Highest rank: #23 in adventure.
Jericho and her friends, though mourning the loss of Virgil, are safe and out of immediate danger, with Fell and Anjali nowhere to be found. But the fallen one and the dark druid might not be the only things they have...
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"Wait, mother- um, Priestess," I blurted before I could stop myself. I cringed as her cold eyes flicked to me, as distant as ever.
"Isn't... isn't there anything you want to ask me?" I said, wincing at my meek tone. Geez, man up Signe! Ball to the wall, come on!
"...Not that I can think of," Aoife answered icily.
I wilted. "Oh. Okay. Carry on then."
"Is this truly your daughter as she claims?" Ghoma asked, "Did you not tell us that she was dead?"
"She is dead. I did not lie," Aoife snapped. "She was dead to the Raven Coven the moment she abandoned us. She is no longer my heir."
Even after all these years, her dismissal of me still hurt. It wasn't like she had ever really been a mother to me in the first place, but... still. It hurt.
"Hm. Have you anything to say in your defense, Signe?" Ghoma inquired. I shook my head.
"No, Queen Ghoma."
"Oh, come on!"
I turned to Virgil, shocked at his outburst. His aura was flaring with rage, and Atticus closed his eyes.
"If she won't say it, then I will!" the Djinn snarled. "I've had enough experience with shitty parents to have an opinion here. You," he pointed an accusing finger in Aoife's direction, "are wrong. She never abandoned you! You abandonded her."
"Watch your mouth, boy," Aoife hissed, "Don't speak of things you know nothing about. Your voice has no place here!"
"Virgil..." I whispered.
"Uh, yeah. It does. Especially after what he put me through," Virgil shot back, glaring at the Djinn King in the center seat. "As a matter of fact, almost all of us should have a few words to put in! Atticus and his bastard of a father. Mikhail, fighting the corruption in the high council until he was sick of it. Marzia, who's commrades tried to kill her over nothing! Even Anti! And you all know my story. Maybe not all of it, but enough to know that it wasn't fair," Vrgil said bitterly.
Virgil paused and took a deep breath.
"You wanna know the truth? None of us were in the wrong. It was our families, our commrades, our friends who betrayed us in the worst way. No Aoife, Signe didn't abandon you... you pushed her away."
With that, he fell silent, his head and shoulders held high. You could have heard a pin drop in the tense room. I found my eyes filling with tears; the fact that he'd stood up for me in front of the House at the risk of his own neck was incredible in and of itself. I sent him a fervent wave of gratitude that he answered with an impression of determination.
"A bold statement," said a new voice, "but a wise one indeed."
It was Zanna Bianche, Belladonna of the Hecate coven. I'd never even heard her voice before. I was a little confused at her input; she almost never spoke at gatherings, preferring to observe silently instead. Despite this, she and her coven were held in high respect among the rest of the Witches.
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Then I remembered something.
"Belladonna..." I said hesitantly. She turned her piercing gaze on me as I spoke.
"Are you... you were there, weren't you. At my birth," I said. It was more of a statement than a question.
Zanna regally inclined her head. "Yes, I'm sure your mother told you."
"Why?"
"You defied fate, Signe, rightly earning the name I gave you," she answered simply. I cocked my head.
"The name... you gave me?" I asked slowly.
"Enough of this!" Aoife hissed, "Enough! It is no business of this court, Belladonna."
"...Very well," Zanna acquiesced humbly. She spoke no more.
There was a moment of silence, and I got the feeling that no one knew quite what to say.
"Are there any other queries for my son or the Witch?" Asked Allistair. When there was no answer, he cleared his throat. "And for the Druid and her Demon?"
"We know of them already, Allistair," said the giant cobra who was wrapped comfortably around a pillar on the side of the banister. Orochimaru I think. A relatively new king, from what I understood.
"You do?" Asked Jericho in surprise.
"Indeed. Did you think our scouts would not be watching the impossible Druid?" Asked Ghoma. Geez, was that spider's voice creepy.
"Oh. I guess not," Jericho mumbled. Dark put a comforting arm around her.
"Are there any other beings, Alive or dead, that we should know of?" Asked Chirombo.
"Well I was dead, but these douche canoes dragged me back into this bullshit we call reality," Virgil said dryly, moting first to violet across the room and then to Allistair.
"Ugh, you're such an emo," Violet scoffed.
"Look what the pot is calling the kettle!" Marzia shot back at her. There were some murmurs of confusion around the room.
"...She does that," Virgil said.
"It is clear that we have exhausted our interrogations," Allistair sighed. "If there are no objections..." he stood and swept his arm out grandly.
