Present
"Auntsie! Auntsie!", Aífe could hear Oren's frantic calls as he ran through the main hall. Even before she turned around to look him, she could hear the pitter-patter of little naked feet on the cold stone floor. Turning around just in time to catch him in her open arms, she lowered herself to a crouch and laughed as he threw his arms around her neck enthusiastically. He squealed in delight as she rose with him in her arms, twirling him around.
"I have something for you!", he whispered in a low and conspiratorial tone against her ear.
Throwing her father an amused glance over her shoulder, she inclined her head. "Ah, what is it?", she asked and smiled as the boy started to squirm in her arms. He was becoming quite the handful, it wouldn't be long before she wouldn't be able to lift him up any more.
Oren leaned forward to place a quick peck on her cheek and giggled against her skin – just before he gave her a long, slobbery and wet lick across the whole side of her face, blindly aiming for as much skin as he could reach. Before she could react he had wriggled out of her arms and stormed off, a mirthful giggle on his lips as he paused at the door. "Cow-peck!", he shouted and was gone the next moment.
Her father was howling with laughter behind her as she turned around to face him, one eyebrow raised. She wiped the back of her hand over her cheek with an exasperated sigh. She should have known that her nephew didn't just come to bestow a kiss on her. He didn't do that anymore since he had decided to be a man now. Bryce Cousland's grey eyes were dancing with mirth as he held his sides in laughter and the guards at the doors were doing their best to chuckle under their breaths, although she could still hear them quite clearly.
"That was Fergus' doing", Aífe growled and turned to look back at the door.
"No vengeance before supper", her father warned her, chuckles still erupting now and again from his tall frame.
"Vengeance - Who? Me?", she asked innocently, trying her best to hide the twitching of her fingers at the delightfully diabolic ideas that were forming in her mind. Not before supper, he had said.
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Author's Note: Just some bits and pieces, scenes of Aífe's life at Highever before the Blight, hopefully giving a better insight on my take of the Cousland family and on my Aífe Cousland and the character and background I have built around her in my head. Thanks to BeautifulApparition for reading over this one and checking it for me, so I don't have TOO many mistakes in here. Thanks of course also to all of you, who read and enjoy this. :)