Home Again

Chapter Thirteen

   Cat looked at her mother in the looking glass as she walked into the room. "You changed," she asked with a raised eyebrow.
   "A queen has duties," Clodagh replied slowly sitting in a chair. "You should know that." She gave her daughter a look over.
   Cat turned back to the mirror and laid her hand over the family crest that hung from her neck. "Should I if I won't be."
   "Have you sealed your fate then?"
   "No. But they have."
   "We couldn't have known."
  "I don't blame you or da," Cat replied shaking her head with her eyes closed. "We didn't know about that..."
   "What is she," Botan asked turning to Clodagh from the bed.
   Clodagh inhaled through her nose as she looked to the ceiling. As if the answer were in the rafters. "Old. Older than myself, if I had to guess."
   Cat turned and looked at her.
   "A race we thought long extinct."
   "Seanóirí," Cat breathed out in an exhale. Botan looked at her confused.
   Clodagh looked back at her and nodded. "But no all in the same. Your athair and I will grow old one day. The blood will no longer keep us beautiful as we are. The years will catch up. As they will you, my darlin'. But this creature. Age won't bridal her bones and curve her spine. No. Instead it sets in a rot. It's what happens to a vampire when it has truly lost its human nature. Not a single shred of emotion left. No soul, as it were." Clodagh shook her head. "A lonely existence. Formed around killing and ravishing. No pleasure, or sorrow."
   "Will she become a casadh mícheart?"
   "If the gods grant her, no," Clodagh replied.
   "But it is possible?"
   Clodagh inhaled through her nose and straightened in her chair.
   Botan frowned and looked back at Cat. "That's what you meant. The creature from the clearing."
   Cat looked back at him and nodded.
   "So...she was..."
   "I've never known a turnling to be gifted. Not like she is. But I've never known a true born to become a twisted one either," Clodagh replied looking back at Botan. "So for now. It's hard to say."
   "And we may not get the satisfaction of knowing," Cat added rolling her eyes.
   Clodagh simply gave her a look in response. Cat simply raised an eyebrow back at her.
   "There's more," Clodagh said looking back down at the ground.
   "Oh gods grant me what now," Cat asked throwing her head back and crossing her arms.
   "Sebastian has been summoned for the vote."
   Cat let out a hiss and turned away completely. Botan sat a little straighter.
   "Why?"
   "To make an even number. The council alone is only twelve, and Ailill and I make fourteen."
   "The tie breaker," Cat replied rolling her eyes and shaking her head. "They know you and father will vote in our favor."
   "He is guth an rí," Clodagh replied. "By all counts that makes him part of the council."
   "Oh then we should have nothing to fear," Cat replied with a growl.
   "Then there is also the vote of his dismissal," Clodagh went on.
   "Any chance that could be held first?" Cat asked, looking at Clodagh for hope. The look Cat received held the answer and she rolled her eyes once more. "Then his vote should not matter."
   "I am new to your ways," Botan added. "But what my beloved says is sound."
   "Aye," Clodagh agreed with a nod. "Weighed all the same still, I fear."
   "Then we leave it to the gods," Cat replies defeated as she slowly sank to a stool.
   "Ah've never known you to go down without a fight, cat beag." Clodagh says watching her daughter closely.
   Botan and Cat share a look this time. "It's no' that ah don't wish to fight," Cat replied heavily. "I's more an accepting of fate." Clodagh looked between the two. "If we are not permitted to stay, then we shall return to Botan's village."
   Clodagh smiled sadly, "I feared that would be your response. So, either way I lose my daughter all over again." She turned her head away.
   Cat reaches out and took her mother's hand gently into her own. "Gan mháthair," she says shaking her head. "You will never lose me again."
   "You have my word," Botan replies offering Clodagh as gentle as a smile as he can.
   Clodagh squeezed Cat's hand. "If Sebastian is to be dismissed, there may still be hope."
   Cat blinked at her titling her head.
   "If the ayes have it for his removal, while his vote will be weighed it may call in for a new breaker." Cat and Botan shared a look once more before looking back to her. Botan leaned forward slightly. "Which could cast in our favor."
   "Who could we ask?"
   "That is where I have failed, I fear. I can think of no one who would know Botan well enough to speak on your behest."
   Cat searched the floor for a moment then a smile crossed her lips as she looked back to Clodagh. "Don't supposed they'd allow for a Tourney."
   Clodagh rolled her eyes before looking back to her daughter. "They may, but I will not."
   Cat giggled gently squeezing her mother's hand. If she had known it would be the last time. She would have held on a little tighter.