Leander was screwing this up.He tried again.“Having magic isn’t illegal.It’s only illegal to use it.If the Americans found you or if you turned yourself over before you turned eighteen, you would be in the clear.They’d pay for your education and help you find a job.”
“As long as I worked for them.”Shanlin wrinkled his nose.
Leander chuckled.“I felt the same at your age.I knew I had a...less dangerous...magic than anyone else in the group.The government would never feel a need to watch a flora mage the way they would a blood mage or a negater or a shadow wielder.I could have turned myself in and become a botanist or a researcher.I could have worked dozens of different jobs, maybe even taught college or worked with floral arrangements at the White House.That’s an actual job.I looked it up.”
“But you didn’t want any of those jobs?”
“It’s more complicated than that.”Leander struggled with the words.“I could have been happy in several of them, but I wasn’t happy at the idea of someone telling me who I had to work for.As a kid, being told what to do felt like the worst fate ever.”
“Because it is,” Shanlin said with a snort.
“I can think of far worse fates,” Leander said as his mind drifted to some horrors he’d seen working for Druwolf.“Come on, let’s try on our clothes.We both need to get used to robes.”
“I still say they look like dresses.”
“You can think that all you like, but you won’t say it outside this house.Think of it this way—they’re all used to robes that flow around the legs.Our pants probably look like underwear or pajamas to them.”
Shanlin’s face twisted with horror.“No way.”
“Yes way,” Leander said as he put his clothes back in the chest.“I just walked around town in a dirty set of pajamas with my pant legs showing—no robe at all.I should be furious with Auntie Daiyu.So are you going to go to school tomorrow in pajamas?”
Shanlin scooped up his own pile of robes and shirts.“I know what you’re doing.”
“Being logical and telling you not to walk around looking like an idiot.”
“You’re trying to get me to wear robes.”
Leander picked up the chest and headed for the stairs.“Of course, I am.I don’t want to be embarrassed knowing that my family member looks like an idiot in front of everyone at school.”
“It’s still a dress,” Shanlin said as he followed Leander up the stairs.
“Dress or pajamas?Which is worse?”
“They have pajama day at school.We all look forward to wearing pajamas in class,” Shanlin countered.
Shit.Leander had thought he’d won there for a second.He pushed the door to the north bedroom open and put the chest on a bed.The mattresses were so thin the chest was basically sitting on the board under the mattress.Leander made a mental note to stack all the mattresses on one bed if he wanted a decent night’s sleep.He turned to find Shanlin hovering at the open door.
“This is our home, and this is how people in our new home dress.Pick a robe.You will wear it tomorrow.”He tried to sound firm and not too aggravated.From Shanlin’s flinch, he might have missed the mark.
“Can I wear my normal shoes?”he asked.
Leander wanted to tell Shanlin to wear the new shoes, but the embroidered cloth slippers were horrible.Leander couldn’t come up with a better term.They were gaudy and too colorful and flimsy.At least Leander had a pair of leather boots.“Fine,” he relented.“But hide them under your robes.”
“I could hide a frikkin’ horse under the robe,” Shanlin muttered as he turned to his bedroom.
“Language,” Leander yelled after him.
“Whatever!”A door slammed.
This was why Leander had never wanted to be a parent.
