Tributes

Chapter Eighteen

The rest of the evening had been boring, if not slightly wholesome. Silas had basically stuck to his side and clamber over him, swinging from his arm. Eventually he calmed and Julia put him, his brother and Paul to bed. Paul had his own room but climbed in with the twins as Julia herded them to bed. She didn't fight it and only kissed him on the forehead before closing the door and saying a soft goodnight to Christopher.

Chris, who was already preferring the shorten version of his new name, slept deeply and woke up to find some wood and tools in his room. There was a slight moment of feeling oddly violated but Chris was thankful it hadn't take long to get something he could actually enjoy doing. He was not used to doing nothing for a long stretch of time. The day of being left to cool down had been almost physically painful. As a child he had been active and then as an teenager, he had been put straight to work. At home Chris was always busy welding and creating things for the townsfolk. Now, he didn't know what he was supposed to do.

Calmly, Chris started cutting the provided wood, already knowing what his first project would be. The tools weren't the only thing which had arrived in his room over night. A set of unmentionable 'toys' had also appeared. Feeling slightly scandalised, Chris had quickly hide them in a draw before any of the children could walk in and see them. He got straight to work on making a chest which would fit on top of the wardrobe where prying little fingers were unlikely to stumble on them. Taking a moment to go to the toilet, he returned to find his gut instinct correct. He could count on the boys sneaking into his room. Silas was looking at his tools curiously, reaching out to pick up a saw.

"Don't even think about it!" Chris growled at the boy. Silas jumped and turned with an innocent expression on his face, fluttering his eyes. Chris picked the boy up by the scuff of his neck and removed him from the sharp objects calmly.

"I wasn't gonna..." Silas complained.

"Yes, you were. Don't touch my tools!" Chris warned, carrying him out of the room.

Silas groaning unhappily as he was dropped down on the sofa. "Why?" The boy whined, his hands curled into little fists. 

"You'll break them!" Chris said calmly. And he wasn't about to face the wolf god after letting one of the children get hurt.  Tyreol hadn't hurt the boys and if anything seemed very protective of the boys. He approved of the fact a tutor was teaching them their numbers and letters, and in the case of Abel, magic.

"No I won't," Silas pouted, "Please? I'm bored and I've already done my studying for the day."

"Silas, stay away from my tools! If nothing else if you get hurt our Lord will kill me," Chris warned, closing his door so Silas wouldn't run back in but staying in the common room with him. "Why don't you go read a book or something?" He asked, suddenly noticing the room was empty at the moment. They were the only ones there it seemed.

"That's boring," Silas complained. Glancing around himself, the boy's shoulders slumped. "Heilan took Abel out to go practise his powers somewhere better. Paul is reading in his room with Julia," he explained gently.

Chris mentally sighed but did his best to keep it off his expression. "Come on, let's look at the board games, there must be something to do," Chris allowed, knowing the boy needed someone to entertain him for the moment. Chris wished there was a garden or something where they could play catch or something but there was nothing. Only a common room with a few sofas and a few books. Eventually they found a game Chris knew how to play. Chris could only hope Tyreol was going to find the youngest something to do.

Paul appeared after a moment, joining in the game but admittedly sitting as far away from Chris as he able to. "Where's Julia?" Chris asked offhandedly, noting that Silas had thought Julia had been with him. Paul shrugged not knowing. Silas blinked as well. Before they could think more into it, Julia walked through the door giving them all a warm smile.