"Don't touch that!" Kamila rushed just in ti as the baby girl sniffed at a terrified mole she had dug from the ground.
After half an hour of adventures for the kids and heart attacks for Kamila, she had enough.
"You had your fun, young lady. Now it's my turn." She grunted, strapping Elysia with so many safety belts that she looked like a death row inmate during a prison transfer.
"Ba!" Elysia protested at her mother for ruining her fun.
What danger could there be in eating stones, climbing trees, and challenging all the wild animals she could find to see who was stronger? Elysia was certain she could defeat the puny bird (falcon), but her mother had butted in before they could co to talons, scaring him away.
"Ba my sorry arm!" Kamila replied. "We've co here to relax, but we've done anything but."
"Butt!" Elysia echoed.
"Why can she say it and I can't?" Kamila yelled at the sky, drawing several worried gazes on herself.
Luckily for Lith, there was a small café in the park. Peace, quiet, and assorted pastries soothed Kamila's strained nerves.
"I'm sorry for the outburst, baby." She sighed in between mouthfuls. "I don't know what got into ."
"No po, Mama." Elysia replied with compassion.
"I wasn't apologizing to you, young lady." Kamila said with a tense smile while her eyes twitched.
"No po, Mama." Elysia shrugged, willing to be the bigger person and forgive her mother for her ddling.
Seeing the little girl's serious face, Kamila burst out laughing, feeling the tension leave her shoulders.
"Gods, she's just like her father. A little imp through and through."
"I resent that." Lith said in mock indignance. "I was an adorable baby. Never gave my parents a worry. You can ask them."
"Because you didn't do anything wrong, or just because they never caught you red-handed?" She asked.
"I plead the fifth." He replied, making her giggle. "Check, please."
"It's on the house, Ranger Verhen. Thank you for your service." The owner of the Royal Café, a fit woman in her thirties, gave him a short bow while holding her Tablet.
"Can I at least tip?"
"No, but I promise you that if you visit us again, I won't raise objections." She said with a warm smile.
"Can you give a head start before posting my location?" Lith didn't know whether she was showing off the magical device to thank him or to imply that she ant to use his pictures to advertise the establishnt.
"I'm sorry, it's too late for that." The woman scratched her head in embarrassnt.
"No po." Lith said, making Elysia giggle.
They had just left the Royal Café when many people rushed in. Luckily for Lith, in its haste the crowd paid the little family no attention.
Kamila picked their lunch on the way ho, receiving it free of charge, complints of the house, even though she had left Lith and the babies outside.
"Thank you for your years of patronage, Lady Verhen." Said the owner of the restaurant. "I hope to see you again soon."
"Yes. Thank you." She stuttered in embarrassnt as the rest of the staff and the clients gave her an applause. "See you soon. Bye!"
She rushed outside, looking over her shoulder like there was an angry mob chasing her.
"Why the rush? Did you eat soone? Do I have to bury a body?" Lith asked with a straight face.
"Not funny, smartarm!" She dragged him to the nearest Transport Gate and from there to their apartnt building. "I'm not used to being recognized. When that happens, you're always with , and people focus on you."
"What about Lutia?" Lith said.
"That's different." She shook her head. "Lutia is your hotown. The people there treat all your family well, not just ."
Lith felt the grip of nostalgia as they reached the door of Kamila's old apartnt, and the feeling intensified when the old key still turned. They hadn't co back ever since the rebuilding of Belius, yet a lot of mories lived there.
mories, a thick layer of dust, and a widespread infrastructure of spiderwebs and their weavers.
"Good gods." Kamila pushed the stroller away from the door as the dust filling the stale air made her cough. "This is worse than I thought."
"It's no big deal." Lith shrugged while activating the barrier of the stroller. "This won't take us long."
Kamila was no longer a deep orange core, and with her help, Lith cleaned the house in less than two minutes. Vortices of air magic carried webs and dust outside, water magic washed the floor and surfaces, and opening the windows brought plenty of sunlight and fresh air.
"I can't catch a break today." She said as her stomach grumbled. "All these emotions made work up quite an appetite. Let's have lunch."
It was barely ten in the morning but Lith knew there was no arguing when Kamila and Raldarak demanded their due.
"Sure." Lith set the table with a snap of his fingers and pulled the curtains in front of the windows. "Kids, there are only two rules here. No flying outside and no pulling the curtains. Am I clear?"
Elysia and Valeron nodded, but they too were quite hungry. A few bottles later, they fell asleep on the spot, forcing Lith to turn the stroller into the Doomslayer crib.
"I can finally relax!" He said after checking that the containnt field and the defensive protocols were all in place.
"Did you also Hush them?" She asked.
"Of course." Lith nodded. "I wouldn't risk them waking up or eavesdropping on us. Sure, we can use mind links, but I love hearing the sound of your voice."
"Thanks." Kamila giggled, covering her mouth still full of food. "What do you want to talk about?"
"This." Lith pointed at the vase on the centerpiece, in which she had placed the Callia. "I don't know what to do about this, and I need your advice."
"What do you an?" She neared her fork to Lith's plate, but he parried with a flick of his wrist.
"The flower is you." He resud eating to make it clear that those were no leftovers. "The buds are the babies."
"And?"
"And there are two flower buds and three babies." Kamila still looked confused, so he added: "I don't know what to do with Valeron. He's smart. Once Raldarak is born and no third blossom appears, Valeron will understand he's the one left out."
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Kamila asked.
"I'm afraid so."
"Damn, that's a tough question." She sighed.
Adding another bud was easy, but the implications of the gesture were impossible to predict.
Valeron the Second was two years old and was nothing like a normal baby. He was aware that his mother was Thrud Griffon and his father Jormun Nidho, the Erald Dragon.
He rembered what his parents looked like, sounded like, and even how they slled. Valeron knew their energy signatures and their habits. The only thing he was unaware of was the reason they left him alone for so long and ca to visit him rarely.
Valeron the Second had no idea that his parents had died over a year ago.
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