The tranquil forest was quiet, save for birdsong. Its trees were in the process of transitioning into vibrant red and gold, their leaves peppering the ground in a colorful blanket. The colors were so vivid that the forest floor seemed to glow, creating golden halos around each trunk. Sarion strolled through the orchard, keeping an eye out for the mess of jet black hair that signified his six-year-old daughter.
"Sephira!" his voice disappeared through the trees, lost in the calm breeze that whispered past him.
A good five seconds ticked by in silence.
"Yes, Daddy!" he finally heard her tiny voice, his elf ears just barely picking up on it. He smirked, shaking his head and shoving his hands in his pockets, and he followed the direction of her response. He eventually found her sitting cross-legged underneath a large gum tree, seemingly doing absolutely nothing but sitting. Confusion flickered across his face.
"Baby what are you doing out here?" he laughed slightly, kneeling down beside her. "It's time to eat. Momma told me to come fetch you. Don't want dinner getting cold."
"I'm too busy for dinner."
Her inky hair fell over her face, and she pulled it out of the way to peer up at him, her gigantic silver eyes shining like gems. Her face had dirt smudged on it, and he smiled affectionately, reaching out to pick her up, but she began to complain and shake her head, so he paused.
"What are you doing?" he repeated.
"I'm not moving," she folded her arms defiantly, but not subordinately. "Not until they hatch."
Sarion's brows arched. "Say what, now?"
"The baby porcupines," she explained slowly. "I'm hatching them."
Sarion, still confused, resorted to sitting down beside her, leaning his elbows on his knees. "Sephira, porcupines don't lay eggs, you know."
"Yes they do!" she argued, tilting her head to make eye contact. "And, if I ink-loo-bade them for long enough then they'll hatch, and I'll be their mommy."
"Incubate?" Sarion corrected, trying not to laugh.
"That's what I said," she looked ahead again.
"Wait," Sarion squinted his eyes. "You're saying you're sitting on porcupine eggs?"
"Yup."
Curious, he inspected the ground and realized that the child was sitting on the seed pods that had fallen from the sweet gum tree. The pods were round and spiked. He slapped a hand to his forehead after he made a few connections.
"Your big brothers put you up to this, didn't they?" he groaned.
She nodded. "Celwin told me that the longer I sit, the better my chances are of hatching one."
Sarion sighed, doing his absolute best not to laugh now, but his voice quivered when he spoke. "Oh honey, they were teasing you."
She squinted at him, and he chuckled and picked up one of the pods.
"These are seeds. They fall from this big sweet gum tree behind us here," he reached back and patted the rough bark of the massive tree. "They won't hatch anything but more trees, Seph."
Sephira listened for a second, but then shook her head. "No, I want my porcupines."
Sarion stood up, peering up into the branches, and finally found what he was looking for. "Look," he pointed at a cluster of the still-green pods, which were attached to a branch. "They aren't eggs; they're seeds."
Her lip began to quiver. "But I've been here for so long."
His heart tugged at the tone of her tiny voice, and he let out a warm chuckle and scooped her into his arms, brushing the spiky seeds off of her pants. "Well then, what do you say we hatch one, yeah?"
"Hatch a porcupine?" she stared at him skeptically.
"Hatch a tree," he smiled, reaching down to pick up one of the pods. He walked to a relatively-clear area of the orchard where the sun actually reached the ground, and knelt down, setting his daughter down beside him.
"Okay, first we'll need to clear a spot. Want to help?"
Her head bobbed.
He smiled and began tugging at a section of the tall, unkempt grass, loosening it up slightly and then pointing at it. "Pull that outta there, will you?"
She yanked on it, and it gave, causing her to topple backward with a handful of long grass and land on her butt. She began to giggle, and Sarion too. He wiped his chin with his sleeve and uprooted some more, and when he'd cleared a good foot or so, he set the pod just under the dirt. The ground remained wet from a recent rain, and although it was autumn, the timing was just about right for that tree as long as he tended it often.
He rubbed his palms together. "Ready, monkey?"
She nodded, kneeling beside him and staring at it. "Hatch hatch hatch!" she chanted excitedly.
His mouth twitched at a smile, and he began to draw from his magic, hovering one hand over the seed and willing his energy to transfer to it, to expedite the entire growing process. Soon a sprout suddenly peeked out of the dirt, and Sarion could sense its roots snaking down into the ground. He heard Sephira gasp audibly, and he smiled and paused. The tree was now about a foot tall.
"Okay, really quick, I need you to do something," he grinned at her. She perked up, awaiting further orders, and he pointed at the tree. "Jump over it."
She gave him a funny look but hopped over it, her little limbs only sort of cooperating, and she stumbled a little.
"Great!" he grinned. "Now step back again, and I'll finish this up."
He kept at the spell until it actually looked like a meager tree, about ten feet tall, thin but strong. He could work the spell a little longer if he needed to, but he liked it at the height it was.
Sephira stood beside it, and a grin spread across her mouth. "Daddy, we hatched it."
He smiled. "Now you can go brag to your brothers that you jumped over this tree, and I'll be right there to back you up."
She thought about it for a second, and then her eyes gained a spark of mischief, and she giggled happily. Sarion scooped her up again, tickling her and eliciting high-pitched giggles all the way back to dinner.