"I promise I won't drop her into the fire," he said, a lame joke attempted. But he didn't move to take her unless it was clearly welcome. Instead he bent down a bit, crooking his index finger and holding it out for her to grab with her little sausage fingers. His face split with a happy grin. This was almost as good as having one himself, a symbol of the growing nature of a pavilion, even if only time would tell whether she was counted as a member, if she and her father chose to stay. "She's beautiful," he said again, not even remembering having said it before. It was one of those instances where an everyday miracle, a baby, elicited this sort of reaction from a person. It was a plain statement of fact, but most parents couldn't hear compliments about their children enough. He turned toward Dohaina and whistled to her. She glanced at him, then came walking sedately over when he spoke to her. "It's good for Drykas children to get accustomed to our equine cousins as soon as possible," he explained, lest Jyn be anxious. "Most are weaned from their mothers and fed mare's milk until they are old enough for solid food. Perhaps I should buy a pregnant mare," he said thoughtfully. "It's about time to start a breeding herd. Could get some goats, perhaps. Hm. What do you think?" Jyn would get to express his opinion, though Sama'el would have to make the ultimate decisions, proto-Ankal that he was. But Sama'el didn't want his proto-pavilion to become more than Jyn could handle when Sama'el was away. |