Life, Death, and Time - A Books Of Beginning Collection

Oneshot: Godfather

Background: Takes place pre Emerald Atlas prologue, when the Wibberlys are small and still with their parents. However, for Gabriel, this has happened after the Battle of Cambridge Falls and meeting the siblings, though before reuniting with them at Pym's Christmas party.

Content: Family, Friendship, Wholesomeness, Angst. Gabriel and the Wibberlys familial relationship appreciation.

1.

Gabriel Kitignia Tessouat was not someone who faltered often. In his life, a life of battle and leadership, he had been expected to make decisions with speed and accuracy, and for the most part, he rose to the occasion. But when Richard and Clare Wibberly - allies, friends, and, in a way bound in the threads of time, family - asked him to be the godfather to the three children they would someday had, he was unsure of what to say.

Oh, of course, he wanted to accept. He adored the Wibberly children - bookish Michael, responsible Kate, and especially daring Emma. He would protect them in any way he could. Yet he also didn't know if he should accept the offer to become the godfather to these children, when he knew that he wouldn't get to fill the roll the way he should. As much as he wished he could look after them when things inevitably went wrong, the course of fate, and the opinions of one Stanislaus Pym, dictated otherwise. Gabriel would be forced to abandon his duties and let the siblings be taken to a procession of orphanages and suffering and uncertainty. He wasn't sure he could live with himself after that.

Eventually, though, his love for the children won out, and Gabriel accepted Richard and Clare's offer. And so, when the eldest, Kate, was born, Gabriel was invited to the ceremony to become her godfather.

Godparents worked somewhat differently in the magical world than the human world. While humans tended to appoint godparents during a religious or personal event, or establish legal guardians on their wills, magical parents appointed godparents in a ritual, one that symbolically marked the child and appointee as family for the rest of their lives, and also established the godparent status in all magical world records. The ceremony took place at Gabriel's cabin, with Granny Peet and Dr. Pym both presiding over the ritual. Hugo Algernon, a family friend of Richard and Clare's, and Dena, Gabriel's current protegee, were witnesses, along with Ms. Sallow and Abraham from the village of Cambridge Falls. The small group was gathered around, the wisewoman and the old wizard drawing out the ritual circle while Dr. Algernon made small talk with the housekeeper and photographer, and Dena raided Gabriel's cabinets for food. Then there was a knock on the cabin door - the Wibberly family had arrived. 

Richard entered first, his glasses slipping down his face, lubricated with sweat from the hike up. Gabriel could see so much of the man's future son in him - they shared the same scholarly aura and proud mannerisms, not to mention the same brown eyes and chestnut hair (Emma had also inherited those traits, though not the need for glasses). Clare entered next, smiling at Gabriel, her blonde hair pulled back in a messy ponytail. There was always a sort of courage in the woman's eyes, a blunt directness that Emma seemed to pick up from her mother.

"How's parenthood treating you two?" Gabriel asked politely. He had only met the couple a few times in the past, but they were already so connected by their love for the children that were their future.

"You'd think we'd be more prepared," Richard laughed lightly, "what, with knowledge of the future, and all the books I've read. But it turns out that none of those books prepare you for actually caring for a child."

Clare grinned, "it also didn't prepare him for the rush of fatherly desire to buy cute onesies and baby clothes."

Richard blushed red at his wife's teasing, until Dr. Pym clapped his hands behind them, "alright, the ritual has been set up. Shall we begin?"