Chapter Text
After the wedding ceremony and also the pictures with the entire bridal party, Dick went to the main ballroom to greet guests, while Tim and Bruce would be greeting guests outside, who were not invited to the reception. Dick’s gala smile was firmly fixed on his face. He really wanted a drink, but was resisting the urge to get proper drunk at the main reception….he would have a few drinks, sure, but would save the heavier drinking for later.
Dick had been greeting people on automatic but refocused when he was greeted in Yiddish, recognizing Aunt Ruth, one of the many aunts from the extended Kane Family. While Grandma Martha only had the one sibling, Robert Kane, her father had like a dozen siblings, some of whom may or may not have been babies smuggled over and adopted into the family to escape the holocaust. So, there were many aunts and cousins in the extended Kane family, and Dick couldn’t keep track of the specific family tree, simply regarding any such individuals at least 1 generation older than him as Aunts.
Dick politely greeted her back in Yiddish, though he was a bit rusty with the language. He had learned Hebrew and Yiddish after Bruce had taken him in, partially because he had a Bar Mitzvah, and partially because he was generally a quick study with languages and many of the extended Kane family relatives liked to speak Yiddish among family. The extended family had been somewhat more involved when Dick was first taken in by Bruce, with them worrying that Bruce did not know how to care for a child and insisting on giving him advice; it was overwhelming at times, but Dick knew it came from a place of love and care.
Aunt Ruth was speaking to him, “I have not been properly introduced to Bruce’s newest son, Damian, is it? The boy is approaching 13, yes? Are you planning for him to have a Bar Mitzvah? Has he started learning Hebrew yet?”
“Er, we have not specifically discussed it, not that I’m aware of, at least. Damian speaks multiple languages and is a quick study. I’ll be sure to bring it up to Bruce,” Dick replied awkwardly and somewhat hesitantly as he recalled the Yiddish words.
“I would certainly hope that Martha’s grandson gets a Bar Mitzvah,” Aunt Ruth said pointedly, with the kind of emphasis that gave Dick the impression she felt it was extra important since Damian is Bruce’s biological child.
Dick’s favorite Kane Aunt, Aunt Esma, came to the rescue, also speaking Yiddish, “Lay off the lad, the reminder may be helpful but it is their choice what they do. Bruce has many sons, Tim and Dick both had Bar Mitzvah’s, it is not like they are forgetting our culture.”
“Yes, but Damian is the first-,” Ruth started.
Esma cut her off sharply, “I know you were not about to imply that his other sons are less for having been adopted, not in our family, where adopted children are just as much ours as any blood child.”
Ruth looked like she’d been chided by an elder, which, well, she kind of was. While Ruth was in her 60’s, Aunt Esma was 80, a generation older than Ruth, and a direct survivor of the holocaust.
One of the other aunts encouraged Ruth to take their seats, that conversation now over. Aunt Esma came over to greet Dick properly, using a Romani term of endearment for family.
“It’s good to see you,” Dick said quietly in Romani as he pulled her into a hug.
When Dick was a child after his parent’s deaths and expressed feeling separated from his parent’s culture, Bruce had sought to help him reconnect with that culture, and Dick had reluctantly admitted to being Romani after Bruce had opened up about his own Jewish heritage. A few weeks later, Bruce had invited over his extended aunts to meet Dick for the first time, and specifically introduced him to Aunt Esma, who was Romani.
Esma had become orphaned as young child in a concentration camp during the holocaust. She had been taken under the protective wing of a young Jewish woman, who’d had a daughter around Esma’s age whom she’d previously smuggled to safety in America, who had been adopted into the Kane family. Once they were freed, they’d come to America, where Esma’s adoptive mother was reunited with her daughter and the two of them became adopted into the Kane family. Esma became Jewish like her new family, but she still held onto her Romani culture as much as she could, though it was hard with it being a closed culture.
Anyways, Dick had bonded with Esma about their shared cultural origin and being orphaned from their culture with their parents’ deaths. She visited somewhat regularly for tea time, and the two of them would talk in Romani, which Dick enjoyed the opportunity to speak his native language once more. She’d told him more about her own personal story as he’d grown and did her best to keep him connected with their culture.
They went outside the main ballroom to a more private hallway to chat and catch up a bit. In English he called her Aunt Esma, but in Romani, he called her the word for grandmother, as she called him grandson, because that’s what they became to eachother, with their shared cultural connection.
They caught up for a few minutes, both enjoying the opportunity to talk in their own language. She fussed over him a bit, concern clear in her voice, especially when she asked how he was feeling after what happened to Bludhaven. He made clear he did not wish to discuss it and they shifted to brighter topics. It had been years since they had spoken properly, he hadn’t seen her since he’d publicly came out as bisexual, and she worked in a reassurance that he was accepted and that she was proud of him for being visible and being a role model to so many.
“You’re gonna make me cry,” Dick admitted, feeling emotional as he accepted another hug from her.
“Dry your tears, child, you’ve grown into such a good young man. Though, let us not go so long without talking again, hmm?” Esma said.
“Yeah, we should….definitely try to talk more, life just gets so busy, especially recently, it feels like,” Dick agreed.
He gave her one last hug before they returned to the ballroom. Esma went to join the other Kane relatives at their table and then Dick was confronted by Talia, who spoke to him in Arabic.
“Who are they? I could not understand your conversation with those old women but I heard my son’s name, what interest do they have in my son?” Talia said firmly. Huh, he was kind of surprised that she evidently didn’t speak Yiddish.
“They are Bruce’s Aunts, from his mother’s family, they are interested in Damian as Bruce’s son and Martha’s grandson, because they are family and they care,” Dick explained politely.
“Bruce’s aunts? Then why is one of them a retired assassin?” Talia asked, switching slightly to the league’s dialect, her voice low.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Dick asked, genuinely surprised.
“The one with the green broach, I recognize her, they called her Belladonna, because of how many Nazi’s she poisoned. She’s also a skilled sniper, was with the French squad of women’s resistance fighters. I didn’t know she was still alive,” Talia explained quietly.
That was….interesting. Dick realized the aunt Talia had indicated was Aunt Ira, who was in her 90’s. Which….Dick had always gotten the impression that Ira knew more than she let on and he’d long suspected she secretly knew about Bruce’s activities as Batman, though she’d never said anything to confirm her knowledge.
“Huh, well…..Alfred did say that B gets his intensity and competence from his mother’s side of the family. The Kanes are Jewish, it makes sense that she would target those who targeted her and her family, I do not find this concerning,” Dick said, still speaking Arabic. His polylinguacy was certainly getting a workout today.
Dick noticed Aunt Ira had noticed their discussion and was approaching them slowly, walking with her cane.
Aunt Ira spoke in Yiddish, “Dick, dear, who is this? I thought I heard….were you discussing me?”
Dick replied in the same language, “Hi Auntie, this is Talia, she is Damian’s mother.”
Aunt Ira switched to speaking Arabic; right, he’d forgotten she spoke like a lot of languages. “Talia of….Nanda Parbat, is it? I believe I met your father once, I told him to fuck off.”
“And you’re alive?” Talia replied questioningly.
“Hmm, I recall him commenting that I was too interesting to bother killing,” Ira mused, “I’d….heard rumors of your father’s permanent demise?”
“Accurate,” Talia replied simply.
“Good for you, your recent environmentalist work is certainly a step in the right direction,” Ira commented.
“Does Bruce know who you are?” Talia asked.
“He hasn’t mentioned it to me if he does. The better question is if he knows the truth of who you are, considering you are evidently the mother of his child,” Ira said pointedly.
“Yes, Bruce is well aware of my….family’s business. There’s a reason he has complete custody,” Talia acknowledged.
“Hmm, well, I trust you know how to keep matters….discreet,” Ira said before continuing in English, “Well, have a nice day, I’d best sit back down before these old bones get to aching.”
Dick vaguely wondered if Alfred knew about Aunt Ira.