Something something modern AU of Maiden of Sorrow where Adar remarries after a nasty divorce from Mairon.
He got sole custody of his children and one day at their nursery Snaat, Îshgha and Glûg tell their teacher about their new mum.
"They are getting married on the weekend! We can have as many cake as we want!" Snaat says with a huge smile.
Horror and shock all around. Adar is a sweet, gentle man but by god was Mairon a fucking trainwreck. None of the teachers liked him. The way he spoke to the children (if he even spoke to them) was horrible. And for how great Adar is, he's kinda shit at choosing a partner, isn't it?
Glurzesh and Ranar just kinda shrugged when asked about their mum at lunch (the older children have lunch with the little ones).
"She's nice, I guess." Ranar says.
Glurzesh shrugs. "She signed me up for kickboxing."
That's not too bad it is? Glurzesh has been having some anger issues since the divorce.
Fast forward to a few weeks later. Adar says at drop off his wife will pick up the kids today. Dread. The children are wearing expensive designer clothes too. Oh god. This can't possibly end well, can it? Mairon would freak when the children's clothes got dirty and especially the three little ones are so messy.
Pick up time rolls around. Îshgah and Glûg threw mud at Snaat, who retaliated fiercly. They are all caked in grime. The teachers did their best to try and get them a little clean, but there is no saving this. Not at the nursery. They draw straws who has to do hand over with Adar's new wife.
In walk Ranar and Glurzesh. They were picked up first. The group with the older kids is upstairs. Following behind is a stunning, tall woman with hip-long blonde hair, dressed in a perfectly white designer coat, wearing stiletto boots.
The smaller kids run up to her, screaming "Nirien!!". She laughs and crouches down to gather all three grimy kids into her arms. She doesn't care about the bits of dried mud crumbling onto her coat.
"You look like you had an awesome time today!" She says. She waits patiently as each one tells them about their day and show her the crafts they made.
"Oh, these look like you put a lot of effort into them! Are you happy with how they turned out? Yes? That's awesome! Daddy will want to put these on the fridge, no doubt!"
Nirien shooes them along to get their things and stands up to ask the teacher about their day. The teacher is stunned. She stammers an apology about the clothes. She's been expecting some shouting. Mairon shouted.
Nirien merely shrugs. "A dirty child is a happy child. And besides, someone who gets mad about expensive things getting dirty cleary can't actually afford them." She winked, the slight against Mairon obvious from her teasing tone.
The next morning Adar asks if everything went well at pick up. The teachers love Nirien and tell him about how lovely she is with the children.
Adar grins a crooked grin. "Yeah. She's pretty amazing..."
At the parents-children-craft afternoon a few weeks later, Adar brings Nirien along. She sit perched elegantly on one of the tiny chairs in the classroom with not one crease in her expressive dress. Adar next to her wears his usual rugged garb, the battered old leather jacket, a washed out shirt from a band that nobody ever heard about and combat boots. Glûg sits on Niriens lap as she chats with the children about the books Adar has been reading them at bed time while cutting out little hearts and stars for the kids' crafts. Adar stares at her the entire time, wearing an expression of awestruck wonder and infatuation they never saw him wear around Mairon...