Work Text:
Scylla stared at the three of them incredulously, staring blank.
“Tell me again...What. The. Hell. Happened?” The question was bitten out.
Raelle and Abigail stare at each other fearfully...Tally, though, stares from about 4 feet lower than her sisters in arms. While the taller two were in their form fitting clothing, Tally’s shirt was hanging off her like a nightgown.
“Hehe, Scylla said a bad word. Rae, you have to put her in time out!” The diminutive Tally said with a giggle, her pigtails swinging back and forth.
Scylla tried to hold back her grimace as she kneeled down to Tally’s newfound height. “You’re right Tally, that is a bad word. I will make sure that ‘Rae’ is punished severely later for making me say it,” Scylla raised her green eyes to Raelles ghost blue, “In private.”
Scylla stood strain, “ In the meantime, what exactly happened that has Tally standing in front of me at least 15 years younger?”
Raelle looked down to the ground and began to stub her boot through the dirt. Despite the fact that they had long since abandoned the military for the concession, she still fell back into her habit of withdrawing when dealing with authority.
“We were practicing a new cede, something to affect a person's perception of time. Tally seemed to almost...get stuck in her song. Then before we knew it, she was...this,” Raelle gestured haphazardly to Tally.
Scylla sighed before moving forward and raising her hand to her wife’s face, running her thumb over the scar on the right side. Applying only the slightest pressure she made Raella meet her eyes.
“I’m sorry for reacting so quickly. With everything that has happened, with our hand fasting being so recent...I’m a bit on edge still. Let’s get little Tal into the house and see what we can figure out about some clothes and what exactly happened. Ok baby?”
Raelle nodded her head at her loves words and they turned toward the homestead,
Abigails sighed and took Talls hand, “Come one Tal-bear, let's follow the love birds into the house.”
“Ok so seed 76 is the seed of revealing the past. Losing yourself in the seed can cause you to regress to an age that was a turning point in your life...it’s up to the subconscious to decide if they have discovered what they want to and regain their age.” Scylla snapped the book shut and laid it back against the desk she was leaning against. She crossed her arms with a sigh and assessed Abigail and Raelle.
Abigail was a staunch supporter of the Army. However when push came to shove and she saw how quick Alder was willing to sacrifice her sisters...she couldn’t anymore. She gave up her entire life, her entire future to follow her sisters and Scylla to the Cession. Yes Scylla had started out Spree, but when Raelle had shown the love of her life that there was another way, that their lines didn’t have to end with them...Abigail couldn’t help but follow.
Raelles eyes followed her wife from her position on the couch, hands steepled in front of her. So many things had changed over the years. When she had finally thought that they could settle, that they could thrive...fate always had a funny way of interviewing.
“So what do we do?” Abigail raised to the room.
“There’s nothing we can do. Something in Tally wanted to do this...and it’s up to Tally of whether or not she wants to come back from it.” Scylla explained
“I don’t know about you, but I have no idea how to raise a 5 year old.”
“You think I do? My family were a bunch of draft dodging nomads, I used to bathe in the creek sometimes for Circe’s sake.”
“We can do it.” Raelle finally brought up, bringing her eyes to meet Scylla.
Scylla bit back a gasp of surprise.
The blonde rose and walked towards Scylla, “I was raised alongside the Chippewa. They may have referred to me as a blonde ghost sometimes, but they believed in aanikoobijigan,,,the connectedness of the generations. Everyone was raised as a community. I was still part of their community.” Raelle takes her wife’s hand and runs her thumb over Scylla's left ring finger where her mother's ring sat. “We can do this. Tally has told me about her childhood. She may have been in one place, but she was still alone in that community...her mother sheltered her, Glory was her only friend. Here we have access to the Sioux and other tribes. She’ll have so many friends she won’t know what to do with them.”
The brunette necrowitch took in her wife’s words, trying to absorb them. It had been an adjustment being able to settle here on this homestead. She still technically had a go bag with things for herself and Raelle that she kept at the front door with clothes and enough supplies for a week. She checked it daily, changing things out as needed...it had never occurred to her parents to try and find refuge with any of the tribes, all they focused on was running...she still woke her wife up occasionally with nightmares around close calls and the actual death of her parents...things she'd had to do to survive after...things she'd done since..
“We can do this?” Scylla whispered.
Raelle gave a smile and raised the hand that had been caressing her wife’s ring, running her thumb over her wife’s lip, “We can do anything...raising Tally if needed? Piece of cake.” She moved in and replaced her thumb with her lips, raising her other hand to cradle Scylla's head.
Their lips caressed each other, both becoming lost in the feel of their lips replaying a song that they never tired of..
“Ahem.” Abigail subtly cleared her throat.
Scylla separated with a growl and pulled away, moving to look over Raelle’s shoulder.
“I’ll go ahead and take Tally into town, get her some clothes that actually fit instead of wearing Raelles shorts and crop top as pants and a t-shirt.” Abigail let out a scoff as she turned to leave the study, going to the kitchen to collect Tally who was eating a PB&J.
“You know, I think she’ll warm up to me at some point...maybe when I’m dead.” Scylla said and she moved her hands to Raelle’s belt loops and pulled her closer. If they were really going to raise Tally, then she knew she needed to get as much time with her wife as she could.
Raelle let out a rye chuckle. Despite the fact that Abigail had followed them into isolation, Scylla and she still got along like oil and vinegar.
“That’s a possibility. But I’ll make sure that’s a long way from now.”
“We have come a long way though, haven’t we?”
The blonde blaster/fixer hybrid lowered her head to Scyllas, taking in the scent of cedar and earth. A scent that was so unique to her love. “You have, and I am so proud of you for it.”
“We can do this right?” Scylla couldn’t help but let the slightest bit of fear creep into her voice.
“We can do anything.” Raelle confirmed before moving to recapture Scylla's lips. Her hands moved slowly down Scylla's body before gradually coming to her wife’s ass. She caressed it slowly for a moment before quickly pulling towards her own pelvis.
Swallowing her wife’s gasp, “Now one thing I certainly remember,” Raelle whispered against her lips, “Is parent should take advantage of any and all time without children.”
Their eyes danced in each other before both let out a giggle and began racing to their room.
It was now bedtime in the Collar-Ramshorn residence two weeks later. Tally had so far shown no signs of returning to her 20 year old self so the three older witches had begun to settle into their roles. The main homestead was where Raelle and Scylla had already made their home while Tally and Abigail took up a smaller two bedroom cabin half a mile away when they all had come to the property. Now Abigail kept the other cabin to herself while Tally had moved into one of the spare bedrooms at the maine homestead with Scylla and Raelle.
There had been major adjustments that needed to be made with the move. All three had taken up mantels in Tally’s care. Scylla, for all of her inexperience with being around tiny humans, had surprisingly taken up the largest of the responsibility. Focusing on rounding out her education, discipline, etc. Abigail made sure that she had plenty of time outside, just being a kid...something she hadn’t been able to experience too much herself being raised as a Bellwether. Raelle took up getting her started and wound down for the day, helping clean her scrapes, etc.
Tonight though was one of the harder nights winding down though.
“Tal, we‘ve already read two books, sung three songs, and I have checked for monsters in the closet and under the bed. Now it is time for little witches to go to sleep,” Raelle implored as she sat on the edge of Tally’s bed.
Said little witch, with her hair side braided and donning her unicorn pajamas, pouted as she clutched her stuffed rabbit. While she had no memories of it, it was that actually rabbit that she'd had since she was five the first time.
“But Rae-“
“Nope,” Raelle interrupted as she held a finger to Tally’s mouth, “Scylla is taking you into the woods tomorrow for life lessons. You want to be well rested right?”
Tally continued to pout as she nodded the affirmative.
Raelle continued, “Then it's time for sleep Talbear.” She moved to turn off the bedside light.
“But what if the balloons get me?” Tally whispered fearfully.
The blonde froze just before turning out the light. Giving a heartbreaking sigh she drew back and looked at Tally. While not popping up often, this was a fear that seemed to transcend turning back time. It nearly killed Scylla the first time to see young Tally begin to sob at the park when someone tried to offer her a balloon. Particularly since Tally could not articulate why she was afraid of them, only that she was. Scylla knew that while she had not been part of it directly (trying to bring Raell to the Spree side had been her initiation mission after all), it still hurt her to see the true fear in young Tally’s eyes.
Raelle let out a sigh before opening her arms, “Just this once chipmunk.” She let out a oomph as Tally flung herself into her arms. Making sure that both Tally and the rabbit were secure Raelle turned out the light and began to make her way to her and Scylla's room.
The brunette was already under the covers reading a book when Raelle walked in. Lowering the book, Scylla caught Raelle mouth ‘balloons,’ and with a guilty grimace turned down the covers on her wife’s side of the bed. Raelle lowered her gently and Tally quickly scurried into the center. The blonde followed after and turned off her own bedside lamp before pulling the sheets over herself and Tally.
“Are you a snug bug?” Raelle asked.
Tally grinned, “Like I’m in a rug Rae.”
Scylla chuckled before placing her book at her bedside and turning out her own light. She laid down and turned so that she was facing both Tally and Raelle. Blue met green as they raised they laced their hands on top of the covers over Tally.
Raelle moved to kiss her wife on the forehead before placing one on Tally’s too at her groans of ‘yuck!” She chuckled out, “Goodnight loves,” before lowering her head to her pillow.
Scylla kissed over Raelle’s on Tally’s head, “Goodnight my darlings.”
Tally let out a yawn, “Goodnight Rae, goodnight mama.”
Scylla’s and Raelle’s heads bolted up and met each other's shocked expressions. Raelle had already been deemed Rae long ago, but Scylla had always just been ‘Scylla.’ This was the first time that Tally had called her any different.
Raelle gave that little smirk of hers and mouthed ‘I love you,’ as a tear of happiness leaked from Scylla's eye.
Scylla had no idea that she could love anyone as much as she loved Raelle. That alone had already surpassed expectations. But teaching Tally that past two week, seeing the trust shine in her eyes, feeling their relationship change into this new dynamic...and now hearing her call her mama...it was beyond words.
Placing another kiss on the young girl's crown, Scylla tightened the grip on her laced fingers with her wife, trying to convey her happiness as much as possible, before they both laid their heads back down. With that the three witches drifted off happily into sleep.