Chapter 131: 130. Equivocated

"I'm sorry mother," I sighed. "I just think the less you know about my plans the better."

Mother frowned, "Why? What have you to gain by keeping me in the dark?"

I shook my head, "If you knew what I was up to, it could be used against you. This way I'm keeping you and the clann out of it. This is just me, just the Vale sept doing things without your knowledge or approval."

After a moment I added, "It's for your own protection."

Me and the rest of my little sept spent yesterday planning and organizing. And today the seven of us gathered up all the gear and supplies we'd need and got it all packed and ready to go. Tomorrow we'd all be up before dawn. Me and the twins would teleport the seven of us to the waypoint in the south woods, and from there I'd handle the rest of the transportation details.

Now the twins and I were back in my parents' private chambers for one final meal with my folks.

As usual mom and I were sitting across from each other at either end of the table. Kelly and Keira were on either side facing each other, with Kelly to my left and Keira to my right. And my dad sat at my mom's right, next to Kelly.

Another excellent meal had been served, the five of us were eating as we discussed the matters at hand. Though at the moment it was mostly me and my mom doing the talking.

She frowned at me and shook her head, "Tegan you murdered one of the king's knights in the courtyard in full view of dozens of guards and staff. And you sent the other one home in chains with something of an ultimatum for the king. Colm will report that your father and I disobeyed direct royal orders, that we sheltered you and kept you hidden from the knights. I think there's not much point now in trying to claim that we're not involved."

I sighed when she mentioned the knight. It still bothered me to think about what I did to Sir Niall. I knew it had to be done though, and he certainly made it easy for me. I also hadn't forgotten him threatening to put my family and friends' heads on pikes, which was a mental image I really could have done without.

My attention returned to the present and I finally replied to my mother, "I still don't want to say too much. We're going to meet the king on neutral ground. I'm going to offer him a peaceful option, but I don't think he'll take it. After that... We'll see how it all plays out."

She continued frowning, then stated "I could order Siobhan to tell me what it is you're up to. where you're all going."

That gave me pause as I had to stop and think what the captain might do in that case.

After a few moments I had to admit, "That might actually work. I honestly don't know where her loyalties lie. I don't even know why she wanted to accompany me, so she might still regard you as outranking me in her own personal hierarchy."

My mother gave me another worried look, "Tegan do you know how foolish that sounds? You're about to head off into battle of some sort, and you don't know if you can trust your captain? What of the rest of your little band? Do you know if you can trust any of them?"

She glanced at the twins and added, "Present company excepted, of course."

Mother focused on me again and asked "What about the pixie? You don't know anything about their kind, you have no idea if it's loyal to you or the king or anyone else."

I sighed, "I know Siobhan's loyal to the clann. And I know Padraig and Laoise are loyal. And not that I doubt Siobhan at all, but I also know she wouldn't jeopardize her sister by betraying me. As for Merryweather, I've never asked. I assume they're loyal to their troop and their family. I know they're not loyal to the king, that's good enough for me."

Kelly added, "And as you already know m'lady, Keira and I are with Tegan a hundred percent."

My dad finally spoke up, "You mentioned a peaceful option Tegan. Can you tell us about that?"

"Yeah, I guess." I took a moment to have some juice, then answered "I'm going to apologize to him for my behaviour. For acting disrespectful and all that. If he listens, I'll try and point out it's a cultural thing, like I was raised with really different values and stuff? I'm also going to explain that my actions were all my own, that nothing I've done was approved or whatever by you two or our clann. Then I'm going to ask him to drop all the charges, to agree to leave me and Kelly and Keira alone, along with you two and all of Clann Brádaigh."

Dad listened, then commented "I can see why you don't think the king will go for that. What if he counter-offers? Like, offers to drop the charges if you go ahead with an arranged marriage, or asks you to accompany him back to his palace?"

I shook my head, "Not going to do it. I wouldn't rule out ever visiting his palace but I'm not going to agree to anything right now. And I'm not interested in marrying someone I don't know."

After a moment I pointed out, "I get that he sort of made a concession offering me Princess Áine, but what are the odds she's gay? If she's straight, then forcing her to marry me is as bad as trying to force me to marry a man. I mean, I think arranged marriages are wrong regardless, but that would be even worse. He's just using her as a pawn or whatever."

"I'd be surprised if the king took that into consideration," my mother pointed out. "As I explained to you once Tegan, arranged marriages between noble houses are almost always about securing an heir. Forming or cementing an alliance between houses would be the other main reason of course. Offering you his daughter was a significant sacrifice on King Cathal's part. His daughter would have been a very valuable bargaining chip he could have offered any other noble family with an unwed son."

That brought a frown to my face and I sighed, "I guess. I mean, I get that it's a big deal for him to make that offer? But that's not really addressing the problem. We're not bargaining chips. Me, Áine, and my baby sister. We're people. We're not pawns to be played or traded for favours or points or whatever."

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Before mom could respond I added, "And yes I know that's 'how it is' here or whatever. That's the way you and the king and Áine were raised, and I'm sure that's how you plan on raising my sister. That doesn't make it right though. I still don't get how you can't see that. You got to marry for love, but you would have denied me that option."

I hadn't forgotten she nearly arranged my marriage to Aodhan Ceallaigh. If he hadn't been killed as part of Aengus and Eamon's scheming, I'd have been expected to take the guy as a husband. For a moment I wondered how much compensation Oisín would have demanded for his son after I'd got through with him.

"And you think you're going to change all that?" mom asked in a skeptical voice. "Even if you defeat the king, you're not going to convince all of Otherworld to change what's been tradition for thousands of years."

I sighed but kept quiet on that point. Thousands of years might just mean four or five generations, but I didn't want to get into that argument with my parents. I already knew the fae had a huge blind-spot when it came to our own history. Heck I even knew Saoirse wasn't part of any arranged marriage. She was out there figuring out her own destiny.

I had a feeling my mother didn't even know that story. She'd told me a lot about Taralynn, but she'd said almost nothing about her own mother. And she'd never said a word about her own great-grandmother. I realized she might not even know Saoirse's name, or anything else about her.

Then it struck me, that was actually another odd thing about our family. In addition to the purple hair and me and my mom being so small, at least the last two generations never knew their grandparents. I never met Aisling, and my mother never met Taralynn. It seemed like more than just bad luck, considering fae lived so long. I started to wonder if Aisling ever knew Saoirse, or if Taralynn's mother died before Aisling was born. I had no idea where I could find out though, if that sort of thing was written down someplace.

"Babe?" Kelly's voice brought me back to the dining table.

I blinked and looked around, then blushed, "Sorry, I got lost in thought for a bit there."

Both my girlfriends smiled, and Keira looked like she wanted to make a witty comment. My mother wasn't looking as amused, and I think Keira knew it wasn't a good time to make jokes so she stayed quiet.

My mom repeated herself, "I said Tegan, it's going to take a lot more than defeating the king to change traditions that are thousands of years old. And you know even if you do kill him you'll still have to contend with his son."

I sighed, "Ok nobody is talking about killing the king. That's some kind of high treason stuff there. I don't know where you got that idea mom but you shouldn't say stuff like that."

She gave me a hard look but I think she understood, I didn't want to discuss this with her and dad. I wanted to keep them out of it and separated from it.

Dad asked, "Will you at least tell us where you're going?"

I shook my head, "No. I'm sure we'll have some long conversations afterwards, when it's all over and we're back home. That should be in ten days or less. Maybe two weeks at the most? I keep telling you two, I want to keep you both out of it, as far away from this stuff as possible."

Mom just sighed and shook her head, but it seemed she'd run out of arguments.

In an attempt to change the subject, I asked "Have you two been thinking about names yet, for my little sister? Got any ideas what you're going to call her?"

My parents both shook their heads as mom replied "No Tegan. I think it's bad luck to name a child before they're born."

"Oh, sorry," I apologized. "On Earth I think it's kind of a thing, like some parents spend all kinds of time thinking about names, coming up with options and stuff."

"Assuming you survive your confrontation with the king," mom asked, "Will the three of you stay here and wait till she's born, so you can meet your sister?"

I thought for a few moments, then shook my head "No. That's about a month and a half away. Once we've resolved things here the three of us need to return to Earth and take care of the problems there. But after that, we'll come back. We'll make sure we're here for Lughnasadh, and we can come a little early. So assuming little sis is on schedule, we'll be here to meet her."

"Assuming that's ok with you two?" I added, as I glanced back and forth at my girlfriends.

Keira nodded, "Works for me."

"Same here," Kelly agreed.

Mother nodded, "Very well Tegan."

That was the end of the difficult conversations, and the five of us finished our meal in relative peace. Then the twins and I bid my parents a good night, and my folks wished us all good luck for tomorrow and for our meeting with the king.

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