And today was a perfect example of that.
Arach and I had walked in on a fight. We didn't have a lot of fights between the children of the castle but when the kids did get into a brawl, it could get dangerous. Rian and Hunter both had their claws out—hands lifted in the primal pose of I'm-going-to-claw-your-face-off. Brevyn stood between the boys, his body covered in scales—scales given to him by the Dragon-Sidhe magic he'd borrowed from his father.
Brevyn technically has two god magics: Love—which I'd given him—and Borrowing. The Love had yet to emerge, but Borrowing came out often and actually has two parts to it: the first is the ability to borrow or copy another god's or faerie's magic for any length of time (he's had Arach's for awhile now), and the second is precognition, which helps Brevyn decide which magic to borrow. At first, he could only shift into a full dragon form, but he'd recently discovered his weredragon form—a humanoid body covered in scales, topped by horns and claws, and accented with a pair of lovely, leathery wings. He was using that form to his advantage now—guarding himself against kitty and dragon claws while trying to break up the fight. Dexter and Deidre sat to the side, watching with heads cocked and fiery eyes confused.
Upon hearing my voice, the boys flinched and then turned toward the door in the manner of red-handed criminals and naughty children everywhere: shoulders hunching and faces cringing. And by boys, I mean Rian and Hunter. Brevyn merely shifted back to his normal self. His trousers suffered a few tears and his shredded tunic hung loosely around his chest—casualties of his shift. But Brevyn smiled at me as if nothing were wrong and ran over to get his morning kiss. Dexter and Deidre came with him.
“Good morning, Mommy.”
“Good morning, Brevyn.” I gave the nurials a stroke each then scooped up my son to hug him and kiss his cheek. “Playing the part of mediator, eh?”
Brevyn shrugged. “Hunter brought his new bow to show us and Rian broke it.”
“I didn't break it,” Rian protested. “I accidentally cut the string with my claw.”
“My dad just gave it to me,” Hunter growled. “You should have been more careful.”
“Let me see the bow,” Arach demanded, his hand extended.
I set Brevyn down as Hunter brought the remains of the bow forward. A quiver of arrows was strapped to his back, bright feathers trimmed at the notched end of each. The wood of the bow had straightened without the tension of its string but there was nothing wrong with it.
“It just needs to be restrung,” Arach pronounced. “I'll have it fixed for you, Hunter.”
“Thank you, King Arach,” Hunter said solemnly.
“See? You didn't have to get so mad,” Rian huffed.
“Did you offer to fix the bow for him?” Arach asked Rian, a crimson eyebrow lifting.
Rian's expression shifted into one his father wore when he didn't want to answer a question... because he knew he was in the wrong.
“That's a no,” Arach concluded, recognizing the look as easily as I.
“I didn't know it could be fixed,” Rian defended himself.
“Accidents happen,” I said to the boys. “Things break. But you are faerie princes and you have many things and long lives ahead of you. Even if you can't fix the things you break, you have forever to forget about them. And youwillforget because no inanimate object is so important that you'll remember it forever and no friendship is so unimportant that you should jeopardize it over something you will one day forget about entirely. You need to have better priorities, children. Do you understand?”
Hunter and Rian nodded solemnly.
“Now, that doesn't mean you should go around breaking things or not valuing them. It means that when an accident happens, you need to remember what's important. It's okay to feel bad and get angry but before you direct that anger at someone else, try to imagine what they are feeling. Rian, what would you have wanted Hunter to do if he had broken one of your toys?”
Rian frowned. “I don't know. Say sorry and get me a new one?”
“I think that would be fair,” I agreed. “If you break something that isn't yours, you should apologize and replace it if possible. So, the next time you break your friend's belonging, what should you do?”
“Offer to replace it,” Rian concluded. He looked at Hunter and said, “I'm sorry I broke your bow, Hunter, and I'm sorry I didn't offer to fix it.”
Hunter grinned, instantly over it. “It's okay, Rian, it was an accident.”
“And Hunter, how would you have felt if you had broken Rian's bow?” I countered. “What would you have wanted him to do?”
Hunter blinked. He hadn't realized that he wasn't merely the victim in this. “Um... I guess I would have felt embarrassed and guilty and I'd want him to forgive me.”
“It's hard to forgive someone without them asking for forgiveness, isn't it?” I asked him.
Hunter nodded.
“Sometimes when people get embarrassed and feel guilty, it's difficult for them to apologize.” I leaned in to whisper, “Especiallydragonpeople.”
