Chain of Iron (a guess)

A Scintillating Conversation

Tessa woke up with the sun the next morning, which was a rarity in London considering clouds and gloom normally hid all of the sunlight. She looked to her left to see that Will had apparently already gotten up, likely to yell at James and Lucie for staying out late hunting last night without telling either of them where they were going to be. Tessa pushed open the French doors that led into the greenhouse and inhaled the fresh scent of flowers, smiling to herself. Footsteps shuffled into the room behind her and she heard the fruit bowl that was situated in the center of the dining room table clatter as a piece of fruit was removed from it. The footsteps then went to leave the room again, but Tessa wasn't about to let either one of her children get away with the fact that they lie compulsively; as easily as a bird using the wind to help them fly.

Will came down to the dining room, hair still disheveled from sleep. "So, what lecture are we going to give our two idiotic children about spending the whole night out doing the Angel only knows what?" He scanned the contents of the table, a rather bland spread of various breakfast breads and spreads. "Uck," Will lamented after taking in the food, "Bridget really could have done better, I swear." Tessa shook her head, exasperated with her husband.

Lucie and James joined their parents in the dining room. An awkward silence settled over the room. Typically, Will and Tessa were not ones to mince words when lecturing the two of them, but at this point they didn't see any reason to lecture them about doing their job. "Okay." Tessa began, taking a slow breath. "Look, I know fighting demons in the middle of the night is a big part of being a Shadowhunter but if you guys do end up going on any hunts, we would really appreciate if you would let us know where you are in case anything bad happens." James and Lucie both stared at their bowls of oatmeal, waiting for the angry part of the lecture, but it never came.

Both of them nodded, acting as if they'd been horribly admonished in order to appease their parents. Another silence settled around the table, broken only by the clinking of cutlery and the crunching of toast slightly overdone toast, thanks to Bridget. Lucie and James finished as quickly as possible in an effort to be able to sneak away and "train" before their parents started yelling at them. Just as Lucie was about to push the heavy, antique chair back from the dining table, Will cleared his throat. "I hope you both realize that we know that you went out hunting, unsupervised, and you're going to get in trouble." He exchanged a knowing look with Tessa before finishing by saying, "we just haven't decided exactly what your punishment is going to be yet."

Lucie spoke up, surprising everyone in the room. She was always the good child, taking her parents feedback to heart, and feeling sick with guilt for days after doing something she was explicitly told not to do. "Dad," she began, giving him a sideways glance with big, watery eyes. "It was—-we just felt so useless sitting here at the Institute, training all day every day for literally nothing. We are Nephillim. It is our duty to hunt demons and banish them back to whatever hell dimension they came from. You can't just keep us locked up here until we fade away and die." She spoke so slowly, calm and calculated, trying her best not to show emotion.

The rest of her family stared at her in disbelief, their mouths agape. Will's face softened, his features trying to show as gentle and understanding an expression as he could. "I understand." Both of his children looked at him, eyes wary and not quite believing him or understanding exactly where the conversation was going to go. "Trust me. When I was your age I wanted nothing more than to be the best Shadowhunter and banish demons by myself, or do any number of other reckless things..." He trails off, thinking of all the misadventures he got into in his earlier years and trying to think of what Charlotte and Henry had said to him to make him see their perspective. "I just want you both to be safe and full prepared to face whatever demons you're fighting." He wanted to add "literal or figurative" to the end of his thoughts but that was a whole other monster that could be addressed at a later date.

The family looked around at each other, water eyes full of untold emotions, all unsure of where to go now that Will had spoken with such finality. Lucy, both unsurprisingly and surprisingly, was the first to break the silence that had fallen uncomfortably over the group. "We know, papa. We just feel like you're not allowing us to fully prepare if you keep us locked up in here so damn much." This statement earned a chuckle from everyone in the room. Apparently, it also made everyone comfortable enough to resume eating and slowly make their way out of the dining room to their unofficially designated spots for the day. The same thought was going through each of their heads at this point: this conversation has only just begun and that was not nearly the ending I was hoping for.