#oc nat

Ky leaned his elbows onto the table. It was tense, and Noe shifted in his chair to face his body away, gaze fixed on a point in the wall somewhere behind Hyla.

“I- I’m sorry,” Ky finally said, bowing his head. “I… I suppose I was a different person back then. Asra- he, ah, he showed me everything he had, but letters weren’t something I kept, I suppose. I don’t know why not, and he- he didn’t either. His only guess was that once I’d read them, I was done with them, and then I guess… I guess they just trailed off? And there was nobody there for a few months, really, with him at the palace, and me… um. Dead.”

Nat clasped his hands in front of himself, grey meeting grey.

“I just- we just missed you. We missed our child. Flor- Well, since my sister passed away, I had a feeling it was only a matter of time. Flor’s grip on reality was… tenuous. You were grounding to her, but, I suppose even that wasn’t enough. She didn’t seem to be of this world. Didn’t want to be once Mya was gone. I think it’s why our magic suited her so well. Mya, well, she was caught up in that same mysticism about her.” Nat chuckled. “I guess it was only natural that you would be too.”

“Was she… was it bad?” Ky asked.

He shook his head. “No, Mya knew what she was getting into, and they loved each other. They were good for each other. Mya, she could be too grounded. I- I’d tease her about it, she had no imagination. I should have gone easier about it, I guess. She didn’t need to be teased, she needed to see it in a way that she wanted it. Her magic bloomed with Flor.”

Ky leaned in and listened. “It- It felt like anyone’s could.”

Nat nodded. “Yours, especially. You- you were our air child. Double air, we thought it was quite lucky. I- I supposed it was, just not how we were thinking of it.”

Hyla settled into the chair between Ky and Noe. “That’s one way to say it.”

“Ah. Mmn. It sure… Well,” and Nat looked away. “No… no parent wants to bury their child. And… worse I suppose is learning, later, it may have already happened. It’s-” and he looked at Noe, who jerked his gaze to Ky.

“It’s why they kept me. Here,” he snapped.

“You also didn’t have magic, don’t forget that,” Hyla corrected. “It’s tradition to send away your father’s- our line’s magical children. There wasn’t anything for non-magical ones. Nothing we knew about at least.”

Noe shrank into himself. “That’s what you said.”

Ky was quiet, caught in a silent dispute, old dispute he knew little about.

“I- I really… I am sorry,” he finally said. “I know little about that person I was, but… they weren’t the type of person I wanted to be, not once I knew about them.”

Hyla turned to him.

“Ky. You were a kind person. You were clever. You were good. You were just...detached. We shouldn’t have sent you with Flor. She loved you, and you her, but, you weren’t… ideal for each other. Or maybe too ideal. She let you focus too narrowly. You finding him- finding Asra- I think that was the best thing that could have come out of it. It gave you a chance.”

Ky sighed, unsatisfied. “You had to spend all of this time, though-”

“The plague was a tragedy for everyone. How many other parents never knew? Anyone whose kin traveled. It wasn’t just you. We weren’t the only ones here who lost someone. We grieved. We-” Hyla exhaled, hard, and went silent.

Nat picked up where she dropped. “We did what every other family had to. We tried to move on. Going to Vesuvia was too dangerous, at first, and once things died down… it was too painful. We heard of the arrangements-” He paused, words growing unsteady, “and… it was better to remember you the way you were, than to… go and- go and see a mass grave. Now, we have something nobody else has. We have you back.”

Noe shifted, boots scuffing the floor. Hyla looked to him as he moved, and finally, he kicked back from the table, stood, and stalked out the door.

Ky watched, starting to rise to follow, and she placed a hand on his arm.

“Let him,” she said, voice sharp, then mellowing as she continued. “It’s better for him.”

He settled back down. Nat sighed, gaze drifting to the door Noe had left through, out to the backyard, an enigmatically tended overgrowth of plants that even Ky had never seen before.

“It’s been complicated for him,” Nat said, finally. “By the stars, did we try to make it no problem of his, but, I suppose he’s always felt it.”

Hyla nodded. “I can’t tell if he does or doesn’t like having no magic. He thinks it’s an excuse.”

Ky rested his chin on his hand, brows knit.

Nat gave him a sheepish smile. “I’m sorry, we shouldn’t make these your problems. You’ve only just gotten here… and your wife- everyone else must be so bored-”

Ky shook his head. “I- Nadia can find something of interest anywhere she goes. She’s-” His cheeks tinted pink, despite years of marriage, “she’s incredible. She’ll come in here and tell me about some unique piece of woodworking on the house. She’ll have come up with a new idea for something to try when we return to the palace. She’s- she’s a genius. She doesn’t need me- ah- but- I’m sorry, it’s beside the point. I’m… I am part of this family. I want to be. Whatever my old self was doing… I’m. I’m just glad, to have found you. To be here.”

Nat sniffled, grinning, chin dimpling with effort not to make an uglier face in tearful relief. “I- You have changed. I wouldn’t have cared who you turned into if you’d just come back, and now… you have. And you’re- you’re still- you’re our child.”

“Noe will come around,” Hyla said, gaze again flicking to the closed door. “I’ll speak to him-”

“I- no. This is… it’s my- it’s me. It’s me he’s upset about. Let me… let me do it.”

Hyla looked at him, pale brown eyes carrying worry.

“He isn’t gentle,” she said.

“He doesn’t have to be,” Ky said, finally rising, slow, a quiet resolution in his movements.

“Hang on,” Nat said, voice warm and a hand on Ky’s shoulder.

He felt himself pulled into an embrace, and then swept up from the other side, Hyla completing the circle.

“I- I didn’t know I missed you, so much,” he said, head bowed into Nat’s shoulder.

“You can stop missing us,” Nat chuckled. “We’re here now.”

“You never stopped being part of this family.”

From the corner of his eyes, Ky could see brightness, and turned his head to see Hyla’s palm flipped open. A rich blue sprang into the air. Ky pulled back to mirror shimmering teal, splaying his hand open, and Nat grinned, swiping at his cheeks, and used his free hand to mirror the motion.

“Always,” Nat said, his flickering out as he closed his hand again. “I’m sure your brother will come around.”

Ky shrugged. “He’s not… he isn’t saying I don’t belong, just… just that he’s mad at me.”

Hyla put her hands on her hips and looked away. “Yes, well, it’s complicated, and he should understand it. The circumstances were unfortunate.”

He nodded, and looked up. “Nothing for putting it off,” he said and crossed to the door, stepping out.

He didn’t see Noe, only Nadia’s ruby eyes, turning from sunflowers that seemed to glisten in the evening sun, petals in gold and orange, and some even verging into red.

“How are you, darling?” she asked, and Ky gave her a small smile.

“It’s been a lot. I- I guess better and worse than I expected. Mostly better.”

She looked off to where the yard faded off into woods, and further into more of the town. “If you were looking for him, your brother did leave,” she said.

“I… guess I shouldn’t be surprised he wasn’t just waiting around for a conversation,” Ky said. He chewed his lip.

“Mal went after him,” Nadia said.

“Oh- weird,” Ky said, “You think they’re… ok?”

Nadia smiled indulgently. “Whatever sort of person your brother is, I do not see him being the sort to be unkind to a child.”

Ky exhaled a soft laugh. “I- I suppose not.”