Chapter Text
The admission hung in the air between them.
Keyleth watched Vax turn it over in his mind, looking confused mostly. There was a hint of concern, but it was mostly as he examined her face.
“Kiki, what happened?”
Keyleth gave a humorless chuckle, replaying it in her mind,
“I took her to the watering hole by the edge of town to go swimming- you know the one. You can jump in from the cliff face?”
“She’s afraid of heights.”
“She saw some older kids jumping and wanted to try.”
She’d been so brave. Keyleth could still call to mind that proud smile Calliope had flashed her as she’d scurried up the narrow path to the jump point above the water.
Wait for me at the bottom, Mummy! She’d called after her.
“So what, she went to jump and grew wings?”
Keyleth had waded out to wait for her. Stood where she’d have a good view, and where Calliope could hear her shouted words of encouragement when she got nervous and started talking about wanting to back down.
You can do it Callie! I’ll be right here.
“She must have panicked halfway down, and then… there they were.”
Black, feathered wings. Sprung from nowhere and unfurling as Calliope screamed in startled surprise and they eased her gently to the surface of the water.
By the time Keyleth reached her they were gone, only a few lone feathers and her daughter’s terrified cries left as evidence that they’d existed at all.
There was a long moment of quiet as Vax took that in, and Keyleth tried desperately to push it out.
She couldn’t do this again. Couldn’t let this get into her head again.
“You’re sure she didn’t wildshape? Haven’t you been practicing?”
“Nothing with wings.”
She didn’t bother pointing out that there would be more to it than wings anyway.
Calliope chose that moment to let out a little whine, shifting in her sleep, and Keyleth took the excuse to pull her closer with a soft hush.
“How did she react?” Vax asked, reaching to rest a hand on the little girl’s back.
“She was scared.”
“She was, or you were?”
At that Keyleth’s gaze snapped from where it had dropped to Calliope back to Vax, taking in his eerily calm expression.
“She was,” Keyleth said again, “I would be too if I suddenly had wings growing out of my back.”
Vax hummed, his expression unchanging,
“That’s why she was scared. Why are you scared?”
“I never said I was-”
“Keyleth.”
Tears prickled at her eyes, but she didn’t want to cry. Not with him still looking at her like that, and Calliope still in her arms, and…
“They were raven wings, Vax,” she said quietly, “she grew raven wings. That doesn’t scare you?”
She wished he’d make some sort of face so she could at least guess at what he was thinking. But he just kept watching her with that blank stare, and she was crying now, and-
“Keyleth. She’s not-”
“I know! I know she’s not.”
Not the Matron.
Because they’d been over that. Been through it. Researched it. Had Pike help them research it. Reached out to every person they knew with any sort of connection to the Gods when Calliope had been born with those eyes…
And the consensus was that, no, she wasn’t the Matron’s new incarnation.
But didn’t that mean the Matron was out there somewhere? And once she was old enough to realize herself, couldn’t she come calling back on Vax?
Would she come calling on Calliope, too?
“We can go see Pike again if you want,” Vax suggested gently, his face starting to soften. He gave Keyleth’s knee a comforting squeeze, but she just shook her head, waving the platitude away.
“She won’t have anything new to say.”
She just has that energy about her, I dunno, it’s hard to explain. It’s the same energy Vax has…kind of holy like, if that makes sense?
Vax sighed,
“No, but if it will make you feel better-”
“It won’t.”
“Alright.”
They were quiet then. Vax reached up, cupping Keyleth’s face in his hand and brushing her tears away with his thumb. It was when he gave her that sad, crooked smile of his that she cracked.
“What if she tries to take her?”
Vax sighed, and Keyleth leaned into his hand to stop him from pulling it away. Because she could see that exhaustion in his eyes. They’d had this conversation before-
“No one is going to take her. The Matron is gone, Keyleth, how could she possibly-“
“She won’t be gone forever! You of all people should know that. Why would you spend so much time serving her if she weren’t coming back?”
Keyleth hadn’t meant for it to come out like that. An accusation punctuated by a crack from the fireplace. Punctuated by Vax pulling his hand back, even as she gave a soft cry at the loss of contact.
And he wouldn’t look at her now. He rest his head on her knees, the feathers of his armor rippling as his back rose and fell with steadying breaths. She had to look away, it was too much. The Raven Champion knelt at her feet, it was too much.
“I’ll talk to Morrighan tomorrow,” Vax said finally, lifting his head, “tell her I need to step back for awhile. She can handle things.”
There was a rasp to his voice, a glisten in his eyes that betrayed his mild expression.
“It’s not that, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…”
“It’s alright, Keyleth. I’m sorry too. I should be around more. You two,” he reached out to stroke Calliope’s hair, a sad smile playing at his lips, “are my priority. Not the Matron.”
As if she’d heard, Calliope eased her grip on Keyleth’s nightgown. Gave a soft sigh. Vax traced a hand along her cheek, letting out a quiet laugh as her nose twitched like a little rabbit.
Keyleth could only watch, tears still streaming silently down her cheeks, because he didn’t get it, and he was still wearing the feathers.
“She can’t have her.”
She hated hearing the waver in her own voice. Hated the way Vax raised his gaze to her with that exhaustion back again.
“She’s not here.”
“She will be.”
Someday she would. And Vax would go back to her.
And Calliope…
Calliope.
“Years and years from now. Calliope will probably be grown by then.”
Vax’s voice cracked, with frustration or empathy Keyleth couldn’t tell through her own rushing thoughts.
“I don’t care when it is. I don’t care how old she is,” Keyleth cried, shaking her head as if it could erase the thoughts from her mind, “she can’t have her. She’s mine.”
Any hint of levity on Vax’s features were gone in an instant. Keyleth didn’t even have a second to think, to process before he was sitting back on his heels, something dark coming over him.
“She’s ours.”
“What?”
She hadn’t even realized what she’d said. Hadn’t thought- Hadn’t meant-
“She’s ours,” Vax repeated, “yours and mine. Ours.”
Keyleth understood then what had happened. What she’d said.
Her heart dropped.
“I know,” she said softly, “I know that.”
She hesitated, an explanation dying on her lips as she thought better of it-
That’s the problem- she’s ours, and you’re… who do you belong to? Who do you answer to?
If the Matron asked you to bring her our child, would you? Because she’s yours, too?
In the silence of her hesitation he studied her face, and she saw the pain reflected in his eyes, but-
She’s ours, but you’re not mine and it scares me.
She’s ours, but sometimes I’m afraid you’ll leave again.
“Can I hold her?"
A chill went down Keyleth’s spine. Vax was beginning to stand, lit from behind by the fire so he looked like a phoenix rising above her.
And he was reaching out, nodding towards Calliope in her arms.
“I, umm…”
Keyleth held her closer.
“I’d like to hold my daughter, Keyleth.”
He was still reaching for her, and Keyleth shook her head,
“I don’t want to disturb her, that’s all. She just fell asleep.”
“And you plan to sit in this chair all night with her?”
He was reaching for her, and as he leaned in Keyleth could smell the must from the feathers, and-
“Can you at least take the armor off?”
Vax froze.
The room fell silent save for the crackle of the fire behind him.
Then, slowly, he began to back away. His face unchanging from the darkness that had befallen it when she’d called Calliope hers.
“I’m sorry,” Keyleth said with a small cry, “I’m sorry, I just can’t-“
Wordlessly, Vax began to undo the fastenings of the Deathwalker’s Ward. Let it fall to the ground, feathers pooling by his feet. The raven fallen, the man she loved remaining.
“It’s me, Kiki,” Vax said softly, crouching by her again, “it’s still me. And no matter what happens, I will not let her hurt our family. I will not let her take our daughter from you. Alright?”
Keyleth could only nod, overwhelmed and reassured in the same breath. She didn’t bother asking him to promise- she could see the promise in his eyes, could feel it in how he squeezed her hand.
“Can I hold her?”
He was looking towards Calliope again, and there was still part of Keyleth that ached not to let her go, but she nodded anyway.
As carefully as he could, Vax lifted Calliope into his arms while Keyleth gently pried the little girl’s hand off of her nightgown. She whined in her sleep, flailing until her hand found Vax’s shirt and took hold of that instead.
“Hello little hummingbird,” Vax whispered, dropping a kiss to Calliope’s forehead. He stood, cradling her to his chest, holding her above the firelight so her hair didn’t reflect it anymore- so it was in Catha’s light again and glowing the same nearly blue-black as her father’s. And the flames didn’t dance across her cheeks, and they were rosy with warmth but not freckled. And at all of the movement she frowned- and it was his frown.
Because she was his.
He swayed with her in his arms, murmuring soft words Keyleth couldn’t understand, and she was his.
Keyleth folded into herself, burying her face in her hands, trying to calm.
“Shhh, Daddy has you.”
That she heard, a bit louder. Followed by a little sob.
“You’re alright Calliope. I’m here. Daddy’s here.”
His.
She was-
“Mummy?”
Keyleth quickly wiped away tears so she could turn to the sound of her daughter’s cry.
“There she is,” Vax was cooing, shifting so Calliope faced towards her, “there’s your mother.”
The little girl twisted in his arms, and Keyleth could see how her eyes barely opened. She was still nearly asleep. Awake just enough to know who was holding her.
And who wasn’t.
Without a second thought Keyleth rose to meet them. To meet Calliope’s reaching hand, her whimpering cry.
“I’m here Calliope. I’m right here.”
And as she came to them, Vax snaked his free arm around her waist, pulling her close with Calliope snuggled between them. The little girl turned, grabbing Keyleth’s nightgown again as she fought to keep her eyes open.
“You can sleep, my love, we’ve got you,” Vax whispered.
Calliope’s eyes drooped shut, but the corners of her mouth twitched up in a little smile.
Keyleth’s-
Because she was hers.
And her dark curls shone in the light and she was his.
And they stood, the two of them together watching the rise and fall of the little girl’s chest as she drifted back to sleep-
And she was theirs.
Wings and golden eyes and all.
She was theirs.