Completed Playing in the Snow (Aidara)

[Sira]

Playing in the Snow Timestamp: 88th of Winter Sira and Addy each held a tiny hand as they walked together through the snow, their young daughter growing so much faster than anyone could have anticipated. Well, they might have not anticipated it had the mother been anyone other than Sira, but everyone had been expecting their child to be a Wind Eagle kelvic.. despite the fact that kelvic and human couplings rarely ever gave birth to a kelvic. It was usually kelvic and kelvic, and even then there was no guarantee that the child would match it's parents. In this case, kelvic and human had produced kelvic. A beautiful little redhead by the name of Natalie, Sira and Aidara's daughter. Natalie couldn't walk in the deep snow by herself, so really Sira and Addy were just carrying her as they talked and played together. They were soon joined by another, a young man. No, he wasn't the father, though he did bear some resemblance to the young Natalie. He was in fact Sira's brother, Toby Nakaro, twin to Kavik. Toby was by far Sira's favorite of the two, even though she rarely ever got to see her brother. Kavik was surly and could be downright mean to Sira at times, he hadn't even told her when their mother passed away. But Toby had always been kind to Sira. The only reason she never saw him is because he was a traveler. He spent most of his time with his eagle flying to other cities to deliver messages, people, or goods, and when he returned to Wind Reach he usually spent his time resting rather than hunting. So really Sira didn't get to see much of the younger of the two twins. But he was back and had sought Sira out to meet his new niece, and to finally meet the love of Sira's life whom he'd heard so many rumors about. The rumors didn't disappoint either, for Addy was truly a beauty, and Toby couldn't help but be a bit jealous of his younger sister. Not that it would have made a difference, he didn't have time for relationships with all the traveling. Toby's life was a lonely one, which was perhaps why he had always been kind to Sira growing up. Until Aidara, Sira had been alone as well. "Toby," Sira shouted happily when she spotted the young man approaching. Scooping up her daughter and grabbing Addy by the hand she dragged the woman along behind her as she ran forward to meet her brother. "Sira, it's good to see you again. And who is this little beauty?" Toby bent to nuzzle the child in Sira's arms before extending his embrace to include Sira, holding her for just a moment before relasing and taking a step back. Toby had a gentle look about him, so unlike his twin who was to Toby as Sairque was to Addy. Except that the difference between Aidara and Toby was experience. Toby had seen the world, or at least most of Kalea, and witnessed many things both wonderful and terrible. It showed in his eyes, a strange peace, almost even a saddness. But he was happy at that moment, and that's what's mattered. "Toby, it's so good to see you again. It's been too long. This is Natalie, and this is Aidara," Sira motioned to her love as she said her name. "A pleasure to meet you, my lady," her brother responded, taking Addy's hand and giving it a gentle kiss. It was something he'd picked up in Alvadas, and a favorite of his. It always seemed to win over the ladies, not that he was trying to win anything from Aidara per se. But he was still a flirt. Like brother like sister. "And how are you enjoying life with my little sister, anyway? She hasn't driven you insane yet, has she?"

[Aidara]

Addy couldn't remember the last time that she had laughed so much. But even with the muscles in her cheeks protesting, she simply couldn't stop smiling.

"Silly girl! What are you doing?" At the moment, she was bouncing her feet up and down on top of the tightly packed snow, squealing shrilly in delight each time her feet made impact. Addy and Sira were holding their child upright as they tromped through the snow. Looking more like a solid ball of clothing than a little girl, Natalie had more fun than both the woman combined despite the harsh nip of the winter winds. Thanks to her mothers support, Natalie hovered only a few inches above the ground, which allowed her this display of childlike glee.

Tearing her gaze from the toddler between them, Addy beamed up at Sira. " We have a daughter. Who would have thought?" It was a question the little healer asked at least once a day, sometimes in exasperation, while other times in complete awe, as if she had to say it out loud or she still wouldn't believe it.

It was true that she was growing twice as fast as any other child Addy had ever seen, but in the whirlwind that has been their live since the birth, the women didn't really have the time to discuss in detail exactly why their little girl was growing by leaps and bounds. Never having expected that their daughter could be Kelvic, the thought had actually never even crossed Addy's mind, she was woefully undereducated on the subject. Luckily, no one thus far had gathered the nerve to ask the two blissful women about it. It seemed no one wanted to point out that Sira and Addy's strange pregnancy had produced a strange child.

"Toby!" The call pulled the little woman's gaze up from where it had fallen to watching her child gape at an Eagle that circled far overhead. Sighting the tall, lean man that strode across the snowy courtyard towards them, Addy glanced at Sira, then to Toby and back again. She had heard little of Sira's brothers and she had never met them either, but the resemblance between the two was unmistakable.

Bending to retrieve Natalie so that her love could enjoy the reunion with her brother burden free, Sira beat her too it. Balancing their child on her hip and catching Addy's had before whisking her forward, Sira looked absolutely exuberant, her smile evoking a dimpled one of her own as Addy was dragged forward.

"It's a pleasure, Toby." Flushing from more than the wind, which had whipped her cheeks to a bright red, Addy leaned towards Sira, pretending to talk behind her free hand, though Toby could hear her clearly. "A suave one. No wonder you kept him away." An appreciative glance along the tall mans form before Addy dropped the act and curtseying gracefully over the hand that he still held.

"She has her moments. I have almost pushed her off the nearest cliff a couple times, just to be rid of her." Laughing at Sira's outraged expression, Addy plowed forward. "But knowing that she would be able to make a comeback from that somehow makes it all worse." Dodging a swipe from the Kelvic woman, Addy waggled a finger and chided. "Not in front of Natalie. You'll be teaching her bad manners." As if on que, Natalie, who had been studying Addy's face, scowled and waved her hands as she tried to mimic her mothers motions. Laughter erupted all around the little girl, causing her face to break out into a grin, the slight hint of dimples in her cheeks.

"What brings you here? Lets get out of this wind." Once they caught their breath, the little group turned towards the nearest covered hallway, shelter from the biting cold.

[Sira]

"I'm just returning from the Spires," Toby responded to Aidara's question as the four of them moved to a more pleasant place to stand and talk. Of course Natalie didn't want to leave, crying out as they ventured away from the snow. "Oh, alright, alright," Sira muttered at the whining child as she set her down on the snow once they neared the corridor. "But if you fall under I'm not pulling you out." Natalie just stuck her tongue out at Sira before turning and running circles in the snow, delighting in how each step left a small footprint powder. "Silly girl." Sira turned her attentions back to Addy and Toby, keeping one eye on her child just in case she strayed to far from the entrance. Luckily Natalie didn't seem to be going anywhere, however. She was content to start rolling the now around into a large ball. Sira thought to herself she might later help Natalie build a snowman, but for now it was time for grownups to talk. "The Spires? Where is that?" "It's a place far across thunder pay in a jungle of trees as tall as mountains and beasts the size to match. Home of the Jamoura, big furry men and women who apparently are extremely smart. I was delivering a message to their leaders. But now I'm back, until they send me away again." Sira nodded, finding it hard to imagine trees as tall as mountains, but she'd seen stranger things in her life. "Well, it's good to have you back. Natalie needs to know her family while she's still young.. however long that will be." Sira glanced over at her daughter. Was she just imagining it, or had she actually grown bigger than she was just two chimes ago? No.. she had to just be imagining it. Sira and Addy had both pretty much ignored the massive growth spurt their daughter was having, but Sira knew what it meant. She'd been the same way. Natalie was not Inarta, that much was for certain. "So.. anyway.. I've been wanting to ask you something." "Yeah? Ask me anything." "Where is my father?" That surprised the endal. Sira could see it in Toby's face, and she could also see that he knew something. At first Toby stammered over the question, he claimed he didn't know, but Sira wouldn't believe it. "No, you were never good at lying. You know something. Where is he?" Finally Toby resigned himself with a sigh. "I don't know where he is.. but I do know his name. But if I tell you.. you have to promise me you wont go looking for him." Sira frowned, then glanced over at Natalie, then back to Toby. "But.." "No buts, you can't go looking for him, okay. You just have to trust me on his." "But... oh, alright. I wont look for him," Sira finally relented, shooting a glance at Addy. Toby may not have recognized the look in his sister's eyes, but Aidara sure did. She had every intention of looking for him. "Now tell me, what is his name?" OOCAnd the name will be revealed in... the next post!

[Aidara]

The procession through the courtyard had pretty much come to a halt by the time they reached the center. Surrounded by snow that was swept into uneven mounds by the win, the four figures were dwarfed by the white, wintery landscape.

Natalie, just barely able to stand on her own, left the ball she had been rolling and pulled against Addy's supporting hand, her own little one reaching desperately towards the nearest drift. Little mewls and whines bubbled from the little girls lips though the healer ignored them at first as she listened to Toby talk, offering her daughter a quiet Shhhh in hopes of calming her down.

Jamoura! Addy's mind immediately flew to that day in the forest, when she had gone off on her own in search of a falcon to tame; something that should have lasted only hours had strung Addy along well into the evening, leaving her with more than just a story to tell. The mention of the strange race piqued the woman's interest, as she hadn't been able to find out much information on the Jamoura after that incident in the wild. But of course, since children have the best timing in the world, Natalies little whimpers began to escalate into a bubbling cry that Addy could no longer ignore.

"Shhhh, Natalie! Mommy is talking to Uncle Toby, and it is not nice to interrupt." Neither she nor Sira knew how much Natalie could really understand but it had quickly become evident that the child was a Kelvic; they just didn't know what kind. The fact still remained that the child was smarter than a normal toddler was... in some things, at least.

As Addy knelt to her daughters level, the little girl's cry immediately cut off and a smile spread across her rosy, wind-bitten face. Gurgling happily, the child turned and reached for the snow again. Obliging her daughters obvious whim, Addy helped walk her over to the snow where Natalie, without hesitation, picked up a handful and shoved it into her own face. Yes. She was brilliant.

At first, there was no reaction, the child's eyes round globes of surprise which melted with the snow, quickly morphing as the cold registered. With her tiny face screwing up as Natalie readied herself to cry at the top of her lungs, Addy
couldn't intervene quickly enough to head off the storm of tears. Admitting defeat, the little woman scooped up the dripping and sobbing baby and cradled her against her chest. With soft shushes and warm cooing noises, Natalie was bounced lightly and rocked; it was almost a fruitless gesture but one every mother was familiar with. By the time her attention returned to to Sira and Toby, the conversation had moved on.

"But..oh, alright, I won't look for him.. Now tell me, what is his name?"

Red flags immediately went off in Addy's head, catching onto the topic immediately. Stepping forward and closing the gap she had left to give the brother and sister some amount of privacy, Addy reached out with the hand that wasn't supporting their daughter and rested it lightly on Sira's arm. Before Toby could respond, and when Sira looked her way, Addy allowed a frown to flicker over her face; a light disapproval, most of her alarm hidden well behind her features.

"Sira, are you sure about this?" Green eyes searched those yellow ones for a moment before flickering to Toby. "I... don't know about this. Is it really necessary to know?" Unsure why it was even there, Addy couldn't ignore the little wiggle of fear in her stomach.

[Sira]

Sira frowned at Addy's words. Why wouldn't she want to know the name of her own father? It was her right, wasn't it? What did they have to be worried about, anyway? It wasn't like having a name would immediately tell her where he was... unless he had actually been in Wind Reach the whole time and Sira recognized it. But she really doubted that would be the case. "No, it's not necessary. But he's my father, and I have a right to know his name, don't I? My mother is dead, my other brother doesn't care about me enough to even tell me she died, and Toby is never around. Maybe I'm just curious about the rest of my family. What if I have a sister I don't know about or something?" Sira's golden eyes moved swiftly back to Toby, who was staring awkwardly at the two women. It was a distressing place to be, between two arguing mothers, but he was stuck there and by the look in Sira's eyes he wasn't allowed to run away. "Now, what is his name?" Toby glanced at Aidara, a defeated look on his face, before he finally let out a long sigh. "Okay.. I don't know much about him. But he was a kelvic. You already know that. I think he was a wolf kelvic, actually. And his name was Dycon. And that's all I know! I don't know where he is, I don't remember what he looks like, and I don't even know if he's still alive." Dycon. Her father's name was Dycon. It meant nothing to her, and yet somehow it meant everything. She knew she had to find this man, this link to her past, something she had always wondered about. But how could she find him? She didn't know any Dycon's in Wind Reach, and she was fairly certain she knew of all the kelvics that called the mountain home. She'd made sure of that some time ago when she was trying to understand what it meant to bond. "Now, can we talk about something else," Toby asked, interrupting Sira's thoughts. "I came here to get to know Aidara and my niece better, not talk about strange kelvics from the past." Sira shook her head, clearing away the thoughts. "Sorry.. I've just been thinking about it a lot lately. Thanks for telling me. So um.. I was thinking we should build a snowman!"

[Aidara]

"Natalie! Do you want to play in the snow with Mommy?!" It was the coo that caught the child's attention immediately, not necessarily the actual words, drawing her ground gaze from goddess-knows-what out in the distant snow back to her mothers face; a toothless grin and another gurgling cry was all the response Addy needed.

Enveloping one tiny hand in her own, Natalie was lead over towards where Sira and Toby stood. Having feigned temporary deafness during the tail end of the siblings conversation, Addy smiled brightly and offered Sira her daughters hand. "Nat says she'd love to make a snowman!" The direct look in those green eyes wasn't very subtle, but the little healer didn't flinch away from her lovers fierce amber gaze.

When Sira took over care of the child, Addy knelt to straighten one of her many coats before letting the two wander off through the snow. A moment of awkward silence stretched, Toby shifting from foot to foot, unsure what to do as they both watched mother and daughters retreating backs.

"Why? Why does this all matter?" Addy's voice was quiet, never looking over at the man. "This will only cause her pain... I know it's true, and I don't even really know what's going on."

The Endal inside of her flared, one hip cocking and her hand fisting to rest on top. A stubborn jut of her jaw, a slight tilting back of her head that almost made it seem as if Addy was looking down at Toby rather than up, and the womans Sairque impression was complete.

"Tell me."

[Sira]

Sira led Natalie out into the snow, attempting to teach her daughter how to roll a snowball. If she could get a snowball going, then they could keep on rolling it until it got big enough to be the base of the snowman. Granted, Sira would have to do most of the work, but it would still be fun thing to do with her daughter. Of course things never work out quite the way parents want them to, and instead of letting Sira roll up a big enough ball, little Natalie would jump on top of it every time it started to get big, breaking it to bits. Sira didn't mind though, as it seemed to amuse the little girl. Even as she played she was still lost in her thoughts. She had a name now, and that was more than she had ever had before. Her mother always refused to talk about her father, and her brothers didn't talk because they had been told not to. Sira wondered how they met, if they had been in love, or if it had just been a one night stand. Why didn't her mother ever want Sira to know about him? Meanwhile, Aidara was trying to figure out what the deal was. Her Sai impression didn't really have that much effect on Toby, considering he had been an Endal since before Sira was born, but he did respect her enough to answer her questions. "Honestly, I don't know. Sira never really asked us about her father growing up. But then again, I never could figure out what was going on in that feathery head of hers. Sira might be a hot headed little chick sometimes, but beneath her tough exterior there is an intelligent woman always plotting something. I don't know why she's suddenly so interested in her father.. maybe she just wants closure, but I don't doubt for a second that she wont break her promise not to look for him. It's only a matter of time."

[Aidara]

"She's been kind of obsessed with that sort of thing lately." Addy lowered her voice, keeping her back to bother her lover and her daughter. The little woman had no doubt that Sira was listening but she could at least make it a tad more difficult for the woman to eavesdrop.

"Well.." Lifting a small hand, Addy took a strand of hair that the wind had captured and was tugging about and began twisting it around her forefinger, lips pursed in thought. "..Why don't we nip 'eventually' in the bud and just get this over with? I think we both know she is going to go to some crazy extreme in order to do this without either of us stopping her..."

Those green eyes sparkled with mischief as Addy took another step closer to Toby, those dimples winking into existence. The wind had whipped some color into her cheeks during their conversation and with a shiver, the little woman wrapped her arms herself and took yet another step closer to Toby's side. "It's cold out here. Why don't we reconvene inside and see what we can work out?" There was not so subtle suggestion in the little woman's voice, a fierce twinkle in her eyes now as both small hands slipped into the crook of one elbow and began to lead the tall man over to where Sira and Natalie play.

[Sira]

Sira had finally managed to get a decent sized snowball rolled up, almost big enough to be the base of a small snowman. Natalie had been distracted trying to find a snowflake that landed on the ground a few feet away from her, but no matter how hard she tried she just couldn't seem to locate the one she was looking for. It gave Sira the time to roll up a good sized ball, but when Toby and Aidara started walking over the girl looked up, spotting Sira's ball at the same time, and decided it needed a good pouncing. Running, or waddling more like it, through the snow the little red-head jumped on top of the ball causing it to crumble beneath her and destroy what Sira had been trying to build. "Natalie," Sira scolded, pretending to be angry though they both knew from the tone of her voice that she was not, "Look what you did. Now we'll never have a snowman." Sira heard the footsteps of the two adults as the crunched through the snow and looked up, immediately spotting the mischief in Aidara's eyes. Of course she had expected them to do something, but Sira didn't know what Addy was planning. Then again, Sira didn't know what she was planning herself, yet, but she knew Addy was determined to stop her. Sira stood, putting a smile on her face, and humor in her voice. "Well don't you two look cozy together. I don't have any competition, do I," she joked, "Because he's off limits."

[Aidara]

"Well that's not very fair..." Looking up at Toby as if he would protest for her, Addy drew out a lamented sigh and dropped Sira's brothers arm, crossing both of hers over her chest. "I never get to have any fun." Petulantly kicking at Sira's shin, Addy managed only to scuff up a puff of snow that was quickly ripped away by the gusting wind. "It has been decided, anyhow, that it's time to go back inside. It's getting a bit too nippy out here, and I don't want Natalie to catch cold." If her excuse was a bit transparent, Addy hoped that Sira would have the grace to simply ignore it.

Tottling up behind her parents, Natalie came bearing an armful of snow. Looking back and forth between the two women, that little face broke out into what can only be classified as a michevious grin and bounced over to where Toby stood, dutifully dumping the armload directly onto his feet. Squatting down, the tiny little redhead began to pat the pile of snow down, gurggling and cooing to herself as she did, every once and a while looking up at Toby for praise.

Leaving her brother-in-law with her daughter, Addy carefully took Sira's arm and pulled her around so that the taller woman was blocking her from Toby's view. Those emerald eyes were concerned, her brows lowered and a frown curling the edges of her lips. "Sira...Are you going to do something stupid?" This was carefully whispered, the words almost whipped away by the wind before Sira could hear them. But Addy had promised Toby she wouldn't say anything...The least she could do was break the promise and not let him hear it.