What the fuck. What the actual fuck.

I took several calming breaths, and tried not to curse aloud. The news had continued, but I honestly couldn't hear it thanks to the sudden pounding in my ears. Something about the upcoming Nth anniversary of something or other. I was desperately trying to figure out what the hell had just happened.

Was Pyrrha dead? Had this actually happened in canon, unlikely though that might be?

I was thankful that Cinder was asleep so she cannot see me having a mini-meltdown. The last thing she needed to see was her guardian in such a state. She was fragile enough as it was, giving her another reason to freak out wasn't an option.

I slowly stood myself up, and headed into the kitchen. Tea. I needed tea. Atlesian I might be now, but I was and deep down always will be a Brit, tea can solve anything. Or at the very least calm things down enough to think rationally. (It is what got me through University, after all. That and a fuck tonne of other caffeine products, alcohol, stubbornness and more sleepless nights than I'd care to remember.)

I filled the kettle, and as I waited for it to boil, splashed water over my face in a vague bid to calm myself down.

It...shouldn't surprise me. The Brothers knew I'd probably already thrown canon waaay off the rails simply by doing the decent thing and taking Cinder in, in addition to my very existence. It shouldn't surprise me that canon would remain in its 'off the rails' state.

But regardless, when something was shocking, it was shocking. It...shouldn't do. I didn't know her personally. People, as bad and near twisted as it sounds, don't normally feel a deep sadness when people they don't personally know, with the possible exception of national tragedies.

I sighed, and enjoyed the sound of the kettle boiling away, the simple sound providing me with some measure of calm and normality. Once more, I found myself grateful that emotional suppression was practically part of Atlesian culture. Being able to rapidly get a handle on feelings in general was immensely handy (both in this situation, and in not calling the Murderous Murder Monsters of Murder down upon mine and Cinder's heads. I'm fairly certain that'd lose me my guardianship of her quite rapidly indeed).

Back to the matter at hand. Resigning myself to the fact that there was quite literally nothing I could do about 'The Nikos Situation' now, I sighed and prepared myself tea. It'd probably be a good idea to start work on dinner at some point, although I didn't know what food Cinder actually liked aside from pasta and pastries. And alas, whilst those things were good and tasty, one couldn't actually live on them...not for long, at any rate.

So despite the fact that it was obviously a measure to distract myself, I was soon rooting around in my cupboards and the fridge looking for something suitable. Even if I made some of everything, it'd give me some idea of what my little guest ate. The fact that it gave me an excuse to take Cinder out shopping for food again tomorrow and trying to get her to interact with other people was an added bonus. Even a smile, shy or not, could be considered a victory at this point.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

I nodded to myself. That was something resembling a plan, at least. The washing up would be a damn nightmare, but it didn't seem right to get takeout on the first day Cinder was here. Only a home cooked meal could truly do on such an occasion. Pizza (or more likely, Mistralli. There were a number of those nearby.) could wait until another day.

I took a deep breath, and stretched out my arms until they gave way to a near pleasant 'click'. Pots and pans and wooden spoons soon found themselves on a side counter, along with more food items than I honestly care to count right now. But I ran over a mental checklist of what I actually wanted to prepare, and what I actually had.

Rice, check. Bread, check. Meat, check. Eggs, check. Vegetables, check….Cake or Pancakes?

Now there was a thought. Desert would be a good way to welcome her here. A mountain of pancakes, with syrup and whipped cream and...

..and I was getting ahead of myself. All I needed to do was make the rest of dinner first. I sighed. All I had wanted was tea and a distraction.

I'd got the latter at least. I thought with a faint smile. And if by some miracle I could pull it off without waking CInder up, all the better.

__________________________________________________________________________

Cinder Fall felt funny.

Not 'ha-ha' funny, funny 'weird'.

She couldn't tell what it was. She hasn't hurt. Or tired. Or hungry. She was pretty sure she wasn't unwell. So what was it?

Sitting herself up and rubbing her eyes, she looked around the room. Her stuff bear was thankfully still at her side, and the TV was still on, although she could quite understand what the people on it were talking about. But the man was in a suit, so Cinder surmised that he was important, thus whatever it was he was talking about was also important. If it was important, that meant that Mister Casper was probably already aware of it. It was on, so he had to have been watching, right?

She looked around and spied Mister Casper in the kitchen. She got up, holding her bear's hand, and sidled up to his side.

"Mister Casper?" He was nice. He would know what was wrong. He would tell her.

He turned around, wooden spoon in hand. "Cinder?" He asked in a tone Cinder hadn't heard from anyone but Nana Ess and Miss Tabitha. "Is something wrong?"

So she told him, and was as detailed as she could, just as Miss Tabitha had taught her. She wasn't hurt, tired, hungry or unwell. She didn't understand what it was.

Mister Casper knelt down and smiled at her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Oh Little Cinder." He said. "It means you feel safe."

Cinder decided she liked the feeling.