Logs:Big Sister Lilabet
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| RL Date: 17 November, 2011 |
| Who: Lilabet |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Vignette |
| What: Having a brother is not quite as exciting as Lily had hoped. |
| When: Day 12, Month 4, Turn 27 (Interval 10) |
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| Dilan was not the beautiful, exciting sister Lily had requested for her turnday, just weeks earlier. Dilan was... small and round and red and prone to crying, and also? Totally a boy. No: Dilan was not at all what Lily had wanted, and she quietly resented his intrusion into their safe, comfortable lives. For the first couple of days, she'd stayed with Auntie Delifa, and that meant following Delvana around and feeling like a big girl with Delvana's six-and-seven-turn-old friends. And boasting about how she was a big sister (something Delvana wasn't). But Mama was too tired to talk much, and most of her attention seemed to be on Dilan. Dilan, Dilan, Dilan. That's all anyone wanted to talk about. Not for the first time, Lilabet missed her father. It had been a turn, now, and admittedly she could barely remember what he had looked like or how he had sounded, but she was sure - absolutely, positively sure - that he wouldn't be focused on the baby and not her. She wished she had a father. She envied Delvana, and the way she'd curl up on her daddy's lap in the evening and then get carried to bed. L'van offered to carry Lily, too, but that was just pretending, wasn't it? Mama said Lily's father was never coming back (never, ever, ever), and that meant he'd never carry her to bed, either. Lily wished L'van was her father. Mama said that Dilan didn't have a father, either, and so they'd have to look after each other - that she'd have to help him to grow up properly and well. That she'd have to be a big girl and help Mama. Lily didn't want to be a big girl. She wanted her Mama back. Eventually, they went home again, back to the little room in the craft complex that was the only home Lily had ever known. She had a little bed of her own, now - a trundle bed that got stored away under Mama's during the day - and Dilan had a cot, next to both beds. It made things cramped, and also? Dilan had to sleep a lot, and that meant Lily had to be quiet. Lily was always quiet. Mostly. Everyone always said she was too quiet and ought to get more involved in games. But that didn't seem to matter, because almost anything seemed to wake the baby - and Mama was always too tired. Too tired for lots of things. When Dilan was two weeks old, Mama came to pick Lily up in the afternoon without him. She held Lily's hand as they walked through the caverns, but instead of taking her straight out into the bowl, Mama took her into the kitchen. They ate dinner in one of the alcoves together, and one of the cooks even brought Lily a special cookie! Afterwards, Mama opened her arms and LIly crawled beneath the table so that she could sit on her lap and nuzzle her head into her chest. Mama rocked her back and forth, stroking her hair the way Lily liked best. "You're my special girl, Lilabet. I know Dil is taking a lot of my attention, but you're still my special girl. And sometimes... sometimes special girls get to have special dinners. And treats. Because you're a big girl, now." "I want to be a little girl. I want it to be the way it used to be, Mama." Mama pressed a kiss to Lily's head, which tickled. "I know. But Dil needs us, too. And he doesn't get to come out with us. He won't get to go to Ista with Delvana, either. You'll see, Lily: there are benefits to being a big girl." Lily sighed, glancing up at her Mama's green eyes. "I'll try, Mama. I just wish he wasn't so ugly." And her Mama laughed. "Give him time, darling. You'll see." That night, before Mama tucked her into bed, Lily leaned over the edges of the crib that had once been hers, and regarded the sleeping Dilan. Maybe he wasn't quite so ugly now; maybe he wasn't quite so awful. She wasn't sure. "You could kiss him goodnight," said Mama, standing behind them. Lily hesitated. She shook her head. Not everything changes overnight. |
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