Another Way

Chapter 27: Snowmoon

"^I wouldn't have thought you would grow even more insolent towards your mother... Snowmoon.^"

Despite standing a few feet away, Sue felt Solstice shudder at the stranger's words, adding even more confusion to her increasingly terrified mind. The Mayor's reaction didn't settle there, though, overcoming fear and blossoming into fierce determination, underlined with cold resentment. If nothing else, it let Sue know her mentor had things under control.

Unfortunately, the younger Forest Guardian's certainty didn't extend to the little ones around her.

Comet couldn't resist contracting the surrounding fear, absorbing emotions like a sponge until they filled his tiny body to the point of tears. He didn't cry, instead only following Twinkle's steps and clinging even closer to their guardian. Behind Sue, Joy wasn't as terrified, but she more than made up for that in restless anxiety. She took a moment to remember which of her tall friend's legs had been injured recently before clinging to the other one, only braving brief glimpses at the stranger from behind her dress.

"^Leave, Solanum, and take your hatred elsewhere!^" Solstice boomed, trying to keep the children out of the conversation. Sue wasn't sure why she'd responded to a different name or who said 'Solanum' was, but whatever the exact relationship between the two Forest Guardians was, it was drenched in grudges and misery, intense enough to turn onlookers' heads.

To the regret of everyone who recognized her, Solanum only scoffed at the Mayor's words. "^Your delusional fantasies might have already swallowed you whole, Snowmoon, but I will not let my grandson be bathed in the same heresy that had claimed Aurora—^"

It was only then that she had properly noticed the third Forest Guardian on the scene, and everyone's hearts skipped a beat.

Freezing fear gripped Sue's body as Solanum's gaze drilled into her. The dispassionate mockery in the other Forest Guardian's expression first turned into genuine shock, and then gradual anger as she put the pieces together. Before the once-human could even react, she felt her mind be forcefully pried open as if it were a tin can, its contents spilling out to anyone who bothered looking. Her thoughts, desires, fears, and secrets, taken by force and examined by a hateful eye to the backdrop of Comet's alarmed cries, the sensation painful and overwhelming enough to almost make Sue collapse there and then—

Only to feel Solstice's mental grip embrace her as it cut the mental assault off, leaving her lightheaded and unsure of what the hateful intruder had seen. Whatever it was, though, it only made Solanum scoff harder. "^No, not her...^" she whispered, her words cutting into Sue's and Solstice's psyches alike. "^A stray mutt, bereft of the Pale Lady's blessings, yet wearing our symbols on her flesh.^"

The words were enough to compel the Mayor to take another step forward, her voice equal parts biting and trying to hide a building panic. "^She has no part in this, Solanum.^"

"^And yet, she is holding my family in her arms,^" Solanum muttered in return, eyes narrowing on Sue. "^You being a fool does not surprise me, Snowmoon, but to let someone like this look after your offspring... You have already learned the consequences of opposing the Pale Lady's will once, and yet you can't resist begging for it to happen again.^"

Solstice's buttons were thoroughly pressed, burning her cold resentment into an ever more intense, yet constantly silent anger. Her arms clenched, her body shook, her soul grappled with itself to hide her greatest insecurities from being struck so offhandedly once more. Sue could only keep inching backwards, only pushing past her 'freeze' reaction one tiny step at a time. As her body barely made any progress, her mind couldn't help but wonder—was Solanum really insinuating what Sue thought she was?