#raised in athia au

[phoenixiancrystallist]

16. audacity for Forspoken if you don't mind!!!

The problem with me reblogging ten billion things at once is I often forget what I reblogged. I totally forgot I reblogged this one-word prompt list, for example! XD

Thanks for the prompt, and thanks @sleepyprompts for making the list!

This worked out well as a little character/relationship study for the AU I've been working on where Cinta entrusted Jennesh with raising Frey instead of yeeting her to New York :D Not sure yet if I'll post it to AO3 as a stand-alone fic or if I'll be incorporating it into the AU itself.

Fic is below the cut 💜

"I can't believe you've the audacity to lie to me," Jennesh scolded even as he dabbed at the bleeding cut on his ward's face. Alfre dodged his every attempt to nurse her, features twisted into a thunderous scowl.

"I wouldn't have to if you'd just trust me," she snapped. All of fourteen years, and she had ten times her mother's spirit with none of her mother's poise. Where had he failed in raising her? Cinta would surely laugh at him.

"Trust you?" Jennesh gave up on cleaning her wound himself and tossed the wetted cloth to her instead. She caught it and glared at him as if he had attacked her. "You are still a child, Alfre. 'Trust' will come with wisdom and experience—both of which you lack."

"Because you treat me like glass!" Alfre wrung the cloth so tight in her rebellious frustration she'd nearly dried it. "How am I supposed to get wisdom and experience if all I ever do is stay cooped up inside all the time? You won't let me do anything."

Jennesh sighed, reluctant to admit that she may have a point. Cinta had charged him with raising her to be the greatest Tanta to ever live—

No, Jennesh chided himself, she had not. That was merely his own expectations that he'd placed upon himself. All Cinta had tasked him with was raising her to adulthood, to keep her safe and healthy until she came of age. Or until such time as her powers as a Tanta awakened, whichever came first. Which was why he kept such a strict watch on her; he needed to be aware immediately if her magic showed itself at any point.

As heir to the Tanta of Love, Alfre would surely be powerful. Jennesh had lofty expectations for her—expectations he knew were too much for a fourteen-year-old to live up to, and so he did his best to tailor those expectations to her current experience and limitations. Still, perhaps he had been too protective of her. Nothing terrified him more than the thought of some ill befalling Alfre. With her precociousness, and worse the Corruption's ever encroaching presence outside the walls of Cipal, Jennesh's imagination ran away with him far too often.

He knew many children enjoyed the challenge of sneaking outside of the city, risking their lives for the sake of a thrill or a dare. He knew Alfre's pride and stubbornness, and felt no surprise on catching her return from one such foray.

It was the bald-faced lie she gave that stunned and infuriated him.

"You're glaring," Alfre accused, holding the folded cloth to her cut.

"I am doing no such thing," Jennesh countered. But he softened, because that sulk of hers held just enough of Cinta's gentle tease that he could not help himself. He knew that Alfre's attempt at that tease was her way of apologizing as well. What is it about teenagers that make them so reluctant to be open and honest with their emotions? "I'm considering. You are right about one thing: to gain wisdom, one must first gain experience. And how can one experience life and the world around them when kept swaddled and protected at all hours, hmm?"

The hope rising in her eyes nearly made him smile.

"I will make a bargain with you," he said, and that hope flared all the brighter. "On the condition that you do not ever leave the city walls, I will allow you unsupervised access to the lower city."

"Really?" Alfre asked, the smile on her face so much like Cinta that Jennesh nearly forgot who sat before him. He smiled in return, softening further at Alfre's delight and joy.

"Yes, really," he promised. "They shall be your people as well, some day. You would do well to learn their needs and wants, and establish yourself among them so they may grow to trust you. For now, your task is to learn all you can. Learn how to help them live rich and full lives."

Alfre could no longer contain herself and threw her arms around Jennesh's neck, hugging him tight and all but singing her thanks. He returned her hug, of course, and part of him lamented that she had grown so tall. How he missed holding her in his arms, tossing her into the air and hearing her giggle. Is this a regret every parent held, or only him? He was not her parent, of course, but he loved her all the same.

[zigmatism]

I got inspired by @phoenixiancrystallist and @cruelfeline to draw a bit more Forspoken! This is another AU design that popped into my head where Susurrus was better contained and Frey was born and raised in Athia. She actually pulls his consciousness out of Cinta when she's born, but is still more naturally adapted to containing him.

In this setting she obviously learns more from her mother, gaining better swordfighting ability and the Junoon royal fashion.

She does eventually (willingly) reabsorb all of his pieces when she becomes an adult. Until then, the newly-freed Cinta helps the other Tantas manage their piece of Cuff, a nickname Frey now gives him after seeing his more artificial forms on her aunties :>

And yes Bird!Cuff is still around. Because of course he is.

[phoenixiancrystallist]

No, Bobbi, we are not having Jennesh raise Frey. We want her to have a good, happy, and healthy life in Cipal. We're not giving her to the twatwaffle. We can't even remember if we're spelling his name correctly. Absolutely not. Stop thinking about it.

...but what if, though? What would that dynamic look like, how would it change both of them as people, what would Cinta's reasoning have been??? How do I finagle Cuff into this?

Questions for the ages here.