[Aiden]

Things had gone rather well with Rioghain, Aiden thought. After the initial greetings, they'd spent most of the time simply drinking whiskey and talking about the past year. During the conversation, Aiden told Rioghain that he'd worked in the Guard, and that his and Maaike's investigations of Thanatos had driven them to exile from New Alexandria. At one point, Maaike briefly mentioned a name—Ashton—in connection with Thanatos. The Sullivans had shared a peculiar look when the name was mentioned, though Aiden couldn't guess why. They even spoke about their bounties as well as the stranger in Greenview—if he and Maaike were going to stay in the territories, Aiden wanted to provide full disclosure. While Rioghain seemed rightfully worried about the clan's exposure to risk, the worry was overshadowed by the leader's outrage when he heard about the wolfsbane and the therian slaves near Hesia. Eventually, Rioghain welcomed Maaike back into the territories and said that Aiden was free to hang around as well.

Either Ellery was buzzed from the whiskey or was naturally talkative, Aiden benefitted from the elder's tidbits of information as Ellery walked him through the camp. Their clan's migration covered over a hundred miles. The clan usually settled in places for up to half a year at most, and scouts such as Ronan patrolled a wide perimiter around camp. While most families had set up their tents near Rioghain's and the communal tent, a couple families had opted for more seclusion and constructed clusters of shelters a little further off. Ellery and Dioghna—Maaike's grandmother—lived in one such cluster. Sammy was probably there.

Aiden hoped he could catch a private conversation with Maaike sometime later. The questions were nearly burning on his tongue, and he still remembered how she'd omitted mentioning Sammy to him for years. At least the initial punch of deception had faded. There were too many distractions for him to think too much about anything. As they finished introductions with one of the scouts, Aiden shifted their bags to his other shoulder before continuing the trek.

As Ellery began talking about trade with neighboring nymph communes, Aiden heard a burst of laughter in the otherwise quiet trail, and he turned his head to look for the source.

[Maaike]

OOC: I'm loving your camp lore, Joyness. />

Ellery had taken Aiden under his wing, leaving Maaike to spend a few much-needed minutes with her baby boy. As soon as she reached her parents' tent where Sammy normally stayed (apparently, he'd been sleeping over at Matt's family's tent a bit now that he was beginning to come out of his shell), Maaike was enveloped in a hug and her mother's comforting scent. Maaike immediately burrowed into her mother's embrace, sagging under the sudden presence of all the stress and worry that had been clawing at her for so many months. She needed to have a talk with Aiden, and an entirely separate conversation with her parents, but just for now, just for one minute, she let her mom bear the burden for her.

And then Niamh opened her Xanth-damned mouth and ruined it all by saying, “I like your handsome young man.”

Maaike pulled away and scowled. What was with this entire clan thinking she and Aiden were together? First Ronan with his suspicious looks, then Sammy's embarrassing questions, and Ellery's weirdness (though Gramps could be weird on his good days, so he probably didn't mean anything by it) and now Niamh? “Mooooom. Not you, too.” Yes, okay, Maaike would confess to having a few dreams where Aiden was concerned—long-term stuff like settling down and giving Sammy an actual family instead of the poor excuse Ashton had been—but that was all they were. Dreams. Aiden was a great guy, but Maaike had lied to him. They'd started out on opposite sides of the law, and despite Aiden's current disenfranchisement with his fellow guards, he was still a law enforcer where she... really wasn't. They were both on the side of good, but Maaike was pretty sure that, once they'd dealt with Thanatos and got Aiden his job back, they'd be back to being reluctant allies instead of... whatever the heck they were now. She honestly couldn't see a guy as good and law-abiding as Aiden just turning a blind eye to her shenanigans, no matter how good a reason she had for them, and definitely not if they were living under the same roof.

“Oh, relax.” Niamh patted Maaike's hair, plucking a leaf from the frazzled length. Maaike could see the unspoken words in her mother's judging face, 'you need a hair cut, girl'. She stubbornly pressed her lips together and refused to acknowledge that, in this case, Niamh was right. Running through a forest with bounty hunters on your tail would do that to you. “He is handsome, though.”

Maaike giggled. She couldn't help herself. It didn't occur to her to ask how Niamh knew that. The Nymph had probably been spying on them from the trees or something. Maybe the trees had even told her. “Oh, Mom. You have no idea.”

“No, I think I do.” Niamh tipped her chin, brown eyes fixed on a point over Maaike's shoulder. Maaike turned to see Aiden and Ellery coming towards them and blushed furiously. Blushed! Because whenever she came home, she turned into a child, apparently. “I never thought I'd say this after that fiasco with Ashton, but you actually do have good taste in men.” Niamh fixed Maaike with a sharp gaze, then. “Has he hit you?”

“Mom!” Maaike gaped, voice shrill enough to scatter birds and monkeys from the branches overhead. “No! Aiden would never—”

Niamh didn't look completely convinced, but at least she dropped the line of questioning. That may have had more to do with the fact that Ellery was raising his voice as they approached, though.

“Oi, Niamh. I thought we agreed I get dibs on tormenting her this time?”

Maaike blinked at Aiden, flapping her hands in a dramatic 'pleaaaaaase save me from my family' gesture she hadn't pulled since before her first Rite. “Mom. Gramps. I hate you both. Aiden! How do you feel about fleeing to Hornshead instead?”

[Aiden]

The bubbling laughter had been from a dark-haired woman. The basket in her arms had been filled abundantly with herbs that threatened to fall out as she strolled toward them. “Is Maaike finally back? It's been too long since I've seen that girl!” Ellery quickly introduced Aiden to Deana from a neighboring house, and they chatted briefly about Maaike and the meeting with Rioghain. After the woman bade her goodbyes (with promises to talk again after the family reunion), Aiden snuck a quick glance toward Maaike.

She had approached one of the nearby tents to chat with a smiling woman. Slender and elegantly dressed in a light blue dress, this feminine version of Maaike could have almost passed as her elder sister. As the woman tilted her chin and matched her gaze to Aiden's, Aiden immediately felt as if he were being taken apart and profiled. Her gaze was fiercely maternal, and Aiden had to wonder what she could have said to Maaike to make the younger woman squeak loud enough to startle the surrounding fauna.

The combined presence of Maaike's mother and grandfather had seemingly taken years off of Maaike, and Aiden was both amused and surprised to see the pink blush on the therian's face as she flapped her arms. At the mention of Hornshead, Aiden bit back a laugh as he responded, “But we just met!” Realizing that the woman was Maaike's mom, Aiden reflexively broke out of his slouch and was instantly conscious about the dirt on his clothes. He enxtended a hand toward Niamh in greeting. “Aiden Roy. I...ah, work with your daughter.”

[Maaike]

Maaike and Niamh pulled the exact same face at the exact same time (Maaike because she didn't like the spoiled princess her family brought out in her, and Niamh because her daughter was threatening to leave yet again), then caught each other in the act and burst out laughing. Ellery's eyebrows disappeared into his receding hairline, bushes of salt and pepper waggling as his forehead furrowed. He pursed his wrinkled lips in an exaggerated pout as Maaike leaned heavily into her mother's shoulder. Niamh was shorter and thinner, but braced easily into the extra weight and reached up to brush hair out of her daughter's eyes.

“I've missed you, agapi.” Niamh spoke into the top of Maaike's head but didn't take her eyes off Aiden, a mistrustful shadow falling across her face.

“Me too, mom.” Maaike straightened, tension cutting across her shoulders. “You know I'd come home more often if I could.” It was an old argument, one that neither of them dared entertain for long. Niamh knew that Maaike would run for good — and take Sammy with her if she had to — if she had to choose between her old life and new. She loved her family and her clan but too much had gone between for her to go back to how things used to be. She wasn't the same naive forest girl Ashton met, hooked and reeled in. She'd spent too much time training and honing her skills and traipsing through the seedy underbelly of Elysia's "civilised" world looking for a cause to just give it all up now. So Niamh bit her tongue, mostly, and let the unspoken things fester until one or the other could stay silent no longer. Then they'd hug and make up, after their shouts had disturbed the forest and the anger was sated, and bury the hatchet for another day.

Maaike was hoping this visit wasn't going to be one of those, but Aiden's presence had thrown her entire clan into disarray (though they hid it well enough behind the veneer of manners). They knew Maaike would never allow herself to be coerced into endangering her son or her family, so they didn't fear him in that respect. But they also knew she had never trusted anyone enough to bring them home with her — even Graeme didn't know the exact location of her clan's territory, only directions to a rendezvous point nearby just in case he needed to contact her in an emergency — so they were wary of this man who had somehow won her respect.

“So I gather,” Niamh finally answered, studying Aiden head to toe as if she could read his entire existence by the state of his clothes alone. (She couldn't, but she was very good at making people — child Maaike, for instance — think she could.) “Maaike didn't say what clan you're from?” And ohhh, clever. Niahm made it a question, the tilt of her slender eyebrows and the tip of her head made to look inquisitive and curious when really she wanted to know exactly who they'd let into her clan's territory, who they would have to contend with if this went south and Aiden wound up dead.

Maaike hissed, deliberately separating herself from the comforting huddle of her mother's arms and planting her feet squarely at Aiden's side, the message silent but clear. Aiden could answer whatever questions he liked, but Maaike wouldn't stand for him being threatened.

[Aiden]

Although she wrapped her daughter into a hug, Niamh's wariness was blatant as she glanced at Aiden over her daughter's shoulder. The look conveyed uneasiness and sadness, and it made Niamh almost seem fragile in that moment, especially after Maaike apologized for her infrequent visits. As if suddenly aware of that vulnerability, Niamh tilted her chin defiantly and her expression became suddenly protective. There was mistrust in her eyes as she looked him up and down. Feeling as if the nymph were judging his very soul, and uncomfortably aware that she was not shaking his hand, Aiden lowered his hand to his side.

“Maaike didn't say what clan you're from?”

The question seemed pleasant enough, but Aiden caught a hint of hostility beyond Niamh's otherwise guileless expression. It triggered warning bells and made him keenly aware of Niamh, Ellery, and any potential escape routes should he say something wrong to Maaike's mother (Xanth forbid). He was too much of a city kid to understand the nuances behind the question, but he recognized that there was something about it. Mindful of his body language, Aiden maintained a tall stance and clasped his hands in front as if he were speaking to the Captain of the Guard. Courteous respect, but not to be confused with weakness.

Grateful for Maaike's presence beside him, he responded simply with, “my family was from clan Delaney, in southwest Dardanos.” Though he'd had an urban upbringing, Aiden had enough distant cousins and family reunions to know his roots. Technically, Grandpa Ralph had been the last family member to be truly part of the clan...but trade across Espur's channels became too enticing for him to stay.

((Psst! Link to clan info. I know we're on indefinite wiki hiatus but thought I'd throw it out there as clan background.))

[Maaike]

Niamh's eyes sharpened. “Was?” Her fingers curled up into her palms, the only sign of discomfort. “Your family was part of Clan Delaney? They're not anymore?”

Maaike understood why the clearing was suddenly bristling, why Ellery and Niamh were tensing up. It was rare for pieces of a clan to break away, rare enough for people to sit up and take note when they did. It could happen organically — a difference of opinion that made that piece feel uncomfortable and unwelcome, or even something as simple as leaving for a job or opportunity they wouldn't get if they stayed — but more often than not it was a result of conflict. Though she and Aiden had shared a lot, Maaike didn't know enough about him to defend his past choices or the choices of his family and ancestors. His answer should have been enough to soothe Niamh's fears, anyway: the Delaneys were far enough away that even if something did happen to Aiden (Xanth forbid), it couldn't be tracked back to or blamed on the Sullivans. Niamh was overly protective of their own clan, though, probably because she joined as an outsider and had to earn her welcome in the long-term so she over-compensated now.

That didn't mean she had to like that they were looking at Aiden now with heightened suspicion. “Oh my Xanth, guys, come on. Anyone would think he'd just stepped off a pirate boat, sheesh.” She turned to Aiden with an impish smirk. “Something you want to tell me, Roy?”

OOC: No problemo. I published it for you.

[Aiden]

Niamh's tone remained light-heartedly inquisitive, but the cordial facade was was gone from her eyes. Her stare intensified with a Look that might have rivaled a magistrate's. Even Ellery had lost a bit of his smile. Wary, almost-condemning...the response was familiar. Many nomadic therians already frowned upon city-dwellers for straying from the culture. Therians who split completely from their clans were the worst. They were traitors, and that stigma spread to their children and grandchildren. Ralph Delaney, Aiden's grandfather, had been disowned for moving away to permanently join the merchant trade. While his descendants were on speaking terms with the new generation of Delaneys, they were still only as good as outsiders.

Ignoring the urge to become defensive, Aiden inhaled deeply and drew strength from the fact that Maaike still stood by his side. If she was still smirking up at him, then he (probably) hadn't lost all of Niamh's favor yet. Shaking his head at Maaike, a small smile flickered as he responded, “No way, can you imagine me as a pirate?” He'd been antsy on the Acanthan skyship, and his discomfort had been noticeable to everyone on that journey. To Niamh, he responded truthfully “We haven't been a part of it since my grandpa's time. He wanted to expand his trade but the clan disagreed.” Painfully aware that those facts didn't help his cause, he added helpfully, “We might have been disowned, but they still write to us sometimes, and us to them. It's not awkward. Really.”

((*dusts off thread* ))

[Maaike]

Maaike chortled rather than give Aiden an answer in the strictest sense. Part of the reason she'd suggested it was because the idea was kind of ridiculous: even if he hadn't displayed a certain level of discomfort with being off solid ground while they bombed around Acantha on the weirdest ship Maaike had ever seen, he was too goody-goody to make a living off other peoples' hard work. Sure, their experiences of late had started to buff away some of the spit and shine he'd had when she first met him, but he was still a good guy at his core and, “Yeah, no.” She snickered and deliberately leaned her weight against his arm, giving him a friendly nudge that served two purposes: to show Aiden himself that she was most definitely on his side in this family-versus-stranger stand-off, and to show her mom that whatever else she thought of Maaike's judgement, Aiden had earned the benefit of the doubt here.

For a second, it looked like Niamh was going to push the issue. She glared at Aiden from beneath furrowed eyebrows; she looked kind of ridiculous scowling up at Aiden, though, the difference in height so disparaging that Maaike had to bite her lip to hold back a snort of laughter. And then Ellery -- dear ol' gramps -- clapped a gnarled hand around the curve of Niamh's shoulder and squeezed, a minute gesture that spoke volumes. Niamh was still scowling her mistrust for all the world to see, but she eased back and twitched her head in silent acknowledgement. Maaike might have found it amusing that the ex-outsider was so mistrustful of a stranger compared to the more willing Ellery, but they couldn't afford for Aiden's every movement to be watched and judged while he was here. It wouldn't be fair, for one thing -- it was Maaike's fault he was here, not to mention in this mess in the first place -- and for another, she wanted them to get along.

“Okay, so. Now my mom's proved she should have taken that job as a Fury, can we get something to eat? I'm starvinggggg,” she whined, curling her fingers around Aiden's upper arm -- ooh, muscles -- and trying to dangle off him the way Sammy liked to hang off her when he was feeling lazy. “I haven't eaten in aaaaaages and Sweet Cheeks here is a growing boy.”

[Aiden]

His answer hadn't been good enough, at least not to Niamh. Her scrutiny was unwavering, but he understood her caution. Outside of the city, the wilds were flighty and uncaring, and the clan kept each other safe. That meant loyalty and trust. It would take more than just Maaike's opinion to prove that he was trustworthy. He would try his best to earn it, he resolved as he saw Ellery place a supporting hand on Niamh's shoulder.

At Maaike's mention of food, his eyes glazed a bit at the thought of hot, roasted meat fresh from the fire, the exterier slightly charred. He was so hungry, even a slice of bread would be gourmet. His arm flexed instinctively as Maaike put some of her weight on it, and his other hand grasped the strap on his shoulder before their luggage slipped off. “Xanth, yes, food.”

The next hour passed quickly after Ellery led them home. Dioghna was still out with Sammy and Matt, but Niamh reassured that they would return close to dinner time. As they began to prepare the food, Ellery went indoors with Maaike to set up their rooms. Aiden had volunteered to stay outdoors and help Niamh cook. After preparing the fire for roast rabbit, he began washing vegetables for soup. Shaking water out of a bundle of vegetables, he handed the bundle for Niamh to chop, and she moved stiffly as she took them. Her mouth opened as if she wanted to say something, but then her mouth closed into a thin line. Stubbornly, she turned to cut the vegetables.

She'd been quiet the whole time, and Aiden tried to see himself from Niamh's viewpoint—a scruffy-looking, tall man whose jeans were marked by mud and grass stains. He was part of the reason why her daughter had been gone missing for months. Given what he'd heard about Sammy's father, Maaike's dead husband, Niamh's protectiveness seemed reasonable. Imagine her horror if he'd admitted to arresting Maaike once.

He wasn't sure how to prove that he wasn't a bad man. A long time ago, he would have been naive enough to say that being a Guard was enough proof...

“I wish we could have been introduced under better circumstances,”, he murmured genuinely as he handed Niamh another batch of vegetables. “Thank you, Niamh...for allowing me to stay here. Maaike is a very good friend. Please know that I would never allow anything bad to happen to her, not if I could prevent it.”

With that, he collected the silverware and began to place them around the table. Childish laughter bounced from the distance, signaling that Sammy and Dioghna had returned from their fun.

[Maaike]

Maaike was antsy for all the wrong reasons. She'd half expected to have trouble settling back into camp life now she'd experienced other ways of living, and sure enough, she found the smallness of her family's hut almost claustrophobic after living at Greenview amid Espur's open suburbia. She'd adjust to that, though, along with all the other tiny details of forest life that she'd forgotten or buried. What she couldn't adjust to was the suspicion clouding Niamh's eyes when she watched Aiden. It made Maaike defensive -- again, for all the wrong reasons. She knew at least half of Niamh's distrust was a lack of faith in Maaike's judgement, and while that was justified, it still stung to realise Niamh had lost faith in her.

“Sheesh, Gramps, you make one mistake and it haunts you for the rest of your life,” she had complained as she helped Ellery spread thick furs across the piles of leaves that would serve as their beds for the night. It wasn't really cold enough to get the winter furs out yet, but the summer furs were too thin for forest nights and Maaike had had enough of sleeping rough. This might not be the luxury of Greenview's opulent mansion rooms, but it was still far better than she and Aiden had enjoyed in months.

Ellery had hummed, tipped his head side to side in a so-so gesture that effectively said he saw both sides of the disagreement (a gesture Maaike had seen so often as a child when she argued with her sisters, and then later as a teenager arguing with her parents, that she knew it off by heart) and shrugged. He could have said a lot more on the subject, could have lectured her about Niamh's position and how understandable it was that a Nymph who had fought hard to win her place among the clan was so protective of them now, could have preached the things Maaike already knew about being a mom looking out for her children. Niamh felt guilty that she'd "allowed" Maaike to suffer with her husband for so long, that they hadn't noticed until it was too late all the tiny things that had built up, all the family visits that hadn't happened because Ashton was slowly cutting her off from her family, all the "accidents" Maaike had between the visits that actually did go ahead as planned. No amount of arguing on Maaike's or the rest of the family's behalf could stop Niamh from feeling like she should have known before Maaike ran to them with blood on her hands and her shell-shocked five-year-old in tow.

Maaike had sighed and decided she'd just suck it up, run interference between Aiden and Niamh when she could, reassure Aiden and scold her mom for whatever was said when she couldn't. She had no idea how long they'd be here -- she and Aiden hadn't really had time to plan beyond getting away from the cities and losing the bounty hunters trying to track them down -- but they'd be here long enough for Aiden's presence to make things...interesting. If Niamh decided to make things difficult for them -- or if, Xanth forbid, she said something stupid... Aiden wasn't dumb. He was a Guard at his core, and he already had enough from bits Maaike had let slip or deliberately told him to put two and two together and come up with a very bloody four.

So after a boisterous dinner where Sammy clung to Maaike's right arm and sprawled so far into her lap she had to eat over him, and the rest of her family piled food on her plate and Aiden's with exuberant pleas to eat more and "wash away the dust and stink of the road", Maaike left Sammy and Matt to the dishes ("but moooooom") and pulled Aiden out of the hut to "go for a walk".

“I need to tell you...” She watched him out of the corner of her eye and inhaled for courage. She wasn't ready for this, but she couldn't lie -- even by omission -- to him any longer. It was such a bad idea to do this here, on what he might consider enemy territory. What if he thought she'd deliberately lured him here to her clan's turf before the Big Reveal? There were so many ways this could go wrong, that she could lose him...but the fact that that bothered her gave her all the more reason to finally spill the beans. “See, I... You know I was, uh, married. Before. Because of Sammy.” She hooked a thumb over her shoulder to indicate the hut they'd left, and winced. Having a son didn't necessitate having a husband, of course it didn't; not all Elysians married the way Ashton had insisted on doing with her. Therians themselves tended not to have the same ceremonies that the Dracovari had, but Maaike had been so smitten she would have done pretty much anything to keep her new beau happy. “And he's dead,” she continued, sucking in a breath that felt hot and stricken with ash, as if she was inhaling Ashton's remains. “Because I killed him.”

[Aiden]

((Going to assume that if Matt is here, then his parents are too. I did some GMing so let me know if I should fix this.))

Everyone's mood had lightened over the dinner table, and dinner passed in a whirlwind of chatter, laughter, and food. Aiden was quickly introduced to Maaike's sister and brother-in-law with the standard story (was in the Guard, worked with Maaike on a case). If they were wary about a stranger in the clan, it barely showed. Young Matt, who had apparently already heard things from the overactive Sammy, tag-teamed with Sammy to ask a plethora of questions regarding the Guard. Were there really a thousand of them? How many people had Aiden arrested? How great of a fighter was Auntie Maaike? And then Sammy had to set off an explosion of guffaws when he asked again if Aiden was going to be his new dad. It had been one thing for Sammy to ask him the question in front of just Ellery and Maaike. Being here, with the room full of adults (and Maaike's mom!), was an entirely different situation. If Xanth had mercy, she would've turned him invisible. Thankfully, the conversation was quickly diverted to clan gossip, and Aiden hid his reddening face behind a bowl of soup. Sometimes he'd catch Maaike exchanging glances with her sister, and both women would smile or giggle and then refuse to explain the humor when asked. The behavior reminded him so much of Estelle and Aki, who were infamous in the Roy family for having entire side conversations via sister-telepathy alone. He missed that.

So this was Maaike's home and family. It must have been difficult for her to leave.

Even after the food was gone and the sun had set, the family chatted at the dinner table under the glow of shevrock lanterns. The children, however, were shooed to dish-washing duty despite their vehement protests. When Maaike tapped him on the shoulder and drew him away from the table, he followed absentmindedly as he contemplated about writing home. Hopefully news of the Vanguard to Acantha gave enough indication that he was alive, but Nate was bound to be angry at the lack of a simple 'hello'. He should at least check in. Suddenly, he was aware that Maaike was speaking a little too softly, too hesitantly, and that she was glancing nervously at everything but him. Drawing his mind back from Dardanos, he responded after a confused pause, “Yes, I know you used to be married...” Admittedly, it was a shocker, though he still cared for her either way. He'd just learned it this morning and was still getting used to it---along with the existence of Sammy, Ellery, Niamh, Dioghna, Rioghain, the general Sullivan clan. He'd contemplate all that later tonight but for now he was simply rolling with the punches.

Like this next one.

Involuntarily, Aiden stepped backward, and then he took a few steps more. There was no way he'd heard her wrong. They'd told him Sammy's father was a bad man, that the man had hit Sammy. Aiden had hoped the man had died naturally, or that it was a business associate. But really, who else but Maaike? She wasn't the type to sit and wait. He was such a fool! He'd bet his career on her, cut off his family, and trusted her with his life! And all along she'd kept her reality under wraps until the day he reached the clan! Turning away from her, but not completely, he stared into darkened forests. If only it could swallow him up. His throat had constricted and he wasn't sure if he'd been breathing. An icy pit spread through his stomach and drained the color out of his face. He wanted to throw up. He was furious and disappointed. He wanted to punch a tree, but the tree hadn't done anything wrong. So instead, he put both hands into his pockets as his mind reeled with all the possibilities where this fiasco would go.

When he finally angled his face toward Maaike, he saw that her brows were furrowed with worry. Well bully for her if she could feel a tenth of how he felt. Staring intently at Maaike, his eyes narrowed as he spoke softly, his voice extremely flat, “When did you do that, and how?” He was going through the motions. Treating her like a suspect. Otherwise, he'd likely explode. Murder was murder. Did she expect him to be okay with it? “Why did you do it?” Why why why?

[Maaike]

OOC: Fair warning this might be emotionally difficult to read.

She'd known. Of course she'd known. There was no way a guy so good as Aiden, so lawful as Aiden, could hear something like that and not feel angry, betrayed, used. (The harsher, harder truth was that she actually had set out initially to use him, just like she used all her informants. Yes, sure, she was doing it for a cause, to help people, but the core of that cause was founded on stone-cold hatred towards a man who had ripped her footing from under her. No matter that her motivations had changed, that she genuinely cared about him now, maybe was even in love with him. Aiden had every reason and every right to forward that hatred onto her.) Even so, some spark of light deep down had still dared to hope that he would see through the brave face she presented to the world, see her, and understand...

The step back was like the sharp cold of an icicle thrust into her kidney, and then another and another. Maaike winced, braced her feet shoulder-width apart, and leaned into the emotional blows as someone who deserved them. For a moment, she thought she would manage to keep her own heartache at bay, even knowing this was her fault and that he deserved so much better -- but then she made the mistake of looking up, looking at his face, and the ground was swept away from under her.

Maaike gasped and stumbled back, blinking furiously at suddenly dry eyes. She looked away, at nothing, because the last time he'd used his Guard voice on her they'd been strangers and she hated herself for washing away an entire relationship with four simple words.

“I--” She swallowed a lump made of jagged shards of glass. She refused to turn away from him, facing him head-on like a confrontation, but her gaze was still fixed a few feet to his right, seeing nothing but her lies (of omission, if nothing else) piled at her feet.

(How do you explain to someone how easy it is to snap? How do you make someone understand that all the laws in the world mean nothing when your son is sobbing and your vision is coated in slick red? How do you excuse the inexcusable?)

“He was killing me first.” For a moment, that was as much as her throat would allow. She might have left it there. Would have, for anyone else, but Aiden deserved the full story. “Up to that day,” she managed after a few convulsive swallows, her voice hoarse as if she'd already been crying for hours. “I'd managed to keep Sammy out of his reach. I was strong physically, I could take it, but Sammy was only--” She whined, a canine sound dragged from her belly before she could stop it, knuckles turning white as her nails cut half moons in her palms. She had never been afraid for herself; Ashton had twisted her up inside so much she'd convinced herself she deserved the beatings as they escalated, but Sammy...

Maaike shook her head. “I don't even remember what I did to set him off. Protecting Sammy from his own dad.” She smiled faintly, sadly, the curve of her cheeks pressing tears from her eyes. Maaike swiped at them, surprised to realise she was actively crying. She didn't think she'd ever cried for Ashton or the life he'd destroyed, hadn't cried at all since she left home as a naive adolescent. She'd come close a couple of times, though, and was almost amused to realise they were all related to Aiden in some fashion.

“He got his hands around my throat. Can you believe that? Dracovarian and he still preferred physical violence, when all was said and done.” She shook her head again, gaze distant, not even really speaking to Aiden now. It was strange to be talking about this in the first place. She'd told her family the bare bones, the stuff necessary to get their help, to make sure they didn't trigger Sammy through ignorance. She'd never gone into detail like this, but it was somehow right that it be with a man of the law, no matter how far removed from it he'd become.

“I don't think I struggled, not at first.” She peered into the past with a frown, trying to recall her own actions more clearly. She flapped her hands either side of her head, feeling the hard jut of the mahogany desk in the small of her back as she was strangled over it, the sounds of her fingernails clawing into the wood as she squeezed her other hand around Ashton's wrist.

“And then I saw Sammy.” She looked up then, right at Aiden, still not really seeing him but trying to show him what it meant. Sammy, four years old, sobbing and wailing with his hands over his ears and his eyes pinched but still open enough to see his daddy squeezing the life out of his mama. He'd been begging, pleading for his daddy to "stop, daddy, no, daddy, stop". As the edges of Maaike's world turned dark, she'd seen his little body fling forward, chubby arms lunging around Ashton's leg in a futile, childish effort to drag him away, and Ashton had just -- “kicked him away, just sent him flying, and he just crumpled against the wall. I couldn't just leave him like that! He was just a baby and Ashton wouldn't have made sure he was okay, so when my fingers hit the shevrock lamp on the desk, I just...” She mimicked swinging her arm up, but the movement was slow and burdened by memory as much as the imagined weight of the lamp. Her voice was haunted, almost surprised when she finished with a simple, plain, “So I killed him.”

[Aiden]

Gaze locked on Maaike, Aiden focused on every blink and microexpression as the other therian stumbled back and averted her gaze. If she lied to him one more time, he would turn around and leave. No goodbyes. Nothing. Damn hiding, damn whatever she thought of Thanatos, and damn the traitors in the Guard. He'd deal with the therian hunters on his own if he had to. Partners had to trust each other, and everything that he'd seen and heard today told him that the past two years had been built on lies. No wonder she'd been vague whenever he babbled about his family and then asked about hers! Gods, here he'd thought she was just embarassed about her family. Was she just trying to keep her story straight? She'd killed her own husband.

Both hands still pocketed, Aiden stoically waited for Maaike to continue even after her first coherent sentence. Like granite, Aiden's face remained grim as Maaike spoke. Initially, he thought there was no way that the Maaike he knew would have stood for any of the crap she was talking about. She was expressive, protective, and vicious when offended. Instead, the woman before him was so alien to him, her tone and actions reminiscent of other victims who had approached the Guard for help. The story gnawed at his gut, and despite how betrayed he felt, a part of him still wanted to reach out and hold her hand to show that he'd support her.

Finally, she looked toward him, though their eyes didn't actually meet. Her mind was too far in the godforsaken room the day of that man's---that scum's---death. Mask breaking when he heard what the vlareon had done to Sammy, Aiden finally turned his eyes toward the ground. His teeth clenched when he imagined the young boy hitting the wall and lying unconscious on the floor. It fleetingly summoned a memory to his mind...of claws digging into his arm and a heavy hand colliding against his face. Unconsciously, he lifted a hand rub his jawline, where the bruise had stung for weeks. No child should have to feel that.

What she said had sounded true, and disgusted and hurt him to think that anyone would treat her and Sammy so repulsively. If the coward were still alive, Aiden would've gone and throttled some sense into him before dragging him to the Guard. Asshole son-of-a-hydra's head. The court would have torn that vlareon to pieces.

When he finally looked at Maaike again, he unclenched his jaw and his eyes softened slightly. It still felt like he was talking to a stranger though. “It wasn't premeditated. What you did was self-defense. The magistrates would say so too.” He was trying to reassure her that the law wouldn't blame her. That he believed her, though she had broken his trust. He wanted so badly to say that, but this wasn't the time. Hearing her story had drained him.

[Maaike]

Maaike's heart broke that little bit more for every second that Aiden remained stoic, for every word out of her mouth that felt like she was putting a knife to his back. She didn't really break until he finally opened his mouth and she realised that, even now, still, after all they'd been through and the betrayals he'd faced from his peers, that he still believed in the legal system.

“No, Aiden.” It was a plea, a prayer. She was so focused on trying to make him understand that not everyone had his integrity, and so convinced that she'd lost him already, that she completedly missed the reassurance. “Before I went on my little crusade--” She snorted, bitterly amused by the nobility inherent in such a name when all she'd done was clear the streets up for a time, only for other gangs and crooks to take Ashton's place. “--the judges in Espur were in my husband's pockets. What do you think they'd have done to the girl—and I was so very much a girl back then,” she pointed out, even though technically she hadn't been that much younger than she was now. Amazing, really, the difference a couple of years and a murder could do. “--who killed their boss? Their bankroll?”

She was staring at Aiden wide-eyed the whole time, her own anxiety and fears shoved aside out of concern for him. She admired his staunch faith in the system, she really did, but it was blind and going to get him killed. She needed him to understand that trust and belief would only get him so far.

“It doesn't matter that it was self-defence. It doesn't matter that I was protecting my son. It doesn't matter that, by the laws of the forest, what I did was the rightest thing in the world. They would have killed me, and Sammy, and maybe Graeme for just being there. And I just. I couldn't take that chance.”

[Aiden]

She couldn't trust Espur's guard, so she'd taken Sammy and left her husband's corpse in the manor. His heart sank, as it always did, when she spoke of the corrupt legal system. Aiden wasn't naive; he knew that there were corrupt people in the Guard. He just believed that the good far outweighed the bad. She could've contacted one of the good ones, and the magistrate would have ensured a fair trial and bribery investigation. But the younger Maaike couldn't have known who to trust. Between the Guard and the Clan, the Clan was the safest option. “A dead 'vari with a missing wife and child on the run...it would've been a tough case for anyone to handle. If the judges were as bad as you say, they would've just locked you up in a heartbeat and sent Sammy who-knows-where.” He admitted reluctantly, “In your shoes, I would've run too.”

“So...” he paced slowly as he thought aloud, “you left Sammy in the care of your family and had Graeme watch over Greenview. Then...the sensible thing would have been to move and hide forever, but instead, you returned to Espur to get rid of the judges under your ex-husband's pay. So you went through his old files and started collecting names. You picked up roof-running fighting skills along the way, and you started tracking bounties...” he murmured, remembering the mad Zanaryan from his first encounter with Maaike.

He was piecing her past motives together, and it was a welcome distraction from the surprises he'd faced all day. Crossing his arms, he leaned his back against a tree and waved a hand vaguely toward Maaike. “Since Espur wasn't thrilling enough, you started picking at New Alexandria too. A one-woman cleaning team.” Finally allowing a fleeting half-smile towards Maaike, he shook his head wonderingly. Insane, brave woman.

“Who was your husband and why would the judges care so much about him? Are any of them still a threat?” If they were, then Aiden and Maaike had more things to worry about than just the traitors in New Alexandria.

[Maaike]

She'd known he was smart, that he'd piece together the information she hadn't given him and reach some pretty correct conclusions. What she hadn't known was that each of those pieces stung like a thousand paper cuts when he laid them all out the way he did. It was hard to recognise his reluctant acknowledgement of her choices, or the quirk of his olive-branch smile, when he used words like "thrilling enough", as if she'd done it all for the adrenaline. Maaike flinched, and flinched again, and shrank back into herself, a shell of herself that, had she a mirror, would look far too much like the girl she'd left behind.

The worst part was: he wasn't wrong. It had thrilled her, on some level. To be free to make her own choices in a way she had never been, first because she was too young and still expected to obey her parents, and then because Ashton caged her as surely as if he'd locked her behind actual bars. To learn, to run, to best people she knew were hurting others. Every victory -- every crook she turned in for their punishment -- was a spike in her heartbeat and a flushed grin on her face.

But to hear Aiden -- a man she'd come to respect above almost all others -- reduce her actions to some thrill-seeking chase while she abandoned the son she'd killed for...

Maaike looked away and didn't correct him. She wasn't sure he'd hear it, was almost convinced he wouldn't believe it. As much as a part of her swore black and blue that her past was none of his business, another part -- the part of her that still surged with guilt whenever she looked at her son -- sank like a lead weight in the ocean, absolutely sure that she deserved his contempt.

So she kept her gaze resolutely fixed to his left and answered, voice thready and almost a whisper until she cleared her throat, “Ashton. Dyer.” She winced just on hearing the name. It brought such a vivid picture of Ashton's face right to the front of her skull that she almost flinched back from the hit that never came. “Greenview was his,” she admitted, as if to a dirty secret, “and... and so was Graeme. He had a bunch of servants, actually--” She cut herself off by literally biting her tongue, not hard enough to draw blood but certainly sharp enough to stop her from rambling about things that were completely inconsequently. Aiden wouldn't care that one of the first things Maaike had done was free said servants from whatever debts had basically made them indentured servants. “Dyer Trades was... I thought it was a legit business, you know, but.”

Maaike closed her eyes, thinking of all the little hints she should have put together. The people coming to Ashton begging for an extension on their loans because they couldn't pay, the desperation in the eyes of his "clients". She'd just assumed that was common of the city, that people were stupid enough to get into honest debts they couldn't afford. Ashton was always telling her -- if he wasn't telling her to mind her own business outright -- that it was the way of things in the cities. By the time Maaike had started seeing those things, she'd already been so dulled and beaten down that she'd left it alone, but she'd remembered them all when she found the paperwork and realised what he'd actually been doing.

“He was a loan shark, a blackmarket dealer. Worse than Thanatos, I don't know.” Personal experience with Ashton made him a hundred times worse in her eyes, but they didn't yet know the full extent of Thanatos' operation, so maybe she was just biased. “Some of the officials in his pocket were only there because he'd loaned them money and they were indebted to him up to their eyeballs, but others were buyers and, well. I just didn't know who to trust.”

[Aiden]

There had been no malicious intent in his comments. In fact, he admired her the same way he thought of other Guardsmen who, despite having families, children, and much to lose, willingly braved the dangers that faced the city. The city could be messed up at times, but their service directly contributed to making things right. However, by the time Aiden realized his mistake and saw her flinch back, he'd already asked about Ashton, and that apparently sent Maaike into a new level of hurt. Dread haunted her gaze as she looked faraway. The man's name came out like a hiss at first, as if the name were an anathema that would become tangible when said articulately. He'd seen Maaike confront malakis twice her size without hesitation, yet Ashton had done so much damage to her that she still dreaded saying the 'vari's name. May Ashton rot in Hel.

The deep levels of Hel. Loan sharks were among the nastiest people in Elysia. They appeared the moment someone was desperate enough to need them, out of the 'kindest of their hearts'. And when they couldn't regain their investments plus interest, their debtors suddenly became much clumsier than before. One time when someone had gone to the Guard for help, the debtor already had a broken leg, a severed finger, and a cousin held hostage.

Aiden frowned at the idea of Ashton puppeteering a bunch of officials. He really didn't want to believe that it was possible, but the facts made sense. To become a magistrate, one needed schooling and proper training, and that meant money. That was the loan shark's bait, and once caught, there was no escape. “I thought officials were supposed to be smart enough to avoid blackmail,” Aiden grimaced. So Ashton used that money as leverage to get what he wanted, and Dyer Trades remained 'legal' in the system. If it hadn't been Maaike, Aiden would have pried further to question her involvement in the business---but he believed that violent coercion or not, Maaike wouldn't have ever helped Ashton with the trade.

“Thanatos...” the name rolled out with hesitation. He really wanted to give the magistrate the benefit of doubt. How could have have risen so high, to become one of the greatest examples of Alexandrian justice, only to be rotten at the core? Teach you not to mess with Thanatos, a gravelly voice echoed from that fateful day in the Shades. Thanatos could've been framed, but Aiden was no longer willing to give him that doubt.

“The day we---” some of them might have betrayed him, but he still thought of himself as part of the Guard “---found you trespassing his villa...” Every time Maaike tried to talk about it, Aiden had been too stubborn and too faithful in the system to listen. He had been foolish to have waited so long to ask this question, and she had been so patient. In her name-calling, condescending sort of way. Aiden shook his head wryly as he walked closer to Maaike. Locating a cluster of rocks, Aiden sat to rest his legs. They'd been moving and standing all day---week actually---and he needed a break now that he was calm enough to ignore the bitterness of the day's revelations. Hands clasped, he glanced up at Maaike. “What made you go there, and how did he catch you?”

[Maaike]

OOC: Sorry it's a bit long. Most of the stuff she says happens all together, despite the narrative interruptions, but I can chop it down if you like?

Maaike flinched away when Aiden moved -- and immediately felt awful about it. For one thing, this was Aiden. Despite her trust issues, she knew damn well he'd never hurt her, no matter how angry he got. For another... Dammit, she thought she'd gotten that under control. She dealt with violence on a near-daily basis and her training had taught her to remain stoic no matter how frightened she got. She'd chalk up the flinch to exhaustion beating down her walls and defenses, but really, it was just hearing Ashton's name that had dragged her back to the dark place she'd been cowering in since she married him.

To prove -- to herself, if no one else -- that she wasn't dissolving back into that stupid, stupid girl, Maaike deliberately moved close enough for Aiden to reach even with him sitting down. He was a big man; if he lashed out, he could knock her flying and do some serious damage without even really trying. Maaike took another step and braced her feet, wider than was safe for her balance but enough that she could tip back on her hips and cross her arms, the picture of defensive and abrasive. There was a tremor in her hands, so she tucked them up into her armpits and met Aiden's gaze head-on, refusing to be cowed any more than she had already allowed.

“I have my sources,” she said, stubborn in a way she hadn't been with him in months. She even tipped up her chin, a gesture that spoke volumes: 'yeah? what are you gonna do about it?' And then reminded herself who she was talking to, why they were talking about this in the first place, and let herself melt a little. “After... my husband... passed away.” Oh, Xanth, the euphemisms were going to eat her alive! “I... inherited his estate and business. Graeme helped me go through it all. We found.” Maaike sighed and tipped her head back, this time seeking the sky for inspiration. The tree canopy blocked it from view, so she fixated on a fae squirrel that was gnawing at a piece of fruit instead. “So many names, Aiden.” She drooped her chin to her chest and stared at him, a little wide-eyed. Just remembering the sheer extent of Ashton's business overwhelmed her. “None of it was easy to decipher, either; he used codes so we couldn't be sure who were legitimate clients and who were his blackmarket customers, who owed him money, whose debts had been... uh, cleared.” She coughed and looked away. Ashton's idea of clearing debts had always been extreme. If the client themselves couldn't pay, he had them killed and transferred the debts to said client's family, and on and on until he got his money. Maaike didn't think it the best way to run a lending business, even one as dirty as a loan shark's, but she'd always suspected that Ashton had a certain... sadism and Graeme had only ever supported that theory.

“Thanatos' name came up a few times, but we never really thought much of it. For a start, well, you know, I'd never been to Alexshire so I had no idea who he was at first. And, well, even if I had, like I said, we had a hard time deciphering Ashton's records.” She shifted her weight, glancing around for someplace to park her aching butt. There was space on the rocks Aiden had claimed, but she didn't want to crowd him or herself. The fallen log to her left was too far for them to be able to talk comfortably, so she stayed where she was.

“Anyway. It wasn't until I'd made a bit of a name for myself in Espur, made a few contacts, that I recognised the connection. I got reliable intel that he was dirty and all the bits I put together suggested he was Ashton's counterpart in Alexshire and Daire, so I.” She made a fluttery, swooping gesture with her hand, as if mimicking a bird's flight, to indicate the B&E.

[Aiden]

Even though he was a couple arm-spans away from Maaike, she'd twitched when he moved towards her. Distrust passed across Maaike's face for just an instant, but it was long enough for Aiden to see it. She had realized that too, because when their eyes met again---his thoughtful and hers wary---her next words came out more confrontational than he'd heard all night. As if she wanted to compensate. But that was good sign, perhaps. He'd rather argue with a spirited Maaike anyday.

After Ashton, Maaike had to pick up the pieces. In a way, Aiden understood Maaike's need to fix what her husband had corrupted. As she spoke of the things she'd discovered and found about Ashton, she'd looked so wide-eyed and disappointed. Still raw despite all the years gone by.

If Ashton was low enough to beat his own family, imagine how ruthless he would have been to the debtors who defaulted. From the way Maaike moved uncomfortably at the mention of cleared debts, Aiden had the sinking feeling that not all of Ashton's customers walked away in one piece. And now Thanatos was linked to Ashton...

Exhaling slowly, Aiden angled his head toward the ground and shut his eyes. “Ashton's counterpart in Alexshire and Daire...” Aiden echoed quietly, his voice troubled. The Chief was a paragon among the Guard. He was charismatic and well-liked by many leaders in the Alexandrian community. Aiden just couldn't juxtapose the calm, well-spoken judge with the man who preyed on other people's weaknesses. He'd eventually need to if the evidence stacked up. And there was the conundrum. Ashton had enough of a papertrail in Espur, but Thanatos had been thoroughly careful in Alexandria. Maaike and Aiden had had trouble even pinning Thanatos' lackeys to him. Everything had just been hearsay. Teach you not to mess with Thanatos...

“You were knocked out when we got there. Did you see anything? Hear anything before that?” He dreaded what he'd hear, but he had to find out.

[Maaike]

Maaike returned his sigh in answer and brushed the pad of her thumb over an eyebrow. “Nothing useful.” It irked her, still, that she could have failed so spectacularly. All the rumours and street intel she'd gathered before breaking into Thanatos' villa, and she still hadn't known until it was too late that he was a 'Varian like her husband.

“He recognised me.” She'd tried to ignore the fact because it only meant that Thanatos knew Ashton, not that he was involved or connected to Dyer Trades, but the knowledge still put the fear of Xanth in her. “I don't think he's put two and two together, though. He called me "Mrs Dyer", but I went back to my clan name as soon as Ashton was--” She swallowed around the word and looked away.

“Thanatos, he did something, I don't know. Ashton could do it, too, just. I couldn't move.” Her heart had jolted when she mentioned Ashton and his skills because she hadn't actually intended to talk about him again and wasn't prepared for the sound of his name, even in her own voice. She'd also just given Aiden a very big clue about the kind of life she'd led with the vlareon, and she wanted to skim past it as quickly as possible.

“He threw something in my face -- sleeping powder, I guess -- and I just stood there because I couldn't move.” She looked up, then, right at Aiden because she needed to tell him her fears and he deserved to know it was the truth. “I expected to wake up in a cage. A -- a bad one, not the Guard cell. Aiden, if he hadn't recognised me as Ashton's wife, I'm pretty sure I was headed for the slave ring.” She was utterly convinced that it was only his familiarity with her, and his sadistic wish for her to suffer in grief, that had made him call the Guard instead of dealing with her transgressions himself.