Author's Note: This is a rather…odd ficlet thing I thought up while playing Myst IV. Takes place before Revelation, when Yeesha is about five years old. For the sake of the story, the player of the game is referred to as Jack the family friend.
New Note: EEP! I forgot a disclaimer! So no, this really isn't an update, it's just an addition of the disclaimer so I don't get sued! Oh, and props to Korora for reminding me that it's "wahrk" (hands Korora a cookie).
Disclaimer: I don't own anything recognizable, especially that relating to Myst.
Questions and Answers
"Mommy, where do babies come from?"
Catherine's head snapped up; her watering pail sagged, drowning the plant she had been watering, but she didn't seem to notice. Instead, she focused on the girl in front of her.
Yeesha stared up at her mother expectantly. Her light eyes, so much like Atrus's, were open wide in innocence. Darn. The child knew how to use charm to her advantage.
"Ask your father, dear." Catherine finally managed, turning back to the now-soaked plant. Yeesha shrugged and skipped away.
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"Daddy, where do babies come from?"
The pen that Atrus was holding slipped, splattering ink all over the journal page he was writing on. The man straightened in his seat, dabbing at the ink nervously.
"Have you asked your mother?"
"Uh-huh. She told me to ask you."
Of course, Atrus sighed internally. He rubbed unsuccessfully at an ink blot on his shirt.
"Sweetheart," he finally sighed, pulling Yeesha onto his lap. "I have a story for you."
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Five minutes later, Yeesha's brow was furrowed in confusion.
"A wahrk? Wahrks bring babies to mommies and daddies?"
"That's right." Privately, Atrus knew that his wife was going to kill him.
"But there isn't one in Tomahna. Is that why I don't have a baby brother or sister?"
"That's right."
"Okay…" Yeesha didn't sound too convinced, but she slipped down from Atrus's lap and ran off to play.
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"How could you tell her that?" Catherine hissed, banging the pot onto the stove. Atrus glanced over his shoulder to make sure that Yeesha wasn't listening in. She wasn't. Their family friend Jack, visiting Tomahna for the day, was entertaining her with a story.
"I couldn't think of anything else." He admitted. "Why didn't you tell her?"
Catherine didn't answer his question. She only stirred something into the pot.
"We will tell her together."
"Agreed."
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A short time after Jack left, both Atrus and Catherine approached Yeesha at the terrace table.
"Yeesha?"
The little girl looked up from her workbook.
"Uh-huh?"
"We have something to tell you. I was not exactly truthful when I told you where babies come from." Atrus traded a nervous look with Catherine.
To their great surprise, Yeesha giggled.
"I know."
"You know?"
"Uh-huh. I asked Jack, and he told me the truth. You got mixed up."
Another look was traded. Atrus wondered exactly how much Jack had actually told her.
"Mixed up?"
"Yeah, silly." Yeesha grinned. "It's a stork, not a wahrk!"
End