Chapter Text
Duncan gave Egg the Parent-Teacher meeting letter on Friday; It was already Monday. He tried to give it to Maekar over the weekend, but he always backed out at the last minute. PT meetings regarding his children's behaviors weren't new for Maekar. He had attended one to many before concerning Daeron, Aerion, and even Daella and Rhae. He hadn't yet attended one concerning Aemon and Egg though, which made Egg all the more anxious.
Aerion found it first, of course, because he was digging through Egg’s backpack looking for his pen he claimed Egg had borrowed weeks ago.
“Why is there a letter that says mandatory?" Aerion asked, waving it in the air like a red flag.
Egg froze mid-drawing.
Daeron, sitting at the table with a glass of water and a book he wasn’t really reading, looked up slowly.
“What did you do?” Aerion teased.
“I didn’t do anything wrong!” Egg was getting flustered.
Daeron sensed it, and so he reached out calmly. “Let me see.” Aerion handed it over. Daeron scanned the letter quietly. His expression didn’t change, but his jaw tightened slightly.
“Dad's going to assume the worst,” he said.
Egg looked miserable, propping his hands on his cheeks. “I know. He always does."
Daeron folded the letter carefully and set it back down. “Then we must tell him before he finds out.”
Aerion stared at him, one eyebrow raised, “Since when are you the brave one?”
Daeron didn’t answer as he took a sip of water.
---
As they were nearing the end of dinner, Daeron nudged Egg and took a glance at their father. Egg immediately understood as he took out the folded piece of paper he was keeping under his thighs the whole dinner.
"Dad, Sir Duncan has a letter for you," Egg slid the letter toward Maekar. He glanced at Egg, then at the letter. "When was this?"
"Friday," Egg meekly answered.
Maekar huffed. "Friday," he echoed as he unfolded the letter.
“PT meeting on Thursday at 3:00 PM," he summarized.
His eyes lifted to Egg. “What did you do?”
Egg swallowed, "Nothing.”
Maekar’s gaze shifted to Aerion.
Aerion immediately pointed at Egg, "It’s his letter.”
Maekar closed his eyes, sighing as he placed the letter down.
Daeron spoke before things could escalate. “Dad, if it were serious, the school would’ve called instead."
Maekar’s eyes flicked to him. "And why is that?”
Daeron held the look calmly. “Because they’ve called before. A couple of times, in fact."
The air shifted. Everyone at the table knew what he meant.
Violations.
Warnings.
Suspensions.
The months when Daeron had not been steady.
Maekar didn’t respond to that. He simply looked at the letter again. "I will attend,” he said.
Daeron nodded once, as if this had always been the inevitable outcome.