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Swirling winds outside seemed to cause the worn down cabin to shudder and creak in its attempted resistance. Gusts sang through the night air, almost deafening in their intensity. A wintry draft made its way inside, through the small fractures and edges of their so-called home. Helen was buried underneath layers of blankets and bed sheets. Aline was sound asleep next to her, her girlfriend’s body heat providing some form of natural warmth. The stormy bluster of the winds had become a familiar sound; and the cold air had never prevented Helen from a night’s rest before… nor did it now. Something felt amiss and whatever it was, she was determined to set it right.
Somewhere in the darkness, barely audible in the night breeze, came a sound Helen did not recognize. Sheets were pushed back slowly as Aline began to stir beside her. There was rustling, followed by a deep sigh, and then a mess of dark hair rose from the bed.
“I can hear you thinking,” Aline’s voice was still dripping with sleep.
The room was so dimly lit that Helen could barely make out the woman lying next to her. Her eyes opened further as her shadowhunter instincts took over and she glanced up to find Aline sitting, propped up against their headboard, staring at the half-faerie.
“What time is it?” Aline’s question was left unanswered.
Covers were thrown off, and Helen twisted her body until her legs were hanging off the side of the mattress, and she sat arrow straight at the edge of the bed.
“By the Angel, where do you think you’re going?” Drowsy eyes shot Helen a glare.
“I heard something outside, I’m just going to check it out,” Helen answered, earning a groan in response.
She heard Aline mumble incoherently about stubborn Blackthorns before her slim frame had turned back around and miraculously drifted swiftly back to sleep.
Helen inhaled sharply when her bare feet connected with the icy floor. The weapons’ chest they kept in the bedroom was waiting for her at the foot of their bed. The selection was not as vast as the one available at the institute, but it had suited the two just fine: there was hardly a need for extensive weaponry in isolation. The flaxen shadowhunter reached inside to pull out one seraph blade and an arm sheath that held an adamas dagger. A routine check of the perimeter did not usually call for heavy artillery. She fastened the sheath unto her left upper arm, and the thigh holster that now contained her blade was secured next. She then proceeded to slip on her knee-high black combat boots. The wool leggings and long sleeve t-shirt she had went to bed with would not keep her properly warm but anymore layers would only hinder her dexterity. Finally, Helen threw her mob of wild curls into a ponytail at the top of her head. Just as she had finished wrapping the hair tie around her golden locks, her ears caught the sound of rustling from just outside. It was enough to send her jumping into action.
Helen had searched the entire perimeter around the house to no avail. She was so certain she would find something that she was almost disappointed that she hadn’t. She was now back inside shaking out her arms and legs trying to get feeling back into her frozen limbs. It was no use, it was just as cold inside the house as it was out in the woods. If she had brought her stele, the nephilim would have applied several thermis runes to her body but, much to her dismay, Helen had left the darn thing on her nightstand. With the extreme lack of use for it, Helen had grown careless in forgetting to bring it with her wherever she went. The young girl cursed exasperatedly under her breath as she made a move to return to bed and the warmth of her girlfriend sleeping beside her.
A pale hand opened the door to her bedroom and she entered the small space to find her Aline, not asleep in bed, but waiting up for her at their small writing desk. Aline sat upon the desk’s accompanying metal chair with a warm cup of tea in her hand. Helen noticed the liquid was still letting off steam in the cold air. The smell of mint and honey wafted through the small enclosed space of their bedroom. Aline rose from her seat and placed the cup she was carrying gently in Helen’s hands. Helen gave her a grateful smile and was met with a kind look in return. Aline’s eyes held Helen’s with a discerning stare. Helen knew they saw through her forced façade. Still, she pretended as if her behavior this night, and the several before, had been completely normal.
“The wards keep out any kind of threat,” Aline stated factually.
“You can go out there every night,” she sounded sympathetic now, “but you’re not going to find what it is you’re looking for.”
Sea green eyes drifted from the face of her beloved, to the warm drink now securely grasped in her hands.
“I miss them,” Helen admitted.
Aline didn’t have to ask for clarification, “I know.”
She closed whatever minute gap stood between them and placed her forehead against Helen’s, her right hand coming to rest upon the elder girl’s left cheek.
Helen’s vision began to blur as small tears began to gather in her eyes. Her now shaking fingers lost grip of the cup she held onto. As if it were her last line of defense, when it crashed into tiny porcelain droplets against the floor, she could no longer hold back her emotion. The tears flowed as freely as the liquid now running across their floorboards.
Aline pulled her into a tight hug. “It’s okay,” she whispered.
Helen wasn’t sure if she meant it was okay for her to miss her family or that it was okay to cry. Maybe, she had meant both.
“I’m here,” her love continued to console her until her breathing had returned, from short and ragged gulps, to calmer breaths.
“I love you,” Aline breathed out against her neck.
And it was enough. Enough for Helen to realize that while she would always ache to see her brothers and sisters the longer they were parted, she still had her family. Aline was here. And that was everything.
There would never be enough words in the human language to describe how much Aline meant to her. For now, all Helen could do to show her appreciation was to say, “Thank you.”
And though she hadn’t elaborated, Helen knew Aline understood what those words had meant.
Thank you for being here, thank you for loving me.