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She waits, counting the days until her child is born, her firstborn, her eldest, for she knows she can’t have just one. It’s nothing short of a miracle, that a faerie and a human can create this life growing inside her, and she busies herself preparing their tiny house for his arrival. Or her, she wouldn’t mind either. Her husband is rarely around, working, saving enough money to support their growing family. She tends the garden, her swollen belly making it more difficult to weed it as well as she likes, but she does her best, and she’s proud of how she’s managed to turn the small house on the hill into a real home.
She waits, rocking the tiny newborn in the wooden chair she helped to carve. He smiles up at her, pale blue eyes sparkling in the evening light, light curls framing his angelic face. He’s her pride and joy, little Liam, her one comfort, as Brennan is off on longer voyages to farther lands, seeking his elusive fortune without her. Liam coos quietly, and she shakes herself from her musings, fixes a bright smile on her face, and sings softly to him, a song of magic and the sea and the home she misses when she’s alone.
She waits, rubbing her growing belly as she stands on the porch, for a little boy with soft blonde curls to collect another lizard to show her. Liam grins excitedly, running up to her with cupped hands, the small salamander trapped triumphantly in his palms. He’s the light of her life, her happiness, and she hopes the newest little one will be a friend for him, that they’ll get along well enough. It’s another boy, she’s certain, and she’s glad they’ll have each other, though she wishes they could have their father around to show them how a man should be. She’ll have to do her best, as she’s always done, and she vows to teach them to be better than him.
She waits, whispering softly while running her fingers gently through tangled toddler hair, his so much darker than his older brother’s. Killian sighs in his sleep, murmurs nonsense quietly as he rolls closer to her hand, and she smiles in the dark. He’s her passionate one, the fire in her day, tempered only by Liam’s sensibility. He makes her laugh in the sunlight, his exhuberance, his love, his life, so different from his brother’s, but they fit together, their love for each other as strong as she’d hoped. He sinks deeper into sleep, and she stays beside him on the floor in their room, her empty bed not nearly as comfortable as this spot between her boys.
She waits, shrieks of laughter from the yard behind the house, and smiles to herself. She hopes they remembered to stay out of the garden this time as they play, she can’t afford to lose any more of her tomatoes to their careless chases and wild wrestling. A cry of real pain, and she pauses, listening. But they don’t need her to intervene, Liam’s quiet voice soothing Killian’s recent ache, and soon they’re back to their game, laughter drifting in through the open windows once more. She’s glad they have each other, for she’ll be gone after nightfall.
She waits, the other faerie hovering near the threshold. She doesn’t want to leave, can’t stand to see her boys left alone with him, but her time has come and she needs to return to her people. She listens to them from the doorway, Liam’s gentle breathing, Killian’s soft snores as he twists in his bed - restless even in sleep. She slips off the silver ring she’s worn on a chain for centuries, careful slides it over Liam’s head and tucks it under his nightshirt. He doesn’t stir, and she’s grateful. It’s easier to say goodbye if she doesn’t have to hear it from them as well.
She waits, her new responsibilities keeping her busy, distracted, but still she waits, though she dreads the reunion. She rules the depths, drags the souls of sailors to their eternal rest, and hopes her boys don’t end up in her realm. But they have her blood, as well as that bastard’s, and she’s sure it’s just a matter of time before it’s their souls she’ll have to account for. She wants to find them, wants to see them, just one more time before they find her, but she doesn’t dare.
She waits, while he blinks up at her, her eldest, her firstborn, her Liam, as recognition sets in. He knows her, as surely as she knows him, though he’s aged, he’s grown so much since she last saw him. She doesn’t ask of his brother, and he doesn’t offer. She holds his hand, so much larger than the last time she did, and leads him to where he’s meant to go. She wants to stay with him, wants more time with him, but it’s not meant to be. This time, though, she does say goodbye, and she’s not prepared for the pain when he says it back. He won’t remember her, once he’s gone, but she’ll never forget.
She waits, for years and years, decades passing, but there’s no sign of her second son, her Killian. She listens to the stories sailors tell, she hears mention of him in their tales, but then he’s remembered no more, and still she doesn’t find him. She looks for a while, but her bright eyed, passionate child is nowhere to be found. Dead men tell tales of a villain on the high seas, captain of an enchanted ship with a hook for a hand who sends many sailors to her realm, but she can’t find her Killian, her baby boy.
She waits, a century since she left home, no chance that he’s still alive anymore, but still she waits, a kind of hope only a mother can have. Maybe he’s found the ring she left her eldest, maybe he’s learned to use it, to cheat death, to escape her entirely. Maybe he’s learned to love, to live, maybe he’s happy, maybe he has a family of his own. She hopes to meet them, one day, when he’s finished living his life, to meet those who’ve taken her boy into their hearts.
She waits, drawing nearer to the ship she’s been tracking for days, the ship that has only a few minutes before it will sink below the waves. Finally, the enchanted ship with a pirate captain who’s outlived all others will be hers. She sends another wave crashing over the deck, the tiny crew scrambling to right the sails, to keep her afloat, but she knows it’s useless. It will be hers, she’s wanted this prize for centuries.
She stops, pulling out of the water to get a closer look. It can’t be, it can’t, and yet there’s no way it’s not. Her boy, her Killian, the one she’s waited for all this time, stares back at her as she stands on the deck, his bright eyes just as blue as she remembered, the blue of the sea she knows so well. He remembers, he remembers, and he can’t believe that she’s there, after he’s lived so long without her. He’s still alive, not yet hers to take, but she surges forward and wraps him in her arms anyway. He wants to know everything, always her curious son, always wondering, and she tells him what she can, though she knows it’s not enough. She meets his family, his new life, his loves, and the skies open with tears she can’t hold back. She has to go, she has her job to do, souls to claim and ferry beyond, but she stays, just one more moment. This time, goodbye doesn’t hurt so much.
She waits, the power of the sea, the ruler of the depths, smiling as she sees her son sail past, the captain and his family. The ocean ripples for him, helps him on his course, and she thinks she can stand to wait a while longer.