the most important things in life

“Thank you, again, for agreeing to watch over Minnie,” Jymaiyri said, for perhaps the tenth time since their conversation began. She leaned back, bracing one hand on the edge of the kitchen counter, resting the other on her heavily pregnant belly. “Usually, one of us can stay and watch her, or Nathan, but the way things lined up this time…”

She sighed heavily, and Kian took the cue it was his turn to reply. “It’s no bother at all, Mrs. Jymaiyri.” Ever since learning her formal title and heritage, all the way back during the tournament, he always felt inclined to call her ‘Lady’, or something of the like- even after all this time, his royal manners stuck with him- but after multiple requests for a more casual form of address, Kian had switched. If it was what Jymaiyri wanted, it was more polite anyways. “Besides, any time spent with little Minerva is time well spent.”

Truthfully, Kian had been surprised at Jymaiyri’s sudden call the previous day, asking he come and babysit her youngest child. Kian did not often consider himself to be at the forefront of other’s minds when it came to fulfilling requests, especially those pertaining to childcare, but he could not say he wasn’t honored. It was a bittersweet reminder of the place he held so temporarily and so tentatively among this family.

Jymaiyri chuckled lightly, and glanced to the living room, where her daughter was drawing. “You might change your mind after this. She’s a bit of a handful… no one ever warns you about four-year-olds.” She shook her head suddenly, as if to clear the thought from her head. “Either way, she is excited to spend time with you. I think. There’s some leftovers in the fridge, if either of you get hungry- and of course, you’re welcome to any of the snacks in the pantry. First-aid kits are in the drawer by the kitchen and under the bathroom sinks. Sov and I won’t be back ‘til late this evening, but Nathan and the girls should be home from the city around four or five in the afternoon. I’m sure they’d appreciate some company for dinner, if you’d like to stay. I’ve written all our phone numbers on the note on the fridge- please try to contact Sovran first, I’ll probably be occupied by the appointment. Yeonai will be in Tolvek until noon tomorrow, but if it’s a medical emergency and you can’t reach anyone else, his number is there too. Ah… I think I got everything. Do you have any questions?”

Kian was impressed she had said all that at once. He sorted the information carefully in his head, intending to remember all of it- it would be quite embarrassing, to have to call up Sovran about something Jymaiyri had already outlined. Kian tried, also, to think of any questions he would need answers to before Minerva’s parents left. It had been so long since he’d been entrusted with a child! “Does Minerva have any rules I should keep in mind?”

“Oh, good question,” Jymaiyri nodded. “She’s not the biggest troublemaker, thank heavens, so nothing too specific. No running in the house, no going into the study or poking around too much in ours or the girls’ bedrooms. If you take her outside, make sure she washes up afterwards. Only fruit after dinner, but that shouldn’t be too much of problem because Nathan and the girls will be home by then. Nora is a good enforcer of rules; Minnie looks up to her and will do what she says. She’s a pretty low-key kid, so I don’t foresee you having any issues. If anything happens, though, please-”

“You ready to go, Maiyri?” Before Jymaiyri could finish her thought, Sovran walked into the room, carrying a large tote bag on each of his shoulders. His prosthetic leg gently creaked with every step he took- a subtle but painful reminder of all he had endured at Kian’s hands. He only hoped that one day, he might be forgiven.

Still, Sovran gave him that relaxed, easy, almost-fatherly smile. Kian knew he would be a good father. Just, maybe, not to him.

“Just about,” Jymaiyri replied to her partner, stirring Kian from his dark thoughts. “I was just telling Kian about everything he needs to know to take care of Min while we’re at the hospital. Oh, by the way-” She turned away from both Kian and Sovran, towards the living room. “Minerva! Would you come in here for a little bit?”

Minerva, though she looked at least somewhat annoyed by it, diligently abandoned her coloring and skipped into the kitchen. She had grown since Kian had last seen her for the winter holidays. Still, she only came up to about Kian’s waist. Today, she was dressed in a cute maroon sweater with a kitty-cat decal (he’d have to tell Asra about that later) and had hair done up in little space-buns, tied with pink pompoms. She looked up at Kian like she didn’t know who he was or why he was here, then turned to her mother.

“Hey Min-min.” Jymaiyri leaned down to her daughter as much as her pregnancy would allow. “Papa Sov and I have to go to the doctor for a little bit, but Uncle Kian is here to take care of you, okay?”

Minerva’s brow creased, and she looked up to Kian again for a moment, in a very childlike manner of judgment. Kian put on his best trustworthy-to-children smile.

Minerva turned back to her mother. “Why do you have to go?”

“I told you, I have to go to the doctor!” Jymaiyri laughed, putting a hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “They have to make sure the baby’s alright. But it won’t take very long. We’ll be back before your bedtime!”

Sovran kneeled down to Minerva, too. “Uncle Kian will take real good care of you, I promise. You two can play together!”

Minerva looked doubtfully back up to Kian. Kian kneeled down to her, giving Jymaiyri a quick nod of indication that she could rise. “I’m sure we’ll have a wonderful time together, Minnie,” He smiled, “Do you want to show me the drawings you were making?”

Minerva considered this for a moment. She looked up to her mother again, who nodded in approval, then stepped closer to Kian. He offered his hand, only for Minerva to take hold of his sleeve.

“Well, we should be on our way, then.” Jymaiyri took Sovran’s proffered arm as they both stepped out the door. “You be good for Uncle Kian, Min-min! Goodbye for now!”

“Bye-bye Mama! Bye-bye Papa Sov!” Minerva waved goodbye, pronouncing ‘Sov’ rather like ‘Soff’. Because Minevra was still holding onto his sleeve, Kian couldn’t join her in waving but, turned to her once the door was closed. Still, he called out, “I hope the appointment goes well! We’ll see you later!”

Even her parents had disappeared out the door, Minerva remained watching it, as if she expected them to come back. It was almost kind of sad. Kian tugged on the sleeve Minerva was still holding, trying to catch her attention. “Would you still like to show me those drawings?”

Minerva nodded curtly and turned back towards the kitchen. Kian followed- as he was still being pulled along by the sleeve- and sat down on the floor as Minerva did.

Minerva took a moment to spread out the various sheets of paper she had drawn on. The little girl had picked a variety of subjects to display her artistic skills with- houses, people, even some identifiable animals- a few birds, some fish, a dog.

She must’ve noticed Kian’s eye catching the animal drawings, as Minerva put her small hand on it. “This is Mr. Nori.” She reported. “He lives next door and is the biggest dog in the world. Mama says I shouldn’t touch him, but the neighbor lady says he’s nice.”

“Oh, fascinating…” Kian peered down at the drawing, which did indeed depict a very large, very rotund brown dog. “The biggest in the world, you say?”

Minerva nodded matter-of-factly, and stretched her arms out as wide as they would go. “The biggest. Do you like dogs, Uncle Kian?”

Kian hummed considerately, tapping his hand on the paper. “Oh, absolutely. Though, I think I like cats better. Like the one on your sweater!”

Minerva put both hands on the little cat on her sweater. “Yes.”

She’s a strange little one, Kian thought. Very direct. “Which do you like better, Minnie?”

“I like puppies.” Minerva flopped down to lay on her stomach and pulled out another piece of paper. On this one, she started drawing a few circular shapes. “Mama is gonna have a baby. I’m getting another sister.”

“She is.” Kian nodded enthusiastically. “Are you excited?”

“I don’t know about babies.” Minerva’s face scrunched up as she thought.

“You have to consider, you were once a baby, too. I actually first met you when you were only half a year old!”

“What’s… con-sin-der?”

Ah, yes, she was only four years old. “To consider something is to think about it.” Kian explained.

Minerva adopted a ‘thinking’ face- her brow furrowed, her gaze on her drawing, her grasp on her crayon strong. “… I think… I’m not a baby. I’m big now. Baba says I’m going to be as tall as him one day.”

‘Baba’ referred to Yeonaixho. If what Minerva said was true, she had a lot of growing still to do. Regardless, Kian changed back to the original subject. “I think it’ll be exciting to have a new sister.”

“But Nora and Zora are my sisters…” Minerva looked up to Kian with a somewhat confused expression.

“Yes,” Kian admitted, “But they’re your older sisters. The new baby is going to be younger than you. You’ll get to teach her about everything amazing and interesting that you know!”

“Like Mr. Nori.” Minerva smiled.

“Like Mr. Nori.” Kian beamed.

Minerva seemed content with the conclusion of that topic, and turned back to her drawing. As she scribbled, her circles became more identifiable portraits of the members of her family. She traded in her blonde crayon for a pink one, scratching out a few pink lines on either side of her father’s head to represent his olm gills.

“Who’re you drawing there, Minnie?” Kian asked, because Minerva seemed to have a fondness for questions- both asking and answering them.

“Baba.” Minerva nodded two times in a row, then set down her crayon. She took another piece of paper from her pile and put it in front of Kian. “You draw too.”

Kian was not one to argue with such a direct request from such a demanding little girl as Minerva. He straightened the paper before him, weighed it down with the crayon box so it wouldn’t move, and started doodling little flowers and trees. Mrs. Jymaiyri’s house was so full of plant memorabilia, he was far from lacking inspiration.

“Do you like to draw a lot, Minnie?”

Minerva was working on coloring in the violet of Zora’s hair in thick, loopy scribbles. “Mhmmmhmmmmm.” She nodded, still keeping intent focus on her art.

“I saw your mother put some of your drawings on the fridge. You’re quite the artist.” Kian smiled, sparing a glance over Minerva’s drawings. Many of the ones that weren’t animals involved people- usually people identifiable as family members with a well-placed goat horn or witch hat, but a few others. The odd fairytale figure, the occasional regular person Kian suspected was a neighbor or daycare friend.

“Nora and Baba can make drawings on clothes.” Minerva continued. “I don’t get to touch when they do that.”

Embroidery, then. “Ah, the needles are pretty sharp, aren’t they?”

Minerva nodded again, but a somberness had washed over her. She put her hand to the wrist which her vengestone bracelet wrapped around. When not drawn attention to, it was so hard to notice, but once Kian did he couldn’t not see it. It wasn’t normal for a girl Minerva’s age to have a power so violent it needed to be so harshly suppressed. “The blood is… bad. I… hurt people when… the blood.”

A somberness- and a guilt- washed over Kian. Innately, he knew a feeling like that- a feeling so simple and so heavy a four-year old could express it as eloquently as it could ever be explained. The weight of having a power too destructive for your body. He had been there, and he had known how it had felt, and he knew it was too heavy a feeling for a girl like Minerva to have to be plagued with forever.

“Your parents will keep you safe.” He said in a tone meant to be reassuring. “I know they will. And your sisters, and Nathan. They’ll make sure you won’t be able to hurt anyone.”

Minerva looked down at her drawing and fell silent for a while.

Kian was certain he had messed up in some incredible way- that this sweet little girl he was supposed to be watching was certainly on the verge of tears and it was because of something he had said- he, set down his own crayon, and moved to reassure her- or maybe call one of her parents to explain- when she sat up and showed him a piece of paper.

It was her drawing – the family portrait she had been working on before. Minevra had added herself, a smaller figure in a pink dress with two little buns like bear-ears, and right next to her-

-a taller man with a purple shirt and scribbled-coily black hair, and only one arm.

“That’s you, Uncle Kian.” Minerva said. “You looked sad, so you can have the picture. Mama has so many ‘she can’t even see the calendar anymore’.”

Minerva had somehow perfectly replicated her mother’s tone of speech, but that thought was secondary in Kian’s mind. Something tugged at his heart, something welled in his chest- Minerva thought he was sad? And she included him in her family portrait? It was a thought so surprising that-

“Uncle Kian,” Minerva said again, stirring him out of his thoughts, “Why do you have only one arm?”

He was so caught-of-guard, all he could do was laugh.