17 Bonds (1/2)

”Really?” mother asked.

”Mhm,” she looked at the fidgeting toddler leaning by her side, ”Emilio was fifteen months when he took his first step, but he was a bit of a slow learner.”

She turned her attention to the baby that was crawling towards me.

”Davide's ten months too. He's been crawling for a month now,” she turned and leaned towards mother, ”He even said 'mama' a few days ago!”

A smile crept across mother's face. Her back straightened, and she looked over to me.

”Oscar! Look!”

She pointed at Emilio, and I knew exactly what she wanted. My cover didn't seem to be blown… I guess I could show off a bit.

”Whodat mummy?”

I hadn't asked a 'who' question before but… I felt like playing along.

”That's Davide! He's Lucia's son, go and play with him for a bit.”

”Ok mummy.”

I stood up and walked over to Davide.

”Les go.”

Lucia's jaw dropped.

I led Davide out the room, smiling to myself. From behind me, I heard Lucia stutter.

”Wow.. He's… um… so when did he… uh…”

Her voice trailed off as I walked with Davide to sit at the edge of the raised decking. Looking out at the garden, I heard a snippet of muffled conversation from father's study.

”They really don't like us huh.”

”Why else would we be sent all the way out here.”

I couldn't tell the voices apart. Their pitches were similar and their voices too obscured.

”Well, at least he can go to the imperial academy…”

”Don't get me started on that place. There's no way I'm letting him turn into one of those brats.”

”Come on… it's the best there is…”

”Did you forget how those fuckers treated us? It's an attitude, a mindset. And it all comes from that bloody academy. Come here, look, I'll show you...”

Their voices trailed off, so I brought my attention back to Davide. I was startled a bit to see him staring directly at me.

When he saw my face, he giggled and clapped his hands. His happiness was so pure that I felt a tinge of sadness. I couldn't sound like that. All I could do was imitate it.

Davide seemed to sense my sadness and started pouting. He tugged on my arm and tried to crawl off the ledge. In a flash, I channelled qi to my arms and caught him before he could fall.

His little arms dangled, and he started laughing, squirming and flailing about. I heaved him back up onto the deck and sat back. He really was a handful. But I felt a strange, protective kinship with him.

I never had blood siblings, and always wished that I did. After my father remarried, I got a younger stepsister, but I never got to forge an early bond. That special kind of unconditional love with a healthy dose of hatred.

I dropped all facades and spoke to Davide from my heart.

”How about we become brothers?”

Davide tilted his head, then gave me a brilliant beaming smile. For all I knew that could be a yes, a no, or an 'I'm hungry' but I took it as a yes. I would protect this little bundle of joy.

I thought it was unwise to show him cultivation, but I could at least show him around the house.

I brought him around the garden, pointing out the names of all the flowers I knew. I made sure he only crawled on soft ground and stopped him whenever he tried to do something stupid.

Spending time with someone I could be honest with was comforting. I wanted it to last as long as possible, but as the day came to a close, Davide had to leave.