Disclaimer: the characters are not mine

Written for MoT's JoGeNuDoNaRo challenge. Prompt for July: "shatter".

Vania is 4, Lianne is 5, Jasson is 6, and Liam is 7. I hope they don't sound too grown-up for their ages.

"You can't catch me!" Lianne squealed as she slid across the stone floor in her stocking feet. She darted through the corridors of the nursery wing of the castle as Jasson sped after his sister.

"I can too! I'm bigger and older than you, and I'm a boy!" he taunted his sister.

"That doewn't make you better than Lia!" Vania reminded him, out of breath as she tried to keep up with the older two, her doll dragging forgotten on the floor. Giggling, she grabbed the back of Jasson's shirt to slow him down.

"Vania!" Jasson turned, trying to dislodge the four-year-old.

"I'm almost to the base! I'm going to win!" Lianne shrieked from around the corner.

Jasson ripped his shirt from Vania's grasp and launched himself after his other sister. "I'm about to touch it!" Lianne crowed, hand outstretched, right before Jasson slammed in to her.

The sound of the prince shouting "tag!" was drowned out by a phenomenal crash.

Vania stopped laughing very abruptly. "Uh-oh."

When Roald and Kalasin were very little, they got tired of running through the many corridors without a base, so they picked one. The old Yamani vase had sat on a pedestal across from the royal children's library for as long as anyone could remember, and using it as a base seemed as good a use for it as any. Whether or not the monarchs ever found out exactly how their children were using the ancient gift, they never told the children to stop using it. It seemed harmless enough.

Until now.

The vase lay on the floor, shattered in to more tiny pieces than anyone could count. The pedestal wobbled slightly, and Jasson steadied it automatically. Vania leaned forward to inspect the damage, and Lianne grabbed her shoulder, stepping her away from the shards of pottery.

"What was that noise?" Liam stood in the doors of the library, his hazel eyes skimming over his three siblings in confusion before finally settling on the shattered vase.

"Mithos, Mother and Father are going to kill you!" he exclaimed. "What happened?"

"Lia and Jassown were playing tag—"

"I was almost to the base and he tackled—"

"Vania grabbed on to my shirt—"

"One at a time!" Liam said, exerting his 7-year-old authority. The other three explained it to him.

"Liam, why can't you put it back together with your magic? No-one will ever know!" Lia suggested.

"Yes, please Liam?"

"Pwease?"

He looked baffled. "That would take so much magic! I'd be falling asleep at dinner, and then Mother and Father would find out for sure."

"Liam! Mama will be so mad if she finds out!" Lianne cried.

"And Father will be even worse. Can't you do it, Liam?"

"Pwease?" Vania repeated.

"But I'll be so tired!"

"We'll come up with something to tell Papa! Just fix it!" Lianne burst out.

"Oh, alright. Fine." Liam huffed. Walking out of the doorway, he knelt beside the shattered vase and closed his eyes in concentration. "If this doesn't work, it's not my fault." He muttered.

Jasson crossed his fingers. Lianne clutched her hands together at her chest, almost as if in prayer. Vania bit her lip and held her doll tighter.

Liam's outstretched hands shimmered a familiar Conté blue. The three youngest Contés watched in frightened anticipation.

"Chilren, what is—Mithros, what happened to the vase?"

*giggle* Gotta love those Conté kids.

Review?