Claymore and Dagger (closed)

[KieranSoares]

"Thank you, amore," Alex murmured, kissing Viola's forehead. He'd always been particularly loving to his little sisters. He set the bowl on the end table beside him while he put his book away. "Go tell Da too. He'll work straight through a meal if we let him, just like Mama."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Franny went to go get him a few moments ago." Viola said as her brother reminded her to get their father. "He went into the woods to look for some moss."

Fiona watched the interaction between the two siblings. It was obvious that Alex was not related to Viola by blood, but the bond that he had with his little sister was very apparent. She smiled as the little girl doted on her brother.

"I made apple pie for dessert too." She said brightly with a smile. "Mama had to hide it from Ru. He was trying to get his hands on it while it was cooling."

"Now that sounds delicious." Fiona said and the girl glanced towards her in surprise.

"I can make you an egg and then get you a piece of pie." Viola offered and Fiona agreed, laughing softly as she hurried off.

"You have were blood in you, don't you?" Fiona murmured softly as she glanced at Alex. "I can always tell someone who is like me."

 

[KieranSoares]

Alex glanced up, his gold-flecked green eyes meeting her own cub-blue. His must've been flecked blue at one point until he matured and the blue turned amber like a wolf. "Yes," he murmured. "But I don't know who my father was and I don't know my real mother's heritage. All I know is that I'm half Wolf, and my mother was Golin, sister tribe to the Gol Dun."

 

[heartofcourage]

"I'm the only one in my family who was born human." Fiona murmured softly. "My father was a red fox and my mother a white fox. She was born and raised in Scandinavia but I was born in Scotland. My father was never comfortable having a daughter that was human. He never let me do things that a normal cub did, so the tribes have never been of any help."

 

[KieranSoares]

"That certainly explains some things about you then," Alex commented quietly.

He settled back into his seat and reclined comfortably. "But from what I've heard, you're quite an honorable thief."

 

[heartofcourage]

"If there is such a thing as an honorable thief." Fiona said softly. "After my grandfather died, I had no one. My father is dead. My mother drank herself to death when I was a child. The tribes could only offer me a place in an orphanage and I thought that there were other children that needed that spot more than I did."

"I tried to only take things that no one would miss or would be thrown away anyway." She explained, knowing that it was a weak excuse. "I thought about going to Scandinavia to find my mother's family, but the only time I ever saw my grandfather Oleg, he was so angry at my mother that he told her that he would never claim her or her children as his family again."

 

[KieranSoares]

"That might not actually be true, if he realizes you're not like his daughter," Alex offered. "You should try to contact them again. If not your grandfather, then someone will be happy to offer you a good home. An aunt or an uncle, a cousin... But of course, you'll need to see to these troubles here first, considering the Scandinavian countries are allied to Inverness and you'd be wanted there too. But I'm sure if you just talk to Sam..."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Sam simply wants to see me behind bars for murder." Fiona said as she thought about the man that had chased her relentlessly. "His brother might release me, but I did kill someone. I have to answer to that at some point."

She thought about leaving everything behind and going to Scandinavia. It would be fairly easy to find her mother's family, but she had no idea if they even wanted to see her.

"I can't just leave Inverness. I have a boy that depends on me." She said softly, looking towards Alex. "He's half grown, but I'm all that he has."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Then you should sort these things out so you can help him properly," Alex reasoned. "Sam might arrest you, but I don't think Rho or Brogan would do any worse than give you a short sentence. But from the sounds of things... Sam is fairly distracted by these strange happenings."

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona nodded as Viola came back into the room with a scrambled egg, a piece of hard cheese, and a slice of apple pie. The young girl looked so proud of her accomplishment as she handed it to Fiona.

"Thank you. Now, I will tell you that I might not be able to eat all of this, but I don't want you to think that I don't like it because of that." Fiona murmured softly as Viola glanced towards Alex as if she had heard that before.

"It's alright. I know that when someone is sick they can't eat as much." She said with a soft smile before she turned to leave the room.

"She's smart." Fiona said as she tried the eggs with a sigh. "And she cooks like an angel."

 

[KieranSoares]

"She's always been a good girl," Alex agreed softly. "And she does her best to be grown up and help all of us. She's almost completely taken over cooking except for the big things. Those are still Da's territory."

Alex studied Fiona for a long moment before going to tend the fire. On his way, he asked, "Who's the boy you look after?"

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona took a bite of the apple pie and hummed in pleasure. If she could cook half that well, she would never have had trouble finding a job. Glancing towards Alex as he went to tend the fire, she thought about Will for a moment. She wondered if he were going with the rest of the rangers to take care of the campground that they had found in the woods.

"His name is Will. I found him in the woods when he was a little boy. He was starving and crying for his father. I have no idea what happened to him but he had been abandoned." Fiona said softly. "He's been with me ever since...almost ten years now. He's not like most boys his age. There's something fragile about him. I've worried about him since I've been gone, but he seems to be doing well."

 

[KieranSoares]

"I'm sure he's completely heartbroken about what's happened to you, even if he's faring well now," Alex sighed. "It's not right for anyone to have to go it alone. Not you, not him, not anyone." Alex had known a deep loneliness in his young life, even if his adopted parents had loved him unconditionally. It had taken far too long for the little boy back then to be able to let his birth mother go, and to stop worrying about losing his new parents to illness too.

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona knew by the tone of Alex's voice that he understood that pain. She wondered what had happened to him in his early life. It seemed that Valentina and her husband loved Alex deeply and cared for him like he were their biological child, but the pain of being left behind was a pain that never truly went away.

"He's never known the pain of a beating." She murmured softly. "I took all of that pain on myself. I told him that what we do is honorable, even though it wasn't. I wanted him to have pride in himself and what he was doing. Now that he's in training to be a ranger, I'm very proud of him."

When she had eaten her fill, she handed her plate back to Alex and settled back in the nest of pillows with a sigh. "Can I sleep now?" She asked him softly, her eyes tired as her face started to bruise and grow sore.

 

[KieranSoares]

"Not yet. If you can keep that meal down for an hour, then I'll think about it. No nausea, dizziness, trouble catching your breath?" He asked, slipping easily from casual conversation into his profession. He propped her up just a little more with some extra pillows, and he took a seat beside her to get a good look at her eyes to make sure they were still clear and bright, then he did another examination of her shoulder and head to make sure they hadn't missed anything.

 

[heartofcourage]

"No. None of that." Fiona murmured as Alex examined her again to make sure that he hadn't missed anything the first time. "My stomach is upset, but not to the point of nausea."

She was disappointed that she couldn't sleep just yet. She was exhausted from being alert for so long. It was a danger to those that lived in the woods, trying to survive by any way that they could. They were always alert and waiting for those that might come hunting them down.

 

[KieranSoares]

Eventually Alex let Fiona sleep, waking her every couple of hours so he could be sure she was holding up well. She ended up staying overnight, and the next day before noon, Sam returned. He'd come the day before while Fiona was asleep, but he didn't bother her.

As he walked in that morning, Alex was cooking with his sister while the rest of the family and Fiona gathered for lunch. "Sam," Theo looked up with a smile. "Join us, lad."

"I suppose I could," Sam murmured, pulling up an extra chair. He looked to Fiona, considering whether he should really talk to her considering the predicament they were both in when he let her go again. "Feeling better?" He finally asked quietly, hiding any guilt he felt.

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona was enjoying her time with the Irons family despite that reason that she was there. Her face had bruised as was expected, but she was feeling fine otherwise. The soreness would go away with time and she was looking forward to getting to see Will when she was able to leave.

She glanced up as Sam entered, his uncle inviting him to stay for the meal that Viola and Alex was preparing. He pulled up a chair and asked her how she was feeling.

"Like my face fought the ground and it lost." Fiona said softly, glancing towards Ruari as he laughed as if that was the funniest thing he had ever heard.

 

[KieranSoares]

Sam glanced to his cousin and ruffled his hair fondly. "An' how about you? Stayin' out o' trouble?"

"Hardly," Theo chuckled, leaning back in his chair comfortably. Fiona was getting yet another glance at a side of Sam that the public just didn't see. He clearly adored his family like nothing else, and Fiona even saw him smile- however small that smile was- at Ruari and the girls.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Yes. I already did my lessons for the day, so Mama is going to take me to see Papa. I get to do my herb test today!" Ruari announced, drawing a fond smile from Valentina.

"He thinks he knows all the herbs in the garden, so I told him he could take the test with his grandfather." Valentina murmured as Viola started to place bowls of food on the table.

"And I get to go to Edinburgh with Kate and Kell." Francesca said with a smile on her own face. "Da told me."

Franny was a beauty like her sister and ready to start on her own path in life. She was old enough to learn how to serve at court and it seemed as if that is what she wanted to do.

 

[KieranSoares]

"You'll 'ave t'look after Grandpa an' Heather while yer there, then. Managed t'talk Ma out o' sendin' Heather t'Darkwood an' leavin' 'im." As everything was served, Sam relaxed into his usual calm and somewhat quiet ways around his family.

 

[heartofcourage]

"What did you make today?" Fiona asked as Viola placed the last piece on the table and took her seat.

"Alex cooked the pork for me." She said as she glanced towards Alex with a smile. "And I cooked the pasta with spinach, cheese, and some spiced apples."

"I think that you might have a future as a cook." Fiona murmured with a smile as Viola ducked her head and blushed.

 

[KieranSoares]

"Ria's already tried t'steal 'er t'cook fer the tavern," Theo said to Fiona with a smile. "But she's a li'l young yet t'be workin' there. But she's always helpin' Aleister come up with new recipes an' she's gotten a lot of attention from some werefolk in th'Erygonian village who want t'set up a sort of restaurant there."

 

[heartofcourage]

"An honest job is always nice to have. It sounds like when the time comes, you'll have lots of opportunity." Fiona said as Viola murmured a thank you and Theo served the meal.

Ruari was impatient to eat and Valentina had to reign him in now that he had an exciting task. He was much like his parents in a way, focused on a task at hand with an almost single minded focus. It was one of his flaws that his family constantly worked on.

Fiona ate her meal slowly, not really hungry with Sam there. She knew that he might arrest her as soon as they were finished or she might have to go back out into the wilderness again. She wasn't really sure that she was up to that at the moment.

 

[KieranSoares]

Sam had barely finished his plate when a knock sounded on the door. "Probably for me," he murmured, rising to go answer. Sure enough, it was Ciaran come to report some evidence he'd found relating to the camp murder scene. The two spoke for a moment before Ciaran noticed Fiona over Sam's shoulder.

"Sam... What's going on?" His older brother asked quietly.

"Making up for some trouble I caused," Sam told him simply.

"I'm assuming no one is supposed to know she's here," Ciaran sighed. "I don't understand you, little brother, but I won't push." Ciaran then looked to Fiona, giving her a smile. "Miss Blackstone, you'll be glad to hear Will is quickly becoming the best of the new recruits." Of course Ciaran knew about their connection. He made it his business to background check his recruits and get to know them personally.