"Vir?" He felt like he should be a little concerned by the strong emphasis on the 'r', but the last time he had stopped by, she had called him 'Viiiii', so he considered it an improvement. "Yes, Sannel?" He allowed himself to meet her eyes in the mirror. They were as red as Narn eyes came. It would have been impossible to guess that they once had been brown. That was the funny thing with children, if you were away for more than a week, something would be changed when you came back. "Why are you doing this?" He kept running the brush over the tangled mess on her head that he had managed to slowly tame. "Because I think it will feel better for you."
"Oh. Papa and daddy never do this."
"I know. I don't think they can. But I can." Sannel had been excited to see him. She had snuck out of her bedroom when she heard the door open, run over to him and hugged his leg. G'Kar and Londo were still sleeping, no doubt exhausted from the banquet that had been held the other day. The banquet he had been late for. With all the traffic from Minbar these days, it was a wonder that anyone got around at all. He had regretted sneaking in at first, but he could only hang around in the zoocalo for so long at this time of day, the time when the station was slowly awakening. But as it turned out, it had been the perfect occasion to help his 'niece' with her problem. "What do they do, usually?" Finally! It was more or less smoothing out under his fingers. He gathered a few tresses from the hairline at her forehead and began crossing them. "They wash it." She tried to see what he was doing, but didn't dare to move her head too much. "They don't brush it?" A stupid question, he thought to himself, but still… "A little. But it hurts." He had seen the fear in her eyes when he had taken the brush, but she had gotten seated after he had reassured her. Sweet, funny uncle Vir could never even think about hurting her, right? She had not made a sound when he had inspected the hair. It still was the same, but it was quite damaged. It had gotten long, too, but he couldn't see that before he had brushed it out. There were so many knots of all sizes that it looked only half the length it actually was.
He imagined that Londo had done the common mistake of brushing from root to tip instead of taking the tips first and working his way up. Then again, Londo had always received help, and his hair had been an easy task, straight and silky as it was. And G'Kar… he bit his lip. Even if the rumors about G'Kar's interest in human women were still floating around, Vir had his doubts that he had taken the time to understand their grooming rituals. And the image of G'Kar brushing Londo's crest brought up unbidden memories of paintings and documents describing how certain Narn domestic slaves had had it as a daily task to prepare their masters' hair. In a way, it was a funny role reversal between him and Sannel. Not that she needed to know. Not yet.
He had braided the hair all the way down. It was quite popular among young women, therefore bound to become popular among little girls within a short amount of time. He pulled out a ribbon he had bought on Minbar. He had intended to make her some sort of necklace with it, but he had changed his mind. Now, he tied it at the end of her braid and ended it with a tasteful bow. He then pushed it over her shoulder and saw her smile at him in the mirror. "It's pretty!" She said before turning around and hugging him. "Thank you." She pressed a kiss to his cheek while she was at it. "You're very welcome." He answered. "Cotto." A voice that was still groggy from sleep, but threatening enough made them both turn. G'Kar was attired in his usual robe and a frown.
"Daddy, look!" Sannel said, shaking her head left to right, making her braid whip around with her neck. "Isn't it pretty?" His voice got a bit lighter as he approached them: "It certainly is, Nel." He sat down beside Vir and began inspecting the work. "How did you do this?" He sounded more or less impressed. Vir decided, however, that acting cocky could change that mood easily and he explained in detail what he had done. "Even Mollari had to give up. We sent her to a hairdresser, but we were only sold an expensive shampoo that didn't work." Sannel was visibly bored, but she sat still and didn't say anything. It would appear that mannerisms were within both G'Kar and Londo's expertise. "Ah, well… I think that if you want her to keep her hair, you should braid it like this. It's easier to control." G'Kar looked over it again. Londo had tried to braid it once or twice, but those had always come loose. Then again, he had never done it this way. "I honestly just wanted to shave it off at once. I don't see why we have to let her suffer with that for 10 more years just because it's your tradition. We have a valid excuse to remove it, and no one would ever know because Mollari insists on having her wear those little caps no matter what the occasion."
"But I like my caps, daddy."
"I know, Nel."
"And papa likes them, too."
"Of course. And I think he will like your new hair style, too. Why don't you wake him up and ask?"
"I'll do that now."
"Take your slippers off if you're going to jump."
"Ok, daddy." She kicked them off as she ran into the room. Vir and G'Kar barely got to their feet before the sound of feet hitting a mattress accompanied by the groans of a man who had slept too little and Sannel's chirping were combined, "Papa, papa! You have to wake up! Look what Vir did to my hair!"
G'Kar snickered a bit before patting Vir on the back, "You're staying for breakfast, I assume?" The loud 'Great Maker!' that was then uttered made it very clear that he had no other choice.