Chương 20: Deciding Between Bad and Well…Worse

"Wait. Run that by me one more time?" Celestia asked, her brows knitting together in disbelief.

"Way to bury the lead."

"You heard me. EB48 is actually my goddaughter, Sheera. Her mother, Illianna, and I grew close after the placement, and she's become one of my closest friends."

"So let me get this straight. You placed a child, Sheera or EB48. How am I doing so far?" Celestia paused, her fists clenching.

"Then you decided it's perfectly acceptable to get all warm and fuzzy with the very woman you handed her off to?" she asked, her tone accusatory, her jawline tightening. Seraphina nodded.

"Well, if that is not a breach in protocol, I don't know what is. You were pretty clear about crossing lines, but it seems to me you have no issue stepping over them when the need suits you." Celestia folded her arms, shooting daggers with her eyes.

"Just to get here, you broke the rules by using fairy credentials that weren't even your own. So, tell me, Ms. Sterling, is it breaking rules you take issue with, or is it just me you have a problem with?" Seraphina stared blankly at Celestia, her mouth opening and closing as if she could manifest words that would make it make sense. Very much like a fish out of water, she felt herself floundering with no way to justify her behavior toward Celestia earlier.

"All I can say is I'm sorry, Celestia. It has nothing to do with you and everything to do with me," Seraphina replied, taking in a sharp breath.

"None of it was intentional. I wasn't even aware of how it looked until you pointed it out. I can see how it would appear to be hypocritical to stress boundaries when I cross them myself periodically." Celestia's posture relaxed.

"Thank you, and just for the record, I'm not faulting you for doing what needed to be done. I understand the position you are in with me. I get it. I just think the whole thing was handled wrong back at the house. The bottom line is, we are both tiptoeing back and forth on an imaginary line. Everything we are doing goes against protocol in one way or another. Our top priority has to be Little Miss. Her safety is what matters, and if we have to cross lines to do that, so be it."

Seraphina gave Celestia a half smile before looking down at the baby in her arms.

"So, we agree that her safety is the priority and if we have to bend or break rules to do it then so be it?"

"Yes! And on that note, do you think Sheera will go along with this?" Celestia asked.

"To be honest, I'm not sure. I don't want to drag anyone else into this, especially after what happened at my house," Seraphina said, looking down at Little Miss.

"It's obvious someone wants her and wants her pretty badly. I just can't fathom who that could be." The baby's eyes caught Seraphina's attention. They seemed far more alert and focused than those of a typical newborn. Celestia looked from the baby to Seraphina.

"I know this is going to sound ridiculous. Is it just me, or is she actually listening and following what we say?"

"You know, I was wondering the same thing. I have never seen an infant do this. Especially one barely a few hours old. She seems far more attuned than she should be. There are times when I would swear she was not only listening but understanding what was being said." Little Miss gave her a knowing smile. Surprised, Seraphina did a double take.

"You saw that, right?" she asked, looking at Celestia.

"You mean that it's not normal for a baby to do that?"

"No, Celestia, babies don't smile like that. Sometimes they may look like they are, but it is generally just gas, they sure don't smile on cue." Seraphina sighed, recalling that only a few hours ago Celestia learned that there was a difference between burping and beating a baby.

"You have an eidetic memory. What does the prophecy say about her?" she asked, returning her gaze to the infant.

"Trust me, it doesn't say anything about a wonder-infant," she scoffed.

"The prophecy foretells the birth, but Seraphina," she huffed, "even that was very vague." Celestia fidgeted with the hem of her dress, looking off into the distance.

"There is no mention of where the child would be born, if it was a male or a female, or who it would be born to. Now that I look closer at things, I cannot even confirm without any doubt that she even is the prophecy child." Celestia stood up and began to pace.

"If what the prophecy says is true, we have a good long wait until any of it even becomes relevant," she said, stretching her long legs.

"None of it helps us figure out what to do with her. Right now, however, I think it would be in all of our interest to get moving. By the looks of things, it will be dark soon and it's been a while since Little Miss ate or was changed. If we are supposed to be traveling incognito…" she paused, placing her hands on her hips.

"Two fairies traipsing down an elven street carrying a screaming infant would not exactly go unnoticed," she said, arching her eyebrows.

"You're right, we will have plenty of time to dissect the prophecy once Little Miss here is safe and sound. I just haven't figured out exactly what I am going to tell Sheera about her yet." She sighed loudly.

"I can't tell her who she really is that would potentially put her in as much danger as the baby seems to be in," she said, reaching out a hand to Celestia so she could help pull her up from the ground. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Celestia took her hand and gently pulled while Seraphina juggled the infant in her other arm.

"Good point," Celestia agreed, her thoughts racing to devise a plausible, innocuous cover story.

"I'll be honest, Seraphina, I have no clue what or how much we should tell her. She needs to know the truth, but at the same time knowing the truth could blow it all to smithereens," she said, shaking her head and shrugging her shoulders. Seraphina began absently walking through the forest, her mind racing. She could make this walk in her sleep if she needed to. She had done it so many times over the last 35 years. With each mindless step, she mulled over countless possibilities.

She knew what she was considering was a big ask. This wasn't a simple, "would you mind watching this kid for a few days?" It was life-altering, not just for her goddaughter, but by extension, her entire family. Then there were the risks to consider. How safe would any of them be? From the group hunting the baby… hell, even potentially from the baby herself. They still didn't know what she was capable of. Was there another way to keep the child safe without risking the safety of the ones she loved?

She couldn't with any amount of certainty tell her goddaughter how long she would have to continue the ruse. She knew it would be more than a few days or weeks. This would be months, potentially even years, maybe even a lifetime. It hit her and it hit her hard. She was asking her goddaughter to potentially make a lifelong commitment to this child. To make it worse, she was asking her to deceive this child for perhaps her entire life. Guilt suddenly filled her heart, creating a whole new set of fresh doubts.

Her certainty about the plan dwindled into a series of red flags, warning her that this may not be the right way to go.

"What is it, Seraphina? You look lost," Celestia asked, appearing genuinely concerned. Seraphina stopped and turned to Celestia.

"It just hit me all at once. The weight of all I am asking of my goddaughter, and her family. I am asking them to lie about this child and raise it as if it was one of their own. Then what happens when the higher-ups decide they will take the baby? Then what do we do? We take the child back and devastate them all in the process? I couldn't do that to someone I barely knew, let alone someone I love. It's just cruel." She sighed, trying to hold back the tears.

"I will be lying to her about who and what she is. I will be asking her for unconditional trust, all the while betraying hers." Celestia stood wordlessly, allowing Seraphina to finish.

"I have to tell the higher-ups. They need to know, but all at the same time, a part of me is questioning if they truly need to know now. This child deserves a normal life and that is something she would never have in the world of Fairy Bureaucracy. I can't expect Sheera to commit to raising her only to show up one day to take her away. It goes against everything I feel in my heart." Tears began rolling down Seraphina's face as she looked at the baby.

"Just because she is destined to save the world later on in her life doesn't mean she doesn't deserve to live a life. She is, after all, still a child and deserves to have a childhood." The tears fell in torrents as Seraphina's indecision tore her in two.

"Oh, come on now, we will figure this out. Chin up," she said perkily. Seraphina shot her a contemptuous glare.

"That's all you've got? Chin up? I am here falling apart, tying myself up in knots over this and all you've got is chin up?"

"I tried," she said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Seraphina, I know you are struggling with this. That is apparent. But the bottom line here is, we need to find a safe place to stash her. She is far too important to risk. I'm sorry if your conscience is getting the better of you, but wouldn't you rather Little Miss be raised in a real family, with real parents who truly care about her for who she is and not who she will become?"

Celestia hesitated, then added softly, "From what I do know of the prophecy, she will save the fairy world, the elven world, the dwarves, the giants, and all the other interdimensional beings. Bad things are on the horizon and only she can stop it." Seraphina looked down at Little Miss, who once again smiled brightly at her, this time with her eyes aglow.

"Okay, little one, you really have to stop doing things like that. Pretend you are a normal, mundane infant, will you?" Little Miss closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. Seraphina shook her head, amused. She understands me, I know she does. How she does it, I don't know, but she does.

"I never thought of it that way, Celestia," she said softly.

"Her best chance at survival and at having any semblance of a normal life is to keep her identity a secret until the time is right, even if that means keeping Fairy Central out of the loop indefinitely." Seraphina glanced down at the baby nestled in her arms.

"Over time, I could share bits with Sheera. Quite frankly, based upon some of the things Little Miss here does, I may have to."

"I'm going to leave the disclosure up to you, Seraphina." She paused, gathering her thoughts.

"You know your goddaughter and what she can or can't handle. I don't. I see your point, though. What's next? Is Little Miss going to start talking tomorrow? Then what? Start walking next week?" Celestia asked, raising her eyebrows.

"I hadn't even thought of that as a possibility," Seraphina said breathlessly. Seraphina turned to face Celestia.

"I can't just leave Sheera in the dark like that. She needs to know that Little Miss here is special. She looked down at the blissfully sleeping infant.

"She needs to be prepared…," she broke off.

"So, you're going with the truth?" Celestia asked softly.

"I may not have a choice," Seraphina said, raising her eyebrows, looking over at Celestia, "Little Miss has done some rather unusual things already. I think I owe it to Sheera to at least be prepared for, well, quite frankly, anything." Seraphina and Celestia continued down the path in the peaceful splendor of the Elven Forest. The forest around them was dense and heavy, the kind of old growth that shut out most of the sky.

Tall straight trunks rose in every direction, packed so closely together that the path felt more carved than chosen. The canopy overhead formed a solid roof of leaves, letting only thin scattered shafts of light reach the ground. Underfoot, the earth was soft with layers of fallen needles and damp leaves that muffled their steps. Thick underbrush crowded the edges of the trail, with ferns, brambles, and low shrubs that would have been impossible to push through without a blade.

The air carried the cool earthy smell of soil and bark, the quiet broken only by the occasional rustle of something small moving through the brush. It was simply a deep sprawling forest that swallowed sound, hid the horizon, and made the world feel far away.

"You know," Celestia said, glancing left and then right, "there isn't much of a difference between this world and the one humans inhabit. I expected something far different."

"How so?" Seraphina asked, shuffling the baby from one arm to the other.

"I don't know. Different types of plants or animals. You know… just different," Celestia said, her eyes darting from side to side along the wooded path.

"So far, I have seen nothing out of the ordinary. No purple trees. Not one talking animal has come up to say 'howdy do'. No unusual buildings," she added, sounding disappointed.

"If I hadn't known better, I would say we were walking through the human realm."