｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

｡･:*:･ﾟ★"We ladies have a war to win. So quit acting like men so we can actually win it."☆｡･:*:･ﾟ

Octavia

"Will you be alright if I leave?" I hear Harvey murmur quietly to Irene.

It was an adorable attempt at privacy but I have shadows and the males are Dumaris so they have enhanced hearing. Irene tenses, clearly coming to the same realisation as I did. No point playing pretend now. I continue to sort through the reports in the picnic bench as Sky and Riven take a seat on either side of me, leaving the bench opposite open for Silva and Irene.

"I'll be fine, Ben." Silva tenses as Irene's use of the male's first name.

Oh fuck off Mr Double Standards. Darkling hisses, and my eyes widen slightly in surprise at his return. Not like you've been flirting with 'Farrah'

Don't tell me you just came back for Silva's love life. I murmur

Of course not, but the male is being ridiculous.

I snort and my own mates' attention drift to me as I lift my hand up to rest my elbow on the table and stare at the shadowy form in my palm. A little shadow sprite. I think that's the best way to describe this. No discernable figure but I see flashes of eyes, occasionally a small wing, sometimes a hand or a claw or even an inanimate object. Their form merely mimics that of the shadows around them.

"Which one is it?" He whisper's with a quietness that Harvey could only dream of achieving.

"I'll see you tonight." Harvey calls interrupting our conversation.

"Not tonight." Silva calls back on Irene's behalf, ignoring her slight look of confusion. "Date night."

"Ah." Harvey makes a noise of agreement before giving them an awkward thumbs up of agreement and Sky chokes on a laugh beside me.

"Date night?" Silva turns away from his mate in embarrassment. "Since when?"

"Since now." He answers rather stubbornly, with a small childish lilt that reminds me of a pouting toddler.

Sky and Riven share a look over my head and I hear their quiet giggles.

"What?" Silva demands in a teacher voice, clearly using the rank card to get them to shut up.

"Oh, nothing nothing." Too bad Riven has never been one for authority. "Just nice to see you jealous for once."

I freeze at the underlying meaning of his words. Please don't start this now.

"Oh, that's-" Silva pauses, eyeing Riven curiously before glancing between Irene as the rest of us as we all clearly avoided his gaze. "What do you mean for once?"

Irene looks physically unwell at the topic of conversation and I see her press a hand to her stomach in agitation. Sky must see the movement as well because he snarls before his gaze snaps to his father.

"Just nice to not see you panting after Farrah for once." He gripes and we all gape at him.

"Excuse me?" Silva's eyebrows are raised in an incredulous challenge.

"No, I don't think I will excuse your actions." Sky taunts, "You've been an arsehole."

"Sky." Irene snaps in shock, paling at her words.

She doesn't want this fight, anyone can see. She's not ready for the outcome. My heartbreaks for her. Does she really think Silva would choose Dowling over her? Who would choose anyone over Irene?

"No." Sky states, "He's being a Dickhead."

"Sky!" Silva snaps. "I will not take relationship advice from someone who treated their own mate like shit!"

There a tense pause and silence descends as father and son stare each other down.

"Well..." Riv begins staring at the warring pair in front of us who are locked in some ridiculous alpha male staring contest. "At least we know where Sky got his shit relationship skills from."

I gape at my mate.

That's what he chose to say.

Irene hums in thought. "That is very true. Andreas was always so much more loyal... it was his downfall in the end."

Sky turns to her, suddenly more interested in his not dead, dead dad than in his currently alive but dead inside dad.

"What do you mean? Why was loyalty his downfall?" He sounds like a small child. A little boy wondering why daddy isn't coming home

"The mission your father died on was never-"

"Irene." Silva cuts her off, giving her a look that I can't read. "We promised Andreas we would wait till he finished second year."

"Wait?" Sky snaps, glancing between the pair. "What do you mean wait."

"Because it's not safe for you to know, Meu Filho." Irene murmurs softly. "You need to be strong enough in your training before we can tell you."

"I'm getting really tired of people keeping things from me about him." Sky snarls.

"What are you talking about?" Silva's voice has gone low and quiet, his face paleing as he stares at Sky.

"That! That's right there." Sky jabs a finger in Silva's face. "That expression. You keep making that face at me when I ask about him."

"Sky."

"And now this fucking letter, and he has something to do with the royal family." Sky cuts Irene off.

"What letter?" Silva asks.

"The one he wrote before his mission." Sky states in a tone that clearly says, 'you should know this'. "Octa found them. He wrote letters for the both of you as well."

There's a tense silence as the couple before us digest the words. Both are looking queasy, Silva riddled with guilt and Irene's eyes are full of overwhelming grief.

"He wrote letters?" She whispers.

The words drift between them and I feel as though I shouldn't be here for this conversation, a single glance at Riv has me confirming that he feels the same. It feels wrong to intrude, even when they both claimed Riven as their own.

"Do you want them?" I murmur, reaching into a shadow pocket for the letters.

The Silva tribe blinks silent at the action and I blush, it's not exactly a common skill. Irene silently takes the letters from me. She stares down at them as if they hold the secrets of the world, holding them with such reverence as if she worries that she will damage them if she holds them for too long.

Riven clears his throat. "Did the shadows come back with reports from the mountain range?"

I take that as my cue to start filling the silence with Darkling's reports. The Burned Ones have been seen near the larger cave entrances, but the greatest trace of their power comes from the hidden cracks in the mountain. They seem to use the larger tunnels when moving in packs but its clear they've been sending out single soldier scouts. All the traces found their appeals to have the same type of mineral in them but we're still waiting on the lab to confirm.

"What does the General plan to do with this information?" Silva asks as he glances at his mate who appears to be in a trance like state as she stares down at the letters in her hands.

"He doesn't know." I state, wincing when Silva raises his brows at me.

"What do you mean he doesn't know?"

Darkling sniggers, you sound like a child being scolded by their parent.

"Alfea is an Outpost. As such, we can hold our own records and information without reporting back to the capitol unless we need help."

Silva's eyes narrow at my words, he sighs heavily and rubs at his forehead.

"Are you sure that is wise?" He winces slightly at the end of his question and I straighten up.

"Lýkos has his own views, not to mention he is loyal to the Queen. Who is adamant that there is no Burned One problem." I answer indignantly, "Merely the leftovers of a bygone war."

"No war is ever truly over," Irene murmurs, her attention still on the letters in her hands. "The repercussions can last for centuries."

I pause at her words as they echo through me. Silva looks down in silence and I can see the trauma haunting him from the last war.

"So we're handling this ourselves?" Sky asks as he tries to shrug off his annoyance at the change in topic.

"We, the faculty, are handling this." Silva states, staring his son down.

"How?" Sky demands, "Dowling holds the same opinions as the Queen, and you are only getting this information because of Octa."

I'm really starting to enjoy this new nickname. It's personal, specific to only Sky.

"Sky." Silva reprimands but I can see the defeat in his eyes, he knows his son is right.

Irene sighs, "better they learn under our care than being forced to learn in the middle of a war like we did."

I watch her silently as she slides the letters into her pocket with careful movements, her attention drifting back to the present. Silva sighs and looks at his mate, they seem to have a silent conversation.

"Only during the planning." Silva concedes, nodding at his mate before looking between Riven and Sky. "I won't have the both of you on missions until I trust you have worked for it."

"Neither of you are going on a mission until I can trust you." Andreas growls, crossing his arms as he stares down Beatrix and I.

"We know what we're doing!" Bea cries, her stance mirroring his. "You can't keep us away from the fights forever!"

"Yes I can."

"Then how do you expect us to learn how to fight during a war?"

"You won't be fighting in any war." He all but growls at us.

"Pixie?"

I hum and look at a concerned Riv and I quickly glance around to see the rest of the Silva clan looking at me in question.

"Sorry, lost in thought." I plaster on an awkward smile in apology. "Did you say something?"

"I was just going to go through the residue reports." Silva answers as he gives me an odd look but immediately turns to Irene with raised brows. "Did you get them from Harvey?"

We all chose to ignore Sky muttering under his breath.

"No." Irene says sweetly. "I must have gotten distracted talking to him."

Silva all but glowers at her.

"I'll go ask him for them." she taunts.

"No need." Silva smoothly interrupts, giving her an annoyed look. "It's not a pressing concern."

Darkling sniggers in the back of my mind, He is sooooo going to have to grovel for this later.

I look down at the shadow curling around my wrist, toying against the scars hidden under my long sleeves. At least I always match Sky, Riven seems to be the only one of us to actually wear short sleeves.

"Have they brought something new?" Dowling asks curiously and I flinch slightly and look up at her. 

Shit. I didn't even notice her approaching. The Shadow hides away immediately.

Why didn't you alert me? I whisper to the shadows, annoyance seeping into my words.

She's not a threat and we were engrossed in the SilvaXIrene battle of wills

I inwardly roll my eyes at them.

"Nothing we didn't already suspect." Silva answers, looking down at the table as he folds his arms. "The Burned Ones are being sighted more often around the cave networks."

"The same Burned One?" She asks with a sharp tone.

"Unclear."

Dowling hums and looks between us all, her gaze pausing on Irene who looks unwell again at the headmistress' actions with her mate. I fight the instinct to protect her, to yell at Dowling to fuck off. What is she hoping to achieve here? Does she even want Silva or is it all just a game to taunt Irene?

"Irene?" I interrupt the odd silence. "Terra needs our help with the-"

"Right." Irene sighs as if she forgot the made up meeting.

"Why does she need us again?" She taunts with a playful grin as we both stand up, our mates following our movements.

"You know what it's like." I jest playfully. "She just wants decent advice."

Irene hums. "Well she's come to the right people at least."

"Can I join?" Riv murmurs against the side of my head as he wraps an arm around my shoulders and leans in.

I look back to see Silva staring after us as Dowling talks to him and Sky. Poor sods. Even if Dowling looks perturbed that Sky is there. I don't think the heads of the school will be able to have a private meeting together without him interrupting now. Protective male. I preen at the thought. A quality I do admire.

"I suppose you could." Irene muses. "I'm sure our made-up task could be done with another member."

Riven's laughter echoes into my body and I can't help but grin.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

We did end up joining Terra in the Greenhouse and I texted Beatrix to join us. I need her input on these Burned One samples that the Shadows brought me. Irene and Terra are talking quietly as they work on distilling Zabaq oil. Terra was so happy to see us that I can't help but feel bad when her smile dropped at the sight of Riven.

I glance at my mate who is diligently grinding some kind of rare plant for the Zanbaq oil. He's rather good at this. He did mention working with Terra a lot last year. I smile sadly at the thought. I wonder if this was a bad idea, bringing him somewhere with so many ties to Olivia.

"Sorry." Bea calls as she enters the greenhouse in a completely fashionable outfit more suited to a beauty magazine, "Got lost in the jungle section."

"Easily done." Terra comments and smiles at her.

Beatrix's attention drifts away from me to stare at the earth fairy in confusion before looking back at me with a grin.

"I brought the samples." She sits down on the bench next to me. "Why didn't you tell me you were hiding in one of the antichambers? I nearly got mud on my heels."

I snort. "I once watched you stomp on a Burned One's head till it popped in a pair of white knee high boots."

"They were Jimmy Cho, as well." she dramatically sighs.

I glance up when Irene walks over to us carrying the other Burned One samples.

"You should do what I did during the war," She grins at Beatrix in wolfish delight, "Invest in a pair of Metal heeled war boots. Enchanted with easy clean charms."

"You." Beatrix states with a grin. "Are my new favourite person."

"Oh I'm honoured." Irene taunts.

"I'm Beatrix, Octavia's sister. I don't think we've been properly introduced." Bea reaches out and shakes Irene's hand. "You mush be Irene Ashford, Sky's mother."

"I go by Silva but yes."

The two stare at each other, two predators assessing who's the more dominant one. The Wolf and the Vixen. 

"If you two ladies are done with your dominance battle, we have a war to win." I grin. "So quit acting like men so we can actually win it."

A/N: What do you think of DowlingXSilvaXIrene? I feel as if I have been hinting about it for years.