KOTLC One-shots

A Desperate Attempt At Understanding- Tam & Linh

Word count: ~1.1k words

Stellarlune spoilers!!! If that's needed idk

So I didn't enjoy stellarlune that much and found the characterizations a bit inconsistent, but I suppose it does provide me song twins angst so...

Warnings: Mention of suicide

Tam took a deep breath, hand pausing at the window. When he finally mustered the courage to knock, the curtains slid open, and then the window, and Linh was staring down at him.

The scowl she wore hurt him, but what hurt him more was the brief flash of relief that had painted her eyes and smile, only to be hidden away.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, and already, there were storm clouds forming behind her.

"I want to talk to you," he said. "Without the interruption of anyone else."

She just stared, then turned away. "Unless you're here to admit that you were wrong—"

"I want you to understand," he said, climbing in before she could get the chance to shut him out.

"I don't want to talk about it," she said, turning towards the bedroom door to leave. "There is nothing to understand."

Tam used his shadows to reach for the latch on the door, shutting them in. "Do you really prefer that we just... live like this?"

"The situation can easily be resolved," Linh said mildly. "You're the one making it difficult."

"Linh, you have got to understand—"

"Glimmer was a part of the Neverseen—"

"Is that seriously all you can say? Fine. I was a part of the Neverseen, Keefe was a part of the Neverseen—"

"Neither of you had a choice. Keefe went in as a spy, and you were forced. You cannot possibly compare that to Glimmer."

"I can. Do you remember what Rayni—"

"Rayni!" Linh cut in, arms flailing. "Rayni, Rayni, Rayni!"

"That is her name. The one you demanded her to reveal. And suddenly you refuse to use it? Rayni didn't fully know what she was getting into."

Linh scoffed. "It's not an excuse. She still made that choice. She wasn't forced."

"Do you remember what she had said?" he asked, voice quiet and low. "She said she wasn't sure she'd be here if Gisela hadn't found her."

"So you want to save her. You want to save her to what, feel good about yourself? Prove that you're right and I'm wrong? Because you think you saved me?"

"It's not about saving someone!" he yelled. "And do you really think you'd be better off if I didn't join you with your banishment?"

She laughed. "You really do think you saved me!"

"Stop! It's not like that! But you had someone to rely on, to ease the pain. You had company. You had understanding. And I thought you of all people would be able to understand Rayni."

"We are nothing alike! Stop trying to compare us!"

"If Gisela had come to you, and for once agreed how discrimination against twins is nonsense, and you could protect other twins from facing the same fate as us—because let's be real, we would have had access to getting proper control over our abilities if we weren't twins—would you have refused?"

"I'd never join her!" she insisted. 

"Not even for the sake of protecting others?"

"There are other ways of protecting people!"

He felt the blood rushing within him, he wanted to just scream at her to make her recognize that her and Rayni weren't all that different, but she refused to listen. Instead, he took a deep breath.

"Linh. She could have been dead if Gisela hadn't found her when she did. She could have been another Wanderling Tree."

That got her steely eyes to waver, because for all that Linh talked about getting Rayni exiled, death was something on a completely different level. She turned her head away. "It's not... it's not enough. Fine, she could have joined for that. I can accept that. But she chose to stay, knowing the things that were happening. Knowing she was doing something wrong." She turned to him again, her steel eyes not just hardening, but they seemed so deep that they could drown him. "And you choose to trust her! We've seen how this turns out! We've seen Alvar! Why do you trust her? You've changed too much, Tam!"

"Do you think the Neverseen broke me?" he asked.

Linh didn't look at him.

"Linh. Linh, answer me!" his voice broke at those last words, but neither of them said anything about it.

"You were never like this before," she murmured, "you seem so... naive now."

"Weren't you the one who insisted that I make friends, that I sulked too much."

"Stop blaming this on me!" she seethed, grabbing his collar. The clouds above them turned darker, a raindrop falling on his bangs.

"I'm not blaming you!" His hands gripped her wrists, but otherwise didn't resist. "This is a good thing because I have friends now due to you! I didn't want to trust Sophie but you showed me that it was okay!"

"Don't say it's because of me!" A couple more raindrops fell, sliding down across her face. "Don't say it!"

"I need to say it," he said, his face growing increasingly wet from the rain. "I've changed, but it's not because of Rayni or the Neverseen, but because of you and my friends. You allowed me to be a better person. Is it so wrong to want the same for Rayni? You want her stuck feeling rage at the world, because of the fact that she was alone? She's like us, and we found a home. You want her to continue to be like how we were, living in Exillium? Is that what you want, Linh?"

She sucked in a breath, silent.

"Do you seriously want her to continue living like that? Forever, with no chance to make something of herself?"

When her eyes softened ever so slightly and her hands loosened their grip, he knew that he had gotten through to her.

"I just... don't want her to ruin things for all of us," she whispered.

"I know," he whispered back, all too aware of the risks that have been made. "I'm still going to be cautious, and if she does try anything, I'll make sure to stop her.

Linh, are you ready to come back home?"

"Give me a few days," she replied. "But I'll be there, and I'll be more lenient on her. I don't promise anything more."

A relived breath escaped his mouth, and he couldn't help but smile. "That's all I need."