Okay. So. Since the clothes and library there’s been a few more meetings and Elly is feeling comfy enough to allow Rue into her home. She made sure to prepare her home for the hybrid making sure it was tidy and warm. She had some candles burning and bought all the ingredients for hot chocolate and plenty of other sweet treats. She wasn’t too confident on making it on her own but she knew Sulla would come in clutch and save the day.
This time around she was dressed in something comfy, some soft sweatpants and a comfy shirt and was plenty excited to see what Rue had decided to wear this visit. She always enjoyed the mismatched mess of fashion that he put together.
There was a knock at the door and Elly perked up and smiled, Sulla doing the same. “Is that Rue?” Sulla asked, excitement in her eyes. She didn’t get to meet many of Mama’s friends. They were always so nice and played with her and she just loved them all.
“It sure is. Wait here,” Elly said with a smile, loving her daughter’s excitement. She lifted Sulla out of her lap and set her back down on the couch before making her way to the door and opened it on up
Elly opened the door to flowers.
Lots. Of. Flowers.
But there were legs poking out from under them, and when they moved, Rue’s face peeked out from around his hoard. His shy face – and the slight flinch she caught when she opened the door – transformed into a beaming smile, a happy chirrup mReuwr sounding from him.
“Elly!” he greeted, radiating excitement. “Blessed Day. Hi hello. I am here.” He adjusted his hold, tail flicking happily behind him. “These are for you and your home and Sulla and Lektra although it is perhaps best they just be hers in spirit in the case of the pollen being upsetting to her sinuses or disposition.”
“Rue!” Elly said the moment after the hybrid called out her name, sharing his excitement. When they had their initial meetings she was nervous to have him here, but now she was genuinely excited that her new friend was going to get to meet her kiddos, especially with how excited Sulla seemed to be about the whole situation.
“I’m glad you made it here safe,” She said with a smile, trying her best to help him with all the flowers. She knew full well she didn’t even have one vase, let alone the amount she’d need to take care of this many beautiful plants. “Sulla is going to love all of these. Come in, please.” She said, ushering the man in and closing the door behind him. “Welcome to my home”
Rue was literally vibrating with excitement as he was let in, especially pleased about the idea of Sulla being happy. “Thank you!” he chirped to the welcome.
As Elly took some of the flowers, he opened his mouth to start talking about which ones were what, but seemed to lose his breath entirely as he saw a small face peeking eagerly at him from the couch.
For a heartbeat, his mouth just hung. Then his entire face softened, his whole self. He melted into a sweet, gentle smile, and dropped down in a crouch, flowers settled on his knees and hand fucking a bit of hair behind one swoopy ear.
“Hello, sweetpea,” he called.
Sulla, as brave as she was, was still a little hesitant at first. Caution was something she learned the hard way from one of too many things that had already happened to the five year old. But there wasn’t anything to be cautious about when at home. Home was safe, and only friends were allowed at home. She waved at Rue and smiled wide “Hi hi!” she called out after him.
Elly simply watched and smiled, enjoying the smile on her daughter’s face. The kiddo had a hard time making friends, no matter how hard she tried.
Rue made his little happy chirp, a purr starting subtly as she waved and smiled and said hi back.
“I am so happy to meet you, Sulla. My name is Rue,” he said, like he had practiced it over and over. He showed the flowers better, leaning back. “These are for you.”
Sulla gasped when she learned that the flowers were for her. She loved flowers. How did Rue know? She hopped off the couch and came over in quite the hurry. She smiled and looked up at the tall tall man “Hi Rue! I’m Sulla. I’m gonna be six soon!”
Elly just chuckled. Ever since the young girl had realized that she had been telling everyone, whether they wanted to know or not
Rue beamed at her, his expression turning amazed, genuinely. Again he seemed teary eyed to Elly.
“Six? Six? My goodness. Mother Moon. That is so wonderful, Sulla. Six! That is so very big a number!”
Sulla just giggled and bounced a little. Whenever she told people they always said they were excited for her but Rue was the first one, other than mama, to seem genuinely happy and proud and excited for her. She was ecstatic. “So big!” She agreed, very proud of the number six. “How old are you?” She asked
Rue thought about it for a moment. “T– I am…hmm…yes, now seventy nine, it must be. But I am quite unusual. Six is much more amazing.”
He didn’t sound at all like he was trying to downplay or to talk her up, either, exaggerating. He was fully serious.
“You’re seventy nine!? That’s such a big number!” She was all smiles “How can you be such a big number?”
“I was made to be a big number,” the hybrid told her, choosing his words with care and a glance at Elly. He decided not to mention that it was God’s Will, and the Masters, not at all. “I was just me and the numbers kept going up as the years passed. Years will pass for you too. Then you will be seven, and that will be even grander.”
“I wish I was seven now.” She pouted a bit “It’s such a far ways away. I wanna be big and strong like mama is.”
Rue smiled at her, all pointy canines and sunlight joy as his eyes scrunched and cheeks glowed. “You will be. I know it, because your mother loves you more than the moon and stars, and she’ll make sure you have *all*the food you can eat and are healthy and happy and then you will grow big and strong. And it will be lovely. As for seven being far away…well, that means you have lots of days still as six. And I would be so glad if we could be friends for all those days?”
“Mama never makes us food, she always buys it.” She moved a hand beside her mouth and whispered “She’s a really bad cook.” And then she giggled and smiled “But that’s okay if it means I get to be big and strong!” And then she just gave him a big ol’ smile “Of course we can be friends! I love having friends!”
The hybrid’s smile couldn’t possibly get bigger, and he hiccuped, crying a bit. “That makes me so happy! Thank you, Sulla.” He sniffled a bit and chuckled too, abashed. “I do not cook also. Do you like to?”
She nodded happily “Mama and I have been learning how together. She says I’m the best at cleaning the vegetables.” Sulla’s voice was full of pride
“Oh yes? I believe that. You seem very capable,” he praised, and offered her the flowers again, showing her how the ends of the stems still had some rooted dirt, fresh plucked from various island biomes. “If you are good at cleaning of the vegetables, then perhaps you can help with these. We must be very gentle so as to not damage the roots further. Then we can place them in water, for some days, or replant them.”
“Okay!” She smiled and trotted over. She grabbed his cloak and began to drag him towards the kitchen where there was a sink and a step stool for her to use it.
Rue looked to Elly as he was easily moved along, gold eyes excited but also seeming to ask if this was all okay. As Sulla stepped up, he delicately parted some of the flowers, separating them by type. “I can tell you some about them, if you would like and Miss Elly says it is okay. Then one day, you can teach Lektra too.” Again he looked to Elly.
Elly simply nodded to Rue and followed them both to the kitchen. Once inside the fun lil room, she leaned against one of the counters and crossed her arms, a smile on her face as she watched Rue enjoy his time with her daughter. It was just so amazing to see them both smile.
“It’s okay Rue. Go ahead.” Elly said, her voice warm and happy.
“Okay awesome! What’s this one?” Sulla asked, pointing to a random flower
Rue purred some more at Elly’s allowance, a sound that continued as he and Sulla spoke. It added a chittery rumble to his words, though a happy one.
“That is called celosia,” he informed, picking it up and delicately extricating it from the bouquet, turning it to show her. “It belongs to the Amaranthaceae family and bloom in warm tropical climes like the Selen. See here?” He showed her the flower closer, specifically the fluffy, feathery head. “What you think of as this one flower, here, they are actually each hundreds of very small flowers, see, all clustered on this same penducle, which is the part a single or multiple flowers come out of. The arrangement of multiple is called an inflorescence, when it is many bunches off a main branch stem in this way.”
He smiled at her, gentling his informative tone.
“Don’t worry, you do not have to remember all the words the first time. Th– I like the words and the parts, the science of plants, which is called botany. What my grandmother taught me about plants was their uses and meaning. Celosia means immortality, affection, warmth, humor and friendship. All of these flowers have friendship in their meanings. I picked them because I hoped to be your friend. Do you want to know more?”
Sulla didn’t show any hesitation when she reached out to touch the feathery head of the flower, wanting to see if it was as soft as it looked. “You sure know a lot about flowers,” she said.
Elly watched on happily for just a couple more moments before heading over to the fridge to start preparing food for the three of them. She had learned the Rue wasn’t a fan of meat so instead she was going to make some sort of pasta for them all to share. Pasta was something Elly heard learned to love because Sulla liked it and it was easy to make, so she hoped Rue liked it too.
Rue purred on. “This one does, yes. One can know a lot about most anything, if they read or practice. Here.” He handed her that celosia sprig she’d caressed – and it was indeed very soft, velvety and fluffy at once – to start washing. “But there are many things I do not know anything about. This world is very confusing and new. I am sure we can both learn things together if you wanted.”
The kiddo turned on the faucet and began to wash the stem of the flower without too much delicacy, just like she would normally do for cooking. “Mama says that the more I learn the more I can be when I grow up. She said she’d teach me anything I ever wanted to learn. Maybe she could teach us together?”
“Maybe, yes. Miss Elly is already teaching me the laws,” Rue agreed readily. He reached over and gentled her motions, stalling her hand, then showed her the thin filaments of the roots, finer than hair. “See these? These are the roots. We are not eating these plants, but trying to preserve them, so we must be very gentle. Think of like when you are allowed to hold Lektra. I am sure Mama says to be careful. You can brush at the stem lightly to rub off the dirt, but do not touch the roots too much.”
“Mama teaches me laws too. All the time.” She let Rue guide her and slowed her movements, becoming more gentle with the plant. “I want her to teach me the important ones she uses at work but she says those are too complicated for me right now. But someday I’m gonna be just as smart as mama and I’ll know all the laws. We can both know all of them.” She smiled.
Sulla’s small hands were less coordinated than Rue’s but she was still able to be delicate and clean the flower of all the dirt. “What are roots?”
Rue smiled at her. “That’s it, just like that, you are doing so well,” he encouraged, and hummed through his purring. “Many of the laws are too complicated for me also. But yes, someday, we will know them all.”
He had to set down his cleaned flower to pick up another, though his tail and the half of his arm worked smoothly in tandem, as he passed the clean one to his arm and cradled it down to the counter while his tail picked up a new one and placed it in his hand.
“Roots are how plants drink and eat,” he answered her question, visibly happy, words chirping while Elly moved about the kitchen behind them. He was so absorbed with Sulla, so happy there, he barely flinched as her mother walked behind him. “It is more complicated than that, but that is the simplest term. Roots are very important. Roots root a plant into the soil or dirt it is in, that is, make it stay. They typically go down into the ground, so when the wind blows, the plants stay there and don’t blow away! Also, they suck in water as do straws and nutrients and vitamins in the soil. Plants use the water they get from their roots to live, as well as the sunlight. Just like we need those, plants do.”
He picked up one of the other flowers, and showed her it compared to the one she held.
“These are small plants, so their roots are small and delicate. Bigger plants like trees have bigger and stronger roots! Like your mother. A tree’s roots can even break rocks.”
Sulla listened intently while her mama worked behind the pair. She had almost grabbed everything she needed and now she just needed some water. “And do tell me what you mean by that, Rue,” Elly asked with a playful but slightly accusatory tone.
The young Twi'lek just giggled as she watched their interaction.
Rue turned to make way for Elly, nearly bowing away as he did. He blinked at her, tilting his head.
“Elly is much like a tree. Tall, strong, thick, providing shelter and enrichment. Particularly oak and maple, or redwoods. They symbolize protection, strength, resilience, healing, stability, endurance…change.” He smiled at her softly.
Elly focused on filling the pot, wanting to take up as little time as possible. She wanted Rue and Sulla to talk and spend as much time together. It was nice seeing Sulla socialize and equally as nice to see Rue’s excitement and happiness. “I could definitely be a redwood.” She said, smiling down at the Hybrid. “What kind of plant would Sulla be?” She asked before pulling away and focusing once again on her pasta, letting Rue deal with a now highly curious Sulla.
“Well,” Rue began, easily catching the redirection and not at all fussed on being thrown to the metaphorical wolves. He smiled to Sulla, offering her the new plant to wash. “It is better to know someone somewhat, to know their spirit, before knowing best what plants reflect it. I would not say my answer is just right, as we have only just met, but I could hedge that you, Sulla, might be…hmm, yes, yes…” He made a show of thinking about it, putting his hand to his chin and looking her up and down.
The small lil Twi'lek happily accepted the flower and put it under the water to now gently brush off. She took extra care down at the roots, imaging what her roots would be like when she grew up. While she took great care of the flower, she looked over to Rue and found the time to giggle a bit at his grandstanding gesture. She looked very very excited
Rue’s beaming smile quickly broke through the small play at pretend. He gestured at how she was cleaning and praised, “That’s wonderful, Sulla, you’re doing amazing.” Then he added, “You would most certainly be a flower of happiness. You bring so much joy into the world. And I hear you’re quite creative and imaginative…so I think that to start, we might say you are lupinus, a species in the Fabaece family. They are quite pretty! I do not have one here, but I could draw you one, if you like.”
Sulla beamed under Rue’s praise, happy to hear she was doing a great job. She loved simple little things like this. Just like when she’s cooking with mama she gets to feel like she’s helping do something important and it’s also for herself. “That sounds amazing! It would be so awesome if you drew one!”
“Perhaps if this one can borrow some of your colors,” Rue allowed, somewhat shyly, tail flicking, as he tucked a bit of hair back again. “I have only pencils and pens, but like them very much.”
As they finished with the celosia, Rue picked up the next type of flower. It was much larger a single flower, with thick, waxy petals that tapered to a curling point and opened outwards wide, big stem-like orange things in the center. The petals were bright, soft pink and spotted with yellow that bloomed in the center.
“This is alstroemeria. It is a lily. It means wealth, prosperity, fortune, friendship and devotion. I picked them for good wishes for you and your family.”
“Of course you can borrow some. And then we can color together,” She assured and offered.
Sulla listened intently to Rue’s explanation on the flower’s meaning, inspecting it from root to head. She thumbed the length of the stem to feel its texture and then smiled as she softly touched the petals. The little one didn’t understand most of the words Rue was saying but she knew all about friendship and good wishes so she knew it was the perfect choice of flower.
“It’s so pretty”
Rue beamed at the offer of coloring together, making another happy chirrup and all but shimmering. He was happy also just to watch her handle the flower, wiping his eyes like he might tear up.
“Yes, it is. Just like you,” he encouraged, and they went about washing the other lilies before picking up the last type of flower. These were bright, intensely pink and red, with five large petals on each flower, making small clusters. “These are geraniums, which stand for friendship, happiness and positive emotions. I knew meeting you would be very happy, and that you make your mother very happy, so they seemed just right!”
Sulla beamed the same as she continued to wash the plants. She loved to color and she loved when Mama’s friends would color with her. They usually could teach her new techniques and give her other tips whereas Elly had no idea what she was doing when it came to coloring.
And then they moved in to the last flowers. As much as Sulla was enjoying cleaning them all, her strained attention span had her glancing at the living room where her coloring supplies resided. Rue grabbed her attention once again as he explained the flower and it’s meanings. “Do they always have five petals?”
Noticing her glances easily, Rue continued to smile and gently laid his hand next to hers, a pat without actually touching; not until she touched him first. “Yes, they do, at least this kind. If they have more or less, then they are unique. That’s a very smart question in botany, Sulla. You’re doing brilliantly.” Taking the last flowers, he gathered them up altogether and pulled one of the many cloths from his belt, soaking it in the sink and wrapping the stems in it to be set aside gently in the basin. Unsure exactly what she wanted in the other room, but knowing it was something, he offered, “Buuuut, perhaps you could show me around a bit? New places can be…scary. Elly makes them feel less so. I would bet you do too.”
The young Twi'lek beamed under the man’s praise. She was happy to be doing a good job. As much as she loved the flowers and enjoyed cleaning them up, the girl couldn’t resist the urge to go do even more with her new friend, so when she was offered the easy opportunity to drag him to the living room for some drawing time, she didn’t hesitate.
“Mama is really good at making me feel brave too.” She said with a smile “Come on!” Sulla hopped off of the stool and began her journey to the living room. It wasn’t anything too special, almost small even. But it was home. In the corner there was a shelf filled with a variety of toys and supplies for arts and crafts.
“Can Rue and I color?” She asked her mother, who promptly nodded
“Go ahead. I’ll come grab you both once food is done.”
Rue followed Sulla dutifully, and as he looked about, it was obvious that nothing special to some was a grand experience for him. Despite the little Twi'lek’s lead, and Elly’s presence just the room over, it indeed seemed like he could use the extra bravery; he crept into the new room with delicate steps, hardly setting his feet down, peering at everything and tail poised for balance should the need to freeze or run quickly arise. His expression wasn’t scared, though. He smiled for Sulla, and looked with open curiosity about at everything, noting items, furniture, shelves and toys he didn’t understand. He just exuded the nervousness of something new.
“What now?” Rue asked her, deferring in this where he had been instructing in the kitchen.
“Now…” Sulla began before moving over to her shelf of toys and such. She began digging through her belongings and pulled out a couple pads of paper, one with a bunch of different color papers and the other only white.
“We draw!” She walked back over to Rue and offered the pads to him “Which one do you want?” Of course Sulla had to ask her guest first, it was the polite thing to do
Rue followed here lead diligently, gasping slightly at the colored paper. He had never seen anything like it before. For a second he debated reaching for it, just to see, touch, but …surely it was very special and precious. He wanted Sulla to have that. And besides, he only knew how to draw on the regular paper.
“I will take this one, p-please,” he said, indicating the white.
Sulla was completely oblivious to Rue’s internal struggles, so when he chose white, she simply offered him the white pad of paper and smiled when he took it. “Here you go!” Once they both had their paper, she dug through the bin for a moment before pulling out a load of loose colored pencils and bringing them along with Rue and the paper to the floor next to the couch. She sat down on the soft carpet and dropped the pencils between herself and Rue.
“I usually draw here.”
Smiling shyly, Rue sat down with her, glad to have avoided the couch. He settled happily on the floor, turning once extra in place before he dropped down, his tail flicking around his feet and curling at the tip, flicking slowly in contentment, between them.
“I like this. The floor is preferred.” His smile grew, and then he looked to the pencils, hesitating over all the colors. Once again it was so many options; more than he had ever known. He gingerly took a green one and inspected it more closely, then tried making a line with it as one would charcoal or regular pencil. It made green. He gasped softly.
“These are incredible,” he whispered.
“It’s easier to color on the floor, the couch is too squishy,” Sulla said, explaining her reasoning for using the floor instead of what surely would’ve been more comfortable. Sulla flipped to a yellow page and grabbed a purple pencil, and started to draw a poor outline of Rue’s body. She wanted to show off how good she was at drawing people while Rue showed off how good he was at drawing flowers.
“Mama said these are the best colored pencils money could buy.” And in fact, they were. Elly spent most of her money on her daughters, making sure that no matter what they’d be happy and comfortable and enjoy their lives. Even if Lektra was still a wee bab, Elly still gave her the world.
“This o– I like the floor very much. Couches and the beds are too squishy, yes,” Rue replied fervently, and taking his cue from Sulla, flipped a page even though the first was blank and then began the lightest of drawing, pencil barely touching the paper as his wrist flicked to and fro. “They are very nice pencils. Elly chooses the best things. She got me clothes. I like the dress. But it is not for playing in, so I did not wear it to the day, because I hoped to be able to play with you. Just like this. This one is so happy and grateful.” His strokes paused to smile at her, then he looked back down, focused on fulfilling her request to see the flower he compared them to.
“She really does. She doesn’t get me everything I want, but she gets most of it.” Sulla smiled happily. With how some of her life had been, she was happy to have a mom who cared about her so much and wanted to make sure she had all she could. She had a hard time understanding that her Mama got little for herself and spent most of her cash on her, but she was starting to catch on.
“She cares a lot about me and you,” Sulla said. “I wish you wore the dress. I really wanna see it.”
Rue’s brows furrowed a bit. “This one is sorry,” he began, then looked hopeful, “I promise to wear it the next time we see each other?”
Leaves and delicate membranes were taking shape on his page as they chatted.
“it’s okay,” Sulla shrugged. “There’s always next time.” Sulla said it as if it was a sure thing that he would get to visit again and play with her and draw and maybe even cook.
The Twi'lek began to doodle on her paper, glancing every now and then at Rue as she tried her best to sketch the man
That assurance made the hybrid light up. He beamed to himself, blinking wet eyes and looking down at his paper so he could make her the best flower possible, but his skin flushing with a shimmering layer of gold gave away his utter happiness.
After some time working on things and carefully choosing different colors, he decided to ask, “What are you drawing?”
When Rue asked Sulla what she had been working on, she hummed pensively. Should she reveal the surprise so soon? She was only halfway done, and she didn’t want to disappoint the man. The Twi'lek wanted to resist but wasn’t able to contain herself. She raised her pad and showed it to Rue to reveal an extremely crude and rudimentary drawing of what seemed to be him.
“I haven’t finished yet, but I’m drawing you!”
Rue gasped. He dropped his current pencil, hand going briefly to his mouth, then almost reaching out to touch her pad before he clutched at his chest.
And then he started to cry.
“Sulla,” he hiccuped. Hugged himself and turned rosy cheeked and wiped at his eyes, just so he could see her better. “T-that is. So kind. This one h-has never been dr-awm be-fore. Thank you. It I love it all the ready.”
Sulla very quickly set aside the notepad and scooted closer to Rue. Once he was done wiping his eyes, she reached out and stole his hand into her own. She looked up at him with wide, loving eyes. “What’s wrong, Rue?” She asked, genuine concern lacing her words.
The hybrid smiled at her, sniffling and blinking, shaking his head as he squeezed her hand gently back.
“Nothing is wrong at all, sweetpea. I am v-very happy, so I am crying. Crying is not only for bad things. It just is. You can cry anytime you feel very much. See? I have so much happiness, it just has to go somewhere! Like when you laugh. That is joy. And it’s so big and happy it just bubbles out of you. Your picture is lovely. I am happy. You make me happy. Thank you.”
Sulla tilted her head, mildly confused. “But…” she thought on Rue’s words before shrugged. He was older and wiser than her, so his words were probably true. Especially if he was one of Mama’s friends because Mama was smart, at least according to grandma.
“I’m happy you’re happy,” she smiled. “It makes me feel happy that I’m making you happy,”
He beamed at her. “Then I’m even happier!”
Another squeeze to her hand, and he sniffled, turning to wipe his nose on his shoulder.
“Do you want to keep drawing?”
Sulla nodded excitedly “Yeah! I wanna finish your picture so you can bring it home.”
“Alright,” the hybrid chirped. “I would love that.”
With that he waited for her to release his hand, only then taking it back and repositioning to go back to drawing. He spent a good little bit on more of the petals for her to see.
It was a few moments before Sulla released the man, but when she did she gave his leg a small pat before scooting over to grab her pad. But instead of drawing across from him, she scooted back to his side and drew side by side with him.
“This is different,” Rue commented after some time. He looked very happy beside Sulla, his tail having instinctively draped over her and the tip flopping peacefully off to her other side. “This one will need practice to shade with colors…perhaps I can make you a better one for next time? If it I gets colors too…”
He offered her the page.
“But this is lupinus, your flower. I promise solemnly to find seeds and raise some for you.”
(Message deleted)
Sulla snuggled up into Rue’s side as they continued to draw, idly toying with the tuft on the end of the hybrid’s tail. “You can use all the colors you want,” she smiled before taking a look at the flower. She gasped, her eyes widening with glee. “It’s so pretty!” She looked up to Rue “Thank you for picking such a pretty flower for me”
Rue vibrated with a happy, comforting purr as Sulla snuggled up, rumbling to her, and was perfectly fine with the tail tip being fiddled with. He beamed at her reaction, once again tearing up himself.
“Yes? You like it? I’m so glad, Sulla!” he mrwd. “I picked a flower that is just you. You are such a pretty soul. You are prettier than this flower.”
Sulla shined under his praise, beaming up at him with a wide smile in response. “You have a pretty soul, too!” She smiled. “I’ll pick a flower for you soon, after you teach me all about them. I wanna pick the perfect one.”
Definitely Rue was crying again now. Good thing he’d already explained crying from happiness as he blubbered.
“T-thanmyouthisIwouldlovethat,” came out in a rush, hiccups and smiles and very loud purring. He calmed down a bit eventually, enough to properly say, “In my family, we are named for flowers. My Grandmother was Poppy, also Papavera. She named me and many litluns as her ancestors did before her, and I named all my litluns so after. I’m Rue. I can draw you those flowers too, if you would like.”
Sulla focused on her drawing for a moment, swiping down a few important swipes before pausing once again. “I’ve never seen a Rue before. Could you draw me one?”
“Of course,” he replied, giggling, “since you are drawing me one.”
They turned to their sketches, and in shorter order than he had the lupinus drawing, he showed her a cluster of flowers on the same page.
“The botanical name is Ruta graveolens, also called the herb of grace. They are very small. Flowers as big as your little finger. They grow in clusters, low shrubs.”
“But you’re so tall. Why would you be named after a flower so tiny?” She asked, her voice filled with an innocent ignorance.
Rue did not laugh, though his lips did curl in amusement.
“A very smart observation,” he complimented, smiling. “We name not just for the flower’s appearance, but its meaning. Just like I picked lupinus for you. Rue symbolizes grace and clear vision. These were things my grandmother saw in and hoped for in me. Also, I was not always so tall. I was small just like you.” He pinched his thumb and forefinger, making a tiny inch. “This one was grown to approximately a year of age then decantered. And all my litluns began as infants, like your baby sister. I named all of them in spirit.”
Sulla listened closely, unsure of what a litlun was but happy all the same that Rue had them. “Mama says she was my size once too. I hope I get big and tall like you and her someday. Me and Lektra were named when we were born though. Is that not normal? Mama says a lot of things we do aren’t normal and that we should be proud of that.”
“I believe being named at birth is normal. We were born with our codes, so I think this is the same thing, and we named the litluns as soon as we could,” he explained, then assured, “I think if your mother says to be proud of something, it must be correct. Especially if it’s being proud of being you.”
Sulla smiled wide and giggled just a bit. “I’m proud of me and you too. I don’t have a code, though. Is that normal?”
“Ye–” Rue began immediately, then hesitated. He glanced to the kitchen, then stared off for a moment, then looked back to Sulla. “I…do not know if it is normal here. We can ask your mother. It was normal where I was.”
Eventually, the two finished their coloring, and Elly gave them a five minute warning that dinner was about ready. Sulla didn’t remember her question about the codes, but that was fine. Rue would ask later to be sure he gave the right answer.
After sending Sulla to wash up, Elly came around to Rue and smiled at him.
“So, ready to meet Lektra?”
Rue was crying before they even got up. Elly looked a little worried, but getting used to this by now, she just gave him tissues and went to the bedroom.
They didn’t need to point out that the baby was still sleeping, but it was about time for her dinner, too. Elly went to pick her up, then turned to Rue as the infant started to fuss.
He was frozen, silently crying, smiling and just gutted. He stared at little Lektra with such an instant and absolute love, it was hard to be worried about it anymore. Maybe it was weird that an outsider was so interested in her kids, but she could clearly see he loved them– he seemed to love children and people period. And that was… Pretty good.
“Can I…” he whispered, and she bit her lip a moment before passing the baby over, hovering close in case he dropped her. She couldn’t help it, even if it was probably wrong to think he wouldn’t be able to manage with just one full arm.
Lektra quieted as soon as Rue tucked her against his chest. He started swaying and rocking as naturally as anything, clearly experienced like the hospital nurses and Elly herself. “Hello, sweetpea,” the hybrid whispered. The song he began to sing was beautiful. It was like there was no one else left in the world.
She smiled, and decided it was okay to take an extra minute. Hopefully Sulla wouldn’t be jealous…
It was a lovely rest of the evening. Dinner was delicious, and Sulla laughed as she took over reaching Rue how to eat spaghetti, twirling the fork – Elly worried how much silverware boggled him at all. Still, they made it through, and Rue hugged them all each a goodnight.
- “Thank you, Elly,” he said at the door as she debated walking him home just to make sure he got there safe. But Selen was a pretty good place. She reminded herself it was fine. Really. “Thank you so much. I’m.” He hiccuped. “I’m happy.”
Elly hugged him again.
“Thank you too, Rue. This was nice. We can do it again, okay?” Sulla had already extracted three different promises for more visits.
“Okay!” chirped the man, purring loudly.
They said goodnight, and Rue headed off into the night, singing happily to himself all the while.