Quills: the Rise of the Northern Matriarch-Chapter 93: The Boundaries (2)

"You look beautiful today, I am glad you are wearing my gift to you, " Nora said in a supportive manner. Purposefully demonstrating the relationship she had with Janel, and supporting Janel. She welcomed her more than she did her spouse's estranged family.

"Thank you, Nora." Janel said as he blushed. He felt nervous dressing like this in front of the Setton family, even though Nora expressly told him that if anyone had problems with it, that they would not be asked back and would have problems with her. Hearing what she had said when she introduced him, he did not doubt her or his permanent fealty to the clan.

"Greetings Janel. Thank you for seeing us." Solina stood and gave a respectful Matriarch's half bow. Kai's spine straightened in shock hearing his mother respectfully address Janel, who was dressed like a female in front of her. The Solina he knew was cold, distant and quiet. He expected her to completely disregard him, but she stood and politely bowed to a Gimmel man. This blew his expectations out of the water. Janel cleared his voice and spoke in a soft tone.

"Thank you very much, it is my honor to meet you, Matriarch Solina Setton," Janel said with a shy smile.

"You can call me Solina." Solina said kindly to the man in front of her.

"Solina, thank you for agreeing to a counseling session prior to meeting Kelly. She is a wonderful child. Kai has been doing counseling with me so far for over a year and has made a lot of progress. He has some concerns about his trauma. He also wanted to set some boundaries on how Kelly Quill Setton would be raised as an heir that he wanted to talk about in a safe space." Janel said, surprised that the Matriarch was speaking to him like he was on the same level as her. His impressions of Solina that Kai told him about painted a completely different woman. He knew that people had different outward faces than they did in private. Matriarch's did not need to worry about pleasing anyone.

"I can understand and appreciate why Kai wanted to proceed. I also have respect for him and the way he has decided to raise his daughter. Which is in the way he wishes," Solina said in a gentle voice.

"After Kelly was conceived I was not informed, I heard from Clan Allari. I knew the weight of our dark family past and my mistakes were going to impact another generation. I entered treatment for my dependency on sedatives and I have been sober for ten cycles so far." Solina said and smiled as she sat down and grabbed a sandwich. She bit into the soft bread to find a cool crisp vegetable paired with a soft cheese and butter. It was light and refreshing.

"What degree of counseling have you completed so far? Janel asked. Solina chewed calmly and swallowed the food. She had done a lot of work on herself and her spousal group had just started counseling. Her sons and brothers were another story. She was not the only one with a substance dependency and Hera abused many others.

"I started counseling daily a few cycles ago. It has brought me a lot of peace. I am still seeing Prashi to work on my trauma and depression. I am happy to discuss his trauma, but how they raise Kelly is entirely up to the Quills. I am just happy to be seeing my son and my new great daughter." Solina said, looking at the sandwich in her hand. Kehye grabbed a napkin and handed it to Solina, who gratefully plucked it from his hand.

"Please do not hesitate to ask me anything, Kai, I will not avoid this any longer. You deserve the truth and answers. Mostly you deserve an apology. I am sorry Kai." Solina said. Kai's breath hitched as he squeezed Nora's hand. He felt his throat dry out. He masked his emotions and composed himself. He reached down to pour himself a drink, his hand quivered on the handle.

R𝑒ad lat𝒆st chapt𝒆rs at free𝑤ebnovel.com Only.

"Why did you send me away after you found me in that pool of blood?" Kai said as he trembled. Kai was most upset about his Mother's punishment for sending him away and not communicating with him other than for short visits. He felt abandoned. When he finally came home, she avoided talking to him about anything that was not related to business when she was not too busy for him. He noticed the difference in which she interacted with his brothers. The warmth his interactions with her were missing made him feel bitter.

"When I found you with her on that day. In that room. I threatened to take my own life in front of Hera to protect all of my children. I was punished in that room when I failed to meet her expectations. I thought it was just me." Solina said, trying to keep herself calm. "It turned out to be everyone. She punished me for my threat. She said that I could not have my own son in my life if she could not have you in hers. I could not let her continue." Solina said, sniffling. Kai felt Nora's hand cover his, he felt comforted by it.

"Hera had me send you away. You became another way to control me. She taunted me about you. If you came home, she said you would be dead before you approached the city limits. I had to keep you away to keep you alive. The worst part is I could not tell you. If I did, she would threaten to treat your brothers in the same way and send them away. Every year on the anniversary that you left, I had to visit that room with her and endured the bleeding punishment." Solina said. Her voice briefly caught on tears and mucus. Solina grabbed an offered wipe and dried her tears and blew her nose. "Kai, I am sorry I could not protect you. I am so sorry it has taken me to explain. I am so sorry that I was unavailable to you."" Solina said, tears dripping down her face. "It was so much to bear that I numbed myself."

"The Doctor who attended to my wounds ended up giving me tranquilizers as he pitied me. I turned to those as Hera slipped in the grips of a cognitive disease and the punishments became frequent. Eventually, her mouth and whip must have gotten the better of her, she did not die of natural causes. She was murdered. By the time you were able to come home, I was intoxicated most of the time. I was and I am still very damaged. I am sorry. I should have sought help sooner," Solina said as she started to whimper. "I was addicted to the tranquilizers in a high amount that I felt rather sick, I had such a problem that I could have died in actuality. When I heard second hand you had a daughter, I had a purpose to live. I realized I have felt so guilty and so much pain for not being able to protect you that I was killing myself. When I should have been there for you and my family, I should have killed her." Solina said.

"She has been doing very well. She started trying to stop cessation after your binding, but she needed medical help to do so." Kehye said. He gripped her hand tightly. "I did not know how bad the abuse was. Hera said you were too gifted and did not want to come home to me. I found out she had been deleting the messages coming from you. All of them. I thought you were happy, and I did not know the secret Solina was keeping from me." Kehye said.

"I have been off the tranquilizers and medicated for the lasting psychological effects of my upbringing. I want to assure you that when I got your terms to see Kelly I had already started the work on myself and for our family. That we all needed to heal. Setton is changing. I am changing. I promise. I am so proud of you Kai." Solina finished and leaned in to Kehye's embrace. Kehye and Jun looked at Solina, proud of her growth. They found their courage to support her and before Kehye could vouch for her change, Jun beat him to it.

"All the members of the family have been ordered into counseling. All of us have gone voluntarily. But your brothers and uncles are still working on it. The response has given us the idea to fit mental health counseling in our Peacekeeping and Military training so that officers can use their minds, words and compassion before using violence." Jun said and added "Your brothers are doing well, most of them were really young when Hera died. So they are becoming more rambunctious and healthy." Jun added with a proud grin.

"Lon has shown us that he can play Teere. He was too shy, but he was so talented all along. We are excited to see the change in you too." Kehye joined in, looking at Kai proudly. "You are glowing with happiness, you have been very innovative as well, son." Kehye said, looking around. There was surveillance, but it was not very obvious. Kehye smiled. The cameras were pretty realistic-looking birds. He noticed the pattern of their flight after observing them. There were no blind spots and they followed the inhabitants. It was so brilliant. People without a high level of training would think they were pets.

"To be honest, I thought this would have been more of a stressful process. I was going to ask you to agree to counseling, but it seems that you have already started." Kai said, Nora stroked his hand with her thumb as he talked to comfort him. "What is your opinion on the amount of power Matriarch has to kill, torture and punish people?" Kai asked his mother honestly. He felt nervous on the inside. He thought it would be safe to ask because of what his mother had said about the circumstances of their estrangement. He confidently looked at Solina in the eyes, seeing if the words that would be coming out of her mouth would be true. She had a tell.

"I have always believed the power handed down to Matriarchs was too much. Just because you have the power of a weapon, does not mean that you need to yield it." Solina said, she paused and sipped some iced tea casually. She picked up a cookie in her hand and looked at it mindfully. "You see the discipline of our soldiers? That does not come from the threat of violence. That comes from respect. We have executed those who have truly deserved it, criminals guilty of grave offenses. We only discharge unsatisfactory employees. It is threatening enough to not even require using them." Solina continued.