Chapter Text
Something that both she and her son had in common was their utter delight in chasing Ei’s birds.
Yae watched, amused, as he chased the small finch around the yard. Every time he’d make to grab it, it would take flight and resettle a few feet away and then the cycle would repeat, as it had all morning.
.”What’s going on here?” Ei asked, emerging at last from some kind of boring meeting of hers. “Awww, Miko look!”
“Ei, dear, I’ve been looking all morning,” she said, glancing up at her wife with a raised brow. “I see him.”
“He’s so cute,” Ei said, sighing. The Archon settled down on the steps at her side, slinging an arm around her shoulders.
Yae leaned into her touch, breathing in the faint smell of sakura and storms. Her darling Archon always smelled of rain, clear and true and everlasting. It was a scent that cut through the sweet, flowery smell of the sakura tree that seemed to haunt Yae wherever she went, almost drowning it out completely. Yet, if she concentrated, she could still detect it.
“He is,” Yae admitted. “I always forget how small children are. So fragile, too.”
Ei smiled. “I’ll protect him. I’ll protect you, too.”
Yae rolled her eyes. “Well, if I recall, the last one who needed saving was you.”
Ei dutifully ignored her and raised her hand to her lips. She whistled. “Orobashi! Come here, honey.”
“Is he a dog?” Yae asked, exasperated, as their son turned with wide, violet eyes. His little face lit up with a smile as he saw Ei and he dutifully waddled over, almost tripping over the long robe Ei had draped him in this morning.
Her Archon could do many things, but wielding the sharp blade of common sense was not one of them. How Ei had thought a child that small would fit in clothes that large was beyond her.
Ei spread her arms, smiling brightly enough to light up the whole of Inazuma, as she waited for him to come over to her. When their son ran to Yae instead, Ei gasped, betrayed. She snickered and scooped him up, wrapping her arms around his small form and resting her chin on the top of his head.
“I think he likes me better than you,” she purred, glancing at her Archon with a smirk.
Ei made a face at Yae. “I can’t imagine why.”
When Yae’s mouth popped open, Ei chuckled and reached over to kiss her cheek. “I’m only kidding. My goodness, who knew you were so sensitive, Miko.”
Yae scoffed, turning her face away. “So cruel, Ei.”
Orobashi squirmed in her arms suddenly, as though to remind them he was there. She loosened her hold on him, allowing the small child to sit up straighter.
Ei smiled again and Yae wondered why she’d ever even second guessed this decision, seeing how happy it made the other woman. She’d made Ei smile like that before of course, had probably been the only one who could do so for centuries, but she’d never managed to make her do so so frequently.
The Archon reached out to tap his nose, her smile widening. Orobashi’s ears, which reminded her of something she’d seen in a siren light novel, twitched. His tail swished back and forth as Ei patted his head and she pondered if this was perhaps the reason why Ei whistled at him like he was some kind of puppy. “Can you say ‘mama’?” she asked hopefully. “‘Ma’?”
He only cocked his head to the side and Yae patted Ei’s arm. “Dear, he’s barely a month old. He’ll speak eventually.”
Ei’s smile dimmed a little, but she nodded. “I just…I worry,” she said, biting her lip.
Yae tipped her head to the side, but Ei shook her head, giving a pointed look to the child she still held in her arms. Yae rolled her eyes before releasing him.
“Look, a butterfly,” she said, pointing and giving him a nudge. “Go catch it for me, dear.”
He glanced over his shoulder at them once before chasing after it. Ei winced when he tripped and fell face first into the dirt, but he got to his feet before she could get to hers and then was off again.
“What is it?” Yae asked, sighing, as she turned to meet her wife’s gaze.
Ei glanced down at her hands. “I just…wonder if there are repercussions. For what I did before.”
Yae blinked. “To….the original?” This had been a topic they had both dutifully steered away from for the entire month they’d had him. She hadn’t brought up her concerns since that first day, though they sometimes crept up on her like lurking shadows.
Ei nodded. Her hand crept up to her neck. “I…”
Yae waved a hand. She truly didn’t need to know, not when Orobashi was mere feet away, playing in the grass. “I feel like we would know by now, Ei. Look, he’s fine. He’s happy. He’s healthy. Have you considered that perhaps he doesn’t have a great grasp on our language? We truly don’t know much about him. You brought him to me as a child of perhaps two years, not as an infant. Most children have plenty of memories to draw on to learn from. They were spoken to from the moment they were born, after all. For all we know, he has none. His whole life began but a month ago. Give him time to learn, dear.”
Ei scratched her head. “I….suppose I hadn’t considered that,” she admitted. Then sighed obnoxiously. “Oh, Miko, look at what you’ve done!”
Yae turned and smirked. Her son cradled in his hands a fluttering amber butterfly. The poor thing was trying desperately to escape his clutches, though he cupped it gently.
“Orobashi, come give it to mommy,” Yae purred, leaning down and beckoning him with a hand.
“Orobashi, no,” Ei said sternly, shoving Yae. “Let it go. Do NOT give it to mommy.”
“Come here, dear, let me see it…”
“Honey, don’t. Give…give it to me!”
Their son glanced between them with wide eyes.
“Yae,” Ei hissed, glaring at her.
Yae pouted, batting her eyes innocently. “Why are you so worked up about this, Ei? I just want to see it.”
“You’re going to eat it,” she said, exasperated.
“I would never,” Yae said.
Ei gave her a look.
“I would nibble it,” she corrected.
“Miko,” Ei groaned.
Orobashi stepped forward, looking up at Ei. He held out his hands.
“Good boy!” Ei said, releasing the insect and patting his head again. Yae rolled her eyes.
“He’s only making up to you for earlier,” Yae said. “This doesn’t mean he likes you more.”
Ei gave her another look before turning to their son. “Who do you like better?” She pointed to herself. “Me, right?”
“No, no, no,” Yae said, chuckling. “He came to me earlier, didn’t he? He completely ignored you…”
“Well, yes, but he just gave me the butterfly, so…”
Orobashi turned to Yae and held out his hands. Yae laughed, picking him up once more. “Now, Ei-”
Their son pointed to Ei. “Ma!”
“AH,” Ei cried, clapping a hand over her mouth as her eyes nearly popped out of her skull. Yae watched as tears welled in her Archon’s eyes.
“Oh, Ei,” Yae said, torn between chuckling and crying herself.
Ei wordlessly folded them both into a tight embrace and Yae whispered in her ear, “I told you there was nothing to worry about.
“Trust me next time, won’t you?”