Chapter Text
Tally (Age 28)
It was with nervous anticipation that Tally headed up the dirt pathway to the cottage. The small house was hidden in the woods just outside of base. Whilst it wasn’t technically on base, or owned by the army, it was owned by someone close to it.
Someone who planned a getaway when it was needed most.
Years had passed since Tally last saw her, Sarah Alder. Often, she would appear in her dreams, so lifelike that Tally would wonder if she was truly there with her in slumber.
After the wedding, Alder left to find the remaining pieces of the song. She had done exactly that, and Tally felt pride in her like an electric current whenever she heard the president or people on base talking fondly of Alder’s achievements.
Sacrifice was something Tally hadn’t always understood the grandeur of nor appreciated. It was why she was so livid at Alder all those years ago when memories of Batan filtered through her mind.
True sacrifice, she now understood, was embodied in one person she knew on this earth. Alder. She had given all that she had for centuries, used and abused for her powers and what they had to offer. Even recently, she vanished for years on end simply to protect witchkind; throwing herself into situations so dangerous that Tally wished to scream at her.
But Tally was no Alder. She was driven, and strong, but beneath that was a layer of fear so strong it threatened to wipe her out. This fear was something she failed to understand. It was there for her sisters but not on this level… Not on Alder’s level.
For General Alder, Tally felt more than she could begin to describe. It was something she had been aware of since she was young, long before she joined the cadets, but back then she didn’t understand why there was this pull: a draw that dragged her ever closer to such a powerful woman’s orbit.
Now, Tally understood.
She had to tell her.
She had understood for two months now, ever since a dream left her gasping for breath in the middle of the night. As a knower, Tally was often visited by odd dreams. But this was no dream she had ever faced before.
Two Months Prior
As Tally's eyes shut, an unfamiliar place danced behind them.
The Mother stood before her, surrounded by many witches Tally knew before- when they were with the living. It left tears welling in her eyes as she stared across at them, a soft smile on her lips as Libba Swythe uttered, “I see you’re finally ready to listen. Long time no see.”
Confused laughter had left her lips. “What… Where am I?”
“Must you ask that when we stand around you?” Penelope Silver asked, shaking her head. “Here I was always enamoured by your intellect, yet now, I’m questioning that.” Her hands rested on Tally’s shoulders, and she felt a shiver pass through her spine as Penelope squeezed them.
“The Mother,” Tally rasped. “But why?”
An airy laugh filled the field, flowers blooming as the sound washed over the ground. “That is something I wished not to answer,” the reply came in Mothertongue. “However, both you and your song-bonded are oblivious to our calls.”
“Song-bonded?” Tally echoed.
“A soul-bonded pairing: the first I have granted,” The Mother replied. "Joined by soul and song."
“What do you-”
“Speak with Izadora. Ask that she perform a vocal strain test on the bond. All shall become clear.”
“But I-”
“Wake, Tally.”
Her eyes shot open, and Tally had assumed it was nothing more than an incredibly vivid dream. However, when she looked in the mirror that morning and saw gold handprints on her shoulders where Penelope’s hands had rested, she swallowed thickly and marched down to Izadora.
“You hold no bond,” Izadora stated matter-of-factly. “That test is for older bond variants, ones that have not been around for centuries. Old bonds no longer exist, and I severed your biddy bond long ago, Craven.
“Please?” Tally said. “One test, that is all I ask.”
“All this over a dream?” Izadora replied.
Now the handprints had faded so it was not as if Tally had any proof. “Please.”
“Fine. It’s an uncomfortable test, it will put a strain on your chords for a week or so. Are you sure you wish to bear that pain for no reason?”
“Completely.” She felt an odd tingling down her spine and gritted her teeth as she nodded. Tally had been shot, stabbed, choked, almost drowned. A little discomfort on her chords for a week was nothing at this point.
“Match the tone of the song. I will stop but you must carry the song until the bond shows. It will not be simple, especially given there will be no bond to manifest. You’ll likely pass out from the pain of trying to find that which does not exist.”
“The bond,” Tally said. “What will it look like?”
“Typically, old bonds hold a pale blue hue. However, any line that appears from this song are old, stronger bonds of some form. There has been word of purple ones existing long before that.”
With a nod, Tally steeled herself. “I’m ready.”
Izadora, thankfully, questioned her no more. Instead, a low seed left her lips that Tally mimicked. Whilst it took her twenty seconds to find the correct sound, eventually, she felt it like a lump in her throat.
Izadora stopped her own seed as Tally took over. She narrowed her eyes at the empty space, waiting for nothing in particular.
The seed began to feel like a scratching in her throat, one that had Tally’s hand coming up to cover her cords as she continued to sing. But soon that scratch turned painful, like something clawing at her throat from within as tears filled her eyes.
“You can stop if you need to,” Izadora said.
But Tally refused. Something left her empowered even as the taste of blood filled her mouth. She continued, the low register filling the room as she swayed. Her head was light now, exhausted from the sheer pain that overcame her.
“Craven, it is best if you st-” Izadora cut her words off when a gold string appeared, vibrant enough that it bathed the whole room in amber light. The string started in Tally’s chest, disappearing into the far wall.
“Stop singing, it should remain long enough for me to test it,” Izadora stated, her words devoid of emotion due to the sheer shock of the situation.
Shutting her mouth, Tally didn’t bother focussing on the metallic taste nor the pain in her throat. Instead, her hand reached forward to gently pluck at the bond thread. It was then that she heard it, clear as day.
“Yes, Anacostia, I realise you wish for me to rest.”
Izadora clearly heard it too because she gently shifted Tally’s hand from the bond thread and said, “General Alder is the one that is bound to you?”
“Yes,” Tally replied.
“This dream, tell me everything.” Izadora reached for her notebook and began jotting things down. “A combined soulmate and song bond,” she repeated after Tally had explained everything she remembered. “It has not been notated before. No bond of this colour ever has. With old bonds, they were similar in a way: an intense bond gifted at birth that always developed into something romantic.”
“Romantic,” Tally laughed. “Sa- General Alder does not feel anything of the sort for me. I haven’t seen her in years.”
“Perhaps it is not romantic then. How do you feel about Alder?”
Heat rose to Tally’s cheeks as she averted her eyes. “I feel everything under the sun for her. Pride, fear, worry, elatedness.”
“Romantically?”
Her cheeks flushed bright red. “I guess I feel attracted to her.”
“That was incredibly vague,” Izadora replied.
So, Tally let her hear it; everything she had bottled up since Alder last said goodbye. Since she promised to return yet never had.
“I feel like she lives in my blood as if her emotions are my own, in a way I do not know how to explain. Ever since I was a biddy-”
“Only since then?”
Squeezing her eyes shut, Tally shook her head and admitted, “Before that. Always. Not so profoundly but she has always been a part of me in a way I can’t explain. I feel drawn to her, and when she’s away it feels… suffocating. All these years apart from her, I have felt like I was drowning- underwater in some way. It was like I called out to her, and nothing replied unless-”
“Unless?”
“In my dreams, Sar… Alder is there. It’s something. Enough that I wake up each morning feeling centred again.”
“People who held old bonds, they spoke of something similar when their bond mates were away. Dreams of them. People with bonds are not meant to be separated, Alder always hated not being near her biddies, but by comparison, a biddy bond is far weaker than this. Craven, if it is a soul bond of some sort, which it appears it is, you need to see her. Explain this to General Alder. It is no light matter.”
“Mhm, will do.”
“Craven-”
“No, I know. I will. I’m just gonna… walk around base for a while.” And before Izadora could reply, Tally was out the door.
This made no sense, but more than that, Tally felt horrific for Alder. The last thing she would want is to be soul bonded to someone, let alone Tally who had caused her more than enough pain years ago. Tally was basically the reason why Alder up and left for so long. Whilst she knew she was collecting remnants of the song and fighting the Camarilla, that had ended a year ago.
Alder had more than enough time to return and to see Tally if she truly wanted and yet-
The bitter taste of bile rose in her throat.
Alder would not want this.