#veneth

On the fourth day of the visit, Babae and Auntie Veneth decide they want to go to this special park. There are big fountains that go whoosh which sounds very exciting. Nenae lets them ride on their back all the way there. They love riding on Nenae’s back, they’re so tall so Lasvala can see everything. They have to be careful to not pull on Nenae’s hair, so Lasvala pushes it over their shoulder so they can lean up to look at the surrounding area.

It’s different from Mythal’s area, that’s for sure. It’s less fancy but lots weirder. Not a bad weird, but it reminds them of when Nenae surprises them coming home and jumps out from around a corner.

They make it to the park and Aunti Veneth sets out a blanket while Babae works on taking out all their lunch food.

“’M hungry,” they say and Babae nods.

“Yes, baby, I know. Here, I brought you grapes,” he says and hands them a small box of grapes. They’re Lasvala’s favorite! The light green kind that are nice and sweet. They try to fit as many as they can into their mouth and squish’em all at once.

“Lasvala, you are making a big mess,” Babae clucks but it makes Nenae laugh. They reach in and grab an orange wedge and hold it in their mouth to make an orange mouth!

“Hahaha!” They laugh. Their nenae is so silly!

Auntie Veneth sighs but Babae chuckles as he hands them their sandwich. Peanut butter and banana! Their favorite!

After they eat and rest a bit because Babae says that’s important for die-ge-shun. Auntie Veneth plays her little harp for a bit and it’s very pretty. Lasvala reaches over to see how she’s doing it but she pulls it out of their reach.

“Veneth, let them look, they won’t hurt it, right Lasvala?” Babae says and Lasvala nods.

“I can be gentle! Like with Papae’s turtles,” they say. Aunti Veneth slowly lowers the harp to show them how she plucks at the strings to make music. They are very careful touching it. Like a big turtle.

It’s really neat, they think. The wood is smooth and the strings make really pretty noises, but it’s also a little boring after a moment. Nenae knows, because they always know, and directs them over to the grass.

“Irathar, my heart, come play with us,” Nenae says and Babae stands up, turning all pink.

“Very well. What would you like to play, little one?”

They giggle and run up to him, pressing their hand to his knee.

“TAG!” They scream before turning and running.

“Oh you got me!” Babae says.

“BABAE’S IT!” They shout, continuing to run as fast they can towards a small copse of trees.

“Eee!” Nenae shouts making Lasvala laugh and stumble into the trees. They quickly pick themselves up and continue to run through the bushes until they come to the other side.

They’re breathing heavily and very excited but when they turn around they don’t see Babae or Nenae. They blink and walk back into the trees, trying to remember where they were running so they can retrace their steps. Papae says that retracing steps is very important, they should know how to do it. But they were running super fast like Nenae taught them.

“Where’d you go, baby?” They hear. It doesn’t sound like their Babae, but it also does. They walk towards the voice, stepping over leaves and larger sticks.

“Nenae!” They shout, climbing over a log.

“Babae!”

“Who you shouting for?” Another voice says – and it’s coming from the log they’re on!

“Who’s that?!” They ask, shimmying up to edge of the log. They peer over the edge to see…someone like them, but also not like them.

“I’m Mealla,” she says, emerging from the log, “wa’s your name?”

“Lasvala. Are you a forest person?” They ask. They’ve never met a forest person before, but Mealla laughs and shakes her head.

“No! I’m a girl, you’re silly.”

“You’re in a log!” They say, to assure her that she too is silly.

“And you’re on top of one!” She says back. It’s a good reply.

“Okay, we’re both silly.”

“There you are, Mealla. Who’s this?” A grownup appears out from behind a tree and Mealla wiggles out of the log to run up to them.

“Tha’s Lasvala. They’re silly.”

“I’m sure they are. Lasvala, where are your parents?” They ask and Lasvala shrugs.

“I don’t know. I was running and then I stopped and then I didn’t hear them anymore.”

The grownup inhales and holds out their hand.

“I’ll help you find them. Can you point to where you last saw them?”

They scramble off the log and take the grownup’s hand then point to where they came from.

“Over there.”

“Alright, let’s go over there and look for them. What are your parent’s names?” The grownup asks as they begin to walk towards where Lasvala pointed. Mealla holds onto their other hand.

“My Nenae’s name is Courage ‘cuz they’re a fierce warrior for Lady Mythal. And Babae’s name is Irathar. Papae’s name is Mystery ‘cuz he works for Lord Dir…Dirf…D-ir-fa-men.” They say. Their ears twitch and their bracelet starts to make a very loud noise. They yell and shake their hand. Nenae always said that if they got lost the bracelet would make noise, but it’s so loud!

“LASVALA!” They hear and it sounds like their Babae.

Soon enough Nenae emerges looking very upset. They run over to Lasvala who lets go of the other grownup just in time for Nenae to pick them up.

“I’m here, little one, I’m here.”

“’M okay, Nenae.” They pat Nenae’s shoulder and soon Babae shows up. They wave at him and he places a hand on his chest before rushing up to them, touching their cheeks.

“Oh thank goodness you’re safe,” he says, running his hands through their hair.

“I’m okay!” They say again but Nenane doesn’t let go.

“I know, baby, you’re so brave. But you give us such frights when you do this,” Babae says softly. They begin to squirm to look back around at the other grownup and Mealla.

“They helped me! And that’s Mealla! She’s a log person,” they announce.

“Am not! A frog jumped in there, I went after it!” Mealla protests. Nenae keeps Lasvala close, their strong arms securing them to their chest.

“Thank you for assistance,” Nenae says and the other grownup nods.

“Of course, children should not be lost.”

And then another grownup shows up! She stumbles in through the brush, small like the other grownup and looks like Mealla.

“There you two are, I was getting nervous – oh, hello.”

“That’s Lasvala, and their parents!” Mealla says, being helpful. Lasvala waves and she waves back.

“How exciting!”

Nenae shifts their hold on Lasvala to shake the new grownup’s hand, “Courage, I take it you are Mealla’s mother?”

“Er, yes, what exactly happened?”

“I ran too fast and got lost,” Lasvala says, then points to the other grownup, “they found me.”

The new grownup smiles, “I’m glad everything turned out well. I am Aili and this is Uthvir, you already know Mealla.”

Babae steps forward and smiles a little weird, “I am Irathar, pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Lasvala begins to wiggle again but Nenae holds them fast. They flop against their parent’s shoulder and huff.

“Nanae, can I play with Lasvala?” Mealla asks softly.

“I don’t know, it sounds like they gave their parents a scare –

“I wanna play too!” Lasvala says.

Nenae sighs but doesn’t let them go, “We have a little picnic set up, if you would like to join us?”

There is a pause and Lasvala wriggles around to look back at Mealla and her parents.

“That could be nice, we can gather our things and have a little impromptu playdate,” Aili says and Mealla raises her arms.

“Yay!”

Nenae and Babae lead Mealla and her parents out of the trees and to the field. Nenae still doesn’t put them down though, but at least they get to feel all tall and stuff.

“We’re up there, by the fountain,” Babae points.

“I’ll go get our things,” Mealla’s Nanae says and walks back towards the trees.

“Nenaaaae,” Lasvala whines, but they don’t put them down until they get back to the blanket. Auntie Veneth runs over from her spot by the fountain and cups Lasvala’s face.

“Oh thank goodness you’re alright,” she says and they push her hands away to stand up and walk over to Mealla.

“Babae says it’s polite to give food, are you hungry?” They ask and she shakes her head.

“No thank you. There’s a bunch of cool bugs over there,” she says, pointing towards a lone tree.

“Can we go?” Lasvala turns to Nenae and they smile.

“I will go with you.”

Babae and Mealla’s Mamae also come with them, walking very closely to them.

“I’m seven,” Lasvala says. They think Mealla must be really young because she’s so little but she perks up.

“I’m six!”

“But you’re small!”

“So? You’re big and not a hundred,” she says and that’s true. They are big. But not as big as Nenae. But Nenae is huge.

They make it to the tree and Mealla goes to her knees, “Look!” She lifts a large piece of bark to reveal lots of shiny green bugs crawling around in the muck.

“COOOOOL!” Lasvala shouts, crouching down next to her. They reach out and gently touch a particularly large beetle. The shell is smooth but there are little grooves in it that catch the light and turn a different color. It kinda looks pink?

Mealla pokes at a longer bug with a bunch of legs and the entire thing lights up as it skitters away. Mealla giggles with delight and both of them follow it through the dirt and around a large protruding root. A dragon fly with glittering wings takes flight off the root.

Mealla watches the dragonfly while Lasvala gets distracted by a chipmunk dashing out from under the root. They don’t think, they just jump, their body vibrating with magic. When they land it’s on four paws instead of two feet and they chase after the chipmunk.

“Hey!” They hear Mealla shout, and their Nenae shouts and so does Mealla’s Mamae. They chase after the chipmunk and the air vibrates again. They turn around to see a fox with the biggest ears they’ve ever seen! They know the chipmunk got away but a fox is much more fun.

They jump back and the fox forward. They laugh and run around and the fox follows. They’re bigger and they manage to jump to the fox’s side and they pat at it.

“Hey!” That’s Mealla’s voice! Oh!

“You’re fox!”

“You’re a…kitty!” Mealla says and then their nenae walks over to them. They look so much bigger from down here.

“A caracal, the most amazing little caracal I have ever seen,” they coo and lean down, gathering Lasvala in their arms. Their giant hand comes down over Lasvala’s had and apparently very tall tufted ears.

They look up at their nenae who looks like they’re about to cry but they’re smiling so big, the kind of smile when Lasvala had finished their first book by themselves.

“Let’s go show Babae!” Nenae declares and promptly heads over to the blanket.

No! They want to play with Mealla!

“Nenae!”

“You can still play but let’s show Babae first,” they amend. When they squirm and manage to look behind them, Mealla’s Mamae has her in a similar hold.

“What in the world – Courage, what are you holding?” Babae asks, rushing over to Nenae.

“Babae, it’s me!”

His eyes bug out and Lasvala laughs because he always looks funny like that. He reaches out and touches their fur and his face goes soft.

“Oh look at you, baby!” He coos and takes them from Nenae’s arms. They let him hug them for a moment before they squirm.

“I wanna plaaaay!” They cry and he sighs but he puts them down.

“Fine, but be careful!” He warns just as Mealla pounces and wrestles them to the ground.

For the next hour of play, Lasvala thinks that Babae almost faints like five times. By the end, Lasvala can’t help but shift back into their original form. They are so tired and they promptly flop into their Nenae’s lap. They look over to see Mealla do the same with their nanae.

The grownups talk a bit, all boring stuff that they’re too tired to listen to. They feel Nenae pick them up and they turn to wave at Mealla.

“Bye-bye,” they say on a yawn.

“Bye-bye,” she replies, sounding already half asleep.