10. First Christmas
Tales of Graces
Asbel x Cheria
The sopherias had withered earlier that year. A cold front had arrived and killed them before time, they'd usually lose all of their petals around half of the last month of the year, but at the time it was just the first days of it and the whole garden was completely covered by the flower's remains. It had been just like that first year Sophie had spent the holidays with them, almost five years ago. As Cheria inspected the barren ground around her with a saddened face, she felt a kind squeeze on her shoulder. Asbel loomed over her with a shy smile, and offered a hand to help her up.
"It's no good for you to be up this early in the morning out here." He hugged her, insisting to go back inside.
"I saw the garden from upstairs and I wanted to see what happened. It's so sad, Sophie is coming back tomorrow and she won't get to see them one last time this year, not until summer at least." She cried, getting inside the manor.
"I know… but it's no good for you and the baby, next time tell me and I'll go check on them. I think your grandpa may be able to do something about it, but for now Sophie will have to understand." Asbel walked towards the living room, insisting he'd have some time before going back to work to spend with her. After all, it was the first time in three years that the little rascal didn't wake up before them and they had some time for themselves.
It was incredible how similar Asbel and his daughter were to each other. When he was around Astrid's age, Asbel knew he was the cause of his father's constant headaches. He wished he'd be a better father to her and her still unborn little brother. At least, he believed he'd been a good father-figure to Sophie for the past five years, and Astrid hadn't turned out so bad. Their still unnamed child, Asbel hoped, better be a little more similar to his uncle Hubert or he'd go crazy if he had to take care of two mini-Asbels.
"Dear, you look lost in thought." Cheria laughed, caressing her belly to give the baby some warmth. She was due for the holidays, meaning they'd have another member at the table in the Lhant manor by Christmas dinner. Asbel hoped Pascal wouldn't do the same she did with Astrid during her first holidays: gifting a newborn a fighting robot wasn't a good idea.
"I was just thinking what's good to gift a little boy for Christmas. He'll be too young to get his first wooden sword, which is what Hubert and I always asked for." He smiled mischievously and remembered how fun it was to play with them on the first days of the years. Their parents would usually scold them for playing medieval knights at 6 in the morning.
"I'm asking myself the same thing… I wanted to gift him the sopherias, but they withered so fast. I had calculated he'd be born just a day before the cold got them but…"
"He has you as his mother, that's more than enough gift, I think." Asbel smiled, patting her hair with affection and fixing a pink lock from her bangs behind her ear. "I'm the one who has to win him over, or he'd end up a little punk like Astrid."
"You shouldn't be worrying about it or about Astrid, either." The lord of Lhant hugged his wife from the back and rested his chin on her shoulder. Cheria kept caressing her belly and hummed a lovely song in a very quiet voice. "This is the first time in four years everyone's coming for dinner, I think she'll like that. Our little boy will get to meet his uncle Hubert and Aunt Pascal, even Uncle Richard is coming. His step-sister Sophie is coming along with him, and they're dragging Grampa Malik along, I don't think we can get a better present for them."
Asbel smiled against the back of her neck and checked the clock on the wall. Just as he did, he heard Astrid's voice asking for breakfast as she walked fastly down the stairs, stomping her feet. He sighed and so did Cheria. Their minute of peace and silence had lasted for too long. Yet, Asbel felt reassured he had been doing a lot better than his father before him. For instance, he'd never been Cheria so beautiful and happy.
A/N: Sorry for the delay, again! But it's better late than never. This one is the shortest by far, I'm keeping up with these 'canon-ship special' for a while, and I really do like Cheria and Asbel, but they're a bit too cookie-cutter perfect for me. I actually ship them both with Richard (but let's face it, I ship everyone with Richard), so this was a little bit more of a challenge since I had a tough time imagining an scenario that was good enough for these two. And by the way, I love the name Astrid.