“Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way round or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.

Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.”

r13; Bruce Lee

Kurt had seen and heard many births happening in the community through the years. They were all unique in their duration and intensity, but they all had common elements. Typically there would be a lot of screaming which became progressively louder and more venomous the closer the woman got to birth. Blaine and Mike had both noted to Kurt that, in the past, there had been drugs more readily available to help sooth the process, but, of course, such things were not common in the time they lived in. So it was that everyone knew when a woman was giving birth by the shrill shrieks that would echo from the clinic, along with every curse word the woman knew. Kurt had stomached tales about men that had to dodge blood, feces, and amniotic fluid when they were asked to watch the birth progress if the medic in charge had to step out for anything. There was always a clean-up after a woman gave birth too, as the bed they laid on could not hold the massive amount of gross matter she had expelled along with the infant. On occasion, Blaine would tell Kurt they needed to get more sheets for the clinic because the sheets they did have would need to be burned from a particularly messy delivery. After the birth, men could often be seen with scratches and bruises on their hands from where their partners had gripped them too tightly, and it wasn't an exaggeration to say that a few men had suddenly sprouted grey hairs after seeing their partner in such a precarious and awkward position.  

So, to say the least, Kurt expected the birth of his child to be full of noise, gore, and drama, and had mentally prepared himself for the worst as such - yet the way the birth went was nothing like anything Kurt could have fathomed.

To start with, it was calm. Whatever pain the mother might have felt in the community had been numbed and cancelled out by the work of his mother and the Ilu chanting near her so that Chelsea could freely converse with her Halfling mate without having to cringe and gasp and cry out between words as so many mothers-to-be in the community would have done. Had Elizabeth not noted to one of the Ilu that the baby was coming, Kurt would have just thought what he was viewing from the sidelines was nothing more than a check up given how laid back everyone seemed to be. Well… everyone except for Blaine, who was bouncing on his toes beside him, and Elizabeth, who, while professional with Chelsea, kept looking up at Kurt with a stupid grin, so annoyingly excited over the birth of her grandchild.

There was also no visible signs of blood or fluid being spilled. Of course, Kurt couldn't see what was happening down below on Chelsea, as a drape had been put over her to cover her from the abdomen down. The Ilu attending the birth were very attentive to cleaning and removing whatever came from her, and when one uttered that the fluid they had gathered would be “great for experiments”, Chelsea's mate glowered at them with such intensity that the other Ilu there was quick to note that it would be disposed of properly.

Finally, it was quiet. The conversation Chelsea was having with her mate was done in whispers, the attendants at the birth seemed to communicate more with their eyes than their mouths, and Kurt and Blaine only spoke of their joy through their held hands - each one periodically squeezing the other.

Then a cry finally broke the silence, making Elizabeth tear up and gasp as she pulled and lifted up the newborn, Kurt's baby, for everyone to see. It was his baby that cried, letting everyone around know it was there, it was alive, and, damn it, it wasn't going to let things be quiet any longer. Blaine's hold around Kurt's hand went firm, blocking the flow of blood into it, and Kurt didn't even care, unable to remove his eyes from the child as it was wiped clean of residual blood, fluid, and checked over by Elizabeth who seemed to be taking her sweet time with it before handing it over to Kurt and Blaine.

The Ilu went about tending to Chelsea at that point, who hadn't even looked to the baby even though Kurt caught her mate checking it out. They massaged her distended belly and continued to keep things clean while Elizabeth cooed over the baby, finally wrapping a cloth diaper around it and swaddling it in a velvety soft blanket before, reluctantly, holding it out to Kurt.

“A baby girl…She's so beautiful…”

Blaine made a joyful gasp beside Kurt, though Kurt was sure that Blaine would have made the same sound if the infant was a boy. Really, the fact they were, in that instant, becoming parents was a miracle enough such that the sex of the baby was immaterial.

But Elizabeth was right. The baby, his baby, was beautiful.

Taking her into his arms was surreal, and though Kurt had held so many babies over the years, he found himself worrying more than he ever had before over how he was supporting her and if she was secure enough in his arms. He had never felt more unsure of himself than in that moment, Blaine peeking down at the small, squirming bundle in his arms and Elizabeth hovering over them both, arms out just in case Kurt did manage to drop her.

But he didn't. He cradled her up and against his chest, her tiny ear tipping in against his ribs right where his heart was thumping in his chest. She only had a tiny wisp of hair, dark and still wet from birth, and her little eyes were from him - already so light despite the fact that all newborn babies Kurt had ever seen had had dark eyes to begin with. Her little pink lips plumped and suckled at the air, and, again, despite all his experience, Kurt found himself at a temporary loss for what to do about that until Elizabeth finally darted off for a moment, returning with a bottle she had readied which Kurt held up to the infant's lips to drink from.

“She looks so much like you Kurt…” Blaine finally spoke, a hand on Kurt's shoulder and another just hovering over the little girls' face as he marveled in her existence.

“She's perfect,” Elizabeth added on firmly, as if she would think anything else.

Kurt understood then, finally, why Elizabeth had been so giddy with joy and why Blaine had been so focused on this child that was truly theirs. It wasn't a baby he'd have to hand back to someone eventually, to have to watch leave his home. This child would be completely raised by them. This child wouldn't be pulled away by fearful parents as Beth was, or only brought over when it was being too fussy as so many of their friends had relied on him for.  He would see it during its good times and bad.  This child would call him dad.

Eventually Kurt handed the infant off to Blaine so he could get a chance to hold and feed her, understanding with complete clarity why Elizabeth had been so hesitant in giving her up to Kurt. It wasn't because of them lacking trust in the person they were giving the baby to. If anything, Kurt trusted Blaine more than he trusted himself. The issue was that the instant the baby was gone, Kurt felt his arms and chest cool, and his heart along with them, as if his daughter belonged there and no where else.

The next few days passed by in a blur as Kurt gave up sleep in order to keep his eyes on his little princess as much as he could, even though there were two others by him that were more than willing to attend to her needs. He was vaguely aware that they were visited by members of the council, coming to view the first “Eighthling” in existence and extend their congratulations. Gifts were presented - everything from benign blankets to diapers that were apparently enchanted to dissipate any output into nonexistence, and Kurt was doubly thankful for Blaine who marvelled over each gift and thanked the one offering it sincerely so that Kurt wouldn't have to feign interest or courtesy. Elizabeth, meanwhile, was getting them all organized and prepared to travel. A few others would be joining them to establish whatever home they found, mostly magicless Halflings that Blaine had befriended, and she wanted to ensure they had enough horses and supplies for the journey.

After the birth, Chelsea and her partner had left as soon as she was okayed by Elizabeth, and it was Blaine that asked the question that Kurt dared not to - not because he didn't want to know, but because he feared the answer.

“Are you sure you're okay with all this?”

She had, thankfully, asserted that she was more than alright with it, that she was done being a baby carrier, and that she was off to a sunny island paradise her girlfriend had promised her. Chelsea hadn't even wanted to see the baby after she had birthed it, and for that Kurt was also grateful because he was sure that anyone who saw his precious little girl would instantly fall in love with her.

Midhir had also visited, giftless and glancing to the infant who was in Blaine's arms at the time of his arrival apprehensively. Speaking so that Blaine couldn't understand, Kurt finally realized what Blaine had been suggesting might be true.

“You could stay Kurt…”

“This isn't a home for me,” Kurt responded tersely, disliking how Midhir was purposely excluding Blaine from the conversation by speaking in the tongue of the Others.

“You know he won't live as long as you will...“

“And I told you - that doesn't matter to me,” Kurt insisted. It did matter though. Everytime he heard someone suggest it, his heart seemed to stiffen up and ache in his chest; yet, it would be no easier to give up Blaine then than it would be to give him up when he died - so Kurt choose to spend all the time he could with him that he was afforded.

“... I will live a long life though Kurt,” Midhir's said softly, and Kurt recognized that the jealousy in Blaine was not mindless. He reached out to set a hand on Midhir's shoulder, firm, and matched it with a solid gaze Midhir's way.

“Thank you for being a good FRIEND in my time below. It meant a lot to me.”

The message was received, and Midhir gave Kurt a small, sad nod before pulling away and leaving without a second glance.  

They set out just before dawn, taking a path he and Elizabeth had agreed upon, with one necessary detour along the way to take care of some business that he and Elizabeth had met with the council about. Most people were still sleeping in their tents when they left, and that was fine by Kurt who just wanted to leave the crowded area for somewhere more remote, and more his own. Travel was slow, as their baby was carried in a sling that they alternated between himself, Blaine, and Elizabeth and none of them wanted to jostle her too much. Besides, there was no rush.

Now, Kurt thought highly of Blaine, but he had to admit to himself that Blaine could easily fall prey to his daydreams and lose track of what was going on in the real world, as evidenced when Blaine finally looked to Kurt after riding for three days and asked, “Are we going North? I thought we were going East…” with a cocked head.

Kurt smirked to himself, glad for his husband's absent mind and nodded. “Yeah… we need to pick up something in a community up North before we turn East. It's only a few days extra.”

That sated Blaine's curiosity, and he returned to gently petting over their baby girl's little tuft of hair over and over again as she slept nestled in against Blaine's chest. It was the best thing to look at, and a sight Kurt was sure he would never tire of. She was, so far, a good baby, and had done well on the trip thus far. Elizabeth had said it would be better to travel when she was still fresh because she'd sleep more than she would it they had waited a few weeks, and, so far, it seemed she had been right.

Every night they camped, and unlike the times Blaine and Kurt had been on runs, they didn't have to set up the camp or worry about sleeping directly on the ground - especially when it was wet from rainfall. The Halflings that accompanied them were industrious folk, keen on proving their worth by doing the setup and takedown each day, such that all Kurt had to worry about was making sure his daughter was taken care of.  

They didn't always stay in a camp though, especially as they moved further north. Settlements, both human, Other, and a mix of the two, were happened upon. Those Others that had left the refugee camp before them had crossed this way and so the people they met at the settlements already knew why they were travelling in such a diverse group. Sometimes they'd invite the group to stay with them, other times, with more wary tones, they'd suggest that it would be alright if the group camped near their settlement. In any event, they were helpful in so much as they were willing to help restock Kurt's group with food and supplies so they could continue on their way without having to scavenge or hunt - much as Kurt was eager to see if he could still hunt as well as he used to.

As they neared their first destination, the stop they needed to make on behalf of the council, the air cooled and the winds picked up. It would be winter soon. A year since he had left the community, if not more… Kurt wasn't sure when he had stopped counting the days - sometime between accepting that Blaine was his other half and the current moment - but when a smile crossed his features as they trudged along somewhere near the border of what had been Washington state, Blaine took note.

“What are you grinning about?”

“Nothing.”

“It's never just nothing with you,” Blaine insisted, alternating between smirking at Kurt and glancing at the little girl that Kurt presently had wrapped against his chest.

“I was just thinking… how much you changed my life.”

“Ah…” Blaine glanced back to the road, once a highway now overcome with moss, cracks, and weeds. “... hopefully for good.”

“Of course for good, you moron,” Kurt snapped back playfully, shaking his head. “I really don't think I'd have figured out what I am, who I could be, and have this little one without you there messing around with my emotions.”

“Sorry,” Blaine said, clearly not sorry at all as he winked Kurt's way. It made Kurt's stomach stir up a little, and, if there was one negative to having a child and being on the road to a new home, it was that intimacy was difficult to come by. The number of times he had been turned on only to be cockblocked by a crying infant or Elizabeth coming in between them to talk about something only a mother could be interested in was well beyond the number of fingers and toes Kurt had to count on.

As they neared the settlement they were destined for, Kurt watched as Blaine's brows furrowed and his head tilted in confusion. He would have to recognize some of what he was seeing, unless he really had been out of it for most of that part of his trip to find Kurt. Kurt had ensured Blaine was the one carrying the baby as they approached the edge of the town, so that when Blaine, inevitably, spoke up, there wouldn't be much he could do.

“This is where I was captured… Kurt…”

Kurt had halted his horse, and was sliding off the side of it with a newly made quill and bow from their time in the refugee camp in one hand. Elizabeth and Claudius were also dismounting, coming up behind him along with a Berserker and a Halfling that weren't really going to travel the whole length to their new home with them.

“Kurt…” Blaine uttered, eyes going wide as they snapped from looking at the town to look at him instead.  “... Sebastian?”

Kurt just nodded, slipping the quiver of arrows over his head so they fell against his back.  

“But…”

“Council business,” Claudius noted, glancing up at Blaine with a firmness Kurt had not yet seen in him.  

Kurt could see clearly in Blaine's face that he knew it was more than just council business, and it was. Sure, the council had asked them to deal with the instigator that had caused Finavar's demise - but if Kurt got a certain joy out of also dealing with the one that had hurt Blaine… so be it. Regardless, Blaine wasn't going to follow and Kurt knew it. Blaine's heart was too gentle to be a part of what was going to be done, and he also had the baby to take care of.  

Their march into the town wasn't ignored. The humans that lived there hung back and whispered - if they had chosen to stay outside anyhow. Many rushed into the buildings, slamming doors behind them as if they could protect them. Kurt knew enough from Blaine's tale to know he was looking for what had been a bank, and yet he found he didn't have to look for it at all because as they strode through town, they came across Sebastian and a few other former Warblers as they came out of what looked like a tavern.

When they saw Kurt and his brigade, they all stopped in their tracks.

“What the fu-” Sebastian started to say as his minions backed up and held their breath. Kurt hadn't waited though. He had hesitated on too many occasions in the past and that hesitation had cost him. Before Sebastian could draw a weapon or say anything more, Kurt had launched an arrow into his hand, pinning it into the wood of the tavern behind him and cutting off the expletive that Sebastian had been uttering and turning it into a shriek of pain.

The other Warblers tried to run off - to either side of the building or back into the tavern, only to be rushed by a Berserker turned bear or find their feet frozen in place by Claudius. No one was to get away. The council knew that Kurt knew the faces of those that had caused the assassination of Finavar and he was the only one that would be able to pardon anyone not involved.

He also knew that the Warblers had been in on beating Blaine.

Sebastian's free hand had moved to cup what he could of his now bloodied, stuck hand, trying to pry it free and squawking each time he tugged at it.

“I should just kill you,” Kurt said, darkness overcoming him as he advanced on Sebastian, who shrunk in against the wall as Kurt came close and then stopped a few feet before him.

“Please! I was just... I was just -” Sebastian was trying to come up with an excuse, an excuse that couldn't be found as quickly as he wanted, and Kurt used the opportunity to launch another arrow into Sebastian's second hand, pinning it beside the first and causing the man let loose another wail.

“Stop deflecting. Take ownership of your actions, damn it,” Kurt growled. He knew that everyone around had their eyes on him - both Other and human alike. He was the center of this circus, and he was going to take advantage of that spotlight.

Sebastian's first response to Kurt's demand was a whimper, and then, recognizing he was also part of the performance, tried to save face. “Blaine was a sympathizer to you… to Others… to freaks… I was the one protecting humans against you in whatever way I could.”

Kurt just rolled his eyes, taking another step forward and pulling another arrow from his quiver which he tucked under Sebastian's chin. He hadn't been intending to do more than intimidate Sebastian with the action, but the fact that Sebastian started urinating in his pants when Kurt touched the arrowhead against his face was icing on the cake. Everyone noticed the wet spot forming over the khaki colored pants on Sebastian, especially when the fabric became too saturated and it started leaking onto the desk below him in noisy drips. The Berserker bear even snickered in his bear form, sitting on top of a gasping-for-air Warbler to keep him from escaping.

“The only thing you've ever cared about, Sebastian, is yourself. You don't care about other humans or else you wouldn't have tried to take over a human community and threatened to kill them just so you could have a place of your own without having to negotiate living arrangements with the people there. You've even killed, and tried to kill, the people you considered your own when they became an inconvenience for you. Human, Other… it doesn't matter to you. All that matters to Sebastian is Sebastian.”

“...that's… it's not…” Sebastian wavered, trembling as he looked up at Kurt and then down at the ground where his mess has pooled. “If you're going to kill me… just do it.”

“If I had come here merely on behalf of what you did to Blaine, I would be… but I made a promise to the council… they'll be the ones dealing with your mortality.”

That made Sebastian take in a sharp breath. On some level, he had to know that a quick death by Kurt's arrows had to be better than what would await him with the Others. At the very least, he'd be subjected to being experimented on by the Ilu. “Please… please… no…”

“I promised you'd be taken to them alive… however…” Kurt reached up behind Sebastian and whipped up his shirt to expose his back, “... I didn't promise them you'd be intact.”

Sebastian let out one final whine, and then, realizing it wasn't doing any good to beg, gritted down on his teeth and cinched down his eyes. Kurt nodded over to the bear Berserker, who lifted off the Warbler (and who was in turn bound by ice arches spelled by Claudius) and lumbered behind Sebastian, lifting a claw and etching into the soft, sensitive skin.

Kurt didn't watch. He looked to the other Warbler's, watching their fearful expressions. Dealing pain wasn't something he was okay with, even to someone as despicable as Sebastian. Nor was Kurt completely alright with sending the lot to their deaths. However, he now had not only Blaine to think about, but his daughter as well. Sebastian, no matter where he was or what he was doing, would always be a threat to their wellbeing as long as he was alive. That was made clear when Blaine crossed paths with him unintentionally. Kurt could not let the man get away with what he had done any longer, nor those that had gone along with it willingly.

So he pushed his disgust down deep inside him, trying to tune out the sound of Sebastian's screaming sobs and pleading words. Elizabeth nodded to Kurt when he looked her way, a way of telling him that he was doing what needed to be done - even if it wasn't the nicest thing to have to do. What was right wasn't always what was easy.  

When Kurt heard the voice of the Berserker, having shifted back into his humanoid form, telling him it was done, Kurt looked back to Sebastian and had to gulp back the bile that instantly rose up in his throat. BACKSTABBER, just like Blaine had had to wear in his skin, carved into Sebastian's back, deep and gorey.  

“Good.”  

The Berserker and the Halfling escorting the Warblers back south to the council went about chaining up the lot, all connected to the same enchanted chain, and Kurt mentally noted that they were all there, save for one that Blaine had told him had died not long after they had been relocated according to Sebastian. It was interesting that no one in the town tried to come to their rescue, or even tried to speak up for them, and Kurt had to wonder if they had taken this town with the same force they had tried to take his community by. He would never know for sure though, since as soon as he was given the okay by those Others he was leaving behind, Kurt was hurrying back to where he had left Blaine, his daughter, and their horses.

“I could hear him…” Blaine uttered quietly the instant Kurt and him connected eyes. Their daughter was still sleeping peacefully against Blaine, though now he was off the horse and pacing beside it.

Kurt nodded, stepping over to wrap one arm around Blaine and one around his daughter, to hold them both, to remind himself of what he was protecting. He would never let anyone or anything hurt them.

Getting to the spot his mother had in mind for a place to live took another couple weeks of steady travel on the horses, and as their baby got more alert each day, she also got more temperamental about the bumps and constant movement she was subjected to on the trip. It wasn't uncommon for the whole group to have to stop so that Kurt could rock and settle her back down - as well as give her some time outside the sling.  They ran into fewer people as they moved inland, and even less as they crisscrossed into the mountain ranges, and while Blaine wondered aloud if they were travelling somewhere undesirable, Kurt was actually relieved that they might not have to worry about too many other people. He liked having his family all to himself.

Besides, as he had learned, other people - magical or otherwise - were a threat.

Everyone stopped at the peak of the hill overlooking the mountain resort that Elizabeth had pinpointed as their potential home. It wasn't near any old major cities or towns, had a sizable lake and river system nearby which made it dangerous for humans to want to live near after the Tides, and had been chained up prior to the Tides occurring for intended renovations, chains which they broke easily. The main building was essentially a hotel with sizable rooms, however, because of its remote location, the main floor of the building was occupied with restaurants, small shops, and conference rooms, so that the vacationeers there could have all the amenities they were used to.

It also had a fitting name that was written out in big block letters on the side of the building - Eden.

A place for new beginnings. A place where the two races could start to work together as they had centuries ago. A quintessential paradise compared to the community as it was located in a warmer climate with a mountain range at their backs and a river at their breasts. It was so off the beaten path that it looked like no one had even tried to break into it over the years and so there was a wealth of treasures waiting for them in the main building, and while Kurt found value in the trucks and buses sitting in the large garage off the side of the building, as well as all the seasonal equipment for tourist groups like skis, snowshoes, and rock climbing gear, it was watching Blaine find the restaurant with the small stage that had been the shining moment of their exploration.

That restaurant must have had regular musicians come out to have the stage, and what was more was the variety of instruments tucked away in its storage room that had just been waiting for the past decade for someone to play them again. Blaine tuned them all with such care and patience that Kurt's mother had to ask if everything was alright with him. He turned that old restaurant into his own music room, bringing their daughter there to play for her and sing old songs while Kurt hung outside the doorway while he was supposed to be working just so he could listen in.  

When they settled in Eden, they planned carefully - not just occupying any rooms, but ones that fit the size of their family units. The intent was that as people travelled and came through Eden, they might stay and the community might grow. All the shops and conference rooms on the main floor could be transformed into businesses, a clinic, and a school. Kurt would tend to the vehicles in the garage and try to get them operational again with the plant-based fuel he had managed to create back in the community, and all of them together would make this resort the site of a modern settlement that good people would want to come to.

Of course, when Kurt and Blaine had claimed their room, Elizabeth had protested.  

“There's not enough beds in there for all of us!”

“That's because you're not staying in our suite, mother,” Kurt had said plainly to her, not responding to the look of relief on both Claudius and Blaine's faces which Elizabeth hadn't noted.

“But…my granddaughter…”

“Will just be a room away. People managed for centuries to take care of their own children in their own homes. Blaine and I aren't inept-”

“I wasn't saying you were inept, I was just saying that-”

“You'll respect our need for space, mother.”

She had sulked for a bit after that, but given how Claudius and Blaine had responded, Kurt knew he was right for standing up to her. Besides, as much as he loved his mother and was grateful that she was back in his life, he also was well aware of how much he needed to have a place of his own with Blaine.  A place to wind their bodies up around one another and worship one another as quietly as they could to not awaken the infant in the cradle several feet away.

At some point, everyone had decided he was their de facto leader as well, though he never agreed to such a position. If a decision needed to be made, they asked him. If there was a problem, he was consulted. He tried to encourage them to think for themselves, but even when they came to him with a problem and solution, they still wanted input. For the sake of having to live with these people for as long as they were all there, Kurt opted to just accept his new rank so as not to offend anyone and to get things accomplished in the early days of the new settlement.

One of the Halflings had managed to get the plumbing working and another used their minor fire powers to create a furnace and light up a hot water tank, and for the first time in years Kurt was able to take a bath with ease. With the use of a portal coin, they were able to summon several Halflings that had a mix of knowledge about electricity and solar energy in order to create large solar panels for the room that helped them power the ovens and other appliances in the resort. It was the beginning of reclaiming the technology that had made life easier for humanity, and that would ensure Kurt's daughter wouldn't be left wanting.

In the first year, there wasn't a lot of people that passed by, and those that did only spent a night or two before pressing on. The second year brought far more travellers as word had spread about the unofficial peace and the shared settlements. Kurt and Blaine were the ones to welcome most of the people who passed through, and the ones to welcome them back when they returned from their journeys. Most people, on hearing that there was peace, went to check on the homes they had left and look for missing relatives and friends. When they came up empty handed, as most had, they returned to Eden to settle there and begin their new lives.

It wasn't without its difficulties though. Others were wary of humans and vice versa. There was racism, though mostly grumbled behind closed doors, and some people wouldn't associate with others. Yet after people got to watch each other in action, and see that they weren't there to cause problems, they did tend to mellow out. The second year was also the year a school was established in one of the old conference rooms since there were enough children around to require it. Blaine taught the children music, though he spent most of his time helping Elizabeth in the clinic they had founded

The third year they were there was the year something miraculous happened. It was the year that not only a human woman at the settlement was impregnated by a Berserker pure blood that had moved in, but that their union was recognized with a marriage. Most pureblood impregnation was done simply out of the need to preserve magic and spread it, but in this case the happy couple was actually in love with one another and their union was seen as a major breakthrough in relations between the two species.  

It was also the year that old friends showed up on their doorstep.

Kurt had not expected to see anyone from the community ever again. It was, especially compared with all the settlements he had seen in travelling to Eden, self-sufficient and strong. There would be no reason for anyone to leave there, especially when all his friends there had begun families and had put down roots.

Yet, late in August, as the residents in Eden were preparing to harvest the food they had planted in the farm plots they had created, Kurt found himself looking at a very familiar black woman and white man that had walked up to the resort along with two tall little girls and a toddler boy in tow.

“Sam… Mercedes…”

“Oh sweetie!” Mercedes yelled, scooping him into a hug with her powerful arms. “We never thought we'd see you again!”

“But… how? Why? When?”

Sam was the next one to give Kurt a hug, and as Kurt unintentionally smelled Sam's clothing, he was immediately taken back to the community - dust, dirt, sprucewood, and canola. It was like smelling a memory.

“A few groups have travelled through the old community over the past couple years. Said they were at a place called Eden… said that it was run by Halflings and Humans alike… said there was a couple running it - one named Blaine that was a human, and one named Kurt that was a mixed blood…”

“But… why leave…?” Kurt asked, so surprised and happily so.

Mercedes made a small shrug and reached down to pick up the little ebony boy that was hiding bashfully behind her legs. “Because… we wanted to be part of the future for these guys here. Plus, I don't know if you remember this, but I hate the winters up there. This luxurious cocoa skin needs more sun!”

Kurt laughed at that and then crouched down in front of the girls, knowing they were the same little girls he had tended to so many times when they were little, even though they clearly didn't remember him. “Hey.”

“Hey,” the slightly paler one responded while the darker one waved shyly as she ducked behind her mother's legs.  

“Wow… you've grown so much…” Kurt said with a shake of his head. It was surreal to have them in his memories as babies and now see them as… four. They must be four… maybe even five.

He gave them the tour, and ensured they were given a good sized room since it was clear their family was still expanding. Kurt didn't even need to ask them the questions he usually had for potential new residents. He knew these people. He knew they were good. Hell, they were more than good, and Kurt knew it because as soon as he saw them again, his heart reminded him that they may as well have been family.

He wasn't the only one who felt that way.

When Sam and Blaine saw one another - they gave each other what they called “the manliest of bro-hugs” after they had finally parted. Sam and Mercedes' family were invited over for dinner, and dinner was when their daughter was shown off - now with long hair that Kurt carefully braided back each morning and dressed like a real young lady.  

“Oh my gosh Kurt! She's so… you!” Mercedes cooed as she knelt down to greet the little princess.

“No. Imma me. I'm three.”

Sam laughed, introducing his children - Whitney, Aretha, and now young Memphis and then glanced to Kurt who nudged the back of his daughter. “Introduce yourself.”

Lifting her chin up, the little diva did just that, enunciating every syllable of her name with a hard tone. “I'm Victoria Ellen Katharine Hummel-Anderson.”

“Oh… wow,” Sam could only utter before grinning sidelong to Blaine in a way that clearly translated to him in some way and making him chuckle in response.

Sam and Mercedes weren't the first to show up. Within a couple of months, Nick and Jeff were being toured around Eden, and Blaine was ecstatic that there would be another gay couple in residence - even if Jeff's hyperactivity was a little exhausting for Kurt, especially when he asked a million questions a minute.

Then came Santana and Brittany, along with Eugene, whose hair had gotten darker than when he had been a baby and was now sporting little spectacles on his freckled face. Their reason for coming was that with Nick and Jeff gone, the only other sexual minority individuals left were the Berry's and Karofsky, and while the community wasn't an intolerant place, it was still nice to have other people around that understood where you were coming from.

The spring after Santana and Brittany came is when Eden really boomed. Along with new settlers from around the continent, all of the other “good” Warblers descended on Eden - some with spouses now. The cold weather in the North was cited as the reason for all their trekking, but Kurt noted fondly how everyone who had come from that area were those that he and Blaine counted among friends.  Perhaps he wasn't as alien to them as he felt in the past.

In the heat of the summer, which Kurt didn't want to admit was too damned hot for his liking, was when Trent and Kitty and their brood arrived, a horse drawn wagon in tow. He had been underneath a golf cart, trying to figure out how to make the engine less pathetic, when Blaine's voice lifted him out of his grumbling and cursing and prompted him to shuffle out into the light. Along with Trent, Kitty, and the kids Kurt already knew, there was now a baby girl and Kitty was almost due with yet another baby. Before he could even stand up and wipe the grease off his hands, Kurt found himself enveloped in hugs from Kitty and Isaac that left him gasping for air.

“You're alive!”

“Not for long if you keep making him struggle for air, dear,” Trent noted to his over enthusiastic wife and as Kitty and Isaac pulled back, Kurt noticed how Trent now had a cane at his side, clearly handcrafted with designs burnt into the wood.  

Suffice it to say that Trent and Kitty got one of the larger suites left in the resort and little Vicki was in children heaven. Most of their friends had kids around her age, and suddenly there was need for more childcare and another school teacher. It wasn't uncommon to have children racing down the halls as they played tag with one another and if anyone had an issue with children, they kept it to themselves because the average age in Eden was dropping rapidly with each new addition to the settlement.

And as their daughter got older, Kurt couldn't help but notice how Blaine aged too. At first, it was the odd white hair mixed in with his curls such that seeing one could be blamed on a glint of light hitting his hair the right way, but as Vicki turned six, Kurt had to pause on her birthday morning to look at his sleeping husband and how the white hairs had invaded his scruff and the hairs around his temple in a way he could no longer deny. What was worse was that when Kurt looked in the mirror in their room, he couldn't see that he had aged at all in the past few years.

That was the way things went, and Kurt did his best not to talk about it, because talking meant it was real, and real things were things he had to deal with. Besides, he was happy, and busy for that matter. People still approached him for all manner of help - be it to establish a nearby settlement because the resort was getting too crowded, or to discuss establishing a new form of currency. The more he didn't want to be involved, the more involved he was, until finally Kurt just accepted the position reluctantly when, just as someone had once referred to he and Blaine as husbands without their being a marriage, people began calling him their mayor even though there had been no election.

So he had to be firm, and tough, and learn to be more diplomatic - though nothing taught him more about those things than raising his daughter and having to be the one to tell both Elizabeth and Blaine not to spoil her as he learned to negotiate with the young woman his daughter was developing into - much to his chagrin.

On her thirteenth birthday was when her magic made itself known. She was blowing out the candles on the cake that Brittany had baked for the party when Isaac, who had an obvious crush on Vicki that Kurt was still trying to figure out how to end, reached to pat her back in a congratulatory manner. As Vicki laughed and turned his way, he made a slight gasp - the only warning to what was about to happen. As Vicki's cheeks became plumper and her developing chest flattened out, Isaac sprouted a few inches higher and his features became more chiseled.

It only lasted a moment, and the changes reversed themselves when Vicki yelped and pulled away from the table, running into the room that adjoined her dad's.  

That was the end of the party, and after Elizabeth checked out Isaac to ensure he was alright, she came to speak with both Blaine and Kurt who were worriedly hovering outside the teenager's locked door.

“She'll need training.”

“Is she alright though? What happened?” Blaine sputtered as Kurt pressed his ear against the door, hearing sobs that made his heart crack wide open.

“She clearly has powers… and ones that seem to have the potential to be dangerous if she can't be trained.”

As much as time had slowed down since they had settled Eden, it sped right back up after Elizabeth made that proclamation. Using portal coins, Ilu and trainers were spoken to, books were researched, and Kurt had to have a number of long, sad conversations with Vicki - who admitted that she knew she had power but didn't want anyone else to know. Since most of her best friends were human, she just wanted to be like them.

Kurt was completely empathetic.

A trainer was found, along with a couple Ilu who wanted to study and assist Vicki in developing her gift - which seemed to be a rare one indeed, such that it had no particular name. Instead of playing after school with her friends, Vicki instead spent much of her time training, trying to control the power she had, and trying to find a way to use it. Kurt was sad to have to see her give up a significant portion of her youth, and guilty about having been the reason, genetically, that she had to deal with it.

It was when Vicki was sixteen, undeniably a woman, and one that Kurt had to keep potential suitors away with with a well-developed threatening glare, that Kurt finally understood the extent of her abilities.

He was sitting back with Blaine in their bed, each of them reading a book, Blaine now with reading glasses, when Vicki walked in and plopped herself at the end of the bed causing them both to bounce up a bit and set down their books at the clear indication that she wanted their attention.

“Dad,” she directed at Blaine. “You're getting old.”

Blaine wrinkled up his brow, more wrinkles than there had been ten years prior when Kurt had examined him in bed.  “... thank you? Did you just figure that out?”

Vicki shook her head. “No. But I wondered why you always got grey hair and lines around your eyes while Daddy stayed the same… and then, in training, they explained it… how Daddy has blood of long life, and so do I.”

Kurt winced internally, his jaw going slack as he sat up higher, about to tell Vicki to be quiet. He wasn't ready to have this conversation. He'd never be ready.

“I know, sweetheart,” Blaine admitted, peeking sadly over at Kurt before looking back to her. “But that's okay.”

“No. It's not okay, and I'm going to fix it.”

Kurt and Blaine both cocked their heads, almost comical in how much it was in unison, as Vicki grabbed a hand from each of them before, without warning them, she sent some kind of energy between them. It made Kurt hum inside, warmed him. For the instant it happened, he could almost feel the tie that had bound him to Blaine, wrapped around his hand and connected to Blaine's.

It wasn't until Vicki dropped their hands, her blue eyes twinkling and her mouth upturned in joy, that Kurt glanced back to Blaine and had to gasp when he saw what their daughter had done.

Before him was Blaine, but younger. Looking like he did the day Kurt met him.  

“I didn't want to ask. It seemed like a time that asking for forgiveness was better than asking for permission…” Vicki murmured, eyes still bright and twinkling.

“What…?” Blaine reached up to feel his face over since both Vicki and Kurt were staring at him, and then got up to look in a mirror. “What did you do, baby?”

“I channeled some of daddy's life into you. I balanced it.”

“What?”

“Vicki!” Kurt blurted out, eyes darting between his fresh faced husband and his brilliant daughter. “This is amazing!”

“But…” Blaine managed to pull his eyes away from his reflection to look at Kurt, who apparently hadn't changed noticeably given how no one was focusing on him too much. “That means you'll die sooner!”

“It means I don't have to be without you either!” Kurt retorted, reaching over to squeeze Vicki's knee in thanks. “It's something I've dreaded since the day I fell for you… I never wanted to lose anyone I loved ever again.”

“But this doesn't guarantee I'll live longer…” Blaine said, hands gesturing outwards animatedly. “It just means I won't age out as fast. I could still get mortally wounded or something...”

Kurt stood up and wrapped his arms around Blaine in what was a rare display of open affection in front of Vicki. “It's a gift.. and our daughter is the best daughter in the world for giving it to us.”

The pleased chuckle behind him told Kurt that Vicki was enjoying the response, and he told himself that he needed to get her the best gift ever for her upcoming seventeenth birthday because - damn - she deserved it.  Not only was she the best gift Kurt had ever gotten in his life, but she had given him the second best gift in the world - a long life for Blaine, even if it was at the expense of shortening his own.

People were shocked, naturally, at Blaine's change - but they didn't ask about it save for Mercedes commenting that Blaine needed to share his anti-aging secrets jovially.  Magic, for all its mystery, had come to be accepted as a norm.  It didn't solve all problems, but it did create some unique solutions and as Kurt reflected one day on how he had so hated it at one point in his life for spurring the events that would lead up to his father's death, he realized that without it he may have never had Blaine, or Vicki, in his life and for all the struggles and all the sacrifices he had made in getting them - he knew it was worth it.  It had all been worth it.

I have to apologize for taking so long to post this final chapter.  The truth is that this is, by far, my favourite fic I've done, and as I noted in the preamble, a world I want to have published one day.  As such, it was difficult to bring it to a conclusion knowing that Kurt and Blaine's tale in this world would be over and also that it meant it would be time for me to move onto writing my own world with my own characters - a very scary thought indeed.  

I want to thank everyone who consistently reviewed, as it motivated me to keep writing.  I want to thank those people who offered their insights into the world as it helped me redevelop ideas around it, and I want to thank everyone who read it through.  I don't have the belief in myself required to write just for my own bemusement, so ultimately it was the reads and reviews that kept me going.

Thanks to everyone who created media for this story - to date that includes gleeklainebow, crazie-crissie, suitfer, freakingpotter, and rocketsurgery.  Special thanks to Sabby who not only beta'd but was there to bounce ideas and irritations off of.  Couldn't have done it without her.