[b]Mar[/b]

Mar had curled into a sitting position, Lyn lying comfortably in her lap of coils as she wiped a crusted streak of dirt from child’s rounded cheek. It was easy in the past to ignore the worrisome sensation deep in her chest or the fact guilt seemed to churn it more, now was another matter. It wasn’t easy. Barely possible even since the two months following Lyn’s birth, the time when she became aware of the changes in herself. Some habits remained untouched. Several, however, had become jaded. In idle moments Mar found herself frightened the other students might’ve noticed the changes in her, the very ones that made her less Naga and more human. She knew Athalus did, but she never asked him about it. It was as if she voiced the fact then it made it much more real and certain. 

It meant she was changing. 

Mar’s body went ridged for a second when the thought crossed her mind before she shook it away. Impossible. Naga never changed and nor would she, that much she wanted to be sure of. Despite the little nagging voice in the back of her head. She hide her silent anxiety under her mask for now, mostly not wanting to upset Lyn who seemed to sense more then she should and had shifted slightly. 

“Shhh…” Mar tried to comfort her child. Lyn had shifted downwards causing Mar to pulled her upward, sure her daughter’s head rested comfortably where her collar bone was. The weight a comforting distract to her own chaotic thoughts. 

In the background, her ears filled with the loud shouts and continued curses she understood little of as they died down. [i]Why did he do that?[/i] Mar felt her annoyance surface. She knew talking to the plants would do little good in stopping. If it was doing anything at all, he was more likely aiding their growth instead of getting them off him. Even the blade in his hand would’ve been more use then his breath used uttering those words. Mar sighed at the foolishness of males. 

When Althalus mentioned he might’ve overacted, Mar spared him a raised eyebrow that made it clear she agreed with his obvious statement. She shifted her eyes to check on Lyn’s condition once more. Her daughter was still sluggish and her coloring seemed paler, though part of it could’ve been the lead lump settled in her core at seeing Lyn looking unwell. Without thinking much on it, Mar held a hand against the forehead then the cheeks in a gesture Sam showed to check the skin’s temperature. She felt slightly warm. 

Athalus’s mention of no one in his family having Lyn’s mageblood caught her attention. Her whipped back to his direction, her body twisted slightly to face him and spoke. 

“I’m the first and only in my race.” Mar didn’t think it was needed to mention the fact she wasn’t exactly a herbamancer herself, but the fact Lyn didn’t inherit it from either of them did bother her inwardly a little. Her mask firmly settled over her face had easily hidden that matter but her eyes seemed not to listen, their attention wandered into thoughts filled in frustration at mystery. How much more could she take? A question Mar wasn’t sure she wanted the answer to as even now, neither parent knew how old Lyn would be before her lifespan ended and the idea she might outlive her child attacked her repeated without a defense. 

Her child’s future shouldn’t be like it, her own wasn’t and that matter made it more irritating. 

“I don’t like not knowing where it came from…” Mar’s words trailed off when her eyes spotted Lyn’s toy moving. 

It managed to make it to Lyn’s leg, its little paw stuck outwards untouched. That was enough to catch her daughter’s attention. Wasting little time, Lyn pulled her head away and bend to snatch it up into her arm then resumed her earlier posture. Mar had willed herself not to react, having seen the toy’s behavior before, and instead merely eyed its every move. 

Its walk had reminded her of the time she first seen it. It was just a week after Lyn was born when the toy went missing sometime in the morning (Mar suspected this was when Uicle had snatched it), her sleep interrupted by her daughter’s wails. At first, after Althalus took a walk in hopes to sooth Lyn back to sleep, she tore up the nest in a desperate search for the animal only fail in finding it. After a few hours of searching others-including to her surprise Alaira- had aided her in looking for the toy. Yet all their efforts were in vain. It stayed gone until evening when Lyn was put to bed. Mar spotted the stuff animal sitting there in the baby’s crib corner as if it had been waiting for them all this time, a fact she knew otherwise was false. 

 At first Mar was mostly glad to gain some rest and just shrugged the odd occurrence away, though Athalus was slightly more wary. It seemed, for once, the male was right to be paranoid. A few days later, early in the morning, Mar awake to Lyn moving across the bed end, hitting the mattress, and then giggling before she crawled to the other side. She did it three more times until Mar’s curiosity had gained enough strength, she sat up. All color had drained from Mar’s face when she spotted the cause of Lyn’s giggling. Each time her child had reached a side, she slapped down her tiny hands which beckoned the very toy to her side. With a squeal of delight, Lyn would travel to the other side and repeat receiving the same action all over. Needless to say, Alaira would’ve approved of her first response. Her tail sent the toy flying from the bed into the nearest wall where it crumbled for a moment. Her hand snatched up Lyn, shocked and shortly crying in outright tears, to pass over to Althalus so she could deal with the ‘threat’.
 
It wasn’t until Uicle had explained later it wouldn’t harm Lyn did she not bash it to pieces. That didn’t stop her from locking it up in a box and burying it, though she was forced to suffer though Lyn’s never ending crying. In the morning it ceased when Mar found the toy, escaped from its prison and left behind a nice new hole in the College grounds, made its way back to her daughter’s side. Of course Lyn was tightly hugging the toy. A time or two Mar had considered requesting Alaira to ‘accidently’ fry it but they both knew how much Lyn adored her stuff animal. 

So the toy was spared….for now. 

At mention of Alaira, Lyn’s head perked up. Without warning, Mar quickly noticed her squirm and wiggle as she tried to move off the bed. It wasn’t hard to see where her daughter wanted to go but Mar feared Lyn was still too wobbly to stand up, a matter which added more twisted emotions on top of what she had. Immediately Mar shook her head at Althalus’s suggestion to make Alaira wait. Slowly, fighting to keep a grip, she passed Lyn onto her father. 

“Alaira might be willing to wait, but I doubt Lyn will. I’ll be out shortly and meet you in the dining hall, after I remove the vines.” Mar stated simply, then added while she picked up the dagger and handed it to Althalus. “Don’t forget her dagger. She’ll likely want Alaira and you to teach her a bit more which means she’ll be ready to hunt soon.” 

Mar tried to hide the way the thought stressed her and partly, she thought she succeeded. Mostly. It seemed her daughter knew better. Lyn, hesitantly, removed herself from her mother. The toy was squeezed harder to show her dislike at being passed but she just laid her head against her father’s, her body heavy with weakness. It didn’t help her middle had begun to protest in slight growls. 

“Besides she’s hungry and needs to be fed. Make sure she eats some meat, it lasts longer in her system.” Mar hadn’t noticed her mother instinct had kicked, her Naga nature slightly peeled away as she continued onto another subject. “Also, keep an eye on her. I caught her trying to climb one of Uicle’s Golems the other day and nearly fell twice. That means she’ll likely try to climb Tyrael when she sees him if given the chance.”