Her first impression of her biological mother was that she was incredibly gorgeous. Of course, just after the thought, Jules felt incredibly guilty for it, as if it were a betrayal of the mother who had raised her. But that wasn't what this was, she assured herself. Meeting Kezia would in no way diminish her relationship with her mum; she wouldn't let it. The only reason she was even doing this was to learn more about her gifts, counting on the possibility that it was hereditary.

And maybe, just a little about, from a desire to know how and why she'd come to be adopted.

Choosing where to meet Kezia had been challenging at first, until she'd talked to Tina about it and her friend had helpfully suggested her honorary uncle's pub in Ireland. It truly seemed the perfect solution, especially with the privacy booths and the guarantee of strong drinks and good food.

Her hands were curled around her snifter as she tried to think of what she could say to the woman across from her, thankful for Raziel's strength and warmth next to her.

"I am so glad you reached out," Kezia said, saving Jules from having to figure out what to say first. "I've never doubted that I made the right choice for you and your brother, but it's killed me to not know anything about your lives."

That was a lot to sort through, even if it seemed straight-forward, and Jules glanced at Raziel, wondering what he made of her biological mother's words. She wished she could ask about Kezia's aura, but she didn't want to say anything in front of the other woman, and she didn't want to risk touching Raziel to see for herself, as the touch visions might not be the most accurate at the moment.

"Well, it took a long time to find you," Jules said in a quiet, unsure voice. "Months, even. I was starting to think Mr. Montgomery wouldn't be able to at all. But I'm glad he did. I'd like to hear your story," she prompted the other woman.

Although Kezia looked momentarily startled, she nodded and took a sip of her drink before lacing her fingers together on the table in front of her. "Well, right to it, then. How far back should I go? My whole life story isn't short." The words were said with light teasing but there was a heaviness behind them that Jules could feel in her bones.

---

When Juliet had asked Raziel to go with her to meet her biomother, he had been surprised. They weren't official, at least not yet. They were spending a lot of time together. He had been spending a lot of his time hanging about her place, relaxing in her art studio, drawing up tattoos for his clients. It had become one of his favorite places to work, right up there with his office at the studio, and his bedroom at home. It always ended with a good snog, curled up together, discovering new parts of each other. Things weren't official, but they were something. Something that he was enjoying figuring out one step at a time.

This was just another one of those steps, he reminded himself as he sipped out of his glass. He was drinking water tonight, he had wanted to use his abilities for good. It was why he pulled his sweater down, hooked through his thumbs. It kept his skin from touching Jules, keeping their connection as closed as he could while sitting next to her in the booth.

The amazing thing was that the woman across from them, Kezia, had an aura that was somehow the same as Jules but drastically brighter. She clearly practiced the old magicks. He was able to smell it. It reminded him of how his grandmother had smelled. Like they had magic deep in their bones, all the way to their very DNA. This somehow helped Raziel read her, able to see that she was being completely honest with her daughter. He was there to be the quiet companion, he'd let her know what he found out when they were safely home away from listening ears.

---

After a glance at Raziel didn't magically reveal the right guidance to give Kezia on where to start her story, Jules looked back at her biological mother, her lips twisting a bit in thought. "I guess just start wherever feels right?" she suggested. How was she supposed to know where the story should start? It made her wonder how much Kezia had imagined this moment over the years. Had she at all? That didn't seem like something she could ask.

"Okay, well, I suppose it's important for you to know a little about how I was raised first. I was born into a small Romani tribe in northeastern Romania. They didn't practice magic like you learned here, but an older version of Earth magic, and there was no formal school. We weren't allowed to go to the cities or interact with the outsiders. The Romani have centuries of persecution to support the policy, but it's hard for kids to understand that sort of thing. It all felt so oppressive, and I ran away when I was sixteen."

It was impossible not to notice the haunted cloud that filled Kezia's eyes, and Jules squeezed her hands tight to keep from reaching out. She didn't want to touch Kezia's skin, didn't want to see whatever her biological mother was seeing in that moment. Instead, she just stayed quiet, letting the woman find her words to continue the story.

"I was naive and sheltered, and I made it all the way to Poland before I met someone who made me feel like it would be worth it to stop running. His name was Henryk, and he was what you call here an Auror. I lied to him and told him I was eighteen, and it was a quick romance, all told. We were married within only a few months, and your brother was born only about a year after that."

Juliet couldn't imagine what Kezia had gone through, going from having been so sheltered to running away to a completely different country. Married and with a baby at only seventeen years old. And there was something in the way she'd mentioned Henryk, something that made Juliet's stomach coil with anxiety. Or perhaps she was feeling it radiate off of Kezia. "What happened after Thad was born?" she asked softly, hoping not to interrupt Kezia's flow of thought but rather to keep the story moving.

Kezia smiled sadly at Jules, her fingers flexing out and then curling around her snifter. "Henryk was always controlling, but that was what I'd always known, so I'm afraid to say that I didn't understand the little manipulations and abuses, but after... Thad, you say? That's much better than the name Henryk gave him. Anyway, after Thad was born, Henryk became unbearably controlling. I wasn't allowed to have friends, not that I'd managed to cultivate many friendships that weren't organized by him in the first place. And then he started getting jealous of the time I spent caring for the baby. He took it out on me, not your brother, and I just kept convincing myself that it was simply how it was, that it was better than if I'd stayed in Romania.

"It wasn't better, though. I think I started to realize it when I became pregnant with you. We found out you were a girl, and Henryk was furious. I feared losing you and started trying to figure out an exit plan. But I was only nineteen and didn't know anyone. I tried to run once. I was about five months along with you. He found me much quicker than I'd thought possible. He made sure I understood that I belonged to him and that he could do whatever he wanted to me and no one would help me. I knew that I had to get through my pregnancy and then get you and your brother safely away from him. I couldn't go with you because he'd already proven he wouldn't let me go. But he didn't care about having children. He just wanted me.

"However it happened, I'm still not entirely sure, but this woman helped me. She told me she knew of a wonderful couple in England who'd struggled with infertility that were looking to adopt. She insisted that it would be a full, private, closed adoption, that the couple wouldn't tolerate losing the children to a mother who changed her mind after some time. But if I did it, she promised that she would get me free of him, too, though it would take longer. All that mattered to me was knowing you and your brother would be safe, together, and loved. She guaranteed that for me, and I trusted her. And she did everything she'd promised. It took nearly two years for Henryk to be taken down, and I was left with nothing but the opportunity to start over all over again."

There was no way to quantify the level of horror coiling in Juliet's belly as Kezia implied the horrors she had suffered at her biological father's hands. How could a man like that have fathered her and Thad? It was a testament to nurture, she supposed. "What happened to Henryk?" she asked, feeling that was important to know. She hoped she would never meet the man.

The sadness of Kezia's smile reached her eyes. "Henryk's corruption caught up with him, and he was killed after being caught in his shady dealings by the Aurors in his department who weren't corrupt."

Did it make her terrible to feel so relieved that Henryk was dead? Jules supposed that philosophical question was better left for another time. She glanced at Raziel, wondering what he made of the story but knowing she wouldn't feel comfortable asking him until they were alone.

---

Raziel was listening as she spoke, watching how her aura shifted and moved. She was being honest, he could see that so clearly. Since Raziel was paying such close attention to her aura, he noticed when it seemed to shift. She wasn't telling them something though, like a shadow lurking. He could see it at the edges, watching as it faded away. He wanted to ask what she was leaving out, but knowing the history as he did with Voldemort and more, he knew anything could have happened. He didn't want to press and he didn't want to worry Juliet.

As Jules looked him a moment later, he gave her a smile. Things were good, she was telling the truth. He gave a subtle nod of his head to Juliet, a signal he was sure she got.

---

Being in the moment, Jules was increasingly relieved that she had Raziel with her, at her side, knowing he would be able to get an unbiased sense of Kezia. She was even more relieved that he seemed to think she was being honest.

"I'm glad I'll never have to meet him," Jules admitted softly, wrapping one arm around her middle.

"Me too," Kezia agreed, that sad smile still touching her eyes.

Quiet fell over the table then, and Jules let it stretch for a few moments. Something was tickling the back of her mind, and she let her brain chew on it before finally speaking again. "You said the Romani practiced an older kind of earth magic?" she prompted, hoping that Kezia could give her some insight into her gifts without her having to divulge them.

Kezia gave her a long, shrewd look, her brows furrowing. "You have the gift?" It was a question, and yet not. "I don't, but my mother did. Part of why she was so impossible to live with."

Although she was certain it hadn't been intended to, Juliet's feelings were bruised by the statement. Was that why Kezia had agreed to the private adoption? Had she known Jules would have the gift and hadn't wanted to deal with her? To her credit, Kezia seemed to notice, and she reached across the table. Jules did not reach back, keeping her hands below the table instead.

"I didn't mean anything toward you by it!" Kezia said, her eyes widening a bit. "I didn't learn much about it though, because I don't have it. Is that why you wanted to meet me?"

There was a new depth to the sadness in Kezia's eyes that had a wave of guilt coursing over her. "It was part of it. I bumped into you in Diagon Alley earlier this year, but you were gone before I could see who you were. I just Knew it was you, though. And knowing you were here, I had to find you. And yeah, I'd like to know more about the gift," she confirmed, shrugging her shoulders a bit.

"I wish I had anything helpful to tell you about it." Kezia's lips parted as though she was going to say something else, but she pressed them in a thin line, going quiet.

There wasn't much more to say after that, was there? Jules might have felt guilty for not wanting to stick around and talk with Kezia more, but she knew she needed time to process everything she'd learned, to decide whether or not she wanted to continue pursuing learning more about her gifts. A part of her wanted to drag Raziel away from their lives here and traipse around Romania until she found Kezia's Romani tribe and demand that they teach her about what she could do. Maybe they could help her learn to control it better?

But Juliet knew that she couldn't do that. Raziel had just essentially been given his own tattoo shop to run, and relationships had to be about more than what one person needed. And besides, did she actually need those answers? Wasn't she managing her life just fine?

When they stood to take their leave, Jules smiled softly, almost sadly at her biological mother. "Thank you for meeting me. I really appreciate it." Even if she hadn't gotten all the answers she'd hoped for. But at least now she knew that it was something that had been passed down to her, apparently from her maternal grandmother.

"Of course," Kezia said, matching her sad smile. "I hope that we can meet again. And Thad, too, if he would like to someday. I would love to learn more about you both, your childhood and lives now."

Jules shifted uncomfortably, looking down briefly before meeting Kezia's dark eyes again. "I can't make any promises for Thad, but I would like that. I'll contact you after the holidays," she promised, knowing that it wasn't something she would want to deal with before then. And maybe it would give Thad time to come around to the thought of meeting her.

They said their goodbyes then, and even though she looked disappointed, Kezia nodded in understanding when Jules declined a hug. As Jules left the pub with Raziel, she was quiet, introspective, her brain chewing on everything she'd learned and what she ought to do with the information.