#ireth

Olwyn knows it is very important to make a good first impression. And also that betrothals are serious business. Her grandnanae has been trying to make friends with the Council of Clans for a very long time, and this betrothal is really important for that. It could mean that there wouldn’t be any more fighting.

That’s a good thing. Olwyn doesn’t like it when there’s fighting, because that means her parents might have to go off to war and they could get hurt. There hasn’t been a war since Olwyn’s grandnanae defeated Mythal and divided the empire into four kingdoms, long before Olwyn was born, but she knows that all of her parents fought in it, and so did her Aunt Selene and Uncle Dirthamen and grandparents. Sometimes she has nightmares that there’s a war again and her parents have to leave, but her parents always tell her it’s ok, because there isn’t any war and they’re all trying very hard to make sure there won’t be any more wars either.

Olwyn believes them, and she’s glad that she gets to help make sure there isn’t any more fighting by getting betrothed. She’s trying her hardest to be good at it, and be as responsible as all the adults. They don’t let children do responsible things very often, so Olwyn has to show them that she’s ready for it.

It’s hard to be serious though, when she’s so excited.

“I wonder how many pets Kel has,” Olwyn swings her legs back and forth, and stares at her reflection in the big dressing room mirror. “Nemmy do you think she’s got a dog as big as Haurshos? I don’t think anybody’s got a dog as big as Haurshos. Do you think the Council of Free Clans have dogs at all? Are dogs only for empire elves?”

“Keep your head straight, little princess,” Nemael chuckles, continuing to braid her hair. Nemael is Olwyn’s nanny. He was a spirit once, one of the kinds that doesn’t really have a name. He came with her father Arethfal when he married her papae Aelynthi. He smells like the forest, and he’s almost as tall as an aspen tree. He always makes sure she stays out of trouble when her parents are doing important things or adult things or important adult things which are the worst. “I’m not certain if Kel has a dog or not. That is something you can ask her tonight at dinner.”

Olwyn begins to nod, and feels the soft tug of her hair as Nemael continues to braid, and sits up a little straighter for him. “Keeper Ireth was a really pretty dragon, have you ever seen another dragon? Are they all as pretty as her?”

“I have seen other dragons, but not another Keeper.” Nemael answers, “Your grandmothers Princess Andruil and the Lady Ghilanain can both turn into dragons, but their forms were very different.”

“Kinda like how all elves look different?”

“Just so,” Nemael agrees, and gives one final, playful tug. “There you are, all set.” Olwyn looks at herself in the mirror with a pleased grin. She’s wearing an all new dress; it’s gold and teal with a white fur trim, and she’s got a yellow jade hairpin nestled in her braids.

“Do you think Kel will like my hairpin?”

“I am sure she’ll love it.”

Normally Olwyn doesn’t like big dinners. It means sitting at the high table and having to eat all her vegetables because she has to be well-behaved. She can’t even sneak some to Haurshos because he isn’t allowed to come.

But papa Thenvunin has assured her that there will be lots of wonderful foods to eat and that she gets to sit with Kel and also stay up late like adults do! She hasn’t been able to talk with Kel yet, not after seeing her at the big meeting place when her papae Aelynthi was greeting Keeper Ireth and she hadn’t been able to really talk because the adults were talking.

Adults really like talking.

But she’d waved at Kel, and smiled at her, and tried to make her feel welcome. It is her job as a good hostess and betrothed to make Kel feel safe and happy. She thinks Kel is very pretty. She doesn’t wear her hair in the intricate court styles, but keeps it cut short, and her eyes are warm and her ears are straight rather than sloping up at the tip.

Papa and nanae Glory come get her from her rooms, to take her to dinner. Olwyn knows papae is in talks with Keeper Ireth and Grandnanae, and babae is helping show the clan members around with uncle Morwen.  

They don’t go to the imperial dining room, where Olwyn is used to her more formal meals. Instead papa carries her out into the large, open-aired courtyard that is usually used for the large festivals. There are already musicians playing, and a group of dancers at the center, surrounded by smaller tables that each sit four (two imperial officials and two clan members to each). On a raised dais are two longer tables, and on the highest dais is where Olwyn’s Grandnanae will sit, with Keeper Ireth beside them to show a level as equals. Grandpapae Nithroel, grandma Faunalyn, and grandnanae’s wife Kassaran are already seated. Olwyn waves, and is rewarded with smiles and a wave in return from all three.

On the dais just below Grandnanae Melarue is where Olwyn will sit with her parents and Kel and the rest of Kel’s family. Olwyn’s father, Prince Arethfal, isn’t here yet, which makes her a little sad. Her papae had explained that father was talking with her grandmamae and grandmemae back in their kingdom because they were angry that they hadn’t been invited to Olwyn’s betrothal meeting.

He was supposed to be back before the meeting itself, but he sent a message ahead saying he’d be a day or two late. Nanae says that Olwyn doesn’t need to worry, but she still does. Sometimes she finds her grandmamae Andruil to be scary. Grandmemae Ghilan’nain is a little nicer, she thinks. She made Haurshos after all.

Her worry is overshadowed by her excitement, of course. She has so many things she wants to show Kel, and so many questions to ask her!

Papa sits her down on his left, on a large blue cushion. It reminds her of eating meals with her parents around her low table, and not the high-backed imperial dining chairs. She likes it even more now. The only thing that would make this perfect would be Haurshos. He’d whined the whole time they’d gone down the hallway from her rooms; he doesn’t like it when he can’t see her.

Nanae sits beside papa, and Olwyn knows that babae will sit beside them. Papae will sit with Grandnanae, for more talks with Keeper Ireth. Olwyn can see lots of officials and clan members settling into their own seats, and recognizes several of grandnanae’s top officials, including uncle Morwen and nabae Treachery and gran gran Mirena.

The air is pleasantly cool, like a spring evening, despite the snow on the tiled roofs. Lanterns line the courtyard, still unlit, though Olwyn knows they will activate once the sky darkens. She learned all about that kind of light magic in her lessons, and she even spelled the one in her own room!

A gong sounds, and a herald announces the arrival of Grandnanae and Keeper Ireth. Papa picks up Olwyn and stands, as everyone else gets to their feet and Grandnanae walks to their seat with papae. Both of them are dressed in even prettier dresses than Olwyn’s. Keeper Ireth is in her elf form, but she has her horns still. They’re different than the horns Grandmama Kass has, they go up and out and they’re gold.

Babae leads Kel and her papae and brother to the table next to Olwyn, and Olwyn has to keep herself from talking until Grandnanae addresses everyone and welcomes them to the meal and talks for a little bit about peace and alliances and new beginnings while Olwyn twists in papa’s arms to get a better look at Kel.

She’s dressed in a deep emerald dress with silver embroidered trees on the hem and collar, and there are silver cuffs on her ears, and she’s trying to get a good look at Olwyn too.

When Grandnanae and Keeper Ireth sit down, the rest of them follow suit and Olwyn nearly jumps out of papa’s arms to settle on her cushion beside Kel. “Hi!” She chirps, “I’m Olwyn.”

Kel smiles back, “I’m Kel.”

“Do you have any favorite foods?” Olwyn leans over and grabs a small bowl of sliced mango. “This is my favorite fruit, do you wanna try some?”

Kel takes a bit and nods, “It’s good.” She doesn’t finish it though, Olwyn notices. Oh no, is she being a bad hostess already? Olwyn pauses, and tries to think about what she did wrong. Well, she’d asked Kel if she had any favorite foods...but she hadn’t given her time to answer. She’d just given Kel the things she liked. That wasn’t very nice of her. Olwyn tries again. “What kind of foods do you like, Kel?”

“I like spicy things,” Kel replies, as Olwyn waits and tries REALLY hard not to start talking until Kel finishes.

“Oh!” Olwyn nearly knocks over her glass of water as she reaches across the table—nanae grabs it and keeps it from spilling just in time—and grabs another bowl. “Wanna try these peppers? My babae really likes them. They’re too spicy for me though.”

Kel takes the offered pepper and goes for a second before her papa tells her that she has to eat the other foods on her plate too. Olwyn steals a glance at him as she nibbles another piece of mango. His name is Haninan, she knows, and he’s got his hair in braids like her, with little gold and glass beads in it. It’s pretty. Sitting beside him is Kel’s big brother June. June is dressed really fancy, like the empire elves, and he’s watching the room like he’s not sure who he’s supposed to talk to.

Papa keeps putting foods on Olwyn’s plate and—Olwyn grimaces—there it is, vegetables. She sighs. She’d really hoped that since it was a special night she would just get to eat good food, but nanae gives her a look that says “no”.

Babae and Haninan are talking about something over Olwyn’s head, as Olwyn leans over conspiratorially. “Do you like vegetables?”

“Some,” Kel nods, “Why?”

“Any of these?” Olwyn points to her own plate. When Kel points to a few Olwyn hurriedly transfers them over.

“Da’len,” Nanae pats the top of her head, “What are you doing?”

“I’m being a good betrothed!” Olwyn defends, “Kel likes these vegetables it would be remiss of me not to let her have them.” Remiss is one of the new words her tutor had taught her the other day.

Haninan laughs, and Nanae makes a face like they want to laugh but know that they shouldn’t. Instead they pat Olwyn’s head again, “Alright.”

“Tomorrow do you wanna play with my toys?” Olwyn turns back to Kel. “The adults are going to do boring stuff, but we can play in my rooms! You can choose all of the games, since you’re the guest.”

“That is very nice of you, Princess Olwyn.” Haninan smiles down at her.

The rest of the evening continues much the same. Olwyn and Kel both get distracted from talking about their favorite games by the new dancers in the middle of the courtyard, before Olwyn’s uncle Morwen walks forward and makes a speech about two groups coming together for peace, and about the wonders of music connecting people—uncle Morwen is very good with words—and then plays a piece of his own, inspired by traditional clan music, and the whole courtyard goes silent to listen. 

Olwyn barely notices she’s getting sleepy, until she finds herself being carried down the hall in papae’s arms. She doesn’t need to open her eyes to recognize him—he smells like his favorite jasmine perfume and paint. She doesn’t hear his words, not awake enough to make them out, but he’s talking with her other parents.

“Can I play with Kel tomorrow?” Olwyn murmurs, as papa Thenvunin pulls the blanket up to her chin. She feels the bed shift as Haurshos leaps onto it and settles against her back.

“Of course you can, da’len.” Babae answers, and then each of her parents gives her a kiss on the forehead. By the last, she’s fallen asleep.

---

Olwyn wakes the next morning before Nemael arrives to help her get ready for the day, too excited to stay in bed a moment longer. The sooner she gets dressed the sooner she can see Kel, after all. She is halfway through putting on her clothes when he walks in and pauses in the doorway to survey the chaos.

He laughs softly as he begins picking up the clothes scattered across the ground, “Eager to play with your new friend?”

“Kel’s never seen a big dog so babae says I can bring Haurshos to play and we’re gonna go to the big garden and the menagerie and we’re gonna have a picnic next to the koi pond because it’s romantic.”

Haurshos gives a soft woof of agreement from where he’s curled up on the bed.

“First we need to be properly dressed.” Nemael nods. “It’s going to be too cold for that dress today.”

Olwyn looks down at the dress she’d chosen. It’s one of her favorites, with golden bamboo and cranes on it. It makes her feel very grown up, like Grandnanae; all silk, with a red and gold sash with a beaded pendant in the shape of her formal seal. She frowns, “But this one’s my favorite.” Just in case Nemael forgot.

“What about the dress is your favorite part?” Nemael asks as he sits her down on the ottoman next to her closet.

“The sash,” Olwyn decides, “and the colors.”

“Well,” her nanny stands and heads for her closet. “What if we find some warmer clothes that are the same color and wear them with the sash?”

Olwyn thinks about it for a bit. She really wanted to show Kel her favorite dress. It makes her look important and royal. But...she also doesn’t want to be cold. She doesn’t like the cold very much. “Ok.”

In the end Olwyn finds herself in a pair of warm leggings and a long-sleeved tunic—Nemmy reminds her she’ll be running around, and leggings will make it easier to move—with a pretty navy blue coat with gold swans sewn into the collar that match her sash. Her hair is still in braids, so Nemael leaves them loose. The braids reminds her of babae’s hair, which has her in an even happier mood by the time nanae and papa come to take her to breakfast.

Haurshos whines, but stays with Nemael as they head out. He’s not allowed to come to the formal dining hall and has to stay until they go to the gardens. Olwyn hates it just as much as Haurshos, maybe even more. “Haurshos is really sad papa.” Olwyn pouts, tugging on Thenvunin’s hand. “Can’t he come to breakfast? He didn’t get to come to dinner and he waited so good. Please?”

Her papa wavers, but nanae simply wraps a fur-lined scarf around Olwyn’s neck and boops her nose. “You know better than to ask papa with that sad face. Haurshos will be fine for a little longer.”

Nanae always catches her when she tries to ask papa or babae for something she knows her other parents will say no to. Olwyn sighs, “But what if he forgets what I look like because I’m gone so much? Or he tries to eat the ducks because he’s so sad, like Screecher?”

Nanae snorts. “Screecher did not eat the ducks because they were sad, da’len.”

“Well it made Uncle Morwen sad,” Olwyn asserts, while papa sputters and begins telling her that Screecher was just doing what Screecher does and wasn’t trying to make anyone sad. Papa tells that story every time Screecher attacks an animal or person—which is often.

“Where is my little puppy?”

Olwyn recognizes the voice instantly, and tears away from papa’s hand as she careens down the hallway toward the tall figure at the end. “Father!”

Her father grabs her up and lifts her into the air as she giggles, before pressing a kiss to her forehead. He’s still wearing his traveling clothes, and smells like his hunting leathers and the snake hounds. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too,” Olwyn wraps her arms around his neck, and breaths in the smell of the woods from his coat, before she leans back to look him in the eyes again. “Have you met my betrothed, Kel? She’s really pretty and she’s never seen a dog before!”

“Did your talk go well?” Nanae asks her father, as they continue down the hall. Nanae doesn’t like Olwyn’s grandmamae and grandmemae at all, Olwyn heard her talking with papa Thenvunin about it before, when Olwyn had gone to visit them for the first time. nanae Glory had said “NO! It’s too dangerous.” and papa had stayed behind with them so they wouldn’t be lonely when she had gone with father and papae and babae. She remembers how scared nanae had sounded, and how hard they’d hugged her when she’d come back.

“Of course,” Olwyn’s father answers, but even Olwyn knows he’s only saying it because they can’t talk about adult stuff when she’s there. Instead he turns to her again and smiles, “Your grandmothers sent you some presents to congratulate you on your betrothal. Would you like to see them?”

Olwyn loves presents. Even if sometimes her parents tell her she’s too young to play with some of the gifts that Grandmamae Andruil sends her. Last time Grandmemae Ghilan’nain sent her a gift it was Sunset, her very own moose-lion. She lives in the stables, and usually Olwyn has to sit in father’s lap to ride, but she’s old enough now to start riding lessons on her own because she’s practically all grown up. She’s about to say yes when she remembers something, “Did they get Kel any presents?”

Her father blinks, “Well, no.”

“Then I’ll wait till later,” Olwyn decides, and tries not to seem too disappointed. “I don’t wanna make her feel left out.”

She is such a good betrothed.

Her father sets her down, and holds her hand while they walk to the dining hall and listens to her describe the night before. The herald at the door announces them, before they walk inside. The imperial dining hall is full of five long tables made of dark wood, embedded with tops made of clear crystal. This is where the nobles of the court sit, those that wish to eat their meals in attendance of Grandnanae and the rest of the royal family.

This morning the tables are full to bursting, with imperial elves and members of Kel’s clan. Grandnanae Melarue is sitting at the sixth, final table with Keeper Ireth and her family. The table is longer than Olwyn remembers it being before, to accommodate the new arrivals, curving at both ends rather than straight across.

This time Olwyn doesn’t get to sit beside Kel because they’re seated at opposite sides of the table. She hears Kel ask her papa why, and Olwyn turns to her own parents with the same query, before she can’t stand it any longer and tries to get down from her seat so she can go talk with her. The debacle ends when she finds herself firmly seated in Grandnanae’s lap, with Kel in Keeper Ireth’s, so the two can talk.

Olwyn isn’t a baby, she doesn’t need to sit in someone’s lap, but she knows the adults like to think she does.

And she doesn’t get to sit in Grandnanae’s lap as much anymore, and she knows Grandnanae misses it and she doesn’t want their feelings to get hurt.

“My papa says that when we finish eating we can go and play and don’t have to wait for the adults to be done,” Olwyn tells Kel, “We get to spend the whole day together! And all of tomorrow too. And the day after that, to make sure we like each other. I think I already like you, cuz you like dogs and eat the vegetables that I don’t like so I don’t have to. But we can spend more time together too just to make sure. And because being betrothed means spending time together.”

Kel nods, “We need to play games so we can see if we like the same ones.”

“There’s a tree in the big garden that has lots of good branches for climbing and it’s the tallest tree ever,” Olwyn leans back in Grandnanae’s arms, “We can race to the top!”

Kel bounces in her mother’s arms, “I wanna see it.”

“After you eat,” Grandnanae reminds them.

Olwyn has never eaten her breakfast so fast. She slows down only when her grandmama and grandpapae tell her that she’ll get a stomach ache if she doesn’t stop, and pouts for a bit while she waits for her tummy to settle before babae comes to take her and Kel to go play, along with Kel’s papae Haninan.

By the time they get out of the dining hall both girls are giggling with excitement, ready to run off and play.

The most important thing, of course, is meeting Haurshos. Olwyn reminds her babae several times as they leave the dining hall that they need to go back to her rooms and get him. She refuses to be carried; she wants to walk with Kel.

She knows betrothed hold hands, but she doesn’t want to go too fast. Betrothals are long and she needs to be patient and understanding. She and Kel agree that waiting is important, so they’ve agreed on the end of the week for hand holding.

Olwyn can hear Haurshos whining as they near her rooms—he’s smelled her coming. When babae opens the door Haurshos tumbles through and nearly knocks her down. He doesn’t of course, because he’s the smartest dog in the world and he knows better than to knock her over when she could get hurt. Instead he covers her face with kisses.

Nemael walks out of Olwyn’s rooms behind Haurshos with a sigh, and begins wiping the slober off Olwyn’s cheeks, tutting. Olwyn is so preoccupied with scratching Haurshos’ chin that she almost forgets that she’s supposed to be showing Kel around. She turns to see her betrothed standing a few feet away, eyes wide, looking excited. Olwyn grins, “This is Haurshos!”

At the sound of his name, Haurshos looks over Olwyn’s head and turns to welcome Kel. He leans forward, tail wagging furiously as he sniffs Kel’s outstretched hands. When Kel lets out a giggle his tail wags even harder and he ventures a lick on her palm.

“He loves getting his ears scratched,” Olwyn shows her how, and Haurshos grunts and leans into Kel’s hand as she does so.

“He’s so soft!” Kel exclaims, and looks more than a little wonderstruck. She can’t seem to stop petting Haurshos, and Olwyn’s faithful hound shows no sign of moving.

Olwyn knows the concept of sharing, but is not something she’s ever had to do before. There were never any other children to share with. And while a part of her feels some odd tinge of worry, that maybe Haurshos might like Kel more now, she realizes that more than that worry she likes the idea of Haurshos and Kel getting along, the idea of all three of them there, having fun.

 Haninan heads over, of course, as Vena drops to the floor and starts picking up scattered pencils.

 “I’m sorry!” the boy says. “I didn’t mean to, I’m sorry!”

 Something about the way Vena apologizes always makes Haninan worry. Most of the time, Venavismi is the sort of child who would prefer to joke and lighten the mood. But every once in a while, when he gets tired, he starts apologizing, and there’s always a frantic edge to it that makes it clear he expects some kind of disproportionate retribution to rain down on him. An edge that lends itself very readily to tears, which only seem to provoke more apologies.

 Vena’s parents are the wealthiest that Haninan regularly deals with, apart from his own wife, of course. Ireth doesn’t know much about them, herself, except that they run in different circles. The last conference, Haninan talked to them about Vena’s extra curricular activities, because he’s been worried for a while now that the poor child has too many. He has the same piano teacher as June, and he’s in gymnastics, and one of the elven language classes, and beginner’s fencing. Haninan’s pretty sure he’s in more, too, given some things he’s overheard, but Vena’s parents are very… adamant that he’s only ‘meeting his potential’ and not being over-extended.

 Bad parents come in all shapes and sizes, Haninan has learned. Violence and neglect are by no means easy to deal with, but at least they have answers - even when those answers are difficult to actual reach. There’s very little anyone can do about parents who veer too strongly in the opposite direction, though.

 “It’s alright, Vena,” he assures the boy, reaching down to ruffle his hair and, when that gets a little sigh of relief, plucking him up to put him back in his seat. “This isn’t too big of a mess, really. I’ll take care of it while you get back to your drawing.”

 He glances at the paper and sees that Vena was in the middle of filling in a blue sky, and picks up the blue pencil crayon, first, to give to him. Vena clutches it with a look of concern on his face for a moment, before he calms down enough to manage a smile.

 “Okay,” he agrees. “Sorry, Mister Haninan!”

 “Apology accepted. It was an accident, after all,” Haninan assures him, before easily scooping up the rest of the pencil crayons. Fitting them back into their box is only slightly more challenging, but he manages it. He’s had a lot of practice; June enjoys drawing, but cleaning up after himself is an entirely different matter.

 Class manages to get all the way to the end of the drawing period without anything more dramatic than Vena’s spilled pencil crayons, which Haninan counts as an overall win. There’s a bit of a struggle during Quiet Reading Time, when Ash gets impatient with her book and starts whispering with her seatmate, but Haninan is expecting it and comes over to help her go through a few passages and get her to settle down again. To her credit, Ash doesn’t try and get out of her seat this time, or ask to go to the bathroom again.

 When the day ends, Haninan gives his students their preferred high-fives or hugs, as the parents come to get them. Vena gives him his drawing from art time as a present, which Haninan enthuses over before he puts it in the special folder in his desk. Ash and June hang out with him and help clean up the classroom - when they’re aren’t busy chasing one another around the desks - until Kassaran arrives, with her usual bevy of thanks and apologies. It doesn’t seem to matter how many times Haninan has assured her it’s no trouble. His post-class wrap-up always takes longer than hers, if only because he has June for it, too.

 When Ash and her mother are gone, though, it’s time for Haninan and June to head home as well.

 “Papae?” June asks him, halfway back to the house.

 “Hm?” Haninan replies.

 “Are fathers different from papaes?”

 Haninan blinks, and wonders if he’s been neglecting his son’s word comprehension lately.

 “No,” he says. “Father and papae are different words for the same thing. What makes you ask?”

 He glances at his son in the rearview mirror. June shifts in his safety seat, and shrugs.

 “It just seems different,” he says. “Ash says her father wasn’t like you, but she didn’t want to talk about it. And I overheard her mama saying something about bad fathers. And Vena calls his papae ‘father’ and I remember he said his father doesn’t play puzzles with him, so I was just wondering if there was a difference.”

 Haninan sighs.

 “Not really,” he admits. “Their fathers are just different people from me, June-bug. So they treat their children differently, too.”

 June nods, and seems satisfied with that explanation. Haninan supposes the discussion is done with, and when they pull into the driveway it’s right after Ireth seems to have just done the same. So June hurries out of the car and goes racing off to her, giggling as she beams at him and scoops him up, and spins him around.

 “Did you have a good day, sweetheart?” she asks him.

 “Wellll, yes and no,” June tells her, and then he’s off, listing the ‘good’ (got to read out loud to the class at the end of Quiet Reading Time today) and the ‘bad’ (didn’t get to use the monkey bars at recess because some of the other kids were playing Fortress on them). Haninan scoops up his bag from the backseat and wanders over a more leisurely pace, feeling the familiar swell of affection in his breast at the sight of his wife and son. He moves in to interrupt June so that he can steal a kiss, though. Which his son huffs at, until Haninan turns and starts peppering kisses on his own cheeks, too.

 “Ew, Papae, no!” he protests, laughing and squirming. “Go back to kissing Mamae.” So saying, he plants a hand on Haninan’s cheek, and pointedly turns his face back towards Ireth.

 “Well, if you insist,” Haninan jokes, before leaning in and doing just that. June makes more protests and squirms until Ireth puts him down. She smiles against Haninan’s lips, and, with her arms free, settles them over his shoulders, before giving him a proper full-on kiss.

 “We probably shouldn’t make-out in the driveway,” she tells him.

 “As if our neighbours haven’t seen it all by now,” he scoffs, which gets an amused snort from her, before she finally lets him go. June is at the front door, rolling his eyes and looking so exaggeratedly impatient that Haninan wishes he could take a picture. His phone’s in his bag, though, and by the time he’s got it unzipped, Ireth has taken pity on their poor child and is letting him into the house.

 “I want peanut butter cups for my snack!” June announces, dashing inside.

 “Oh woe is me,” Haninan gripes, lurching his own way through the door and making a show of lugging June’s bag as if it carries a hundred pounds. “I guess I’ll just make my own way, here, carrying everything. If only I had a son who could help me. Alas, alas…”

 His theatrics earn an aggravated sigh, as June reluctantly turns and heads back towards him, and gives him a very Ireth-esque look before taking his bag.

 “My hero,” Haninan praises.

 June gives his mother a beseeching look. She just shrugs at him, though.

 “Go put your bag away, and I’ll see if we have any peanut butter cups,” she instructs.

 “It’s not even heavy,” June says, but does as told, kicking off his shoes and then rolling his eyes again when Haninan reminds him to put them where they go, please and thank you. He settles his own bag by the door, while Ireth kicks off her shoes in a near-perfect imitation of their son. Haninan raises his eyebrows at her, and she sheepishly puts them on the rack, too.

 “I still can’t believe I’m the tidy one in this family,” he muses, ruefully.

 “Organized, not tidy. I’ve seen you cook,” Ireth reminds him. “And dress. And who still has a fifty-billion piece puzzle taking up the better part of the dining room, hm?”

 “June does,” Haninan shamelessly insists. Which is half true, considering that they’ve been assembling it together. It’s been slower going than he expected, though, since June keeps getting frustrated, and then they have to stop. Not that he minds it - June seems to mind it more than he does - but… well, anyway. They’ll get it done, and then they can seal it and put it on June’s wall, just as Haninan promised.

 “MY BAG IS AWAY!” June announces, before pelting into the living room to turn on the television.

 “Two shows, then you have to start homework!” Haninan reminds him.

 “Choose wisely, my son! I’ll get your snack,” Ireth adds.

 “Are you sure? I can get it for him,” Haninan offers, eyeing the work clothes that he knows his wife hates. Ireth just waves it off, though.

 “I want to,” she assures him.

 With a nod of acceptance, Haninan veers his way up to their bedroom, and sets about changing his own clothes. He pulls on a comfortable sweater and exchanges his trousers for leggings, letting out a breath as he gets his socks off, and then wriggling his toes in the carpet a little. He heads for the bathroom to wash up, and hears the distinctive theme song of one of June’s favourite shows drift up from the floor below.

 As he runs the water, though, his thoughts sink a little as they drift towards the subject of Ashokara’s father.

 Haninan knows the patterns that can often lead people to become monsters. Parenting can be stressful, and thankless, and demands endless patience, and he’s intimately aware of that even as he loves it beyond measure. But for people who don’t have that drive? That love for being a parent, for looking after their child? He can see where it brings out the worst of them. Especially when they have no tools to cope well with even adult relationships.

 Most of the time, he’s noticed, it’s about control. Abused children are often well-behaved children - until they aren’t. They’re frightened into obedience, neglected into maturity, starved into desperation for approval and dreadfully aware of their own vulnerability. And when they no longer have to be afraid, it’s always an adjustment for them to figure out where the boundaries of their world should even be. He’d noticed the signs with Ashokara, when she first came to his class. The way she would always hesitate when he asked her a question, as if she was trying to figure out what he wanted her to answer with. How she would watch his hands whenever he was close by, as if she was nervous that he might suddenly try and grab her. The way she froze up the first time he clapped to get the class’ attention.

 Kassaran had talked to him after class on that first day. Which was difficult for her, Haninan knew. She was ashamed - not of her daughter, not at all, but of the fact that her daughter had come to harm. And of having to explain some of what she herself had gone through, in order to explain what Ash was struggling with.

 Haninan hadn’t pried any more than was strictly required.

 They were getting away from it. And now, it’s rearing up again. A pattern that threatens to become a cycle, if it isn’t adequately broken. Haninan has every faith in Kass and Ash’s ability to push through a lot of hard things, but that doesn’t mean he wants to see them do it. Or stand idly by while it happens, either.

 He might understand the patterns, but he’ll never excuse someone who mistreats their child.

 The tap is still running when Ireth comes into the room. He watches through the mirror, and the open crack of the door, as she changes into a loose green dress, and then flops onto the end of the bed.

 “I’m on call,” she informs him, raising her voice a little until he turns off the tap. She pats her phone demonstrably, and then shoves it into one of her dress pockets.

 Haninan shuffles his way back out of the bathroom, and then slumps onto the bed beside her.

 “I’ll keep my fingers crossed that there are no emergencies, then,” he says.

 Ireth reaches over, flailing a bit until she finds his cheek, and pats it.

 “Helluva a day,” she says, letting out a gusty breath. “There was another chicken pox outbreak. Poor things.”

 Haninan makes a sound of sympathetic agreement.

 “What about you?” she asks him.

 He hesitates, for a moment. But then, he’s never really been good at keeping anything for her, especially when he’s not even certain he should try.

 “Ashokara’s father is suing for joint custody,” he says.

 Ireth sits up.

 “No,” she objects.

 “Afraid so. Kassaran came in and told me the other day.” They probably would have talked about it then, but there’d been a ten car pile-up some time around three pm, and Ireth had been out late helping with the sudden emergency rush. So Haninan and June had made toasties and worked on the puzzle together, and by the time she’d managed to get home, she’d had her own work woes to spill and had been in sore need of a shoulder to cry on.

 Which Haninan was more than happy to provide. On that thought he gives her another look-over now. But she seems to be bouncing back, and isnt’ giving the usual indications that she needs him to help. Her concern - verging on anger - looks like the normal kind, for this sort of situation.

 “You tell Kassaran that if worse comes to worse and he actually gets it, I will personally help her hide the body,” she announces.

 “I’ll be sure to pass that along, darling,” Haninan replies. “But the main concern for right now is that Ash is going to have to explain to a judge why she doesn’t want to live with her father.”

 Ireth frowns, and glares at the ceiling for a good long moment.

 “...Well what if we kill him before that?” she suggests.

 He sighs.

 “Ireth, beloved, light of my life, you don’t even kill spiders when they get in through the bathroom drain,” he points out. Not that Haninan kills them, either. But still. They are not exactly murderous folk. He still remembers the first time June went over to a friend’s sleepover and called for Ireth to come get him, because one of the parents had killed a moth that came in through the window, and June was convinced that the man had to be some kind of secret killer ‘like on television’.

 “Spiders don’t abuse people,” Ireth retorts, folding her arms.

 But after a moment, she gives in, and just slumps back down against him.

 “Poor Ash and Kass,” she murmurs.

 “I know,” he agrees, with a sigh of his own.

 “We should do something.”

 “We should.”

 "...Do you think they’d like a fruit basket?” she ventures, tentatively. “Or maybe one of those fresh farm hampers? I can’t imagine Kass will feel like preparing a lot of meals while she’s dealing with all of this.”

 “Couldn’t hurt,” Haninan reasons. He plans on doing his best to help Ash in her classes, to give some extra attention and support. But still. Sometimes it’s good to have a friend’s spouse who absolutely insists on sending fancy gift baskets, which she has no idea of the actual material worth of, except that they be ‘good’. He still remembers the look on Kassaran’s face the first time Ireth gave her a bottle of wine for the school district’s Feast Day party.

 “I’m going to send them something,” Ireth decides. “It’ll be a good distraction anyway. Should I put who it’s from on the card? Yes, I should, I wouldn’t want them thinking it’s from Quarth or whatever his name is.”

 “Qal, I think.”

 “Do you still have that card catalogue with everyone’s food allergies in it?” Ireth asks him, barely listening now as she gets up with a mission in mind.

 “In the study,” he confirms.

 She pads off towards it, while Haninan decides to remain on the bed, and chase the patterns in the ceiling with his eyes. They form a pleasant latticework that makes him think of beehives, and the strength of hexagonal structures. The children are going to do a unit on bees later in the year. It’ll be fun, and it will give him the chance to include some information about architectural shapes. June is into pyramids right now, but Haninan’s fairly sure it won’t take much to get him interested in hexagons, too.

 He’s chasing his thoughts down into matters of magical geometry when he hears soft feet pad into the bedroom. Lighter than Ireth’s. Haninan turns his head, and watches June climb up onto the bed. He slings his arm around his son as he settles in beside him.

 “Whatcha doing?” June asks.

 “Nothing much,” Haninan assures him. “You need something? I thought you were watching cartoons.”

 June shrugs.

 “I finished my snack, and then it was the clown show,” he explains. With the world-weariness of someone several times his age, he looks thoughtfully up at the ceiling. “I hate that show.”

 Haninan snorts.

 “It’s supposed to teach you math,” he says.

 June makes a face.

 “That’s what school is for,” he objects. “They moved my Superman show to dinner time instead. Can I still watch it if I do homework in between?”

 He thinks about it.

 “Sure,” he agrees.

 June fist pumps, and then leans in and smooshes his face against Haninan’s side. The ominous sounds of the dreaded Clown Show drift up from downstairs. Haninan can admit, despite knowing what they’re angling for - it is kind of an awful show. Most of the other parents aren’t big fans, either, and he thinks one of Kass’ students had a round of nightmares about one of the clowns climbing out of the television and trying to strangle them.

 “Papae?” June asks him, after a minute.

 “Hm?”

 “Parents don’t just… suddenly stop loving their kids, right? Like… that doesn’t happen, does it? Even if the kids are really bad or mess up a lot of stuff?”

 Haninan shifts around a little to look down at his son, and feels his heart crack at the worried look on his face. He leans down and kisses his head. It doesn’t take a genius to see his line of reasoning. Learning about bad parents, about parents who mistreat their kids, also tends to come hand-in-hand with thinking that there might be something that kids could do, to make their parents become hateful or resentful of them.

 “No,” he assures him, firmly. “That doesn’t happen. And it especially wouldn’t happen to you, June-o. Your mamae and I will love you forever, no matter what you do.”

 June wrinkles his nose, but he also looks relieved.

 “I wasn’t asking that,” he insists, at a mumble. “I was just checking in general.”

 “Oh, okay,” Haninan allows. “But still. For the record. I’ll love you forever.”

 June grumbles a bit about ‘mushy stuff’, but he also rests his head on Haninan’s chest, and relaxes a bit more as Haninan rubs at his back.

 There’s no difference between being a father and being a papae. Haninan’s not always sure he’s doing the right thing, that he’s being a good parent, that he’s done enough to look after June or that he’s pushing things in the right direction. But he’s pretty sure that if he was messing it up too badly, Ireth would tell him. He’s not alone in this grand scheme.

 Kassaran is.

 That can’t be easy. With all of everything that’s gone on, he knows for a fact that it’s hard.