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The first time it happened wasn’t too long after the coming of The Frost Shepard. In those days Benjamin still couldn’t believe that this was how people were calling him now. It felt big, when he was still feeling quite small. It took him years to realize that he never was as small as he felt.
But back in those days even his biggest actions were complicated into the unsteady rhythm of living after the coming of Second Spring. And what felt huge were the fight he was having with Blue J, and their travels, and their discoveries, and their love. Everything else was on a second plan.
And so, before Benjamin realized, one of the kids he was teaching adopted him and Blue J as their parents.
It happened over shared tea, when Blue J and Benjamin sat in the kitchen of the tiny house they owned. From their seats they could see a small ten year old elven kid sleeping on their sofa. Blue J moved to put a blanket over the kid and came back to their tea.
“So,” they said. “You think your mom will take care of Firily during our trip?”
“She was ready to have grandkids as soon as we started hanging out, so… Like… I don’t think she will say no?”
“Mmm.”
They sipped their teas.
“Should we officially adopt them?” asked Benjamin.
“Probably.”
“I feel like people will laugh at us.”
“For what?”
“For doing that after we put together a room for Fi.”
“Oh yea. Yea. Good point.”
And back then people really did laugh about it. There were talks about how Blue J and Benjamin didn’t realize they’re being adopted, and how they put together the whole room before making a conscious decision, and how it must run in the family. But that was just a happy accident of circumstances and they were sure it won’t happen again.
The second time it happened was over two years later, on one of their adventures. They were mapping out a new region that they knew was rather stable, just unexplored by anyone from the university. With them were their usual companions, including a proper mapmaker called Marci, and Julius, who insisted on calling itself an experimental adventuring chief.
When they met the kid the circumstances weren't nice. What they found was a scattered caravan of mixed origins, containing mostly cobbins and humans, but also other races, which they knew by the amount of bodies they found. In this mournful situation their whole group decided they can't just leave it as is, and that they should bury the bodies. It took them hours and this whole time Blue J felt like they were being watched.
Blue J was careful about it, at first unsure about what it could be, but after some time they were certain. They quietly let Benjamin know and Benjamin told others to act normal. Blue J didn't want to scare the kid any further and it turned out to be a good move. After some time, while they were done with most of the work, a tiny cobbin kid came out of a broken carriage holding her tail between her hands.
“Hi, kiddo,” said Blue J. They stopped building a small fire they were planning to use for making some food and smiled at the kid.
The kid stood there for a while, anxiously playing with her tail. Blue J gestured to others to keep doing their work while they kept trying to start a fire.
“Do you need help?” asked Benjamin, seeing their partner struggle with the fire for a while.
“From The Augur himself? With a small fire? I’m not so sure…”
“Hey, last time was just an-”
“Umm… I- I have a lighter…” said the kid in the tiniest voice possible.
“You see? There’s always a safer option!” Blue J told Benjamin and turned towards the kid, still feeling Benjamin’s sight on their back. “I’ll take the lighter.”
The kid got closer and gave Blue J her lighter. Soon the kid introduced herself as Amily, and told the group about the accident that caught the whole caravan, the huge hailstorm that caught them, and that the people that survived took the last living horses and went away. Amily was convinced that they went just to find help, so she stayed behind, too scared to come out of her hiding spot. After the story the adventuring group decided that this was not the place to stay at. They took Amily with them, while Marci marked the area as dangerous on her map.
And so Amily accompanied their party until they found her place of origin, and then some more, and then even longer. As it turned out Amily didn’t have a family, and soon after they learned that Blue J realized, that they got adopted by a kid to be her parent.
“I’m so glad Fi will have a sister now. She must have been so lonely with only her grandparents and all the aunts and uncles taking care of her,” teased Benjamin one day on the road home.
“I’m more worried about Amily not wanting to stay home the next time we decide to travel.”
“Hopefully the joy of exploring the bustling city will keep her disposition towards wild adventures at bay.”
“Ha, you sound so fake when you talk like that.”
“What can I say, I’m doing my best as The Great Augur himself,” said Benjamin and they both laughed.
The third time it happened it was different. After many years of coming and going, of teaching and learning, of exploring the world of Second Spring, they knew what they were doing. In those years they met many people, some of which needed help, some of which helped them. They learned they were capable of so much more than they realized, but also that they had their limits.
But when they found a trio of scared human kids on their way home from yet another adventure, they didn’t even need to say anything. They just exchanged looks and everyone in their adventuring party already knew.
And so they returned home with Milo, Titus and Ronan, only slightly surprising their relatives.
“Do you think we will just keep doing this?” asked Blue J one evening, after all the kids went to sleep.
“Doing what?”
“You know… Adopting every kid we find on our travels?”
“Excuse me, we do not adopt everyone.”
“Don’t act like you didn’t want to adopt Gemma before we found her parents alive and well,” Blue J said, pointing their finger at Benjamin.
Benjamin made a face that made Blue J snort. “Guilty as charged.”
“Maybe we should get a bigger house. Just in case.”
“Yea, maybe.”
“With a bigger garden. Amily complained that she doesn’t have enough space for her experiments.”
“And a bigger kitchen and pantry. Fi keeps giving away their preserves because there’s no more space to store them.”
Benjamin took Blue J’s hand and squeezed lightly. He could not contain his smile and laughed lightly when he saw the look of concern on Blue J’s face.
“I’m just so happy. About everything. I love you, you know?” said Benjamin.
“Oh, so we’re that tight?” teased Blue J.
Benjamin laughed. “Don’t be like that! Come here.”
They leaned into each other and kissed, smile against a smile, happy as they could be. Their life had its ups and downs, but after all, moments like that, moments of quiet happiness meant to them more than the world.
And in the coming years they did adopt more kids, all of them in different circumstances. Their family kept growing and they were happy, despite the troubles, despite the difficulties, they did their best to be good parents. And they were happy doing that.