Summary: Something slightly different. Three short oneshots of moments from Rikash and Sarralyn's childhood. Expect either a special or sad chapter next.

Numair watched Daine bite her lips as she gazed down at their newborn son. An extremely excitable Sarra and Kitten had just collapsed onto the formers bed after having maintained a night long vigil over their new brother. The little girl hadn't wanted to leave Daine's bedside, but she eventually succumbed to sleep at the bottom of her parents' bed. Numair had gently picked her up and tucked her into her own bed, and Kitten, who tended to follow Sarra wherever she went, had opted to join her there.

The reason for Daine's apprehension wouldn't have been apparent to everyone. She'd had none of the complications during pregnancy of the type she had experienced when carrying Sarralyn. The birth had been as smooth as anyone could have hoped for, and the baby was completely healthy. Not only that, Numair had hardly had to reach out with his power to feel the magnitude of the child's Gift.

Daine was currently gnawing on her bottom lip and frowning because of the issue of the baby's name. She'd had one in mind ever since discovering that she was carrying a boy, and had spent weeks announcing that she had settled on it only to change her mind again a few hours later. "He'd laugh at me if he knew I was thinking of naming our son after him," she murmured, a point she had made many times before.

"Sweet, when have you ever let what other people think stop you?" asked Numair. Daine jerked her head non committaly. "Well," he continued, a smile curving his lips, "if you have decided against that name, I have another in mind."

"Really?" She looked up, something close to relief in her eyes.

"Yes, there is a famous scholar I admire greatly – Bermardus Smythe."

Daine grimaced. "Rikash it is."

After eight years of being a parent, Numair liked to think that he could smell trouble, and today the air was thick with it. The tower was unusually quiet. Daine had disappeared as soon as the sun rose, mumbling something about an injured fox, leaving him to take care of the children. They had slunk off into the shadows with their uncle George, wearing worryingly sly smiles, and he hadn't had a glimpse of the three of them since. He suspected that the whole thing was a ploy to lure him out of his study, where he had been pouring over ancient manuscripts since their arrival a week before.

Venturing from his study, he blinked blearily against the bright sunlight flooding into the corridor. "Sarra?" he called tentatively. "Rikash? George, I hope for your sake that you are not corrupting my children!" He poked his head into the children's bedrooms, frowning when he found them empty even though it was what he had expected.

After searching the tower, he decided that the three of them had probably gone outside to enjoy the summer sun. Perhaps Sarra was introducing George to her animal friends, as she had promised him she would do the previous night. No sooner had Numair set a foot outside the tower than there was a loud bang! and his head was suddenly drenched in icy water. While he coughed and spluttered, wiping his soaked face with his sleeve, five figures tumbled out from their hiding place behind a bush, laughing uproariously.

"Sorry, my love," Daine grinned, hurrying forwards with Kitten at her heels. "Me and the children decided it was time to get you out of that study."

"And you couldn't possibly have thought of another way of doing it?" With a mischievous smile of his own, he pulled Daine into a rather soggy hug. She squealed in protest and attempted to squirm away, but he tightened his grip and held her fast against him.

"Less of that around your guests and children," George ordered sternly, although there was a gleam of amusement in his eyes. "Young Rikash wanted to stretch his Gift."

Numair looked over the top of Daine's head, seeking his son. While George and Sarra wore the same amused look as Daine, Rikash's face was alight with fierce pride that his spell had been a success. Putting aside his slightly ruffled pride at his soaking, Numair went to congratulate the boy. There would be plenty of time for lectures about improper uses of magic later.

It was around dusk when Numair found Rikash. The nine-year-old had been missing for the better part of the day, and a search of all his usual haunts hadn't revealed him. Surprisingly, when Numair did finally track him down he was in the stables. Rikash had a healthy respect for animals but he lacked the special bond they shared with his mother and sister, and whenever possible he avoided them. So why was he attempting to groom one of the most contrary looking horses in the stalls?

Numair was about to warn his son of possible danger when another figure approached. Sarra, clad in the casual gear she donned to go riding. Although she was three years his senior, she was less than an inch taller than Rikash, who had inherited his father's height. She snorted as she saw the brush in his hand. "Don't tell me you're going to try and groom her. She'll take your hand off."

Rikash dropped the brush as if it had scorched him. "I wasn't going to do anything," he snapped.

Sarra looked at him strangely before approaching the contrary horse and stroking her gently. She murmured to her in a voice too low for Numair to hear. Once she had finished, she turned to Rikash and asked, "Why did you want to groom her, anyway? I thought you hated horses."

"You better not have told mother that," he replied hotly. There was a slight pause, during which Sarra stared at him in wide-eyed confusion, before he said in a rush, "It's bad enough as it is, her spending all her time with you because you both like these beasts."

"Don't talk about them like that," Sarra cautioned. She frowned for a moment, thinking, before holding up a hand for silence and turning to stare at the horse. Numair knew that look well, had seen it thousands of times over the years when Daine silently conversed with her friends. After a minute Sarra stepped back and retrieved the discarded brush, handing it to her brother. "There," she announced. "She'll let you groom her now. Although I better show you how."