The North (Closed)

[heartofcourage]

"I don't know." Shani said as Sam came to Kell's side, checking on Shani and Brogan. "He wasn't there when I turned back for him. He would have killed me if I went looking for him though."

She glanced towards Kell and the worry was clear in her eyes. "I know he was hurt."

 

[KieranSoares]

"If he was hurt badly enough to have trouble moving, he would've hidden somewhere... Or he took a different route to draw attention away from you. He could still be hiding, or he was caught." Kell glanced back toward the manor, then signaled several of his agents in. "As soon as each area is secured, search it thoroughly for prisoners and any hidden traps. I don't trust that they won't leave something behind to catch us off-guard."

The agents scattered and Kell drew Shani against his side, offering a bit of comfort despite the serious situation. "We'll find him, love."

It only took twenty minutes for the entire battalion to enter the grounds and lock down the manor, putting out any fires around the gate. The Axemen managed to tear through the defenders without too much damage to the house. Soon all of the captured and surrendered soldiers were brought out to the center of the courtyard with their hands chained or tied. Sam approached the front of the manor with the rest of the family present, Ashleigh and Burke close beside. Before Sam could speak up, several groups of Axemen and agents came out with makeshift stretchers or carrying the dead and wounded. Among the last few were a pair supporting Qira between them. He seemed hazy and his right leg wasn't working well. The bolt that had landed in his side wasn't the culprit, but instead a deep, long gouge in his thigh that had been hastily wrapped in a shredded curtain to staunch the bleeding. Someone had caught him inside while trying to reach the balcony and get at Shani.

Kell burst into a sprint the moment he saw Qira wasn't quite acting right. "Qira?" He asked, stopping the agents so he could take a look at the Panther. Taking the man's head in his hands, Kell studied him carefully for a moment. "Qira, do you know where you are?" The Panther could only stare at Kell as if drunk or about to nod off, hardly able to hold his head up. "Get Luna up here!" Kell suddenly shouted behind him. "Send word to Rissa!"

Qira was moved into a ground floor room inside the manor as it was quickly turned into a temporary hospital for the wounded, and the main ballroom was locked down to contain prisoners until reinforcements arrived. Even if they'd taken the manor quickly and with relative ease, Sam was determined not to be complacent. He ordered defenders to dig in just in case London sent soldiers to retake Darkwood, and he made sure Burke and Ashleigh were carefully defended as the entire manor was secured and deemed safe.

 

[heartofcourage]

The moment that Shani saw her father, she broke from the safety of Kell's agents and ran to his side. Had she messed up so badly that she had cost him his life? She took his hand in her own and moved with the healers, unwilling to leave his side even for a moment.

"Da?" She murmured softly, her amber eyes searching his as her turned his head towards hers. "Da, I'm so sorry."

Shani leaned in and nuzzled against him as healers got to work, a messenger riding fast for the encampment to find Rissa to deliver the news of Qira's wounds.

Fiona watched over the scenes below, Riley by her side as the Northern Army secured Darkwood Manor for the first time in decades. She blew into her whistle to signal down a rider, ordering the greenhorn to fly for Schaller. The elder dragon could provide protection for them all in ways that the troops on foot couldn't. Fiona placed her hands on her hips and let out a long sigh as she watched the elder Ghis brothers escorting Ashleigh and Burke towards the manor doors.

"Go help your Uncle Boar, love." Fiona said to Riley, Riley nodding and hurrying to help Boar dismount and get steady on his feet.

"Come on, old man." Riley groaned, supporting Boar as the stubborn Scot refused any manner of walking aid just to spite his ruined knees.

Ashleigh held onto Burke's arm, almost afraid to enter the manor house. It had been so long since she had last been there and never once without her father. Everyone from that time save her siblings, Kiva, and her mother were gone. Van was gone. Ballas was gone. She was scared that nothing was going to be the same.

 

[KieranSoares]

Qira's hazy eyes turned toward Shani as she nuzzled against him, unable to speak but present enough to press his forehead to hers as a silent reassurance. Kell was close beside, still keeping control of the situation and his agents, but unable to make himself leave Qira's side. Bo was there too, silently taking up the mantle of protector and watcher so Shani could focus on her father.


Beside Ashleigh, Burke took a deep breath as they faced the damaged double doors at the front of the manor. Looking down to his sister, he murmured, "It's going to be grim inside after that fight... are you sure you don't want to go in before things are cleaned up?" They had both seen death before, but Burke was still protective of his siblings. He didn't want his sister to face the sight of so much blood and over a score of bodies if she wasn't prepared.

 

[heartofcourage]

"It's nothing I haven't seen before, Burke." Ashleigh said softly, glancing up at her brother. "It's not why I hesitate."

She sighed deeply and shook her head, still clenching his hand as she pushed open the doors and took her first look inside. It was just as she remembered and in all the years that she had been gone, her dreams hadn't done it justice. Even with a war having been waged and carnage still around them, this was their home. She couldn't help it as she kept glancing towards the staircase, expecting her father to come down at any moment. Any way that he came, she would have taken him, even if it was him in the last moments of his life. She just needed him there. There was so much that he had missed.

She turned back to look at her uncles, knowing that the moment was probably just as difficult for them as well. "This place was his masterpiece and it's ours again."

 

[KieranSoares]

Brogan, Boar, and Durban were close behind the pair, each stepping into the main hall and looking across the now-older but still well-kept interior. It seemed that Ashien's incredible work had been preserved by those who took over the manor, knowing they would never find anything like it again and anyone capable of similar work was from the North. Many of John Davies' finest pieces were still there too. And while most of the paintings had been replaced with German and Austrian work, there were still a few around from Ashien and Dylandra's own hands, mostly landscapes and less personal work.

Each of the Ghis brothers had tears in their eyes as they took a moment to look over what their little brother had left behind. Boar had tears streaming down his face despite his attempts to stay serious and calm. Durban took a deep breath and whispered to himself, "We made it, little sparrow..."

"Let's see what's left of the studio," Burke murmured, looking up the stairs. "It'll be the first thing Ma will want to see too, when it's safe for her to come home." He paused at that, and repeated quietly, "Home... finally."

"Go ahead, kids. Everythin's been searched an' secured. Wander all ya like," Brogan encouraged them gently as he wrapped an arm about Boar's shoulders. The broad, powerful Boar nearly crumbled, Brogan sitting him down on the stairway as Boar buried his face in his hands and silently wept over twenty years of loss and tension finally coming to a bittersweet release. Even if Boar tried to pretend to be the toughest, he had that soft heart that Kitty had instilled in all of her children, and having his brothers there with him made him feel safe enough to fall apart over the memory of his lost little brother.

 

[heartofcourage]

It was wearing on into the afternoon when brother and sister had finally made sense of everything that was still left behind in Darkwood Manor. The artist's studio was practically untouched with canvases stowed away and waiting for their owners to return. Ashleigh could instantly tell her father's unfinished works from her mother's. Dylandra had hardly painted in all of the time that Ashien had been gone, only picking up her brush to do portraits of her grandchildren and to carry on the tradition of the kipper egg for each of her daughters as they married. It hurt too much to continue she had told them. Her heart had gone with their Da. They had found the hallway with the portraits of each Ghis sibling and spouse in their younger years, of Kitty and Vincenzo, of Ballas and Asha. They had even found Kiva and Van, everyone still accounted for as if someone in the manor was superstitious about ridding themselves of the Ghis entirely.

"Edward and I will have to stay in London." Ashleigh said softly as Burke continued to sort through personal possessions. "He wants to fortify the Thames and ensure that we are never driven out again. His grandfather doesn't really see eye to eye with him on the matter, but he's already drawn up plans for lodgings and towers and... I guess what I mean to say is that perhaps you and Mummy can watch the children here for me. Growing up here was magical and all I ever want for them is to have a normal space to be children. Not princes and princesses."

 

[KieranSoares]

Knelt before a stack of carefully-covered paintings, Burke was gently moving them aside so Dylandra could sort through them when she came home. He knew some of them were more personal and he didn't want to intrude on his parents' shared private collection. But those that had been displayed in the halls before were being taken out to be cleaned and reframed and hung up again. Burke wanted to put as many as possible back into their original locations for his family's sake.

Glancing over to Ashleigh, Burke nodded slowly. "We'll look after them as long as you need, and you know your entire branch of the family can come and go freely. Darkwood is Ma's again, and I know she'd leave the gates open to you all for the rest of her life, and I'll do the same for the rest of mine when it falls to me."

Burke paused as he withdrew a tall portrait, the painting pristine but the frame badly damaged likely from a fall. He choked up immediately and let it rest against the wall. "I found it..." he whispered through tears. Of all the possessions they'd left behind, they'd all regretted the loss of their family portraits and those of Ashien. Dylandra had tried a few times to paint him from memory, but it had been too painful to even sketch him. All they'd had for twenty years were old sketches in Dylandra's and Vincenzo's journals. Burke had just found the painting that Ashien and Dylandra had loved most, one that Dylandra had made for him after their fifth anniversary. It was a rather personal piece with Ashien facing forward, his face partially hidden in Dylandra's golden hair as he held her. He was dressed in his black cavalry uniform trimmed with English red and gold accents, and she was in a gorgeous gold and crimson gown to match.

It was similar to many beautiful matching outfits they'd worn to galas and celebrations in Darkwood and at the English palace, and so painfully familiar to their children who'd often had fine outfits of their own. While he'd always taught his children the importance of charity, kindness, and gentleness, Ashien had always doted on his family and made sure they made good impressions in public. It was all his way of securing good connections and opportunities for them as they grew. And now, even twenty years after he was gone, those connections he'd forged for them were keeping them safe and helping them find friends everywhere.

 

[heartofcourage]

Ashleigh stood from her spot by the large windows as Burke propped the lost portrait of their father against the wall, the sight of him making her weak at the knees. He had been so proud of his English positions and all that he had accomplished in his adopted homeland. She wrapped her arm around Burke's waist and leaned into his side, her had resting against his shoulder as she cried with him.

"This one hung in the ballroom." She murmured as she remembered all of the glittering parties that their parents had held there, each of them dressed to match whatever whim Ashien had felt that evening.

She remembered when they knew he was dying she had spent so much time with him just talking about the past. She wanted to take his mind off the horrible things that had happened to bring him to his final moments. When it was just the two of them late one evening, she had confessed to him that she would marry Edward Beauclerc. Ashien had smile and laughed softly, holding her hand tightly in his own and making her promise that she would wear gold and red just like her mother. Of course, she couldn't afford it and neither could Edward. With Ashien labeled a traitor and Edward in exile, both families were dependent on the kindness of strangers. She had promised him, though, and after the sadness of funerals and moving Dylandra to the Rus, her Aunt Kayla had surprised her with a simple gold and red dress to keep one final promise to her father.

"When I'm crowned next to Edward, I'm going to wear that damned dress and I'm going to decorate my palace with my father's paintings and the rest of this country can fuck off." Ashleigh said with a bit of passion in her voice. "They'll see that my father was not a coward or a traitor. I've spent too long grieving and caring what those nobodies without land and title think."

 

[KieranSoares]

"England needs to be rebuilt from the ground up... Edward won't let the real traitors and cowards back into their positions if he can help it. He's learned these past twenty years who his real allies are." Burke rested his head against hers. "And he'll have the entire North at his back to make sure things are built better."

Looking down at the floor, Burke reached down to run his fingers over an old paint stain in the wood. Ashien and Dylandra had always been messy artists, not letting anything distract them from enjoying their shared passion. "I hope Ma can find her passion for painting again here... That maybe she'll feel close enough to Da again to let her heart come back to life a bit." Even if Dylandra had been the most loving, dutiful mother, Burke knew she'd lost a piece of herself with Darkwood, and again with Ashien, Ballas, and then Van whom she'd known all her life. Burke could only hope getting one big piece back and being able to take the remains of the fallen home would help her rediscover a little passion for life.

A gentle knock sounded on the doorframe and Burke looked up to see their uncle Brogan there. The old man was still in partial armor, but had clearly taken some time to rest with his brothers. "Hey, kids," Brogan murmured softly, his eyes a bit shadowed from a long, emotional afternoon. Still, he smiled gently. "Marri arrived a bit ago an' took over the kitchen once we got things cleaned up. Set 'erself t'cooking fer all us sad saps while we... y'know, pull ourselves together. Food's ready downstairs whenever you like. And some folks were kind enough t'start clearin' out bedrooms an' such, so you two can have yer old rooms if y'like." Leaving them to their business, he stepped away to head back downstairs.

In the makeshift infirmary spread across the east wing of the bottom floor, those worst wounded were being tended. Those still able to move around and take care of themselves had been given tents closest to the manor as the battalion pitched camp for the night inside the grounds. Outside the estate, the rest of one of the Northern Armies was arriving and pitching camp as well. With Darkwood secure, they could start preparing for a march on London. Soma and his staff and much of the family had arrived, save for those who'd stayed back home til things were safe enough to move. And while things were being re-barricaded and cleaned up to make Darkwood a temporary base of operations, Rissa and Kate arrived with Kell's agents.

Luna and Jan had seen to Qira as quickly as possible. But instead of poison like Kell had thought, they had come to the conclusion that Qira had been drugged in an attempt to capture him alive. They'd found that several of the former occupying lord's bodyguards had had a strange powder on hand or on their weapons, and Luna had confirmed that they were using them to capture spies. It even explained what had happened to some of Kell's missing agents in previous weeks, whom they found alive in an outbuilding on the property.

Qira was just beginning to come to as Rissa arrived, still hazy but becoming aware of his surroundings. Bo hadn't left Shani's side, and while Kell was busy, he still found time to check on them all every hour. When Rissa stepped in, she found her husband confined to a cot with bandages plastered over his side and thigh, and a healer checking him over and asking him simple questions to gauge how alert he was. Shani and Bo were close beside, the Wolf's arms securely wrapped around Shani. Despite what had occurred that day, he'd kept his own issues and anxiety silent to support her and look after Qira.

 

[heartofcourage]

Shani had been silent in her worry as she watched over her father. All of her little wounds, the cuts from glass and the sore bruises seemed like nothing compared to what he had been through. He wouldn't have been there at all if she had been able to get out on her own and in that way she felt as if she had failed. She was aware that Brogan was there, his arm wrapped around her to support her, but she had no focus for anything but her father.

When Rissa arrived, Shani was up in an instant, wrapping her arms around her mother tightly. "Ma." She said softly as she buried her face against her mother's side. "I'm so sorry, Ma."

"Shani." Rissa said as she held her daughter, looking down at the young woman as she shook. "There's nothing to be sorry for, cub. Your Da has been through much worse."

She gently raised Shani's gaze towards her own and gave her daughter a soft smile, kissing her cheek. "Calm yourself. Everything is fine."

 

[KieranSoares]

"She made sure Bo completed the mission," Kell spoke up gently as he stepped in beside Rissa, hands clasped behind his back. "But as per how we've always functioned, Qira wasn't going to let her be trapped without a partner. So he stepped into Bo's place and made sure she got out."

Brogan stood, but kept back, looking past Rissa as if expecting someone to come along with her. Kell offered an understanding smile. "She's in the main hall, cub."

Brogan nodded. He didn't interfere with Shani's moment with her mother, but touched her arm as he passed. He needed his mother too, so he jogged back out into the hall to find her. Kell sighed quietly as the medic left as well. Only once it was just family in Qira's room, did Kell step up to Qira and lean down to kiss his forehead. Qira lifted an arm slowly, draping it over Kell's back. Kell held him for a long moment, knowing Rissa and Shani would understand. Even if Shani had never witnessed such a tender moment between the two men in person, she knew their bond was incredibly deep. It wasn't just the romantic love shared between the two couples. It was also a bond of absolute trust forged over their lifelong work and shared past, and an understanding that either man would give his all for the other and their family.

"I think my cub is going to need both of his parents after what he's been through today," Kell murmured as he rose, looking back to Rissa and Shani. "I think I'll hand command to one of my senior officers for the evening... I hate to admit it, but I think we all need a moment." He looked back to Qira for a moment and smoothed a hand over his cheek before leaving the room and letting the three have a moment as a family. Qira managed to slowly push himself up and lean against the headboard, blinking against dizziness but trying to pull himself together for his wife and cub as he offered a hand out toward them. "Shani..." he muttered, slightly slurred but as clear as he could manage.

 

[heartofcourage]

Shani made her way to her father and wrapped him up in the tightest hug that she could give him. She felt him relax underneath her and she did the same, letting herself off her guard for the first time all day. Rissa stood back and let the two of them connect, knowing that they had both shared a traumatic experience earlier. She had long accepted that Qira's employment was dangerous and now that Shani was involved, the young woman would have to learn the same.

"If you hadn't come..." Shani murmured in Qira's native tongue, shuddering to think that she might have died that morning. "I made some terrible choices, I know. I'll never make them again."

 

[KieranSoares]

"You... did your... best," Qira struggled to speak. He couldn't properly express what he wanted to say yet, so he only hugged her tighter. There would be training to revisit, situations to go over, muscle memory to build, but all that mattered to him at the moment was that she was alive.

Looking over Shani's shoulder, Qira's golden eyes softened at the sight of Rissa, silently showing his relief that everything had worked out on Shani's first real mission. He knew he'd get a talking-to about being too reckless or letting Shani take such a mission too early, but he knew his daughter would learn well from every mistake. And even if some things had gone wrong, she'd gotten the job done and made sure Brogan made it out alive too.

"Love," he murmured, offering a hand out toward his wife after a long moment.

 

[heartofcourage]

Rissa watched the two of them and she gave Qira a warm smile as he turned his gaze towards her. Their daughter was their world, even if she had been the greatest of surprises. However, when Qira looked at her, she could still see all of that warmth and depth that he had always had even from the first moment that he had laid eyes on her. Rissa stepped forward and took his hand, cupping it gently between her own and leaning down to kiss him gently.

"Rest, my love." She said softly as she took a seat next to his bed. "We'll stay with you."

Shani rested her head against Qira's shoulder, intent to stay the entire night just like that. Her youth showed through in the way that she clung to her father, needing him now to reassure her that all the mistakes that had been made could be fixed.

As evening started to settle over the manor, things seemed calm. Fiona had taken first watch on the parapets, forgoing dinner with the family to greet Schaller when he arrived. She leaned against the stone walls and watched him in the distance, playing with something like a great white cat. Her focus was only broken when a mug of tea was offered and she glanced towards Sam with a smile of thanks, her hands warming on the exterior of the mug as her husband joined her.

"The lord was less than willing to cooperate with Kell's agents, so Schaller was given a chance to interrogate." She said, nodding towards the great dragon batting around the helpless man, pausing to threaten and growl at him before beginning again.

 

[KieranSoares]

"No doubt Soma'll head out there t'see what he's learned after everything inside settles," Sam murmured, watching Schaller stalk after the man. It was perhaps cruel to terrorize the fallen lord, but it was necessary to make him give away anything the North could use against Amadeus Hess. Even if Hess was outmatched ten to one, Soma and Sam were being cautious in hopes of staving off as much death and destruction as possible. They wanted London whole, not razed and sacked.

Sam sighed, leaning on the parapet and looking back toward the manor. "I can't imagine what Dylandra's gonna feel when the messengers get to her with news that Darkwood is hers again. Hopefully we'll have London secured an' most of England and Wales by the time she arrives." Glancing northward, he added quietly, "It's hard t'be as excited as some o' the others. I'm worried what Royer'll throw at us. Hess is apparently small fry compared to him."

 

[heartofcourage]

"It's alright to be tempered right now, love. This is just one stop for us." Fiona said as she leaned beside him, sipping on her cooling tea. "We have dreamed so long of Inverness that it still seems impossible that we are just miles away. I prefer to think that we are still dreaming until we step foot inside the keep."

She looked up at her husband and leaned her head against his shoulder. "If you want to be excited, though, I won't stop you."

 

[KieranSoares]

"I'm not so sure 'excited' is th'right word in my case. It's bittersweet, y'know? Seein' our family start t'get some justice, also remembering th'things we can't ever have back." Sam sighed and laid his head against hers. "I miss my uncle more'n ever before... Naiya, Cole, Gabriel... Bein' near where they fell, takin' back the English Channel where they gave their lives... It's hard t'explain. It's like weight's comin' off my shoulders, but it leaves me feeling... I don' know... empty." It was moments like this that showed how far Sam had come emotionally. Twenty years prior, he wouldn't have spoken aloud of such complex emotions, for fear of looking weak or worrying those around him.

Hugging Fiona a little closer, Sam muttered, "I'm glad you came with Ashleigh. I was too stubborn to admit it, but I was worried I'd fall apart once Darkwood was ours again."

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona leaned into him as he held her tightly, knowing that he needed comfort. She let out a soft sigh as he opened up to his reasons for needing her there with him even though she had initially been left behind.

"Sam, I asked the impossible of you twice in our lives. I asked you to keep going in this crazy task when all you wanted to do was work in your forge and lead a simple life. If you fell apart, I could never blame you." Fiona said softly, looking up into his green eyes. "In fact, I owe you everything."

 

[KieranSoares]

"You've met me more'n halfway on a lot o' things these past two decades," Sam murmured. "You pulled me back t'my feet so many times... The least I can do is give my all, love. Because when my all wasn't enough before, you dragged me th'rest of the way." Sam buried his face in her platinum hair and hugged her close. "You asked me to help you get home. That's not impossible anymore."

 

[heartofcourage]

"You romantic sap." Fiona muttered as he buried his face in her hair and hugged her tight, her eyes closing as she let him soothe himself however he needed in the moment.

It was quiet until the rumbling of the ground around them signaled Schaller's return and she glanced up to see her dragon settling before them like a great cat. She gave him a chuckle, her arm still around Sam's waist as the elder dragon seemed very pleased with himself.

"Did Kell's men take the lord off your hands finally?" Fiona asked.

 

[KieranSoares]

"What was left of him," Schaller rumbled, examining his freshly-cleaned claws. "Alive, but he isn't going to be doing much for a long while. I'm of the mind he should dump the bastard on Hess's doorstep as a warning."

"What did you learn?" Sam asked, reaching out a hand to pat Schaller's maw as the great dragon lightly rested his head on the wall before them.

"He mostly spoke to Kell after he had enough of me. But I heard enough to know Hess isn't ready for us at all, and Royer has withdrawn all aid to defend his own borders. I daresay it sounds like Hess is staring defeat in the face thanks to his and his lords' greed. Now that it's come time to defend themselves, they're regretting all the taxes and tariffs they wasted on luxuries over preparedness."

"I know.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Sounds like the normal rot from the over pompous lords." Fiona muttered as she moved from Sam's side and pulled off her cloak, soaking a corner of it in a puddle and moving back to Schaller.

She cleaned up his maw as she did with her children when they were younger. He grumbled and growled just as her children had done as well and she hushed him, unafraid of the elder dragon as she grabbed his maw in her hand and worked to clean up some of the blood that had been left behind by the hapless lord.

 

[KieranSoares]

"I'm over a millennium your senior, little Fox," Schaller grumbled. "I don't need cleaning up like a toddler."

"She does it t'me too," Sam chuckled, feeling a little better seeing such a moment between his wife and her other greatest love. "If my beard gets too scruffy, she'll take shears to it without a word."

"Hmph," Schaller huffed, but held still. He pretended to begrudgingly allow it, but his connection with Fiona was so strong that she always knew it was an act he upheld for pride's sake. Once Fiona was finished, Schaller laid his head back on the walltop beside her. "I hate to break the peace, Samuel, but-"

"But what's the plan for London?" Sam finished his question, earning a small nod from the great dragon. "I don' know," Sam admitted with a shrug. "After th'success with the invasion an' Ashford... I handed Soma everything Kell an' I have about Hess an' the city an' his military. Soma'll tell me what to do."

Schaller stared at Sam for a long moment as if in disbelief. Then he cracked a small smile. "Well, well... the man who could never stand not to be in control, and was always prepared for anything, handing off control to his son."

"He's a better tactician, better communicator, an' he hasn't failed t'solve a problem yet when given th'right resources an' time. He isn't Commander- that's my mantle to bear because I wouldn't wish it on anyone. But I no longer consider him my right hand. He's no underling. Instead, I'm his. Even if I'm his commanding officer, I consider Soma t'be of equal 'r greater importance t'this cause. On even footing with his mother an' aunt."

"High praise, young man."

Sam looked to Fiona and offered a slightly melancholy smile. "Won't be too long before he's a proper Prince with Inverness t'back him too. Then King someday. I'll jus' be th'old blacksmith he visits now an' then in a couple decades. An' I'm pretty content with tha'. I jus' wish he hadn't grown up so fast."

 

[heartofcourage]

“I’m sure he’ll fail along the way. We all have.” Fiona said as she wrung out the corner of her cloak, glancing up at Sam and then at Schaller. “And I’m sure that Soma will take it harder than most. We just have to support him when it happens. The first one stings the greatest.”

She threw her cloak back over her shoulders and clipped her pin back through the fabric, leaning against the wall with her arms cross over her chest. “Some never wanted to be a child. I guess I’m to blame for that. He wanted to protect me and make my hurt better.”