A/N: Hello! And once again I must apologize for the ridiculous amount of time it took for me to get another chapter out! Everything's fine; life was just stupid busy and complicated for a while, and I had less time to write than I had hoped. And when I had the time, I didn't have the energy. And also, I couldn't figure quite out how I wanted to tie the end of this chapter into what I have planned for the next one. :/ Ah, well.

In any case, have another chapter, albeit kind of a short one, and I SWEAR I haven't abandoned this fic, and won't.

No warnings; just a nice little slice of life. :) Enjoy! ~Kryss

Chise held Thistle upright, little pinkish hands gripped tight about her mother's forefingers as Chise gently held her wrists, helping her to stand. Thistle seemed unconvinced about the whole thing.

"Come on," urged Ruth, crouched on the far side of the hearth, tail wagging furiously, "You can do it!"

Thistle leaned forward a bit against Chise's hands and lifted one foot; but put it back down again.

"Come on, Thistle! Ganbatta!" Chise pulled her a little further forward; Thistle, off-balance, was forced to take a step. "That's right! Good girl!"

Thistle allowed herself to be dragged forward another few steps, before clearly deciding she'd had enough. "Na!" She tried to let go of Chise's hands, and sit down; Chise started to automatically lower her before she paused, her grip tightening again.

"What was that, Thistle?"

"Na! Na!" Thistle pulled harder and began to kick.

"Ruth! Did you hear that? —All right, Azami, don't fuss." She set her down, finally letting go.

Thistle slapped the floor with both hands and glared up at her Mum. "Na!" she shouted one last time, in a piping voice, before giving a huff and stalking off on all fours, feathers bristling, doing her best to stamp.

As she reached the hall, the front door opened, and Elias stepped inside, flipping back his veil as he did so. "Mrs Whitby will require a slightly larger dose next time, Chise," he said by way of greeting. "Hello, Thistle!"

He swept her up for a hug, but she, legs stiff and furious, yelled, "Na!" in his face. He almost dropped her in surprise, and she wasted no time in wriggling out of his grasp.

"Thistle—Thi—stop—hold still! Azami! Stop it!" He managed to juggle her safely to the floor again and turned a baffled face to Chise as Thistle hurried into the kitchen. "Chise, what…?"

"Congratulations, Elias," Ruth said dryly, joining them as they heard a distant Na! "You were just in time to hear her first word."

"Her first word? Really?"

Chise looked pained. "I… think she means 'no'."

Elias looked thoughtful as Chise released an irritated Thistle again, and patted his lap for his daughter. She huffed, but climbed up. "I don't think it's a question of her overall balance," he mused. "Or her strength."

"Yes, she's sitting on your lap just fine, isn't she?" Chise sighed, taking her usual seat on the sofa beside them. Thistle, hands tucked neatly between her knees, looked from Chise to her father.

"I suspect it's more that her paws aren't really enough to keep her properly upright."

Thistle stuck a foot out, wiggling her toes.

"That's right, Thistle. Your feet aren't big enough for you to balance upright on, are they?"

Chise looked confused. "But you can balance just fine on yours."

"Mm, yes, in some forms. But not when I'm shaped like her. My legs…" He paused, lifting his head and dropping his jaw slightly in thought. "They don't sit at the right angle to my torso, and the tail is in the way. It's too long and thick," he added at Chise's frown. "See, she can sit upright on my lap now because it's folded under her; but that can't happen when she's trying to stand."

"But how can she learn to walk, then?"

"She's walking fine now," Ruth pointed out.

"I mean upright!"

"Don't worry, love," Elias said, reaching over to rest a reassuring hand on her head. "I think the odds are good that this will not be her only form."

"Na," agreed Thistle, wiggling down from his lap. She trotted to the sofa, and hauled herself up.

"I wish you wouldn't do that," Chise sighed, lifting her onto her lap. "I'm always afraid you're going to rip it one of these days. And then what would Silky say?"

"Na!"

"Yes, probably."

Thistle leaned in for a nuzzle, her eyes curving. "Na," she said softly, and patted Chise's cheeks. "Na-na."

Chise nuzzled her back. "Na-na," she agreed.

"Na-na?" Elias echoed. "Do you mean 'Mama'?"

"Na-na!" Thistle said happily.

"Mama!" Chise said, smiling from ear to ear in delight. "I'm her second word!"

Elias adjusted her on his lap so she was facing him a bit more directly. "Now, Azami," he started, and she looked up at him with interest. "Your body is a mix of Mama and me. So you have her green eyes, and her hands, but my face and legs and tail, right now."

Thistle poked at her hands for a minute, looking thoughtful, then patted her nose, squinting cross-eyed, before reaching up to pat Elias's. "Na," she said, doubtfully.

"I know, but it's true. So. This is the shape you were born in, and have been using, so it will likely feel the most comfortable to you."

Thistle was poking her fingers again, apparently losing interest.

"And it is a very good body! It's very capable. But it isn't very good at balancing on two legs, is it? —Pay attention, Azami!"

She looked up, tilting her head at him.

"I'm going to show you how to change your body when you want to, so you can stand like Mama and I usually do. This sort of shape is easier to balance in." He wiggled her toes, making her giggle. "These are very cute, but you need longer feet, and less tail. So. I want you to reach inside yourself with your mind, and feel the shape of your foot. Feel the pads, and your claws…" He gently stroked each bit he named, drawing her attention to it. "Feel the fur over your skin… Can you feel the shape of it?"

Thistle sat fairly still, her distant gaze dimming.

"Can you feel how your foot might be a different way, too? To look more like Mummy's? Just fine little hairs instead of fur, and toenails instead of claws, no pads, your foot long and flat…" His voice was low and droning, as if he were trying to lull her to sleep. "That foot might feel like Mummy to you, too. Can you feel it? Can you push at your foot with your mind so it's shaped like that foot instead of this one..?"

"Do you have any idea why she can't shift yet?" Chise kept her voice low, not wanting to disturb Thistle, snoring softly in her crib. "Do you remember how old you were when you first changed your shape?"

Elias sighed, his hands tightening briefly on his pillow as his eyes grew distant. "I'm not even sure if the first time I remember changing my form was the first time I did it. Certainly I don't remember learning how to change." His eye drifted to meet hers as she gave his hand a commiserating squeeze. "Do you remember learning how to walk?"

"Not really," she admitted. "More just snippets of being carried when I was too little to walk very far." Mentally prodding Ruth to see if he, too, was still awake, she asked the same of him.

Shifting? Walking? Neither, he sleepily replied. How do you teach someone to blink? You just do it. Or you don't.

"No ideas from Ruth, either, I take it?" Elias wryly confirmed, recognizing her expression.

"No." Chise paused, then asked, a hair too diffidently, "Do you think it would help to take her into the woods? Out to the pond, perhaps? Or the stump? Perhaps being in more natural surroundings..?"

Elias looked aside, his shoulders stiffening slightly. "I still don't think it's a good idea to bring her out past the wards, yet. You're both such tempting targets…"

"We don't have to do this alone, you know." Chise gently stroked his back, feeling him relax slightly under her touch. "There's likely to be help, if we ask for it."

"You know you can't trust them, nor their help. Their so-called 'kindnesses'."

"Shannon did do a lot to help—"

"Shannon was raised as a human. The others weren't."

"Still, if we were careful, and stayed on this side…"

"Asking for help from the fae, though; there's no way to do that safely."

"What if they were to offer help?"

Elias snorted, then froze as Thistle's snoring stopped. Their eyes met in the wide-eyed fear shared by parents of young sleeping children the world over.

After what seemed like an eternity, and the soft sounds of a slight shuffle, her slow breathing swept through the darkness once more. The parents relaxed.

"Sorry," Elias whispered. "But as I was about to say, accepting unasked-for proffered help might be even more dangerous than asking for it in the first place."

"Potentially," Chise allowed. "But Titania does like you, you know."

"She likes you. She tolerates me. Which is more than any of the rest of them have ever done."

"Still, if she agreed, she'd be a powerful protector. And none of the rest would go against her."

"I suppose."

"And you know," Chise murmured, nuzzling his cheek with a smile, "Oberon is fond of you as well."

Elias huffed, careful, this time, to do so quietly. "Oberon just enjoys pestering me."

"He does. That's how he shows it."

"Well. We'll see."

A/N: Hey, did a little comic of Thistle a bit ago. You can see it on my fanfic writing Tumblr:

krysslabryn-fanfic. Tumblr (dot com) post/190295910800/thistle-comic

~Kryss