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“Treasures?” Fenor exclaims, bouncing excitedly on his feet. “In the forest?”
“Yes.” Solas laughs, fixing his unruly hair and gesturing towards the trees just a few meters away, a path leading inside the woods. “Mamae and I have hidden them there for you to find.”
“We have a list.” Scarlet says, grinning at her son, who pulls himself up onto his toes to observe the piece of paper in her right hand. “If you find all the treasures, there will be a special surprise.”
“We have to find all this stuff?” he gasps, already looking forward to it. He squints his eyes, trying to read a difficult word: “What’s an astrarium?”
“It’s from Tevinter. You can use it to watch the stars.” Scarlet explains, kissing his forehead, and the child arches his eyebrows, confused.
“… Is the surprise in the sky?”
“Well…” Solas and Scarlet exchange a look, smiling, then he says: “Not exactly, da’vhenan. It is kept somewhere safe and warmer.”
“Solas!”
Fenor’s eyes widen and his mouth forms a cute ‘o’.
“Is it inside a tree?”
Solas smirks, quiet, as Scarlet smacks his arm and gives him a pointed look and an amused smile.
“Your father is joking. Now, let’s begin before it gets dark!” She hands Fenor the piece of paper and smooches his face. “Come on, Papae and I will give you a hand!”
For a second, Fenor looks terrified and stares at her with worry and something similar to horror. He glances at her missing arm and Scarlet hurries to reassure him, as panicked as him:
“No, not like that!”
Their son doesn’t know exactly how she lost her arm - they decided to wait until he is grown enough to understand -, but they vaguely told him she had to remove it because magic had burned it very badly.
He never questioned it, but ever since being told more, he has always been more protective towards his parents, now aware that they can get hurt too, even if they are the strongest people he knows.
Solas snorts, hiding his smile behind a hand, and candidly looks away as Scarlet turns to stare at him with the same smirk from before and a fond sigh.
“Do not worry, da’fen.” Solas says, brushing his knuckles against the child’s cheek. “It was only a figure of speech. Now, let us search for the first item in the list. What was it again?”
The names are written both in Common and Elvhen to help Fenor practice in both: most of them are simple and vastly used, but he has some difficulty reading the long words or those with special accents. His parents patiently correct and help him, while the forest around them awaken.
The magic that now fills every corner of Thedas stirs and follows them, making the flowers sing and glow with every step they take; the air is light, cracking with positive energies once in a while, the sunlight creeps through the crowns of the high trees, illuminating the path.
Solas and Scarlet leads Fenor near the places where they have hidden the treasures and wait for him to find them. The first one is a doll, carefully tucked under the roots of a huge plant. It’s Elvhen in style, crafted by the two parents with colored threads and magic, and Fenor observes it with a smile.
“She is cute.” he says, then he frowns. “Are these things related to the surprise, by the way?”
Solas hums appreciatively, a proud smile on his lips, and Scarlet presses a rewarding kiss on their son’s red hair.
“Yes, da’fen.” she confirms. “They are all related to it. You may understand what the surprise is if we keep searching.”
He grins, too excited to stay still, and runs ahead, the doll still in his hand.
“We need to find a toy next!”
Solas and Scarlet follow him, walking hand in hand, and guide him among the trees, directing him to the right zones when he wanders too far from a treasure. Solas often presses his lips on Scarlet’s temple as they walk, watching her blush and smile; she returns the gesture and leans on him, squeezing his hand as their child calls them or announces he saw something.
They find the toy on the list, a small golden box with flowers, animals, and plants engraved on it. It’s not heavy, but it doesn’t look like a toy, and Fenor frowns as he holds it in front of his eyes, the doll now peeking out from Solas’ wolf pelt.
“What’s this?” the child asks, then he rereads the Elvhen name on the list, but shakes his head, more confused. “Are you sure this is the toy?”
“Quite sure.” Scarlet grins.
“Absolutely.” Solas nods solemnly.
“But it does nothing. You can’t even open it.”
“You had one too, you know?” his mother tells him. “You always played with it when you were younger.”
“I did?” Fenor looks flabbergasted, as if he can’t even imagine what his younger self did to pass the time with something like that. “How does it work?”
“I believe” Solas intervenes, reaching out for the box and waving his fingers just a few inches from it, “that magic is, as often happens, the answer.”
The box comes to life and a soft music resonates inside it as the decorations engraved on its sides start to move, telling a story.
“Ooooh.”
Fenor stares at the box for long moments, enraptured, then he remembers the list and gives the toy to Scarlet, who deactivates it and tucks it safely inside her dress.
Their hunt continues for another hour or so; at one point, wolves join them too, greeting the family with happy whines and nuzzles on their hands. Fenor plays with them, then together they run into the bushes, looking for the last treasures, as Solas and Scarlet sit against a tree to rest.
In the end, the doll, the toy, a book of fairytales, and a cute feminine outfit, similar in colors and style to what Fenor is wearing, lie on the grass.
The wolves sniff them with curiosity, before resting down at Solas and Scarlet’s side; Fenor keeps standing, observing all that stuff with a hand under his chin, like his father does when he is deeply concentrated on something, his brows furrowed.
“So?” Scarlet asks, her head resting on Solas’ shoulder. “Do you know what they mean?”
Fenor hums, his scrunched up face similar to hers when she is studying a book. Then he sighs and kneels on the grass, poking the doll.
“No.” he admits, pouting, and Solas chuckles, his arm on Scarlet’s shoulder, his hand caressing her hair.
“All these particular things remind you of nothing?” he tilts his head, a mysterious smile on his lips. “Nothing at all?”
“There is a common theme.” Scarlet adds, her own smile tender. “They are all related to it.”
“They are… things for children.” Fenor says slowly, scratching his freckled cheek. He beams at his parents. “Are they for me?” Before they can answer, though, his expression turns confused again.
“But it’s not the day of my birth today.”
Solas and Scarlet chuckle again, waiting patiently for him to understand; he whines, observes the things on the grass with a great intensity, then lets out a long breath.
“Come on, tell me.” he mumbles, going to sit between them. He doesn’t like giving up, he loves to learn and understand new things and concepts, but he knows when to admit defeat.
Scarlet and Solas exchange another look, smiling, then she takes the child’s hand and rests it on her stomach.
“Do you remember when you asked where babies come from, da’fen?”
“Yes…?”
“Well, there is one in Mamae’s belly now.”
The boy’s mouth open to let out a silent gasp. He stares down at his hand on Scarlet’s stomach and asks awed: “Really? A sibling?”
“A little sister.” Solas confirms with a bright smile, joy shining in his and Scarlet’s eyes. “All these things are for her, but until her birth, we will take care of them.”
“Papae, did you put the child in Mamae’s belly?” the child asks, remembering his mother’s explanation, and the look on Solas’ blushing face is priceless. Scarlet giggles, brushing back Fenor’s hair with a tender caress.
“Yes, da’fen, Papae did.”
“That’s amazing! A little sister!” Fenor is beaming, then he gets up and speaks with the wolves laying around: “Did you hear? A little sister is coming!”
He jumps around, planning every detail, every game they are going to play, and he runs back and forth from the wolves to his parents, who laugh with him and watch him get more excited with any passing minute.
“It went well.” Solas whispers in his wife’s ear and she grins at him, kissing his chin.
“Yes, it went pretty well.”
He pokes her side, making her yelp and squirm, and he says with a smug smile, red cheeks, and one raised eyebrow: “We should tell him how babies really are made, vhenan.”
“Why?” she laughs, cupping his cheek, laughing harder when he tries to bite playfully her fingers. “I can’t wait for him to tell his sister!”
“And I cannot wait for our future conversations and their sudden realization that babies are not sent by wolves.” he jokes, chuckling when she pecks his nose.
Together they listen to their child list excitedly all the places he wants his sister to see, while the world around them, safe and restored, celebrates with them their joy.