Partner

I still feel terrible. The only reason I recalled that I was supposed to do something today... er, write, I mean, was because I got a review on AFF and was thoroughly startled by the name, as I was certain I recognised it.

Being so exhausted, I'm going to go curl up in bed and be thankful that the program is too busy focusing on the newborns to think about the war. I kind of wonder how Taln will take his bedroom door being removed...

Read, Review and Enjoy (and go ahead and throw more questions at me, I enjoy attempting to answer them in story)




The baby screamed all night. Paw and Mik had taken turns bouncing the child up and down, trying to calm the mesa down. Mik had even called his mother, hoping she had some kind of advice for him. She could only suggest that perhaps the child was colicky and that Sidhe children tend to enjoy the sound of running water. That had done nothing more than make the child scream louder. Paw had muttered in exasperation and handed the child back to Mik and walked out of the apartment.

To get the child to sleep, Souse had to sleep in the same bed as Mik, Paw and the baby. And that was in the early hours of the morning, so Mik only got an hour or so of sleep before Souse woke them all up and told them to go about their day as per normal.

Mik had shuffled through his day and returned home.

He reached for the door and stumbled into his apartment. The… door…

Was gone.

Mik frowned and walked into the living room. The door on his bedroom was gone. The door on Paw’s nest room was still there. Across the apartment, Taln and Lillow’s doors were gone as well. So was the bathroom door, though in its place was a sheet, nailed over the door. Mik chewed his bottom lip for a moment, pointed at the sheet and then turned around and walked back into the living room and up to the green room.

Paw was sitting amongst his plants, Lillow at his side. The baby was crawling around and giggling at the plants, reaching clumsily at the low hanging leaves.

“The doors are missing,” Mik murmured quietly.

“Whisper says that Paw should remove boundaries,” Paw murmured, “door on nest room stay because that where Mik and Paw take private time. Mik bedroom go to baby. Koln say Mik give bedroom to baby. Paw try say that Mik and Paw should decide-”

“It’s fine, Paw,” Mik muttered in response, taking his seat beside Paw, “the nest will be our quite place.”

Paw smiled sleepily at Mik, “baby just …” Paw sighed and made a hand motion as if he were searching for a word, “get used to this stuff.”

“Adjusting,” Mik muttered back, leaning over and giving Paw a peck on the cheek, “tough day?”

“Mm, Sidhe like nappies. Baby not nap at all yet. Baby napped for Essuan.”

“Sidhe children seem to have a connection to their mothers. When Essuan slept, the children slept,” Mik responded, “I think it will come to connect with you over time,” Mik stumbled when he saw the creepy, dangerous look on Paw’s face, “because you’re here during the day and I have to go out and work during the day so you spend to the most time with the child…?”

“Suppose so,” Paw muttered back, before adding, “Essuan and Souse come here for dinner. Paw not know what cook.”

“Why not just pull some veggies out of the fridge and let them eat whatever they please of it?” Mik asked, “we could cook some chicken on the side. Wait. Why is Essuan- I mean, she’s not supposed to be out of bed yet? She just gave birth. A. Few. Days ago.”

“Mm. Mayhap make with the veggies and the chicken,” Paw gave Mik a look.

“I’d rather sit up here and watch the baby, but because you asked, I will,” Mik responded, “anything you’d like put in the pan with the chicken?”

“Broccoli.”

“Spice and herb wise.”

“Oh. Lemon, thyme and broccoli.”

“Broccoli isn’t-”

“Brocc. Oh. Lee.” Paw responded, looking at the baby.

“Okay then,” Mik left the green room and moved into the kitchen just as Souse and Essuan entered with the other baby.

Mik gave Essuan a nod and motioned to the green room. The female moved through the apartment and to the green room. Souse leaned on the counter and blinked at Mik.

“How do we… tell the difference between the two of the babies when they are together?” Mik asked, turning to the fridge to pull out the kitchen, “how do we not get the two mixed up?”

“Sidhe know. People might mix two mesa, who look similar, up, but Sidhe know. Smell or look or personality or something. But Sidhe know. What’s for supper?”

“Chicken and random veggies,” Mik responded, “Paw wants lemon and thyme and broccoli cooked all up in the pan.”

“Broccoli? Sidhe don’t have broccoli in the wild, too troublesome to make grow all properly. Not much like of the plant,” Souse growled, walking around the counter to come to the stove.

The Sidhe watched intently as Mik pulled out a pan and the dried thyme from the cupboard. Mik pulled a lemon from the fridge and a head of broccoli. Souse cut the broccoli as Mik fried the chicken with the lemon juice and thyme. Broccoli went into the pan and Essuan and Paw came down from the green room with both babies and Lillow.

The three sat at the kitchen table as Mik served the chicken and Souse pulled a random assortment of vegetables and set those on the table. The babies gummed away at the chicken, much to Mik’s surprise, spending a great deal of time on the tiny pieces that Essuan and Paw gave each of the mesa. Mik nibbled on the chicken and a bit of bread.

“They only nurse for a few days?” Mik asked Essuan before sipping his water.

“No,” Paw responded, “mesa have mother food stuffs until mother decides they need not it. Not…” Paw waved his hand dismissively.

“Essuan fed children before for six months before. Children usually chose when to stop supping,” Souse responded, “eat solid food soon after birth. Mush though. Mesa like meats. Soft fruits that are in season. Not those not in season, eat those that are in season. This teaches a child when fruit will be ripe, when to pick fruits.”

“This time of year… nothing’s ripe.”

“And perfect example of why children should only be fed ripe fruits. Can’t digest dried fruit anyhow.”

“Well, what is ripe at this time of the year?”

“Mushrooms. Though. Not fruit according to people. There are certain fruit around old time trees that ripen at this time of the year in the north. People not have names for it, not that I know of,” Souse muttered, picking over the veggies until he found a carrot, “and even if your people had names for these fruits, they are poisonous for you.”

“Mm,” Mik muttered, “there’s been some confusion with… the other partners. None of them seem to realise that… the… mesa, actually have a gender. They seem to think that when a Sidhe turns five, they magically drop… or… don’t drop… and are determined then. I’m afraid the only way they’ll see it otherwise is to drop the pants of a mesa.”

“What does it matter what they think?” Souse muttered in response, “so long as they put no gender to the mesa, they can refer to my children as monsters. No gender, no names. No nicknames. Hear nicknames… slaughter them all.”

“Ehm. Cuffing. Koln has cuffed several people already and the others seem to have gotten the idea.”

“Good.”

“Good,” Mik muttered. There was a long moment of silence, “if you think Paw is a child at forty-two-”

“Forty-three,” Paw growled.

“Forty-three, then what do you think of me? I’m a whole of twenty-five.”

“Paw is young.”

“And you are twice his age,” Mik muttered back at Souse.

“It is as,” Souse paused for a moment, “like comparing Mik and Koln. I am adult, saw as such. Paw is young and could make issues. Paw’s age, yes, might raise own children, but from my perspective, he is too young to raise my child.”

“Worrywart,” Mik growled, “Paw led his own tribe, I think he’s capable of caring for one little Sidhe.”

“Well. Paw never had little ones before.”

“A tribe means little ones,” Mik muttered back at Souse, “means more than one child.”

“He’s right,” Paw muttered, “four children, Paw helped raise. Paw knows how to raise children.”

Souse considered this for a long moment, “I suppose, you are correct. Paw may be better qualified than I first assumed. That does not mean that I will be any less concerned about his, and your, ability to raise my child. This is my child. This is Essuan’s child. I cannot for a moment believe that the good gods have graced us with perfectly healthy children when so many where lost before birth. One crack in the skin and they could bleed out. A thump to the head and they could go deaf or mute or blind. If a bone is broken, how will we heal it? What if they are immune to power, like several sets of twins in the past? What is coming our way if a set of twins is alive and well?”

“You worry too much. The proper combination of DNA, the swirling of blood the right way to provide a proper child.”

“After all she has done to me, to us, why would Illuva bother gifting us with two perfect children?” Souse asked Mik.

Mik knew little of the goddess that the Sidhe claimed as their own. He struggled to find some sort of answer that Souse might accept or find reassuring.

“There’s a war going on. Whisper is dying and you are here, with the people, with people who are trying to keep your race alive despite our own instincts to kill you all. Or. Something. Maybe she is repaying you, maybe she is giving you a sign that you are on the right track. Maybe she has a plan for the children. Or maybe it means nothing at all. Maybe it was just a quirk of the blood, of Paw’s meeting Essuan’s and making this happen. In the end, it doesn’t matter if Illuva brought the children here or not, Souse, you have to keep to the traditions of your people. And those traditions mean that you give over the care of one of them to another couple. We are that couple and we are the ones that Essuan, the twins’ mother, chose as the other couple. Accept us.”

“Easier said than done,” Souse muttered.

“Like everything in life that is worth having,” Mik responded quietly.


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