The wedding was quickly approaching, and Ava had requested a meeting with her mother before we got too distracted with last-minute wedding preparations. We didn’t like being apart from each other if we didn’t have to, so I tagged along. Eddie accompanied us, along with Ava’s guard Eldin.
Liam seemed surprised when we showed up at their quarters. “Peanut! What are you doing here?”
“We came to talk to Mama. Is she around?” Ava asked as I pushed her inside. Oberi ruffled her feathers from the back of Ava’s chair.
Sophia came out of the bathroom, and a small creaturemeepedfrom her arms. It shook its fur and sprayed water all over me.
“I just got done giving Buttercup a bath,” Sophia said. “You must be here about your pictures. I’ve picked out a few highlights, but I’m not done going through them all.”
Yesterday, Ava and I had spent most of the day in the gardens with her mother, taking engagement photos. Avalovedphotoshoots, and I’d do anything to make her happy. The whole thing had taken hours, and Ava had at least six outfit changes.
“Come on, I’ll show you.” Sophia set Buttercup down, and the kurble immediately jumped down and raced to another room with aggravated chitters. Ava’s mom led us to the bedroom, where her laptop was set up on a desk. I heard her let out a gasp as she said, “Oh, no! I didn’t realize I’d left a cup of coffee?—”
Her words cut off, and I heard her move something aside as she hissed, “Ugh, Jonah!”
What happened?I asked Ava through our bond.
It looks like a coffee cup spilled all over her open laptop, but it’s just a piece of plastic shaped and dyed to look like a coffee spill, and a styrofoam cup,Ava replied humorously.My uncle must’ve snuck in here and planted it as a joke. He and my mom have had a prank war going on for over twenty years.
“I’m going to get him back good next time,” Sophia grumbled. She started clicking keys on the laptop.
“He clearly hasn’t forgiven you for putting shaving cream inside his pillow,” Ava said with a laugh.
“Laptops are off limits, he knows that. Rules of the game. I’m going to have to elevate my next prank,” Sophia replied, sounding devious.
Ava laughed, and I smiled. I thought it was cute that Sophia and Jonah were still goofing around decades after they’d left college. I wanted my friends and me to stay that close, no matter how old we got.
There’s almost nothing in their bedroom,Ava noted.They weren’t given much time to evacuate Kinpago. Only their most treasured items from the house are here.
That’s not fair,I replied telepathically.I’m sure there’s a lot of history they miss.
I felt Ava’s curiosity pique as she explained to me, There’s a framed abstract painting above their bed. It’s multi-colored, with a variety of splotches and splatters of color all across the canvas. There’s no rhyme or reason to it.
I wondered what it could be. An abstract painting seemed to be a weird thing to save from their old home while fleeing for their lives.
“Hey, what’s that?” Ava asked her mother.
Sophia paused. “Oh, that? Don’t mind it. It’s just a painting your father and I made… uh,together, to replace one we’d lost during the Hawkei Civil War.”
I’m guessing they didn’t use paint brushes, Oberi joked.
I wasn’t going to go there, because I wasn’t interested in knowing how Ava’s parents got it on. Like, good for them; I hoped Ava and I were still banging hardcore after twenty years of marriage. But it’s not like I wanted to picture my in-laws like that.
“Oh, I love it!” Ava squealed as Sophia clicked a button on her computer. “Charlie, in this one you’re sitting on the edge of the fountain with me on your lap, dipping me into a kiss.”
I smiled at the memory. I didn’t really care for the photos themselves, but our time together in the gardens— hugging her close and goofing around— had been really fun.
“Oh my ancestors!Thisone is it!” Ava was so excited that she yanked on my sleeve. “It’s the one where Oberi’s in unicorn form, and we’re both on her back. I’m sitting backwards on Oberi facing you, and I’m holding your face in my hands. Our foreheads are touching, and it’ssooocute. My pink silk dress is flowing in the wind. I want this framed in our quarters!”
I placed a hand on her back. “Anything you want, pidge.”
Sophia clicked through a few more photos, and Ava raved about them all, but nothing could compare to the photo of us on Oberi’s back. She talked about it all throughout the session.
“That’s all I’ve gotten through so far,” Sophia said. “I’ll show you more later.”
“I want a whole book of them!” Ava requested brightly.
“I’m sure we can get one printed,” Sophia offered.
