The smile that had found its way to Pol’s face as Kaya walked over to join her parents, faded into a disapproving scowl for his wife. “You of all people should know better than that, my love,” he said as Kythe tried to argue that Raith’s misguided notion of what should and shouldn’t have happened was accurate in some way. “Fate has always been something you have fought against, and at least to my recollection, succeeded in more than once. You and he survived, just because Liara saved you both doesn’t mean your death is what should have happened. If that were true, each of us should be dead a dozen times over. I cannot begin to count the number of times I survived to the ministrations of a skilled healer, or a God. If something was ‘fated’ to happen, then didn’t happen, then it wasn’t all that fated in the first place.”
Even with Kythe’s personal dealings with Myna’s Fate, Pol had always been reluctant to put much stock in the notion that certain things are fated, or prophesized. He had seen firsthand that strong willed mortals could defy and turn back fate far too often for him to believe that it really meant much of anything, other than it was a force like the wind. Sometimes it blew into your sails and propelled you forward, others it blew against your sails and made your life difficult. But it never made your life impossible.
Pol shook his head as he listened to Kythe speak. “No, I refuse to believe that, Kythe. Perhaps I wasn’t who he needed, or I didn’t have the words or actions to help him. But he was not lost to us, we lost him. He was a child Kythe, a hurt and confused child, a child we were not capable of helping despite our desire to do so. Who he is today, that’s a referendum on us, even if we did everything we could, given our respective circumstances.”
He paused to take a breath. Of all the things in the world he wanted to talk about, this was at the very bottom of his list. Speaking of Raith was important, and necessary. But it was a wound that had never healed for the former ranger. No one is meant to be one way or another, they are products of their surroundings, and for their son that meant Pol and the absence of Kythe. It was like their son had had a wound that had not been treated properly and turned rancid. He was not destined to be wounded and suffer an infection, the universe dealt him a blow as a child, and those meant to care for him had been unable to. The only way to overcome a failure was to acknowledge and accept it.
Thankfully his wonderful wife quickly found a new topic, and a much more positive one, to distract them. Pol shook his head again, but a slight smile crept onto his face giving the gesture an entirely different tone than it had during the previous topic. “No, Luna didn’t come with us because she is doing very well back in Myna.” His gold eyes flickered quickly to Kaya, then back to Kythe.
“Kaya and Raith have always been a little more Minadrias than wolf-shifter. But it didn’t become clear until they grew up a little more that Luna was a little more wolf-shifter than Minadrias. She…grew up a bit faster than Kaya or Raith did.” Pol leaned in to speak a little more quietly, not sure if Kaya had completely gotten over this yet or not, and suppressed a chuckle. “I’m sure you can imagine what a fun time it was when the second born matured faster than the first,” he whispered before leaning away and continuing in his normal speaking voice. “So Luna stayed home because she had a life. She married, and had two wonderful children. Twins actually,” he couldn’t help a chuckle as he meaningfully glanced down to his wife’s belly where their twins lay. “A girl and a boy, Cora and Zion, your grandchildren. So you’re a grandmother, Kythe, congratulation,” he said with a smile before giving her a quick kiss.
