Story Summary: Making pictures out of clouds.

Ages: Matt (8) Rhen (11) Lilah (11)

Cloud Pictures

"Whatcha doin', Mommy?"

Vala looked up from her prone position on the grass to smile up at Matthew. "I'm making pictures with the clouds. Care to join me?"

"Okay!" Matt said excitedly and settled himself between Vala's legs. Wrapping her arms around the boy, Vala sighed in contentment, more than a little aware that, in a few years, he wouldn't want to cuddle with his mother. She'd decided to cherish moments like these as much as possible, for as long as possible.

"Look, Mommy, it's a dinosaur!"

"That's no dinosaur, Matty." Rhen told him as she came to settle beside them. "It's a dragon. See, it's spitting fire."

"I think you're right, darling." Vala said with a smile. "It does rather resemble the dragon I once met."

"You met a dragon?" Matt asked incredulously.

"Well, not so much met as your father tried to steal its treasure, it attempted to incinerate us then chased us out of its mountain."

"It breathed fire?"

"Of course, it did. What self-respecting dragon doesn't breathe fire?"

"Guys, she's telling a story." Lilah broke in, rolling her eyes at her gullible siblings. "Dragons aren't real."

"This one most certainly was." Vala only grinned when Lilah quirked an eyebrow in disbelief. "You don't believe me, ask your father. Better yet, as Uncle Cameron. He tells the story the best."

"Hmm," was all Lilah said in return.

"C'mon, Li, can't you just go with it?" Rhen asked her twin in exasperated amusement.

"But it's not real."

"That's what you said about Santa a few years ago." Rhen laughed as her sister's eyes bugged out and she spluttered. "Relax, Li, and sit down."

With a scowl on her face, Lilah sat on the other side of her mother, far away from her sister.

"Look, Matty, it's a frog. Looks a little like Atticus, don't you think?" Rhen said excitedly.

"And look, it's Cleopatra. Oh no, she's gonna eat Atticus!"

"Naw, Cleo's a vegetarian," his sister assured him.

Vala laughed at the reasoning, shaking her head. No one could say her children lacked imagination. Well, except for... "Lilah, why don't you give it a try?"

"This is stupid. They're just clouds, which are merely particles of water-"

"Yes, I know, darling." Vala sighed. Someone's been spending too much time with Aunt Samantha, she thought. "Use your imagination."

"I don't have one."

"Of course, you do. It's just a little dusty, that's all."

"Rusty, Mom." Lilah corrected, sounding exactly like her father.

"Thank you, dear. Now, give it a go."

"Fine," the girl said with a mutinous look on her face. "I guess that one kinda looks like a DNA sequence."

Silence followed as Vala, Rhen, and Matt turned as one to study the indicated cloud. Their heads all twisted side-to-side as they tried to see what Lilah did.

"I don't see it." Rhen said after nearly contorting her body upside-down.

"See, I told you I was no good at this."

"Nonsense. You just see the world differently than most and there's nothing wrong with that."

"But I don't want to be different."

"We're all different in our own ways, Lilah. No two people see the world the same way, but that's okay. It's what makes you who you are. And I love who you are. I love who you all are." she said, making sure to include all three children. "Okay?"

"Okay." Lilah said with a smile as she curled into her mother's side. "I love who you are, too, Mom."

Vala smiled and kissed the top of Lilah's head, then did the same with Rhen and Matt before returning her focus to the sky. "Now, let's see what other pictures we can see."

The End