Chapter Text
“Is this, ah… your first?” Such a simple question in a heavily Snezhnayan accent, asked by one older expectant mother to another much younger, both sat in the waiting room, one just a little further along than the other, although… the younger looked a lot further along than she would normally be at that time.
“Yeah” she took a deep breath, her hand placed atop her tummy “It’s twins… I feel like I’m going to fall over at any moment. You?”
“Oh gosh no” the elder sat back in her chair, getting herself comfortable “we have two back home, a boy and a girl, I can tell this one though, he’s going to be little rascal, he has strong kick, stronger than his big brothers. How… uhm… how far along are you?”
“Four months now, halfway there… they say twins are usually born early…” not enough space to fully grow she assumed.
“I’ve heard this, although twins aren’t in my family, we’ve never had them!” Big families, but not a single set of twins, something like that tended to run in a family line “you’re lucky, they’ll never not have best friend.” Never feel alone, will always protect each other, care for each other. “Is the uhm… the father…?”
“Oh! He’s at work, couldn’t get the time off to come, and honestly I didn’t want him to, everything is so expensive, missing work for something we’ll do again just doesn’t seem like a smart idea.” She was still nervous though, this was the gender reveal, they’d tried during the last one but… awkward positioning had made it impossible to get a clear image. She’d get a scan image though; she could show him when he got home. “…You?”
“Also at work, we’ve done this three times already there’s only so many times you can look at an ultrasound before it all starts to look like baby squirrel.” The young mother laughed; she couldn’t help it “I’m Anastasia Garin, it’s a pleasure to meet you…?”
“Sorana Inlustris, and you too, thank you for making me laugh, I’m a little nervous… if you can’t tell.”
“Oh, I could tell, I didn’t want to say anything, what is making you so nervous? You’ve done ultrasound before, yes?” Sorana nodded her head, taking another deep breath, her hand smoothing over the bulge of her tummy.
“Mmhm, a couple of times, it’s uhm… I should be finding out the sexes today.” They had the nursery already made up, having set it up together before she’d really started showing her pregnancy, when the twins were nothing but little beans in her tummy, barely starting to grow. It’d been decorated in murals of skies, the nights sky twinkling with stars, decorated with glow in the dark paint and glitter to shimmer and glow, the walls in sunsets and sunrises, all four different stages of the day. Sorana an artist by trade, while her husband Elias, was just finishing up his bachelors in astronomy, training on the job at a university across town, his chosen field always having amused Sorana, given his last name basically translated to starlight.
Of course, he’d be drawn to a girl whose name was also translatable to the stars.
“Oh! Oh no, on your own?” She let out the softest little tut, she knew there’d be a reason for it, but didn’t approve one bit, no new young mother should be alone during an important scan like that, “we can’t have that, please… may I join you? We can get lunch after perhaps?”
“…That… that would actually be so nice of you… thank you, lunch would be amazing, I haven’t eaten, nerves, y’know?” The elder woman nodded, sagely, as if she’d experienced all this before and honestly, Sorana didn’t doubt that she had. A door opening to the left had both expectant mothers turning to look as a woman stepped out of a side door in a long white lab coat, a professional dress visible underneath.
“Mrs. Inlustris?” Sorana took another breath before raising her hand, oh boy, but it was fine, Anastasia stood up beside her, with a lot more ease than she was having. “Oh! Uhm… are you both…?”
“Oh, I’m joining my friend here for moral support, my appointment is afterwards.” The elder offered her hand to the younger, who took it gratefully and allowed herself to be helped up, the twins were growing fast. “Is that okay?”
“Of course, friends are always welcome during the ultrasound. Alright, ma’am, let’s get you inside and comfortable” both elder woman and doctor helped her inside, Anastasia closing the door behind them, then, they both helped her up onto the seat, Anastasia’s hand wrapped comfortably around hers for support, the elder clearly far more experienced, and far more adept at this whole thing than she were. “Alrighty… this is just going to be a little cold…” the gel was applied swiftly, with just a soft gasp from the young blonde at the cold, no matter whether she were warned or not, cold was cold. “Okayy, let’s get a look at what’s going on in there, shall we?”
The screen and speakers were switched on and the wand carefully placed atop her stomach, the sounds of heartbeats immediately filtering from the machine’s speakers. “Oh gods… is that them?”
“Yep, those are two very strong heartbeats right there, can’t… see them very clearly from this angle though, aaand… let’s see if we can… hmm” she moved it, gently smoothing it through the gel trying to get a better angle “Ahh there they are” and there they were, her twins, resting comfortably together, one twitched, but did very little else “that one here… let me just…” the wand was shifted once more “do you want to know the sexes of the twins, ma’am?”
“Yes, yes please” it wouldn’t change the nursery, but it’d determine what she’d be buying for them clothing wise, she hadn’t gotten anything yet, scared of getting something that wouldn’t fit or that she’d get boys clothes and they’d be girls, or girls clothes and they’d be boys, everything so horribly gendered it was impossible to comfortably pick for ‘I DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY’LL BE YET’.
“Well, we have one boy, aaaaand… well would you look at that, a boy, and a girl, both healthy and growing exactly as expected, congratulations, ma’am” The pictures were saved and sent to print, Sorana wide eyed staring down at her tummy in surprise, one of each, she had one of each and she couldn’t wait to meet them both.
“Ah what wonderful news!” Anastasia chirped, giving her hand a gentle squeeze “our boys will no doubt be the best of friends!”
~*~
“Look at them, oh my gosh look at them” Sorana cooed down into the little blanket and plush cushion filled pen. As it turned out, the Garin family lived a mere two streets away from the smaller Inlustris household, which meant the moment three babies were born, the moment they were just about old enough to be introduced to each other, the two fast friends ensured their babies were introduced to each other. Aether and Lumine Inlustris at two months old, vaccinated, and healthy, met Ajax Garin when he was just 2 weeks old.
And subsequently blew the original thought of the two boys being the best of friends directly out of the water.
Aether had no interest what-so-ever in the other baby, content to giggle and flop his little arms around in attempt at getting attention from their parents, while Lumine however, slightly smaller than her brother but usually no less inquisitive and attention seeking when she wanted to be, decided the absolute perfect spot for a sudden and unexpected nap, was right up against baby Ajax’s side
Anastasia took the very first photo, and without even needing to look up “I will send you copy of the photo later.” Neither of them had any doubts, that it would be the first of many.
~*~
Time passed just like always, the small babies learning how to crawl around at will, stumble on their feet, and run wildly around the house while tired mothers chased after them. Although Aether was a good boy most of the time, it seemed as if Anastasia’s prediction came true. Ajax was a little hellion, always getting into things, learning, challenging... and bringing Lumine along with him.
The girl of the trio seemed to stay by his side any time they were together, her boundless curiosity for the unknown driving her to press Ajax forward whenever he would stumble. Little adventures in the house, crawling under blankets together as if they were caves, laughing wildly as older siblings would scoop them up and swing them around gently in the sheets.
Their troublesome behaviour seemed to dim down in preschool, the promise of learning taking their interest from causing trouble and focusing it on something productive. Counting, colouring, pointing at places things went, it was a whole treasure trove for them to explore together.
Although the twin’s parents were concerned about their children relying too much on each other, as was the case with a lot of twins, it seemed as if it was a needless trouble. Lumine and Aether were almost of the same mind when it came to talking, sometimes even speaking over each other, and finishing sentences. However, when it came to play time, Aether was with other boys in the playground. Running, jumping, playing tag, he was as active as could be.
Lumine was with Ajax, the pair always up to something but no one could quite figure out what. They had their own world to explore, to conquer. It inevitably lead to the teachers attempting to separate them, trying to get them to improve their socializing skills. This was quickly nipped in the butt when they found the children sneaking away during nap time, curled together in their own little corner.
Their parents just laughed it off, telling them to let kids be kids. From that moment, they were always sat next to each other, front of the class, eager to get into the lesson, to finish it, to ask for more. It was almost never enough for them.
They learned fast, faster than most of the other kids, bouncing ideas and new information off of each other quicker than the others, with more efficiency too, it was like they simply… understood each other better than they understood other people, they took the information teachers had given to them, bounced it between each other and actually made sense of it that way.
Of course, Lumine found it easy to include Aether in their little games, he was always welcome in their little world should he ever want to sit down and play with them, but Aether was rarely interested in the odd little world his little sister and her best friend had conjured up. Even when they’d play pirates in the back yard, using cardboard boxes and blankets as their mighty vessel, using their mothers makeup to create beards and eyepatches! Travelling their little world to see new things. They weren’t going anywhere, Aether would always say whenever his parents suggested he try joining them, perplexed by the idea that they thought they were going somewhere.
Sometimes the other boy would join in on their sword fights, cause sword fights were cool, but he’d never turn down his friends invites to play elsewhere, to find cooler things to do, once again leaving the disaster duo to their land of endless imagination before they’d inevitably pass out in the pile of blankets and boxes, half hidden, curled up together snoozing the day away.
More pictures inevitably joined the little baby books Anastasia and Sorana had been building since they were born.
They were four when the two best friends made the incredible decision to get married, after sitting through the wedding of one of their mama’s mutual friends, Sorana and Anastasia sitting next to each other on the pews so Lumine and Ajax could sit next to each other on their laps, Aether on his dad’s lap while Ajax’s older siblings sat with their dad somewhere off behind them. It was Ajax’s idea.
He’d heard one of the two adults saying the other was their best friend, and thus, decided, best friends get married. Lumine was his best friend. And so, they should get married, and of course, Lumine would never disagree with such solid logic. It made absolute sense, and she really really really wanted to wear a pretty dress like the bride had worn.
The ceremony was held in the Garin’s back garden, Aether officiating like a good big brother, Ajax’s puppy, Mishi as the dutiful ring bearer, bearing a tiny yellow plastic teddy bear ring Anastasia had happily plucked from the top of one of the cupcakes she’d bought from the local bakery for the occasion. Ajax still dressed in his handsome little wedding suit, while Sorana had immediately rushed to change Lumine into a pretty white summer dress.
“Now you gotta kiss the bride!” Aether declared after his long, incredibly confusing drawn-out speech where he’d done his very best to copy what he’d heard in the church, but alas, he was 4, and that speech had been about the two adults actually getting married. Anastasia captured the exact moment the two 4-year-olds kissed for the very first time.
Sorana however, captured the unison disgusted look on their faces as they wiped their lips directly after. Both photos went directly into the baby books, as neither mother could agree on which was the best.
~*~
School progressed smoothly for the small group of friends. Lumine and Aether stuck at the hip every moment they were able to be together but like always, the second Ajax came around, the girl would run to him in a hug. Sorana and Anastasia made sure they were in the same classes, able to help them all with their work in fun, creative ways. As their little circle grew, more names became household words. Bennett was an adventure seeker like they were, however, he was always covered in band-aids, they met Razor while walking Ajax’s puppy, the dog making a beeline for the other boy and him not minding one bit, they got along like a house on fire.
Aether made friends with everyone he met as well, finding it easy to get along with anyone he came across, and while the perfect little social butterfly was never without friends of his own he also always got along with Lumine’s friends too.
As time passed, it became increasingly clear that the three were gifted in their studies though. What the parents didn’t expect, however, was the sudden entirely unexpected acting out when it became clear to Ajax that he was bored. A day’s lesson for the child consisted of paying attention for the first half, finishing his work, and reading on to the next. Before long, his attention began to wane, already tired of sitting still for something so pointless.
He wanted to use his energy, to spend his time doing something different, something more challenging! Of course, his young mind couldn’t come up with anything but talking in class, arguing with his teacher, acting up and back talking. He wasn’t sure how to express his desires yet, all he knew is that he wanted more.
Sorana was of course, immensely disappointed to see it spread to her daughter almost immediately, but honestly she couldn’t expect anything less with how effortlessly they bounced things off of each other. The best friends were almost closer than the twins and their minds seemingly linked as well. A few weeks after Ajax’s trouble making began, Lumine followed. Her misbehaviour a little gentler, but it was there; questions of why and how were on repeat, demanding answers for things not related to their current lesson became too frequent to ignore. Where is this? What is beyond that? How can I get there? She was starting to gain a sense of self, and that self… wanted to see things.
Ajax wanted to learn, Lumine wanted to see, and together they were causing trouble. It was with a heavy heart that their teachers decided to separate them into different classrooms at the start of second grade. This, of course, only made the tiny married couple realize what separation anxiety meant, and no one was going to be happy until they got what they wanted back.
It was a disaster.
They were petulant, they were rude, snappy, argumentative, and no amount of time outs would solve it. Neither of them worked well with others anymore, together they’d have usually been so happy to allow others into the little world they’d created for themselves, welcome them in with open arms and an exciting amount of information to share with their new person. Now they’d turned cold towards people outside of it.
The only person Lumine would speak to with her original, adorably sweet personality, was Aether, everyone else got the brunt of her tiny fury and surprisingly fierce glare. It wasn’t cute, there were no moments of ‘awww she’s angry, how cute is that?’ No, this little girl was a force to be reckoned with.
And Ajax was no better. If anything, the little monster was worse.
He started fights, violently lashing out at anyone who dared try to take his best friends spot beside him, it was reserved for her! He’d openly blame the teachers for his behaviour because they caused it by stupidly splitting them up. He’d called them stupid out loud, several times, in front of everyone, spitting the word with venom, even though he knew it was a bad thing to call people.
And that was just the first half of the first day of school. They disappeared after Lunch, sending the two second grade classes into a frenzy trying to find them.
The teachers had made an honest attempt to enlist Aether’s help in finding his little sister, but the golden-haired boy had simply shrugged his shoulders, and told them without hesitation “You splitted em up, Miss.” Even he knew not to try splitting his little sister and her best friend up.
They’d been together since before they could walk, spent naptimes curled up in each other’s cribs, the first steps Lumine had taken, were to her best friend’s highchair rather than her parents open arms, rather than to her brother, they’d taken baths together! Even Aether knew at his young age, not to split them up.
“That’s a very good point, Aether, but do you know where they’d have gone?” The teacher had asked him, panic in her voice while the other classes teacher headed the search for them elsewhere. Neither had lost kids before, but with so many in the playground, losing two sneaky little ones who were adamant about staying together, was apparently easier than she’d thought.
“Mmmm I dunno” he made a show of shrugging, the fact that he didn’t seem too worried however, was probably the biggest tell that he knew exactly where his sister and Ajax were. “Can’t keep em splitted up.” Their parents had specifically told the school to keep them in the same classes, they weren’t hurting anyone by asking more questions, all they wanted was to learn, that was it, sure it could have come across as disruptive, but all they’d wanted was to learn more than what they were being spoon fed.
Even Aether in all his tiny glory, knew this could have been handled a LOT better
“R-right… can’t keep them split up, okay, we can fix that, we can fix that right away, it’ll be no problem at all, we just need to know where they are…” Aether stared up at her, his youthful baby face decorated with a small frown of thought, he knew exactly where they were, she could see it on his face. “We promise to fix it.”
“…You gotta keep a pwomise… can’t bweak it.”
“We won’t break it.” Although fixing it would only reinforce that they could get what they wanted by disappearing, not a good trait to reward, but… not fixing it only guaranteed a repeat performance, potentially without the information Aether so clearly had next time. “Do you know where your sister and Ajax are?”
The boy frowned for a moment, as if very deep in thought, before sighing heavily and pointing to the very thick amount of bushes right at the back of the playground, where brambles, nettles and all kinds of pointy plants would poke and stab anyone who dared force their way in to find them. “Hidin in the bush, at the uh… the back.”
Because they were JUST small enough, to get in without being hurt by it all.
~*~
With time, the pair learned how to deal with it with a little less drama, the teachers figuring the two out after a few trial and errors. They were put in a slightly advanced classes to make use of those big imaginations to use. Their attention once again shifted to things that could occupy their minds. Lumine started to excel in history and geography, her mind soaking up everything thrown at her, finding awe and interest in the old ruins dotted around Teyvat. Ajax took to a broader scope, learning how to take to anything asked of him. His only problem was that he jumped too fast to conclusions, often getting the wrong answer just because he wouldn’t wait until the full question was asked.
To combat this, it was recommended to enrol him into a martial art.
Discipline at an early age would help sharpen his mind, focus his skills, give him an outlet for the excess energy he had after sitting still in school all day. Of course, Lumine was right there with him, Aether also excited at the idea of doing cool backflips like ninjas and meeting new people.
Unfortunately, the two mothers pulled Lumine to the side. Sorana looking down at her with a gentle smile, worry on her face, it was the first instance of Lumine being unsure about what could be wrong with her mother. “Lumine, you’re with Ajax all the time, why not give this hobby to Aether? You could do something else?”
The smaller girl blinked, confusion on her face. “Why? Jaxie is my friend.”
Anastasia knelt down as well. “Yes, yes, he’s your best friend... but sometimes you need to do something different, and... well... sometimes girls like us need to have time away from the boys to experience other things they won’t like.”
Confusion was still clear. “Like... what?” She didn’t understand what she would want to do that Ajax wouldn’t like. Plus, she heard Aether talking about backflips!
“We can play with dolls, and... tea parties!”
Lumine wasn’t buying it. “I want to learn how to fight!”
Exasperated sighs came at the same time, Sorana hugging her daughter close. “Lumi Lu, let Aether have this one, I want to spend some time with you too, okay? Please?”
It wasn’t really a question, and her young mind knew it. She was being told no by her mother, that this was a boy thing. At least she had a secret weapon on her side: Ajax would show her, she was sure of it. “...Okay.” At once she was picked up in a hug, happily squished against her mother.
~*~
Ajax kept his promise, showing Lumine everything he learned the next day after his lessons. He took to it like a fish in water, small blue eyes wide in wonder while being shown things his body cold do. Although not strong enough to take on those bigger than him, his skill showed so much promise that he was put into a tournament at the end of his first year.
He demolished his competition, young students his age who barely understood what it was to fight. Ajax took them down one after the other, often making them cry while delivering the winning blow. Lumine was a much better sparring partner and she had to learn second hand while keeping it a secret.
At least it kept him out of trouble.
Of course, it was tricky for the two youngest to hide the fact that they’d been scuffling around in secret, especially since Lumine kept coming home with dirt all over her pretty dresses, and little bruises that definitely couldn’t have happened by accident. Sorana even found a twig in her hair once or twice, but she always looked so happy whenever she came home like that.
Aether never understood what the problem was, his dad had tried to explain it a couple of times, that little girls shouldn’t be fighting, but Aether always just argued “there’s girls in our class too, dad! Lumi should be able to learn too.”
“Well… she doesn’t need to learn, Aether, cause she has you to protect her, right?” His father was usually pretty busy, but since his mother was forcing Lumi into a dress to play tea parties when the little girl clearly wanted nothing to do with that, Aether figured his dad would be a better person to talk to.
“That’s even dumber, Lumi can protect herself.” She really could, he’d seen her throw Ajax right over her shoulder last time they play fought in the back yard. It was stupidly cool. “She beats up Ajax all the time and he’s actually learning!”
“She does what?” Oops. Let it be known that Aether, was not good at keeping secrets, and was more often than not the prime reason behind Lumine and Ajax getting grounded. This. This was no exception.
~*~
“I DON’T WANNA PLAY STUPID TEA PARTIES!” Lumine screamed, her voice as piercing as a drill to the skull. Aether hid behind his dad’s leg, his dad having marched directly to the tea party Lumine was being forced into playing, clearly bored out of her young mind, and had demanded an explanation.
They’d told her no fighting, no martial arts classes, it wasn’t PROPER of a young lady to be fighting like that, and without hesitation, Lumine literally flipped the little table she was sat at. All the little purple plastic teacups going flying in her tiny rage. “Aether and Ajax get to FIGHT and have FUN and I’m sat at a stupid tiny table playing DRINKING TEA, S’NOT EVEN REAL TEA, IT’S FAKE TEA, IT’S BORING!!” Kicking a cup for the hell of it, an impressive kick too, it sailed right into a nearby window, probably would have smashed the window had it been anything but a tiny purple plastic cup.
“Young lady! You will do as you’re told or---”
“OR WHAT? THIS IS ALREADY THE STUPIDEST, DUMBEST PUNISHMENT EVER AND M’NOT EVEN DOIN A BAD THING TO DESERVE IT!!” Another cup went flying, this one thrown. A Lumine temper tantrum truly was a sight to behold.
“Or no more Ajax.” Aether looked up at his dad in surprise, he wouldn’t, would he? That method had already resulted in something bad once before! And now… now Lumi might not trust him enough to tell him if they were gonna hide again “right, Sorana?” The man looking to his wife for support, although even she didn’t like the sound of that one.
“…R-Right, Lumine this behaviour is out of order, we told you no, and you found a way to do it anyway.” It was incredibly resourceful of her, an early sign of decent problem-solving skills, but this wasn’t the time to praise her developing personality “if this doesn’t stop… we’ll have to separate you both.”
“Why not just let Lumi learn too?!” Aether spoke up, quickly rushing from behind his dads leg “There’s girls in the class! And, and it’s dumb to split them up!! She’s good at it!!”
“Lumine is too gentle to do such things,” Sorana tried to explain to Aether, but the effect was quickly lost as another tiny teacup went sailing. “She would start crying the moment she moment she got hit.”
“Would not!” Both twins spoke at the same time and the adults sighed out in unison. Not only did they have to deal with Lumine’s temper tantrum, but now that Aether was in on it, neither one would give up. The moment both started speaking over each other, it was a done deal. They would continue to feed each other’s emotions and thoughts until they either collectively changed their minds or got their way. There was no convincing only one of them.
They didn’t look like they’d be changing their minds willingly either.
The parents looked at each other in regret. They would have to either deal with Lumine, and now Aether’s, insistent refusal to behave, or let Lumine go to a single class, get pushed down, and cry her eyes out. “Okay… okay… We’ll take you to one class.” Their father held up his index finger with a frown. “We will let you fight with one person so you will see what it really is about. Once you see that it isn’t play fighting we will step in and take you back home. If you manage to show everyone that you are as good as you say, you can stay there, okay?”
“Deal!” The twins hugged each other tightly in success.
~*~
Next week Lumine found herself in awe while in the mixed martial arts class. People of all different ages were spread across different large mats, some in different, smaller, groups from there. While her parents talked to the instructor, her pretty golden eyes found the source of her desire: Ajax and Aether, both sitting together with some other kids around their age group. A few were older, some younger, but all seemed to be about the same build.
“Ajax!” The instructor’s voice made the male instantly jump up. Lumine got excited, completely missing the rest of the words being said “He’s my best student, if anyone is going to show your daughter she doesn’t want to be here, it’ll be him. Don’t worry, I can swoop in the moment she needs it.”
A deal was a deal, and with a groan, the parents waited for little Ajax to take a fall for Lumine. However, when the sparring session started they were surprised to find the small boy quickly darting forward, the two colliding and falling to the ground. Grunts and harsh sounds came, the two adults taking a half step forward with wide eyes. Ajax was on top of her, fist raised up to start pummelling her. Even the instructor was on the move to stop it, never having seen that ferocity from the boy before.
Yet Lumine did something they didn’t expect. Her flexible body moved, leg hooking Ajax’s lanky limb to throw him off balance. Within a second she had them rolled, his arm stretched across her body, legs wrapped on it to pull. Just as the instructor hit the mat to separate them, the cry of pain came from the male, hand tapping legs quickly “Give!!!”
The two separated on their own, getting up as the man laid on the mat with wide eyes. He had shown Ajax how to do that move last week, yet Lumine had it mastered already. The two gave each other hugs, jumping up and down before being quickly joined by Aether, who hugged them both to join in on the celebration.
Defeated, the two parents just knew that their little girl wasn’t going to grow up to be a Disney princess. Lumine was bound to be a traveller just like she always said she would be, exploring anything and everything around her… At least this way, she will be able to defend herself if Ajax wasn’t nearby for whatever reason.
Finally, they had something all three of them enjoyed. A hobby not just for Ajax and Lumine to get wrapped up in together away from everyone else as usual, but also one that Aether could join them in, that he could enjoy with his little sister as well. Lumine joining her big brother and her best friend at star pupil level within just two weeks of joining the class officially, they were the Terrible Trio, unbeatable on the mats.
She was a natural at it, and while her parents mourned the loss of their potential little princess, Lumine thrived. Her bubbly personality returned where it’d been slowly disappearing the longer she’d been stuck behind that stupid little table pretending to drink tea, the adorable, bright, happy, and inquisitive little girl returned, and now with a solid roundhouse kick that’d put even the big kids to shame. Laughter returned to the house, Ajax and Lumine play fighting in the back garden while Aether refereed, Lumine always coming out on top but that only inspiring Ajax to keep wanting to fight her.
He’d win someday! He would, and on that day, she’d have to eat a whole gingerbread cake just cause Ajax knew the taste of it made her face scrunch up all funny.
She didn’t need a protector, both Ajax and Aether knew that; she regularly beat them in matches to make that an obvious fact. Lumine would never need anyone to protect her. A fiercely strong individual sat hidden within her, bubbling beneath the surface just waiting to emerge as she grew up, she could be on her own without hesitation if she wanted to be, could go out into the world to learn everything she could possibly learn, could keep herself safe, would be totally fine.
She just… really seemed to want to take Ajax along with her, and if the little boy were honest with himself, he really really wanted to go with her too.
