“MOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!” The shout that greeted her was welcome, as always, though a little startling. Gemma loved her children very much, even when they were tracking mud and dirt through the deep-pile carpets and coming dangerously close to knocking over priceless artifacts in their rush to get to her. She’d gotten her carpets enchanted to be self-cleaning over a decade ago, and Bahamut wouldn’t mind if one or two holy symbols got trampled underfoot. Gemma opened her arms as three of her children barreled into her, all talking at once about what they’d done that day. She laughed, scooping them up in her arms, kissing them each on the forehead and smiling broadly.
Over the shoulders of the children currently hugging her she saw Carmen peeking shyly around the corner. She had only adopted the half-elf girl a few months ago, but she was already part of the family in every way she could be. She still jumped if people touched her unexpectedly and wouldn’t go near any of the male servants in the house, but she was well-loved and seemed to be happy there. Gemma set down her other kids and walked over to Carmen, still smiling. “Hey there, butterfly. How are you feeling today?”
Carmen looked down, smiling. Gemma saw that she was holding a bundle of something in her arms and kneeled down to take a closer look. “Can I see?” she asked gently. Carmen nodded and held the bundle out to Gemma, laying it in her outstretched palms. Gemma unwrapped it as delicately as her large hands could manage and gasped when the bundle revealed a tiny kitten. Its eyes were closed in little slits and its fuzzy stomach rose and fell with every breath. Gemma could feel tears welling up in her eyes as Carmen smiled at the kitten, touching its soft ear with one finger as if she was scared to wake it but couldn’t resist petting it.
“Where’d you find this?” Gemma asked, her voice down to a whisper.
Carmen pointed to the open door behind Gemma in response. “The courtyard?” Gemma asked. Carmen nodded, doing the handsign for “orphan.” It was one of the first ones she’d learned, apparently, though Gemma had no idea who’d taught it to her. Gemma smiled encouragingly.
“You did the right thing by bringing this to me, Carmen. Did you show your mommy already?” Carmen shook her head and signed that she hadn’t come home yet. Gemma nodded. “Well then, would it be alright if we took this little fuzzball to the kitchens and got it some milk?”
Carmen nodded enthusiastically. She seemed to like the kitchens, and would often sit in a little alcove where she could watch the bustling activity without being in anyone’s way. She took Gemma by the hand- the one that wasn’t holding the tiny sleeping kitten, who was making tiny wheezing sighs with each breath- and began dragging her towards the kitchen corridor. Gemma looked back at the three children who were standing together, enamored with the kitten but unsure if they were allowed to pet it. “You can come along if you want to, I know Carmen doesn’t mind.” The children looked at Carmen for confirmation, and she nodded, still a little shy but excited about the prospect of seeing the kitten fed. They all followed her along the hallways, Gemma’s heart bursting with love for her beautiful children.
Author's Notes:
8/04/17. Short and sweet one! Set in the Cold Lands universe where Gemma adopts like thirty war orphans with her cool astronomer wife Amira.