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It starts long before any of them can recognize, not love at first sight, but maybe fascination, awe, or even jealousy. A strong, unwavering need to know each other more and more, to be gain more of the qualities they admired in each other, to pull close to each other because they all believed in each other in a way that no one else could come close to understanding.
Falling in love with each other wasn't a shock to any of them; it was like they all realized where they were heading long beforehand and went hurtling towards it anyway.
Like recognizes like.
Which might explain how late that night, after Dickon and Colin managed to talk some sense (they hoped) into the elder children, that Mary came to bed after tucking in the youngest girl and announces "That younger boy, Edmund, is being a problem."
"Aye, heard as much," Dickon agrees, shucking off his shoes as he climbs back into bed.
"Did Lucy tell you what exactly he did?" Colin asks, mostly just to make sure they're all on the same page.
To their surprise, Mary shakes her head. "Lucy refused to say what or who set her off, but I have eyes in my head. I can recognize a raja in the making when I see one."
That gets a chuckle out of Dickon; next to him, Colin suppresses a sigh and nods. "I'll nab him tomorrow, take him on a walk about. See if I can't figure out how to sort him out before he's ordering half the staff to do his bidding."
Now that gets a laugh from both Dickon and Mary who finally takes off her housecoat to get into bed. Plans finally decided upon, they climb back into bed, Dickon in the middle, Mary curling into his front while Colin tucks himself back to back to Dickon, but not before he grabs a handful of Dickon's undershirt for security.
"Oh, one more thing," Dickon suddenly starts, drawing Mary's attention, "there's a magic world in the garden. So says the bigger ones according to Lucy."
Mary purses her lips. "The magic's either gotten a lot more explicit in our old age, or these children might need more help than we thought."
Dickon pats her arm. "It'll work out. Trust the magic."
She smiles back, softly. "Always," she promises, reaching out to touch Colin's wrist, still clinging to Dickon's shirt and finally drifts off to sleep.