment. "Aijeen, you... don't recognize me?"
K'airos's intuition kicked in and she grabbed her sister from both shoulders, looking directly at her eyes. "Please do not freak out." She took a deep breath, and then added: "No, this is not D'ahl. This is mom. Our actual mother."
D'aijeen blinked, "Oh," and stepped away from Antimony. She manages a small smile at K'airos. "I won't freak out. It's fine." Antimony watched her youngest daughter silently, bringing her hands together in front of her.
K'airos let her sister go with a large sigh. "Well, I guess this wasn't the big happy family reunion I had hoped...so let's fix that!" And with those words, she lunged forward to hug both of them with a broad smile. "I'm so happy to have both of you!"
D'aijeen went stiff and yelped as she got bodily forced back up against her mother, "Airos! Please! Don't!"
Not resisting the hug – because whyever would she? – Antimony reached for her daughter with one trembling hand, touching the side of her arm. "Aijeen, I... I can't believe you're..."
K'airos kept hugging both of them, placing her head on her mother's shoulder, facing Aijeen. "Please don't ruin the moment!" she said lowly to her sister.
D'aijeen grit her teeth, flushing red in humiliation, "There is no moment! Airos, please, let go! I can't do this!"
Antimony's ears swept back with a brief look of despair, but she reached forward again, past K'airos, to hug her youngest daughter full-on. "I can't believe you're here," she breathed. "Alive. I...â€
K'airos let Aijeen go. She used her best puppy eyes and let her ears drop down to the sides. "Please, please, please, please! Just his once!" she begged, hopping in place.
D'aijeen pushed against her mother, though her motions were exceptionally weak. "No! This is a lie! Let go of me!"
“A lie...? Aijeen, I don't understand.. I--You're here...! Airos is--she's alive...!†Antimony's words broke towards the end as the tears returned, and she clutched at D'aijeen.
“It's not a lie! She's alive and fine! I got hired by her employer to escort her to the Shroud!†K'airos waved the letter she was given back at the office, as if it was some kind of magical proof.
D'aijeen continued to struggle, shouting, "No! Let go of me! K'airos, please, I command you to make this woman release me!†At this, Antimony looked up at D'aijeen's face, confused and emotionally pained.
K'airos automatically stopped waving the letter to grab her mother and pull her away from Aijeen. "Let's...let's give her some space to process this, okay?" she said quite naturally.
“What--no! I'm not... I am not leaving... either of you!†Antimony's hands tightened on D'aijeen.
K'airos surrounded Antimony with her arms and pulled with more strength. "It's okay, mom! We are not leaving! She's just...confused! You know how she is."
Antimony did not willingly release her daughter, but K'airos was considerably stronger than her and so she was, eventually, pulled away. Then she turned to K'airos and wrapped her arms around her instead, burying her face in her older daughter's armored neck.
D'aijeen collapsed to the ground after being released, suddenly appearing very tired. She breathed deeply, clutching at her chest. "Liar. Deceiver!"
K'airos patted Antimony's shoulder slowly and repeatedly. She looked over her to her sister. “Aijeen! What are you talking about?â€
D'aijeen groaned out, "Oh, my beautiful, perfect Airos, you're being deceived." And then she growled at Antimony, "Even D'ahl is a more convincing fake than you are! What is your name?"
“Stop that!†K’airos protested.
Antimony looked up and then half-turned from K'airos to blink in tearful confusion at D'aijeen. "What... what do you mean? I... I'm your mother!" The last sentence was practically begged from her throat.
D'aijeen laboriously rose to her feet, saying in a pleading voice, "Airos, please. You must listen to me, obey me, and reject this woman as your mother. She's lying!"
K'airos's grip on Antimony lessened, and she took a step away. She turned to her, her eyes wet. “She isn't! She smells like her! She sounds like her! It's mom! It's mom!â€
“What--no!†Her legs shook. “No, I'm not--K'piru! I'm K'piru! I... I helped you carve your--your first spearhead, Airos. I--Aijeen, I let you take some of my... herbs when you were young, even when it was against the rules, because I knew--I knew you'd...†Antimony looked desperately towards her younger daughter.
“Stop this at once!†D'aijeen stomped her foot, "Airos, I command you to get away from that woman! Come here that I might protect you!"
K'airos let her mother go completely and went to Aijeen's side without further questioning. She looked deeply troubled, however. When she passed Antimony, the frantic woman reached out, took two steps to follow, and then just tried to grab at her. "No--! Airos, please you--don't leave me!"
D'aijeen intercepted the reaching hand and smacked it away meanly, "Stop! I won't allow you to continue!"
K'airos hopped in place, tapping her hands together with louds clanks. "But I have orders to escort her..."
When D’aijeen intervened, Antimony only redirected her attention to the younger girl, utterly desperate, and made to cling to her. "Please!" She all but sobbed, "Aijeen, it's me... Please, do not leave me again--!"
D'aijeen stiffened under the woman's grip, but served as a well between her mother and her sister. Oh so metaphorical. "I do not know your motivation in this deception, but do not repeat it. Airos is my sun and my fire, the most precious and valuable thing I have ever touched, and I will not let her be further damaged by constructed phantasms like you. If you chose not to relent, you will find nothing but opposition and defeat here."
Antimony shook her head furiously and just cried again, "Please don't leave me! My babies--my... Airos, Aijeen, it's me--please..." She did not relent in her grip on D'aijeen.
K'airos just stood awkwardly with her mouth open, unable to move and her eyes darting around the place.
“You will go and request a different escort. You will not bother us further. You will do this immediately. Understand?†The green-haired woman huffed in frustration.
Antimony did not seem to understand at all, for she only shook her head and repeated a sobbed, "No... don't leave me."
K'airos pulled on her sister's sleeve. "Aijeen, stop." she said weakly.
D'aijeen snapped her gaze to K'airos, "I'm not wrong, Airos. I'm sorry. Please, just... walk away and let me deal with this, precious Airos."
K'airos shook her head. "No, she's...she smells...she sounds...she's...she..." she mumbled, never finishing the idea. She bit her own tongue, literally, trying to say whatever it was.
“Airos, I command you to go to the church and wait for me inside. You know that it is right to trust me with this.â€
K'airos dropped her eyes to the ground and walked away, just as Aijeen told her to.
Antimony half leaned away from D'aijeen, eyes flicking between her and K'airos frantically, utterly torn as to what to do. Suddenly, she ripped herself away and went to reach after K'airos with a pleaded, "No! Airos--not when... not when I've finally got you back!"
D'aijeen grabbed her mother's ear to restrain her, the action callous. She yelped at the sharp pain and desperately tried to extricate herself. "Airos! Please! I promise you--it's me!"
“I'm sorry...I have to wait in the church...†And she continued to walk away, her steps heavy and a bit erratic. Antimony let out a wail and tried again to follow her.
D'aijeen pinched down on Antimony's ear and held her as best she could. She was pretty frail, so it was very possible that Antimony could escape. "Stop it and talk to me!"
Antimony turned to D'aijeen suddenly, heedless of the girl's grip on her ear, and clasped her hands upon her shoulders. "Why must you do this, Aijeen! I don't... I don't understand--you know who I am... please!"
K'airos’s walking speed became unbearably slower as she got further away. She did not stop, though.
D'aijeen let go of Antimony's ear, putting her hands on the woman’s arms, and dropped her voice, "Airos is beautiful, perfect. Immaculate. I worship her. I love her more than my mother ever could have. And Airos loves me. Why would I let you intrude on our life? Even if you were our mother?"
Antimony's expression fell, along with her ears. "I... I love you, Aijeen. Both of you... How could you think that I don't...?" Her voice, quieter suddenly, shook.
“If you loved me you would leave me to my happiness. I saw that advertisement in the Tonberry's Lantern, so tell any other imposters you might have stashed around to stay away too. I'll defend my Airos. She's mine.â€
The older woman’s hands quaked on D'aijeen's shoulders. "I'm not... I'm your mother," she protested weakly. "You're my..."
“Then I'm going to take Airos and leave, and you're never going to find us.â€
Antimony's hands fell away then and her expression grew very distant. "Please, don't... don't leave me again."
D'aijeen dropped her hands and said in a commanding, biting tone, "Let go of me."
Swaying almost imperceptibly, Antimony brought her own hands close to herself. "Aijeen," she managed before her words choked off.
"Thank you. Remember my message for your associates." D'aijeen stepped away from Antimony, pausing to see if the woman was going to pursue her again.
Antimony did not follow. Instead, the strength in her legs gave way and she dropped to her knees in the dry grass. Green eyes watched D'aijeen retreat with a lost look.
Nodding, wavering, D'aijeen said, "I loved my mother, in a way, but she did not love me. She also didn't have glasses and her hair wasn't so gray, so your impersonation needs a great deal of work." With this, she turned on her heal to walk away.
Antimony did not move from where she collapsed in the grass, nor did her eyes leave the spot where D'aijeen had stood.
"Song dogs barking at the break of dawn, lightning pushes the edges of a thunderstorm; and these streets, quiet as a sleeping army, send their battered dreams to heaven."
Hipparion Tribe (Sagolii)Â - Â Antimony Jhanhi's Wiki