Cagney
who can say when the day sleeps, if the night keeps all your heart?
only time
Cagney is willfully ignorant of the things Elite had done. He must be, to continue existing on any level of sanity; for he loves her, despite her faults, and his heart can only hold up to loving so many of her doings. The ones he acknowledges he has excuses for – she had not murdered all of those people, after all; it had been the mob that her Kingdom had become. She hadn’t loved Vader, but she had cared for him enough to deliver him to Cagney rather than let him be in danger in her Kingdom who loved only the gifted. She had loved Cagney, in whatever way she could, and that was enough for him.
Probably his love would crumble under any more knowledge of his pink lover’s crimes, but luckily she is no more now than a blip in history, forgotten or unknown by many…and those that do know would hesitate to use the information to break Cagney, for if they know of him and Elite, they know also that Brennen’s vengeance against one who hurt his child would be swift and fierce.
(On good days, he knows this. Trusts in his father’s absolute love. On bad days, he wonders whether she would have defended his ‘white knight’ so completely as his family would.)
He does see something in Astarael, and it reminds him of Elite a little, but more so of his daughter Kellyn. It is, all at once, reassuring and terrifying. Reassuring because he loved both of his fire-women, despite their flaws. Reassuring because nothing could ever keep them down for long, and it’s nice to see some of that same fire in his younger sister because it will serve her well in the wide, harsh world. Terrifying, because Elite had done terrible things, believing to her death that they were the right thing. Terrifying, because Kellyn had that same potential and having her out on her own was like secretly waiting for a bomb to go off and shower them all in blood and destruction.
(Cagney knows his father sees Elite in Kellyn as well; it is part of why he let her go. You don’t clutch on to hot coals; you let them fall and hope they burn themselves out without setting anyone else on fire.)
“There is a big world out there, waiting to be explored,” he agrees, glancing out away from Astarael and across the ocean. “But it is nice to know that there will always be a safe harbor to come home to.” Cagney doesn’t want Astarael to feel alone. It’s a terrible feeling, loneliness, and he would not wish it upon his worst enemy, much less a little sister.
Who can say where the road goes? Where the day flows? Only time.
