Chapter Text
After hours of searching throughout Nicodranas and the surrounding areas, Dairon received news that Beau was safe at the Mother's Lighthouse. She'd been intercepted by the woman who kept sentinel there and had scolded her for running off in the middle of the night, during one of Kord's mighty thunderstorms no less. All Dairon had been able to feel waa relief as she was shooed off from the Market Square towards the shining beacon of hope at the outskirts of the city.
And when Dairon saw Beau, their missing daughter, safe and sound, wrapped up in a blanket and drinking something warm; they skidded closer to her. They wanted nothing more than to immediately take her in their arms and hug her for all they were worth. Dairon was attempting to think logically, Beau had run off for a reason and what if that reason was that she no longer wanted anything to do with her family? She needed to act rationally, talk it out with the young girl to figure how, and if, they could go from there.
Beau stared at them. Big, blue eyes that were always scanning their environment. She'd always been attentive, curious, watching the world around her for whenever something could happen. Idly, they thought that Beau would make a wonderful Expositor with the right training and the right preparation if it was what she wanted later in life. Right now, they had to stay focused on Beau in front of them, they took her in, scanning her over and over to make sure that she was indeed safe and whole.
“Da?” Beau got their attention, shyer than she’s ever been. She reached out a bandaged hand to Dairon, initiating contact so Dairon could swoop her up finally into a tight hug. All the fear and terror that she’d been holding onto for the past few hours fully melted away. They knew they would have to talk to Beau, ask why she ran off and warn her of the dangers that came with doing so but right now, feeling her small and warm body breathing against theirs was all they needed.
Of course, Dairon wasn’t exactly going to let it slide. “What were you thinking ?” She wanted to remain calm, she had to remain calm but still, the thought of Beau leaving or being kidnapped still stung her right to the very core. She pulled back, gripping Beau by her shoulders and staring right in her eyes to try to get a straight answer from her child. “You could have been hurt or-” Their voice cracks. “Or worse.” Dairon continued after clearing their throat to maintain their composure.
Later. They could break later in the privacy of their room with Marion by their side. Right now, they needed answers and the only one who could give them would be the young girl in front of them. Beau wasn’t looking them in the eye now, seemingly ashamed at having caused so much panic.
“I’m sorry.” Beau scuffed at the concrete beneath her feet. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”
“I know you didn’t but why ?”
If it was possible, Beau looked even guiltier for having run off and she instead reached out to cling around Dairon’s neck. Dairon sighed because this wasn’t apparently going to go anywhere when they were so far from home. "Okay, would you feel better if we went home?" She switched tactics after the initial clamming up. Her only hope was that it would work, drawing Beau out of her shell and to get her to just talk to them. "Your mother and sister will want to make sure you're alright. Plus, we can get your hand cleaned up." It was a dirty tactic, bringing Marion and Jester into this but it was effective.
Beau nodded then clung tighter. Obviously she wasn't going to be letting go but it would be alright. Dairon was plenty strong and Beau had always, always been such a small child that it was easy to pick her up even though she was eight years old by now. "Come on then. Let's go see mother and Jester." They murmured softly.
As they passed by Gladys, nodding at her and thanking her quietly to which she waved off with a grumble, Dairon quietly thought to themself that they were glad Beau wanted to be carried home instead of walking beside her. They could take her in and just remind themself that Beau was okay, that she wasn't mortally wounded, at most she had just injured her hand in whatever happened with the window. That would explain the bandages and the blood they'd found back home when they originally thought that Beau had been kidnapped. While it wasn't out of the realm of possibilities, they had a sneaking suspicion it had to do with what was missing from their desk during the early search of her study.
"Da?" Beau whispered. Her voice wavered and her fingers clutched tighter at their shirt, followed closely by her little body trembling harder. "I'm sorry. Please don't send me away." She almost begged Dairon and that caused the red alarm to go off inside their head.
They needed to have this talk now. It couldn't wait until they finished the few miles it would take for the two of them to get back to the Chateau. So, Dairon searched their mental map of Nicodranas and upon remembering the nearby city center, they turned sharply to the left to go find a bench. It was late at night and while the storm had mostly died down, there would be little to no stragglers. The only unfortunate bastards who would still be out would almost most certainly be the city guards. Even then, they wouldn't care too much for her, consort of the Ruby of the Sea as well as one of the monks who'd been helping out with things around town.
It led to a very convenient opportunity where the guards looked the other way.
She found the bench she was looking for, but not before stopping a guard who looked miserable and asked, "Would you deliver a message to Marion Lavorre for me?" They shifted Beau as best as they could with the young girl still clutching and crying into her shirt so that they could reach their coin purse.
The guard waved it off, telling them not to bother with it. "I'll go there straight away." He turned on his heel and walked away from them. Marion must have contacted the guard while Dairon was scouring the city so it wouldn't be long until their partner was aware of what was going on.
Now, she could focus all of her attention on Beau, who admittedly had calmed down a little, as she settled onto Dairon's lap. She still wasn't entirely forthcoming with information but prying out what she needed to know from whoever her "target" was had always been a specialty of hers. It wouldn't take long at all. She wasn't aiming to scare Beau but the thought of coming home to a broken window, a trashed study and her daughter so thoroughly missing was still fresh on her mind.
It helped though. Beau, clinging to her and clenching-unclenching her fist in their soaked through shirt. "Please, I won't get angry until after you explain, is that alright?" Dairon put Beau in their lap, getting her attention on them. "We will do what we always do. I will listen, you will talk. Then vice versa. Isn't that what we do?"
Beau nodded. "We get all the facts first before rendering judgement." It sounded weird coming from an eight year old but it was Dairon's word verbatim and Beau had always, always, always been so infuriatingly intelligent that it shouldn't have surprised them in the first. Still, they couldn't help the swell of pride in their chest when Beau seemed to calm just that much more under Dairon's gaze. "I… Sorry da."
"I hear your apology. I won't accept it until I understand more of the situation, okay?" Dairon got Beau to agree with her because honestly, as smart as Beau was, she was still a child who made horribly dumb mistakes. They never blamed her, she was allowed to act her age and then learn how to move forward from there. Life was messy and oh so fragile, too many people only had less than a century to live so every day had to be lived to its fullest. "Go on, you have my attention." They finished softly, absolutely hoping that Beau would feel comfortable opening up.
She looked guilty again, eyes shifting away from theirs and playing with her fingers to stim some of her nervous energy out. "I wanted to read something. I'm sorry, I went in where I wasn't supposed to." Beau mumbled but straightened up, seemingly presenting a brave face as she told Dairon that she went into her study. "I know I'm supposed to wait for you, Da but I was so bored! I'd already read everything else in the house!"
"Beauregard." Dairon warned her against getting too defensive. "Watch your tone, you are simply explaining."
She looked chastened and apologized. "I found that thing with my name on it, but it had a weird last name! I was curious so I read it and I read about how I was taken away from my birth parents and I wanted to tell them that I had better parents now!" Beau started rambling, finally working up the courage to spill the beans as to why she ran off in the first place. "I… I accidentally broke mama's window when I climbed down." That guilt was back and Dairon knew Marion wasn't worried about the damn window, as long as Beau was okay. "I'll clean it up! I promise!"
"Beau-"
"And, and I won't run off again! I got lost and then I got found and that's how I ended up at the Lighthouse! I thought I could get to Rex- Rexxentrum?" Dairon nodded as she got the pronunciation right. "By myself! I'm too little still so I have to wait until I'm bigger to tell them to-" She stopped before she swore under Dairon's warning look
Beau was heaving after airing everything out, chagrined but otherwise out of breath from her rapid fire explanation.
Dairon sighed. “Listen to me very carefully, okay?” Beau looked up at her patiently, eyes wide and her injured hand settled on their chest over their heart. They took it ever so gently in their own hand and held it to her cheek instead. "You will never, never be sent away. I know what file you are talking about, the one on top of my desk?"
"I wasn't supposed to touch but…"
Dairon chuckled this time. "It had your name on it, it's natural to wonder what it contained." They sobered up rather quickly though, they needed to drive this point home with their daughter to avoid this happening again. "If you wish to find your birth parents, we will do that together. I do not want you to have to face them alone because they were… not villainous but ignorant. Their ignorance hurt you as a baby and would have continued to do so, they do not deserve your happiness now. They do not deserve your attention. However, if you do want to find them, I will understand why."
"Really?" Beau seemed surprised and really, Dairon understood why. She never wanted Beau to meet them, never in her life would she want that to happen but it wasn't her parents. Her parents wanted nothing to do with her and the feeling was more than mutual. Beau was still young, if she wanted to find the Lionetts then… "But know this, if you pursue this and they hurt you, I will not be held responsible for what I'll do to them." It was dark but Beau got a laugh out of it.
She burrowed her head back into their chest and pulled her hand from Dairon's just to tuck it into her chest. "I know, Da…. Thank you for looking for me."
"I would have to be dead to not come after you, my child. As for your mother's window, we can think of something for you to do in order to take accountability for it." Dairon rubbed Beau's back, feeling left over shudders from her hyper emotional state. "You know you broke rules and running away was not the answer in this case but thank Ioun you are safe."
Beau had calmed down enough that moving was feasible now. They couldn’t stay here by the fountain all night and every time Beau shivered reminded Dairon that their daughter had definitely soaked through to the bone before she’d been found. Her hand needed proper attention and Marion was blessed with a small amount of healing magic so that would help after they checked it over.
Dairon didn’t move her suddenly. “Are you ready to go home?” They asked before disrupting their child. “Your mother and sister are worried about you.” Beau had that guilty look again but she didn’t spiral into panic, just nodded and wrapped her arms around Dairon’s neck to be carried back.
They didn’t hear the rapid slapping of feet on pavement until it was too late and none other than Marion Lavorre in a hastily thrown-on coat had slid in front of them. “Oh thank gods. I received the news that you’d found her but you hadn’t gotten back yet and I was worried until Garax told me you were here.” She had her tail wrapped around Jester who’d almost launched onto Dairon and Beau if Marion hadn’t immediately taken Beau’s current state into account.
“Mama.” Beau’s tears were back and she let go of Dairon to fall into her. Strong, dark red arms wrapped her up in a warm embrace as well as tucking her into her coat. Dairon felt nothing but relief that Marion was her, her infernal nature would easily help bring Beau back up a few degrees. “I’m sorry, I made a mistake.”
Jester wiggled out of Marion’s tail grip and squished Beau in on the other side of her mother. She’d been crying recently no doubt, always having been the one to wear her heart on her sleeve in comparison to Beau or even Fjord. “I’m sooo glad you’re okay!” Jester pressed almost too many kisses to the top of Beau’s head.
“ Jessie no! ” Beau giggled, squirming away from her sister and closer to their mother.
“Let me see your hand.” Marion batted Jester lightly with the spade of her tail and Jester got the hint, pulling back to hop onto the bench next to Dairon and curled up into her side. Beau was settled on Marion’s thighs now, a more comfortable perch than sitting on the ground while Marion unwrapped the bandage. The wound had scabbed over a little already, expertly cleaned and wrapped to keep infection out but a soft, golden glow emanated from Marion’s hands and closed the wound completely.
Dairon noticed there were scars left over. She would have chuckled or joked that Beau was a little more like her if she didn’t feel so emotionally drained from the long ordeal finally being over. Even though, in reality, it had only been about half a day since it started, she was ready to pass out in the relative safety of the Chateau.
Marion kissed Beau’s temple then pushed up to catch Dairon’s lips in a quick kiss and finished it off by kissing Jester’s cheek. “Why don’t we all go home together? We’ll get you-” she directed her words at Beau- “into some clean clothes then we can all sleep in mine and Dairon’s bed, no?”
That sounded like the second best thing that Dairon had heard all day, next to hearing that Beau was safe and sound. So, naturally, they agreed, they walked back to the Chateau to clean up and finally, finally go the fuck to sleep. Only this time, it was all together with Beau safe and sound with the three of them as she should be.