Of Ancestry and Last Times

Nelly came to not too much later, but wished she hadn't. The pain wasn't tuned down with adrenaline like it had been prior. During her bout of consciousness she had been moved outside to the yard and a Sparks medical officer was hanging over her, applying gel to her burnt body. She tried to turn her head, but found it impossible, her neck braced tightly. 

"Sister?" Nelly asked weakly, finding her mouth dry like a kiln. The medic didn't stop his applying of blue see through gel. 

"She was whisked away by unit one, she was in a more critical condition miss." He said with a calm voice. 

"Will she..." Nelly couldn't finish the sentence. She lamented the lack of strength, if only she had pushed the issue and demanded to be allowed to hunt earlier, this all wouldn't have happened. Why had she been so content with her easy life. She couldn't help but see the peaceful face of Cathrin right before she had passed out. So serene in the face of death. 

"She will be fine. Right doc?" Kabek's voice rang from somewhere above, she couldn't turn to see. He stepped in to her view and bore a lack of eyebrows, with no elegance whatsoever. She laughed at the completely unexpected image, but a coughing fit stopped that short. His dumb looks had been the perfect trigger to get her our of her rut. 

"Right." The Sharp said, and shook a new bottle to prime it.

"I guess there is a miniscule amount of wolf ancestry left in that big pupper." Nelly said her expression a smidgeon above neutral, heaps better than the grimace from prior. 

"Hey come on, I am at least one fourth wolf." Kabek said puffing his chest. 

"More like a sixth." Nelly said in reply. 

"My money is on a tenth." The Sparks medic butted in, embroiling Nelly in another laughing cough fit. 

 ***

Days later Nelly could finally see Cathrin. They all had spent most of their time in the emergency treatment building on palace grounds. She was laying in a hospital bed, finally out of her induced coma. Three teary eyed women and a similarly glossy eyed man sat around the bed. 

"Aside from losing an au naturel body, I am quite fine." Cathrin said jokingly. Synthetic legs were being made, but would take years before she was walking again. "This vampiric sister of mine on the other hand will have to suffer from my presence for the rest of her life." 

It was quite humorous that the only one who wasn't crying was the patient themselves. Nelly smiled, through her wet eyes and squeezed the patients hand, who outwardly was in better shape than her. Nelly wore several dark patches of skin that hadn't healed. It would take quite some time for all blemishes to go away, but they would. 

"I won't say I'm sorry anymore so don't look at me like that Cathrin." Nelly said, as Cathrin had that look in her eye when Nelly had opened her mouth. "I'll keep you to that promise. Even if I have to dig you up from the grave and feed you my blood to revive you." The two shared held hands, and new reinforced bonds.

"Father, you had something to share with us, don't keep me holding you back." Cathrin said, taking initiative as the others wouldn't. Father was a tall blonde man, neither muscular nor slim, and clearly the stronger set of genes. Both of his girls shared his hair color and an ample amount of features, most prominently their noses. Henrik cleared his throat and looked at all members of the family before starting. 

"Brinks was only one of many that had turned from morally gray to downright heinous. Even if there are no enemy soldiers at our walls, we are at war." He said, his scholarly upbringing clear in how he chose his words. "We have arrested Count Xavier Arbore, Baron Henning Arbore and Baron Triton Caolhaide. These are only the ones we can prove had a connection with cousin Brinks."

They all had known the situation was bad, but several Arbore extended family members had been arrested this fast, that meant that under the surface festered a swamp of unimaginable proportions. 

"How the f..." Lina started

"Language miss." Dana said glaring at Lina. Lina only rolled her eyes and was about to continue, but Nelly was the helpful one this time. 

"uck." Nelly said and Cathrin spit out the water she had been sipping in a grand fountain, and cackled through her coughs. Nelly stuck her tongue out at mother, who narrowed her eyes, and kept her face neutral. The whole family knew the signs, the wrinkles beside her eyes was pretty much admitting she was laughing inside. 

"I meant to ask how come Doves or other similar organizations didn't clue us in, why do we pay such extrorbitant amounts for their upkeep." Lina said, covering the wide smile with her hand and gave Nelly a playful kick. Thankfully Lina had the presence of mind to kick her uninjured leg, there would have been hell to pay by Mother and the doctors otherwise. 

"Excellent question and I fear it has no simple or satisfying answer. One thing is clear, the tree is rotten. We just don't know how much." Father said, shaking his head and crossing his arms .

"That is why I—the Arbore family as a whole needs you all. Even if thousands of leaves are decaying, there is thirty million others that we need to keep safe." Mother said, switching between roles of mother and Empress smoothly. "Lina, I am sorry you can't grow up in times of peace. I am sorry you can't stay in school with your friends. I have failed you in that regard."

"As an unnamed sister of mine recently said isn't it time I stopped playing pretend magical girls, that was the moment I knew I had to became an adult." Lina said and twisted her face into an exaggerated pout. A silent 'nooooo' could be heard from behind hands that covered a blushing Cathrin's face. 

Lina ran around the bed, pixie cut blonde her bobbing up and down as she launched a hug at mother. "One last hug as a baby?" Lina said voice wavering, hiding her face in mothers chest. 

"As many as you wish."