Blood from Stone [AU]

[Tethras Clan]

"Jai..." Seli's voice is low but pointed as she tries to redirect her friend's attention.

[Smith Family]

"Right." Jaina shakes her head and moves to sit to the side of Cindy. "Come here, sweetheart," she murmurs, wrapping her arms around the sobbing younger woman. "Let it out. Let it all out."

[Coquette Blacquin]

Cindy sobs in her mother's arm for a long moment, but she does pull back, wiping at her eyes. "I w-was, I w-w-was g-going to k-kill m-myself s-so I w-would't p-put you in d-danger anym-m-ore," she whimpers. "B-but V-varric got K-kyle and..."

[Smith Family]

Jaina goes pale, a gasp slipping from her lips. "Cindy, no!" Bless that dwarf- that's the third time he's done our family an unpayable debt.

[Coquette Blacquin]

"You d-don't understand, I'm, I'm poison, I'm drow, I can't--" She shudders turning to appeal to Seli, flashing her -- unknowingly -- exactly the sort of self-loathing, desperate look Andy used to have when talking about his own race.

[Tethras Clan]

"Nonsense." Settling down on the other side of Cindy despite the cramped space for such a thing, Seli reaches over to stroke Cindy's silver hair. "Your blood doesn't control who you are, not in your soul. Influence you, yes, but it does not decide it. I have know cruel and selfish aasimar and I loved a first generation tiefling enough to marry him once. Andy was a good and noble man, who strove to do good even when faced with hate and fear. He gave his life for that ideal. And from the rumors I've heard this past half year or so, you're just as much a hero."

[Smith Family]

That... might have been a mistake, as it reminds Jaina of some of the rest of the reveal. "Hero. Cindy, you're the Silver Scale? Wh- oh." That word is in start contrast to the slightly shrill, hard-edged words the preceded it. Her mouth stays slightly open, eyes wide and dampening. "Oh Cindy... All that... for Mel?"

[Coquette Blacquin]

"I..." 

She shudders, eyes brimming again. "I couldn't save her, Jaina. I, Father punished me for even trying. So I.. so I just wanted to be someone who could."

[Smith Family]

Her own tears start to flow and Jaina pulls Cindy back into a hug, now needing comfort as much as needing to offer it.

[Coquette Blacquin]

She hesitates, still, letting herself be pulled, but holding herself just a little apart. "I... my father ordered me killed. My mother tried to sell me off. I don't-- I can't bear-- I'm poison."

[Smith Family]

"No, sweetheart," Jaina mumbles against Cindy's neck. "No. They're the wrong ones. They taught you to hide yourself away, to lie and hold yourself tight inside. It's them that don't know love or family."

[Coquette Blacquin]

"I wanted to tell you," she whispers, "But I... I just couldn't ever begin. So many lies."

[Smith Family]

"Yes. And it hurts, knowing you've lied for so much, for so long. But that's a talk for another day. I just... I just want to hold my daughter right now," Jaina whispers. "Until she understands that I love her."

[Coquette Blacquin]

"How? How can you still love me after everything I...?"

[Smith Family]

"After doing so much to try and save Mel? After doing even more to save others like her? After risking yourself to visit and see us despite all else in your life? After watching you be the sister Will needed? Oh Cindy... you may have lied over and over again but you were never false."