Magi: Jaeyria Lightwood

Task #7 (Not in Contest)

A/N: So Jae was eliminated in Task #6, but I was so close to the finals that I decided not to leave her story without an end. Thus, I wrote her task #7 anyway.

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Jaeyria stared absently out the window of their small house in Nighes. It had been seven years since she'd brought Vaxon down. Seven years since she'd manipulated anyone on such a grand scale. She couldn't claim that she missed it. After all, she was tired of that sort of thing. All she wanted was to be here in her husband's arms or watching her sons play in the cove.

Eiridan came up behind her, resting his hands on her hips, and pressed a kiss to her neck. "Kyren's coming to visit with Aelia today," he whispered. "They're bringing the kids."

She turned to look at him with a smile. "That's really nothing new, Eiri. They're here nearly every day, and they live not even a mile away."

"I know."

"But you still tell me?"

"You deserve to know when Kyren's going to show up..." He shrugged.

Jaeyria rolled her eyes. "Kyren's not mad at me anymore. We've moved past the childish phase of 'you lied to me about your intentions' to the 'you lied, but it was necessary' phase."

Eiridan laughed. "Fine. I just tell you because I like to share the things I know. No secrets, remember?"

She laughed too, kissing him gently. "Such a gentleman."

"I try," he murmured, stealing another kiss.

Their youngest son toddled into the room just in time to see. He stuck his thumb in his mouth, his bright green eyes shifting between the two in interest. His seven-year-old brother was right after him, and he was the one to alert their parents to their presence.

"Gross," he squealed, covering his eyes. "Mama! Papa!"

The two jumped, startled, and turned to look at the inquisitive two-year-old and disgusted seven-year-old.

Ever the laid-back one of the two, the youngest pulled his thumb from his mouth and toddled over, looking to be picked up. He held his chubby arms out to Eiridan with a babyish smile as he held tight to his blanket. Eiridan sighed and picked him up.

"Kay, you can uncover your eyes," Eiridan instructed. "Next time, if you don't want to walk in on that, bother to knock."

"But Esak was in here!" Kay whined, looking to his mother for sympathy with sad violet eyes.

She raised a brow. "Esak is two. He doesn't know better. You do. And you wrongly assumed that we'd realize your quiet little brother was in the room at seven in the morning. You're not supposed to be up until eight, so what did you expect?"

"To find you still in bed," the seven-year-old declared sulkily.

"Now you know better. Did you need something?"

"No. I came to find Esak because he wasn't in the room when I woke up."

"Well, go back to bed then. We'll take care of Esak." Jaeyria shooed Kay out.

"But thank you for keeping an eye on him!" Eiridan called after his older son, trying to encourage the annoyed child.

"Oh, shush, Eiri. He'll get over the tantrum, and you coddling him doesn't help."

"He ought to be encouraged for the good behavior at least," Eiridan protested.

"Fine..." Jaeyria came over and took Esak's little hand in hers with a smile. "Hey, baby boy... What were you doing out of bed so early?"