The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2 novel Chapter 44

Part 8

That evening, the whole family worked on aerial combat tactics and strategies, which was even more fun than groundwork. They were having so much fun that they skipped a formal evening meal and had sandwiches and juice between bouts.

That evening Valentia insisted on sleeping with the twins, rather than with her parents as she always insisted on before that. It was a relief for her parents, since they wouldn’t have to monitor her sleep and cast Silence on themselves in order to make love without disturbing her.

As the adults were tucking the children into bed, Mark commented to the twins; “You know, you’re more than ready to join in the community military training. You’d already be more effective than about a third of our adult neighbors.”

“No thank you, Father.” Reggie smiled. “It would be fun, but we’d like to wait until Valentia’s ready too, and until her psionics are fully running, and our own magic is fully working.”

“But thanks for offering.” Helemia added.

“All, right, I understand that.” Mark chuckled.

“And it’s very generous of you to wait to include Valentia.” Alilia smiled.

“Thanks,” Helemia giggled, “But it has less to do with generosity than with knowing how much of a temper tantrum she’ll have if she doesn’t get to play, when we can. And I can’t really blame her. But she’s coming along pretty fast, especially since you grownups started Linking her without us, so it won’t be long. She’s not near as far ahead as me and Reggie, but she’s still way ahead of any other kids her age, and we’re helping her as much as we can.”

“And she loves you dearly for it.” Alilia told them. “As do I.”

“As we love you all.” Reggie returned with a smile. “And we’re sorry that you don’t get to, well, to parent us very much compared to other kids. You don’t have to teach us as much as normal kids, or care for us as much as normal kids, and on top of that we know we like to spend a lot more time on our own working on stuff than other kids. And sometimes we can tell that you really miss it. Like today, with the combat training. You wanted the joy of sharing your knowledge and time with us, passing on what you’ve learned, and we just wanted to get it all done right away.”

“Ah. Well I’m sorry we were that obvious about it.” Mark chuckled.

“Almost every advantage has its price.” Talia smiled. “The benefits of your amazing abilities far outweigh their meager drawbacks. And you were right, we had far more fun today than we would’ve if we’d spent the time teaching you the basics of swordplay without any magical or psionic teaching methods.”

“As to the joy of parenting you, we also have the advantages of our abilities.” Mark told them. “We’re always psionicly aware of you, at least subconsciously, even when you’re off on your own. We always know you’re safe, and we share every moment of your lives to one extent or another. The only exceptions were when we were in a combat exercise, at which time we used to have Quewanak monitor you for us so we could free up our concentration. But since your little adventure with the Sylvan, we keep some of our awareness on you even when we’re fighting a battle exercise. So in many ways, we get a lot more wonderful parenting experiences than normal parents get with normal children.”

“We’ll never lose you.” Alilia told them with love that was almost fierce. “As Mark saved Dalia and Bezedil from death itself, so we will save you or Valentia, should you ever need it. We make sure that all three of us have sufficient psionic awareness of all three of you at all times to make the Resurrection work, we keep a reserve of power available for it at all times, and Mark has pre-cast the spell for each of us and stored them in indestructible objects.