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To Teo, his mum was always a protector, guardian, the good in the world. She was his first family, his only blood, always stood by his side and believed in him. In a world where heroes existed, she was his.
When she had to ascend to the heavens with the rest of the dioses, he didn't know what to do. It took him weeks before he learnt how to walk the world without knowing his mum would be there to help him if he needed it.
Over a year has passed since then. One of her holidays is coming up and Teo gets to see his mum again.
After the initial grief, Teo has learnt to live without seeing her everyday, or even most days. He knew he had to. It was hard, especially with all the other things he was processing at the time, but it wasn’t impossible.
He still misses her daily. At first, he'd turn to his side and look for her advice only to find Huemac instead. In the temple, he'd enter her room and found it empty. These days, it's more subtle. It's looking at a picture of her a second too long. It's crossing days on the calendar until her next holiday.
When her holiday arrives and she arrives, early in the morning, Teo runs straight into his mother's arms. Quetzal wraps her wings around her son, embracing him tightly.
"Pajarito," she says tenderly. Her breaths brush against his hair, tickling at his ear. "Have you grown?"
"No, I haven't," Teo replies, chuckling. She asks him that every time, and every time the answer is the same.
She always smells the same, just as she did before. Bird nests, air and seeds. Sol, it feels so nice being with his mum again.
Quetzal ruffles Teo's hair and steps back from the hug, her hands still at the back of his neck. "You always seem so tall."
As they head down from the temple's observatory, they stop at Paloma’s ofrenda. Teo, as always, has prepared a litte something to leave there—two Chupa Chups lollipops, one from him and one from Quetzal. He leaves lollipops for his half-sister weekly. Sometimes, he leaves two, one in Quetzal's name.
Quetzal kneels down and pulls a few feathers from her hair and wings. She leaves them at the ofrenda, right in front of Paloma’s picture Teo has found to put there. Quetzal takes the picture, kisses it and puts it back. She then gets up and stands next to her son.
"Do you think she would’ve liked this?" Teo asks. He never has before, even though he wanted to. He wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do.
"She would’ve loved it. She was scared of being forgotten, you know."
"You would’ve never forgotten her."
"No," Quetzal whispers in response. There's glint of tears in her eyes she doesn’t shed.
•○●○•
Teo and Quetzal have to go through the formalities with Huemac at their side first. The blessings, the speech, the start of the holiday. After those long three and a half hours, they head down to Quetzlan to celebrate with the rest of the citizens.
Teo enjoys dancing with his mum, he always had. She's so relaxed, humming to herself and smiling, head slightly tilted towards the sky. Before, she always closed her eyes, but now, when she returns for one of her holidays, Quetzal always looks around, as if to remember everything around her.
The vendors try giving them their food for free, but both Teo and Quetzal insist on paying. In the end, they have to leave the money on the cash register and walk off. They end up in a park near the main street where the heat of the celebration is, eating sweet corn and cotton candy.
"Mmm, this is good," Quetzal murmurs, bitting into the corn. A bit of its juice drips down her chin. "This is what I miss."
Teo bits into his corn aswell. "This really is good. Maybe you could negotiate with Sol into bringing it with you?"
She snorts and laughs. "Maybe."
They stay in the park for a while, even when they finish the food, lots of people passing by, as Teo fills his mum on his life. Relio, Niya, Xio, the rest of his friends, Huemac, Quetzlan. He talks and she listens and hums in response. Instinctively, he reaches for her hand, interlocking their pinkies. It's a thing they did when he was way younger.
She talks about the heavens. It sounds nice, if you don’t mind being essentially trapped in the stars with a bunch of other dioses, with limited contact with humans and very little to entrain oneself other than the company of other dioses. Teo couldn't do it, but Quetzal doesn't mind it, other than missing her son.
After a while, they resume their walk around Quetzlan and the celebration. They buy drinks (coffee, of course) after another hard battle of making the vendor take the money, and try finding a more secluded spot. Or just talk around as much of the city as possible, so Quetzal could get a taste of it.
They stop to eat at their favourite bakery for a late lunch. The woman owning that place is friends with Huemac, hence why they started coming there, but her pastries are genuinely good. She brings them two free cups of hot chocolate.
When Quetzal tries to push coins into her palm, the woman shakes her head. "It isn't because you're a diosa. It's because of everything you and your son have done for this city. And for Huemac, too. That man was a mess before he came to your temple."
Quetzal, begrudgingly, accepts the paper cups, the beverage in them still steaming, and Teo takes the pastries to their usual table in the corner.
They chew the food in silence, merely enjoying each other's presence. Teo extends his hand and breaks away a bit of his mum's pastry, putting in into his mouth and offering her his pastry to try. As if the two of them haven't tried everything the bakery had to offer already.
"You know, I think Huemac misses you sometimes," Teo says, using a wooden spoon to mix his hot chocolate. "To have someone in charge of him. I mean, he shares responsibility with other people on the council, but he is more experienced than any of them. Everyone looks to him for help. I think he's tried of being the person with the most power."
Quetzal smiles. "Ah, Huemac. Never the one to back out of responsibility. I assume you're the one who causes him the most grief?"
"To be fair, he was my legal guardian until I turned eighteen," Teo says. "And he basically raised me alongside you."
"I wish I could help you both more."
"Eh. You wish."
Quetzal cocks her head to the side. "I think I hear Huemac," she says.
Teo has always been mesmerised by how good his mum's hearing was. Of course, semidioses have enhanced hearing, and Teo, as a son of the diosa of birds, has even better hearing, but his mum's is even better. She always heard things further away or quiter than he could.
After a second or two, Teo can hear Huemac, too. "Yes, he's coming towards here."
It takes a minute, but the priest enters the bakery. He orders and chats with the owner as she makes his order. He takes his pastry and coffee ans sits down next to Quetzal and Teo.
Usually, during holidays, Huemac doesn't have enough free time to spend it with Quetzal or Teo, but today he rearranged his responsibilities so he could. He gave some of the responsibilities to other people on the Quetzlan's council, and simply reduced the things needed to be done.
"It's nice to see you, diosa," Huemac says, repeating the words he said that morning. Formal, as always.
"You too, Huemac."
The conversation continues in a more polite tone. Huemac always kept a professional relationship with Quetzal and that didn't change in the past year. They are close, yes, but he says they are on by far different levels for him not to be professional.
After a while, Quetzal and Teo get up to leave, and Huemac stays chatting with his friend.
"How's school going for you?" Quetzal asks.
"You know. The usual. Still skipping PE." School isn't bad, but with all the responsibilities, it's harder to keep his grades up. Not that he isn't doing in, but biology and chemistry have slipped up.
"If you need a break, or help, just ask, Pajarito, okay?" his mum reminds him, as always.
"I know, I know," he grumbles. He does ask for help, if he needs it. It's not often, but he and Huemac spent a few nights over that chemistry textbook. Both of them hated it equally, but at least Teo had more than sixty percent on the test. "Huemac helped me with chemistry. Relio with biology."
"That's nice."
"Can we not talk about that, though? School's the least interesting part of my day. I've got to show you, we're working on this project on the school's building, decorating it with graffiti," he exclaims, grabbing her wrist. "I'm having Pico and Peri help, too. I'd be lonely, doing all the high places alone."
Quetzal smiles, listening to her son talk.
"We better fly there, it's going to be faster," Teo suggests, looking at his mum.
"Sure."
They take off into the air, cold wind brushing agaisnt their skin. Since the Sunbearer Trials, Teo flew plenty of times, but flying next to his mum is always more enjoyable. Birds are good company, but his mum is better.
•○●○•
In the evening, they return to the temple and watch a movie, only partially paying attention to it. They're sitting on the floor. Teo momentarily falls asleep as his mum gently preens his feathers. Since the apocalypse ended, Relio has been doing it for him, but if his mum's around when he needs it done, she does it, like before.
Quetzal's fingers gently run over Teo's wings when she's done preening them. "I like the colours," she says, quietly.
"Me, too," he replies, in a sleepy tone.
"I'm going to have to leave soon."
Teo positions himself on the carpet to look at Quetzal. "I know. I don’t want you to."
"I don’t want to leave either."
Their conversation happens in gentle, low tones.
"It's nice there, for you, right?"
"Yeah, of course. I just miss you there, that's all."
Teo moves forward and hugs his mum. Warmth is radiating off her skin as she hugs him back. "I miss you, too." He burries his face in the crook of his mum's shoulder.
"We'll see each other soon. My next holiday is in, what, two months?"
"And three days," Teo murmurs.
"Yes. That's soon."
"Never soon enough."
When it's really Quetzal's time to go, Teo doesn't stop hugging her. He clings onto her like a little child, knowing she can't go if he's too close.
"Just a minute longer?" he asks.
She nods.
It's simultaneously the longest and shortest minute in the past months. When it's passed, Teo steps back and his mum is gone for another two months and three days. He is back at looking at pictures a second too long and crossing days off the calendar.