Baldorian wiped his forehead from sweat as he sat back on his knees. He missed this, the quiet and serenity of not having his wife and daughter around. He hated Sylvia with the passion of a thousand suns but he was forced to marry her just like every other Northumberly before him. He would have been perfectly satisfied being a recluse until the dreaded time when he would feel the need to be with a lady and if that lady so happened to sire him a son and didn't want him, he would have been perfectly fine caring for it all his own. Unfortunately, Radek's mother was complete trash and what he did to Aislinn was... unforgivable. By the time he started taking his offspring's feelings into consideration he had already destroyed his first two son's lives and had had two daughters with Sylvia. By the time Sylvia had gotten pregnant with Jamison, Baldorian realized that he had made the most horrible and tragic mistake of his life: messing with Aislinn Shallmore.

Talk about a woman of caliber... When he learned about her death and had to take in Radek and Kannaset, he realized how much of a cad he had been to that sweet woman. She wanted so badly to cure him, to love him... and he just fucked with her mind until she was left with the guilt that he should have had. When Radek went off on him and how he had to watch Aislinn wallow in utter guilt, feeling as if she didn't give enough of herself to change his mind, how she had failed Kans, he passed it off as something passing. But as he watched Sylvia and Velvet treat that sweet boy like he was lower than the dirt, how Radek would protect him no matter what, how even Phabyl could see the good in him... Jami the most. Jamison loved Kans as if he were his father. When he found out what had transpired between Baldorian and Aislinn, he had a resentment that Baldorian just couldn't mend.

If he could take it all back, go back in time and at least not have led her along like he did, then there was a possibility that Kans would have had the normal amount of myths. If he had allowed himself to love her, then there may have even been a high chance that Jami would have been normal, which meant that Higgs would have been normal and no one would have had to go through this pain.

"Father?" Baldorian looked up, finding Kans in a cloak. "What are you doing?"

"I just breaking up the soil along the walls. I got some Christmas rose seeds and thought it might liven up the mansion a bit... Make it seem... welcoming..." he faltered, not used to talking about his secret hobby.

"I wasn't aware you liked flowers." Kans said, no patronization in his voice, just genuine curiosity.

"Well, Sylvia finds it repulsive that a lord gets on his hands and knees and tills the land like a lowly landscaper, getting dirty and filthy."

"It doesn't really take much for her to be repulsed."

"That's true..."

"I noticed you've been out here most of the time, so I wanted to make sure you were alright."

"I'm using this time to get away from Sylvia and Velvet and try to help as much as I can. I know the Scotswoman isn't in the best bill of health with the pregnancy and all and everyone who can is out trying to help with Higgs so... I thought I'd try to help around here and there."

"I see..."

"I don't make a bit of sense, do I?"

"Not really."

"Sit for a moment."

Kans knelt down beside his father, taking off the cloak hood since it was cloudy and he had on the ring to keep from completely bursting into flames. They were quiet for a moment as Baldorian wondered if he should plant the Christmas roses all around the house or if he should break up the flowers with Christmas roses in the front and pansies or maybe even heather on the sides. The silence was making Kans a little uncomfortable and he fidgeted with his ring.

"Do I make you uncomfortable?" Baldorian asked, not really looking at him.

"You've been asking that a lot lately and the answer is still the same."

"I'm sorry."

"Are you dying?" Baldorian turned to him. "You've been particularly nice to me ever since the wedding. Considering how uninvolved you were before, it's a bit worrisome."

Baldorian sighed. "I can see how the sudden change would make you think something's wrong but that's not the case, I assure you."

"Then..."

"What was she like?"

"Who?"

"Your mother."

"Oh... um... I don't remember her that much. She died when I was so young... The person you should be asking is Radek."

"As if Radek and I could have a civil conversation, especially about Aislinn."

"Well, from what I understand, the circumstances around her and the reason I am the way I am were pretty home-hitting for him. She was more of a mother to him than anyone so... What's going on?"

"It's nothing, really. I'm just reminiscing about my life and all the mistakes that I made that led to the present; how if I had just been a nicer person that some things just wouldn't have happened..."

Kans frowned. "Are you blaming yourself for what happened to Higgs?"

"If I hadn't been such a fool regarding your mother, if I had been nicer and taken into consideration my children... There's a possibility that this wouldn't have happened."

"Father, this has no bearing on what you've done in the past."

"Yes it does. If I had realized what I was doing and how I was treating Aislinn, what I was missing and realized her beauty and love, then you might have had less creatures to deal with that were easily attainable for breaking the curses, Jami could have possibly been normal and thus, Higgs would have been normal."

Kans sighed. "Father, I never understood exactly why you did what you did to my mother but unfortunately, history has already been done and it can't be fixed. I honestly don't think that you being a better person would have stopped this woman from doing what she's done. Neither you nor your past self could have done anything to fix someone as crazy as her. From what I understand, she was already a nutter before we knew her."

"I guess you're right."

"Hey! HEY!"

They both looked up as a small bat was flapping its wings wildly and coming at them at full speed. Kans stood up and opened up his cloak to let Pixus in. He slammed into Kans and he covered him up as he crawled up his shirt and poked his head out from under Kans' chin.

"What the hell?" Baldorian said. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"Good thing England is overcast 75% of the time, huh?" The two gave him a look. "That's not the point. I wouldn't have risked the sunlight if it wasn't important."

"Well spit it out then."

"It's about cousin Higgs. I've seen him and it's much, much worse than we could have imagined. We need to take action immediately. We have no more time to waste."

"I understand she's a crazy woman but she's still just a woman-"

"She's not just anything. She's the devil. I was finally able to sneak inside and I had to wait in there for a time when Higgs was alone so that I could let him know that all is not lost. I had to wait for days and while I waited... the things I overheard..." His little body shuttered. "Higgs is trying to hold on but I can tell he's shutting down to keep the suffering at bay. What is taking you all so long to get to him?"

"From what I understood, it had to do with accusations and trespassing but I think formalities are out the window now. Let's go tell the others."

Baldorian clapped the dirt off of his hands as Pixus burrowed himself back under Kans' cloak.

*******************

Fuchsia and Catherine sipped their tea as the men were in a panic; well, Boston wasn't. He was sitting beside Fuchsia trying to meditate.

"Do ya know what ya might name yar babe?" Catherine asked.

"We have a few names picked out."

"Up."

The three of them stood up in fluid unison as Edgar and Radek toppled over the couch, Merida in hand. She was growling like an animal and they were having a hard time keeping her from running out the door.

"Marbhaidh mi i! Marbhaidh mi a'ghalla sin le m'lamhan ruisgte! Let me go!"

"What are you going to do, Merida?! There's nothing you can do!" Radek yelled.

"Ye let me go afore I show ye what I can do!"

"We can't step foot on her land without a reason and by the way she's acting, she'll kill us if she finds us!" Edgar yelled. "Going in there like this will only get you killed and how is that going to help anyone?!"

"Who said she was going to kill me? I'm going to kill her first!"

"All that's going to do is get you in trouble! MERIDA!"

"Here, let me..." Kans said.

He pulled Radek off, letting Merida have some room to move, and she wriggled out of Edgar's arms. She started to run towards the door but Kans grabbed her and pulled her to him, making her slam into his hard chest. It knocked the wind out of her and then he wrapped his arms around her, keeping her from moving. She managed to still turn around in his arms and kicked her legs up in the air as she tried to get free.

"LET ME GO! LET ME GO!"

"Not until you calm down!"

"How the bloody hell can I calm down when I get news like that?! Why are ye all so calm about it?!"

"We're not calm! Do you really think we are calm?"

"I dinnae see anyone else getting angry."

"Because we know how to be angry without acting like a wild animal caught in a trap." Jamison said, crossing his arms.

"Ye dumb Englishmen and yer sophistication. God forbid ye get out of line."

"Screaming like a banshee and kicking like a donkey isn't exactly the most mature thing to do. You can be angry without acting like a crazed animal."

"Ye havenae seen crazed until I ram my hand into that bitch's chest and pull out her cold black heart!"

"AND THEN WHAT?!" Kans bellowed, scaring everyone. "HUH?! What will you accomplish by killing her? You'll be on trial for murder."

"I dinnae care!"

"But we do!" Edgar said, hitting his chest. "Higgs does! How can he come back from this without you? If you're gone then how will he ever be alright?"

Merida finally couldn't stop her tears as she went limp and fell back against Kans' chest, crying so hard and looking so defeated.

"How can I just stay calm and collected and wait while he's still out there? How can I just stay still and not even try when he's being tortured by that horrible demon? She's destroying him the longer we let him stay there..."

"I don't think she's goin' anywhere now." Catherine said, holding out her hands. Kans let go and she held Merida in her arms. "Merida, Edgar has a point. Without ya, Higgs will never be able to recover. What good would it be to rescue him just to have ya not even be able to help him get better? You are the catalyst in his recovery and ya know that. Just because we aren't as animated as ya doesn't mean that we don't want to do thin's to that woman as much as you do, but she's a lot more cunnin' than we could have ever imagined."

"I knew. I kenned it all along. I shoulnae ever relied on any of ye!" Merida pulled out of Catherine's arms and looked at the Northumberly family. "Reason and laws and propriety delayed going over there and bringing him home. It's almost December... it's been almost two months since he's been in the clutches of that bitch and all ye have been telling me to do is wait, wait, wait. Well, ye see how that turned out?"

"Merida-"

"Dinnae ye say another word." she snarled at Edgar, his blue eyes wide. "An ye had kept yer mouth shut in the beginning then none of this would have ever happened! Ye and yer damned mouth!"

"That's not fair!" Edgar yelled, tears pricking his eyes. "That... that's not fair!"

"Ye tell that to Higgs when he gets back then."

"Higgs was being stupid just like you're being stupid now! How is telling him the truth my fault? You were here for FOUR YEARS and you never made any attempts to try and make him love you anymore than he was. Who gave a fuck about his feelings then?! It certainly wasn't you! You say that you were waiting on him and that you were respecting his wishes but all you were doing was babying him! So what if the curse backfired?! He damn well would be here instead of in the arms of Lady Hinkley. If I hadn't made him face his fear then the curse would have never revealed itself to you! If it's anyone's fault, it's yours!"

"It's no one's fault!" Fuchsia screamed.

Everyone turned in surprise as Fuchsia stood up, going in between Merida and Edgar to break them up.

"You, her, me, him, them, God, circumstance. Who the hell knows fault it is? Who the hell cares? Look at you two... How is this even helping?" The two of them sniffled but didn't look at each other. "You've said such horrid things to each other over what? Something we can't even change? No one is a time and space kitsune to allow for you to go back and fix this right?" She said, looking around at everyone. They all shook their heads. "Then how will blaming each other make a difference? Higgs is being held captive by a cunning, manipulative, deceitful witch and here we are fighting about who made the rug get pulled out from under us. Blame isn't going to do anything. We need a plan. A good, legal, and definite plan. Is that clear?" They nodded. "Now... Marlow? Could you bring out some tea?"

Marlow nodded as Edgar turned away and left the room as Merida sat down, head in her hands.

*****************

Edgar held the pillow in his arms as he stared at nothing. It was too good to be true; he knew that it wasn't over. The thing he had feared the most had finally come true and he had no idea how to handle it. The worst part that not only had Merida lied to him about it, she had harbored it. There was a knock at the door but Edgar didn't answer it. He had a feeling it was Merida and he didn't really want to speak with her at the moment. There was another knock.

"Go away." There was still another knock. "I don't want to talk to you, Merida."

"I'm not Merida." A man's voice said as the door opened a bit.

"Oh." Edgar didn't respond to the person, still having his back towards the door.

"I'm coming in anyway."

Edgar heard the door open all the way but he didn't move. He could hear someone moving about the room and he finally turned over to see what was happening.

"What do you want?"

"I thought we could have a chat."

"About respecting my elders or some bullocks?"

"No, actually." They said with a chuckle.

"I don't need a priest." He said, turning back.

Cucklehorn smiled. "I'm not here to preach to you, Edgar. Despite what it may seem, I'm not a reverend every waking moment of my life. Everyone else is trying to come up with a good enough plan and Ms. Dunbrough cried herself to sleep on the couch. As a third-party, I thought it might be easier to speak with me since I wouldn't have a biased opinion."

"Oh..." He turned back to look at him. "What are you?"

"I'm a fascinating creature called a human." He said with a smile. Edgar made a face. "I didn't come to preach but the Bible does give good advice for our lives."

"I wouldn't know. I've never been to church until Ms. Fuchsia got married."

"Then let me enlighten you. There is a passage that says, 'be ye angry and sin not; let not the sun go down upon your wrath'. There is also another that says, 'cease from anger and forsake wrath; fret not thyself in any wise to do evil'. Do you understand what these two scriptures mean?"

"That you are bad at subtlety?"

Cucklehorn chuckled. "I honestly didn't come to preach; I came to help you. You out of all of us have done everything to make us feel welcome and sustained us as we tried to think of ways to get things done without repercussion. You've tended our every need in normal and changed forms; you've worked so hard to try and make us comfortable."

"What does it even matter?"

"It matters quite a lot. Merida loves you very, very much, but she is also uncharacteristically afraid. The man she loves seems so close and yet so far away and she's unable to use her normal tactics to get him back. Talking won't work on this woman who has Higgs and she's also pregnant, which mixes up a woman's emotions something fierce. She has no control over the situation or any way to gain control of it. For someone like her, not taking action immediately is like not doing anything at all. She's lashing out because she can't fix the situation."

"Then how is it my fault that all this happened? It doesn't even matter... I knew she still harbored resentment towards me for making Higgs go to Elizabeth."

"What exactly happened?"

"They have been in love with each other ever since Merida took me in. Anyone could see it except for those two. Then, while I was in school all that time, they didn't even try to get closer to each other. Merida says she was trying to respect Mr. Higgs and Higgs was afraid that it wouldn't go well. He tried to deny everything but when I made him face the truth he just... gave up and went to Elizabeth, claiming he needed a fresh start. Something about feeling like he was forcing Merida and it wasn't genuine. What a load of bullocks!"

"Hmm... I see..."

"But because of that, Higgs got weird and there were a lot of strange emotions going on, not good ones. I felt like it was my fault because I tried to force them together when they were slowly but surely getting there. I felt like it was my fault that they drifted apart but Merida always said that it wasn't my fault but now..."

"Well, she's right. It's not your fault at all. Ever think it was Higgs' fault?" Edgar looked up at him. "I mean, he isn't unable to control his emotions more than anyone else. By being an idiot, he kind of caused his own suffering. What dummy drops a woman who would do anything for him for a woman he barely knows just because he's embarrassed? Such a silly thing..."

Edgar sat up. "Is Merida mad at me?"

"Not at all. She's been beating herself up for saying what she did to you. She's more afraid that you're mad at her."

"Well, I am." He said, crossing his arms.

"Understandable."

"If it wasn't something she was keeping holed up inside then she would have never said it! She obviously kept those feelings to herself to save face."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Of course it is!"

"Then what good did it do to learn of it now? Wouldn't you have had the same reaction then?"

"Yes, but I would have gotten over it by now. If she had just been honest with me and said what she meant then I could have gotten over it. She saw how upset I was about it and I thought I ruined everything and now it turns out I did!"

"But the question still remains the same: wouldn't the reaction have been the same?" Edgar stared at Cucklehorn in confusion. "Let me ask a better question: if she had agreed with your thoughts while you were so caught up in them -hurting so much in your heart and anguishing over what you did- how would you have fared?"

Edgar blinked at him and realized what he meant.

"I guess... I would have been dead."

"Dead?"

"I... I was so upset that I wanted to leave this world for my sin."

"I see."

"You're a priest right?"

"Yes."

"Then, you won't tell anyone about what I just said, right?"

"I am sworn under oath not to speak of another's confession."

"I just... I don't want Merida to know."

"I think she already knew to a degree. I'm sure she did something to try and make you feel better?"

"She let me stay here instead of going back to school."

"And has it helped?"

"Well... if I had gone back then... then... well... No. No it hasn't helped. It made it worse." He said with a pout. "I'm not a good person."

Cucklehorn pat his back. "No one is a good person, Edgar. There was only one person who walked this earth who could be considered good and even he didn't think of himself as such. Unless we try with all our might, there's no way we could ever try to be as perfect as him. We make mistakes and we have to deal with them, but we do not have to wallow in them. Once they are forgiven, they are to be forgotten. As far as the sunrise to the sunset."

"Is that a scripture too?" Edgar said with a smirk.

Cucklehorn smiled too. "Well, I am a priest... My point in coming was to give you comfort and try to help if I could. I'm not an ostentatious man by nature but I am qualified to help."

"Well, God really ordained a good person... So then what do I do? I'm still really angry at Merida. I love her and she's the best woman to have as a mother but... she really hurt me."

"I think that's something you and Ms. Dunbrough will have to work out between the both of you. I may work for God but I'm not a miracle worker. Remember the two scriptures I quoted to you before?"

"Kind of."

"They both talked about anger and wrath. The point of those scriptures is that it's perfectly fine to be angry and it's sometimes alright to be wrathful, but don't let it fester. Get it done, let it pass, and move on. It's bad for your mental health and bad for everyone involved. Be angry, but also be forgiving." He pat him on the shoulder. "That's my advice; just take them into consideration."

He left and Edgar pulled his legs up to his chest. He suddenly had an epiphany and knew exactly what to do to fix everything that's happened.

+++++++++++++++

TRANSLATION:

"Marbhaidh mi i! Marbhaidh mi a'ghalla sin le m'lamhan ruisgte! " = I'll kill her. I'll kill her with my bare hands