Wintersday had come and gone in the Cartwright-Denton estate. Gifts exchanged, intense amounts of food and (by the adults) alcohol consumed, and eternal friendships reinforced through the traditions that seemed like they never would end. The children were getting older, yet everything felt the same. The only differences from years ago was the littler ones were talking, walking, and being their own people. Amelia had become a leader among the younger kids, or at least tried to boss the triplets around to varying levels of success and often her little brother would do anything she asked. Katrina, Adalyn, and Irain were very much their own people now. Katrina easily the most likely to try to sneak extra cookies before dinner or try to peek at gifts (much to her Aunt Renita’s annoyance), Adalyn keeping to herself as she played with her dolls, and Irain often leading the others in games. The youngest and only boy, Tobias, was still learning how the world worked, being not quite three, mostly just following his sister around and trying to join in whatever she was doing.
What they were doing, this last day before school started up again and the triplets went home, was a snowball fight. Alex and Minthe set it up, with a tiny bit of help from Amelia. It was three against two, but Amelia did have an advantage as she didn’t have to bend down to make a snowball. It was a battle, or at least as much of a battle as a five year old, three four year olds and an almost three year old could manage.
“Keep it inside the arena please!” Renita shouted as she brushed off yet another stray snowball that went her way. A chorus of sorries and a small chuckle from the sylvari silenced any grumbling that might have came from the necromancer.
“You can’t expect them to have any sort of aim,” Minthe shook her head, her branchlike hair staying perfectly in place.
“You barely expect them to string two sentences together.”
“Yes, they’re human babies.”
“Children, not babies anymore.”
“They are babies until they hit adulthood.”
“N-”
“Don’t try to argue with me, it won’t change my mind.”
“...Fine,” Renita sighed, leaning against the wall, “So, what is next?”
A stray snowball found its way near Minthe’s feet as yells toward Tobias to “keep it in the arena” echoed from the girls.
“Next?”
“You’re always running off somewhere,” Renita’s eyes watched as Amelia tried to conjure a snowball a little too big, causing it to burst into a pile of powder, “Istan, Kourna, Shiverpeaks, Northern Ascalon...you’re always going to some weird new exotic location.”
“You’re calling Ascalon exotic?”
“You know what I mean.”
“To be honest...not sure yet. Aleyanna is the one that determines where the group is going. She gets the crisis alarm from what remains of the Pact, and we go there.”
“So you just go...at the drop of a hat?”
“Where life goes, so, too, should you.”
“I couldn’t imagine doing that, leaving them behind.” The necromancer’s eyes watched her youngest, who was packing a snowball carefully into his hands...only to get smacked in the face by one courtesy of Katrina. His eyes started to well up, Renita taking a step toward him but Amelia already on it, pulling him in a hug.
“Katrina, don’t hit Toby in the face!” Amelia snapped as she stroked her brother’s hair, soothing the tears before he got upset enough to have a meltdown.
“I will admit,” Minthe smiled as she watched as Amelia’s glare at Katrina seem far too familiar, “It is easier when you don’t have much to worry about. Aleyanna manages it somehow, but it might be that Nikki’s almost an adult in her own right so there is less to worry about.”
“Maybe so,” Renita stepped back to where she was, the snowball fight recommencing after everyone was assured that Tobias was okay, “Still just seems...strange to me.”
“...Has the great matron, the stay at home mother of all of Tyria, Lady Cartwright caught a bit of wanderlust?”
“No!”
“Suuuure,” Minthe grins as she watches Amelia keep trying to hit Katrina with snowballs in a child’s attempt of avenging their sibling, but her aim left a lot to be desired, “Just keep telling yourself that...”
