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How easy it would have been to kill the thing.
That’s what Lilia thinks when the vision of Far Cry Cradle dissipates.
That’s what Lilia thinks when they pick the infant up with trembling fingers, barely keeping themself from hissing at it.
That’s what Lilia thinks when they stare at the piercing eyes of the offspring. They wonder if the Knight of Dawn would look at them with such huge, pleading eyes before his demise.
An eye for an eye. A love for a love.
It would’ve been so much easier.
And yet Lilia blesses the child, to live a long life full of love, to let bygones be bygones.
A person's origin does not define who they are. Maleficia had plenty of time to teach them time and time again.
Silver is much lighter than Malleus had been as a baby. Whereas Malleus would move a few limbs and look around, Silver’s head was deadweight, lolling to one side and staying there without support.
However, unlike Malleus, Silver seemed to process information much quicker. Lilia could almost see the thoughts being processed behind Silver’s eyes. The baby looked around, staring at everything, even giggling as Lilia talked to him.
“Do you even know what I’m saying?”
It gurgles, which might be baby language for ‘no’.
“Regardless, let's get you out of these ruins. There might still be people nearby, so be quiet, understand?”
Even though Lilia did not appreciate the glob of saliva this creature bestowed upon them, at least it was without a sound.
🦇
The jostling of Lilia’s movement causes Silver to wake up. The baby must not have appreciated it, immediately tearing up and wailing.
“It’s alright, home is just up ahead.” Lilia shushes the baby. In fact, they were already approaching the door.
The words seem to upset it further, the wails becoming louder. They’re much different than the shrieks of a younger Malleus, but it’s nothing Lilia can’t endure.
“Hush, child. You are going to cry your throat sore.”
Silver did not damage his throat, but he started choking on his sobs, inconsolable for whatever reason an infant would be.
Why is this creature so difficult? Lilia is starting to wonder if the fairies even wanted this child alive. “I know it's not some dusty old castle, but I’m certain you’ll find the air quality in my home much more breathable.”
Shutting out the cool air, Lilia sends a bit of magic to heat up some water as they relieve themself of their shoes.
Silver hiccuped, just about coming down from his teary fit.
“Satisfied with your crying, now? Good. I’m heating up some rags to wipe your face. Now, what else do you need… Oh— Clothes!”
Lilia sends another flurry of magic to fetch some fabric out of the cupboards and take some thread out of the spinning wheel. They let the magic run its course to stitch the fabric together, a spell they’ve done it enough times by now etched into memory. And who says they don't partake in Briar Valley traditions?
A small tug on their hair pulls Lilia away from the focus. The baby in their arms had claimed a wet fist-full of Lilia’s hair, sucking on the strands on the end.
“Ah, you must be hungry. Is that why you were crying?” They pluck the soggy hair (ugh) from Silver’s mouth. Oddly, it is void of any teeth. No matter, they can make do with liquid nourishment. “I’ll fetch you some nectar. Wait here.”
They place Silver down beside the chair, fetching a jar from the cupboard and slipping out the door. They grew up on flower nectar when they were young, as most fae do. It is high in nutrients and can be found quite easily.
Luckily enough, there were a bunch of flowers by the cottage, so Lilia managed to extract a whole jar of nectar in record time. They made sure to thank the woodland fairies and only extract from a few flowers before moving onto another patch.
It doesn’t surprise Lilia a bit when they catch the sounds of Silver’s cries again, but hey, he needs to learn that Lilia can’t always be by his side.
“I’m here, Silver. Relax, it was only a few minutes. You need to work on being more independent, you know. Now,” Lilia puts down the nectar to trade for the hot water and clean clothes they prepared prior. “Let’s clean your face.”
The baby was just as fussy about bathing just as Malleus had been. Shrieking again when the cloth touched his skin. “Relax, child. It is just water.”
When Silver’s skin turned red in colour though, is when Lilia had stopped. Was the baby in pain? Allergic to water?
Racking their memories for anything about humans, Lilia considers that they don’t like to be cold at night, often huddling around fires for warmth. They never seemed to touch the fire, however.
Was the water too hot, then? They’d already lowered the temperature significantly. This was the around temperature when Malleus would start demanding Lilia to heat it up again.
The cooler temperature changed the demeanour of the child instantly. It tried to suck on the rag just like it did their hair before letting Lilia clean him.
It even blinked slowly a few times, eyelids drooping. It seemed to enjoy the warmth. Goodness, if humans couldn’t withstand these temperatures, how was this poor child going to survive?
“Stay awake, you still need to eat.”
Grabbing a spoon and the jar, they pick it up and hold it to Silver’s mouth. The baby drools on the spoonful before closing its fingers around the spoon. Instead of the spoon, he eats the nectar off its hands, scrunching up its face and not going back for any more.
“You have to eat, Silver. Weren’t you hungry just a moment ago?”
Silver’s breaths hitched. Here we go again…
Another loud wail shatters the silent walls of their cottage. Where does this small creature hide such a voice?
🦇
Lilia swore to themself that if it wasn’t regarding Malleus, they’d never come back.
“General.”
“It’s been centuries, Baul. Call me Lilia.”
“Regardless of circumstance, I will always consider you my general!”
The same old back and forth. Fate was a silly thing, intricately threading souls together no matter how taut they are pulled.
Lilia sighs. They’ll get to a first name basis eventually. “Do as you wish. May I come in?”
“Of course!” Baul jumps, stepping aside rigidly as he always did when Lilia called their troops to attention. Even now, his form is wonderful.
A soldier is beat down and built back up to be a tool. Lilia wonders how many centuries it will take to return to a person again, if it was even possible.
Locking the door as soon as Lilia stepped in, Baul made his way to the kitchen, declaring that tea will be made right away.
His booming voice unsurprisingly startles Silver, who had miraculously been asleep the entire trip. However, as if the child wanted to make up for the silence on their trip, his piercing cries clamoured in increasing volume.
“By the Seven, is that a HU-”
Faster than lightning, Lilia clamps their hand over Baul’s mouth. “Please watch the volume. As you can see, Silver doesn’t appreciate it.”
“With all due respect, General, I don’t appreciate this thing screaming in my house either.”
With a flick of their finger, the curtains close and Lilia gestures to Baul to speak as silently as he can; which may not be very silent, but silent enough amidst Silver’s sobbing.
“Baul, I might require your assistance.”
“I’m already babysitting my grandkids, General, I don’t have room for another.”
Lilia shakes their head. “Your daughter is expecting, and her husband is human. I am at my wits’ end. Silver keeps crying and I don’t know what he wants. Do you have any clue what I should do?”
Baul’s face still scrunches up at the word, but the matter of getting Silver’s cries to stop far overweighs his conflicting emotions. Time wears down the will eventually.
“What have you done?”
“Well, I’ve tried rocking it, clothing it, bundling it, and feeding it. Nothing is working.” Fucking hell. This banshee child was no longer satisfied with gripping their hair, now actively trying to yank it.
“Firstly, you need to mind their temperature. And don’t hold him so tightly. Was the milk too hot or too cold? Humans are fussy about things like that.”
“Eh? Milk?”
They’ve seen humans drink milk from their parent’s teat, but how does one go about producing their own milk? Surely a human must’ve survived without their parent at some point. However, they’re so dependent on a caretaker, it’s hard to figure out.
“What have you been feeding it?!”
“Nectar. It made the most sense. Milk doesn’t carry nearly as many nutrients as nectar does.”
“For fae. Humans can’t survive on nectar!”
Now that they’re thinking, Lilia can’t say they’ve really seen humans extracting nectar. “Where am I going to get milk from? I can’t make my own.”
Baul sends a stream of magic to the cupboards, retrieving a carton of powder. “My grandkids lived on a diet of this milk powder and solids for their early life, but the human should only be able to drink milk right now in terms of development. There might be a few parenting books left over from my daughter’s husband.”
When the tin is held out to them, Lilia can’t explain why their hold on Silver had readjusted. At Baul’s raised expression, Lilia manages a tight smile, accepting the tin, reading the label and committing it to memory. “So it comes in the form of powder. Where did you get this?”
“A nursery store in the west of Briar Valley. It’s close to the Land of Pyroxene. Their trading exports are limited, but if you want to ensure it is completely safe for human babies, then I’d recommend visiting the Land of Pyroxene itself.”
Silver made a snotty noise, coughing in response.
Lilia resigns themself to move their strands of hair away from the place Silver drooled all over. At least bath water would dry, but the sliminess of saliva, Lilia is finding to be extremely unpleasant.
Baul takes a few steps back, a barely concealed expression of disgust on his features. “Keep the powder. My youngest doesn’t need it right now.”
“Ah, your youngest. Is he to hatch soon?”
“Sebek’s development has advanced extremely quickly for his species. I’d give it a few more months.”
Hidden behind the rigid body language, Baul’s scales took on a faint glow of excitement, a reaction Silver had taken a liking to. Lilia’s eyes soften. Despite it all, they believe Baul was always meant to be a parent.
Drifting their eyes onto Silver, Lilia can’t help the guilt sinking into the pits of their heart. Try as they might, can they truly give unconditional love to this baby? Will there ever come a time where they could glow with excitement like Baul does?
Could they even provide this child a steady upbringing, free of prejudice?
And even if they could, who was to say that Silver could even roam the same streets as the fae do? Tensions are still present and wounds from war have only just stopped bleeding.
Lilia’s cottage was the safest place they knew, far from civilization, hard to find, and even harder to breach without their permission.
Of course, this part was non-negotiable, but Silver must be trained in self-defence in case of a hostile encounter.
All at once, Lilia became hyper aware of where they stood. The walls were saturated with magic belonging to the Zigvolt family. This was a normal occurrence, one Lilia never felt was hostile. The Zigvolts always associated with familiarity— and the feeling was still there, however, a new, foreign feeling had come along for the ride. The protection runes were there to keep out intruders, and Lilia was starting to wonder if they and Silver were included in that.
More than anything, the magic from the neighbours’ houses swirled all over the street. Most homes on this ring of land were enforced with silencing charms, this house included. Silver’s presence was muted by a combination of Lilia’s magic and a few charms, but was it enough?
Every lick of what their body perceives to be foreign magic crawled along their skin in fizzles. Lilia’s innate magic wanted to make itself known, clearing the unwanted presence away.
The bubbling of magic came to a halt due to a sniffle from Silver. He was doing just fine a minute ago, why was he about to cry again?
They cradle Silver closer to themselves, bouncing the baby on their hip. “Thank you for your hospitality, Baul. I have tarried long enough. I best bring Silver home.”
“Take care, General. Don’t hesitate to come for assistance.”
They find some irony in the title and ‘asking for assistance’ in the same sentence, pulling a grin out of them. “Not to worry. I’ll be back to give little Sebek my blessings.”
🦇
Popping open the tin, Lilia scrunches up their nose. They've had rations better than this. Were human children truly to survive on this powder and water for months?? If so, this powder concoction best do its job and provide the baby what he needs.
Filling up the milk formula in the cup and letting it cool to around the temperature they bathed Silver with, Lilia sits down with Silver on their lap the best they can, pouring the milk into his mouth.
Even something as simple as drinking milk for survival seemed to be quite a task for Silver. The baby would look to be on the verge of crying while drinking the milk that was to keep it alive. Such fickle creatures.
“No, no, don’t spit it out, Silver. This is food.”
Was living such a chore for this baby? He only further fussed. Lilia put down the cup and held Silver, patting his back.
“What’s wrong this time, Silver? I don’t understand crying. Please communicate in a way I can understand.”
Silver hiccups, calming down the more Lilia pats him. He burps.
“Oh, good job, Silver.”
After a few more moments of patting, Silver wriggles in their hold, an attempt at a kick was made.
“Hm? Do you want to try the milk again?”
To Lilia’s relief, Silver was ready to eat again. With Lilia holding the cup and Silver sort-of, but slowly, drinking. Tedious as it may be, it brought Lilia much relief to see Silver finally eating.
Rolling their head back to rest on the couch, Lilia finally felt the tension in their limbs release. The reprieve hardly lasted a moment, before they diligently snap up, a false alarm of Silver's breath on their skin.
The first rays of dawn stretching over the horizon used to act as an alarm signal to pack up camp and sink back in the shadows. The beams of light were quite harmless, now peaking through the windows and swirling particles of dust dancing around. May the sun always shine over Silver. He will never have to know a day of danger.
"It's hard to understand what you’re trying to tell me, but I do promise to try my best. Grow fast like Sebek and talk a lot, okay? I'll read you plenty of stories so you can communicate whatever concerns or wants you have. I'm not playing these guessing games again. ”
Alas, more parts of Lilia's hair have been claimed yet again. If the tiny spillage of milk from Silver's jostling startled him, the child didn't show it, content with clutching onto the hair as tight as possible and drinking his milk. There goes another soiled shirt.
“You're making me age by the decades, child. At least Malleus was sturdy, he'll be a good teacher for you. And if Sebek hatches soon, you’ll have someone to grow up with. You need all the layers of protection you can get."
With the spare hand not supporting the cup, Lilia pats the head of white hair, combing his fingers through the short strands in a soothing fashion. It has been less than twenty-four hours since their lives have intertwined. A few mistakes today, and probably a thousand more in the near future.
"This will be our life together from now on, Silver,"
To live a long life full of love,
"Ah, how rude of me, I haven't given you my name yet,"
To let bygones be bygones.
"My name is Lilia Vanrouge, nice to meet you."
Sunshine finds shining aurora eyes. Not with tears.
Maybe this time, they might have had a moment of mutual connection.