In the Land of Fae ♔ (gxg)

14. cliff

"You are making something wonderful into something horrible."

"Because it is horrible!" Al exclaimed, rearing up towards Caspian. After every fae had their turn congratulating Caspian and Catori on their exciting news, the water fae pulled Alastair outside the cottage upon seeing that she was very far from happy about the news.

"Bringing life into our world after so many years of death is horrible?" the water fae exclaimed, raising his hands outwards as a look of confusion crossed his dark features, yet he was calm.

Al, on the other hand, was pacing back and forth in front of him like a nervous cat. She had undone her braid furiously, so that now she could run her fingers through her hair, her habitual way of physically expressing her stress.

She stopped after he had finished speaking, turning to him and balling her fists at her sides. Her eyes burned brightly as she exclaimed, "Bringing in a child during a time like this, a time where any of us could die at any moment, is foolish and selfish!"

"So ever since the collapse of the kingdom over eighteen years ago, everyone is supposed to just stop reproducing? What about all the earth and air fae that have been born in the last two decades?"

"There's plenty of them that they don't even have to worry about it," she scoffed, rolling her eyes and turning aimlessly in a circle.

Caspian raked his mind for another example that would disprove what the fae was saying. "Erlin's fourteen. He was born during all of this."

She turned to him suddenly, her lips pursing as a vein in her neck grew taut with anger. "And look where his parents are now," she spat, almost regretting it soon after.

Caspian's eyes fell to the snow, the moonlight from above casting over his head. His jaw clenched as he remembered when Erlin's parents were captured and tortured until death when Erlin was too young to remember.

"There's nothing to do about it now, anyways, Al. You can either be happy for us or be a miserable arse, but Catori is pregnant and there will be a child running around in two months."

"Two?!" Al exclaimed, her hands dropping to her hips as she leaned forward. The gestation period for Fae was much shorter than humans', being only an average three months. "She's already a month along?"

Caspian said nothing, only pressed his lips together as a reply. "We need more children in our world, Alastair," he began much firmer with his deep voice, causing Al to sigh and turn from him, again pacing and staring out into the dark, snowy forest. "We need to continue our lineage. You would understand—you are the last fire fae walking this earth. I don't know about you, Al, but I would rather die knowing I wasn't the last water fae to ever exist than to die ending an entire race of our species, or for the same to happen to Catori."

You do not know if you are the last water fae, Al thought to herself, her eyelashes fluttering closed as a look of grief passed over her. Caspian lowered his eyes to the ground knowingly, slightly regretting what he had said.

Alastair could feel her anger slowly cooling off as she truly listened to Caspian's words rather than focusing on the fact that her decisions could kill not only her friends, but her friends who were also expecting a child. Being last of a lineage sometimes skipped her mind. It was either too surreal or just too nervewracking to think that the death of her, Caspian, Catori, or Erlin could mean the last of their kinds. The Fae had already lost healers when Nikolaus was killed, and she vowed to him to never let another kind die. Not only did they have to survive in order for her to fulfill that promise, but they also had to secure future generations. And that started with having children.