Ranvir and Frija reached their home. “Wait there while I grab some clean clothes for you to wear,” Ranvir said, in no uncertain terms.

There’d been a rafting coming for quite some time. Ranvir’d hoped they could make it back to the house in time, but it had stretched long while they’d been visiting Elpir and Vasso. Now it usually wouldn’t be that bad, if he been more careful. Under normal circumstances, he’d simply pick Frija up and trudge through the land rivers before either of them, her, got too dirty.

She’d, unfortunately, been a bit of distance away, examining some snails. Ranvir’d gone after her once the rafting started taking hold, but not quickly enough.

He narrowed his eyes at her, Frija’s her face, hair, and clothes smeared so thickly with mud that she held closer resemblance to an elemental than his daughter. As he stared, a chunk of dark brown sludge fell off and landed with a wet plop in the streams passing them by.

“Okay, daddy,” she blurted. “But hurry, I’m getting cold.”

Ranvir nodded, already inside the house. He quickly pulled off his shoes and headed into her room, grabbing clothes and a pair of towels. Soon enough, they had the fire going and Frija was drying off underneath one of Ranvir’s much larger towels before changing into clean clothes.

He pulled a seat down next to his daughter, who was sitting in front of the fire at the center of the living room. “Will you play fish next time the rafting comes?” he asked, handing her a bowl of various nuts and raisins.

Frija shook her head as she struggled with keeping the towel layered over her while also holding the bowl. “No,” she looked at him with her big eyes. “I promise I won’t, daddy. It was a mistake.”

Ranvir sighed, then smiled at his daughter before rearranging the towel so she could hold the bowl and be completely covered. The dark cloth wrapped her all the way from her toes and all the up to form a hood over her face, which he, of course, pulled down over her eyes.

They struggled for a little while before Ranvir let her up. Ranvir’d come up with the pattern of wrapping Frija up like this after she ran out to ‘play fish’ in the rafting for the third time in the same day. Of course, she thought it was simply to keep her warm and dry while warming up in front of the fire. But Ranvir knew the true purpose. With her legs that tightly wound up, she couldn’t run or easily discard the cloth without his help.

He rested a hand on her back, fingers nearly covering it entirely, letting some of his heat soak through. “It’s not so much that you can’t play fish, that’s the mistake. It was the preparation for it that failed.”

“Oh,” Frija said, then frowning more deeply as she dug through her bowl for more raisins, completely ignoring the nuts. She sucked thoughtfully on another of the dried up berries before replying. “But I don’t have scales.”

“Scales?”

“Like a fish.”

“Maybe we should look into getting you a—“

“A fish! I can have a fish?” Frija’s excitement was such that she almost fell out of her seat and would have, if not for her father’s protective presence and awareness of her character.

“No. We’re not getting a fish.”

Frija pouted.

“I was thinking we could get you something more appropriate for swimming if you wanted to play fish in the rafting.”

Frija pouted even harder.

Ranvir hesitated, licking his lips before turning his attention to the fire. “We’re not just going to get a fish.”

“So we can have another pet? I really want a cat! Daddy, please! I want a cat, please!”

“Are you going to take care of it?”

“Of course, Daddy! I promise!”

“Do you even know what’s involved with taking care of it?”

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“I’ll learn, please! I’ll do anything!”

“Even clean up after it?”

“Anything!” she intertwined her fingers and basically fell on him as she begged and pouted and puppy-eyed him. “Please.”

“Even clean up after yourself?”

Her eyes diverted as she hesitated, thinking it over. “Once a week, daddy, please!”

Ranvir sighed and rubbed his jaw, looking into the flames and away from his daughter’s horribly convincing eyes. Slowly, he shook his head. “We’ll see.”

Frija started screaming then. It didn’t take long before it resulted in a complete and utter meltdown. Ranvir kept next to her, pulling her away from the fire as she tried to get up. Her feet being essentially tied together didn’t help her four-year-old coordination, and he had to keep a hand on her to stop her from falling over. Then she lay down to continue screaming.

Ranvir himself was forced to take in a deep breath as he tried to talk with her. Eventually, she wound down enough to actually understand what he was saying. He was sitting with his legs crossed a few steps away from the fire and holding her hand.

“Can you explain to me what’s wrong?” He asked gently as she ramped down from screams and crying to wracking sobs.

At first, she shook her head and continued crying, but when he asked her again, she nodded once. It took her a few re-tries to get the sentence out properly. “I want a cat.”

“I’m sorry, Fireheart,” Ranvir whispered to her. “I’m willing to look into it, however.”

She sniffled and hitched her speech still. He wiped her face of snots and tears with his sleeve as she gripped on tighter to his hand. “You a- are?”

Ranvir nodded and smiled at her. “I am,” he nodded to the towel still wrapping her up. “Is that getting too hot?”

She sniffed once and nodded.

“I figured as much,” Ranvir said with a smile and pushed some of her hair out of her face. “Do you want a hug?”

Frija’s chin puckered and quivered as she nodded. He held her for a long time as she calmed down from the intense emotions, then a little longer as her body recovered from a day of playing with Vasso.

Vasso wasn’t the most outgoing and talkative of Elpir’s kids, but he enjoyed playing just as much as Frija or any of the other children did. Kids his own age were reaching the point where they became ‘too old to play games.’ Vasso differed from the other kids, however. Most of the orphans had arrived as babies or during early childhood, only a few joined Elpir’s in their middle-years.

By the time Frija had fully calmed down, she had unsurprisingly also fallen asleep. He smiled and patted her back as he got up and put her to bed. Though it was only early afternoon, she was tired and could obviously use the sleep. At least for an hour, she hadn’t had a nap after lunch like she was used to.

While she slept, Ranvir went outside, where he’d left Frija’s muddied clothes. He’d attached them to a branch and let the rafting run through them, taking off the worst of the mud. Now they were relatively clean with minimal effort.

After briefly cleaning them, he ate the bowl of nuts Frija had left behind, then started in on dinner as he realized he was still hungry. It could simmer over the fire for an hour or so, the scent of which should wake Frija up.

Ranvir couldn’t help but smile to himself as he witnessed a disheveled and groggy looking little red-headed girl emerge from her room. She’d put on the clothes he’d originally set out for her, though she’d put the shirt on backwards.

“Dinner?”

“You’re hungry?”

Frija nodded enthusiastically and sat down at the table, which he’d already prepared. She recovered quickly once she got some proper food in her. That wasn’t just a few berries the sun had mostly killed.

She was busy telling him about all the kinds of animals she’d seen when they’d last visited Nysea together. Or maybe it was all the animals she’d seen in at all. Or maybe just the ones in Nysea. Either way, her energy had recovered well and seemed aware enough to have a conversation.

“Frija,” he said once they’d finished eating and had gathered their bowl. “Daddy’s found something very important that he needs to go investigate. I’ll leave in two days and will be gone for three more.”

Frija looked at him for a long time, her mouth trending downward. Slowly, she crossed her arms and shook her head. “No.”

“Firehearth, it’s really kind of important that I go.”

“Then take me with you.”

“I can’t. It could be dangerous.”

“You can protect me.”

“Firehearth—” Ranvir tried to say, but Frija jumped out of her chair and ran into her room. “Frija,” he called after her.

“Take me with you! You have to!” She yelled through the door.

Ranvir closed his eyes, his heart aching. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d missed so many days from Frija, even after he’d started working for the Sentinels he’d made an effort to never be so far away that he couldn’t come home, eat dinner and tuck her in at night.

Perhaps when he’d been struggling with his spirit injury, but even then he’d seen her regularly. She’d just not stayed in the same room as him. Perhaps this was something that he’d need to develop at some point, allowing for time apart to grow.

But he didn’t think the time had yet come.

“I’ll make you a deal,” Ranvir said through the door. “If I think it’s safe, then I’ll bring you with me. Only if I think it’s safe.”

The door cracked open. “Okay…” Frija’s eye appeared in the slitted gap. He could’ve forced the door, but that wasn’t the point of the conversation.

“If you promise to listen to me, and do as I say while we’re out, then we’ll get a cat. But only if you show me you can be responsible and listen to me when it is necessary.”

Frija threw the door open and jumped into her dad’s waiting arms, giggling and laughing. Part of Ranvir secretly hoped that he’d find some sort of monster when he visited the other plane, just so he had an excuse to not bring her along. Part of him was really excited at the prospect of a dad and daughter trip.