29 Iris's pas

When Leo entered elder grandmas hut, he still couldn't shake the feeling that he was about to get the "dad talk" from her. Seeing his face though, she shook her head and said,

"Don't worry about what I'm gonna do to you Leo, I'm not gonna bite. I just want to ask you a few things and tell you a small story. So take a seat and I'll prepare some tea." Leo sat down on a chair, and waited for elder grandma to finish preparing tea. When she ha elder him his cup though, he remembered the moon rose and was hesitant on drinking it. Seeing his hesitation elder grandma laughed and said,

"I didn't poison it, with how nervous you are we'll never get anywhere in out talks otherwise." Not wanting to offend her, Leo started drinking and was surprised it was plain tea. When they were done drinking elder grandma sighed, and started talking,

"Before you and Iris get married, I want to make sure you have the resolve to and to tell you about her past with her parents. She doesn't remember them, but it could be one of the most revolting days of my life if it wasn't for the fact that I got Iris out of it. You see, I'm old. Older than I look and that you'd think. But in my whole life I never had a child. After I lost my husband, Iris was the only one I truly cared about. She's the daughter I never had, and he only regret I might leave behind someday is not ensuring her happiness. So before I start talking out her past, I need to know. Will Iris be happy with you?"

Leo had no idea how he was supposed to answer. He wanted to say that he'll take care of her, that he'll never make her sad, that he'll always be a good husband. But before he could, the words got stuck in his throat. He had no way to guarantee any of what he wanted to say. The only thing that came out was,

"I don't know. There's much I don't know about this world, which was obvious from the fact I didn't even know I was proposing when I did. But I can guarantee, that I'll never stop trying to ensure Iris is happy." That was all Leo could say. But as he looked at elder grandma, he could see that surprisingly she approved of what he said.

"Nothing is ever absolute. If you had said she would never regret her decision, then I would've been worried. But as long as you put in effort towards her happiness, then I can accept it. Now then about her parents." Then elder grandma started telling the story about how she started raising Iris.

She had been traveling to stay in touch with the outside world. After traveling for months on end, she stopped at a city and booked a room in an inn. At the inn she heard some gossip, one thing in particular was a family that was in the process of delivering a new baby. Due to the noise in the inn however, she decided to go for a walk without listening further. It didn't matter to her. As she was walking around however, she heard the sound of a baby crying. She recalled the people talking about a baby being born recently and was curious as to why they were taking the baby outside at night. Surely it wasn't healthy for a newborn to be out at night?

After investigating the crying, she discovered a man walking in a hurry with the crying bundle. Feeling something wasn't right, she decided to follow him. After walking for a few blocks, the man stopped suddenly in the middle of a bridge. She watched in horror as he took the bundle, and dropped it into the river. Before the bundle hit the water however, she moved and caught the baby before it hit the water, while also ensuring its was unaffected by the sudden movement. She then turned to man and said,

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! DROPPING A BABY INTO A RIVER?!" The man just glared at her for interfering and said,

"That thing is no baby, it's a damn freak and I'll have nothing to do with it. If I didn't drown it, I would've bashed it against the wall, thrown it into the fire, anything to get that THING out of my house. Take one look at it and you'll see yourself." Elder grandma did look at the child, for the first time she wasn't crying. As she looked down at her, there was a pair of beautiful golden eyes looking back at her. Elder grandma looked at the child in her arms, and for the first time in many, many years, felt a warmth in her heart. She looked at the man and said,

"From this point on, this child is dead. You'll have nothing to do with her, and I'll take responsibility and raise her. That way you'll never see her again. I don't care what you say, I'll leave you alone though. It's more than you deserve." Not paying attention to the mans reaction, she turned around and walked away with a new daughter. A daughter named Iris. She never even got the name of a single member of the child's family.

When she had finished her story Leo was so mad, the part of the table he was gripping was cracking and there a slight orange glow to his eyes. After a few seconds of breathing to calm himself, he started talking.

"Does she know what you told me?" Elder grandma shook her head and replied,

"She knows that her family didn't approve of mutants, but not the specifics of how I came to raise her. She stated that she didn't need anymore family beside the other villagers." Leo nodded and asked a few more questions. He knew he didn't know near enough about this worlds traditions. Plus even though he tried to calm himself down, he was still angry at elder grandmas story and didn't want to go back in a bad mood. After a little while, he finally calmed down and bid elder grandma goodnight and went to leave. Before he left though,

"Oh and by the way Leo, I don't know how things are done on your world. But here, girls try to preserve their chastity until the wedding night. And I'd prefer that it didn't change now. Good night."

After hearing her ominous words, Leo quickly left her house with a red face, and fear in his heart.