The hug was tight but Iris didn't want it to end. She was trying hard not to cry, not to just lose it in front of her brother like she had when she was a kid. She had gone running to him more often than their parents, knowing that a hug from Asher made it all better. Once she met Marlow, they had clicked just like that and she had adopted the other girl as the third sibling they never had. She often told people that she was her little sister when they were kids and people would just laugh and accept it. There was an obvious difference between the dark haired children and the redhead but no one would bother them about it. They were part of the same family, after all, the genetics were there. They'd all gotten magic.
Finally pulling back a little, she laughed as she grinned at her cousin. "He is super stubborn though! So grumpy." He hadn't always been that way but something had broken in her older brother before he disappeared. Iris never poked into why it was but she had just assumed at the time that he would tell her what happened. Instead, he had left and joined the cirque and she left him to his own devices.
Grabbing his face now between both her hands, she made his lips puff up as she frowned almost seriously. "You've been a bad big brother, Asher Zangari." She really couldn't stay serious for too long and a smile appeared, tears filling her eyes again. "But I missed you." Turning towards her cousin, she gave her a watery smile. "Thank you for bringing us all together again, Mar. I don't think I could ever thank you enough."