Steve pieced his way through Nagar’s most current folio. The man’s handwriting was atrocious. Steve had in fact caught up with Jafjson and broached the topic of spies for Valdemar and, while the official knew of their presence and utilised their information, he hadn’t in fact dealt with them directly. Jafjson, ever the politician, had wittered on about plausible deniability. Jafjson had, however, sent Steve to Nagar’s scribe.
The scribe had been responsible for all of Nagar’s official documents, and clearly adept at reading between the lines, she had apologetically told Steve that she hadn’t had permission to help Nagar with some aspects of his role as Queen’s Own.
If Nagar had managed the diplomatic links with the out land spies on his own Steve was stuck with Nagar’s appalling penmanship, spelling with a tendency to reverse letters and confuse homonyms and homophones. Bizarrely, his grammar was pretty consistent.
The active agents were Laglent in Thurbrigard, Dellv in Sarmus, Bonget in Karse and Johns in Oris. It was only after writing out the names in his own notebook, Steve realised that the names were not quite correct. Laglen with a T, Dell with a V, Bonge with a T and John with an S. Laglen and Bonge were traders, Steve realised as he read. Nagar had utilised the existing network of traders across the country working with ones that went farther afield. He hadn’t cracked what S or V stood for.
“Mi’lord?” Megan broke Steve’s concentration.
Steve closed the journal that he was writing notes in.
“I wondered if I could have a word, Mi’Lord.”
Steve didn’t correct Megan, the littles’ teacher in all things. Perhaps one day, she would relax, but brought up by Sainsbury, Steve guessed that relaxation would inevitably flow into smooth professionalism.
“Of course.” Steve gave her his full attention and watched her blush. Megan was quiet. Megan was demure. Megan was perfect foil for exuberant Tomasin, and a stalwart support for resolute Silence.
“Teaching Tomasin and Silence goes a pace. I thought that it would be helpful if, perhaps, they attended a couple of classes with the Blues.”
Steve frowned. The Blues were a combination of the scions of the Houses of Valdemar and the childers picked throughout the Land, as those who would benefit from the best teaching. Danny’s Schools for All were in their infancy. Studying with the Blues was the best place to learn. But a lot of the Blues were stuck up privileged bullies, and Steve knew, because he had been a Blue before he had been Chosen by Remayne. But the Blues were generally a few years older than Silence.
“Tomasin is.” Steve sketched a short height from the floor, illustrating that she was at the most six, possibly. They didn’t know how old the littles were.
“It is, Mi’Lord, not just about learning reading, writing, and arithmetic, it’s about meeting and dare I say playing with their peers.” Megan took a deep breath. “Tomasin and Silence are the adopted daughters of the King of Valdemar. They need to meet their fellows as children. The younger brothers and sisters of the Blues do meet, for morning sessions with tutors. It’s a relatively recent thing, I think that they’re trying to emulate the King’s schools.”
Steve pondered. He didn’t know if Tomasin and Silence were ready for this sort of experience. They were still learning to live in with him and Danny in a palace.
“Sooner, rather than later, Mi’Lord.”
Steve sighed. On one hand he knew what Megan meant on the other.
“Now is better than later. And I will be with them, but….”
“But.”
Megan chewed on her bottom lip. She tested a few words on her tongue, failed, tried again.
“Yes?” Steve prodded.
“Tomasin’s hair, Mi’Lord.”
“What of it.” Steve plucked at his own errant curl high on his forehead, drawing it in to a tuft. Tomasin’s impossible hair was outstanding in all senses of the word.
“Children can be cruel. I don’t want to set Tomasin up to be teased.”
“Uhm? Comb it?”
“Mi’Lord, it doesn’t help.”
True, Steve mused.
“What did Tomasin say?” Steve asked.
“I didn’t ask her.”
“It’s Tomi’s hair.” Steve set Nagar’s report aside on the table and gave the young woman his actual attention. “I’m not entirely sure what the solution is. And how should I? I mean Sabe might have an idea.”
“That is a good suggestion, Mi’Lord.”
Steve held up his hand. “There’s nothing wrong with Tomasin’s hair. She’s a Little, she doesn’t need a flower crown and--” Steve was so out of his depth he was drowning, “--smooth, glossy hair. Half of the time we can’t even keep her in clothes.”
Steve figured that they were never going to win the shoe war.
“But my lord, the other children.”
She was worried Steve realised. He knew that she was reading the potential situation correctly. But that didn’t mean that they had to force Tomasin to wear a cap or try to flatten her hair with oil just because it was unruly.
I could go to these first meets. They wouldn’t tease Tomasin then.
“No.” Steve channelled his inner Danny. “You said that these classes for the young blues were new?”
“Yes, Mi’Lord.”
“Do the children of the diplomats attend?” Steve knew that the young Shin’a’in representative had brought her family. Along with the gryphons from K’Vala and Iftel.
“I do not know.”
“Children can be cruel. But that isn’t true of the smallest, and it has to be a lesson that they learn. These classes should be about--”
::Danny?:: Steve flicked his thoughts in Danny’s direction. ::Are you listening in? Because I think that you’re speaking through me.”
::Not deliberately, but I felt your concern when Megan started talking about Tomasin:: Danny’s attention shifted as he spoke to a person in his presence. ::I’m meeting with Cael and Jafjson about the schools::
“Yeah, and I’m talking to Megan about schooling for the littles,” Steve said out loud for Megan’s benefit. “And I just started to pontificate.”
::PONTIFICATE!:: Danny bit instantly.
Steve winced.
::PONTIFICATE!::
::If it walks like a duck--::
::I do not pontificate. Jafjson pontificates:: Danny pontificated. ::I do reasoned discourse. From the heart. Pontification, never::
::The mind sharing think is a little weird:: Steve inserted deliberately, when Danny paused to wind up anew, because Danny would go on for candlemarks.
Danny growled in Steve’s mind.
::We’re both talking about the same topic. A topic which we care about:: Danny thought with an air of offhandnessness, but the undercurrent was concerned. ::Perhaps, that is it. I know you keep an ear out for me::
::Perhaps:: Steve echoed. He wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it. Was it a combination of them both having comparable discussions simultaneously? Something to do with the lifebond? Or something else entirely?
::What’s up with Tomasin?:: Danny asked getting to the heart of the matter.
::Megan thinks that she’ll get teased::
::When? Where?:: Danny bristled, and Steve felt his own shoulders tense.
::At some kind of royal nursery group that Megan wants to take the littles to:: Steve explained.
Megan waited patiently, not even tapping a toe, used to the vagaries of Heralds talking to Heralds and Companions.
::Right… We’ll nip that in the bud before it starts:: An ephemeral kiss brushed Steve’s forehead. ::I have to go. I have to finish up this meeting, and then there’s an envoy from Iftel::
Danny blipped out.
“Mi’Lord?” Megan said, as Steve focused outward.
Steve pushed away from the desk – he was sick of sitting – too much of a King’s Own’s Herald’s time was spent sitting.
“Danny’s a great proponent of teaching kids right from wrong. If anyone picks on Tomasin because of her hair, I’ll be happy to explain that picking on littles is dishonourable and will not be tolerated.”
Megan curtseyed. “I think your idea of bring all the youngest littles of the diplomats is brilliant.”
“It will probably need Danny to sign some proclamation or have a meeting with a whole host of diplomats. But first, I think it best to see what Silence and Tomasin think of the plan.”
“They’re in their nursery, Mi’Lord.”
“Steve,” Steve said, perhaps eventually he would wear her down. He gathered up the folio and his notepad. He supposed that he should read Nagar’s private documents in his study, but that room was too dark and heavy.
Silence and Tomasin were not in the nursery. Steve sighed at the perfectly neat and tidy room. When they had come to stay with him and Danny, Danny had proposed keeping the nursery tidy as part of their job in the face of their utter confusion when faced with their new world where they were cherished children and not expected to be tiny, abandoned, self-sufficient adults.
The nursery was always very tidy. Steve wanted to see toys strewn on the floor. Yes, Silence and Tomasin played; Steve had took them to the market and let them each choose a stuffed animal. Danny rained toy after toy on them. And as charges of the King, they got more than a few presents from envoys and diplomats, a lot of which were given to Chael to redistribute or carefully stored until the appropriate time to use them. Tomasin and jewellery did not get on.
“Where’s my Littles?” Steve called, even as he walked to the conservatory.
Silence and Tomasin were sitting on the floor opposite each other in the sunniest spot. Tossing the books on his chaise longue, Steve sketched a thought-form over them rendering them unnoticeable.
“Steve!” Tomasin chirruped happily, as if they hadn’t seen each other at breakfast. She scrambled to her feet. “When do we stop being Littles?”
Steve swung her onto his hip. “You’ll always be my Littles.”
“No, little Littles,” Tomasin explained.
“Uhm… when you’re as tall as Danno.”
Tomasin digested that statement, and then threw her head back and cackled.
“Gonnna tell.” Silence grinned.
Steve eyed her; Silence had an evil streak. Silence also had a skinny, long- limbed gangliness that promised height when she grew older. Tomasin clambered up and over Steve’s shoulder, and he held onto her bare foot as she eeled down his back. Steve doubted that she would ever reach Danny’s prodigious height.
“We fixed it. We fixed it,” Tomasin said.
Steve twisted, catching Tomasin’s hands and swinging her between his legs.
“Fixed what?” Steve set her on the floor.
“Sil fixed it.” Tomasin pointed. “Made it like your drawing.”
The wheel was intact. It lay on the floor -- a dull, burnished dark grey, seemingly innocent double wheel. Silence settled back on her heels, pleased.
“How?” Steve settled down on the opposite side. A faint brush of mage energy, bubbles in his nose, made him think of the otherworld. But when he touched the wheel, he felt nothing.
Silence extended her pointer fingers and lightly touched them together. Once, twice and then a third time.
“Can you show me?”
“But it is fixed now,” Tomasin said.
“Yeah, but how did you put it together?”
“It doesn’t want to be broke,” Silence said.
“Please.” Steve always found a well of patience when with the children.
Silence hauled the wheel half onto her lap. She cocked her head to the side, silky dark hair swishing. Bottom lip caught between her teeth, Silence contemplated the wheel. The joins were seamless. Curling her small hands over the edge, she tugged on the metal.
Pop.
The wheel separated in two.
“That was hard,” Silence said.
Tomasin angled under Steve’s arm as he took the two halves from Silence’s grasp. Each edge had either three prongs or three holes. Lock and key. But they didn’t align. He pushed them together expecting them not to lock and he wasn’t disappointed.
Silence tutted. She stretched out her finger, pushed a prong, and Steve watched it slip to the left and align with the aperture on the opposite side. Nimble, she manipulated the other two. The clockwork engineering had to be on a scale like the tiny lives that caused illness – it was stunning.
“Gotta do the other side, cos they all have to fit before they come together,” Tomasin prompted.
Steve angled up the other side, and flick-switch, Silence moved them into position with her fingertip.
“What!” The sides jumped together with a loud click.
“Toooooook ages,” Tomasin said. “You have to get them right first. You can’t move them unless they’s near to the right one.”
“I’m impressed. I’m really impressed.” Steve smiled, he could feel the smile crease his face. They were little stars in the firmament. “Me and Danno looked at this yesterday and didn’t figure it out.”
Silence shrugged. But Steve knew that she was pleased, when she wouldn’t look him in the eye.
“What’s it do?” Silence asked a question, uncharacteristically.
“It was described as a magic mirror. But--” Steve passed his hand through the centre of the wheel. No mirror.
“Do you have all the bits?” Tomasin asked very practically.
“I think so. They were all together in one box.”
“It’s a mystery!” Tomasin flung her arms up.
“What do the wiggles mean?” Silence drew her finger over the top, embossed symbol, drawing a ψ.
“Some of them look similar to the thought forms like the shorthand I use to wield magic sometimes,” Steve told her. “But they’re mostly wiggles.”
Steve tried to flex the frame, but despite its lightness it was firm, and neither did the inner wheel turn, which he thought it might. He supposed, staring at it glumly, Nagar might have kept the other parts somewhere else in his cluttered room, for safety.
Tomasin patted his knee. “Can we see the foals?” she asked. Playing with the foals always cheered everyone up.
Why not? It had been at least a day since they had seen the foals. Wheel in one hand, he dismissed the ward and gathered up the books in his other. Silence and Tomasin followed him into his and Danny’s chambers. He tossed the wheel and the books into the bottom of cabinet under the windows, and resketched the obscuring thought-form over the materials. The innate spell on Nagar’s folio would prevent anyone reading it, assuming that they managed to see past the thought-form to find it, let alone get into the King’s Chambers.
“Pic’n?” Tomasin prompted.
“Get your cloaks,” Steve said. Autumn was on the horizon, and despite being sunny and bright, there was a crisp edge to the day.
The comment about Danny's height was enough to make me love this snippet. But the littlies figuring out the mirror thingy was brilliant - the littlies are awesome. And I also want to come on the picnic. I make a mean scotch egg if that helps get me on the invite list to meet the Companions ;)
I am so excited to see you writing more of this!! I may have to go back and reread because I can't remember, what wrong with Tomasin's hair? I love that the littles could assemble the magic mirror when Danny and Steve were clueless.
nothing is wrong with Tomasin's hair, her hair is awesome! bright white and it stands up, electrified. Her hair, however, is a little different from everyone she meets.
They had set up the picnic in the bower, protected from the elements by a dense weave work of more plants and vines than Steve cared to identify, by the time Danny managed to join them. He had a knapsack on his back that resolved into a tightly wrapped Lito. It took Danny a good few moments to free him from his topmost layers.
Their littlest little was flushed, his nose and cheeks bright pink. He was grizzling, but wasn’t squalling, so Steve took that as a win.
“I can hold him,” Silence volunteered. She pushed the tail end of her sandwich into her mouth and chewed cheeks bulging. “An’ th’ ‘ou cn e’t.”
And then you can eat, Steve translated.
Silence held out her arms, patiently.
Plainly, Danny pondered for a moment. They had spent a long night, passing Lito between Mistress Gana, Steve and Danny trying to soothe him, and it hadn’t worked unless Danny held him. And Lito wasn’t grizzling that much.
Arms outstretched, Silence was serenity personified.
Danny handed over Lito. He was still on the small side, not enough food and love when he had been a tiny babe, but he filled up Silence’s skinny arms. He popped a gassy bubble in surprise at his new position as Silence set him on her lap.
She didn’t coo, she didn’t shush, she simply held him, stroking his flushed little cheek with a curled finger. Lito didn’t cry.
Danny gave her the thumbs up and grabbed a pork and apple pocket pie beating Tomasin.
“Me and S’eve was gonna have that.”
“You’ve already had one, judging by the evidence.” Danny bit down hard on the pie.
Steve brushed crumbs off the top of his tunic.
::Greetings: Lumina slid into the bower, quiet and easily despite her bulk.
Danny glowed at her approach, reaching up to meet her halfway, cheek to cheek.
::Danno:: the twins chimed simultaneously, barrelling in on both sides for their own nuzzles.
Steve patiently cut up an apple into chunks for Tomasin to give to the weanlings when the love-fest was over.
Gnstenia ghosted into the bower, all grace and presence. Leverage lolloped at her side.
::Apples:: Leverage lolloped to Tomasin. All the weanlings loved apples.
Arivis glowered, who know that a weanling could glower, but she glowered, torn between Danny-love and apples.
Leverage ruffled Tomasin’s impossible hair, sharing the love, as she threw her arms around his neck.
::My human:: Arivis sent. ::My apple::
Danny raised an eyebrow. ::Now. Now. We’re all family::
::Danno, Steve, Silence, Tomasin, Mamma and Ritten:: Arivis rejoined firmly.
“Auntie Gnstenia and cousin Leverage,” Silence wasn’t one to be argued with, “Lito.”
Arivis ducked her head, not looking directly at Silence.
Steve settled back on his heels. Never had it been so apparent that Silence heard thoughts. Although the thought had been pretty piercing.
“Bane,” Tomasin piped up, as she held her palm flat for Leverage to lip off a tart, crunchy apple slice.
“Bane,” Silence agreed.
::Yes?:: Bane’s thoughts reverberated in Steve’s mind, making him blink.
Steve pressed his index finger against his temple. ::We’re discussing family::
::Oh, am I invited to the pin’c?:: Bane asked.
::Of course:: Had he excluded Bane, Steve wondered.
::Not deliberately:: Bane was ruthlessly honest, which was probably why Steve and Silence liked him. ::Danny misses Nagar, and I remind him of Nagar. So, I – on occasion – step back a little. But as Companion to the King’s Own that is not a long term strategy::
Gnstenia was large for a Companion. Bane blotted out the sun. The bower seemed to breathe out with his presence, making space.
“Apple?” Tomasin chirped offering a slice.
::Thank you:: Bane slurped off the treat, making Tomasin’s hand as messy as possible.
“No no no no,” she protested laughing.
“Yuck.” Danny already had a napkin out and caught Tomasin’s hand before she could spread the love.
Bane settled behind Silence, Tomasin and Lito providing a warm backrest. Surrounded by Companions, weanlings nestled between them, people-persons in the middle and food in the centre, Steve felt pretty content.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sealie
no subject
Date: 2018-10-13 10:27 am (UTC)Steve pieced his way through Nagar’s most current folio. The man’s handwriting was atrocious. Steve had in fact caught up with Jafjson and broached the topic of spies for Valdemar and, while the official knew of their presence and utilised their information, he hadn’t in fact dealt with them directly. Jafjson, ever the politician, had wittered on about plausible deniability. Jafjson had, however, sent Steve to Nagar’s scribe.
The scribe had been responsible for all of Nagar’s official documents, and clearly adept at reading between the lines, she had apologetically told Steve that she hadn’t had permission to help Nagar with some aspects of his role as Queen’s Own.
If Nagar had managed the diplomatic links with the out land spies on his own Steve was stuck with Nagar’s appalling penmanship, spelling with a tendency to reverse letters and confuse homonyms and homophones. Bizarrely, his grammar was pretty consistent.
The active agents were Laglent in Thurbrigard, Dellv in Sarmus, Bonget in Karse and Johns in Oris. It was only after writing out the names in his own notebook, Steve realised that the names were not quite correct. Laglen with a T, Dell with a V, Bonge with a T and John with an S. Laglen and Bonge were traders, Steve realised as he read. Nagar had utilised the existing network of traders across the country working with ones that went farther afield. He hadn’t cracked what S or V stood for.
“Mi’lord?” Megan broke Steve’s concentration.
Steve closed the journal that he was writing notes in.
“I wondered if I could have a word, Mi’Lord.”
Steve didn’t correct Megan, the littles’ teacher in all things. Perhaps one day, she would relax, but brought up by Sainsbury, Steve guessed that relaxation would inevitably flow into smooth professionalism.
“Of course.” Steve gave her his full attention and watched her blush. Megan was quiet. Megan was demure. Megan was perfect foil for exuberant Tomasin, and a stalwart support for resolute Silence.
“Teaching Tomasin and Silence goes a pace. I thought that it would be helpful if, perhaps, they attended a couple of classes with the Blues.”
Steve frowned. The Blues were a combination of the scions of the Houses of Valdemar and the childers picked throughout the Land, as those who would benefit from the best teaching. Danny’s Schools for All were in their infancy. Studying with the Blues was the best place to learn. But a lot of the Blues were stuck up privileged bullies, and Steve knew, because he had been a Blue before he had been Chosen by Remayne. But the Blues were generally a few years older than Silence.
“Tomasin is.” Steve sketched a short height from the floor, illustrating that she was at the most six, possibly. They didn’t know how old the littles were.
“It is, Mi’Lord, not just about learning reading, writing, and arithmetic, it’s about meeting and dare I say playing with their peers.” Megan took a deep breath. “Tomasin and Silence are the adopted daughters of the King of Valdemar. They need to meet their fellows as children. The younger brothers and sisters of the Blues do meet, for morning sessions with tutors. It’s a relatively recent thing, I think that they’re trying to emulate the King’s schools.”
Steve pondered. He didn’t know if Tomasin and Silence were ready for this sort of experience. They were still learning to live in with him and Danny in a palace.
“Sooner, rather than later, Mi’Lord.”
Steve sighed. On one hand he knew what Megan meant on the other.
“Now is better than later. And I will be with them, but….”
“But.”
Megan chewed on her bottom lip. She tested a few words on her tongue, failed, tried again.
“Yes?” Steve prodded.
“Tomasin’s hair, Mi’Lord.”
“What of it.” Steve plucked at his own errant curl high on his forehead, drawing it in to a tuft. Tomasin’s impossible hair was outstanding in all senses of the word.
“Children can be cruel. I don’t want to set Tomasin up to be teased.”
“Uhm? Comb it?”
“Mi’Lord, it doesn’t help.”
True, Steve mused.
“What did Tomasin say?” Steve asked.
“I didn’t ask her.”
“It’s Tomi’s hair.” Steve set Nagar’s report aside on the table and gave the young woman his actual attention. “I’m not entirely sure what the solution is. And how should I? I mean Sabe might have an idea.”
“That is a good suggestion, Mi’Lord.”
Steve held up his hand. “There’s nothing wrong with Tomasin’s hair. She’s a Little, she doesn’t need a flower crown and--” Steve was so out of his depth he was drowning, “--smooth, glossy hair. Half of the time we can’t even keep her in clothes.”
Steve figured that they were never going to win the shoe war.
“But my lord, the other children.”
She was worried Steve realised. He knew that she was reading the potential situation correctly. But that didn’t mean that they had to force Tomasin to wear a cap or try to flatten her hair with oil just because it was unruly.
I could go to these first meets. They wouldn’t tease Tomasin then.
“No.” Steve channelled his inner Danny. “You said that these classes for the young blues were new?”
“Yes, Mi’Lord.”
“Do the children of the diplomats attend?” Steve knew that the young Shin’a’in representative had brought her family. Along with the gryphons from K’Vala and Iftel.
“I do not know.”
“Children can be cruel. But that isn’t true of the smallest, and it has to be a lesson that they learn. These classes should be about--”
::Danny?:: Steve flicked his thoughts in Danny’s direction. ::Are you listening in? Because I think that you’re speaking through me.”
::Not deliberately, but I felt your concern when Megan started talking about Tomasin:: Danny’s attention shifted as he spoke to a person in his presence. ::I’m meeting with Cael and Jafjson about the schools::
“Yeah, and I’m talking to Megan about schooling for the littles,” Steve said out loud for Megan’s benefit. “And I just started to pontificate.”
::PONTIFICATE!:: Danny bit instantly.
Steve winced.
::PONTIFICATE!::
::If it walks like a duck--::
::I do not pontificate. Jafjson pontificates:: Danny pontificated. ::I do reasoned discourse. From the heart. Pontification, never::
::The mind sharing think is a little weird:: Steve inserted deliberately, when Danny paused to wind up anew, because Danny would go on for candlemarks.
Danny growled in Steve’s mind.
::We’re both talking about the same topic. A topic which we care about:: Danny thought with an air of offhandnessness, but the undercurrent was concerned. ::Perhaps, that is it. I know you keep an ear out for me::
::Perhaps:: Steve echoed. He wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it. Was it a combination of them both having comparable discussions simultaneously? Something to do with the lifebond? Or something else entirely?
::What’s up with Tomasin?:: Danny asked getting to the heart of the matter.
::Megan thinks that she’ll get teased::
::When? Where?:: Danny bristled, and Steve felt his own shoulders tense.
::At some kind of royal nursery group that Megan wants to take the littles to:: Steve explained.
Megan waited patiently, not even tapping a toe, used to the vagaries of Heralds talking to Heralds and Companions.
::Right… We’ll nip that in the bud before it starts:: An ephemeral kiss brushed Steve’s forehead. ::I have to go. I have to finish up this meeting, and then there’s an envoy from Iftel::
Danny blipped out.
“Mi’Lord?” Megan said, as Steve focused outward.
Steve pushed away from the desk – he was sick of sitting – too much of a King’s Own’s Herald’s time was spent sitting.
“Danny’s a great proponent of teaching kids right from wrong. If anyone picks on Tomasin because of her hair, I’ll be happy to explain that picking on littles is dishonourable and will not be tolerated.”
Megan curtseyed. “I think your idea of bring all the youngest littles of the diplomats is brilliant.”
“It will probably need Danny to sign some proclamation or have a meeting with a whole host of diplomats. But first, I think it best to see what Silence and Tomasin think of the plan.”
“They’re in their nursery, Mi’Lord.”
“Steve,” Steve said, perhaps eventually he would wear her down. He gathered up the folio and his notepad. He supposed that he should read Nagar’s private documents in his study, but that room was too dark and heavy.
no subject
Date: 2018-10-14 09:24 am (UTC)Steve winced.
::PONTIFICATE!::
::If it walks like a duck--::
*bawahahahahahhahaahahahahaha*
no subject
Date: 2018-10-14 09:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-10-14 08:09 am (UTC)Steve wins with the duck comment though.
Tomasin - you need to get out there and start a new hair trend at court. Danny would love it.
no subject
Date: 2018-10-14 09:47 am (UTC)I'm rather fond of Danny being all kingly.
no subject
Date: 2018-10-14 09:47 am (UTC)The nursery was always very tidy. Steve wanted to see toys strewn on the floor. Yes, Silence and Tomasin played; Steve had took them to the market and let them each choose a stuffed animal. Danny rained toy after toy on them. And as charges of the King, they got more than a few presents from envoys and diplomats, a lot of which were given to Chael to redistribute or carefully stored until the appropriate time to use them. Tomasin and jewellery did not get on.
“Where’s my Littles?” Steve called, even as he walked to the conservatory.
Silence and Tomasin were sitting on the floor opposite each other in the sunniest spot. Tossing the books on his chaise longue, Steve sketched a thought-form over them rendering them unnoticeable.
“Steve!” Tomasin chirruped happily, as if they hadn’t seen each other at breakfast. She scrambled to her feet. “When do we stop being Littles?”
Steve swung her onto his hip. “You’ll always be my Littles.”
“No, little Littles,” Tomasin explained.
“Uhm… when you’re as tall as Danno.”
Tomasin digested that statement, and then threw her head back and cackled.
“Gonnna tell.” Silence grinned.
Steve eyed her; Silence had an evil streak. Silence also had a skinny, long- limbed gangliness that promised height when she grew older. Tomasin clambered up and over Steve’s shoulder, and he held onto her bare foot as she eeled down his back. Steve doubted that she would ever reach Danny’s prodigious height.
“We fixed it. We fixed it,” Tomasin said.
Steve twisted, catching Tomasin’s hands and swinging her between his legs.
“Fixed what?” Steve set her on the floor.
“Sil fixed it.” Tomasin pointed. “Made it like your drawing.”
The wheel was intact. It lay on the floor -- a dull, burnished dark grey, seemingly innocent double wheel. Silence settled back on her heels, pleased.
“How?” Steve settled down on the opposite side. A faint brush of mage energy, bubbles in his nose, made him think of the otherworld. But when he touched the wheel, he felt nothing.
Silence extended her pointer fingers and lightly touched them together. Once, twice and then a third time.
“Can you show me?”
“But it is fixed now,” Tomasin said.
“Yeah, but how did you put it together?”
“It doesn’t want to be broke,” Silence said.
“Please.” Steve always found a well of patience when with the children.
Silence hauled the wheel half onto her lap. She cocked her head to the side, silky dark hair swishing. Bottom lip caught between her teeth, Silence contemplated the wheel. The joins were seamless. Curling her small hands over the edge, she tugged on the metal.
Pop.
The wheel separated in two.
“That was hard,” Silence said.
Tomasin angled under Steve’s arm as he took the two halves from Silence’s grasp. Each edge had either three prongs or three holes. Lock and key. But they didn’t align. He pushed them together expecting them not to lock and he wasn’t disappointed.
Silence tutted. She stretched out her finger, pushed a prong, and Steve watched it slip to the left and align with the aperture on the opposite side. Nimble, she manipulated the other two. The clockwork engineering had to be on a scale like the tiny lives that caused illness – it was stunning.
“Gotta do the other side, cos they all have to fit before they come together,” Tomasin prompted.
Steve angled up the other side, and flick-switch, Silence moved them into position with her fingertip.
“What!” The sides jumped together with a loud click.
“Toooooook ages,” Tomasin said. “You have to get them right first. You can’t move them unless they’s near to the right one.”
“I’m impressed. I’m really impressed.” Steve smiled, he could feel the smile crease his face. They were little stars in the firmament. “Me and Danno looked at this yesterday and didn’t figure it out.”
Silence shrugged. But Steve knew that she was pleased, when she wouldn’t look him in the eye.
“What’s it do?” Silence asked a question, uncharacteristically.
“It was described as a magic mirror. But--” Steve passed his hand through the centre of the wheel. No mirror.
“Do you have all the bits?” Tomasin asked very practically.
“I think so. They were all together in one box.”
“It’s a mystery!” Tomasin flung her arms up.
“What do the wiggles mean?” Silence drew her finger over the top, embossed symbol, drawing a ψ.
“Some of them look similar to the thought forms like the shorthand I use to wield magic sometimes,” Steve told her. “But they’re mostly wiggles.”
Steve tried to flex the frame, but despite its lightness it was firm, and neither did the inner wheel turn, which he thought it might. He supposed, staring at it glumly, Nagar might have kept the other parts somewhere else in his cluttered room, for safety.
Tomasin patted his knee. “Can we see the foals?” she asked. Playing with the foals always cheered everyone up.
Why not? It had been at least a day since they had seen the foals. Wheel in one hand, he dismissed the ward and gathered up the books in his other. Silence and Tomasin followed him into his and Danny’s chambers. He tossed the wheel and the books into the bottom of cabinet under the windows, and resketched the obscuring thought-form over the materials. The innate spell on Nagar’s folio would prevent anyone reading it, assuming that they managed to see past the thought-form to find it, let alone get into the King’s Chambers.
“Pic’n?” Tomasin prompted.
“Get your cloaks,” Steve said. Autumn was on the horizon, and despite being sunny and bright, there was a crisp edge to the day.
Silence and Tomasin raced off.
::Pin’c?:: Steve sent.
::Give me half a candlemark:: Danny replied.
~*~
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Date: 2018-10-14 09:57 am (UTC)I want to picnic with the foals too!
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Date: 2018-10-14 06:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-10-25 07:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-10-25 10:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-12-21 12:56 pm (UTC)They had set up the picnic in the bower, protected from the elements by a dense weave work of more plants and vines than Steve cared to identify, by the time Danny managed to join them. He had a knapsack on his back that resolved into a tightly wrapped Lito. It took Danny a good few moments to free him from his topmost layers.
Their littlest little was flushed, his nose and cheeks bright pink. He was grizzling, but wasn’t squalling, so Steve took that as a win.
“I can hold him,” Silence volunteered. She pushed the tail end of her sandwich into her mouth and chewed cheeks bulging. “An’ th’ ‘ou cn e’t.”
And then you can eat, Steve translated.
Silence held out her arms, patiently.
Plainly, Danny pondered for a moment. They had spent a long night, passing Lito between Mistress Gana, Steve and Danny trying to soothe him, and it hadn’t worked unless Danny held him. And Lito wasn’t grizzling that much.
Arms outstretched, Silence was serenity personified.
Danny handed over Lito. He was still on the small side, not enough food and love when he had been a tiny babe, but he filled up Silence’s skinny arms. He popped a gassy bubble in surprise at his new position as Silence set him on her lap.
She didn’t coo, she didn’t shush, she simply held him, stroking his flushed little cheek with a curled finger. Lito didn’t cry.
Danny gave her the thumbs up and grabbed a pork and apple pocket pie beating Tomasin.
“Me and S’eve was gonna have that.”
“You’ve already had one, judging by the evidence.” Danny bit down hard on the pie.
Steve brushed crumbs off the top of his tunic.
::Greetings: Lumina slid into the bower, quiet and easily despite her bulk.
Danny glowed at her approach, reaching up to meet her halfway, cheek to cheek.
::Danno:: the twins chimed simultaneously, barrelling in on both sides for their own nuzzles.
Steve patiently cut up an apple into chunks for Tomasin to give to the weanlings when the love-fest was over.
Gnstenia ghosted into the bower, all grace and presence. Leverage lolloped at her side.
::Apples:: Leverage lolloped to Tomasin. All the weanlings loved apples.
Arivis glowered, who know that a weanling could glower, but she glowered, torn between Danny-love and apples.
Leverage ruffled Tomasin’s impossible hair, sharing the love, as she threw her arms around his neck.
::My human:: Arivis sent. ::My apple::
Danny raised an eyebrow. ::Now. Now. We’re all family::
::Danno, Steve, Silence, Tomasin, Mamma and Ritten:: Arivis rejoined firmly.
“Auntie Gnstenia and cousin Leverage,” Silence wasn’t one to be argued with, “Lito.”
Arivis ducked her head, not looking directly at Silence.
Steve settled back on his heels. Never had it been so apparent that Silence heard thoughts. Although the thought had been pretty piercing.
“Bane,” Tomasin piped up, as she held her palm flat for Leverage to lip off a tart, crunchy apple slice.
“Bane,” Silence agreed.
::Yes?:: Bane’s thoughts reverberated in Steve’s mind, making him blink.
Steve pressed his index finger against his temple. ::We’re discussing family::
::Oh, am I invited to the pin’c?:: Bane asked.
::Of course:: Had he excluded Bane, Steve wondered.
::Not deliberately:: Bane was ruthlessly honest, which was probably why Steve and Silence liked him. ::Danny misses Nagar, and I remind him of Nagar. So, I – on occasion – step back a little. But as Companion to the King’s Own that is not a long term strategy::
Gnstenia was large for a Companion. Bane blotted out the sun. The bower seemed to breathe out with his presence, making space.
“Apple?” Tomasin chirped offering a slice.
::Thank you:: Bane slurped off the treat, making Tomasin’s hand as messy as possible.
“No no no no,” she protested laughing.
“Yuck.” Danny already had a napkin out and caught Tomasin’s hand before she could spread the love.
Bane settled behind Silence, Tomasin and Lito providing a warm backrest. Surrounded by Companions, weanlings nestled between them, people-persons in the middle and food in the centre, Steve felt pretty content.
~*~
End part one
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Date: 2018-12-22 03:46 pm (UTC)That last sentence? So much love for this mental pic. So much! <3
Thank you!
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Date: 2018-12-26 05:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-03-25 01:19 am (UTC)