Blood from Stone [AU]

[Carver Amell]

Carver flips his hand over to grab at hers, grateful for the contact. "He's very, very Alydran. He thinks he can just reason his way out of things, that he can... He was ready to agree to her deadline, assuming he can fix her in a hundred and five days. I don't... I don't know if she'll hold to that deadline. It's so insidious, this stuff. It gets in your head. Like, they don't need me anyway, they don't love me, I just fuck everything up. And then you think, why wait until the deadline's up, why not leave now, they're going to let me go anyway. And then... and then accidents happen in your mentor's shower," he admits, eyes sliding away from her. 

[Tethras Clan]

Her hand tightens almost painfully for a second before she forces it to relax. "I can understand your stance on this." Her tone is admirably even, given the look in her eyes and the spots of color on her complexion. "I... " She blows out sharply. "I'm no expert and likely poorly suited for anything of such a delicate nature but I think Liz will need you both.  Your father's plans but also your stubborn heart. She might hate you for it for a time, much as I suspect you resented me for hounding and restricting your every move those weeks, but... Well, I like to think you... do not think of me that way anymore."

[Carver Amell]

"I don't," he agrees. "I haven't for a long time. You're... you saved me. I'm grateful for that. I just... it's not fair to make Merrill or Beth hound her like you had to hound me. I think... I think if I could go back and do it over, I'd have you send me to Summerhill instead. I don't know if... I don't know if we did it right, for me. And Liz is so, so much worse..."

[Tethras Clan]

"Carver, no-one made me look after you. I did it because I wanted to. Because you were important to me. Just like you, Merrill and Beth would do for Liz or each other. But." She holds up her free hand to stop his reply. "But I do agree that, as SummerHill would make things worse for her, hiring some live-in staff to help look after Liz would be a very good idea. It's not as if your father lacks the means to do so. That's something not every family has, it would be almost cruel of you to not take advantage of it."

[Carver Amell]

Carver nods. "Only... with the problems between me and Dad... and how angry I am... I don't think I can go home yet."

[Tethras Clan]

"Angry I can help with, if you want. Monthly evals for the cadets is this afternoon- if you want, you're more than skilled enough to be one of the combat evaluators. Nothing like fighting fifty odd trainees to tire you out. Plus you get to tear strips off the ass of anyone that f-" She cuts off, eyes widening as she recalls where she's having this talk with Carver. Her head snaps to the side and she sags once she confirms the twins are too far and too busy to have heard her word choice. "Ah, that is, you can yell at anyone that bumbles badly."

[Carver Amell]

"Bumbles," he repeats, with an amused chuckle. "That seems fine. I'll talk to zi'Smith -- we have to anyway, to get him to decurse zi'Magnus -- and then head to evals after. But I... I think I'm going to be staying in the Bandanna hideout until Jass leaves, and go with him back to the Oak, see if I can find some adventuring work to do. I don't... It'll go easier I think if I'm gone while they do this devil's bargain, if they don't end up committing her."

[Tethras Clan]

"Easier doesn't mean better." Aveline frowns, expression disapproving. "I stand by what I said about them needing your stubborn heart for this- especially if Liz stays out of institualized help." Her eyes narrow suddenly. "Devil's bargain?"

[Carver Amell]

"Not literally," he says quickly. "Sorry, I've devils on my mind. It sounds like that kind of thing though: if she's not satisfied with her progress in a few months, then we have to let her go off and die, no attempts to stop her."

[Tethras Clan]

Aveline lets out a sigh of relief at at his rapid negation. "Ah. That is..." She strokes his hand with her thumb, searching for the words. "I can't imagine, thank Astea, how that must have felt to hear. I wouldn't be able to have agreed to that deal either. It's... something, at least, that she's willing to bargain at all though. She could have simply not come back after I... bumbled."

[Carver Amell]

He nods. "Dad found her with a Sending, and she said she was at the temple. So we figured she was okay. But I was... I was scared, and then she comes back and she's acting weird and saying things like that and... I couldn't stand it. And Dad was acting like that was normal, something you can just agree to. He only pushed her for more time, five months instead of three. That's not... I can't imagine how he managed it."

[Tethras Clan]

"Just more time? That's far less than I would have expected the Smiling Lord of Thieves to..." She pauses, rolling her eyes. "Ah, that's when you... proposed your own solution, I suspect?" At the temple? That's a very good place for her to have fled to, and better than I would have expected. Pretty much where I fled for years after my Wes, at least in spirit. "Weird how?"

[Carver Amell]

"I don't... I don't know how to put my finger on it. She went off and had sex, I gather. And she was talking about... I guess, she really took what you said to heart. She was talking about how she's a danger to everyone, but she wants to try and fix it before she runs off. She had this idea about doing math or something, trying to do things that make her happy so she'll have more energy to heal. It sounded good until she started talking about making us promise to let her leave. They were on the verge of agreeing when I cut in. I demanded that part of the bargain be, if she has to make a plan to leave, the plan involves coming back. She wouldn't even meet my eyes. That's when I made my plan, and even before I said what it was Dad was against it, against me. He acted like me being angry was the same as Liz being... being like this."

[Tethras Clan]

Aveline frowns, mulling that over, before finally shaking her head. "No, it's impossible to really guess what and why he reacted as he did, not without having been there. And your father is far too good a liar and worse, a politician, for me to be sure even then. I'd be happy to ask him for you, well, with you, if you want. When you talk to him next I mean." She winces. "... assuming you're willing to let me anywhere near your family again."

[Carver Amell]

Carver sighs, resting his head back against the exterior wall of the home. "Why did you talk to her that way?" he asks, softly.