Tales of the Ice Harpy from Glacia

Giving the stone a curious look, Rook did as she was bid, picking up the gemstone and examining it. "It is not a Jewel," she said quietly. "But it feels...familiar. Warm. Gentle. More than anything, I sense a deep love and an abiding trust. It makes me happy when I hold it. Maman, what is this?"

From:

Karla's smile was directed towards Raven even as she answered her daughter's question.

"It's a shard of Raven's soul," she replied. "This Raven. All that love and trust and gentleness you feel? Comes from her. That's what Raven means, when she says you have a part of her inside you. Something very much like that stone, made of love and goodness."

From:

"I do not know what has happened to the Raven of your world," Raven said gently, remaining where she was so as to not spook Rook again. "But it feels that creating you within your Maman was not an act of evil. There was some goodness in her, and she gave that part to your Maman to protect and hold safe. She could not stop the dark part of her from doing what she did, but she could do that much."

She hoped they were understanding this correctly. Nothing else made sense.

From:

"That's not what Maman thinks," Rook said stubbornly. "She has never said anything about me having part of Mother within me."

From:

"I'm willing to bet she doesn't know," Karla said thoughtfully. "It's not like evil Raven would have told her. And I'll bet she's never allowed you mother to get close enough to you to see."

She tilted Rook's chin up to look into the girl's eyes. "You're her daughter. She loves you very, very much. She had to fight her own body's instinctive response to your conception to keep you. She'll do anything she can to protect you and keep you safe. I know that for a fact."

From:

"That is likely why I -- why she wants to get you back so desperately," Raven said. To destroy her, she added for Karla alone. Just like she'd told Karla that if she'd turned evil again, she'd want to destroy the Ramat Stones if she'd known about them.

And if Rook were killed, there might be little they could do to stop her evil self.

From:

Karla's arms tightened around her daughter. *Not gonna happen,* she returned flatly. "But your Maman will never her get you," she said aloud. "You're just as much hers are you are your mother's. More, even."

From:

"Perhaps I can stay here then," Rook said. "Far away, somewhere mother can never find me. And maybe then, mother will see Maman does not have me anymore and she will relent and return Step-Father. And perhaps even Heal Maman's legs so she is not so sick anymore! Aunt Jaenelle is trying, but there is not much more she can do."

From:

"I do not think we have a choice in allowing you to stay, Rook," Raven said reluctantly. "Much as we may wish that were so."

She shifted her gaze back to Karla. "Let her take the Ramat Stone with her," she murmured. "I can make you another. And her Karla may understand what it is and use it to stop that Raven." Rather than using Rook. She wasn't sure what that would do to the girl. In fact, maybe Karla did know exactly what she was but couldn't use her for fear of risking her life.

From:

It took Karla a few seconds to respond. It was the same thing Jaenelle Mara had said last year. Something had hurt future-her so badly that it was beyond Jaenelle's powers to fully Heal.

Karla wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know what could be so horrible that Jaenelle couldn't fix it.

"Raven's right," she said absently. "We have no control of when you show up and when you go. It's the island's whims that rule here. Not ours."

She folded Rook's hand over the stone. "You keep this," Karla said quietly. "Take it home and give it to your Maman. I'll...write her a letter and explain. And maybe...maybe she can use it to put everything to rights."

Whatever had happened to Raven. Whatever had happened to Warren. Perhaps, with the two of them working together, whatever had happened to her, too.

From:

"I am sorry," Raven said quietly. For disrupting what should have been one of the happiest days of her life, taking away her ability to have the children she wanted with Warren, hurting Warren to get to her...and not being there to heal whatever injury had taken the use of her legs.

She started to reach out a hand to Rook but pulled it back. "I know you have no reason to trust me, Rook," she said, "but please understand I would never wish to bring harm to your Maman or your step-father. I love your Maman very much."

From:

"It wasn't your fault," Karla said fiercely, leaning in to twine her fingers with Raven's. "Hers, maybe. Not yours. So don't you start feeling guilty about something that's not yours to regret."

And next, Karla was going to try ordering the sun not to shine.

"And I don't believe that's your future. Not at all. And I'll do everything I can to make sure it stays that way."

From:

Rook looked from her Maman to her mother and back. "I wish you were my mother," she said quietly.

From:

Yes, Raven would stop feeling guilty for something she hadn't done and hopefully never would just slightly before, oh, never.

She got to her feet and took a hesitant step toward the bed, holding her arms out to Rook. "As do I, Rook," she said softly.

From:

Rook gave Raven and her open arms a long, assessing look. And just as it seemed like she wouldn't budge, she tentatively slid from her Maman's arms into her mother's.

The hug was brief, Rook giving her a single squeeze before darting away, in case Raven tried something funny. But her eyes weren't so hostile as she settled back onto the bed.

From:

Raven swiped her hand across her eyes as she drew back from the hug. "I cannot undo what has been done, but we will try to make things better for you in your world, I promise," she said.

She just hoped it was enough.

From:

They would make it enough.

"We'll make it work," Karla said, holding onto Rook as she reached for Raven's hand. "Somehow."

From:

"We will." Raven squeezed Karla's hand.

And it will not happen here, I swear it, she added for Karla alone.

From:

*You make it sound like I have any doubt,* Karla sent back, along with a wave of trust and faith. *I know it won't.*

From:

Does Warren know about all this? Raven had to know. Things were already awkward enough between them; this would just make things near impossible.

From: