UNNGGGHH all I want to do is write happy families for all of my favorite couples. Especially the couples with the most issues during canon (or not-canon, as the case may be) or the ones that had unhappy family pasts. Also I have a three-minute song on loop so I can memorize it by the performance tonight and I had to read back through the piece looking for bits of lyrics that snuck in.
Sometimes it was irritating how important he thought these old stories were. It was enough trouble keeping up with the present, never mind things that happened hundreds of years ago. I learned to keep quiet about it after I realized that he was hurt when I just dismissed what he was telling me. In time I learned to close my eyes and relax into smooth flow of his words. I don't know when I started to enjoy the tales for themselves. When he sat and talked, I tucked myself into his side and let the stories of ancient battles and histories wash over me.
After the children were born, there was less time for sitting and talking. The children kept us busy, and with three running around the house and another on the way, things weren't going to get quieter in the near future. I still got to hear those old stories though. I was pregnant enough that I was getting a bit unwieldy, and the children seemed to have more energy than usual. I wasn't successful getting them to calm down, and when Tarrlok walked in the door I silently begged him to help me.
He understood right away. The children mobbed him as soon as they realized he was home, and he herded them over to the couch so that he could sit down. He began one of those old chronicles about the building of Ba Sing Se, and I couldn't help doubting that it would do anything. The children were restless at first, but in minutes they were settled on the floor looking up at their father as he talked. Ahnah's eyes practically sparkled as she watched him, and she had an arm around each of her little brothers. I smiled as I looked down at them, and when I decided this was going to work, I sat myself on the couch next to Tarrlok. I groaned a little as I relaxed onto the cushion and took the weight off my feet. He didn't break the flow of his speech, but caught my hand in his and gave it a quick squeeze. I leaned against his shoulder as he talked, closing my eyes and letting myself slip into the story.