The first
thing Hayle had done when they returned from their weekend away was find his
husband, and drag him out of earshot off the twins, who were more than happy to
play with Felix.
“What?”
At first,
he had thought that he had just been missed that much during the weekend, but
there was something with the way Hayle looked that told him this was something
different.
“My brother
told me something about Hayden… And Rylan, but well for Rylan it was positive,
not so much for Hayden.”
“Okay?”
Hayle started
to tell him what his brother had told him. How Rylan was pretty much a perfect
mix of them and their Magic, and with the right training would be one of very
few who could conjure the perfect mix between ice and fire; frost-fire.
“But
Hayden?”
Chris
pulled his husband up from lying on the bed, wrapping his arms around him. He
wished he had been there, to not have him have to take inn all off this alone.
“Hayden’s
body is more like mine, more ice… but his spells are fire.”
“But he cast ice spells?”
“Yes, but he won’t be able to do very much with them, maybe make a snowball out
of thin air.”
“So freezing their aunt was mostly Rylan?”
“Yes.”
Hayle
sighed, before telling him word for word what his brother had told him. The two
sides of Hayden’s magic would hurt him, more and more as he got older and the
ice side would have to try and compete with the much stronger fire.
“So, he
will have to live with pain for the rest of his life?”
“Yes… It’s not too bad now, but it could be pretty bad when he gets older, we
don’t know, this has well never happened before.”
“Have you talked to them about it?”
“Not yet… I figured we would have to find a good way to talk to them about it,
and I needed you for that.”
Hayle told
him that Hayden had to learn to control his spellcasting, so that he wouldn’t
end up using fire magic, as the use off it would do unknown damage to him.
“How do I
tell my child that they can’t use spells, that they will have to live with an
unknown amount of pain?”
“Gently, and truthfully. And we’ll do it together.”
They talked
through the night, finding a way to talk to their two kids about it, deciding
to take the talk the day after.
“It’s odd,
isn’t it Felix, that me and my brother are so different? Even though were
twins.”
The talk
with Hayden and Rylan had gone much easier than their thought. The biggest
complaint from Hayden being that he wasn’t allowed to cast spells, more than
any worry about the rest.
“mrow.”
“Yeah, I think so too.”
Hayden
smiled at the cat, grabbing the brush nearby knowing how much Felix loved it.
“Dad?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I help Hayden someway?”
“I think just being his brother is enough?”
“Nothing other than that?”
“Just be there for him, maybe were lucky and my brother is wrong.”
“I hope so.”
“Me too.”
He gave
Rylan a hug, watching has he ran off to find his brother dragging him out on
the pier to watch the stars.
“Hayden!”
“What!”
“It’s really hard to watch the stars with you covering my eyes!”
Hayden
chuckled, releasing his brother from his hold.
“How about
a late-night swim instead?”
They both
turned their heads, seeing their parents stand there. A swift clothing shift
later and the night was filled with happy laughter and the sound of splashing
water.