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It had been well over two decades since Kolivan had had to interact with a cub in any capacity, much less one that was only around a year old. The Blade of Marmora did have cubs, but they were scattered amongst the hidden bases, where they were less likely to be made into a target. This also kept them close to their parents, who were more often than not still serving the Blade in an attempt to bring down the Empire.
Kolivan never said so, but they were glad to have a cub on the main base again. Kolivan hadn’t really had the opportunity to really interact with Keith yet. They were always too busy, making sure the main base was running smoothly.
Keith was taking his separation from his mother extremely well, which was a relief, both to the cub’s caretakers and to Kolivan themself. After a rather tumultuous beginning, where Keith hated just about everyone except for Thace and Ulaz, he had settled in and started warming up to others. It helped that he had decided Thace was his foundfather, a role that Thace had settled into without much trouble, to the point where it would have been easy to mistake him for Keith’s birthfather if Kolivan hadn’t known better.
Right now, Thace was paying attention to Kolivan about as well as he was able, what with Keith babbling and yanking on the fur along Thace’s jaw. Typical behavior for a parent, to just let your cub yank on your fur while only putting up half an argument against it. Kolivan remembered their sisters and them doing the same thing to their birthparent when they were cubs. Kader had just put up with it, even seemed to find it amusing at times. Watching Thace now, he seemed amused too, although he did occasionally reach out to gently detangle the cub’s tiny fingers whenever his grip got too tight.
“Thay!” Keith complained this time, pouting irritably as his fun was interrupted.
“Shh…” Thace hushed the cub, finally managing to get the cub’s hand out of his fur. Keith latched onto Thace’s finger without a moment’s hesitation.
“Are your claws sheathed?” Kolivan asked, before they realized what they were doing. Having had a hand in raising Antok, who was as close to an accident waiting to happen as cubs ever came, they knew that cubs didn’t know what the word ‘sharp’ meant until they were well on their way to adolescence.
“Yes, of course,” Thace said, frowning at him. “I’m sorry, you were saying? Something about Bladesmith Evren needing a hand with the initiates?”
Kolivan only half-heard what Thace had just said. Keith had been completely ignoring them the entire time they had been talking to Thace, more intent on playing with Thace’s fur and wearing on his foundfather’s never-ending patience. It had seemed like Keith didn’t even realize Kolivan had been standing there.
Now, he did.
Keith was staring at them with wide eyes that seemed to be the size of dinner plates. From hearsay, Kolivan knew that Keith often did this--Kellun said it was supposed to be good for his cognitive development to observe everything around him in order to make sense of it all.
“Say hello,” Thace suggested, quiet enough that Keith’s attention wasn’t drawn away from Kolivan.
Kolivan quirked a brow, but sighed and went along with it, leaning down so that they were eye-level with the cub. “Hello, Keith,” Kolivan said, trying to keep their voice soft so as not to startle the cub. However, Keith seemed a little too shy to really deal with having Kolivan’s attention on him. No sooner had Kolivan spoken than the cub whined and clung more tightly to Thace, burying his face in Thace’s chest.
Kolivan’s ears pinned back before they could stop it. Cubs being wary of them wasn’t unusual, but it still hurt more than they were willing to admit to have a cub be so openly scared of them.
“That’s just Kolivan, kitling,” Thace said gently, stroking the top of the cub’s head. “Can you say Kolivan?”
Keith however, remained silent.
Thace shot Kolivan an apologetic look. “It’s nothing personal. He’s just a little shy…”
“I can see that,” Kolivan said, trying to keep the hurt from their voice as they turned their attention back to the datapad they held in hand and pulled up the manifest they had recently received from Quartermaster Rei’an. She had recently taken on Thace as a new helper, in order to keep him busy while he was still on leave--officially it was because he had to take care of Keith while the cub was still getting adjusted. Unofficially, it was because Kolivan knew Thace was not emotionally ready to go back into the field after the disappearance of his sister.
“He reacted better to you than he does to Antok,” Thace said. “If he sees Antok, he starts crying.”
“Quartermaster Rei’an said you’ve been distracted?” Kolivan said, ignoring what Thace had just said.
“Well, I can’t just leave Keith in my room,” Thace said, frowning at them.
No, Kolivan supposed not. Cubs were very rarely left alone or put down by their parents when they were as young as Keith was. Because of this, Thace walking around the base carrying Keith was a common enough sight, as was Thace getting distracted. Keith needed attention constantly . Even now, there was the softest reverberation coming from Thace’s chest as he purred in an attempt to soothe Keith. It seemed to be working, since Keith was looking at Kolivan again.
“Van,” Keith said.
Kolivan’s ears gave a surprised flick. The motion seemed to amuse Keith, judging by his giggling.
“Not so scared of them now, are you?” Thace said teasingly. Then, to Kolivan, he added, “If you keep flicking your ears, he’ll keep watching you.”
Kolivan said nothing, although they did nod in understanding before turning back to the datapad, skimming over the report Quartermaster Rei’an had sent. They did flick their ears every couple of ticks, just so that Keith would laugh again. It was nice to hear laughter for once.
Then, a small hand reached out and grabbed onto the edge of the datapad. Glancing up, Kolivan regarded the cub in surprise. Keith’s gaze, however, was locked onto the screen. The cub was babbling some nonsense, which probably held some meaning to him…
“Let go please,” Kolivan said. They didn’t want to yank the datapad out of Keith’s grip. It would either scare him or cause him to start crying. In the event of the latter, it didn’t matter that Kolivan outranked Thace. They would get hissed at if they upset Thace’s cub.
Keith glanced up at the sound of Kolivan’s voice and whined. He didn’t seem to realize that the datapad wasn’t his, clinging to it and pouting irritably. His expression was very similar to Thace’s pout when he was a cub, actually.
Kolivan looked at Thace, brows furrowed in confusion.
“Sorry,” Thace said hastily, fur fluffing up in embarrassment. “He probably thinks that’s mine…”
“You let him play with your datapad?” Kolivan questioned.
“I have games and videos on it for him,” Thace explained. “Kellun said it would help with his development….”
Sighing, Kolivan rolled their eyes. Then, they carefully nudged Keith’s hand, trying to get him to let go of the datapad without too much of a fuss. Keith didn’t seem intent on letting go, though.
“You know this is insubordination, right, little one?” Kolivan said. There was just the slightest teasing edge to their voice. Then, they noticed Thace’s surprised look, and frowned. “What?”
“Nothing,” Thace said. “I just… haven’t seen you be soft with a cub since Antok and I were cubs.”
“It’s not like we have many of them,” Kolivan said, looking back at Keith, who was batting a tiny hand against the screen of the datapad, watching as the screen reacted to his touch. He seemed mesmerized by it as various reports were closed or opened at random. Kolivan sighed--those would need resorting again later, it seemed.
“I… apologize, sir,” Thace said, mirroring Kolivan’s sigh as he noticed the havoc Keith was wreaking on Kolivan’s organization. “Kitling, that’s Kolivan’s.” He reached out with his free hand, as if he were going to move Keith’s hand away…
But then Keith let go of the datapad and grabbed hold of Kolivan’s finger and refused to let go of it.
“Van!” Keith said.
Kolivan couldn’t help but smile. “Hello, Keith.”