The Dragon Prince's Consort

Eighteen

"How is the writing coming?" Yena asked her daughter, who was at that moment showing Fang how to write her name in Drass letters. Since the two were at basically the same stage of learning – though Fang was a bit faster due to being literate in other languages and having better fine motor skills – when Yena invited Valen and Fang to tea it had turned into an impromptu practice session and Fang offered to keep the little girl busy while her mother answered Valen's questions.

The little girl held up the tablet with glee in her bright yellow eyes. "Atta Valen, look! Lady Fang wrote her name!" She turned the tablet around and her little face puckered up. "Kind of wobbly, though."

"Su, be nice," Yen warned. "A couple of weeks ago you were wobbly too." She shared a look with Fang that ended in a shrug. "At least it's more legible than her father's hand, Aeden writes like he's using his tail."

"Have you heard from Aeden?" Valen asked, "I have some ideas I want to share with him when he gets back."

Yena sighed. "When I spoke to him this morning he said he'd most likely be another week on Benis before he gets to come home for two weeks, then it's off to Benis again. Honestly, as much as he's off-planet it's lucky I'm here – without the Secretary to the Minister of Finance the Empire would fall apart!" She was referring, of course, to herself.

"You miss him," Valen nodded. It wasn't really a question, he knew how his brother felt about Yen and how the feelings were deeply mutual. Does 'Sana ever miss Tias? Does Morden miss Shisa when he's away? Looking over at Fang, he wondered how much he would miss her if he found a way to get her out of her contract. Little more than a week ago he would have passed her on the streets of Kitsara without a thought, now Valen was starting to wonder about this strange new feeling growing just behind his sternum. He liked Fang, that was certain, and to be true he wasn't all that bothered by it – of course he liked her, she was kind to him and friendly, and anyone who found Tias as abhorrent and annoying as Fang did was a welcome ally.

"That," Yena said, "and it's harder to have a second child when one half of the equation is absent most of the time."

Valen's ears raised in interest; another niece or even a nephew from Aeden and Yena would be more than welcome, unlike Tias's haughty brood. "I didn't know you were trying for another baby."

"Well, we are, so don't expect Aeden to be at your call the whole time he's home, hear me?" Yen flashed a cheeky smile and Valen heard a chuckle from the little table off to the side where Fang traced letters with Susa. "I have half a mind to send Su to you for a couple of days so I can spend some good old-fashioned quality time with your brother."

Valen grimaced into his fingerberry tea. "Eyah, enough, I get it. When he does get back, tell him I want to talk to him and you can work out the time. Surely you can spare him for two hours?"

"We'll see. Tell you what, why don't you write down your questions and send them to him now, and save him some time when he gets here?"

Valen set down his cup and stared at the ceiling, resigning himself to working around Yen's apparently strict schedule. "All right, you win." Valen pulled his tablet from his robes and began to write with a stylus.

"Mana?" Susa approached, pulling Fang by the hand – at six, Susa was already approaching Fang's height and even as a child she was incredibly strong. "Mana, can I show Lady Fang my playroom?" Glancing over his niece's head, Valen asked with his face if Fang was going into it willingly; she shrugged and made an 'I don't mind' expression.

Yen tipped her head to the side, long dark hair falling over her shoulder. "Did you ask her if she wanted to go? Remember, she's an adult like Atta Valen."