Long story short ...

LOCATION | Near the fjord
DATE | 15th of April 2022
WEATHER | Sunny, it's getting warmer
ATTIRE | Link
TOPIC FOR | @Cassian & @Hope
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So, it had been just shortly after the events Yesterday with meeting Edward again and her cousin. And once she had managed to get a hold on Mateo, and after having calmed a bit down from what the heck was going on with her crazy cousin. Cassian had called her. It had been like all air had just knocked out of her system, because what did he want to talk about? Ayah' natural response to surprise calls from people she hadn't talked to in a while was always the thought of them being angry at her for some reason and putting way to much into it. But she had said yes to meeting, and then called Hope. Not because she didn't believe that Mateo could be the emotional shoulder she needed in this, but Hope already knew the tale of why this situation, and it was hard enough as it was, and maybe after she would be able to tell it again.

Therefor the next day, she walked with Hope towards the fjord. Not really an in between of both households, but Ayah liked the places were the wind just blew a little bit more, because it gave her a sense of calm without having to worry about the wind taking over. And she was nervous, it was clear, all morning she had been sitting just picking on her eyebrows, barely touched her coffee till Hope had arrived. But something changed in the wind as they were standing there, and she felt it like a shiver down her spine. Because she knew the energy that formed around them slowly. "No," she turned her head to the side looking towards a bench where Anthony sat with his legs crossed, just giving the two sisters a small wave, before he got up walking towards them. "Lovely day isn't it? It's been a while little bird. And who might you be?" He looked towards Hope. "Where are my manners. Anthony," he presented himself with a little smile.

Ayah had been there for her when she had needed support, so there hadn’t been any doubt when it came to saying yes when Ayah had asked her, to go with her to speak with Cassian about whatever it was he needed to say. Now it could be a lot of things, and even though Hope had tried to calm Ayah down, she understood that nothing she could say, would actually end up giving her the relief she needed. At least not until Cassian had told her what he needed to say, then she could deal with the fact if it was because he was mad or there was something else entirely. But they would be fools if they thought it hadn’t something to do with the fact that her sister had kept it quiet about her having his child and then someone had kidnapped and killed it not long after.

Maybe that was the reason why she didn’t say anything as they walked towards the address they had gotten. But it all stopped as something took a hold of them. Her eyes slowly glided towards the figure and by how Ayah reacted she already knew who it was. And right she was, there he sat, Anthony. She took a step forward and placed herself between him and her sister. “Well, we already know who you are, so no manners needed, only what you want” she said in a low and warning voice as she titled her chin up while keeping her eyes on him.

It took Ayah a second or two when Anthony came closer to them. She didn't know how many times over those couple of years she had tried begging to escape, and each time there was a new version of hell waiting for her for even attempting to file out that request. And both her mind and body remembered just why she feared this man so much. Ayah didn't even notice Hope stepped in front of her, her eyes planted on Anthony not even daring to move, knowing within seconds he could make her regret it - and he would make her regret it. But she also didn't want Hope to take any of the pain Anthony's powers could put one through. So, she just stood there completely frozen.

Anthony liked that, knowing that he had well at least Ayah where he had her. Not that he had planned this meeting - or had he? Would anyone believe him if he said it was up to fate that the gods had placed these two fairies on his path this day? Not that he cared. "What I want? See that is an excellent question," he let out a small chuckle and kept his eyes at the speaking fairy he didn't know. "But since we don't are in need of manners, how about you just fly away or what you fairies do, and I will take it from here," he wasn't going to give off anything. If he wanted to speak to Ayah, he would do so, not minding a temperamental fairy be the judge of that - if he wanted to have someone's option on the matter he would have let Calliope tag along. "How you wanna do this, the easy or hard way?"

A small smile on her lips started to form until it became a little bigger. Now this was a side that rarely anyone she knew saw. Or at least those people that were her family saw. “Oh, you want me to leave?” she said with a sweet smile and then made sure to keep herself between Ayah and Anthony at all times. Because even though she knew that Ayah was afraid of him, and she was not going to think that she had no reason to be. She wasn’t afraid of a man that thought he was better than anyone else. She might be young to many, but she had used so much of her life using her powers that she succeeded many that was twice her age or even tribble hers.
Her tongue glided over her lips as he asked if she wanted to do the easy or hard way. “Sweetheart” she said with a soft voice taking a step closer towards him. “You might not know who I am, and you might think you are the strongest between the tree of us” she titled her head and moved her body almost as if she was trying to seduce him. Mostly she just hoped that she could get close enough to him, so she could teach him a little lesson on why you didn’t touch the things that Hope cared for.
“But the easiest way would be you to go before you start pissing me off the wrong way” she hummed giving him a fake smile.

Anthony chuckled a little bit and licked his tongue a little bit. "Question is, which of us has most to lose out here?" He narrowed his eyes a just a little bit keeping his eyes on her, "because you have clearly heard of me, so I wonder," Anthony dared taking one step closer towards her. "Why would you be foolish enough to try pissing me off the wrong way?" Anthony asked then turning his eyes towards Ayah, "what you say, should we give a taste of just want happens when people piss me off?" And then the shot of pain stroke down through Ayah's system, making her crumble together in a scream that lasted shortly as she chose to try fight off the pain - but Anthony just always knew how to hit the right nerves. He chuckled a little bit, lifting his hand a little, "don't do anything stupid -" Anthony looked back towards Hope and exhaled a little bit. "We both know that I can do this all day, but I really have better things to do," he kept his eyes on Hope. Because no way he was going to let her throw around with him, but he also had the feeling that neither would she.

She looked over her shoulder as Ayah screamed, clearly Anthony had decided that she would rather use his power on her instead of her. “What a man” she hissed with a short snort, not that she liked that she heard Ayah, far from really. But if they didn’t do something about it know it would be a problem that would exist for the rest of their lives, so either they showed him who they were now, and know he would probably think twice about attacking the children of Francis and Hope. Even if she wasn’t a fan of her father, right now might be the only time where it would be useful to pull him out as the wild card in all of this.
Hope gently took and placed her hand around his wrist and pulled him so he would face her rather than Ayah “I might do something stupid Anthony, because you’re hurting my sister, and have hurt her more than you’ll ever get to again, listen Anthony” she whispered as she took a step closer to him as she narrowed her eyes “Do you even know who our parents are? Or more precisely our father? Because we both know that you two keeps staying in your different corners, since no one really outsmarted the phoenix brothers” her eyes started glowing in a flaming gold as her hand started to get extremely warm. “You might have your pain and your telekinesis, but that doesn’t mean I can’t put you through hell as well” she whispered in a threatening voice.

Anthony listened to Hope, not because he really valued her voice in this matter, he would rather just have her silent and to go away. Then she mentioned their parents, well no he didn't know who their father was, and honestly for the moment he looked like he couldn't care less. The phoenix brother The smile fell from Anthony's face. He had known the second Linus and Francis had stepped into the region, one thing was having River hanging around and his whole crew, but getting the entire gang together had not been in Anthony's interest, also because he knew if someone could take down his entire corruperation and make it their own, it would be them. And Anthony had no intention on wanting to give up any of the kingdoms he had created. But the shock was enough to escape his hold on Ayah and she fell down to her knees, taking a sharper breath in. "Careful now," he spoke. Well of course he was a bit inflicted by fear, but he also had never just stopped till he was sure. There was no proof that she spoke the truth nor that she lied. Anthony thereby picked up a branch with his telekines and aimed it directly towards Hope from behind. Blessed by the powers of the wind, Ayah changed the direction of it and it passed just by Hope's ear and continued into Anthony's shoulder. Anthony started to curse while Ayah got back up on her feet and placed herself next to Hope and exhaled a little bit. Anthony just pulled the branch out and dropped it on the ground, grunted a little bit and shook his head with a small laugh.

Her lips parted to tell him off. But before she could do that, she felt something move behind her. Even though she was no telepath, she had evolved a knack for knowing when someone was trying to ambush her. So, just as the branch was thrown towards her, she moved her head, not that she had needed to, as Ayah managed to use her power to send it towards Anthony instead of harming her.
As he started to laugh, it ran her cold down her back. She remembered how one of the vampires had laughed as she had begged them to leave her children alone. How her eyes had locked with her youngest, that had hidden behind one of the curtains. Her screams as they had found Olivia and pulled her towards the middle of the room.
She had to physically shake off the memory and then let her eyes connect with Anthony. “Last warning, get lost, or we’ll make you”, she hissed, not letting herself get intimidated by the weasel standing before her. “And if I’m not enough of a threat, know that Cassian Jones is expecting us; now, how would you think he would like you’re hurting a woman that he used to love and probably still does? Hmm?” she whispered in a dangerously low voice; if she could, she would have been growling at this point.

Ayah exhaled a bit, feeling fear was gripping around her heart and the pain was dripping off her chest from the intensity of Anthony's powers. Cassian Jones, the smile once again fell from the human's lips, and he licked them a little bit. Clearly taking that into the calculation. "You seem to know an awful lot of people, yet I wonder where they are - because all I see is the two of you, and hearing an awful lot of threats," he kept his eyes on Hope only looking at Ayah for a short second. Because he didn't really see Ayah as a threat, and if he at some point would get his regret for not doing so - well that was left in the unknown for now. "If Cassian has an issue, he can take it up with me," making it sound almost like a business deal rather than dealing with an issue about human life. "Seems like you get your pitch soon enough," Ayah mumbled and took a sharper breath in and exhaled with the comfort of being able to see Cassian not far away.

But then something changed, Anthony moved his eyes towards her. "You will never find her," he mocked her in a lower whisper, making it very clear that he knew something that was only between him and Ayah. Ayah raised her brow a little bit. He wouldn't say that unless there was something he could punish her by, and well the last drop of pain he really could torment her with was the fact that she had believed him back then. "What?" she said in an almost growl feeling how the winds around them started to stir up. "You are really just that stupid, she never died," a crooked smile lifted up on his lips before he once again laughed. Then he started to cough, gasping after air, clearly looking confused around but his eyes returned to Ayah who slowly closed her fist, taking all the air out of him, suffocating him, to a point where he almost got weak enough in the knees to drop to them. Well Ayah, she was just done. Simple as that, she was done, she had had enough.

Hope had no idea what he was talking about, but something about what happened next gave her a good clue. Her eyes moved towards her sister, that was slowly choking Anthony. There was a part of her that knew that she should stop her, but if anyone understood what it felt like to take your children away from you, to think that they were dead, the loss and then added to the fact that she knew that nothing with Anthony had been consensual, well how could she not want the man dead too?
But after a while, she let out a small sigh and then turned to walk over to Ayah, seeing how Cassian had started running towards them. She stepped in front of Ayah and gave her a small smile, and softly placed her hand on her sister's clenched fist. “Don’t give him the satisfaction; in the end, it will only end up hurting you more than him; he’ll be dead, and you have to live with that” she said with a small sigh, then hearing Cassian yelling if they were all right before he came so close that he could see Anthony sitting there gasping for air. Now, Anthony had saved his life not long ago, but he had a hard time believing that Ayah would do anything this violently if Anthony hadn’t done something to deserve it. “What on earth is going on here?” he demanded to know, even though he was mostly just looking at Anthony for answers and not Ayah.

Ayah took a sharper breath in, almost zoning out for what was going on and just went with the wind really. She wasn't a violent person, the only times you really saw Ayah act out was then there was really nothing else to do, or reason for her to not to. Ayah first started to get a bit back to herself as her view of Anthony was blocked, then the touch on her closed hand made Ayah move her eyes to Hope, before slowly letting go of the grip, hearing how Anthony gasped for air to breath. The tears just streamed down her cheeks in silence, turning her head towards the direction Cassian came running in from. Anthony coughed still recovering from the attack on both his shoulder and almost losing his breath. ""We were just talking - then they started attacking" Anthony mumbled looking back at Ayah, not really wanting to look at Cassian that was clear. But he also didn't know that Cassian knew Ayah actually. " "that was some nerve," he added with a lower voice almost regretting they left his mouth.

"I got some nerve? I will show you nerve," she hissed a little almost storming towards him if it hadn't really been for Hope standing in her way, reminding her of who she was. "Where the fuck is she?" Ayah demanded to know, making the wind blow so strongly around them the waves from the fjord even started to respond. "Is it called The Matchithew initiative? I'm not sure, so many people - so many places, it doesn't really matter does it." Ayah didn't understand, that was clear, and so consumed with pain, anger and frustration, the vail of confusion of not understanding anything really got to her.

Cassian made that look, that one where you clearly could see that he didn’t believe Anthony when he said that they had just been talking, and then they had started to attack. Now he didn’t know Hope, but he did know Ayah, and she would never have done something like that if she hadn’t been provoked enough. And since Hope had been the one calming her down enough to make her let her grip around him go, well then, he had a hard time thinking that Anthony hadn’t deserved it.
Hope that was ten centimetres higher than her sister had an advantage in holding Ayah back when Anthony decided that he wasn’t done or had learned his lesson. “Ayah”, Hope whispered, feeling the pain in her heart as if it was her own, she wanted nothing more than to beat the information out of him, but then he spoke about the Matchithew Initiative, which made both Cassian and Hope pause, Hope turned her gaze toward Anthony and Cassian just stood there and stared. “Fuck”, Hope whispered, and then as if Cassian knew this would only end with bloodshed, he walked over, “I think you’ve done enough”, he said with a slight of anger in his tone, and before Anthony could say anything, he was teleported back to the southside.
“I’ll help you find her; I have the means to do that, okay Ayah” Cassian promised, so she wouldn’t get angry that he had made sure that Anthony wouldn’t be here to answer any more questions, which would only end up with him angering or hurting Ayah further.

Anthony vanished and it was like she could breath again, and the winds around them settled a little. Just a little because it still meant that all her truths had suddenly turned themselves into lies, twists of reality that meant she knew nothing anymore. Ayah dried her tears and looked up at Cassian, taking a few breaths to calm herself down, then taking a step back and rushed her hands through her hair, keeping on taking a few breaths in while trying to calm her heart rate down. It was days like this Ayah sometimes didn't even understand how she was still standing, maybe she was really just going where the wind blew her, having it carry her around. She placed her hands on her hips then turning towards her sister and Cassian again, composing herself - this was not how she had wanted this meeting to start. "Sorry -" she exhaled a little bit, "this was not how I thought seeing you again would play out," Ayah forced herself to pull a little smile on her lips. It had to become better at some point. Because she couldn't just be this shell of a train wreck, it wasn't who she was meant to be was it? But her impulse to suffocate Anthony had went with the wind as well, leaving her anger easier to control now she didn't have to look at Anthony anymore. "You think you can find her, how?" Ayah asked softly, a bit sceptical. Not because she didn't want to take his words for it, but by now, who could blame Ayah for being unsure really? What even had Cassian look into this sort of stuff? Not that she knew much of what he had been around doing since they had parted ways.

Both the warlock and the fairy shook their heads as Ayah apologised, clearly not wanting her to, but also didn’t say anything. Cassian then chuckled when she told him that this wasn’t how she had thought it would turn out. “Me neither, but hey, here we are,” he said with a small smile and then nodded when she questioned if he could find her. “Might take some time if it is the organisation, I think it is behind it, but I have some aces up my sleeve”, he said, then he nodded for them to follow along. “But I’m afraid this isn’t the only news I have for you”, he said with a sadder smile forming on his lips, “I had hoped we could do it down by Daisy’s, but maybe we should just talk about it here, and then we’ll figure out what is going to happen” he let out a small breath and stopped up looking at Ayah “first off, I wanted to tell you that I’m not angry at you, nor blame you for the choices you made back then, even if I would have liked to know even if you thought you lost our son” he let out a breath “I found him, he is alive and well, he has been part of the same organisation that has your daughter – he goes by Riggs, he lives with his cousin in Oakheart,” he said knowing it was a lot to take in. Still, he didn’t feel like he should sugarcoat it, given the circumstances. One might argue he should have waited with it another day, but everyone who knew him also knew that he didn’t like to hold things back. Not telling her that they had figured it out had already been hard for him. But he understood then that they needed to make sure that Riggs was alive and well before telling her.

Ayah dried her eyes, pressing her brows a bit together when Cassian mentioned it wasn't the only news he had for her. The sad smile on his lips made something turn in her stomach, not sure if she was going to like or dislike what came next, but she still listened. Either way, Ayah just looked even more confused by the second: what was going to happen about what? She wondered.  It was like a heavy stone lifted from her heart when he told her that he wasn't angry at her or blamed her for her choices back then, then realizing he knew. ...even if you thought you lost our son. Ayah was about to comment that she had lost him, he was gone. Then before she could say that, the earth shattering news hit her, almost knocking out all the air in her system and forced her to take a step back. He was alive? Her son was alive? Her daughter was alive? Her lips began to quiver, "what?" almost  said in disbelief to the words she heard. Riggs - Oakheart she breathed out. Ayah felt the tightness in her chest, making her wrap her arms around herself as she exhaled, trying to make sense of everything. "He is here? In Gaia? In Oakheart?" It was basically what he just had told her, but she wanted it confirmed, making sure she wasn't insane. Then the usual fear hit, what if he didn't want to see her? Or have anything to do with her - even if she could find the comfort in knowing he was alive, could she really be sane till she had seen him with her own eyes? "You've seen him? How did he look?" Ayah could feel her eyes fill up with tears, not knowing how else she was supposed to react otherwise, it was an overwhelming situation, a situation no one really was supposed to be in.

He nodded when she asked if he was here in Gaia, looking at Hope, that stepped closer and placed a comforting hand on Ayah’s shoulder. “He is” he chuckled a little when he remembered just how much he acted and looked like him, which was something that was hard to wrap your head around when you hadn’t even been part of his life. “He looks like me, well, when I was young and didn’t have this long hair and beard” as he said beard, he let his fingers glide over the facial hair he had grown over the last couple of months. He then found his phone, found a picture of Riggs and Cordelia, and turned it. “The girl was raised in the same village as him, by the same people; her name is Cordelia, and she is Olivia’s daughter”, he explained, letting out a small sigh; Hope narrowed her eyes as she looked down; she felt like she had seen the girl before, she just looked like someone she knew. Amelia? Scarlett? Blinking when she realised just how much, “his open to meet us; he just needed some time to adjust to all of it”, he explained, understanding why it was a little too much for Riggs to wrap his head around. "he is an element fairy, which means he has access to all the elements, it would seem that the organisation are taking extraordinary children" he explained as he looked at the phone Ayah was holding.

Ayah exhaled by the comforting hand on her shoulder, this was a tough one to swallow - but she managed to focus on the one thing where she knew there could be done something, or that she at least at first hand had a chance. Riggs, then she could afterwards focus on finding Aura. But seeing Cassian chuckle a little about made her so curious instead of scared, especially when he pointed out that Riggs looked like him - not that she had a hard time imagining that. Then her eyes glued to the phone and she took it when he turned it towards her, she zoomed in on the picture after a few seconds, just wanting to see him closer. Ayah was completely astonished by it, then telling the story of the girl. Olivia had lost a daughter too? It was a tragic world indeed where people stole children from their mothers. It also meant that her children had never died, they had been taken from Ayah, which was another hit she needed to get up from. His open to meet us, Ayah closed her eyes for a second and felt like she could finally breathe. She wasn't even mad that Cassian had sought him out and not told her till today, she didn't know how long he had known either. What did matter in Ayah's head was the fact that Riggs was open to meet them. She would be able to see him. "Extraordinary children - well he is our son, I would never believe him to be anything but extraordinary."

Her eyes lifted from the phone and looked at Cassian, "you think you could set up a meeting?" Ayah wondered now that he had said, that Riggs was willing to see them. It already was itching in her to go to Oakheart, where she had just been Yesterday - just Yesterday she had perhaps been so close.  

It was a horrible feeling to stand with. Not that she could help it, but Hope could nothing but envy her sister at this very moment. Which was an awful feeling to have, given how Ayah’s children were taken from her, believing they were dead. She couldn’t envy that, and yet here she was. She had lost two children while trying to fight off vampires. Then she had lost another child the time she had almost been killed by a man that didn’t feel that she fitted what he needed anymore. She squeezed her sister's shoulder before letting it go and took a deep breath.

Cassian nodded “of course,” he said with a small smile“, maybe we should take a day or two, let you calm down from this one, and then I’ll figure something out; Daisy’s brother is an expert in finding people, he and my uncle Kieran, they were able to find my niece's son on one day, I have hoped we might be able to do so with your daughter, if not tomorrow then at least no longer than a week, okay?” he said with a small smile, then looking toward Hope “maybe you should go home, get something to drink, and I’ll call you, how does that sound?” he asked her softly.

Sounded like a plan, no matter how much she wanted to just rush into something. There was no way her mental state right now wouldn't end up making her regret something if she just rushed into trying meet Riggs now. So, she nodded. Knowing she would be on edge till he called her again, because Ayah would be sitting on the edge of her bed just waiting for that one call. "It sounds good, thank you -" she nodded and exhaled a little bit. Still very much all over the place, her thoughts in the clouds and they would take some time to process. She then looked over at Hope with a warmer smile, wanting to be so happy on her own behalf that she had gotten this second chance - but also knew had to be hard for Hope to hear with what she had been through. "Call me okay?" Ayah nodded before she then headed back towards the house with Hope.

Days came and went, while Ayah felt like she was just a mindless zombie waiting for that one phone call. Almost like lovesick teenagers in movies waiting for their boyfriends to call them, it was exhausting and nerve wrecking - but it would be worth it. It would be so worth it. And then the phone called, making her fall over the couch and to the floor to reach for it and then pick up, "Cassian - hey."

“Hey”, Cassian said, “are you home? We can be over in fifteen minutes if it fits you”, he explained, looking at Riggs, that seemed like a nervous wreck as he played with something that he shouldn’t. Cassian looked away for a moment, “all right, see you in fifteen”, he said with a small smile; just as he hung up, he heard something snap; as he turned around, he saw how the model that Riggs had been playing with now was two parts in his hands. “Would you believe it if I told you I found it like this?” Riggs said and looked up, Cassian sighed, and with an easy snap of his fingers, the model was whole again “look with your eyes, not your hands; one should think you were five, not –“ Cassian blinked a little “you don’t even remember when I’m born” – “shut up” Cassian said, and then started walking toward Ayah’s house.

Cassian lifted his hand and knocked on the door, looking over at the still, very nervous Riggs that had at least asked him twenty times if he was sure that Ayah would like him. Not that it wasn’t an understandable emotion to have, fear of not being wanted, but he was pretty sure that Ayah wouldn’t do anything but love Riggs. Especially as he seemed to be the best of the both of them if you discounted the way he tended to touch and pick up things he shouldn’t.  

"Yeah - yeah I'm home," she slowly got up from the floor, "fifteen minutes? Sure, yes," Ayah nodded to confirm with herself. Then hung up and started tidying up the space, not that she had many fancy things, the space was pretty open, most of the fancy belongings were on the walls and shelves from travels. Ayah could feel her heart kick a level up, and how everything twirled in her stomach. Fifteen minutes. Luckily for her, Sariel had been over just Yesterday with some baked goods that Ayah hadn't had the stomach to eat yet - one could argue her hybrid friend indeed had known what was going to go down today. Which now that Ayah thought about it, made her laugh a little bit then shake her head. Then hurried to get dressed and put her hair up into a messy bun.

The knock on the door made her skip towards it, she could already feel the energy from outside the door. Ayah took a sharper breath in and reached for the door handle and opened the door. Her eyes met Cassian's first, but her dark eyes didn't stay long on his as they redirected to Riggs, and she exhaled. It was like some of the weight was finally lifted from her shoulders as she looked at him, feeling how her eyes wanted to tear up just a little. "Hey," Ayah almost couldn't believe it, but her smile was glued to her lips of bliss. To be here. To have this moment, this chance. Ayah longed to embrace him, to touch him just to be completely sure he was real. And she had convinced herself only to hold out her hand first, but her hands ended up cupping her boy's face, letting her eyes look over him. Letting a single tear escape from the corner of her eye. "Sorry - I just, can't really believe you are here," she slowly let go of his face, even if all she wanted to do was hug him close and never let go again.

It wasn’t every day that someone came knocking on your door, telling you that they were your biological father, nor was it every day that you were standing beside the said father and waiting for your biological mother to open the door. An idealist would know that it would have been too much to wish for that one's parents to be still together; the dreamer would tell you that it was okay that those fantasies had entered your mind. While the pessimist was asking how he could even think that his parents would be together, since none of them clearly had known he was still alive, which was something that generally happened when parents lost a child, then the guilt, anger and sorrow tore those people apart. But still, there was something rather beautiful standing here waiting for your reunion with your birth mother.

Riggs lifted his head from the ground as the door opened; for a moment, time stood still, and he just looked into her eyes as she stood there. It was funny; he felt the connection even greater with her than with his father; maybe it was because she was a fairy.  
A soft chuckle left him as she apologised for grabbing his face; he didn’t mind. “No worries”, he mumbled, and as if she was afraid, he took the step for her and gently placed her arms around her shoulder and pulled her into a hug, feeling the pain and relief soaring through her. Cassian stood there, not wanting to interrupt. He let his eyes wander and looked at the front garden.

It was a rail of emotions just washing over shore and floating everything at once. The pain, the time she had missed, everything she had missed. She had missed every single thing. And how couldn't you blame yourself for not having known it was all a lie, how had she not discovered he had been alive all this time? How did you ever come back from that? She was his mother; she should have known. Ayah felt herself find some inner peace the second he placed his arms around her shoulders and pulled her into a hug. Closing her arms around him, she gave him a bit of a squeeze. She cried, but the tears so silent it was only felt. So, she just held him there, for a moment longer. Because there was no moment that was too much for her in this second, there wasn't enough time. Almost by instinct she placed a soft kiss by his hairline just underneath the temple, then gave him a little bit more of a squeeze before letting go. Not that she wanted to. But she pulled away taking his hand in hers. "Come on in," she gave them a nod towards the door placing her free hand on Cassian's shoulder giving it a soft squeeze before entering the house again.

It took some time, but finally, she let go, and so did Riggs. It was a weird feeling standing here, hugging the woman that had brought you into this world. Not that he didn’t want to know her or that he felt like running away from whatever this was. But it was the feeling of not really knowing what to think because, for him, it was just odd. He had loved the people that had raised him, they had done so with great love and affection, and he had never felt like he had missed anything because he had been taken such good care of. Not that he thought it would bring her any solace to know that because, if anything, he could understand that something had been taken from her, and no matter what happened from here on out, what had been taken would never have been able to be returned, even if he stood here right now.
Both men nodded when she asked them to come in; Riggs went first, standing awkwardly in the hall after taking off his shoes. Cassian gave Ayah a soft smile as she squeezed his shoulder, and then he turned and looked at their son standing there; it was a weird situation to be in, for all parts.

Even for someone who was good at adapting to situations she never should be able to adapt to, Ayah had no idea how to sort her head around this matter. But even so, seeing her son whom she had thought had been dead so long, this was easy to mark as the best day in her life. Maybe it was the newfound hope and light she felt returning into her life. Even if it should be that after this that Riggs wanted nothing to do with her, it was still the whole thing about just knowing he was here. That she had seen him. Her smile didn't faint, it was so clear to see by the spark in her eyes that she was appreciating this blissful moment. Then snapping out of it and headed to enter the rest of house, also reminding herself both Cassian and Riggs were new guests here in the little place she called home. "Just make yourselves at home, I'll but the kettle on for some tea - or coffee whatever you would like," she walked towards the kitchen to put the kettle on, and tip-toing up to get the box with different herbs she used for tea. Even if she appreciated a good coffee, nothing could really beat a good tea to soothe the nerves. The cake already on the kitchen counter as she had prepared it on a tray with plates when Cassian had called her earlier.