Bed time.
Mundane. After everything Centori and Karidak had been through, that’s what she would classify her life as now. There was nothing wrong with it, in fact she welcomed it with open arms. Instead of scouting and mapping, she navigated a toddler’s schedule. Peace treaties were traded with bribes of treats for taking a bath.
The tiny black haired boy became their world once more, instead of the pull of a distant and broken planet. Today it seemed, their little one wasn’t keen on going to bed. Dyv was freshly washed, donning a pair of pajamas that had little embroidered murlocs all over; His attitude seemed to match the green beasts.
“Oh my little bear, it’s time for bed.” She fussed over the squirming boy who had abandoned his bed for their own animal strewn one.
Mecho raised his head when Dyv scrunched diminutive fingers into the bears course fur. Slowly his head returned it’s place of comfort and the child seemed to settle down some. It had been hard leaving them both behind.
“Ook, Ook!” His little voice stumbling over the B sound before deciding to leave it out all together. At first, she was puzzled, thinking perhaps someone was telling him tales of the Hozen before she was presented with a well worn book from their cook, and sometimes nanny, Taya.
She looked over to the nightstand which held what he sought. “Are you sure? Minn’da can tell you another story.” In truth, she had read it every night for the past two weeks and didn’t really need the book anymore.
His cries became more plaintive “ Oooooook!” All while a small fist was waved toward the item now in her hand.
“All right, all right, this one it is.” Kari grinned at her from where he was getting ready for bed. In response she stuck her tongue out at him which made Dyv laugh.
The large man scooped up the toddler, who screeched with pleasure, before settling them both down next to her. Dyv leaned forward as she opened the book and flipped past the first few pages, to the one that showed a picture of a little girl in pink.
“Once upon a time, in the forests of Elwynn, lived a little girl named Sandy Mane. She was quite ordinary in every way, though sometimes at night, she used to sleepwalk. Her parents found her in all sorts of places. “
The next few pages showed her laying in the barn with the cows, laying amongst the lettuce in the vegetable garden and sleeping next to the chickens who seemed quite offended at this, which always made Cen laugh at their shocked expressions.
Dyv pointed at the cows. “Moo! Moooooo!”
Kari laughed and bounced him a little. “Like Hamilton, yea! “ Another small “Moo.” was given in agreement.
Cen went on with the story. “One night, she didn’t sleep walk to her normal places. This time, she followed the path that led straight to the woods. There never seemed to be anything too dangerous in these woods, but this night was different. A family of bears was relocating to a new cave, in preparation to hibernate, and found the quiet area suitable.”
She flipped the pages to show a mother bear and two cubs toddling along to their new home. A more sleepy “Wear” was heard as Dyv had settled into the crook of Kari’s arm, eyelids fighting to stay open.
“Sandy Mane managed to also find this cave. In her sleep riddled state, she entered the stone home of the bear family. The cubs gave terrified little yelps which alerted the mother bear, who in turn, came barreling toward the little girl. It was fortunate for Sandy, that she was never fully awake before she met her end.”
Cen grimaced at Kari who was holding back laughter at the gruesome twist.
“This is why you should always lock your doors. The end.” She sighed after reading the last sentence and wanted to know why dwarves had such twisted stories for simple lessons.
Dyv was asleep. He always fell asleep before the end. Despite the story, Cen enjoyed seeing their son tucked safely in Kari’s arms. “You do know, we are going to have to find a new book before he gets too much older. This is a bit much.”
Kari tutted at her. “It’s a real life lesson though, and it puts him out like a light. Enjoy it, my love.”
[ @karidakdellanir ] [ Thanks to @puppet-master-jihye for the inspiration :) ]
