Chapter 69: Chapter 58 – Familial Bonds

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"To say that children are innocent, is in a way true, yet when children are raised by adults who frequently vomited out their hatred towards certain things openly, those very same innocent children often take up the same views, without even properly understanding the whys and hows behind it. Meanwhile, they often have far less reluctance to air out those same views out loud, in public, and the words of children can at times be far more cruel than what adults would let themselves say." - Nec Aarin, The Bone Lord.

Fiachna Mansion, La Fiachna, Theocracy of Vitalica, sixth day of the first week of the second month, year 58 VA.

 

"Good going, Éirynn my dear. You have quite the talent for this," said Aoife while she sat on a comfortable chair, with a blanket draped over her body to counter the winter chill. The cold had felt especially bad for her of late as she grew older, and her health had declined to the point that she had to use her staff as a walking aid these days.

 

Yet none of those would stop her from sitting out in the winter cold while teaching her granddaughter all she could.

 

Éirynn had been born with pure Death affinity, as both her parents were of the same affinity, and she had been learning the art from both Aoife and Kestera. She was especially attracted by Aoife's pets, and had gotten quite close to them as well, as she was sitting on Haon's back while he laid down relaxedly as she practiced her magic.

 

In front of the now sixteen year old girl was a small army, chicken and pig bones, leftover from dinner, that had been in the backyard raised by Éirynn as practice. The girl also practiced her manipulation as she combined the different bones to form a larger bone construct, a chimera made from a multitude of bones that aped a humanoid form.

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Despite her status as one of Ciarran's grandchildren, Éirynn had mostly stayed home and was schooled in the mansion itself after the incident during which her mother was attacked with lethal intent. Between her elven descent, and her practicing Death magic, Éirynn - much like her mother - were amongst the prime targets for those who had nursed a hatred towards those demographics.

 

These days they basically do not leave the mansion without at least Aideen accompanying them, as she was capable of both fending off attackers and keeping them alive if needed, and considering that she already had to ward off two more such attempts, the precaution they took seem warranted.

 

Aideen had stood behind her mother, with a hand on her mother's shoulder, constantly keeping a small flow of healing coursing through Aoife to help her ward off any discomfort she might be feeling, while they watched and looked after Éirynn as she practiced.

 

Kestera was playing the "enemy" for her daughter's training as she too raised a small horde of undead chicken and pigs and set them against Éirynn's fewer but larger bone constructs, and the backyard became a mock battlefield that was both eerie yet amusing to look at.

 

Bony talons and featherless wings clashed against sturdier constructs made from the bones of many combined. One side held a strong advantage in quality, the other in quantity, as each strived to outdo the other and one undead after another fell and broke apart into their constituent bones.

 

Only when the final bone construct Éirynn made fell at last, and crushed the last few of Kestera's beneath it - she could have had her undead dodge it, but didn't for the same reason she had toned down her power since it was all to train her own daughter - did the "battle", if it could be called such, come to an end.

 

Ceathair came with three brooms held in his six arms, and swept the scattered bones together into a neat pile at the corner of the backyard, where Éirynn could use them again when she needed to practice later.

 

After the practice session was finished, Aoife rose from her seat, the blanket still draped around her body, and slowly walked into the mansion while she used her staff as a walking stick. Aideen helped hold her aging mother's hand as she walked in, while Kestera and Éirynn followed behind them.

 

Inside they found Ciarran sitting across the table from Maebh, as he was teaching her about light magic. He stopped the lesson for a moment and got up to brace his wife of many decades, before he helped pull a chair for her to sit down on.

 

Aoife accepted his help with a sad smile. She was sad that she actually needed the help she had been receiving of late due to her growing weaker as she aged, yet also touched at the care her family had always given her in all the years they've been together.

 

Akeshia then came out from the kitchen with some freshly cooked stew, while Diarmuid helped her carry the food - enough to feed the whole family - to the table.

 

When Aideen looked at her brother the contrast between her own unaging self and her family became more obvious, as by now Diarmuid was nearly fifty years of age, and a good part of his hair had turned gray with age, as wrinkles formed on his face. Meanwhile, Aideen still looked young enough to have been her brother's daughter instead.

 

Aideen dreaded her next few decades, as she knew what was coming, the inevitable parting she would experience from the family that loved and accepted her for all that she is. She wondered how she would go through those times, and the times ahead of it as well, as grandpa Aarin had suggested that she might well be pretty much immortal like him - an argument she had not seen anything that would disprove it so far - which would have meant she would have ages to look forward to.

 

She honestly does not know how she would go through those times on her own, but maybe grandpa Aarin might be able to give her a clue, as he had lived through ages himself after all. Something to ask about the next time she visited him.

 

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