Thief Of Truth's Heart

Chapter 17

It's nice to know that when shit hits the ceiling, koalas and baby centaurs would never judge you.

They would just haunt your waking hours and dreams at night, and turn them into nightmares with their chubby, little fingers.

Atlanta realised this fact the hard way after she tried to teach her baby centaur sword fighting, and somehow the sword managed to fly out of his grip and embed itself into the tree right next to a baby koala that her Phoebus had gifted to her, which scurried away in fear. The koala eventually found itself taking refuge in her hair on top of her head, while Chiron dejectedly trotted up to her and hugged her legs tightly in self disappointment.

Apollo smiled amusedly at his Lana from his place on the ground nearby. "Seems like our adopted children have deemed it to be break time already."

Atlanta pouted at her husband. "Phoebus, we have just started. I am sure that with time, Chiron would be fighting his wars with a sword like I would. My baby can surely do this, can't he?"

Chiron asked slowly. "Would you be happy if I mastered the art of sword fighting?"

Atlanta smiled brightly. "I would be ecstatic, sweetie. I would be safe knowing that my little baby can protect himself in case I am not there. Otherwise I would be panicking all the time. Not that I am going to ever leave you alone, you hear me? You have a lot of time before you are going to get out of my sight, young man."

Chiron nodded determinedly. "Then I am going to learn it, no matter how long it takes or how much hard work I have to do to master it. If it makes you happy, I would do it mother."

Atlanta beamed in response, before ruffling her child's hair. "Your hair has gotten too long. You need to cut it a bit."

Chiron looked horrified. "But mother, this hairstyle looks good on me!!"

Putting a hand on her hip and wagging a finger at her little baby, Atlanta sternly told him. "Don't argue with your mother. Those bangs are getting in your eyes. Your tail needs grooming and you look like a mess with the dirt on your body. You need a bath, or else we would end up mistaking you for a weird, old drunk guy who sleeps on the deck of a pirate ship."

The baby centaur pouted at his mother, not liking the idea of getting a thorough bath. "I am not that much dirty, am I?"

"Oh yes, you are.", Atlanta disagreed before starting to pull him by his hand to the western part of the island. Several waterfalls and lakes were present in that area, and the daughter of Poseidon was determined to make her struggling little centaur take a much needed nice, long bath.

Chiron turned to his father desperately, knowing firsthand how much time his mother took to bath him when she thought that he was not clean enough. "Father, tell something to mother. You know that I washed myself just this morning. You were there too. And I can't cut my hair, it took a long time to grow them back after the last time she cut them off. Please save me."

Apollo shook his head with a small smile. "You know your mother. Once she sets her mind on doing something, she won't back off until she does it. I don't want to risk her anger getting directed at me either, seeing that she didn't notice that I had my hair tied back with a green ribbon. Sorry kid, you are on your own."

The Sun God gave a booming laughter when he saw the betrayed expression that his little centaur sent his way as he was dragged away by his beloved wife.

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"See, now you look so great!! You really needed that bath.", Apollo mused after stepping away from the wall that he was leaning on for the past  two hours while his adopted kid got cleaned up by his best friend in one of the lakes of the island.