Talia al Ghul has always lived a precarious life.
You would think it would have been the training that had pulled at her in those early years. That tore at her. As soon as she was capable of critical thought it had been made clear to Talia that anything less than perfection was not an option.
This had suited her well enough though. Perfection had always come naturally to Talia.
No. It was the deference that had turned survival into a balancing act.
‘Yes, Father’ ‘No, Father’ ‘Of course, Father’. Talia is loyal to her bones, but did it have to be so performative? Did they really have to pretend this hard that her father’s better than her?
Even as a teenager she scoffs at the thought. It’s hardly like anyone could be foolish enough to believe such a lie.
~
Later she meets Bruce. Then the balancing act begins to concern loyalty rather than pride.
Talia has always been perfect and loyal and gifted at living on a knife edge; her father’s blade on one side and some different oblivion on the other. But knowing Bruce brings challenges she hadn’t foreseen.
He’s good. She thinks.
Talia isn’t sure if she’s ever thought that about anyone before.
The pull she feels towards him is something she can’t ignore. It causes the bonds she holds with her father to fray, to weaken. She won’t cut anything yet but Talia is beginning to think that the current situation is untenable.
She has always despised weak things. She will not hesitate to rid herself of such ties.
~
There’s a baby growing in Talia’s stomach.
It’s Bruce’s. She knows it’s Bruce’s. This fact makes her feel a warmth she hadn’t thought herself capable of but it brings with it danger.
She can feel the weight of the child’s legacy pulling at her. It’s a heavy thing, to join the bloodline of an al Ghul with the monster that lurks in Gotham City’s shadows. It’s something Talia thinks might hold greater weight than even her own legacy, if that’s possible.
As her stomach grows and the life inside with it, Talia starts to feel that weight. The heaviness of the body inside her own.
She thinks that this wonderful burden might be what stops the balancing act. What pulls her down from the sharp place where she’s managed to survive for so long.
Talia decides that it’s a change she’s going to embrace.