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You catch an eleven woman, about your age, staring at you from across the festival. Her light blonde hair is fluffy and barely wavy, it is kept short and held back by a light blue head scarf. A baby is swaddled to her in soft purple fabric, and she wears a simple tunic and practical pants.
You wonder if she knows you're a wayfarer. Folks don't take kindly to magnini round here. She approaches you, and you brace for a confrontation.
Surprisingly enough, the woman is only slightly taller than you, and the first words out of her mouth are not an insult.
"Excuse me, but I was wondering your name?"
"Wasp," you reply, quietly. You don't really like talking to strangers.
Her green eyes widen and she almost goes to raise her hand to her mouth.
"If you don't mind my asking, what is your last name?"
"Sero," you say curtly. You kinda want her to go away now. It's uncomfortable to be in your old home, a place you associate with rejection and exclusion. You were always happier alone, where people didn't stare. An old urge to wander the woods is rising.
Her face falls, she looks... disappointed.
"Ah. Your not who I thought you were then," she straightens, "Well, to be polite, I'll introduce myself! 'm Butterfly Inkli!"
You can't believe it. The last time you saw this woman she barely came up to your waist. She used to come to you when she had nightmares, and wanted you to be the one to teach her to shoot a bow, despite the fact that you had barely learned yourself. You still remember your little sister, who trailed after you and Moth, the eldest, like y'all hung the stars in the sky.
But, in the end, even Butterfly listened when taught to outcast you, though she never stopped sneaking into your room at night, saying you "stopped the nightmares,". Still, her rejection in the daytime, her refusal to play with you or learn with you, hurt, and you'd mentally renounced any ties to her, just like all the rest.
You take a deep breath.
"Ah, nice to meet you Butterfly. Who did you mistake me for?"
You were curious, had time made her learned distain grow? Or perhaps she barely remembered you, and she recognized you as a hazy memory of childhood.
"My brother," she smiled sheepishly, shrugging her shoulders,"Fae has the same eyes and name as you. Far fetched I know! But I think if fae were grown up, fae'd look a bit like you,"
You cocked your head,"oh?"
"Fae left when we were young, I haven't seen faer since,"
You nod silently.
"Actually, um well," she gestured to the baby sleeping peacefully on her chest, it's dark brown hair framing its little face, "I named her in fae's honner. Her name is Velvet, a kind of Wasp,"
"oh!"
You clear your throat.
"Is she, um, is she yours?"
Butterfly laughed at that. It sounded exactly the same as you remember.
"Of course silly! Ah! look at me! You're just trying to enjoy the fair and here I am telling you my life story!"
"I don't mind" you say before you can second guess yourself. You want to spend more time with Butter-your sister.
You have no idea how to keep the conversation going. Your more of an actions than words kind of guy. You rummage about your pockets and find the sphere Hera gave you all that time ago in Rona. You hold it in your sister's face. She jerks her head away.
This gift probably fine right? It's basically a regular ball but magic? It's fine. It's a perfectly safe toy. What do you even do when your an uncle. What do you even say when you're too terrified of rejection to tell your sister who you are to her face?
,"this is for the baby. I've been carrying it around and don't really need it," is what you end up deciding on.
Butterfly takes it, and after a quick inspection, holds it up to Velvet, who has begun waking up. Velvet smiles with a gummy mouth and grabs at it, before beginning to teeth on it. Oh my god you should not have given the magic mystery ball to a baby. It's too late now, however.
Butterfly smiles, before turning to you.
"Would you like to hold her?"
Your younger sister had always been too trusting, but then again, perhaps you managed to make a good impression for once.
You silently hold your hands out, and she places the babe in your arms. Butterfly's hands brush against yours.
"Oh," you say, softly, suddenly holding a tiny, wonderful life in your arms. The babe smiles up at you, her red eyes glittering, reaching for your face
"You're like Velvet," your sister whispers.
"What?" Your head shoots up, did she figure you out? Oh no. You left your family in the past and intended to keep it that way, even if this was-
Interrupting your thoughts, Butterfly leans close and whispers,"Magnini"
And suddenly, you understand it. Velvet, named for the sneaky wasp that disguises itself as an ant, born into a society that sees those without magic as lesser, a brother a woman had once gone to when she needed comfort, left home too young. All wayfarers assumed dead untill proven otherwise after the spire.
Unbidden, tears begin to fall as you hold your niece in your arms.