The Time Hopper

Parental Love

Sadie's mother seemed frozen in place, clinging onto her young child while staring at her older child. I didn't know what to say, and I realised that I might have just made it much worse. After all, Sadie was unconscious, bleeding from her nose, and I was the only one around. It didn't look good. Before I could think of what to say, a tall man who I presumed was Steiner, Sadie's father, arrived. He took in the situation at a glance, face going from worried to eerily blank. 

I was staring at him, heart pounding, because he looked just like Obsivian. 

Instinctively, I stepped between the man and Sadie, feeling sick to my stomach and clenching my fists, ready for a fight. 

"Love, go inside and take Sadie with you. I'll come back soon." He instructed, not even glancing on his wife he was so set on me. 

"If anything happens, yell." She murmured, picking a writhing Sadie up and starting back through the forest while the child asked to play hide and seek again. 

"Let me have a look at her, then. What happened?" Steiner asked me, gesturing for me to step aside. I didn't move, just cocking my fists. 

"You look just like Obsivian. Stay away from her." I warned him. If it came to a fight, I knew I would loose, but I couldn't let him near her. He looked at me sharply. 

"Obsivian is my father, and Sadie is my daughter. Step aside, boy, or I will make you." He told me coldly, his eyes flicking over to Sadie every other second. A mix of shock and the genuine concern on his face made me hesitate for a moment, which was enough for him to firmly push me aside and kneel by Sadie, taking her face in his hands. 

"Sadie, darling, wake up." He murmured, giving her a gentle shake to try and bring her round. 

"Wait, Sadie is Obsivian's granddaughter?" I demanded, watching as Steiner checked her pulse. 

"You didn't know? Does Sadie not know yet? And I need to know what happened to her, is this physical or magical in origin?" He questioned me, peeling back her eyelids to have a look. 

"I don't know- I don't think that she knows, I'm sure she would have mentioned it. And I don't know, I just found her like that, Obsivian had her-" Steiner's head snapped to glare at me, shock in his gaze. 

"You only mention this now?" He demanded, sighing and shaking his head. Gently, like he was lifting a china doll, he picked Sadie up, her red head against his shoulder. From how neither of them seemed too shocked to see her, I could only assume that they already knew she was the child of time, even if she hadn't been sent to the Tir Na Gog yet. 

"I've just been told that your Obsivian's kid, and you wouldn't believe the week I've had. You can help her, right?" I checked, following him like a stray puppy as he started back towards his home. 

"I'll need Marie to have a look at her, I'm not one for medicine. I'm Steiner, and Marie is my wife. What's your name?" 

"I'm Riley." The forest had seemed thick and abandoned for as far as I could see, but suddenly the air in front of us shimmered and a cabin appeared. 

"And how do you know my daughter?" The front door was open, and the smell of baking cookies filled the air. The garden was well kept, but toys and half finished games were scattered everywhere. The house was much the same, comfortable and warm. It was the first time anywhere had felt so homely in- well, ever. 

"She fell out of the sky in front of me, I'm from Ireland, sixteenth century. Since then, we've just been travelling together." I explained as he carried her into what looked like a spare room and laid her on the bed. He stood back and looked at her, worry in his eyes.