Short Story; Cyssie and Igor

Cystronella Von Gravaga could remember the very first thing she'd ever built on her own.  It was a harmonic resonator that could be tuned to the exact frequency of a given piece of fabric.  She'd been seventeen, and bothered by how long it took to find the match to a pair of socks.  So she had taken the blueprints to a standard harmonic resonator, normally used to give particular types of people headaches or to demolish buildings, and modified it to effect fabric.  She'd spent hours fine tuning it, but eventually she managed to get it to a point where she could target any given sock and it's match would begin resonating.  Sure it made both socks explode with a force of 7BPI (Beck's Per Thread, the standard measure for explosive strength, equal to a standard hand grenade, per square inch of matierial), but the important thing was that she always new where the sock's match was. 
And now, holding her harmonic resonator, and nursing the bump on her head it had caused when she'd accidentally knocked it off the dresser, she remembered how proud her mother had been that she'd invented something so clever. 

"Cyssie!  Why is there a hole in the wall?"
"I swear mom, I didn't do it."
Thalia looked at her daughter.  Her eyes were full of fire but her gaze was as chilling as an east wind.  The Dark Lady of Gravaga was not one to be trifled with, not by any count, and Cyssie was petrified at the thought of the million terrible things her mother would do to her if she found out what had happened.
"Don't lie to me Cyssie.  It's your room, only you've been in it, and the blast radius and fragmentation patterns indicate without a doubt a detonation with a magnitude of at least thirty-five becks originiating within your room.  It's magic sealed and you don't have any antagonists, so only you could have possibly done it.  Now, are you going to keep lying to me, or are you going to explain what happened?"
Cyssie couldn't stand against forensic evidence, her mother had her against the wall.  She started crying and confessed what she'd done.  "I couldn't find my socks so I made a harmonic resonator and I aimed it at the sock I did have so I could find the sock I didn't have and then the sock I didn't have resonated and I think I must have let it resonate to long because it blew up!"  She cried breathlessly before completely breaking down in tears. 
Thalia softened instantly as she bent down to hug her youngest daughter. 
'Why didn't you just say so?"  She brushed Cyssie's pale golden hair out of her face and kissed her on the forehead.  "Sweetheart, I'm not angry about the wall; I can fix that with a thought.  I was just mad because you were lying to me.  I think its great that you wanted to come up with a better way of finding your socks, and for anyone your age to construct a harmonic resonator is very impressive.  But next time, just tell me; ok?"

And now, crying once again, she wished her mother were there to tell her it was going to be ok.  But she wasn't.  What was left of her staff was sitting in the dining room.  Her bones were in a mausoleum fifty miles away in the heart of Halston.  And all that was left of Thalia were her beloved children, her loyal Gravagan creations, and the system she'd worked tirelessly to set in place to keep order between the immortals.  And Cyssie felt alone. 
"Hey."
Cyssie couldn't bring herself to reply.  She just sat against the dresser, clutching her harmonic resonator, and crying quietly.  Igor came over and sat next to her.  The two sat silently for several minutes before she finally calmed down enough to talk.
"You know, Mum always believed in me.  Even when I was young, and I was just starting off, she always made sure I had whatever parts I needed.  She gave me my first lab, taught me how to read, explained how things worked when I asked.  She never liked machines, but she would usually make the effort because it was me."
"She was a good mother, and a good person."  Igor agreed. 
"And when they brought back her body all I could think of was how I could fix her, how I could have built something that could have saved her, how I could build something to bring her back."
"I remember."
"And now, SHE brings back her staff and expects it to be alright?" 
"Cyssie."
"SHE killed her Igor!  SHE killed Mum."
"Cyssie."
"SHE killed Mum and she thinks she can just apologize?  Like she'd broken a wrech or a car?"
"Cyssie, listen to me."
Cyssie stopped.  She was breathing heavily and she could feel the fire rising in her eyes; the cold spreading through her gaze. 
"Cyssie, your mother died trying to save her.  Whether she killed Thalia or not, if you can't forgive her than you're throwing away everything your mother died for."
"But she killed her."
"And nothing is going to bring her back.  Not magic, not science, certainly not art, and unquestionably not hating your sister."
"But..."
"Yes, you have a very nice one, but that's not going to bring her back either.  Now get up, remember what your mother always used to say when things were looking down?"
Cyssie cheered up.  Yes, she did remember her Mother's philosophy on how to deal with life's problems. 
"Pray for forgiveness, dust off your shoes, and love."
"Really?"  Igor smirked.  "That's not how she said it." 
"Oh?"  A smile spreading as Igor stood up.  "Then how did she say it?"
He reached down and helped her up.  Cyssie knew what her Mother had always said.  And she'd been right.  She muttered a prayer, kicked off her shoes, and kissed him.