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Eddas himself (herself?) enough to where they will leave you in peace.
Sincerely, Lord Caladis of Greenhaven."
- Lord Caladis, Private letter to High Mistress Pelia Cydalion, 1820 NCC
"Grampa!" a little voice squeaked.
I grinned, turning my head from where I sat upon the parapet to see Lyota and
her daughter, Kyrie, standing in the doorway to my room at the top of my
tower. Behind them was Pelia, Lyota's mother. It was the middle of summer, and
I was utterly surprised to see them. "Hello, little one!" I called, holding
out my arms.
Kyrie dashed across the parapet, hopping into my lap for a hug. "Grampa!" she
crowed, hugging me tight.
I hugged her back, chuckling as I patted her little back with an ebon-gloved
hand. "You know, someday your mummy really must explain things to you," I
said, looking to Lyota as she sat beside me in a nearby chair. "Otherwise, my
little flower, you're likely to grow up with some very strange notions about
what constitutes our family relationships."
Lyota giggled as Pelia pulled up a chair and sat beside her. "I have, Father -
she is ten, after all, and is old enough to understand. She just knows that
you enjoy having her call you 'Grampa.'"
"Is that true, my little flower?" I asked, looking at Kyrie and smiling.
"Yes, I understand," Kyrie replied, grinning. "It's magic - inside, you're a
boy. You look like a girl because you got stuck inside this body, and can't
fix it. And you're not really my Grampa, Mummy Lyota used a spell on Mummy
Floria and made me with sorcery. Mummy Lyota and Mummy Floria explained that
you got the idea for the spell from the band Gramma Pelia made. Gramma Pelia
and all my aunties got together and made a magic band for you, and it lets you
help them have babies because there aren't any more men of our people in all
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the whole wide world. Well, there's one, but he doesn't count, because he's
with Rhane the Dryad and he loves her very much and mummy says even if he
wanted to be my daddy he couldn't because there's only one of him and we'd all
end up inbred and dumb as chickens! Buk-buk-bukaaawk!" Kyrie replied, flapping
her arms like a chicken.
I burst out laughing for several long moments, and Lyota and Pelia joined me.
"Well, yes, my little flower, that's about right. Your germ plasm is really
that of Floria, herself - you're really more like her twin than her
daughter."
"I know! Mummy Floria and Mummy Lyota and Gramma Pylota explained it to me! At
first I was very sad because I thought that meant I didn't have a real mummy.
Then mummy explained that she gave birth to me, she suckled me at her breasts,
and that makes her my mummy! Well, I thought about it, and I asked mummy if
Gramma Pelia could have had Mummy Lyota without you helping her, and she said
no, the magic didn't work that way. Well, if she couldn't have Mummy Lyota
without you, then that makes you my grampa! So there!"
I laughed again as Lyota and then Pelia took turns hugging the precocious
little child. Kyrie's explanation, though simplistic, was accurate - and very
telling of her true intellectual potential.
"Besides," Kyrie said, turning to me and continuing our conversation as soon
as her grandmother had let her go, "I have better eyes than Gramma Pelia or
any of my grand-aunties, anyway! I can see what you really look like, you
know, just like Mummy Lyota and Mummy Floria!"
I nodded, smiling as I gazed at Kyrie's grinning little face. "Yes, that was
another side-effect of the spell. Your life was sparked by sorcery, and that
attunes you to magical things and lets you see things that the other races
cannot. It's a very special and wonderful gift - and one that someday will
serve you well, once you begin your studies of sorcery," I replied, and
fuzzled her hair. Kyrie stuck her tongue out at me, and giggled.
"Tell me again what Eddas really looks like, Kyrie," Pelia said, smiling.
Kyrie looked at me for a moment, her gaze unfocused. "Well, Grampa is very
tall, maybe four cubits and two hands tall. You can't tell in this body
because it's only three cubits and three hands tall, but he is. Very tall. He
has a beard that comes down to here, too," she said, poking a chubby finger at
my breasts as she gazed at me. "His head is smooth... No hair. Shaved, I
think. Lots of muscles, not like a girl. Very broad shoulders. And he doesn't
have pasty-white skin like this body. It's brown, like ours. Bushy eyebrows,
too - very large and bushy," Kyrie said, then blinked, looked at me, and
grinned. "And he has a big nose!" she added with a giggle.
"I do not!" I snorted, and Pelia and Lyota giggled along with Kyrie.
"You do, too! A huuuuuuuge nose! Enormous! Like a beak!"
I knew she was teasing me, of course - but I pretended to be highly insulted.
"I do not have a big nose. My nose was perfectly normal for a man of my
people. Many women called it handsome, in fact."
"I could hide my shoe in it!"
"Bah. Lyota, your daughter is insufferably rude. I shall have to tickle her to
death," I said, and began tickling Kyrie's little ribs.
Kyrie squealed and giggled and struggled in my lap. After a long moment, she
finally gasped "Okay! Okay! I lied! It's not that big!" I let her go and she
hopped off my lap, then dashed over to hide behind her mother. Peering around
her, Kyrie stuck her tongue out at me. "But it's still pretty big."
For a long, happy moment, Pelia, Lyota and I laughed, and Kyrie giggled. I
looked up, and Joy was stepping out onto the parapet. "Ah, I thought I heard
laughter up here. Hello, Kyrie!"
"Hello, Auntie Joy! Mummy and I are visiting because she wanted to come visit
Grampa and I wanted to come, too, so she brought me along with her spell and
here we are!"
Joy smiled. "How wonderful! How are you doing in your studies?"
"I am at the top of my class! I can name every bird and plant and animal on
Iolo Mountain, now, and I am good at mathematics and I can read and write,
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too! Mummy and Auntie Kylae are teaching me! They traded herbs to Taliad and
got many books in elvish, and Grampa finished translating them into our
language and they are all neat and have lots of pictures!"
Joy nodded. "Well, your grampa has a magic quill to help him with that -
that's why the pictures come out so good. I don't think he could draw to save
his life," Joy replied, and winked at me.
I rolled my eyes. "I should have checked my calendar this morning, and noticed
it was 'taunt Eddas' day."
"It is?" Pelia replied, pretending to be surprised. "I thought when I drew up
our new calendars, I set that for the middle of the week! Bah! All those years
of researching those obscure elven and Larinian history books you translated
for us, all to line our calendars up perfectly, and I'm off by a day. Humph.
Next you'll tell me I got the year-count wrong, and it's not 1784 NCC,
either."
For a long moment, I was the center of laughter. Though I pretended to be
annoyed, in truth, I was quite happy with all of them.
Once the laughter had settled a bit, Joy grinned. "Come, Kyrie. Let's go visit
my garden, and let your mummy and gramma talk to Eddas in peace. Would you
like that?"
"Sure!" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]