The Ogre Strength Fairy and the Eldest 'Son'-Chapter 362 - Chubby Little Tantrums & Wise Reptilian Kindness

Chapter 362: Chapter 362 - Chubby Little Tantrums & Wise Reptilian Kindness

"Stop that, Onya. You’ll tear it."

Yatrel er Goltbred’s voice carried the patience of a mother who had spent the entire day with a fussy toddler. An entire set of days. Her youngest sat on the floor of their temporary quarters, tugging at the decorative trim of a small pillow with determined chubby fingers.

Separation from her father and elder sister had only intensified her stubbornly mischievous nature. Sometimes, due to Elua’s mention of comparing her friends to animals... she thought of her as a playful little otter. Other times, she was clearly a racoon.

"Wan E-wah. Wan Papa!"

Abandoning the pillow before she was forcefully taken further from it, she crossed her small arms and rolled back on the floor. Her reddish-blonde hair was still stuck up at odd angles from an earlier tantrum - when it was ’Tat’ and ’Tautau’ she asked for. The duelist knelt beside her daughter, mint eyes staring into brown as she smoothed the wild strands.

"I know, sweet girl. Believe me, I miss them too."

The fort quarters for the majority of their home city families were well-appointed by wartime standards, but hardly luxurious. The Goltbred three-room quarters felt absolutely cavernous without Ondua’s laugh or Elua’s ’sweet’ presence.

Yatrel even missed the Yecine heir. Talking, teasing, and very carefully mothering the young man ever since she realized how much he needed it. Her daughter’s nursemaid and a few others stayed directly with them... but talking to the servants was not the same, no matter how much she treated and considered them part of her extended family.

’You might miss your sister more than I do, I’ll hand you that one, dear. But I miss your father more than you. I’m certain.’

A knock at the door provided welcome distraction from her moment of possessive comparison with her own child. The woman rose and straightened her simple clothing before opening it to reveal an apologetic-looking blonde woman. The fort commander’s wife was there to visit again, with her young boy half-hidden behind her skirts.

"I’m so sorry to disturb you, Lady Goltbred. But my Gehxel here has been quite insistent about visiting the ’little crawler’, as he calls her."

The boy, between seven and eight years old, peered around his mother with surprisingly solemn eyes. Unlike many children his age who’d been evacuated to this fort, he behaved himself with an almost unnatural stillness. The mark of a young cultivator-in-training who’d already learned to control his physical energy.

’An Enchanter with a Physique. A child being raised with all the pressures of approaching adulthood. Like I’ll need to do with Onya this time... because Elua was a fluke!’

"You met us at the communal dining hall. Thank you for playing with her then."

The boy nodded to the reddish-blonde’s warm smile before his yellow eyes found Onya on the floor. From a pouch behind his back, he produced a small wooden figure.

"She was sad. I brought something." ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom

A bird with outstretched wings, carefully carved and polished. The work was impressively detailed and it was impossible to see any tool marks on the form which looked quite familiar to the Dame Goltbred.

’So, I was right. That essence field is an Enchanter as well. By the looks of that figurine, Wood. And not their first work.’

Onya’s head tilted over at the sight of the visitor and what he held. Her fussiness was momentarily forgotten as she pushed herself to the crawl before getting close enough to reach for the carving in a very short time.

"Ber!"

She pronounced her best, but the boy held it just out of reach - while correcting her with the sort of deep seriousness about a very small matter only a child could muster. An awful lot like the heiress would get when trying to teach her sibling something.

"Not just a bird. It’s a Skydancer. Like the ones your sister has. My father carved it for me, but you can hold it if you’re careful. Okay?"

"Sorry. He’s been obsessed with learning about your family since news came in of the Yecine heir’s exploits. Honestly, I feel like he’s under some misunderstanding... it will pass in a few weeks, I’m sure."

Yatrel received this answer after exchanging a glance with the fort manager’s wife, who shrugged while giving it. Interestingly, she gave no correction about the ’little lie’ he’d just told... because the fort commander had an Earth Element.

’Maybe it wasn’t a lie. His father could have carved it down by hand and the son finished and smoothed it himself with his Element. That does make more overall sense for a low Echelon elementalist.’

"Lady Goltbred... I’m actually expected elsewhere. Do you mind if-"

"It’s fine. I’ll watch over him... and I welcome the company, honestly. Both my daughter and I have been missing our family. Perhaps a distraction would do us good."

The blonde woman nodded gratefully.

"I’ll return for him before the evening meal. Please, if he gives you any trouble just send for me!."

As the door closed behind the departing woman, Yatrel watched Gehxel carefully lower himself to sit cross-legged on the floor near Onya. Still holding the wooden ’Skydancer’ he instructed her with his serious wisdom.

"You have to be gentle. No throwing."

The toddler plopped down nearby, her brown eyes fixed on the carved bird. Her littlest girl even gave a nod as she agreed with more solemn understanding than it felt like a one year old should.

"No tow."

’I know it’s been insisted to me that she will not be as easy and smart as my first, but look at that! My daughter is a genius!’

Oblivious to the unnecessary flood of doting inside one mother’s head, young Gehxel placed the wooden figure into the small chubby hands.

"Your sister’s birds are magic. They go far away and come back. They know where people are."

"E-wah ber..."

Brown eyes brightened at finally making the connection. Her fingers traced the detailed wooden wings, something she’d wanted to do to the real ones since the first time seeing one!

But her sister, her ’brother’, and even the birds themselves always kept that from happening. She loved all of them, but sometimes couldn’t understand why they did mean things like that.

"I’m going to have birds like that too, someday. When I’m older. I’m going to be a member of the Wing & Talon Enclave."

Yatrel settled into a nearby chair, allowing the children to have their space to play while remaining watchful. Part of her felt like it was being too careful, the boy obviously going to lengths to be calm and gentle. The earnest determination reminded her somewhat of Qatrand er Yecine.

Not so much at the age she first really started to interact with the ’dark-haired’ cultivator... but definitely at the age when that teenager started to show up more regularly to spend time with their eldest.

’I sincerely hope this one has not grown overly attached to my youngest. Because I have a feeling, with how easily she forms connections to so many, that she may grow up to be quite an obvious girl in that regard... if his feelings become a deeper love.’

Even though Yatrel considered herself pretty open minded, she would never agree to another arranged marriage for her children. Especially not one with any more age gap than between El and Qat. So she also hope that this ’meeting’ and ’drop off’ was not part of a longer political maneuver by either the wife or the fort commander themself.

"Fwy?"

"No, it doesn’t really fly. It’s just a piece of wood that looks like a bird. But... we can pretend."

He gently explained before he took the carving and moved it through the air in small, soft swoops. Onya’s delighted giggle was the first Yatrel had really heard from her in days.

"Fwy, fwy!"

Continuing his demonstration, adding excessive sound effects that made chubby hands clap together... the older woman felt some of the recent tension ease from her shoulders. Children often adapted, even in wartime. They still found joy in small moments - no matter how negatively the dispositions of others around them made them feel.

"You’re very good with her."

She observed after several minutes of their play. The child called Gehxel looked up, his yellow eyes as serious as they had been since he entered.

"I have little sisters and cousins at home. They’re with my grandmother now. Mother said I needed to come here with her because I might be special."

The careful way he said ’special’ suggested less of a self-belief and more like he’d heard adults discussing his cultivation potential. Child being separated from family because of gifts was a common enough story during peacetime. So many cultivator families took the best and brightest and focused on them.

Sometimes to the detriment of others, but resources were always scarce. It was impossible to judge what would be late blooming talent and what had quicker ceilings to it. They could only go on the seeming achievements by the time they were four, usually.

Which is when most well off families began to seriously teach cultivation practices. Readying them for attendance at the youth guild. Instilling them with the dogma that persisted in the universe, the world, and the continent - that there was a path to power beyond full understanding available to them.

"I thought it made sense that she feels lonely too. Because I miss my sisters. Grandmother says birds flock together. So we should too."

He went back to playing like he hadn’t just shown a little extra emotion. Gehxel wanting to make sure she didn’t break or toss the object he worked hard on. The woman just nodded to herself, touched by the boy’s perception and seemingly good heart.

’Still not good enough for my daughter, though. I know they only met recently, but unlike with that Talva... not once has she ever tried to pronounce that name of his!’

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