Page 21 of The Drawn Arrow
“What else can you shift to?”
“Nothing yet,” he admitted. “But I can look however I want.”
“What?” Yuka asked, eyes wide. “That’s cool! Can I see?”
“Don’t be rude, Yuka,” Amka chided from the other side of Kade. “You shouldn’t ask personal questions like that to someone you just met. Especially aking.”
“It’s alright,” Florian started, but Yuka had already looked toward her with a groan, rolling his eyes.
“Whatever, Amka,” he sneered.
“Hey,” Kade said, stepping between them. Despite his tone, a smile still lingered on his face. “Come on. I don’t want to deal with you guys arguing right when I get here.”
Yuka made a non-committal noise and ran out of the room, seemingly deciding that he’d rather be somewhere else, and the sound of the front door slamming shut soon followed.
“That boy keeps us on our toes,” Tan sighed, shaking his head. The noise of the door seemed to have startled the baby, though, which started to fuss. Ani shushed and patted her until the slight whine, threatening to become a full cry, died down into soft baby noises.
“Here, Kade,” she said, shifting the baby from one arm to the other and adjusting her shirt. “Did you want to hold her?”
“Oh,” Kade said, hesitating. Next to him, Amka grinned and pushed him toward the mother and her baby. “Alright.”
Ani stood and gingerly handed him the baby; though she was cautious, Kade moved to hold her as easily as if he had held a hundred babies before. When she was settled in his arms, Ani stretched and groaned, pressing a hand to the small of her back.
“Hold her for as long as you want,” she laughed. “I could use the break.”
She stood and walked toward her husband, and Kade sat down in the chair that she vacated, looking down at the baby in his arms. It struck Florian again how gentle he could be: for all his strength and stature, he always touched Florian with such care. For him to be cradling a baby against his chest—the contrast was almost sweet.
“Want to say hi?” Kade said, noticing Florian watching him. He stepped closer, peering down at the baby. Her eyes were big and a dark reddish-brown, looking up at him curiously.
“Hi,” Florian said softly. He hadn’t held a baby before, and was hoping Kade wouldn’t ask him to—he was content to just look. “Have you held a lot of babies?”
Kade chuckled at the question. “I wouldn’t say a lot. I was a teenager when Amka and Yuka were born so I held them all the time, though. A few more of my cousins have had babies now, too.”
Florian glanced around the room. Tan and Ani were standing next to each other, talking. Amka had gone to peer out the door, probably for Yuka, who was nowhere in sight. It felt cozy—homey, almost, even though it wasn’t his home. There was a sense of familial belonging between all of them, despite Kade’s time away. He looked like he felt as comfortable as if he had always been here. Part of him wondered why Kade had ever wanted to leave: that made him feel guilty, though it felt silly even as he had the thought.
“Did you think this would be your life?” Florian asked softly, not quite looking at him. “Stay here and have a family?”
Kade paused for only a moment, then laughed again. “Of course not,” he said, then seemed to notice Florian’s discomfort. “Hey. Look at me.”
He just barely managed to meet Kade’s eyes. “If this was the life I wanted, I would have had it. It didn’t have to be me to go take my father’s place. Someone else would have gone if I didn’t want to. They’re my family, but this isn’t what I wanted my own life to be like. Trust me.”
Florian managed a small smile at that. “Okay. I trust you.”
The baby, Sesi, reached her small hands up to smack Kade’s face, jealous of his attention. He laughed and looked back down at her.
“What? Is this what you want?” he asked, rocking her slightly until a gummy smile split her face.
Florian sat next to him and watched, until it was time to go back to the main house for dinner together.
Dinner was strange. Much larger than any family dinner Florian ever had before, but far more cramped and personal than the feast at the Winter Court, it felt almost like being back in high school, sitting at a long cafeteria table surrounded by both friends and strangers.
Food was set out along the table for everyone to help themselves. At the head of the table, Kallik sat with Meriwa next to him. The rest of the family was clustered there: Bowen was directly next to Kallik, Kade next to him, and Florian next to Kade. Amka and Yuka sat across from him, the same side as their mother, and the rest of the table was taken up with other cousins and relatives, only a few of which Kade managed to introduce before the meal was served.
It was pleasant, in a way, but exhausting. Family dinners for Florian had always just been him and his uncle; now, there were nearly twenty people crowded around him, so many wanting his attention that he barely got a few bites of food before his meal had turned cold. Yuka especially kept calling out to him, asking all manner of questions about the Winter Court and the Earth. But he could hardly begrudge the boy his curiosity, so Florian answered as much as he was able.
Finally, Kade cut him off. “Yuka,” he snapped, pointing with a fork to the boy’s plate. “Stop talking and eat your food.” The boy grumbled, but left Florian alone. He managed a grateful smile up at Kade, who patted his back with his other hand.
Eventually, people started to trickle out of the dining room. Kade seemed to sense Florian’s discomfort and took him by the hand the moment others started leaving.
