[Soothing Waters] Dove in the Water(Dovey)

[Garland]

Catherine seemed to be scaring Dovey a bit. She just smiled. "Don't worry, I'm not mad, I was just concerned, Garland does not have a good track record with not coming back to the dorms."

Garland thought about what he had done, nothing truly wrong comes to mind.

"There was the time he impregnated a Sverfa, the time he got captured by slavers, the time he got attacked by Yukmen, the time he got shot with an arrow, oh and his first day of being a squire, the entire gate blew up."

"You make it sound like all of those times were my fault."

"On the contrary, Garland... Each and every time you stayed out late, you somehow do something incredible. The attack on the gate? That was his first day as a squire and he more than proved himself to be just another run-of-the-mill plate polisher. Did I mention that before he joined the knights he was self-taught and could almost hold his own against me."

"Almost?"

"I was holding back." She gave a small scowl at Garland and returned her attention to Dovey. "When he got shot with an arrow, he just kept riding towards the group of bandits, jumped off his horse mid-run landed on one, skewered another, knocked another one out, and just kept going."

"I only did the jump, the rest are just rumors, that I am now rebuking."

"When he got captured by slavers, he prevented the capture of other squires, escaped, freed the rest of the slaves, including the knight, and exposed a corrupt knight and almost killed him barehanded while said knight had armor, a sword and a horse."

"I almost had him if the rest of you didn't stop me and let him get away." There was a twinge of anger and disappointment in his voice, but only a little bit. "Also I didn't escape on my own, I had help from a friend."

"I would tell you about the Yukmen story, but everything is a bit muddled together, Ball, another squire, set up the hunt, Garland was there and some report he held off a wave of them alone, another said he knocked down a tree and squashed a whole lot of them."

"No, I did not do that, I was just at the frontlines while archers took down most of the stragglers." Garland sighed at the sheer misinformation that Catherine was giving out. "Suffice to say I survived."

"I train him hard because he's one of the best really. He was forged through fire from day one and only burned brighter."

[Dovey]

Dovey nodded at Sera Catherine's reassurance, relieved the knight wasn't upset by their romantic night out. She supposed she ought to be more careful, really - being in a new city with new rules and all, who knew when she'd break a taboo and get beaten for it? Mother had said - had said Syliras was safer than Kenash, but - oh, she couldn't think of Mother now, not while she was doing so well! Dovey bit down hard on her lip, trying determinedly to be curious about Garland's previous nighttime adventures, rather than upset about her own past. She directed her attention back to Sera Catherine as the knight began recounting each escapade. "He impregnated a - really?" That had genuinely gotten her attention, but Garland's patron was already moving on. Captured by slavers... that must have been nasty, Dovey observed with a twinge of sympathy. Slavers were rough to their merchandise. Catherine finished the litany of misadventures off with a few life-threatening occasions and fell silent. "You make it sound like all of those times were my fault," Garland replied, and Dovey shook her head in disbelief. He'd really gotten into all that trouble... gods, no wonder Sera Catherine had been worried if Garland was that good at endangering himself. She continued listening to the knight, striving to keep her focus off the grief she'd stirred up again with her recollection, following Catherine's praise of her squire with measured respect. "That takes dedication, self-teaching does," she commented. "Knighthood's really your place, huh Garland?" Catherine went on, explaining the incident when Garland had been shot. Dovey raised her eyebrows at the description, impressed. "I only did the jump," Garland protested, and Dovey turned to punch him gently in the shoulder. "You're awfully modest," she teased, smirk only a little forced - she was still fighting off thoughts of her past, her family, but nevertheless she was deeply intrigued by Catherine's stories. The knight moved on to the tale of her squire's capture by slavers, and Dovey went back to listening. Catherine's description of the slavers was unequivocally negative; her approval of Garland's action in freeing the slaves was clear. Dovey frowned for an instant, puzzled. Oh! No slaves in Syliras. Right. Mother had mentioned that a few times over the years - and with just that thought, her emotions were off again. Dovey clamped down on herself, steadying her breath, forcing calm through her, as she listened to Garland's response to his mentor's words. It was harder to relax this time - how the petch was she supposed to function when every reminder of her mother made her lose her head? She couldn't forget her entire childhood. It was absurd to feel like this, unnecessary, counterproductive - Mother wouldn't have wanted it, this nonsense of a self-absorbed grief that did absolutely nothing to bring her back - but oh, now look at Dovey, obsessing over the matter. She had to figure out how to think about Mother and be sad perhaps, but mature, resigned. Later, later, later. Catherine was talking. Dovey listened to the knight as she told of Garland fighting the Yukmen, regulating her breathing, in and out, slow and safe. She wasn't exactly clear on what a Yukman was, but she didn't ask. Garland corrected the story's details, downplaying his role as he had been doing throughout the conversation, and Dovey smiled a little. He really was bashful. Catherine finished her praise of Garland; she seemed to enjoy boasting about her squire, Dovey noted. She had the urge to respond, to chat and act cheerful until her pretense came true. "Thanks for telling me all that, Sera," she said to Catherine. "Garland never would've, judging by how modest he's being." She smirked playfully at Garland, and the curiosity in her voice when she spoke to him next was only half playacting. "But tell me, did you really get a Svefra woman pregnant? What happened? Did the kid live? Where are the two of 'em now?"

[Garland]

Garland's accomplishments were something he was proud of but never really wanted to brag about, he felt that his achievements are something only the knights should know and should follow. He'd rather not let the common person know about his exploits, especially if told by some bard.

The romanticized versions of his adventures might entice others to join the knights and find out that it's not all rescuing princesses from towers. Then they would lose their lives in some vain attempt at seeking that 'glory' Garland constantly finds.

"It's not really my place, just the place I found myself in and I'm making the best of it."

"Garland has more experience than most of the younger knights combined now that I think about it." Catherine was very proud of her squire, of course he had much to learn in being a leader, and a teacher. His skill in combat was nearly unmatched, only the truly elite could knock Garland down a peg, Ball being one of them.

"The Sverfa? I don't know where she went, she left the kids with me. Wait a minute... Sera, weren't you suppose to watch them?"

"They needed a bath, they're with Greyheart right now." She pointed to another knight, sitting on a stone bench, his privates were covered and he was holding two babies in his arms.

The twins were busy playing with Ser Greyheart's nostrils and face and did not notice their father in the bath house.

"Dearheart, would you come over here a tick." Ser Greyheart walked over and the twins turned to look at where they were going.

The twins laughed excitedly when they saw Garland and almost fell off, trying to get to him.

Garland took the kids and placed them in the water, while he supported their bottoms. Being half sverfa, they take to water quite well, so bathing was never quite a problem for them. They can somewhat float and paddle a few inches if the water was shallow enough.

"Dovey, this is Phobos and Aneeka." The boy waved when his name was said and and Aneeka just splashed water into his face.

[Dovey]

"Hold on." Dovey's brow furrowed and she stared at Garland. "She left you with the kid? Or - wait, kids? More than one?" She looked in the direction Sera Catherine was pointing, and saw a tall, messy-haired knight, sitting with two small and squirmy children tucked into his arms. She blinked. "Garland, those are yours?" It wasn't anywhere near unheard of, of course, for one parent to leave the other to raise the couple's children alone. And even if single fathers were less common than single mothers, Dovey had known a few over the course of her life. But Garland? A parent? It didn't add up. He couldn't be the type to teach toddlers to walk, to talk, to use the chamber pot. No, he was the type to get drunk at an inn, dance with strange women, and spend the night passed out on their bedroom floors. Dovey simply couldn't wrap her head around the fact that he was both. But nevertheless, it seemed that he was. The new knight - Greyheart, Sera Catherine had said - was carrying the toddlers over to them now, and the two seemed overcome with excitement when they saw Garland. The squire lifted them out of Greyheart's arms and set them in the water, supporting them so their heads stayed above the pool's surface. Dovey watched for a silent moment, still dumbstruck, and only recalled her manners when Garland spoke. "Dovey, this is Phobos and Aneeka." The boy - Phobos - waved at Dovey, while Aneeka all but ignored her in favor of splashing bathwater at Garland. Shrugging away her bewilderment for the moment, Dovey waved at the twins. "Hello, Phobos. Hello, Aneeka. I'm Dovey. It's good to meet you." They really were quite cute, she mused. Even if none of this made any sense and she had no idea how she felt about going on a date with a man who had children. She smiled at the rowdy pair, splashing a bit of water gently toward Phobos. "It looks like you two like coming to the bath, then. Is that right?"

[Garland]

Garland smiled seeing Dovey very confused about the situation. "I didn't raise them alone, the knights were kind enough to offer them a place in the orphanage when they first arrived, it was a nice place but I didn't think it was a good place to raise them, children can be a jealous bunch, so Catherine took them to her home so they had a place to stay."

Phobos giggled sweetly as the water Dovey splashed towards him rubbed on his face and chest. In reply he splashed on the water, sending water spraying everywhere instead of his intended target.

"They enjoy the water, they're Sverfa. Well... Half-Sverfa and if they're anything like their mother, they'll get into so much trouble before they reach even third year of age. Their mother was once set on fire under water during a storm."

Garland laughed and just smiled. "We were the worst match possible for being parents. At least one of us is trying." There was no anger in his voice, just disappointment. "Anyway, Phobos seems to taken a liking to you."

Aneeka on the other hand simply ignored Dovey, she rather hoped that her father would stop talking to this girl and start playing with her in the water more. She splashed some water on Garland's face and pouted.

Catherine smiled and got up from the pool. "Well, I'll leave the twins to you for a bit, we'll be going off to one of the private pools, the water here just isn't hot enough." With that she and Greyheart walked off, hand in hand to a private pool. "Call if you need us, baby supplies are over there where Greyheart was sitting in case you need it."

"Alright. Dovey, do you want to hold Phobos?" Phobos seemed very intent on trying to splash Dovey with water. "It looks like he wants to play with you."

[Dovey]

"I see," Dovey replied. So Garland had had a great deal of help in raising these little ones. That made more sense; if Phobos and Aneeka lived with Sera Catherine, no wonder Garland had time to go out drinking at night. She smiled at Phobos when he giggled and splashed, trying to get her back but completely missing his target. "You're gonna have to do better than that," she teased gently. She raised her eyebrows, turning back to Garland, at his next statement. "Set on fire under water?" she echoed. "How in the name of all the gods did that happen? Some sort of nonsense magic?" She waited for an answer before looking back down to watch the twins. Even if Garland hadn't planned the twins, even if he couldn't take care of them without help, even with all that must have gone wrong to lead to the squire being a father this early in his life, something about the family scene before her was horribly affecting. Dovey swallowed hard and rolled her shoulders a few times, but she couldn't seem to shake the uncomfortable sensation. She would just have to ignore it - and anyway, she ought to listen to Garland, who was speaking again. "We were the worst possible match for being parents. At least one of us is trying. Anyway, Phobos seems to have taken a liking to you." Dovey looked down, watching Phobos, who was still attempting to splash her. "He's very sweet," she replied, giving Garland a small smile with less cheer in it than she had intended. Petch it, what was a mood like this doing, coming over her now when they weren't even talking about anything emotional? Now Catherine and Greyheart were leaving. Taking a steadying breath, Dovey attempted to concentrate. "Sure I want to hold Phobos!" she told Garland, smiling again. She extended her arms, waiting for Garland to set the toddler down in her grasp. "He's an excitable little one, isn't he?" She made a silly face at Phobos, puffing out her cheeks and crossing her eyes. He really was sweet. Surely playing with a toddler would distract her from her strange mood.

[Garland]

Garland handed Phobos over to Dovey he seemed to trust her at the very least, and he was in the bathhouse usually full of knights that are off-duty or injured.

Aneeka gave an annoyed yell at Dovey pulled on Garland's ear, hard. "Ow ow ow!" Garland held Aneeka away from his face and she pouted adorably. "I don't think Aneeka likes you." Garland gave a brief smile and lowered her into the water.

This was nice. It almost felt like a full family for once. Then he remembered that Dovey was alone in the city. Well, not truly alone, he would be there for her, just like he was to all his other friends, but she didn't have family.

Garland was raised as an orphan, he relied on himself through most of his young life, he had never quite faced the death of a loved one, in this world people die and he was no stranger to that, he had a few friends in the orphanage die due to some incurable sickness or sheer idiocy and wandered off into the forests or some other reason, luckily these incidents were rare, but they never did quite leave an impression on Garland.

But just being here, with his children, smiling, playing, having a good time. He could briefly imagine losing them, and maybe he would feel like Dovey is right now, but he knew that his rage and anger would consume him.

Then Aneeka farted, bubbles floated up from the water below and popped at the time. "Nice." He smiled and tickled Aneeka sweetly.

Phobos was busy playing with Dovey's hair and splashing all around.

[Dovey]

Dovey took Phobos in her arms, holding him a bit awkwardly as she didn't have much experience with small children,but still keeping him fairly steady with his lower half in the water. He splashed about, relatively well-behaved in Dovey's eyes; his sister, however, was another story. She startled Dovey a little with an incoherent yell before yanking on Garland's ear, causing him to exclaim in pain. "I don't think Aneeka likes you," he said to Dovey. Dovey flashed him a mild smile, shrugging slightly. This petching mood simply wouldn't leave her, and she was getting seriously distracted despite her efforts to stay in the moment and enjoy it. Aneeka didn't like her? Well, good - or rather not so good, she supposed - but at the moment it felt less like a real event and more like another brushstroke in this picture of familial togetherness the father and his twins were painting. She was almost jealous - and that was ridiculous, of course, it wasn't as if she wanted children yet or even as if Garland's life in general would ever appeal to her personally, what with his squiring and all. So then why, for the gods' sake, should she feel this way? Without her realizing it, Dovey's brow furrowed and her mouth tightened as she ruminated on the problem. She snapped out of the moment of gloomy thought when Phobos entwined his fingers in her hair and began to play with it. Smiling at the child, she moved her head back and forth with his little tugs, trying to mitigate the strength of the pulls so none would hurt. Beside her, Garland was playing with Aneeka. She looked over to the squire, still feeling melancholy but believing her previous bitter mood to be all but gone. "How old are they?" she asked lightly. "They haven't started talking at all yet, have they?"

[Garland]

Garland smiled and started getting down to business and actually started cleaning Aneeka. "Hmmm? When these two were left on my doorstep, they were I think maybe a season or two old. I'm not entirely sure, but today they're a little over a year old already. Time flies huh?"

The little girl disliked the soap Garland took out and swatted the soap out of his hand sending it flying and then falling into the pool below. Garland sighed and then a bit of insecurity surfaced.

He wasn't quite sure he'd make a good father, maybe a good brother or uncle, but he just doesn't have the discipline to raise the kids right, that was his fear and they were very real fears.

"The twins have started talking. Not much talking more like babbling and occasionally say 'papa' and such."

"Papap!" The twins said in unison and just laughed joyously. Garland gave a smile. He was happy, but also worried.

"Anyway, should we get out now? We've been here for a good while now." Garland called over a worker and asked for a towel for the twins.

[Dovey]

Following Garland's lead, Dovey began to wash Phobos with the bar of soap she'd been using to cleanse herself previously. She wasn't exactly experienced in bathing small children, and so she approached the task with extreme caution, wiping the toddler's arms and chest gently with the soap before dunking him a little deeper in the water to wash it off. Phobos probably wasn't getting too much cleaner than he had been before, she noted ruefully, but at least he didn't have soap in his eyes or anything. Dovey laughed in surprise when Aneeka whacked the bar of soap out of Garland's hand, only to bite off the sound when she realized Garland himself didn't seem so amused. She hoped she hadn't offended him, though she couldn't see why he should react to a toddler's mischievousness the way he had, with that little sigh and now what looked like an odd expression on his face. Still, he seemed to move past the moment as he answered her second question. She nodded at his response. So the two were speaking, at least a little - she supposed one year was plenty old enough to make a start at learning to do so. When the twins chorused their mangled version of 'Papa', she smiled, but that strange bitter melancholy rose again in her heart; she said nothing, only standing awkwardly in the warm pool with Phobos in her arms until Garland suggested they leave. Then she was glad - a strange thing, perhaps, considering how well she had enjoyed herself on their extended date. But if this mood, half jealousy, half helpless sorrow, was going to continue - was going to get stronger - for as long as she stayed here with Garland and his family, perhaps it was better if they parted ways for now. Besides, she realized - and now she was certain of her course - she might cry again if she didn't do something to shut down these feelings now, while they were still even remotely manageable. "Yes, let's go," she said to Garland, handing him back Phobos in a gesture which was perhaps too hasty to be taken as casual, wading to the edge of the bathing pool and swinging herself up to sit with her feet in the water. She remained in that position for a moment, reaching for the towel which had been brought out to her earlier and wrapping it around her shoulders. Then she stood up, smiled at Garland as widely as she could manage, and waved. "I'll be seeing you, m' dashing knight," she said, and meant it. Just maybe not your children. Not till I sort this out. She likely would have kissed him had the twins not been present. As it was, she turned and made her way to the women's changing room, wrapped in her towel, feebly cheered at the prospect of the freshly laundered clothes which awaited her.