“Why don’t you go fetch Lith, Kami?” Solus became beet red and ignored the court summons.
“Yes, dear, why don’t you go check on him? Maybe he’s really tired and still asleep.” Elina knew that Solus was able to call Lith with their mind link and that she had to have a good reason to send Kamila.
Elina had no idea what was wrong with their relationship, but she could spot an attempt to fix it when she saw one.
“Okay.” When Kamila stood up and went to the tower instead of pointing out the obvious, Elina really started to worry.
“Tell him, Grandma!”
“Yes, tell her, Mom!” At least until the Blood War reached her borders.
Remaining a neutral state during a conflict was always hard, especially when the leaders of both factions tugged at her legs and whatever she would say would end up hurting one of them.
“Double time!” Elina yelled before trying to invoke a truce with ice cream.
“Okay, okay.” Kamila chuckled, speeding up for two steps before resuming her regular stride.
Once she had found the children’s squabbles noisy and obnoxious but now they made her smile.
‘I wonder if I will keep finding them so funny once I’ll be the one involved in a make-believe argument every other hour.’ She inwardly sighed while thinking about the possible quarrels between her unborn daughter, Elina’s unborn child, Salaark’s newborn, and maybe even Valeron the Second.
‘Lith having a new sibling isn’t a problem so much as everyone competing for his attention. Also, I still don’t know what to do about Thrud’s son.’ Kamila pondered. ‘I understand that Lith feels guilty for killing Jormun, but starting with two children is-‘
She froze in front of the tower’s entrance when she noticed that she was thinking about raising her daughter with Lith without any worry. It was the first time since Kamila had learned about Derek’s life on Earth that the thought didn’t freak her out.
Her only real concern was about adopting the Bahamut.
‘I really don’t know what to do with Lith.’ She walked through the door and conjured the tower’s control panel to find Lith. ‘After the scare from the Golden Griffon, talking with Solus, and witnessing the Dragon Dance, my mind is a mess.’
The system pinpointed Lith on the second floor of the prototype house. It was actually still part of the ground floor that had been split into two to follow the blueprints of Baron Wyalon’s house.
Kamila noticed that the room was a new one that Lith had created that very morning. She could have used her access privileges to Warp there, but she preferred to walk and use that time to think.
‘What Solus said makes a lot of sense and hearing from Leegaain how much Thrud is suffering from Jormun’s death makes me feel terrible. What if I’m being stupid? What if I’m wasting the little time we have left with recriminations?’
“Lith, everybody is waiting for you to have break-” Surprise cut her off the moment she walked through the door.
The new room was a nursery whose walls were painted sky-blue and filled with puffy clouds where magical creatures of all kinds soared the sky. The ceiling was blue as well and the light source was round and big to resemble the sun.
The floor was grass green and there was a crib in the middle. From there, in the hypothetical baby’s line of sight, the walls had been decorated with pictures of knights, mages, towers, and Constables wielding their badges.
Everything was drawn with a cartoonish style, to make them look funny instead of scary. Kamila chuckled when she noticed that the word “Warrant” was visible on the papers that the Constables carried under their arms.
Lith was standing in front of a baby-changing table, practicing how to wrap cloth diapers on a life-like doll.
“I’m sorry. You know how I am. I always lose track of time when I work and I swear that this is way harder than it looks.” Lith sighed at the sight of the poor result of his efforts.
“What are you doing?” She asked.
“Isn’t it obvious?”
“I mean, why right now?”
“Because according to Grandma, I still need rest. The Dragon Dance filled me with energy but the aftereffects are worse than any hangover I ever had. Since I had free time, I realized that I could use it to practice the only chore I always avoided.” He replied.
“Are you telling me that you never changed a diaper?” Kamila was flabbergasted.
“Well, Carl was just a few years younger than me. Aran and Leria were born back when I was still at the academy so I was rarely there for them. By the time Rena had the triplets, she already had Nalrond and Mom to help her.
“The few times I baby-sat the children, I cheated my way with magic, like I always do.” Lith said.
“Then why change it if it isn’t broken?”
“Are you kidding me? This time isn’t about getting the maximum result with minimum effort. This is about our daughter. I want her to learn to recognize my touch and smell and be reassured by them.
“I want her to feel her father’s presence, not the cold effects of magic from a man who doesn’t want to dirty his hands. On top of that, once the baby is born, you won’t be immune to her powers anymore.
“If she uses Abomination Touch, your life would be in danger and I would be the only one who can safely change her. It’s a big deal.” Lith unwrapped the diaper, starting over.
Kamila could sense that an instruction manual had been stored in the tower’s Library and that Lith was following the step-by-step illustrations. When she focused her consciousness more, she found dozens of books about human babies, Dragon whelps, and Phoenix hatchlings.
She had seen Lith prepare for many fights and watched him battle a few times, but this was both the bravest and the most wholesome of them all. A warm smile appeared on her face as Solus’ words made more and more sense.
Kamila could almost see Leegaain’s tender father figure from the day back overlap with Lith’s.
“Let me show you how it’s done, silly.” She stepped by his side, pushing him away enough to have the center of the table but also so that they would touch every time they moved.
Once Kamila was done, she lifted the doll to check the knots and the diaper fell flat on the table. At her second attempt, it had so many layers that it looked like a turban for the crotch while the third was hard to define.
“I don’t think a diaper is supposed to be worn like a straitjacket.” Lith had a hard time repressing his laughter.
“I know it as well, smartass!” Kamila blushed in embarrassment.
“So much for showing me how it’s done.”
“First, Fallmug didn’t let me visit Zinya, let alone the children. Second, you are right. This is harder than it looks.” She said with a sigh.
“By the way, before we go, there’s something I need to tell you.” Lith said. “You know, Grandma having a baby and Leegaain freaking out like that gave me a lot to think about.”
