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“Mom! Mom!” Sklonda Gukgak looked out across the playground to where her four year-old son was playing. “Watch this!” Riz called out, a wide grin plastered across his face. He did three somersaults in a row and then rolled to his feet, standing back up with a flourish. “Ta-dah!”
“Oh, very good!” she praised him, applauding his show. Riz scrambled around the playground to the swings and began to play on them. Sklonda let out a contented sigh and looked around the park. It was a perfect Saturday summer day, not too hot yet in the early morning, a light breeze rustling the leaves in the trees and the joyful sounds of children playing on the playground. She let her eyes wander and rove over the sandbox, taking in all the kids playing, including her little Riz.
“Mom! Mom!” She looked back over at the swings. “Look how high I can swing!” There he was, high up in the air, pumping his legs in a desperate attempt to reach the skies.
“You’re a natural! Look at how high you are!”
Riz beamed and kept swinging.
“Sklonda! So good to see you!” called a voice from behind her. She turned around on her bench seat to see Sandra Lynn Faeth approaching, little Figueroth desperately tugging at her hand to get free and run around.
“Figueroth, one moment!” Sandra Lynn whispered, her voice sharp. “I need to put on your sunscreen!”
“But MoooOOOoooom! It smells weird and it makes me feel sticky!”
“I don’t care; you’ll prefer it to being sunburnt, believe me!”
Fig pouted and stamped her feet as Sandra Lynn led her over to the bench and sat down. “Come on, Figueroth, it’s just a little on your face and arms! You’ll live.”
“I’ll be sticky and smelly and I’ll die!”
“Oh, ever my little drama queen,” sighed Sandra Lynn, applying the lotion to her daughter. “There, it’s all done, go play.”
“Yay! ThanksMombye!” In a blur of pink, Fig was gone, racing over to the merry-go-round where Riz was slowly spinning. The goblin child perked up to see his friend, and soon the two were laughing and spinning on the merry-go-round.
“Mom! Mom! Look how fast I’m going!” Sklonda looked over from where she was chatting with Sandra Lynn, and indeed, her son was a green blur, spinning around and squealing with delight.
“Careful you don’t get dizzy!” she called out.
“That’s the best part!” he called back.
“Yeah!” agreed Fig.
“So, how’s it going with Pok out of town again?” Sandra Lynn was asking. “It must be so rough looking after such a handful all by yourself.”
“Oh, Riz is no problem, and I’ve got him to distract me when I start to feel lonely.”
“You should bring Riz by the house tomorrow for a play date. He and Fig would be absolutely thrilled, I'm sure, and Gilear could grill some burgers! It'll be a nice day for you to relax,” offered Sandra Lynn.
“That does sound nice,” admitted Sklonda. The apartment just felt so large and empty without Pok’s presence, even if she did have a little rugrat keeping her company.
“How about you come by around, say, four o'clock and-”
“Mom! Mom! Look at what I can do!” Riz cut in, and dutifully Sklonda looked across the playground to see what he was doing.
She couldn't see him.
Panic immediately gripped her heart and her stomach did a flip. She scanned the playground a second time, looking for a sign of her son. Figueroth was climbing the jungle gym alone, no goblin tagging along beside her. The swings were empty, and a halfling girl and a blue dragonborn boy were currently playing on the merry-go-round. Over in the corner of the sandbox a dwarf child and a half-orc girl were playing with plastic horses, and a human child was climbing a tree. There was no Riz.
No, no, this can't be happening! she thought. Maybe I'm just tired. Yes, I'm just tired. I'll blink and he'll be there, she assured herself.
“Sandra Lynn, um… do you see Riz? I can't see him.” Sandra Lynn’s a ranger, she's got excellent eyesight. She'll see him instantly and then we'll go home and I'll take a nap and this will be over, she told herself, trying to keep calm.
Sandra Lynn paused as she looked around the playground and then frowned. “...No… No, I didn't see him, Sklonda.”
Oh Gods, Riz! No, no, no! Immediately her eyes burned as the tears tried to come, but Sklonda forced them back. She had training for lost children, and even if it was her own, she was not about to lose her cool. Losing your cool would only make it more difficult. Worst-case scenarios played through her mind: Riz hurt and unable to call for help; lured away from the playground and kidnapped by someone with cruel intentions; her baby dead. No! She wouldn't let those happen. There's no way that would happen! But all the same ice ran through her veins. How could she face Pok? “I was chatting and looked away for just a second and he was gone!” No, that wasn't going to happen! That conversation will never happen! I am a good parent!
Shakily, she stood up. “...Riz?” Her voice was unsteady, her nerves apparent.
“Riz!” called out Sandra Lynn, joining her in standing up. “Figueroth, sweetie, where's Riz?” she called across the playground.
Fig looked around and shrugged. “Dunno.” She went back to playing, too absorbed in climbing to pick up on the parents’ fear.
“Riz! Where are you!?” shouted Sklonda, moving towards the sandbox.
“Right here,” came a small voice at her knees. Sklonda looked down and there was Riz, all smiles as he looked up at her.
“Wh…at…?” It came out as a sort of gasp and Sklonda fell to her knees, pulling Riz in tight with a hug.
“Oh, Riz, kiddo, I didn't see you!”
“Yeah! That's what I was showing you!”
“...Huh?”
“See, watch!”
Confused, Sklonda watched as her son took a step towards her shadow and began to vanish with it. He blended perfectly with the shadow, and if Sklonda hadn't been watching closely, she would have begun panicking all over again. Her son was stealthing.
Riz stepped back out. “What do you think?”
Sklonda dropped to her knees and pressed her forehead to his. “Riz, sweetie, that was amazing, but Mommy's going to be honest. You really scared me just now. I couldn't see you and I thought something bad had happened to you! You're very talented, but sneaking around where Mommy can't see you isn't good.”
Riz’s smile dropped. “I did something bad?”
“...No… no, sweetie. I think it's wonderful that you can hide like that, but please don't hide from Mommy. It scares me. But you can hide like that when you play hide-and-seek, ok? Or if there's ever someone that you get a bad feeling about, you've got Mommy's permission to hide like that from them.”
“Oh… ok!”
She moved her head so she could look into his wide, amber eyes. “Look at you, learning how to hide! I'm so proud of your accomplishment! You're going to make a fine rogue, just like Mommy and Daddy!”
“Pok’s a rogue, too?”asked Sandra Lynn, cutting into the moment. “Huh. I never pegged him as one.”
Sklonda’s tail went rigid as she had forgotten about where they were in the moment. She stood up and brushed dirt off her knees. “Oh, he was the party rogue back in high school, but that's all in the past,” she said nonchalantly.
“Ahh.” She nodded, understanding.
“Ok, sweetie, I think it's time for Mommy to have a nap, so we're going to head home,” she told Riz. She gently guided him with her hands on his back towards the jungle gym. “Go say good-bye to Figueroth, alright?”
“I'm so glad Riz was ok,” Sandra Lynn said as Sklonda packed up her bag and made sure she had everything she had brought with them to the park. “I don't think I could handle raising a natural rogue like that. My heart was in my throat and he's not even my child!”
Sklonda let out a long, weary sigh. “Tell me about it. It's only mid-morning but I'm ready for a couple shots to calm my nerves.” This earned a guffaw from Sandra Lynn.
“You and me both! Take care and I'll see you tomorrow?”
“Sure thing, four o'clock. We'll both be there, even if someone starts practicing his new-found skill.”
Sandra Lynn barked out another staccato of laughter and then waved at the two goblins as they left the park.
“Hey honey, how's it going?” Pok asked over their call later that night.
“Oh, just your son giving me more gray hairs,” Sklonda reported with a weak laugh.
“Oh no, what happened now?”
“The little darling learned how to stealth and hide in the shadows while on the playground today. I had a near heart attack trying to find him!”
Pok chuckled. “Yeah, that sounds like my kid alright. Give him a big hug and kiss for me, will you?”
“If I can find him, sure thing. Something tells me I'm going to have to begin searching the apartment extra carefully at bath time from now on.”
“I don't envy you.”
“Yes, you do.”
Pok sighed. “Yeah, I do. I miss you guys so much.”
“We miss you, too.”
They said their “I love you”s and eventually hung up. Sklonda walked over to her son's room where he was fast asleep. He wasn't in his bed. She took a deep breath, blinked, and saw him there nestled beneath the blanket. Oh great, the boy stealths in his sleep. Definitely time for that drink!