Ring of Mushrooms

5

You felt like you were on fire. You watched the candles flicker and dance smoke twirling around itself. Your stomach was filled with pain, it hurt so badly when you stood, you thought at first that you were just hungry. Your sweet jam-covered toast did nothing to stop the disabling pain that made you feel weak and dizzy. You didn't need to go to the restroom, you didn't feel sick in any other way, your only hope was to lay down and try to breathe, and just hope that when the sky looked more lilac than a bruised plum, you would feel better.

Little Silver and his big eyes followed you and Lilia around the room, his head would turn and he'd chew happily on his toys. He watched you help walk Lilia through the steps of preparing the new food for him. You had to kick him out as soon as he said "the term 'eye-balling it' was made for me!" It was reason enough to ban him from a part of his own home. You didn't even think he was joking about the statement, it felt too true.

Something that came with Little Silver's rapid development was that he was a sneaky little brat. You'd set him down but he would crawl his way to the front door and watch his father weed the garden. He had a nasty little habit of chewing on his fingers, it was something all babies did sure but you were a bit worried that he would continue even as his teeth grew in. You'd gently tug his hand from his mouth and give him a safer toy to chew on instead. Something that you were strangely observant of was the when and what. When he started teething when he sat up without assistance or support. You noticed that he could track better and he seemed to understand some things better than others.

One time when he had escaped your line of sight he had tumbled out of the front door to follow after his father, who had been leaving for work. Not that you know what his work entailed, you just knew he would be back soon enough, and you needed to feed Silver and change him. Not too long after that fall, he had stopped crawling out of the doorway and taking a fumble down onto the stone-dirt path. He would just sit and stare at the ground. Then in his eyes you find his father, as he checks his watch and waved goodbye to his son.

You were surprised that you noticed a lot of it, you wondered why but that was not your concern, perhaps someone else could figure out why, you were more busy helping Lilia pack for that trip he had been talking about. You debated swiping some of this surprisingly rich man's chocolate for yourself as just a little treat. You had to tell yourself a good thousand times, distracting yourself with dusting off a few small suitcases from your room's messy closet of things that didn't belong to you.

The trip wouldn't be too long Lilia had explained, a week at most. You'd pulled out a few outfits for yourself, some seemed to be stained from Silver's latest worm filled mud pie. His little hands had carried it to you as he wobbled across the yard to where you were scribbling away about a tall tower. He had no understanding of numbers, absolutely none. It was a little bit too funny at times. Little Silver whining because of his father getting a big helping of pudding? Offer him two small bowls. He couldn't tell the difference and you didn't have to explain that a half is more than a quarter to a baby who couldn't yet speak.

"Silver?" You asked the small boy as his hands tugged at your shirt on the floor. You'd dropped it there in a morning moment of laziness and had yet to pick it back up. The little things had been pulling it closer to the bed where you were packing. "May I have that?" You asked, holding your hands out. He stood up, nearly fumbling down onto his face.

He had walked for the first time in the garden, his father had been returning from his job. You had come to sit and enjoy the lilac daylight and then a small baby stood up, and took a few steps towards his father. He fell shortly after. You had laughed a little at the way Lilia's eyes widened with joy and then instantly panicked. He had scooped him up before he had hit the ground.

"Good job Silver!" He spun around with his son in his arms. The small baby giggled and cooed up at his father, small babbles falling from his lips. "Awww!" He pressed his cheek to his son's head, "I missed you too." He drew out the last word and pressed a kiss to his head.

It really had been a fun sight. Lilia practically cried with joy because his son walked to welcome him home. He had been over the moon, talking about how sweet his boy was. How perfect of a welcome home it was. His eyes were glowing not their usual fresh blood red but a bright magenta. Honestly it was a little creepy the way his eyes glowed in the growing dark night. Silver had been long asleep and you had been held hostage listening to him talk about the baby pictures he had collected of his sweet little sprite. You could see his heart in his eyes.

So now you plucked the boy up from the floor holding him to your chest as you closed your suitcase. You'd leave in the morning. Little Silver clung to your shirt, his tired head resting atop your shoulder. He made a babble that you couldn't guess the meaning of.

"Good night kid." You whispered to him, rubbing his small head.

You put him to bed pressing Lilia's gift to his grasp. His little hand grasped the small hand-sewn bunny.  One of the black button eyes was lower than the other, not to mention that they didn't match anyways. The stitches were neat, and evenly placed, obviously a skill he had perfected over the years. There was a shadow, a quick flash of the candle light flickering, then he was by the window.

He was bent over the other edge of the crib, his fingers stroking his pink cheeks. His eyes shined as the candle light reflected against them. The red looked like rubies, his hair falling over the other. He laughed to himself as Silver's hand reached up in his sleep grasping the air where his hand used to be before settling back down.

"Sleep well now." He pressed a feather light kiss to his head and he was pulling you away from the room with him.

He stopped you in the middle of his trinket filled room. He searched through the shelves until he whined about nearly misplacing it again. Before he appeared behind you and asked you to hold your arms out.

"Why?"

"I need your measurements."

"Why?"

"So I can get you some clothes."

"Okay but why do I need clothes?" You asked following his former instructions. You had plenty of clothes though a little stained and worn they were fine. You had only been here a few months anyways so you were fine with them, it's not like they suddenly didn't fit.

"It has to do with the trip, but I'd like to leave it as a surprise."

"I don't like surprises."

"Well it's a work thing, I told you that I believe?"

You nodded, he had mentioned it at first, though you didn't have much understanding as to what that meant.

"It's mostly a formality we do every so often, it's more like a tradition or sorts I suppose. We get together to discuss work, recent developments look over old information and new to see what correlates, you get the idea." His fingers found your waist and hips, he slipped the measuring tape around your waist and quickly took note of it and never stopped talking. "I'm bringing you and Silver because it's going to be a bit of a trip, besides I think you'd enjoy seeing a real royal castle." He whispered into your ear, his lips didn't touch you or anything of the sort, but it felt like you could hear the smell of his breath from the closeness. "So I'm getting you just a little something for a work meeting of sorts that you're allowed to go to!" His hands gripped your shoulders from behind and he rested his chin on the back of his right hand. "I wonder if green is the right color?"