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It was ridiculous to be scared of a piece of paper. It couldn’t hurt her. It was just words, the words of long buried people that had been dead to her even longer.
Maybe she should just burn it. Logically, she knew nothing they had to say to her would be good. That they would have remained bitter and cold to the very end. But a small, childish part of her hoped they had seen a new light in their last moments.
Dear Gale, the letter started, and she almost screamed.
Why had Fwhip given this to her? It was still sealed, he hadn’t read it, but he would have had to know it wasn’t good. Maybe this was a sick kind of revenge for leaving him to deal with them alone.
But curiosity had always been her biggest flaw.
“Gem’s late,” Pearl hummed, a teasing smile on her face to hide the deep concern the simple statement brought. As much as she liked to get lost in her books, Gem hated missing any meetings. A desire to prove herself as a ruler that Pearl herself could relate to.
Fwhip immediately looked guilty.
“You might… I don’t think she’s going to be here for a while. Best to leave her alone.”
“What did you do?”
Smoke puffed from his nose but he didn’t respond, suddenly very interested in the table grain.
“ Fwhip. ”
“I didn’t think it would be this bad!” He protested. “She knew what they were like, and it’s just a letter! One of their final wishes was for me to give it to her, I held off long enough already!”
Pearl was out of the room before he’d finished his excuses.
Gem could barely hear over the pounding in her own ears. Her hands clenched around the letter and the air was almost unbearably hot, her magic reacting to emotion pushing and slipping through the boundaries of her control.
You would have made such an excellent count-
The door was locked. She made sure of that because if she locked it then she wasn’t trapped and everything was ok but nothing was ok-
- so disappointing that those wizards have confused you, but if you come home and apologise-
The door was locked. Then it was opened.
(When had Pearl ever let a little thing like locks stop her?)
There were hands on her arms, warm but devastatingly cold compared to the fire begging to be set free, a gentle voice trying to break through the fog in her mind.
You will always be our son.
The letter was gently tugged out of her hands. Pearl pulled her into a hug, and it had to be Pearl, no one else knew the right balance of tightness and room to move, whispering comforts into her ear.
It took time for her to wrestle her magic back under control, longer for her limbs to stop feeling like lead, but Pearl never stopped looking at her with that gentle worry.
The first thing she said once she was able to talk was-
“Doe don’t have antlers.”
Gem couldn’t bring herself to look up as she said it. The words hung in the air with a weight she could feel pressing on her shoulders and she waited for Pearl to push her away, for confusion to turn to scorn and disgust.
She was kissed gently on the head instead.
“You never have listened to what other people expected of you. Why would nature be any different?”
“Wha- Pearl, I’m wrong. I shouldn’t have kept it from you, I’m sorry, but I’m-”
Lips pressing into her own cut her off immediately. She only let herself enjoy it for a moment before pulling away again.
“You’re my amazing girlfriend who I love very much,” Pearl said firmly, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “It doesn’t matter who you were, who you’ve been, this is who you chose to be now. That’s what’s important.”
And as they fell into another kiss, Gem made sure the door was properly secured this time.