February 25 - Day 7 Event/Recovery
Ashraniel’s pleasant babbling filtered into the kitchen from where he was playing in the living room of Meryn’s row house. Her half-brother had been gracious enough to watch his four year old nephew for a week while she’d been preoccupied with other business.
Lyn smiled and palmed her mug of coffee, the warmth between her palms an extension of the comfort that enveloped this home that Meryn and his husband had built together over the years. He set a pot of cooking mint in the middle of the table in front of her before drawling, overly-pleased, in his low-Thalassian, “I’ve got some bad news for you, Lyn.”
Meryn only carried that tone when he was about to be extremely annoying, and she sat up a little straighter in preparation for whatever he was about to drop on her, “About a mint plant? It looks great, but you’ve always had the green thumb between the two of us.”
He had inherited their grandmother’s inclination toward nature magic, something he hadn’t really had time to nurture until later in his adult years; his grasp of it was middling at best, but he had managed to get her some of the freshest cooking herbs she’d ever managed to get her hands on.
His smirk grew as he held his hands out in presentation, pointing at the lush plant sitting pretty in front of her, “Y’owe me fifty gold.”
No. She’d only been away for a WEEK. Her long ears slanted back and her freckled nose wrinkled as she shot a glance toward the living room before narrowing her eyes at her brother. “Absolutely not, he’s four. There’s no way he’s gotten his magic yet and—”
Meryn cut her off with a pleasant shout toward the living room, “Hey Ash! You wanna tell yer mom about th’ plant?”
They both looked at the doorway when Ash toddled over, the top of a small wooden spire tower in his hand that he’d brought over with him from whatever little city he’d been building, “I fixed it, momma! Uncle Em said it was sad, and that made me sad, so every day I talked to it and now it’s happy!”
Her brother grinned, obnoxiously pleased at the simple explanation, “An’ now it’s his friend, so y’own a mint plant.”
Lyn did her best not to huff — this was actually a big event, even if Ash didn’t realize it, and as much as she’d hoped he’d be a Light user like her there had always been a solid chance that he’d be able to use any kind of magic. Ana, his long deceased aunt, had been an arcanist, and between the surrogacy and not knowing who Ash’s father actually was or what they had been capable of… well.
She smiled back at her son, proud (if not a little miffed that she’d missed such a significant milestone), “You did a good job, hon. Maybe you can help make a window box with your uncle sometime soon, and we can pick up a few more sad plants at the Bazaar market on our way home?”
Ash beamed and bounced in place, obviously excited by the prospect, “YEAH!”
Her brother chuffed a pleased laugh, “Fine, fine. I’ll draw up some plans,” he leaned in and stage-whispered at Lyn for effect, “an’ buy some materials with th’ fifty gold you owe me.”
Lyn sighed and unlaced the coin purse from her belt, ready to pay up on a bet well won.
@daily-writing-challenge
