บท 5: My New Family
After my birth, I quickly found out that my mother was an elf, and my father was a demon. And I was born out of an egg. So that makes me a bird…?
My first sight was my mother, and she was beautiful. She had dark blue, wavy hair that fell to her waist. Silver lights seemed to flit between the strands, as if peeking out from a playful ocean. She was always in motion. When she held me, she would alternate between rocking me and dancing. And when she moved, she spoke, whispered, or sang. The only constantly still part of her were her eyes. Her eyes were a deep, burnt orange and they were more often focused on my face than not. It was as if she could not get enough of me.
She would run her fingers over my head and cheeks, smiling and then kissing my face with her thin, soft lips. Her skin was lightly tanned, and she was fastidious about wearing maroon lipstick that she made herself.
"Now, Molly," she told me as she colored her lips, "Knowing how to apply make-up and maintaining your skin is very important."
I cooed in my cot in agreement. Whatever she said, I decided. I hadn't worn much make-up in my previous life, but it would be fun to learn anything my mother wanted to teach me.
Yes, I cooed. I also freely cried, burped, farted, and giggled when she changed my diaper. It wasn't all that strange that I was comfortable reverting to baby behavior despite having that conversation with my mother before I was born. My only word so far had been a gurgle, and I hadn't been able to communicate with her or my father. I could think in more complicated sentences, and that was about it. I was completely reliant on my parents; it was the ideal life!
I was loved, cuddled, fed, washed, and I could spend my time observing the world without caring about rules. I had at least three years of this, so I was going to enjoy it.
My father, the demon, had darker, leathery skin. When I first saw him, I tried to bite his finger – he just looked too much like milk chocolate! Even if I had had teeth, I wouldn't have hurt him, so he laughed. His laugh was like an avalanche. It began with pebbles bouncing down and then rose in echoes as the boulders followed. Depending on his level of amusement, his laugh could be a massage on the ears or deafening.
He was nothing that I would have expected in a demon. The only dark part about him was his skin, and the rest of him was light-hearted and bright. His eyes were yellow-green and slit like a cat. Laugh lines creased his cheeks around the corners of his lips and eyes. His skin was tough, and his touch gentle. Two obsidian horns rose from the sides of his forehead, twisting and curving to end in sharp points.
The first time I tried to touch his horns, my mother freaked out and insisted on covering the points with cork. I contented myself with his shaggy lavender hair. It was cut above his ears, but he obliged me by bending his head low enough that I could grab it. It reminded me of a lion's mane.
As for me… I wasn't too sure, since we didn't have a mirror. From my parents' conversation, my hair was the same color as my mom's, but crazy curly. I had bright blue eyes, and I was perfectly normal except for my skin. My skin was…gray??? Was I zombie after all?!
Nope. When my father questioned my mother, she said that it was normal, that it had to do with being newborn. I just needed to get some sun, and my skin would look much healthier, like hers. So, it was some kind of newborn anemia? Better than being a zombie, I guess.
I of course have saved the best for last. My mother was an elf, right? Well, we had pointed ears! Legitimately pointy, and long! The tips of her ears towered over the top of her head. Mine weren't as long yet (I figured that out from feeling with my hands), but that's just because I was a baby. They weren't only for decoration. They actually moved independently like a bat's ears, and my mother could hear my father when he was still a half an hour away from the house. I could hear clearly into the next room; if they wanted to keep secrets from me, they'd have to leave the house entirely and close all of the doors and windows.
How awesome is that?! Besides the non-human shape, they also felt different from the rest of my skin. Our ears were a delicate leather. When I tugged on them to try to feel them better, my mother stopped me, saying that we had to be gentle with them. We must treasure our ears.
I looked more like my mother than my father. I hoped that I would grow horns like his when I was older. Pointy ears and pointy horns – a badass combo! Maybe my curls came from him? Or maybe I would inherit his magic?
Yes, magic. I thought I would finally be done with abilities when I reincarnated, but here they were again! I didn't know much about magic yet, because my parents didn't offer and I couldn't ask. I had seen my father fly, though. He looked into the sky for a moment, then his whole body trembled as he muttered a few words. Glowing red lines sprung from his back, then tangled together and finally separated into an intricate pattern that had the overall shape of bat wings. Seemed like both of my parents had bat heritage!
Each morning my father would fly off as my mother held me outside of our house and waved goodbye.
'I wonder if he's a demon office worker.' I giggled at the thought of my dad in a suit and tie with a briefcase. Somehow it looked quite fitting with his horns and wings. His lavender hair was the icing on the cake.
--
We lived in that house for three years. During that time, my mother took me outside to play every day, even in the rain. I thought the idea was to help me with my vitamin D deficiency, but whenever it started raining, she seemed even more eager to carry me out. Fortunately, I never got a cold from these mini-adventures, though my father freaked out when he came home early once and saw us sitting in the flowers as the lightning struck and thunder rolled.
"Aldweina!" His voice overpowered the thunder, his eyes brighter than the lightning as he uncharacteristically frowned. "What are you doing? What if you and Molly get sick?"
My mother just laughed, her own voice seamlessly melding with the falling rain.
"It's just water, Tunifer. It won't hurt us." She poked my cheek. "Right, my Molly? A little bit of water didn't hurt anyone."
I grinned and stuffed another flower in my mouth. I had never realized how good flowers could taste! I was 1-year-old and 5 months, and I could sit on my own, and grab whatever was in easy reach. Like most babies, I loved stuffing anything and everything into my mouth. Mostly I stuffed in the edible things, but occasionally there was a particularly interesting object that I didn't recognize. I found early on that if I stuffed those objects in my mouth, my parents would first take it away and then explain to me its purpose. It was a pretty crude way to get information, but options were limited.
My father sighed. "Al'na." He scooped me up, at the same time taking away my next flower treat. With his other hand he reached out to my mother.
"Babies are more fragile. They can't handle the same things that we can." He quirked his eyebrows and lips up in a conciliatory smile. "Wait until she's older for these romps, okay?"
My mother gracefully accepted his hand and rose. She kissed the back of his thumb with her own smile.
"If that's what you want, my love."
My father led us into the house and quickly stripped me of my clothes and wrapped me in a towel that he warmed with his magic. My mother changed into dry clothes, and made us sweet tea that we drank as we cuddled in their bed, looking out the window at the rain. My tea was warm, not hot, and in a small wooden cup. Sitting between my parents, I felt warm all over.
All of their fights were equally short. Sometimes they could find a compromise, and sometimes my mother just backed down. She wasn't a weak woman and there were many fights during which she convinced my father that she was right. It was just, there were a few points where my father could absolutely not understand her point of view, and she didn't want to change.
Let's take the rain example. We didn't stop playing in the rain. I said before that our ears were useful. If it was still raining by the time my father came home, her ears would twitch and she would swiftly bring me into the house. She would use her magic to sweep the water off us and out of our clothes back into the rain. After which, she would set us up with a book, or paper and crayons.
"Remember, Molly, don't tell your dad that we went outside. He doesn't understand elves so he worries, but we know better." She would rub her nose in my hair, which was both ticklish and comfortable.
"Yes, Mommy!" And we would go back to drawing.
As I said, I never got a cold; there must have been something to that elven constitution she had mentioned.
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