The Guild Capitol: Chapter Three

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"Man that's complicated. " Matt rubbed his head, yeah, that was enough to give anyone a headache. "He's got no moral high ground now though right? Because he's totally got a kid now."

[I'm not surprised they sleep so much, the rate they're growing must require massive calorie intake and leave not much energy for anything else. ] He smiled softly. [It is very strange though. I've never even thought about children and now here I am with a completely dependent infant who thinks i'm her parent. But I don't know, much as i'm absolutely terrified, at the same time, i'm not unhappy with the situation. How much of that is that she's telepathically radiating so many calm soothing thoughts and how much is simply instinct on my part I don't know. Apparently most humanoids find infants of any species endearing.] He shook his head.

"I'm sure the telepathy helps, but I think it would be hard to not want to protect and love someone like her no matter what. Star dragons seem to be exceptionally good at being charming," Asher said, smiling a bit too. "You're certainly in a very unusual situation, and I'm glad that it doesn't seem to be an entirely negative one. Unexpected, certainly, and we could all have benefited from a few months' warning, but despite the confusion of it all, I think we can make it work. It helps that she really seems to want to cooperate."

Kay nodded. [She is a remarkably well mannered little thing, let's just hope that doesn't mean she'll turn into a nightmare older child.] He smiled, yeah he was probably joking. [I suppose if nothing else I now know how my mother felt when she took in Matt and his siblings. Started the day with two children, ended it with five. That had to be a huge adjustment.]

"Well at least the horror of having a two year old should only last a day or so," Asher joked. "Thankfully it's only one kid you have to worry about, not five. That sounds thoroughly exhausting."

Kay nodded. [It does. And I suppose at least I have some understanding and first hand knowledge of two of her abilities. I won't be much help with the star magic or the flying though, but Starr's around for that. She's very fortunate to have some many people around to love and support her. She'll never have to just muddle through and make it up as she goes along. Starr and I on the other hand? I think we'll be doing an awful lot of improvising.] He shook his head. [It's going to be a bit awkward I think.] Things always were awkward with him and starr now, sharing parental responsibility was just another weirdness to add to the growing list of an uncomfortably intimate relationship with the woman.

Asher smiled sadly. He wished so much that things could be okay between Kay and Starr again. They both mattered so much to him, and it wasn't fun to see just how tense and uncomfortable their relationship was now. There was nothing he could do about it if course, nothing he could say that would make it resolve itself or something. He just had to live with it, just like poor Kay and Starr did. Ugh. "Yes, it probably will involve an awful lot of improvising," he agreed, "from what I've heard, children are never simple to raise and these ones will be unusually tricky. At least there are some sources of information, that's a start."

Kay nodded again, if he caught Asher's expression he ignored it. The situation with Starr wasn't something he could really adequately explain and doing so just made it more uncomfortable so he'd done what he always did, bottled it up and ignored it. [I just hope i'm not expected to participate in flying lessons. Maybe we should have an agreement. I'll do baths, you do watching her jump from heights.]

Asher chuckled, firmly pushing his unhappiness aside. "That sounds like a good arrangement."

Kay nodded. [I think it should work out well. And if anyone tries to point out that I have wings, I expect you to join me in glaring at them. ] He smiled, stupid jokes about his bad cop reputation made him feel better.

Asher nodded. "I can do that. It's a worthy use of my glare." He noticed some sort of apothecary up ahead, "Come on, let's try that place."

Kay followed. [Definitely, even if your glare is mostly ineffectual maybe our combined glares will have some effect.]

"Unless my ineffective one neutralizes your effective one," Asher said in a very philosophical tone, "Perhaps i should try a look of disappointment and disapproval instead."

Kay laughed silently. [You're right, we can't take that risk.] He looked around the apothecary shelves.

Asher smiled and went to look at a shelf full of oils. "I'm sorry I can't help you more with my glare."

[it's alright, you're good at other things.] He started laughing again. [Sorry, that could be interpreted quite inappropriately. You have a great many other skills? No, I can't make it not sound dirty. You know what I mean.]

Asher kept his expression serious although his eyes showed his amusement. "Well I'm glad to know my skills are appreciated."

Kay smiled broadly. [Always. ] AHAH! He triumphantly picked up a bottle labeled 'Frankincence oil'

"You found it?" Asher said. "That's good, all I found was about thirty types of lavender oil, which I don't think are needed."

[I'm fairly sure we already have lavender in hydroponics.] Kay examined the bottle to see if it was the right stuff.

"I think so. We certainly don't need thirty varieties of lavender oil," Asher said. He looked at the bottle, "The label looks right to me "

Kay nodded. [Alright then.] He was being paranoid, he knew he was being paranoid, but there was always that fear of is it really right?
He went to go pay for the oil.

"It'll be all right," Asher said softly. Sure, this information had come from the book written by slavers, but slavers still wanted to make sure their star dragons were healthy, right? If it wasn't all right, well, there were several medics, Sawna, and a lot of Guild healers who could help. But hopefully it wouldn't come to that.

Kay nodded, paid for the oil and looked to Asher. [This is exhausting. Is worrying about every little thing normal?]

"I think it is," Asher told him, "Wanting to make sure that you don't do anything that could harm your child is just part of being a parent. Exhausting and stressful, but not abnormal at all." He smiled slightly, "Or so I've gathered. Presumably it'll get better as she grows stronger and you learn more."

Kay bit his lip and nodded. Being referred to as a parent, that was going to take a lot of getting used to.
He could feel Danika breathing, which was reassuring, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to constantly look down to check on her or second guess everything they did.

[Let's get back to the ship, she'll want to eat again soon enough i'm sure.] These growing dragons seemed to eat constantly.

"Yes, let's go home," Asher agreed. "There are things to attend to, and at some point we can put Danika to bed and you can get some free time." He thought Kay could probably use some more time away from Danika, even if he did like her. This was all just so new.

Kay smiled softly. [Today has been a very strange day.]
They'd head back to the ship.