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“You’ve aged.”
Silver glowers when he sees Malleus materialize in his space. The room seemed to dim considerably despite the sunbeams lighting the window the family sat by—albeit, one preferred to sit in the shadows.
“Are you unhappy about my presence?” Malleus meant that as an inquiry, but it went into a whinier pitch at the end, speaking true to his age.
Silver says nothing, the glare disappears, and he walks back to the window to tap at his reflection. Lilia offers their help in the form of a laugh at Malleus’ expense. The new shadows under their eyes only made them sparkle with life all the more.
“Lilia,” Malleus sets down her new book beside them. Lilia beams under his appraisal, the raw energy and warmth coating the cottage spoke enough about their wellbeing, so Malleus files the question away. Instead, “Why is your child glaring at me?”
“What glare?”
If they focused hard enough, they could make out miniature storm clouds raining over Malleus’ head. If her tail was out, it would’ve been wilting by their feet.
It made Lilia feel bad enough to stop teasing the poor boy. Putting their book down, “This is Silver’s new gimmick. I reckon it is less of a ‘glare’ than it is an intense stare. He harbours no ill will bearing your presence; quite the opposite, truly.”
It’s been like what, months since Malleus last visited, but Silver was already able to walk.
Malleus keeps her footsteps light to not startle the small creature. The child looks up at him owlishly. Remembering that milkrags shouldn’t have their heads jostled too much, she crouches down to his level. A moment later, Silver’s fingers leave the window to rest on Malleus’ cheek, the other hand went to touch her horns.
Malleus stiffens up, the faint static of her magic floods the room. Not long after, her apprehension makes its way for a wicked laugh. “How bold, for a little thing such as yourself to make such a transgression.”
Silver smiles, squealing in a way that mimicked her own laughter.
“Oh dear..” Lilia breathes a sigh of relief. “Look at you, Silver. You’re so happy. Is it because Malleus is here?”
Silver graduates from the horns to claim a fistful of the hair, cutting off Malleus’ cackling.
“No.”
Silver grips the chunk harder, eyebrows furrow in displeasure as if feeling scorned.
By the time Silver starts tugging, Malleus stands up. Obviously, not having the strength to hold himself up by a chunk of hair, Silver plops his bottom softly on the ground.
“You should understand by now—”
“WAHHHHH!”
Malleus blinked. This was unlike Silver. He would never throw a tantrum over such a small thing.
She did it much less often these days, but Malleus still found comfort in being able to turn to Lilia for help.
The fae closed their book, a childrearing title unfamiliar to Malleus, it must’ve been newly added to the collection. “It’s been like this for months.”
“What is wrong with him?” Malleus crouched down to observe the crying child. “Are you sick? Tired? Hungry? Do you need a change?”
Silver waddled over to cling onto him and continued sobbing. Malleus stiffly patted the child’s back and searched again for Lilia’s aid.
“I’m afraid he’s outgrown such basic needs, Malleus. His sense of self is developing and he needs extra support to navigate and regulate his emotional needs.” Lilia speaks to Silver. “Are you feeling frustrated that you can’t play with Malleus’ hair?”
Silver sniffles, staring at Lilia, eyes wandering.
Lilia only gets out of their seat and holds their arms open when Silver expresses interest in being near them, and soon, Lilia is holding the child and patting his back as a fresh wave of tears breaks. “Let it out, little one. It’s healthy to cry every now and then, you’ll feel better.”
Malleus puts a hand to her chin. It sounds almost condescending. But now there were new needs Silver had, and new skills Malleus needed to know. She needed to read up on the current stage of life he was at.
Would Silver remember this interaction? Would he hold a grudge? Would it damage their relationship?
Lilia stares at Malleus, much like their strange creation does constantly, and examines the book she had left upon her arrival. They picked it up and flipped it over, letting out a little hum as they read the summary. Silver was slowly getting over his fit as his curiosity over the object took over. “Malleus has brought a new book for you, Silver. Would you like to read it with him?”
Lilia flashes a devious smirk to Malleus, who chuckles maliciously as she retrieves her forgotten book, sitting down and waiting for Silver’s choice. Tears and anger forgotten at the sound of ‘book’, the child hurriedly waddled to her lap as soon as his caregiver set him on the ground. This peculiar thing truly was one of Lilia’s. “Remember the gargoyles I told you about last time? I have brought some diagrams for you to peruse.”
Silver splat his hand over the pages of the book, babbling sounds that followed the words of Malleus. Silver then swatted at the book.
“What is wrong? Is this book too advanced for you?” Silver wriggled and Malleus shifted her legs to let him move. “Would you like to read something else?”
Silver wobbled up on his feet, and went to the bookshelf Lilia had installed for him, plucking a storybook about squirrels.
What a simple book. Malleus worries for the poor thing's already subpar intelligence if he refused materials that would challenge him.
Silver flipped open the book and pointed to the fuzzy patch on the squirrel, and judging from the matted and crusty parts, it has seen better days. It seemed that childrens’ books nowadays had sensory components for them to explore. “Are you interested in squirrels? Have you seen them outside?”
Babbling more nonsense phrases, Silver flips through the book and splays his sticky hand upon every page. Malleus' attempts to read it were occasionally interrupted by the child helping her turn the pages.
"Hold on, you insolent child. Wipe up that drool before you touch any more pages."
“You heard him, Silver, time to wash up.”
Silver got out of his seat and stared up at Lilia, holding his arms up and out for them.
Lilia found the action amusing. “Now now, we have our own two feet for a reason. Best use them while we can. You know where the sink is.”
Silver looked around, and waddled his way over to the sink, climbing on the toddler step stool. He turned on the tap and wet his hands and sleeves, then pumped some soap onto them, and let the water rinse that away as well.
“He really does understand what we say.” Malleus watches with awe as Silver turned off the tap and dried his hands with the towel on the rack.
“I've talked enough to him that I'm tired of the sound of my own voice. If he doesn't pick up anything from that effort I fear I would have gone mad. His receptive language is developing at an impressive rate.” Lilia’s gaze grows distant, pulling Silver’s sweater over his head and trading it for a spare sweater by the spinning wheel. “He should be able to at least speak a word or two by now. Even little Sebek is forming short sentences. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong...”
Malleus delves deep into thought, voicing her understanding with a noise of agreement. The wet sweater was transported outside onto the clothesline in a flurry of sparkles, flawlessly done despite Lilia’s wandering mind.
“Lilia, have you any other books that explain Silver’s current development?”
“I do, they’re on the shelf. There's notes that indicate which stage they go over." Lilia fetches a comb and beckons Silver to the beanbag they were sitting on. “Come, Silver, let’s fix up that hairdo of yours.”
Malleus leaves the two to it, browsing through the titles on the shelf. She skips over the ones she’s read through and picks up a title she hasn’t seen before. True to Lilia's words, the cover had a note stuck on the top, labelled ‘12 to 18 months’. Supposedly, that was the age Silver was at, so she locates and pulls out a few more books with notes attached to them with her magic.
Flipping through the title of contents for them, she sends the books that didn’t have information pertaining to language development back to the shelf for later reference.
Left with three books, the sound of pages turning overlaps with Silver’s cooing. He was able to make sound, but to Lilia’s concern, has not formed words yet. Malleus was not able to form words until he reached the fiftieth year of his lifespan, but if the Zigvolts’ youngest was able to speak already, then perhaps this is a development unique to those with human blood.
Silver waddles past with the comb in his hand, and Malleus steps out of the way for him. One of the book’s passages caught her attention, and the book was traded in for levitation with her own hands, rapidly searching for the answers he sought.
Children at this age begin to form holographic phrases. Children convey meanings laid behind a few words or syllables. For example, any furry creature may be classified as a ‘doggy’.
A small annotation made by.. Presumably, one of the Zigvolts, reads “While there is a model for development, there are no set milestones or goals for children to meet. The model can be used for reference loosely based on ‘ideal’ circumstances. Some children simply learn quicker or later.”
Malleus would love to see them again. They were one of the first to advocate for peace between fae and humans, a world that Lilia constantly talked about growing up. It would do some good for the Zigvolts’ children and Silver to grow along with someone their own age. It brought consolidation to Malleus to know that Lilia had their own supports as well. Maybe he’ll drop by the next time he senses an energy shift in their residence.
Silver yanks on Malleus’ pant leg, pulling him out of his thoughts to give him attention. She burst out laughing almost immediately at the slick back hairstyle the child got while she was reading. “Oh no, now you have to curse Lilia for such an ugly hairstyle.”
Lilia snickers, standing up and requesting the comb back from Silver. “He was insistent on having the comb be wet before his hair was brushed. I think he looks rather handsome, wouldn’t you agree, Silver?”
Lilia’s smile falters for a fraction of a second when Silver assents with a nod.
The sun highlighting the dust swirling by the window inspires something in Malleus. The ball of light must be a little over its highest at this time of day. “Lilia, your child and I are going to look at flowers outside.”
Lilia raises a brow. “Do you nee—”
“I believe you’d find this particular book interesting.” Malleus near launches the book he’d been reading at Lilia before dialing back the force. Curses, his excitement had gotten the best of him. “Ahem, I meant, you could do to read this a bit more carefully.”
“Oh, very well, if you insist.” Lilia sighs in defeat, accepting the book.
“And,” Malleus said at the door, ushering Silver out. “It looks to be the perfect time for an afternoon nap.”
He waves Lilia a farewell and closes the door, not having to search for long to find Silver’s whereabouts, walking past the many tiny articles of clothing drying on the clothesline. “Shall we go to the river? I think you would like seeing the fish swim.”
Bird and squirrels alike flocked to Silver during their walk. He had no use of animal linguistics yet the animals responded like they were communicating. How curious.
What would Silver find important enough to voice? “Should we start with names?”
Silver looks away from his squirrel companion to pay attention.
“They are quite the important thing in fae culture, I’ll have you know. To reveal your name was to give someone control over you.” Malleus smiles, recalling the words from a far too familiar voice. “But exchanging names is common nowadays. Rather than giving or relinquishing control, I suppose that in modern days, names are exchanged to meet each other as equals.”
“I have no doubts that Lilia wasted no time in introducing themself to you, even though you would’ve had no way of knowing.” Malleus removed a stray leaf from his own hair, wistful eyes search the child's face. “I don’t really know how you two met, you had simply shown up one day. Did Lilia give you your name, I wonder?”
Silver cocked his head to the side, the bird nestled atop his head fluttered elsewhere. Surely his namesake was a testament to its timeless beauty.
It was odd to speak to someone who he wasn't sure fully understood what he said nor responds, but Malleus found that Silver was a rather good listener. He may not have any verbal responses, but that did not mean he wasn’t responding at all. Besides, Silver had proven earlier that he did understand what was being said to him.
“Then again, I suppose I also similarly ‘showed up’ one day as well. I haven’t formally introduced myself either. My name is Malleus Draconia.” She lets the introduction sit with him. Names are sacred, let him feel it. “Be sure to remember it well. I will await the day when you will be able to exchange your own name to me.” Malleus brushes the dried hair from Silver’s eyes, revealing the dawn of a new day in them.
Silver balls his fist up in his shirt, his eyebrows downturned as if angry. His lips tremble greatly before they move again. “Mmma..”
“Hm?” Another tantrum?
Silver stomps and tries again. “Mma.. ma!”
No, not angry. Not angry at all.
“Silver…” Realization catching up to him, Malleus laughs in unbridled joy, the birds scattering from the sound, but even that couldn't put a damper on this glorious moment. He pulled him in for a short hug. “You spoke! I knew you could do it. So soon too! You sneaky little one, you were listening the whole time, weren’t you?”
“Maaa.” Silver thwaps his fist excitedly on Malleus’ shoulder. He let the child go and abruptly stands up, turning around.
“Let’s…” Tell Lilia right away, is what he wanted to say. But who was Malleus to rob Lilia of the beautiful moment reserved for a caregiver and their child? This was a joy Lilia deserved to feel firsthand. Mind made up, Malleus turns around once more and offers her hand for the child to hold. “Let’s keep this a secret between us for now, alright?”
Latching his fist onto Malleus’ thumb, Silver excitedly repeats his word the entire way to the river, receiving half-hearted ‘shush’s from Malleus.
🐉
Lilia was positively delighted to see the sparkle of fireflies in their cottage. Silver had spoken his first word in her absence, and it would only do it justice for her to hear it in person. “Silver, would you like to show Malleus your new book?”
Silver holds up the book with stars in his eyes, regarding the dragon illustration. He slaps his palm over the drawing and excitedly holds it open to his companion.
“Ma.. Ma…!”
Malleus gasped.
“Oh, how delightful!” Lilia’s eyes practically shine like the priceless gems Malleus would keep in her hoard. “Your first words were a call to your big brother!”
To say Malleus glowed would be an understatement. His smile would’ve tricked the Valley of Thorns into believing there was a second, brighter sun amongst them. He gently pinched Silver’s hands between his fingers, amusement gracing his sharp features. “Tell me more, Silver.”
“Mam,” Silver bounces, capturing all of Malleus’ attention. It seems taking down dragons runs in the family. “Mama!”
How you touch the most guarded of hearts with your song. I can’t wait to hear about the world you see, the new age you hold and shape within your hands.
"It's from those books you read, isn't it?" Oh my, the Prince is undoubtably cooing at him. "Should we teach you how to say your name next? It must be important to you. It was a blessing bestowed upon by your caregiver, after all."
Lilia chooses not to inform Malleus that the name had been not given a sliver of thought. But, as time passes, all things will develop new meanings, and even the child himself, with his meager years on Wonderland, was so beloved that his spell protected him for four long centuries.
He may ask about the origins of his name one day, as all children do. And when he does, Lilia is certain in their amendment, an homage to the ever-growing love they felt for him.
My dear Silver, meaning, the one born of moonlight.