06-18-2017, 11:52 PM
Yeah, thank god for Kali. She smiles and snuggles a little closer, not quite seeing the hint of pain in Roma’s eyes, not quite hearing the bittersweetness in her tone as she talks about her own daddy. “Ohhhh that sounds nice!” Kali replies, resting her head on Roma’s shoulder and looking up at her. “My daddy doesn’t tell many stories, but he takes me allllllll over the place. We went to this pretty lake once, that’s all clear like crystals and you can see all the way down to the bottom, even when you’re standing in the middle at the deepest part! And we met Uncle Roo and he showed us his pretty Taiga, and sometimes we just go run around on the ocean too! We have lots of ‘ventures--” God, I melt every time she slips and does that. Thought she outgrew it, but she’s pretty excited, and I guess maybe her mouth’s getting away from her.
What a shock, right?
Clearly she’s my daughter.
Roma kisses her forehead, brushes her lips against Kali’s shoulder, won over by her irresistible charm and her innocent wonder. Plus she’s just damn cute. And when she answers Kali’s question, I realize how much things must have changed for her too. Echo Trails had been her family’s home before the Reckoning, but that had been a damn long time ago. Before the world devoured itself, before it drained the magic away from everyone and spit us all back out on a mountaintop to find our way in some strange new world. It was only a stroke of luck that I’d gotten hit by a bit of fairy magic and came away with my mojo back. And another that left me with the first real home I’d ever known.
Not everyone had been so lucky.
“Of course. Your family welcomed me into your home, even...well, even with who I was in those days.” For Ty’s sake, even if maybe they thought he was a bit crazy seeing anything worthwhile in me. I didn’t give them much reason to think otherwise. “You and yours will always be welcome in my home too. Whether to visit, or to stay.”
And for the first time, she seems to see a bit of what Ty saw. Because she tilts her head and calls me by my name. I smile, just a tiny curving of one corner of my lips, and I look down at Kali. “What do you think, baby girl? Had enough adventure for one day? You want to go show off our pretty home to your new friend?”
Her eyes widen and she squeaks with delight, snuggling into Roma’s side and nodding. “Uh-huh! Not enough adventure, never that, but I would love love love to show you Ischia. The water’s maybe too high for you to cross right now, ‘cause high tide covers the land bridge to get there, but Daddy could carry you! He carried Khari and Kylie one time when Khari almost drowned even though he can walk on the water like me an’ Daddy. I still don’t know how he did that, but he fell into the water, and he couldn’t get back out again, and that’s why Daddy’s teaching me so little, so I don’t every almost drown or all the way drown even if I’m out on the ocean all by myself, which I should definitely absolutely not be ever ‘til I’m lots bigger at least. Even if I did maybe sneak one time--oops.” She glances at me out of the corner of her eye and then hides her face against Roma’s shoulder.
Sneaky little imp.
“Did you now?” I ask, my brows raised and my eyes narrowing.
“Ummmm.”
“Kali.”
“Okay maybe while you were with Khari, and Mommy thought I was with Papa Reilly, and Papa Reilly thought I was with Mommy, I might’ve possibly sneaked away just for a little bit, but I made a friend, and I didn’t drown or die or get eaten by anything or even get hurt at all, and you didn’t even know it, so it’s okay, right?”
“It most certainly is not okay.” Oh god she’s going to give me a heart attack, isn’t she? Not even one, and she’s sneaking away to god knows where, with some stranger who could be anyone, she calls everyone who isn’t scary anymore her friend. “You and I are going to have a little talk about this, miss. Maybe your mommy too. Sneaking and lying--”
“No, no, not lie! I just maybeeee stretched the truth a little bit so I could fit in a sneak before I reached Papa Reilly to play with him is all! I still went to play with him! Just not right away, see?” She looked up at me with those big, sad brown eyes, and I sighed.
“Not fair, kid. You know I’m helpless against that.”
“Yeah, but you said fighting fair’s dumb, ‘member? That sometimes you gotta fight dirty, ‘cause coming out alive’s more important than some high-handed notion of honor?”
“...you gotta stop listening so well.”
“See, so I can sneak just a little!”
“Dammit. No, imp. Listen to that part.” Kali just grins and wriggles a little, and hell if she doesn’t already know she managed to squirm her way out of trouble. Rolling my eyes a bit, I look over at Roma with a rueful grin of my own. “She wasn’t wrong. I can give you a ride across the water if you like, or we can hang out here ‘til the tide’s low enough that we can hoof it.”
What a shock, right?
Clearly she’s my daughter.
Roma kisses her forehead, brushes her lips against Kali’s shoulder, won over by her irresistible charm and her innocent wonder. Plus she’s just damn cute. And when she answers Kali’s question, I realize how much things must have changed for her too. Echo Trails had been her family’s home before the Reckoning, but that had been a damn long time ago. Before the world devoured itself, before it drained the magic away from everyone and spit us all back out on a mountaintop to find our way in some strange new world. It was only a stroke of luck that I’d gotten hit by a bit of fairy magic and came away with my mojo back. And another that left me with the first real home I’d ever known.
Not everyone had been so lucky.
“Of course. Your family welcomed me into your home, even...well, even with who I was in those days.” For Ty’s sake, even if maybe they thought he was a bit crazy seeing anything worthwhile in me. I didn’t give them much reason to think otherwise. “You and yours will always be welcome in my home too. Whether to visit, or to stay.”
And for the first time, she seems to see a bit of what Ty saw. Because she tilts her head and calls me by my name. I smile, just a tiny curving of one corner of my lips, and I look down at Kali. “What do you think, baby girl? Had enough adventure for one day? You want to go show off our pretty home to your new friend?”
Her eyes widen and she squeaks with delight, snuggling into Roma’s side and nodding. “Uh-huh! Not enough adventure, never that, but I would love love love to show you Ischia. The water’s maybe too high for you to cross right now, ‘cause high tide covers the land bridge to get there, but Daddy could carry you! He carried Khari and Kylie one time when Khari almost drowned even though he can walk on the water like me an’ Daddy. I still don’t know how he did that, but he fell into the water, and he couldn’t get back out again, and that’s why Daddy’s teaching me so little, so I don’t every almost drown or all the way drown even if I’m out on the ocean all by myself, which I should definitely absolutely not be ever ‘til I’m lots bigger at least. Even if I did maybe sneak one time--oops.” She glances at me out of the corner of her eye and then hides her face against Roma’s shoulder.
Sneaky little imp.
“Did you now?” I ask, my brows raised and my eyes narrowing.
“Ummmm.”
“Kali.”
“Okay maybe while you were with Khari, and Mommy thought I was with Papa Reilly, and Papa Reilly thought I was with Mommy, I might’ve possibly sneaked away just for a little bit, but I made a friend, and I didn’t drown or die or get eaten by anything or even get hurt at all, and you didn’t even know it, so it’s okay, right?”
“It most certainly is not okay.” Oh god she’s going to give me a heart attack, isn’t she? Not even one, and she’s sneaking away to god knows where, with some stranger who could be anyone, she calls everyone who isn’t scary anymore her friend. “You and I are going to have a little talk about this, miss. Maybe your mommy too. Sneaking and lying--”
“No, no, not lie! I just maybeeee stretched the truth a little bit so I could fit in a sneak before I reached Papa Reilly to play with him is all! I still went to play with him! Just not right away, see?” She looked up at me with those big, sad brown eyes, and I sighed.
“Not fair, kid. You know I’m helpless against that.”
“Yeah, but you said fighting fair’s dumb, ‘member? That sometimes you gotta fight dirty, ‘cause coming out alive’s more important than some high-handed notion of honor?”
“...you gotta stop listening so well.”
“See, so I can sneak just a little!”
“Dammit. No, imp. Listen to that part.” Kali just grins and wriggles a little, and hell if she doesn’t already know she managed to squirm her way out of trouble. Rolling my eyes a bit, I look over at Roma with a rueful grin of my own. “She wasn’t wrong. I can give you a ride across the water if you like, or we can hang out here ‘til the tide’s low enough that we can hoof it.”