Valka.
Present. (Before the war)
I bump my knee up and down, gripping either sides of Tristan's torso as he coos happily, gnawing off the head of a toy with his tiny fangs.
Evadne holds Drustan, who keeps reaching for her breasts, slapping at them excitedly, having recognized something that looks like his feeding jar. Jessa's somewhere, probably attached to Lucien's back, and Asterin is seated on the floor at the centre of the the chamber, poring over a chess-game set.
He's been staring at it all afternoon. He seems particularly obsessed with the figurine of the Pawn. He's only three, but he's found all the different, interesting ways that a pawn might be sacrificed or promoted, only to be sacrificed again.
All these he learned by watching Lucien play once. And now, even Lucien cannot outsmart him. Everyone calls him a prodigee at his young age. They say he'll go on to do great things. But that has never been in question or 'the question'.
