I promised Maxmerica fluff and that I will deliver - even if they're not in this chapter.
Photo #38: Always Tugging
Eadlyn knows that the story of her parents' Selection contained a lot of secrets - especially between the two of them. One of the secrets the kids wanted to know about was the action of ear tugging her parents would often do. It was a small and subtle gesture with a bigger meaning behind it.
The next photo is a miniature collage of candid shots of her mother or her father subtly tugging their ear at each other with loving smirks on their faces.
Eadlyn and her brothers wanted to know the story and significance behind it and they found out the hard way.
-o-
"Eady, Ahren, Kaden!" Osten calls, running through the palace in search of his siblings. Every time he shouted a new name, the volume of his voice increased by a lot.
Eventually, the rest of the Schreave kids find their yelling brother and ask him at once what he wants. Osten, with their father's camera, begins showing them a series of pictures.
"Does Dad know you have that?" Eadlyn asks him, suspicious of something.
"No, but this is important," Osten replies.
The pictures the youngest Schreave shows his siblings is a variety of candid shots of their parents doing the same action in different scenarios: tugging their ears at each other. The other kids are curious on two things: what that gesture means and where these pictures came from. The only answer they currently have is that Osten took the pictures while sneaking around.
"That's weird," Kaden says.
"Very," Ahren adds. "Why do they tug their ears so much?"
"And why at each other?" Eadlyn adds.
The Schreave kids relocate from the middle of the hallways to Eadlyn's room. They figured it would be easier to think while sitting on a comfortable bed in silence and hope not to run into their parents and have them asking questions.
"You two have been alive longer," Kaden says to Eadlyn and Ahren, lying in the middle of her bed. "Have you two ever seen them do this?"
Eadlyn and Ahren look at each other. Their heads tilt in sync as they mouth the same question to each other. Since they both had to ask, they look at Kaden and shake their heads.
"Maybe it's a royalty thing," Osten guesses.
"We're royal as well," Eadlyn says. "Wouldn't we know that?"
Osten nods, remembering that. Eadlyn sighs as Ahren takes a seat at her desk. Kaden looks up at the ceiling, thinking of possibilities.
That goes on for another five minutes.
Kaden sits up and takes the camera. He looks at the series of photos again, being conscious to analyze every detail and make sure not to miss even the slightest (even if it ends up being completely irrelevant to the mystery). Osten, Eadlyn, and Ahren gather around their brother and peek over his shoulders.
"Maybe it means something special," Kaden starts, "you know, something that nobody can know about. Not even us."
"But I want to know," Osten whines.
"Me too," Eadlyn and Ahren add, not sounding as desperate.
Kaden sighs. "Or maybe it means the unspeakable."
"Like what?" Eadlyn and Ahren ask cautiously, looking at each other in pure fear of what their brother claims as the unspeakable.
Kaden shrugs. "You tell me. I'm only twelve."
The twins hesitate, nudging at each other to take on this topic to a curious Kaden and a listening Osten. There was a reason the unspeakable went by that term - so nobody would speak about it. Eadlyn and Ahren shake their heads, choosing to remain silent about that and leave it as unspoken.
"Moving on..." Ahren mutters awkwardly with a little voice crack. He clears his throat. "Maybe ear tugging is similar to a letter I wrote to Camille."
"I don't see a postage stamp on their ears," Osten says, needing the camera to verify that fact.
Ahren facepalms. "Not a physical similarity, Osten, a metaphorical one." He takes a breath. "Maybe it's a non-verbal gesture of love."
The siblings all nod in agreement. That explanation seemed the most plausible since their parents' expressions in the pictures always had passion - well, their faces always did when the other was involved.
"Okay," Eadlyn says, "now that is solved. Osten, put dad's camera back where you found it. Carefully."
The Schreave siblings exit Eadlyn's bedroom where they run into Marlee.
"Miss. Marlee!" Osten exclaims, getting her attention.
The other kids try calling their brother back but he's already running up to her. Osten shows Marlee the same photos and Marlee gasps in pure awe. The others join him and Marlee.
"These photos are so cute!" Marlee exclaims, taking the camera for herself to get a better look.
"Miss. Marlee, what does the ear tugging mean?!" Osten pleads, tugging on the skirt of her dress. "I need to know!"
Marlee laughs a little as she thinks back to all those years that have gone by. "When your parents were in their Selection, the gesture of ear tugging was used for when they needed to talk to each other. In private. It was so your father's favoritism towards your mother wouldn't stand out and make the other girls suspicious or envious - even though they were only platonic when this started. I had no idea they still do this to this day."
Eadlyn, Ahren, and Kaden smile at the new knowledge. Osten, on-the-other-hand, just blinks with despair on his face.
"That's it?!" Osten yells. "That's all it means?!"
I'm sorry to all you youngsters out there who do not understand, but I am not explaining to you what the unspeakable is.
Stay Tuned - a little self-promo never hurt anyone.
