First Smile
A collaboration with @ocarina-of-what. (current timeline)
It was for a short and quiet weekend they traveled with her to the cabin in Winterspring for the holiday of card-written affections when it had happened; when Cassiopeia would first come to know of her magus father’s peculiar secret. They arrived at in the morning and, quite noticeably, after a thick snowfall. The drifts were high on their legs, but it seemed someone was kind enough to shovel around the front patio. Inside, fire was already roaring, a crib close enough to it to bring cozy comfort. The bed nearby had its sheets turned down and the kitchen was well stocked with a wash basin just the size for a tiny bean of a little girl propped beside the sink.
Adrianal chuckled softly in amusement, not even an hour passed from their arrival and the changing station in the bathroom so neatly arranged was already in use. Thus was the reality of caring for a wee princess, no matter how innocent her little blue eyes looked upon her fathers. "When shall we leave to see your moonkin fellows? They should know we've arrived by now,” He called over his shoulder.
Felo'thore had his tall shirt collar stretched over his nose. "Heavens. How such a little thing can make a monstrous odor will be a wonder of the universe I shall always question." The mage shook his head, his voice muffled with fabric. "Oh, we shan't have to leave, darling, it appears we already have company."
Beyond the glass of the window was quite a sight. Over the snowy hill, the branches of trees stretched upward into the gray sky, reaching further and further until...they weren't trees at all. They were moving, rustling, shifting with the massive silhouettes that rose from beneath them. The antlered prows of owlbeasts, at least a good fifty of them lumbered towards the cabin, feathers fluffing in the light breeze that pushed drifts of snow around at their massive feet. In seconds the house was surrounded by them in a protective flock, some of which circling the perimeter with a sentinel's watchful eye, while others seemed to simply socialize about the property. One of the faces pressed to the bathroom window curiously with a blink of large amber eyes. Yet the largest of them all had not been seen yet from either window.
Adrianal gave a startled yelp as the moonkin peered in through the window and Cassiopeia herself stared with huge and bewildered eyes. How rude! To peek in on her changing without even a polite knock! The little girl kicked her feet a little, now deeply curious of these alien invaders while Adrianal finished cleaning her and putting lotion and powder on her rear before wrapping her up in her diaper properly. Lifting Cassiopeia to his shoulder he laughed a little as she wiggled, eyes still glued to the peering moonkin with fascination.
"Well," muttered Felo'thore. "We shan't have to travel far. I don't think my colleagues would fit inside. I dare not recall the last time I tried to get through a doorway as such."
"Then let us go greet them hmn?" Adrianal smiled, joining Felo’thore in the foyer and handing him the baby, gathering up her neat little outfit for proper outside and dressing her toes and hands and little body in warm wrappings. He then got a wrap covered in night blue and silver stars and wrapped her snugly against Felo'thore's chest.
After shrugging on their coats and heavy cloaks, the men would step outside to the lift of several moonkin faces, racks of twisting, elegant antlers and heavy mantles of silver and pale midnight feathers. Long, purple ears twitched and perked and owlish eyes rounded as Felo'thore stepped down from the cabin's porch on soft crunches of the flattened snow, the man bearing but a fledgling of his kind wrapped warmly against him with Adrianal calmly in tow. The familiar faces of Alcor and Mizar were the first to approach with bobbing heads of interest, clicking their beaks and trilling softly in curiosity.
Cassiopeia was staring with ever widening eyes as she clung to her papa. Her little mouth had popped open in surprise and she just gaped. With a worried huff she turned her face into Felo’thore’s chest and burrowed it there, little hands kneading him, taking the tassel of his robe and stuffing it into her mouth to comfort the fright these towering creatures were giving her. At first her eyes filled with tears and it looked like, for a long moment, that she was ready to cry. But slowly she peeked out and, even slower she turned her little head. She observed and with quiet dignity and grace she peeked her little face out further. But after a moment and when Adrianal gave a loud sneeze behind them she hid away her face again. She clung for dear life to Felo’thore and sucked fiercely on the tassel to calm budding anxiety. What -were- those ugly things? They looked...sort of soft...and slowly a little blue eye peeked out again.
Felo'thore's thick brows pulled together, stroking Cassiopeia's back and head through the wrap that kept her tightly to him, hushing the tears that threatened to swell at her anxious eyes. Even the mage jumped a little with the sneeze behind them, at once the faces of nearly fifty moonkin swiveling to Adrianal alertly with wary, perked ears.
Adrianal’s face flamed with a deeply embarrassed look before a modulated baritone voice carried across the frozen yard and interrupted all of them.
"Alcor. Mizar. Give space, my friends."
A soft, rounding exhale was given as the rise of an immense tree of antlers crested the hill in a sudden appearance, however slow the massive creature's approach was. The great midnight mantle of of their leading wisdom shined in the sunblind of snow, the Elder had arrived as he had planned to. The great owlbeast looked upon Felo'thore and Adrianal with fondness in his pure silver eyes, notice given to the child with them subtly. But unlike the two others, the largest bird stopped much shorter, giving a padding of space between himself and his willowy student, a father's eye keen on the wariness of such a small creature in his arms. The crystals dangling from Polaris's antlers caught the light in faint glimmers as his massive head slowly turned.
The Elder rumbled with gentle words. "Kal'thero. Have you not shown to your daughter the gift of Elune?"
"I...have not. She's not even forty sunrises yet. I don't wish to frighten her."
Polaris snorted softly. "A father shows his child there is no fear to be had. She will know through you."
"But...How will she know it is me?" Felo'thore contested.
"How did Novastorm Adrianal know it was you?"
The astromancer's eyes shifted again to his husband, recalling that ...interesting... morning. "I scared him half to death first."
Adrianal tilted his head, his knuckles running affectionately down Felo'thore's back. "Babies have an amazing way of surprising people with their open mindedness Felo'thore. But you have to show her first. Right now they're scary monsters with big eyes and weird fur. Much different than a fat cat loafing in bed with her..."
Felo’thore looked down at Cassiopeia again, watching her fuss in displeasure, the baby girl having yet the capacity to understand the presence of the eldest owlbeast in northern Kalimdor standing before them all. A long and shuddered sigh passed the mage’s lips before his eyes rose once more to Adrianal as the dim glow of his runes began to filter through the fabric of his wool coat, looking to the man for anything reassuring before he did something incredibly daft. "What if.....What if she sees me as a scary monster?"
"You won't be a scary monster," Adrianal stroked Felo's face with his gloved hand. "She loves you just as much as you love her. It's starting to be you she cries for more than I now." He stepped back, giving them room as Cassiopeia observed with fussing upset.
Felo'thore drew a soft breath as his husband stepped away, considering the man's words with an earnest heart as his eyes fell once more on the fussing little one at his chest. The circles of light across the top of his coat grew brighter as his hand twitched across her back, knuckles trembling as nails began to lengthen into long, umber claws. Carefully, he loosened the wrap around his shoulder and let her slide into his large hands, curling down and pressing his forehead to hers as a wave of feathers sprouted around his face and swelled down into his neckline.
"Do not have fear my sweet star. You are safe," he murmured to her, tucking his ears back as the heat of his core rose with the pulse of glittering light that for moments, swallowed them both. Felo'thore kept his eyes close to hers through the entire transformation, the little quivering dots in the center of his irises all the baby could see in what was an ethereal, astral light in his embrace.
To the outside, it looked as if the light from Felo'thore's runes had encased them both in a bright cocoon of starlight. But when the silhouette finally swelled into the shape of his other self did the starlight shatter away in hundreds of fireflies, the warmth Cassiopeia was wrapped in within her papa's gaze materialized into the press of soft, ivory belly feathers, with a warm shelf of them for her bottom to sit on. Luscious and vibrant rose-golden feathers fluffed around her face as a gentle, long-clawwed hand held the near entirety of her little bean body. But up above her were those same silver eyes with the quivering spots, watching her with utmost care as a breath heaved the sea of soft, warm feathers on the chest she clung to.
Cassiopeia stared with open mouthed shock. Of course she was used to her father's and their shiny magic by now but this was absolutely new. Adrianal waited, holding his breath in anxiety as he could not quite read the little girl’s feelings right now. The moonkin and Polaris alike stood witness with interest, though the elder of them idled calmly with a pleased look about his silhouette.
The infant was simply bewildered, blinking blankly up at this strange new creature. At first fear plucked at her heartstrings. Where was her papa? For a moment her little head moved, sniffing as she leaned to look over his large shoulder as if the mage would pop up and surprise her with his parlor trick. But she leaned back, blinking up at those big moony eyes in quiet amazement. A tiny hand reached out and stroked his brown beak and tugged a bit at some of those rosy feathers. He was very warm and quite soft. Wiggling her toes in her little boots she considered the owl once more with a soft huff of a breath. If the girl was going to cry or simply stare in abject shock was little to be known. But, after staring at those eyes the little bean once more gave a wiggle. Soon that wiggle turned into a high pitched squeal- but instead of being one of fear it was one of amused joy.
Cassiopeia was smiling, her little squeal turning into pretty laughter as she pressed handfuls into his warm feathers. Because of course this was her papa. He was just as warm and those eyes were unmistakable. Though she quite smugly thought he was much cuter than the other fluffy monsters. It was her first smile, one that made Adrianal's heart slam in his chest in envy and joy at the same time. Felo'thore felt his heart cease and re-sputter into it's lively canter, a mix of relief and genuine joy washing over him in a way he never quite felt before. A blush in the way only a moonkin would flashed over his face and down his much wider frame, the wall of feathers rising in a unanimous fluffing.
"Yes, it's me, my darling," his voice traveled to her little ears. "You're still with Papa." The term of endearment was one Adrianal began to use long before Felo'thore felt it genuinely. The sound was like no other, the music of her beautiful laughter and the vivacious little shaped smile curved between her rosy cheeks. He was still hesitant, but yet now seeing such joy on her tiny face and a smile of his image, the name came so much more easily.
“Papa...”
