From Myst Island: First meeting
"No." He backed away, putting his hands behind him.
Anna was implacable. "You'll have to eventually. Now is the best time."
"I can't." He took another step backwards, with his grandmother following him. "I'll do something wrong, I'll break it, or drop it – don't they have a fragile spot on top? And it moves, what if I can't keep hold of it?"
Catherine, haggard with exhaustion, was laughing. "You will not break it, my love, I promise you. They're tougher than they look."
He felt the wall at his back. There was no place to retreat further. "Please. Perhaps when it's a little larger – "
"Now," Anna commanded. "The longer you wait, the harder it will be. This is your responsibility, Grandson, as much your care as Katran's."
Helpless, terrified, he held out his hands and gingerly received the bundle. "It's – so small," he breathed.
"And stop saying 'it'," Catherine ordered from the bed.
"He," Atrus murmured, staring down.
And with the sudden instinctive expertise Anna remembered, as easily as he had once nestled a tiny kitten against his body, he shifted his hold so the blanket-wrapped form lay snugly in the curve of his arm.
He gazed down at the plum-colored face. "Achenar," he whispered. And then, "My son."