"It's A Boy"
Note: Roy gets used to Brinna being around, and they end up being quite a handful! Brinna brings home a little surprise...well, several little surprises. Cori has a story to tell. Fergus wonders if there is a way to boost one's immunity against cuteness. Oh, and the kids have potty humor, go figure. Trigger warning for mentions of death, both Fairy and animal. Not as bad as you might think, but still sad.
Okay, full disclosure...I'm terrible at math and working out timelines. So, instead of listing what year it is (unless it's important), I'll just say in an author's note how old Roy and his sister appear to be when compared to human children. In this chapter, they both look like they could be four or five, but their vocabulary is way beyond. They talk 'older' than they look, but act the way they look, if that makes any sense! (Edited to fix a mistake.)
"Chapter 8: Pumpkin"
Brinna sat up and looked out her bedroom window, and she saw that the sky was the dull blue of early morning. She fluttered her wings excitedly and tiptoed into her brother's room to wake him. Soon the sun would come up, and soon their mother would be home with more human stories. Maybe they could coax a few out of her before she turned in for the day!
Roy lay on his belly with his head turned to the side. His mouth was open, and he snored softly as his sister reached for his face. Her little hand hovered near his nose before she lightly pinched his nostrils shut.
SNORT!
"Hee hee!" Brinna fluttered her wings again as Roy grumbled and turned his head the other way.
"Go 'way, Brinna."
"Shhh! C'mon, let's go out and wait for Momma." Brinna whispered, poking his cheek over and over.
"Momma's working...stoppiiiiiit! I'm still sleepy..." He made a 'fly-shooing' motion with his hand and scooched away from her.
"Get up, or I'll tell Daddy who ate the leftover custard."
Roy glanced over his shoulder, eyes narrowed, though out of sleepiness or annoyance even he wasn't sure. "You wouldn't."
Brinna knew she had him now. She drew in a deep breath for a scream she never planned on actually giving, and when he covered her mouth she batted her eyes at him.
"You are such a pest...Go put your slippers on."
"Remember, if you're asleep when I come back, I'm telling on you." Brinna rapidly padded back to her own room.
Roy rubbed his eyes to rid them of the sleep sand, and he seriously considered going back to sleep, but he knew his sister would only start all over again. He doubted she would actually tell on him right away, because waking their father up at such an early hour would only get both of them in trouble, and he was more or less awake now. If she got disgusted with waiting and went out on her own, the 'bad man' they'd been warned about might come back. She would need her big brother there to keep her safe. And besides, he didn't want to be left out if she was going to bend the rules!
He got out of bed, put on his slippers and his jacket, and tiptoed downstairs to find Brinna waiting by the door. He took one look at her, rolled his eyes, then went back upstairs.
"Where're you going?" She whispered after him.
He didn't answer her because he was passing by their parents' room, but when he came back down again he had her jacket in his hands.
"I don't need a jacket."
"Yeah, you do."
"No, I don't."
"Just put it on."
"Don't be mean..." Brinna folded her arms.
"I'm not," he whispered back, "It's cold out."
"I'm not wearing it."
Roy pressed his lips in an exasperated line, but tossed the jacket over the back of a chair. "Well, if you get the Flux, don't cry and blame me."
"Okay!" She said brightly and turned to the door. She hesitated. They had never snuck out of the house before! There was a little voice in the back of her mind that said, 'this probably isn't a good idea', but she ignored it.
It was cold outside. Roy folded his arms and tapped his slippered foot while his sister doubled back for her jacket, a little smirk playing on his lips. When she sheepishly came back out, suitably bundled up, he wagged a finger at her and taunted in a sing-song voice, "Toooldja so, I toooldja so!"
Brinna stuck out her tongue, and they sat down near the front door to wait. She was reckless, but she wasn't stupid. The property line was quite a distance away, and she wasn't about to get kidnapped today, no sir! The 'bad man' could go kick rocks.
Roy yawned, then smacked his lips. His mouth tasted bad, and he wished he'd remembered to clean his teeth when he got up. Come to think of it, he also wished he'd remembered to go. Brinna seemed just fine! Maybe she went before she woke him up. He sighed, jiggled his leg a bit, and looked around for something to distract himself with. And then he spotted it.
A large beetle, rendered sluggish by the cold, trundled along on one of the roots of their tree house. He grinned to himself. Beetles had such funny wings! He thought Fairies might be safer if they had hard little shells to protect their delicate wings, but the thought of how they would look with large beetle shells on their backs made him giggle.
"What?"
"Oh...nothing." Roy suddenly got a wicked notion, and he carefully picked the beetle up by its carapace. As soon as Brinna looked the other way, he gently placed the beetle on top of her head.
It was a good five minutes before she felt something moving in her hair, and Roy had a terrible time keeping his laughter in while he waited. The beetle's sharp little legs were poking Brinna's scalp as it tried to flee the ensuing confrontation.
Upon realizing there was a large bug in her hair, Brinna's reaction was immediate. She drew in a huge gasp, brushed frantically at her sleep-tangled curls, and a moment later the beetle lay pathetically on its back with its legs waving in the air while Roy held his stomach and pointed at her. "Roy!"
"Ah-ah-ah, you'll wake Daddy!" Still laughing, Roy saw his sister's wings give an angry buzz, and he knew he was in for it. He zoomed up into the sky with Brinna in hot pursuit.
"I'm gonna pull your hair, and break all your toys, and tell Daddy about the custard, and-and...Oooh!" She screamed.
"Wow, you're really mad!" Roy was still laughing, but he wondered how empty those threats were, and he had no desire to have his hair pulled that morning or any other.
"You put a bug in my hair, Roy!"
"Ahahahahaha!" Roy's flight path wobbled as his laughter interfered with his flying, and Brinna nearly caught up to him. He swerved and flew in a different direction, always careful not to actually lead her off the property. Maybe she would get tired after a while, and forget about the whole thing...
He would have to stop laughing soon, though. He really had to go!
And then he spotted something on the ground. Crouched near a tree root, tail twitching, its eyes focused steadily on a flock of birds in the grass, was a very skinny gray tabby.
Roy slowed to a mid-air halt, unsure if he should stop the cat or if he should turn a blind eye. The poor thing did look very hungry, and it was nature's way...but he felt sorry for the birds, and...
And Brinna, who hadn't seen the cat, didn't stop in time to avoid colliding with her brother's back, and the two of them barrel-rolled to the ground. They weren't very high up, and they probably could have made a better landing if she hadn't latched on to him so that he couldn't get away, but at least she wasn't pulling his hair! They landed with a soft 'bump' a few yards away from the cat, whose hunt had just been spoiled. The birds scattered with a chorus of alarmed twittering, and the cat took fright and ran.
As they brushed themselves off and began to get up, Brinna shoved her brother from his kneeling position and onto his backside, but this was as far as she took her revenge. She was panting from their wild flight, and she wasn't really as angry as she'd sounded.
"Brinna!"
"Well, it was your fault!"
"No, it wasn't! Not my fault you can't look where you're going!"
"You're the one who put a bug in my hair!"
Roy folded his arms and haughtily looked away. "Hmph!"
Brinna did the same. "Hmph!"
They sat there for several minutes, giving each other the cold shoulder, and the sun began to peek over the horizon. Brinna broke first. She looked over at Roy, who hadn't moved, and she reached over to tickle his neck.
"Quit it."
"I'm sorry."
He looked over at her, wavering a little.
"Sorry you're such a grumpy-pants!" Brinna tickled him again, finally getting him to laugh, but before long Roy frantically begged her to stop before he squirmed away and bolted for the bushes.
"Hey!"
"Just stay over there for a minute!"
Realizing his trouble, Brinna covered her mouth to smother a giggle as she dutifully turned her back. He had gone out of sight, but just in case!
"Oh! Brinna, look! That cat had kittens!"
"You didn't pee on them, did you?" She asked, accusingly.
"No!" He shot back indignantly, but he was certainly glad he'd checked the thicket for animals first!
Brinna came over, and gasped as her heart melted.
No wonder that cat was so skinny! She had a litter of six kittens, about three weeks old. "Their Momma was trying to get food, but we scared her away..."
"Oh..." Brinna looked down, ashamed. The kittens had their eyes open, and one of them hissed softly. "Awww, no hissy...we won't hurt you."
Roy looked desperately around, and departed for the shelter of another bush. When he came back, Brinna was holding one of the kittens. "Put it down, Brinna, they're scared of us."
Brinna did as she was told, surprisingly, but she had come to an important decision, and she announced, "I'm going home to get them some food."
"Huh? But they're babies; they still drink milk."
But Brinna wasn't listening, and he sighed and followed after her. Their mother was probably almost home by now, and their father would be getting up soon, if he wasn't up already. Why hadn't they just waited inside? Well, he knew why. Brinna was very good at getting her way, and surely she knew that he wouldn't question it, as tired as he had been. "Hey!" He fluttered up alongside her, "Why didn't we just wait inside? We're gonna get in trouble now!"
"I'll tell 'em it was your idea." Brinna grinned, then shook her head when he glared daggers at her. "Or we could tell 'em we heard a noise."
He never got a chance to reply, because just as they were touching down their father scrambled out the front door, tying the drawstring of his trousers and wearing nothing more than that and his linen undershirt. There was a look of utter panic on his face, which turned an ugly brick red as soon as he spotted the young miscreants. "Roy! Brinna!"
"Uh-ohhh..." They muttered, looking down at the ground as their livid father charged out to get them. He had never frightened them before, not really, but now the look on his face unnerved them. It was an odd mix of residual fear, relief, and anger.
Fergus looked for all the world like he was about to do something his father might have approved of, but instead of physically disciplining them he dropped to his knees and pulled them into such a tight hug that they could hardly breathe. "You are never...ever...to leave the house without your mother's and my permission again. Never, ever, ever! Do you understand me?"
"Uh-huh..."
Fergus released them from the hug, but kept a firm grip on their shoulders. "You're not hurt? Did you see anyone? Did anyone talk to you?"
Roy and Brinna mutely shook their heads.
"What in the name of Oberon were you doing?"
"Um..." Roy looked at Brinna.
"Uh..." Brinna looked back at Roy. They looked back up at their father and shrugged.
"No. 'Um' and 'uh' aren't the answers I want to hear. Go inside."
Brinna remembered the kittens, and began to protest. "But..."
Fergus pointed at the open front door. "Now."
The children knew better than to argue, and they went inside without another word. Things were tense in the kitchen as Fergus got breakfast ready. He wouldn't let them leave the room, and when they complained about it he was unmoved. "I don't want to hear it. Sit right there and be quiet." Cori doesn't need this right now...
It had been a very difficult year for Cori. She was now officially the current Tooth Fairy, and on top of the loss of her mother, she had, in her mind, lost her looks. With the job came the automatic aging, to bring her to the physical age the very first Tooth Fairy had been when she had accepted her position on the Legendary Council. She now resembled a very well-preserved human lady of around forty-five to fifty, not an old crone by any means. She now looked slightly older than her husband, which was quite a reversal.
To Fergus, she was still just as beautiful as ever, but he had no idea how to comfort her. Not with something like this. He had always been the 'fixer', but her heart was utterly shattered, and that just wasn't something he could fix. Nor could he commiserate, because he had never known his mother, and his father was...well, his father. And now their children took it into their heads to do this!
Fergus looked up from stirring a large pot of porridge when the door opened and in walked Cori.
Cori hung up her coat and stretched before taking in the sight of them. No children had run up to greet her. Fergus hadn't said a word. And no one was smiling. "What happened?"
Fergus took the pot off the heat and went over to greet her with a quick kiss. "The children snuck out of the house, but they won't tell me why."
Brinna piped up, "That's because you were scary..."
Fergus closed his eyes and sighed. "I might have yelled a little..."
Brinna expected their mother to do what she usually did and tell him not to be so 'impatient' with them, but Cori's reaction to this clued her in on the fact that they just might have pulled a much bigger 'no-no' than she'd thought.
"I would have yelled, too." Cori fixed her children with a disapproving stare, but there was none of the smoke and bluster that Fergus had shown. "I'll prepare the fruit, dear. Children, come sit down. I want to tell you a story."
Fergus folded his arms. "Do they deserve a story?"
"They need to hear this one." Cori began to peel an autumn apple while her children fidgeted in their seats and waited to hear what she had to say. "Several years ago, on one of the nights I filled in for Gran, I was flying over Scotland."
"Where's that?" asked Roy.
"Shhh," Cori gently chided him. "Don't interrupt your Momma when she's talking."
"Sorry..."
"Quite all right. Now, the Scottish moors are beautiful, but they can also be very dangerous, especially at night. And that particular night, I saw a man and two boys, about ten and twelve, frantically searching for something. So, I used a little extra magic and made all of myself invisible, not just my wings. I flew down so that I could hear what they were yelling."
Roy and Brinna accepted it when their mother offered them each a curl of rosy red apple peel, and they held in their questions.
"They were searching for a little girl. She had followed her brothers without permission, but they did not know it. And now she was lost. To make matters worse, it was rainy and cold, and wolves were a very real concern. They would very much prefer to avoid humans, but survival being what it is, and children being as small as they were, they might not have left her alone. Of course, it's also possible that the alpha female of the wolf pack would have tried to adopt her. Such things have happened before."
Fergus returned the porridge to the heat and let his wife take over the task of minding the children, relieved that she was able to talk to them so calmly. After the scare they had given him, and his unfortunate but hopefully understandable reaction, he had no idea where her patience came from!
"And I thought of the two of you in that little girl's shoes; helpless, alone, and scared in the rain. I knew I had to do something. So, while they searched in one direction, I looked in another. And, eventually, I found her. Poor little thing...so cold and frightened!"
Roy felt bad. If something like that had happened to Brinna and himself, they would have at least had each other for comfort. That little girl had been all alone! Why, if he'd been there, he would have saved her, told her everything would be all right, and...oh, his mother was talking again.
"I couldn't show myself to them, but they were overjoyed to have her back, and hopefully she learned her lesson about wandering off. Now...you understand that what you did was very wrong, don't you?"
They nodded, and Roy spoke up. "But we didn't leave. We stayed in the 'safe spot'."
Cori looked up from chopping the apple into tiny cubes to be sprinkled into the porridge. "Your father didn't know that. All he knew was that he woke up, and the two of you were just gone. You have no idea how scary that is for a parent, and I pray you never have to find out. Children...you must promise me that you will never scare us like that again. Because if anything were to happen to you two, I don't know what I'd do."
Roy felt the full force of his shame as he heard his mother's voice shake, as if she were about to cry. Brinna began to sniffle. He hung his head and tried to swallow the lump in his throat. "M'sorry, Momma. I won't do it again, I promise."
Brinna was openly crying now, and Cori put aside the apple and the paring knife to take her onto her lap and hold her. She reached over and rubbed her son's back, not calling attention to the fact that he turned away to quickly wipe at his eyes. He always tried to be so brave!
"Brinna, promise Momma?" Cori whispered in her daughter's ear. Brinna nodded. "Good girl. Now! No one's been hurt, and you're safe at home. And I'm going to make sure it stays that way. You may not go out and play today."
"Aww, Momma..." Roy gave her a pleading look.
"No, I think you've both had enough adventuring for one day. Today, you can help your father around the house. Play quiet games. But no going outside. Today, you're both being punished."
"But we said we were sorry." Brinna protested.
"And I believe you. But sometimes being sorry isn't enough, and you must face the consequences of your actions. Now, go and wash up for breakfast. I don't want to hear another word about it."
Roy and Brinna trooped off to scrub their hands and faces, and Roy grumbled to his sister out of the corner of his mouth, "Toldja it was a bad idea."
"Did not."
He wasn't sure if he'd actually said that or not, but at the moment it made no difference to him. Breakfast was a quiet affair, and neither of them was very interested in their food that day.
Fergus sat by his bedroom window that evening, as was his custom. With two children to raise on a daytime schedule, and a wife who worked nights, he had begun to fully understand what it meant to be married to the Tooth Fairy. There was still family time after she woke up; a good five or six hours of it, until she had to leave for work. But he missed waking up beside her in the morning. He missed the freedom they'd once had. He missed her.
Cori stood at the mirror as she pinned her hair in a tight updo to keep it from blowing wildly in the wind. There wasn't much she could do about the wind half-blinding her at times, but perhaps in the future something would be invented to combat this. She caught sight of her reflection in the mirror and sighed. Then she covered the mirror by draping her nightgown over it.
"Cori?" Fergus looked over at her in concern. "Why did you cover the mirror?"
"I don't look like me anymore. I look in the mirror, and...all I see is an old woman staring back at me." Cori put her hands over her face, and she didn't resist when Fergus came over and took her in his arms.
"You do not look old. You're beautiful, inside and out." No...anything but the tears...
But of course, she was crying anyway. "I just miss her so much!"
She was talking about her mother, Fergus knew, and not her old reflection. "Shhh...I know. I miss her too." Fergus felt his eyes begin to sting. Oh well...it was just the two of them. He let a few tears fall, discreetly wiping them away so that she wouldn't see. This was so unbecoming of a man! His father would...
His father.
Cori felt him grow tense, and she stepped back and dried her eyes. "I'm sorry. I know you hate it when I cry."
He shook his head and offered her his handkerchief. "It isn't that." He sighed and looked out the window again as if hoping to catch a glimpse of something. Or someone.
Cori wasn't accustomed to seeing her husband look so rattled, but she was pretty sure her thoughts were more or less in line with his. "Tell me."
He began to pace, then stopped himself. "When I woke up and found their beds empty, I just...I thought he got in somehow. Or maybe they wandered out, and he was there and called them over, and..."
Cori pocketed the used handkerchief and nodded. "I know."
"Years ago, I made a promise...I promised myself that if ever had children, they would have nothing to do with him. He wouldn't know of them, he wouldn't see them, nothing. And I wasn't able to keep that promise. He knows where we are, and he knows about Roy, at least. And if you bring it up later, I'll deny ever saying it, but...I don't think I've ever been as afraid as I was today!" Fergus ran his hand through his hair, clenching his fingers involuntarily as he did so and pulling his hair a little bit.
Cori reached up and put her hand over his, prompting him to let go, and she smoothed his hair down again. "Neither have I."
"I need to find out where he is. If he still is. We can't live like this, Cori! I scared the children today, and all I could think about was...what if I'm turning into him?" Fergus shook his head and quickly turned away from her to maintain his emotional control. She would not see him be weak. She would not!
Cori understood what he was doing, and she didn't call attention to it. "The children are fine, husband. They were more upset about not being allowed outside today, and I stand by my decision there. They needed to understand that what they did was not only wrong, but dangerous. If I had been here when it happened, I might have yelled at them too. I will speak with Mother Nature as soon as I can. She's very busy and hard to track down at times, but I will."
Fergus nodded, but did not turn to face her.
"Fergus?"
"Hm?"
"You're not turning into your father. You're nothing like him."
Fergus shook his head, and he had to smile at that. How had it gone from him comforting her to the other way around? And she was right; their children hadn't exactly been traumatized by his reaction. Thinking back on their reaction, he wouldn't have put it any higher than 'mildly surprised'. He turned to her again and kissed her. "Precocious little scamps, aren't they?"
"'Scamps' is a good word for them, and I really like the word 'precocious'." she smiled, then stepped away from him. He didn't know it, but her own mother used to call her 'precocious' all the time! "Time to go."
Fergus closed the distance between them again and gently cradled her face in his hands. "You be safe out there."
"I will."
A few days later, Brinna woke Roy up again, much to his annoyance. But he was just plain appalled when he noticed he could feel the cold radiating off her from where she stood, more than a foot away. He opened his eyes and gaped at her. "You went outside, didn't you? We promised Momma! You lied."
Brinna shook her head vigorously, clutching her jacket in her hands. She had the corners and the sleeves pulled together to make a loose bundle, and from inside the bundle came a plaintive mew. "I didn't lie! I just...I wanted to...Here!"
Roy scooted back on his bed as she put the bundle down in front of him and began to open it up. He leaned away from it as if it had cooties. "Why is your jacket meowing?"
"They're in the jacket, stupid-head!"
When he saw what she had, he forgot to tell her not to call him a 'stupid-head'. "Where are the other three?"
Brinna shook her head. "I don't know. They weren't there. And the momma cat was...She won't wake up! And they were shivering because it's reeeally cold out there, and...I had to do something, just like Momma in her story, and I don't know where their family is, so I couldn't bring them there, so I brought them here, only now I'm scared because I did a naughty, and I don't want to get in trouble again, and maybe I won't if the kitties are safe, and I need your help, because Daddy doesn't like cats!"
Roy squinted, having trouble following her because of how quickly she rambled on, and when she paused to catch her breath he picked up the only orange kitten. He liked orange. "He doesn't have to know when you got them. And he doesn't like grown-up cats because they pee on things and kill rabbits. These ones drink milk."
"But-but-but we don't have a cow!"
Roy laughed. He couldn't help it.
Later that morning, under Fergus's watchful eye, the siblings made a show of going outside and coming back in again several times. Not unusual behavior for them, really. The last time they performed this little farce, they had the kittens concealed in their jacket pockets, safe and warm. They went just out of sight to where the kittens' nest had been, and to Roy's sadness Brinna had been right. Something bad had happened to the mother cat, and three of the kittens were gone.
Predictably, as soon as he lost sight of his children, Fergus called out to them. "No, you don't! Come back where I can see you!"
Roy nodded to his sister, and he and Brinna carefully removed the kittens from their pockets and hurried back to the house with them in their arms.
"What on Earth..." Fergus prevented them from going inside with the kittens. "Ohhh no, they cannot come inside. Give them back to their mother immediately."
"But Daddy..." Brinna pouted.
"No buts."
Roy looked down, and he didn't have to feign sadness. "She won't wake up."
Fergus's frown deepened, and he got a good look at the kittens. Their eyes and ears were open, but they were very young. Too young to eat solid food, he was sure. His conscience pricked him, and he put a hand on each child's shoulder. "Stay right there. Do not bring those cats inside."
They nodded, and Fergus flew over to where his children had been. His heart sank. From what he could see, some sort of animal had raided the nest, and the mother cat had given her life to protect them. He hoped she was successful. But now this left him with a problem. How could those kittens survive without their mother's milk?
Anwell.
Fergus rejoined his children and brought them inside. "All right. No, don't look so excited, we're not keeping them. If we have no other choice, we're going to care for them until they can eat meat, and then we will find homes for them."
Brinna looked crestfallen, but not defeated.
Roy glanced at her, and he knew what she was thinking. The kittens were in now, and now she had gained some ground with their stern father. And Brinna was very good at getting her way.
"We're taking a trip to Anwell's. He has cats. Maybe one of them is nursing a litter and will accept these three, and if not...maybe he'll know what to do." He looked around for something to put the kittens in, and settled on making a bundle out of one of Cori's tea towels. Catching their eyes when he did this, he put a finger to his lips. "Do not tell your mother about the towel..."
As it turned out, none of Anwell's cats had kittens at the moment, which left Fergus with no choice but to go for option number two. They would hand-feed the kittens themselves. Anwell had too much work to do, harvesting autumn produce and such, so he couldn't do it. But he did give Fergus a small crock of goat's milk to take home, saying that he had raised kittens on this before, and that it should work.
Fergus did not want these cats in his home, and he did not want the added responsibility of caring for them. On the other hand, he wasn't heartless, and he couldn't just let three helpless kittens starve, could he? Plus, he figured that it might be a good lesson for the children about caring for others. And, most importantly, it would keep them in the house. So, he warmed up a small portion of the milk on the stove and showed his children how to get the kittens to take it.
It wasn't very successful at first! The kittens were not fooled by a dish cloth, no matter how clean, with one corner dampened with this strange-smelling milk. To say that it was not well received would have been an understatement! Then one of them grew hungry enough to try it, and when the others saw her curl her little orange paws around the cloth Fergus held to her muzzle, they all decided that they needed to be included. Before long, all three kittens were full and happy again.
Fergus was not best pleased with having to tend to the kittens' potty needs afterwards, as Anwell had told him they would have to do at each feeding, and the children refused to do it because it was 'icky'. He let them have that one; they had a point.
They would also have to do this every few hours around the clock, which Fergus had thought the children would probably get tired of after a while. Surprisingly, though, they didn't. Roy usually needed a few extra minutes to get himself fully awake, but he was there, sleepy-eyed and smiling. They enjoyed caring for 'their kitties', and soon Cori was in Fergus's ear about maybe keeping one of the little fluffballs.
"Why can't the children have a little pet? They've proven that they can be responsible, haven't they? They've never missed a feeding." Cori pleaded.
Fergus snorted. "It's been nearly a week now. How long can their attention hold? And I'm tired of wiping cat bottoms. Stop laughing; it isn't funny."
"I'm sorry, dear. But they hardly ever get to see Connor and Siobhán, because they hardly ever get to leave the property. They're lonely and bored, and...Oh, Fergus, don't you think, maybe..."
"No, Cori, I don't. As soon as they're weaned, those cats have to go."
Neither of them realized that Brinna was listening at the door.
Roy looked up from watching the kittens nap in their basket, and he tensed when his sister came charging in with tears streaking her face. "Whatsa matter?"
"Daddy's getting rid of the kitties!"
Roy felt his heart sink, but he wasn't surprised. Their father had been saying it all along, so he hadn't let himself get too attached. Well...for the most part. He went over and hugged her, looking determined. If it was just him, he probably would have griped and whined at first, but eventually he would have accepted it. But, as annoying as she sometimes was, Roy hated to see his sister cry. It made him feel very...something he didn't know the word for, but it made him want to cry too, and he didn't do that anymore.
He couldn't let this happen.
Fergus broke the news to them that night when the children were feeding the kittens, and he received no help from Cori. She was very much against this decision, and she made her feelings quite plain with her refusal to help him break their children's hearts. She was currently out working, and glad of the excuse not to see him at the moment.
Brinna's lower lip began to tremble as the final verdict was delivered.
"Now, I'm sorry, but that's just how it is. They mark their territory, and when they grow up they'll hunt rabbits. You know how your mother feels about that."
"Nooo, Daddy!" Brinna cried in despair, having lost the match in the final round.
Roy noticed that his father didn't correct her for crying, and he felt a little stab of resentment...but he also felt the same way she did about the kittens, and he didn't like to see her upset. He looked down at the little orange kitten on his lap; his favorite one. He gently picked the kitten up under the armpits, prompting an indignant squeak as its feed was briefly taken away. He held her up for Fergus to look at, as if he hadn't seen her many times already. "Um...maybe not this one?"
"Mew!"
"Roy..."
The little boy got to his feet and drew himself up as he addressed his father with as much firmness and dignity as he could muster. "This one is Pumpkin. And...well...she's orange. And we love her."
I told them not to name them. Fergus frowned down at the kitten, then looked at his son's grave little face, at his daughter's teary eyes, and allowed himself to think, for the first time that week, 'Why am I doing this?'
Why was he really denying his children a pet? He didn't hate cats. Actually, he had wanted one when he was about their age, but his father had forbidden it. He had forgotten how it had felt, and now it came creeping back in. Brandel had said no just because he could. Which was really why Fergus was saying no, wasn't it? It wasn't done out of cruelty, but that was still what it was; a denial, just because, and without even weighing all the options. And he hadn't even realized it.
"Mew!" Pumpkin craned her neck to look for her dinner. "Mew!"
Too much cute. Fergus sighed in defeat. "Pumpkin stays." Brinna immediately began to bawl, and Fergus picked her up, thinking she had misheard him. "I said 'Pumpkin stays'. She can stay."
"I-I-I kno-o-owww!"
Fergus looked mildly exasperated as he patted her on the back. "Then what's the matter now?"
"I'm happy! Thank you, Daddy! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Brinna gave him a teary kiss on the cheek, already quieting down as he let her go. She sniffled and wiped her face as she watched him leave the room, probably to ponder how he had gotten suckered into this.
Roy, who had watched this whole exchange with a look of severe confusion on his face, shook his head as he dipped Pumpkin's dinner cloth into the bowl of milk and gave her the food she was meowing for. "Girls are so weird..."
Brinna did not appreciate this comment, and answered it with one of her own. "Boys are stinky."
"I don't stink!"
"You do too!" Brinna held her nose and waved her hand in front of it. "Peeew! Go take a bath!"
Roy lifted his chin, all injured dignity. "I already took a bath tonight."
"Maybe Daddy farted."
"Maybe you farted!"
At that, they burst into giggles. Then, from down the hall, Fergus's voice (clearly controlling his own amusement at this little tiff) floated back to them. "I don't care for that word, you two."
They smothered their giggles, shushing each other, and got back to the important business of feeding the kittens.
Note: Little disclaimer here...I was looking up formula alternatives for kittens, because I doubt they had formula in the 1500's, so giving kittens goat's milk? It would probably be fine, based on what I found, but check with your vet first! I got it off the internet, and this is just a story, not a how-to for raising orphaned kittens. XD