fandomhighdorms | The Gardens, Afternoon

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The Gardens, Afternoon

For anyone but Cassidy, the school gardens would probably be a strange place to come visit and wander.

Ok, she probably wasn't the only one, but still.

After the brunch and talking to a couple of friends she had missed dreadfully, she found herself visiting the gardens. How much time had she once spent out here, working in them while she was working too many things over in her mind?

Probably far too many, as most of the males in her Court would point out.

She was alone right now -- though knew that probably wouldn't last for long -- which is why she was on her knees next to some new seedlings, clearing out the weeds and doing whatever else she put her mind to for helping them.

[[OOC: Open garden is open and yes, Cassidy still plays in the dirt, even twenty years later]]

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"You're ridiculously predictable, you know that?"

A tartness in Shira's voice that was the result of Karla's influence combined with her own natural personality, but mellowed by affection.

Cassidy looked up from the seedling she had pricked her finger for and gave a smile.

"If I wasn't predictable, then you and Elle would be organizing search parties already."

"This is true," Shira said with a nod, moving to kneel next to Cassidy. "Speaking of Elle, I may or may not have lost her in the crowd of people at that gathering. Last I saw her, she was tackling Rose Hathaway for a hug."

"Like you, she knows where to find me... well, at least here." She wiped her hands on her skirt and reached out to another seedling. "It's a little strange being back here. I was telling Ender about the first Court and how we're in Dena Nehele now."

And look, her voice barely trembled.

"I still hate that I didn't see it coming," Shira confided. "I still hate that I couldn't protect you from it."

"It doesn't matter that you didn't see it coming," Cassidy said gently. "What mattered was that you were there and you helped me get through it. You didn't let them break me when they broke our Court."

"It matters to me," Shira said quietly. "And I know it matters to Elle, too."

There'd been a little matter of Elle trying to resign from Cassidy's court the first time around when everything had happened.

"You can't force someone to love me, Shira," she shook her head. "And you can't make a Court serve me. Though, I do appreciate that the three of you wanted to."

"You're our friend and our Queen. And in Elle's case, you're also family. Of course we wanted to."

"But because of what they did, I was free to go to Dena Nehele to try to better serve your people. So we owe them for that."

No one was buying that you were thankful for them hurting you, Cassidy. Nice try, though.

Shira was in a good mood, so she was willing to concede a little. "That they broke the Court, yes. But not for them hurting you."

"Everything has a price. That was mine. One day, they will have to pay theirs."

"Elle still wants to kill them all, you know."

"Which is why she's not allowed to get Vae to show her the Winds to get from Dena Nehele to Dharo." Cassidy murmured. "And, if I can convince the rest of the Court to keep me after this first year, they will never come to our territory."

Because Darkness have mercy if they ever did.

If they did, they'd certainly never leave.

"She seems to be settling into Dena Nehele pretty well, though."

Talking about someone other than Cassidy was a surefire way to get Cassidy's mind off things and it always had been.

"She and Gray seem to have taken a liking to each other. When he's not keeping an eye on me in the garden, he's with her."

"They're both... broken inside," Shira said thoughtfully. "Not our kind of broken, but broken nonetheless."

"I'm glad that they're able to be there for each other," Cassidy said, opening a shallow cut in her hand and laying it against the ground. "Being able to make someone happy like that is worth the price."

"She asked me to keep an eye out for the two of them in my webs," Shira said. "For anything that means he gets hurt again."

"Do you think there is reason to be concerned?"

"I haven't seen anything yet," Shira replied. "And I know that's not an indicator of anything, but given everything else, I think it's Elle's way of telling Gray she cares without actually telling him she cares."

"To protect him... or to protect herself from being rejected like she was before she realized we loved her like family?"

Cassidy dripped blood on another plant as she asked.

"Mostly the first, I think," Shira said. "But at the same time, there's still that part of her that's scared of rejection on all sides. So she's trying to protect herself, too, even though she knows that we won't reject her."

"She's our sister before she's a member of our Court," she agreed.

"And she really is your sister. I thought Elle was going to faint when Devra said she was part of your family now."

"She needed a family that loved her. We wanted her."

"She gets that now. But it was a long road for her and I think she's afraid of losing everything she's worked for."

"She will never lose her family or her belonging to this Court. The day that happens is the day that I have returned to the Darkness."

Shira nodded. "She'll get used to that in time."

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The Gardens, Afternoon

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