Words of Comfort
"Come on, mi florecita! Say 'papa'!"
Marigold just stared at her father curiously, not understanding what he wanted her to do. Xibalba wouldn't give up, however, he shook her rattle above her and continued fussing over her.
"You can do it, mi chiquita." He cooed, playing with her fingers with his other hand. "Say 'papa'."
Nothing but gurgling sounds left her lips.
"'Papa'."
"P-pp-p"
"Yes, that's it, mi florecita!"
However, she lost interest and nibbled unto her foot, her little wings flapping reflexively. Xibalba sighed in disappointment, placing the rattle next to his daughter, but he couldn't help but smile when Marigold immediately rolled unto her belly, and crawled towards her toy.
"Why do you have to be so cute, sweetie?" Xibalba chuckled, picking up his daughter and heading towards his rocking chair, watching as Marigold nibbled unto her rattle. She had started teething a few weeks ago, and she'd been nibbling on anything she found, including his fingers, so he tried to keep them away from her mouth.
"What's up, man?"
Xibalba sighed in annoyance when the Candlemaker teleported into his chambers with that same goofy attitude. He didn't know why he tolerated the wax man, but he did. Marigold didn't think the same, however; she giggled and reached out her hands for him.
"Candlemaker, nice to see you." Xibalba rolled his eyes, his voice dripping with the usual sarcasm.
"Nice to see you too!" As always, the Candlemaker was oblivious to the sarcasm. "How's everything going?"
"Perfectly until you arrived."
The Book of Life flew over Marigold's head to take a peek at her, and she extended her arms up to it.
"Awww, she's such a cutie!" the Candlemaker chimed as he approached his friend and started tickling Marigold's chin, making her laugh. "Coochie-coochie!"
"I'd be careful if I were you, she's-" Xibalba tried to warn his friend but he wasn't even half-way through the sentence when the Candlemaker yelped in pain as Marigold's newly-emerging teeth dug into his finger. "-teething."
The Candlemaker barely managed to release his finger from the baby's mouth; Marigold giggled at his misery, even Xibalba couldn't contain a chuckle of delight.
"Wow, she certainly is her papi's daughter…" the Candlemaker commented, staring at his bitten finger, before turning to see his friend once more. "So, she hasn't said her first word yet?"
"No." Xibalba replied, snapping his fingers and summoning a bottle and lowering to Marigold's lips. She immediately latched unto it. "She has not talked just yet."
"I got the feeling you want her to say 'papa', don't you?"
"Why wouldn't she say it? I'm her papi."
"Well, yeah, but you can never guess what a baby's first word will be. They can say anything that comes into their little minds."
Marigold had no idea what they were talking about, her meal was the only thing in her mind right then as she snuggled deeply into her father's embrace.
"Now that I think of it, there might be a good chance that 'papa' will be her first word."
"I know that, nothing would make me happier." Xibalba replied gently, his eyes never leaving his daughter as she fed.
"What if her first word is… you know…" the Candlemaker was hesitant to finish the sentence. "…'mama'?"
Xibalba lifted his gaze towards the wax deity, his eyes showing irritation with a twinge of sorrow, but he cast it down at his baby once more. "If that happens, it happens, like you said one can never guess what a baby's first word will be."
"Well, man, I can see you're busy, I guess I'll come by another day." The Candlemaker commented, noticing his friend wanted to be alone. "See you later, Balby."
Xibalba stiffened at the nickname, but the Candlemaker was gone before he could retort, so he chose to ignore it this once. When he was certain the Candlemaker was actually gone, Xibalba put aside the now-empty bottle and cuddled Marigold closer to him.
"Please, Marigold. Say 'papa', do it for papi." He whispered to her, tickling her nose, making her giggle.
Marigold blinked, before she tried to parrot the word whose meaning had no sense, at least not yet. "P-p-pp."
"Papa."
"P-pa…"
"Yes, that's it!" he started laughing in excitement. "Just a bit more, mi florecita!"
"P-Pa…"
"Papa! Pa-"
ACKP!
He was surprised when Marigold let out one of her famous, big sneezes. Sadly, she soon lost interest yet again and let out a yawn, resting her head against his chest to listen to his heartbeat. Xibalba sighed and cuddled her closer. "I guess I shouldn't be so hopeful yet, should I?"
Marigold simply snuggled deeply into his embrace, falling asleep. Xibalba smiled a little, standing up from the rocking chair to go and lay Marigold down unto her cradle, cooing when she shifted. When the little one remained still once more, the dark god kissed her forehead gently.
"Que descanses, Marigold."
She smiled in her sleep and let out a coo.
No matter what he did, she wouldn't speak. For days, he'd been encouraging, pleading, even 'bribing' (this last option failed miserably) Marigold, trying to get her to say 'papa', but all his attempts had been futile. So he chose to stop pestering her with it (he could tell she was starting to get annoyed everytime he started with her first word), and wait until she decided to speak. He just hoped her first word would be 'papa'. Today, he took her out to play in the snow for the first time.
Xibalba chuckled when Marigold whimpered and grunted in protest, crawling towards him in the cold snow and trying to climb unto his lap. "Don't worry, mi florecita, it's just snow."
Marigold was persistent, and she still tried to get her feet and hands off the snow. He had dressed her in a little pink sweater, hat, gloves and shoes (the ones La Muerte had knitted for her). Xibalba sighed and gently lifted Marigold off his lap, placing her beside him in the snow, holding her tight yet gently when she started to wiggle in protest.
"Trust me, Marigold, it's harmless." He whispered gently. "You'll get used to the cold."
Maybe he should entertain her with something… but with what? It was not like he liked snow very much either, at least not since… La Muerte passed away. He recalled when they were kids, and she loved to play in the snow, how they'd make snowmen together…
Snowmen…
"Wait here, Marigold."
Marigold stared in confusion, curiously watching as he started making oversized snowballs, one smaller than the other, piling them over each other. Xibalba then took a pair of sticks from a dead bush nearbly and stuck them to the sides of the middle snowball; finally, he grabbed a few pebbles from the ground and stuck them to the front of the snowball, and then finished with the two final pebbles on the top head.
Reluctantly, Xibalba snapped his fingers, and summoned something to his hand. It was a red hair bow; he caressed it with a finger forlornly.
La Muerte giggled as she and her friend continued with their little 'project', piling over the giant snowballs over each other, before giving it the finishing touches. Xibalba dug two sticks at the sides, and pebbles in the upper snowball, while La Muerte untied her bow from her dark hair and placed it on the snowman's 'neck'. Xibalba crawled behind the snowman and started moving its arms.
"Hi, I'm and I love warm hugs!"
La Muerte giggled once more as she bent forward and hugged the snowman. "Aww, I love warm hugs too, ."
The two of them played with the snowman for a few more hours, culminating in a snowball fight.
"La Muerte!"
They sighed in disappointment when her father called out for her, but as she stood up from the snowy ground, Xibalba took the hair bow back from their snowman and held it out for her. "Don't forget your ribbon…" He was utterly surprised when she smiled at him and closed his hands on the ribbon.
"You can keep it, Xibalba. That way I'll keep you company, or a bit of me, at least."
"B-But what if my father finds it-?"
"Don't worry, he won't. You're smart; besides, Zippy knows good places to hide things, doesn't he?"
"La Muerte!"
"I'm coming!" she called back. However, before running off to meet her father, she planted a kiss on her friend's cheek. Xibalba blushed fiercely in embarrassment. "See you later, Balby."
His eyes widened at the new nickname, but before he could protest, La Muerte was already running back to the palace. It wasn't that bad, now that he thought of it. Sure, it sounded silly, but it was coming from her, so he didn't mind. Xibalba looked down at her ribbon, it had her scent all over…
Even to this day, he swore it still had her scent of flowers. To think this hair bow used to be bigger than both his hands together, and now it fit in one of his hands. The dark god placed the bow unto the snowman's 'neck' gingerly.
"Marigold, look." Xibalba chimed playfully, moving the 'arms' of the snowman as if they were shaking. "I'm Mr. Fluff and I love warm hugs."
Marigold giggled and clapped her little hands, forgetting about the cold snow, then crawled towards the snowman, trying to wrap her arms around the three-times her size snowball, making Xibalba chuckle fondly.
The two spent a few more hours playing in the snow, Marigold even tried to make a mini, crudely-made snowman of her own. After a while, however, she felt very cold and once again climbed unto her father's lap to seek his warmth. Besides, it was getting late.
"Come on, Marigold." Xibalba sighed, picking up his daughter and standing up. "it's getting late, we should go back inside." He grabbed the borrowed hair bow from Mr. Fluff, and tucked it into his cloak.
Marigold looked up at her father with wide eyes, gurgling with the small bubbles of saliva in her lips. Xibalba smiled and tickled her nose, making her giggle.
"B-Bawbiii."
Xibalba's smile faded away on seconds. Had he heard what he thought he heard? Had she spoken? But what bewildered him the most was what she had said.
"Bawbiii…" Marigold didn't know what that word meant, she just parroted it. "Bawbiii…"
His eyes started tearing up with heartache when she called him like that. Immediately, he teleported himself and Marigold to his chambers to place her down on her cradle; Marigold stared at her father in confusion, not understanding what was going on with him.
"Bawbii…" she called out, reaching out her arms for him. "Bawbiii…"
"I'm sorry, Marigold… I just… I need time for myself…"
With these last words, Xibalba walked out of his chambers, trying to contain his tears as his heart started cracking in pain and heartache once again, augmented by the sound of his daughter calling out for him.
That night, he couldn't sleep.
He stirred in bed, trying to get in a comfortable position, but it was no use. There were so many things in his mind, that he just couldn't find it in his heart to sleep. He was thinking over Marigold's first word, he still couldn't understand where she learned it. Did she do it on purpose, or was it an accident? Did she learn it from the Candlemaker, or had she simply tried to say his name? He couldn't tell, and he guessed he would never know.
Sighing heavily, Xibalba threw his covers off him and stood up from bed, silently gliding over to Marigold's cradle. She was asleep, swaddled in her little pink blanket, suckling on her pacifier. He couldn't help it, the sight made him smile a bit, he couldn't understand how this child melted his heart away, but he loved when she did so. He gingerly touched her cheek with his finger and stroked it gently. Marigold shifted and cooed as her father lifted her from the cradle, but then she started to sob.
"Sh-sh-sh." Xibalba cooed, accommodating his daughter in his arms and tucking her blanket tightly around her. "It's okay, mi florecita, I'm papi. Don't be afraid."
Marigold sniffled and looked up at her father, reaching out her hands for his moustaches.
"Sorry for what happened this evening, bebita. Papi's still grieving mami's passing, I guess it'll take me a good while to overcome it, if I do at all…" Xibalba smiled when Marigold giggled at him.
"Bawbii…" she repeated.
Xibalba felt a pang of nostalgia and sadness in his heart, but quickly dismissed it with a great deal of effort. He stroked Marigold's cheek with his thumb, before going towards one of the drawers and taking out La Muerte's ribbon.
"Here. This was your mami's." He attached the hair bow to one of Marigold's many locks of dark hair; it looked ridiculously big, it was bigger than her head, actually, and so it fell forward, covering her eyes. Xibalba chuckled when she squealed in surprise and tried to get it off her face. "Don't worry, mi florecita. It'll fit you someday."
Marigold grabbed the hair bow and started touching it with her little fingers and wide eyes, wondering what it was for. "M-Mm-mama..."
Xibalba was surprised to hear what the second word she had learned was, but he did know how she had learned it. "I'm the only one with you, and yet you still can't say 'papa'?" he sighed in dismay, even though on the inside he was awing at her cuteness. Marigold started to whimper and wiggle in his arms, losing interest in both the hair bow and her pacifier, her face crunching up as she started to cry. Xibalba placed the ribbon and the pacifier aside for the moment, then he snapped his fingers and summoned a baby bottle with warm horchata. Marigold immediately latched to the tip and suckled the milk hungrily, making funny sounds as she did so. The dark god chuckled and sat down on his rocking chair, swaying it with his wings.
Arrorró mi niña
Arrorró mi sol
Arrorró pedazo
De mi corazón
Marigold squealed in delight, and rested her head against her father's chest; she managed to free one of her little hands from her swaddling, and pressed it against her father's chest.
Esta niña linda
Ya quiere dormir
Háganle la cuna
De rosa y jazmín
Xibalba started rocking his baby back and forth in his arms, watching with a small smile as her eyes started to shutter.
Esta leche linda
Que le traigo aquí
Es para esta niña
Que se va a dormir
It wasn't long before the bottle was empty, and Marigold released the tip. Xibalba placed the bottle aside, and patted his daughter's back firmly; she let out a small burp, and looked up at her father with tired eyes as he gave her pacifier back to her.
Esta linda niña
Se quiere dormir…
Cierra los ojitos
Y los vuelve a abrir
Xibalba stroked Marigold's cheek with his thumb, smiling down at her as she let out a small yawn and buried her face into his chest.
Arrorró mi niña
Arrorró mi sol
Duérmase pedazo
De mi corazón
Marigold closer her little eyes, and fell asleep. Xibalba planted a kiss on her forehead and stood up from his rocking chair, silently walking towards her bassinet, then tucking her in lovingly.
"Dulces sueños, mi florecita." He whispered to her.
Before going back to bed, Xibalba heard one more word coming form his daughter's innocent lips.
"Papiii…."