“Good job, you two,” Cela said brightly, remembering how encouragingly her flying instructors had always spoken to her. She had been younger than these two, since Tyr’s kids had both taken a long time to start shifting due to being separated from others of their kind, but she figured the same principles applied. “Now, you see there’s all that lawn downthere to land on. What we’re going to do is spread our wings and glide?—”
Without waiting for more, Austin spread his wings, leaped from the roof, and sailed down to the lawn in a perfect landing. He folded his wings and clattered his beak happily, looking up at them.
Lissy hissed. Cela suspected that if she had been able to talk with a bird’s beak, she would have saidShow-off.
“Your turn,” Cela said, and Lissy immediately looked nervous. “Come on, we’ll do it together. I’m going to spread my wings, you do yours, and then jump when I jump. Your griffin knows what to do, so just relax and let it take over and you’ll be fine. Ready?”
It was very clear that Lissy was anything but ready. However, she nodded nervously.
“You’re very good at this already,” Cela added. “And since you’re learning early, I expect you’ll be much better than your brother by the time you’re his age.”
Having engaged the potent power of sibling rivalry, she shifted and spread her wings. Lissy hesitated. Cela gave her an encouraging nod and a chirp, so the little griffin spread her wings as well. Cela took a step forward—the roof was so much easier to navigate with four feet and claws, rather than two legs and shoes!—and used her beak to reposition Lissy’s small wings just as her own teachers had done, many years ago.
Then, with another encouraging chirp, she leaped off the roof.
The urge to circle higher and see what was happening with Lissy almost overwhelmed her. But if she changed course, Lissy would too. Part of teaching children to do anything was, eventually, trusting in your students to do it on their own. So she landed and then swiftly looked backjust in time to see Lissy swoop in and stumble to a stop on the lawn.
She really is a natural.
Lissy shifted a moment later, leaping up with her arms in the air. “Did you see me! Daddy! Did you see me!”
“I saw,” Tyr called from the greenhouse, where he was leaning lazily, watching the show. He clapped. “You were all wonderful.”
“I’m doing it again!” Lissy shifted, and Cela, fortunately still in griffin form, pounced and caught her in a feline tackle. Lissy flailed her wings and then, frustrated, shifted back. Cela did too.
“Not without a grownup, kitten,” Tyr told her. He came over and leaned down to give both his daughter and his wife a hand up.
“But I haveyou,” Lissy protested. “Daddy, Cela, will one of you go with me to the roof?”
They shared a glance, and Tyr grinned. “Oh, no. You started it.”
Cela snorted. “All right, we’ll do a few more. But you follow my lead and do everything I say, all right?”
Lissy turned to her brother. “Austin! Come on!”
Austin had shifted human during all the excitement. “Jumping off the roof is kid stuff,” he scoffed.
“Since you’re so grown up, how about helping me in the greenhouse, then?” Tyr suggested. “I have some sacks of fertilizer that need those manly teenage muscles.”
Austin clearly realized how neatly he had trapped himself, but the alternative was playing with his baby sister, versus having some one-on-one time with his dad. “Iguess,” he muttered.
“Come on, come on,” Lissy urged, pulling on Cela’s hand.
Cela laughed. “Okay, let’s go. But just a few jumps. I’mworking the noon shift at the café and I need to get ready soon.”
Before driving to work, she had to drop off the kids at Gaby’s, where the twins would stay for the afternoon with Gaby’s younger kids and their babysitter. Austin had his part-time job with Derek and Ben, while Derek would be dropping Lissy off for soccer practice along with Derek and Gaby’s oldest, Sandy.
But before that, she had to extricate herself from Tyr, who said goodbye with a long, long kiss while the older kids made gagging noises from the car.
“It’s only a few hours. You’ll see me and the twins this evening.” But she didn’t have the heart to break the embrace. It was still such a wonderful feeling to touch each other—casually, constantly. Neither of them would ever get enough of it, she felt.
“But it’s so long.” Tyr swept her into a deep-dip kiss, and then finally released her, breathless and laughing, to run to the car waving.
“Are you going to call him while you’regone so looooong?” Austin complained.
“Hush it you,” Tyr said, having followed her to the car. “Bye kids, be good to your mom.” He leaned in and kissed Lissy’s cheek, then kissed each of the twins. Austin fended off his dad’s attempt at an affectionate shoulder punch.
Both of the twins were walking and chattering incessantly now. They both called Tyr “Daddy,” and Cela wouldn’t have it any other way.
