Chapter Text
"Bye girls! See you in a month right?"
"Of course? Like hell would we miss your naming ceremony!"
"Duh!"
"To see you finally officially become a Princess and join me on the dark side? I would never miss that."
Bloom rolled her eyes at Stella's comment but was touched by the fact that the girls were being so supportive.
The past year had flown by for the girls.
Since the return of Headmistress Dowling and Headmaster Silva thankfully things had been peaceful and they had been able to focus on their schooling, even miraculously enjoying it at points. However their studies had changed a little from Alfea's previous curriculum thanks to the rediscovery of transformation magic, which was in no small part thanks to them. As the girls and Miss Dowling had all been able to manifest their powers, the headmistress had spent several weeks developing a new archaic magic class which had quickly become one of the most popular courses in the school, with almost all of the fairies eager to learn unusual magics that the rest of the realms had forgotten about.
Whilst the archaic magic class was the main focus point for developing their knowledge of ancient skills, the winx girls had also spent a lot of the previous six months studying with Miss Dowling privately.
Well... what had started out as well intentioned study sessions more often than not devolved into flights around the ground, movie nights and even the occasional blast of karaoke as all the girls embraced their headmistress as a second mother figure with ease. For Farah the step away from her mantra of keeping the students at arms' length had been far more difficult but she know smiled warmly any time she saw the girls and knew that she would be their first port of call if they were to find themselves in trouble. Again.
Whilst all of the girls viewed Farah as a mother, Bloom and Farah's true blood bond was also developing strongly as both mother and daughter learned more about each other.
For Bloom the transition, in a year, from believing that she was a normal, if introverted human teenager to discovering that she was a fairy, born of two of the most powerful fairies of their generation in the middle of a war and that one of her parents was a Prince and the other was the very Headmistress who saved her from the First World had been a shock to the system to say the least. The relative peace of Bloom's second year at Alfea had given her the chance to embrace her new truth and meant that the pair had experienced the opportunity to bond even more, becoming as close as any mother and daughter could wish to be.
It was due to the fact that she was indeed the daughter of the headmistress that Bloom and Terra were currently stood on the doorstep to Alfea whilst Stella, Musa and Aisha waved them goodbye as they left with the rest of the students. Terra, along with her father and brother, would be departing to Linphea to visit their extended family for several weeks whilst Bloom would be using a portal back to the First World to visit her adoptive parents.
-
If Bloom had thought telling the Peters about magic and the fact that she was a changeling had been hard, nothing had quite prepared her to tell them that she had discovered her birth family and who they were. Thankfully Farah had been more than willing to go with her to explain everything, even if Bloom knew that her birth mother was far more nervous than she let show.
Upon meeting the headmistress, both Vanessa and Mike were a lot more mollified about the safety of their daughter at Alfea as Farah exuded competence in every way as she breezed into their home. That well-practiced facade held until Bloom stuttered over her explanation and turned shyly to Farah, hoping that her mother would know what to say.
Truthfully, Farah had no idea how to explain things to the Peters but, much to her relief, they were more than understanding and listened to her tale with rapt attention.
They were suitably upset for Bloom that her father had died before she was born and then completely stunned when Farah announced that Bloom was so much more than just a fairy but was in fact a Royal-Born fairy of the Realm of Domino. Vanessa almost passed out when she heard that Bloom was technically Princess Bloom before laughing gleefully, delighting in the fact that her daughter would undoubtedly have to wear pretty dresses and pretend to be a lady on occasion, something which made Bloom scrunch up her nose in distaste.
Whilst Farah told the Peters about Theodore with relative ease, she hesitated when Vanessa then asked who Bloom's mother was. She had not realised quite how difficult it would be to be faced with the woman who had raised her daughter in her place for sixteen years and to then expose her identity. Eventually Farah had blurted out the truth bluntly, explaining that she was Bloom's birth mother and that she would have searched for Bloom her entire life if she had not been told that she was already dead. A solitary tear had escaped her eye as she earnestly told the pair about how excited she had been to discover that she was pregnant and then how heartbroken she had been at Bloom's death. When Vanessa stood Farah was worried that she had upset the woman but she surprised the headmistress by moving to sit next to her and offering her a hug. Farah smiled as she accepted the embrace, recognising immediately the woman's influence on Bloom and her love of physical contact.
After the bombshell had been absorbed both Vanessa and Mike had plenty of questions for both Farah and Bloom about how things would go in the future and what was to happen to Bloom. Both Bloom and Farah had insisted that they would always have a place in Bloom's life and that Farah would never seek to replace them, something which the Peters' were extremely grateful to hear as, even though she may not be their daughter by blood, Bloom was their daughter in every way that mattered to them in their hearts.
-
After that day Bloom had chosen to live at Alfea most of the time but still made sure to return home to see her earth parents whenever she had the chance. And that was why Bloom had chosen to spend the first week of the summer holidays with her human family.
She had been offered the chance to stay in Alfea whilst her mother and Saul had done final preparations for the next year's syllabus but she knew that she would enjoy the time away as she had definitely missed her other parents. She also knew that, after that week, she would be spending the entire summer with her mother and thought that a week of separation might do them both some good.
"Bloom," both Terra and Bloom turned back to look inside Alfea and could see Farah coming to join them on the porch, "I wondered where you'd gotten to."
"Just seeing the girls off Mom."
"Ah yes, enjoy your summer ladies, I'm sure it will feel like no time at all before we're all back here."
"We have your naming ceremony first Miss," Stella reminded the headmistress, "and we would never miss it for the world."
"Ah yes, that."
"Mom, it's one day." Bloom sighed at her mother's reticence over the ceremony.
Whilst Bloom was excited to be formally welcomed into the Domino Royal Family, Farah's title of Duchess was something which she was still unsure as to her worthiness to hold. It had taken a considerable amount of pressure from Bloom and her Gramma Florence, the Dowager Queen, before Farah had finally acquiesced and now grudgingly accepted that she would forevermore carry the royal title. The ceremony, to be held at the Domino Palace a month after school ended, was now a highlight in every Royal calendar throughout the Other realms and Farah was almost dreading the interactions she would surely be forced to have with former schoolmates and army colleagues, all whilst undoubtedly wearing some sort of confection of a dress that Bloom would bat her eyes and plead that she wore. The only upside of the event was the fact that Saul would be her escort and that they would have the chance to dance together, something which was a very rare occurrence these days.
"One day. I know Bloom. It will be lovely to see you all there girls. Now, don't let me hold you up any longer, I'm sure that you are desperate to return home. Even you Stella."
Farah had caught the other Princess rolling her eyes at the suggestion but knew that a lot of the problems that had previously plagued the relationship between the Princess and her Mother, the Queen of Solaria no less, had been resolved now that Stella's control of her powers were immaculate and, indeed her prowess for ancient magic was something that Luna was inordinately proud of and had gone to great lengths to demonstrate. Their fractured relationship was finally beginning to heal and it seemed to be for the good of everyone within Solaria as the Queen's leadership seemed less fraught and the relaxing of her grip on power was to the benefit of all. Farah was particularly grateful that the pair had begun to mend their bridges as she finally could see the Luna that she attended Alfea with beginning to resurface and their meetings had gone from skirmishes to pleasant afternoon teas as the two friends began to make up for lost time.
The girls waved a final goodbye as their transport all arrived and, soon enough, Farah escorted Terra and Bloom back into the courtyard.
"Terra, I know that your father will be ready to leave in around an hour so you are free to stay with us until then if you so wish?"
"Actually Aunt Farah, if you don't mind, I'm going to head down to the greenhouses and just check that the plants are all set for us being away. I don't want anything to die whilst we're gone because we overlooked it."
Farah smiled indulgently at the girl, knowing that both her father and brother had already checked the set up twice for much the same reasoning but she said nothing as her goddaughter gave both her and Bloom brief hugs before disappearing towards the greenhouses.
"Well then, looks like it's just us now, doesn't it?"
"Don't you have work to do? Like school stuff?"
"You know Bloom, when all of you students go home for the summer it tends to mean that us teachers have a lot less work to do?"
"Really?" Bloom fed off her mother's sarcasm and the pair began playfully bickering as they walked along the corridor to Farah's office. "I thought you lot spent every hour or every day creating new ways to torture us in exams. Well, except from when you're a little busy with the Headmaster. Doing things that are definitely not... Academic. Unless you've been studying the Kama Sutra of course."
"Bloom!" Farah's voice may have sounded scandalised but privately she was always delighted when Bloom began to tease her. She knew in those moments especially that they had completely shed the teacher/student dynamic and were entirely being themselves. It had taken Bloom a little longer to tease Farah about Saul than it had about most things but, as soon as she realised that there was not an unspoken boundary around her relationship, it quickly became ammunition in their good-natured duels. But, she supposed, she was glad that Bloom completely accepted Saul and her intimate relationship with the Specialist. A good thing too considering the event that would occur the week before school started back.
Seeing her mother's mind begin to wander, Bloom could take a good guess as to where it had once again disappeared.
"Mom, you still have six weeks to organise this. And you know that the girls are coming here after the naming ceremony to help with the final touches. It's going to be beautiful. Hell, it's your big day, I wouldn't have it any other way."
Farah slung an arm over Bloom's shoulder and hugged her into her side gently.
"I know, but, at this age, I would have been expecting to be closer to arranging your wedding than my own!"
After a Christmas Eve proposal at Florence's villa with the rest of the Royal Family, the good news of Saul and Farah's engagement had soon been spread across the entire Other realm as many fae and military personnel had either studied with, served with or sent their children to Alfea with Saul and Farah. Over the past six months many plans for the wedding had already been arranged with guest lists decided and the venue - the grounds of Alfea obviously - chosen. Still, with six weeks to the wedding there were still many pieces of the puzzle yet to land neatly in place and Bloom was sure that her mother would spend much of the next week working on her plans. Sure enough, as they entered Farah's office, Bloom spotted the many familiar lists for the wedding strewn across the coffee table. Bloom sat down and glanced at the papers, realising that her mother had likely been working on these before she came down to meet her.
"Mom, just promise me that you're going to spend at least sometime away from your office and bedroom in the next week? When we're away together you won't have much time to relax so you and Saul should take all the time you can get right now."
"Yes Mum," Farah joked, laughing only harder as she received a swat on the arm from her daughter.
"If you don't want to listen to me and my wisdom which, by the way, I must have gotten from you, then it's fine, I'll just go."
Bloom went to stand up but found herself held back as Farah wrapped her arms around her waist. As she fell back against her mother's warm body both fairies found themselves laughing happily.
It was in this position ten minutes later than Saul found the pair, so wrapped up in their own conversation that they failed to notice the specialist's entrance. Sneaking up behind Farah he found himself poised behind her before he finally leant forwards and kissed her cheek quickly.
"Fu-Saul!" Farah jumped, dislodging Bloom from her resting spot as she turned to look at her fiancé.
"Was that almost a swear Miss Dowling?" Saul said with a knowing grin.
"Only you can make me want to swear at you and kiss you at the same time."
"OK too much information," Bloom butt in as she sat up, hands rising to her ears.
Bloom actually found their interactions adorable, loving the easy nature they had with each other, but she would never tell her mother or, worse, Saul that fact. She still had to retain at least some sort of teenage personality trait.
"Sorry Flame."
Bloom rolled her eyes. After Florence was overheard using the nickname, Saul had taken every opportunity to use it himself, often to Bloom's mock disgust.
"Alright you two," Farah knew that the pair would happily bicker away for the rest of the afternoon. Bloom had bonded with Saul in a more uncle fashion than father but both of them shared their opinion that Farah came first and so would often agree when it came to the mind fairy, "Bloom let's go and get you sorted. And, whilst we're at it, we can see about getting your bag for Japan ready as well."
When Bloom got back from her week with her parents she, Farah and Saul would be joined by The Harveys and Sky. It had been years since the trio of adults had been able to get away on a holiday together and it seemed like this was the perfect year so they had all chosen to spend time in Japan.
"Saul, we'll see you at the barrier at 3?"
"See you then."
Farah pressed a soft kiss to her partner's lips as the two women moved passed the specialist and headed back to the winx suite.
"Are you sure you have everything?"
"Mom, it's chill. If I've forgotten anything it's only a week and it's also California. I can buy anything I need."
"OK. Right."
Bloom could understand why her mother was so nervous. She herself felt much the same. Since their discovery the pair had never gone more than a day or two without the other's company and so to spend a whole week apart would be the longest time they had gone without each other.
"I'll be back before you know it Mom. Now you and Saul go and have whatever fun you kids enjoy."
"Bloom," the warning tone no longer worked on the fire fairy, something that Farah rued immensely as she was met with a cheeky smile.
"See you later Mom," Bloom dropped her bag to the floor and held her mother tight for several long moments until she finally huffed, reached for her bag and walked through the portal into the warehouse. Farah could see the Peters waiting on the other side and shared a brief wave with Vanessa before the door was closed and she could no longer see the trio.
"You heard her Farah, she'll be fine."
Saul had stood back as the pair shared their final goodbye but he could feel Farah's anxiety at the separation.
"I know. But... I didn't realise how difficult it is to let her go. How on earth do parents do it every day all over the realms?"
"They've had practice love. Small things like camps and sleepovers first. You've gone zero to one hundred, as always. But you'll see her again on Saturday. It's only eight days away."
"Eight days."
"Eight days. What can we do for eight days?"
Farah relaxed as she felt Saul come up behind her, supporting her body as they stood in the quiet of the graveyard, simply existing together.
"Come on you," Saul eventually said, taking one of Farah's hands and beginning to lead her away from the portal, "let's get back to our school. I rather want to enjoy your office without the constant disruptions."
"Saul!" Farah's voice was laced with disapproval but the specialist felt her growing amour through the link, completely overriding whatever proper persona she was still striving to keep a grip on.
"Oh, a bit of an exhibitionist are we Farah? Well I'm sure I can help with that."
Saul began to run back towards the school, pulling a laughing Farah behind him as they made their way to a more private location.