Chapter 11
Klynn
He was so silly.
Agents were always naughty.
That was the book rule.
“See my toys?” Yes, toys were better. “I’ll show you.”
Then he wouldn’t be silly about naughty agents.
Daddy wasn’t a naughty agent. He was a nice agent who liked rules and frowning and didn’t talk about diner stuff.
“I would love to see your toys.” He pretended to be huffy. “I’m going to have questions about book agents later, though.”
He was funny.
“Agents are nice.” Yes. That was a good answer. They were nice to their special people. “You’re nice and you do a good job. You came to another planet, Daddy. That’s amazing.”
He was a very good agent.
“You went to another planet too.” Daddy kissed my head as I pulled him down on the floor. “You were very brave and basically a good agent too.”
I’d been an agent?
Oh.
“I talked to people.” Kind of. “Good agents do that.”
Daddy nodded, sitting close to me so he could snuggle. “And good agents do lots of research. You did that too.”
“I made notes.” Agents did that. “I guarded the gate, too.”
Daddy sighed. “That was amazingly smart. No one else had checked on that gate in months.”
They forgot.
“I watched it good.” It was an important job. “No Earth monsters through the gate.”
Groaning, Daddy looked up at the ceiling like he was talking to the Earth gods. “Predators. I know the dragons on that side of the gate don’t have to worry about those but that part of the US actually has a lot of bears and any number of things that could cause chaos over here.”
No big bears eating little dinos.
Like nuggets.
“Why are you giggling, cutie?” Daddy smiled like I was funny and I got another head kiss.
“Bears eating dinos like nuggets.” I laughed as Daddy made more silly sounds. He liked silly sounds. “Dino nuggets. Chomp. Chomp.”
Ha. I was funny like the littles in the books.
“I am very glad we don’t have to worry about that.” Daddy kissed my cheek. “You did a good job guarding the gate and we’ll make sure it stays secure.”
“Toman guards good too.” Not as good as me but he was good. “And Wren…hmm…Wren will keep him company? I read a book. The Daddy said company is an important job too.”
“I hadn’t thought of it like that.” Daddy did the thinking frowning face and nodded slowly. “I think that can be a very important job. You’re right.”
“Books are smart.” They gave people ideas. “They showed me new ways to play with my toys. I’ll show you.”
Toy time.
“Where are they?” Daddy bent over and looked under the bed. “Are they hiding?”
“Yep.” Ha. I used the silly word. “They’re just mine, so I don’t have to share them.”
“That’s right.” Daddy looked proud of me for knowing that rule. “We get to decide what’s private and you’re saying toys are private.”
Yes.
Private.
“That’s a good word.” Toys was also a good word too and it was my special word to open my cubbies. “Ta-da.”
I got to use all the fun words today.
“Oh.” Daddy got big eyes as I made all the doors disappear so he could see my toys. “I’m so glad you’ve got toys, baby. Tell me about them.”
“They’re different.” Legos didn’t move like my blocks did. “Look.”
Pulling out my bucket, I showed Daddy my blocks. “They’re like Legos but better. You can use them too.”
If Daddy could make privacy he could make towers.
I showed Daddy how to stack the blocks. He reached for them and then stopped. “How do I make them work?”
“Thinking time. Daddy. Think. Think. Think. Like the bear.” One more. “I think I want a tower and they stay.”
“Can I try it?” Daddy was nervous, so I gave him lots of blocks. “Okay. Yes.”
“You got a pile.” More blocks were better. “You make a tower, Daddy.”
“Yes. I’m going to make a tower.” Daddy put his blocks on the floor and studied them. “Squares and rectangles. Why are some that silvery water color and some are blue and green?”
Daddy asked good questions.
“I made water and grass. I made Earth last night.” I was thinking of Daddy so I made Daddy’s home. “The green kind of Earth.”
That was the best kind.
“Oh.” Daddy pointed to the plain ones. “Is that their normal color?”
Smart Daddy.
“Yep.” Ha. That was a great word. “You build and you make them colors.”
Daddy got his thinking face and did big-big thinks as he picked up one and started to make a tower. Careful. Careful. “Oh.”
Daddy made it red. “That actually works.”
“Tiny-tiny baby magic.” I pointed to the block. “Little dragons stack with fingers and color and play. Little mages stack with minds.”
Picking up one block, Daddy nodded and got his stubborn face on. “We’re not even going to pretend that I can move them with my mind. I can be a baby dragon, though.”
Daddy was a baby dragon.
“Alright, so I take the blocks…and…and everything is about will and focus. So if I’m a baby dragon I’m learning to focus my magic so that I can interact with the things the mages make.” Big-big thinking face from Daddy. “Oh, that didn’t go as planned.”
The red block fell.
No magic meant they were slippery.
Oh dear.
“Baby dragons got to try hard, Daddy. Work. Work. Work.” I was a good helper and gave him the red block again. “Here you go.”
“They repel each other if you get the magic wrong.” Daddy sighed. “I can do this. No getting distracted.”
Distracted?
Oops.
No distracting Daddy.
Quiet-quiet.
Shhh.
No wiggles.
Still-still.
“Yay. Good dragon, Daddy.” Daddy rolled his eyes and made me giggle. He was funny. Ha. I was funny. I rubbed his head. “Who’s a good little dragon?”
Hahahaha.
Daddy flopped back on the floor. “Me. I’m a good dragon.”
Daddy was dramatic like an Earth dragon.
“You did it.” I gave his tummy a pat ’cause his head was far away. “Wanna see my castle?”
“A castle?” Daddy sat up. “Where?”
No more Daddy drama.
“Here.” Leaning over Daddy’s pile of blocks, I pulled out my castle. “It keeps going and going and going.”
Ha.
I made Daddy laugh.
“Someone found old commercials online.” Daddy got a big-big smile as I finished pulling my castle out of the special shelf. “Oh, it’s like Wren’s magic bag.”
Yep.
“Magic shelf.” Magic shelves hid toys better. “See?”
“I do.” Daddy leaned over and crawled around the blocks to see my castle. “It’s like a medieval castle from Earth, but I don’t think I’ve seen turrets like that before. Is it Austrian? We lived in Germany for several years but I don’t remember this style.”
German?
Oh, the pretzel country.
They had a pretzel country and a tea country and a noodle country, and even a country that tried to kill everybody.
“No.” No pretzels here. “It’s a here castle.”
Daddy cocked his head like a human puppy in one of my books. “Here?”
“You have castles and we have castles.” I shrugged. “Everybody has castles.”
Daddy plopped down on his bottom and put on his confused human face. “It’s a beautiful castle, baby, but it’s a here castle?”
“Yep.” English had good sounds that were almost words. “It’s old and broken now but that’s what it was like years and years and years ago. Lots of years. All the long years.”
Daddy opened his mouth.
Daddy closed his mouth.
Daddy nodded.
“It was a very pretty castle once upon a time.” He smiled when I laughed. “I think I’m going to need my boy to tell me castle stories later.”
Oh.
“I’ll be the Daddy.” I could do it. “I’ll…I’ll tuck you in and give you kisses and tell you stories.”
That was what Daddies did.
He smiled.
I got it right.
“I think that sounds perfect.” Daddy gave me another cheek kiss. “Okay, so you made a castle out of…what are those…smaller versions of the blocks?”
I was such a good boy I gave Daddy a nod. “Yes. Little blocks for special projects. Big blocks for towers.”
Daddy scrunched his face up like the silly Daddies in books. “I don’t know. Is it really a tower if you can’t knock it over?”
He was so funny.
“Earth blocks fall and you say timber. That’s for trees. I looked that up. I’m smart. My blocks don’t go timber unless we tell them too.” Think. Think. Think. “You try.”
Groans and groans and sighs…then Daddy pouted. “That’s a lot of work. Earth timber is better.”
Maybe.
“Big boys try hard.” I did the human shrug and sighed like the Daddies in my books. “Can you be a big boy?”
Ha.
Daddy wanted to laugh but he had to be dramatic. “I don’t want to be a big boy.”
“Hmm…” I pretended to be thinky because I was the Daddy this time. “How about for a kiss? You like kisses.”
He did.
Ha.
He pouted.
“I like kisses.” He gave me a big sigh and glared at the blocks. “Okay, but I’m just gonna try. I get kisses even if it doesn’t work.”
It would work.
He was so silly.
“Deal.” I knew the rules. He got kisses as long as he stopped pouting. “Be my big boy.”
His laugh almost escaped but he had lots of practice looking serious. “I’ll try. Then I get kisses.”
“Try hard and be my good boy.” This game was so silly. “Think hard. Picture the blocks tipping over so you can go timber.”
The boys in stories liked making them go timber, so I knew why Daddy wanted it too. He’d probably made the blocks go timber before and he wanted to do it again.
Think.
Think.
Think.
Like a magic Pooh Bear.
Wobble.
Wobble.
Wobble.
“Timber.” Daddy sat up straight and smiled and wiggled like a happy dragon on the other side of the portal as the blocks tipped over and went everywhere. “Did it.”
“Yay.” He tried so hard. “Kisses for the big boy.”
Daddy got a smacky cheek kiss and I sat up taller to kiss his head just like the Daddies did. “I’m so proud of you.”
His smile was back. “Thank you for helping me.”
“I’m your good helper.” That’s what the books said and that’s what mates said. “I’ll always help make the blocks go timber.”
He needed me…I was his special boy.
“You are a wonderful helper.” Daddy gave me a cheek kiss that time before he looked at the blocks and gave them a frowny face. “I think I’m going to need more help, though. I need to build something amazing. Not castle amazing but something nice.”
Oh, Daddy was jealous.
I’d seen that emotion in my books.
“We’ll practice more and…and then when you’re ready we can go to the ruins so you can make a castle too.” Yep. He needed to make a castle too.
Daddy sighed, probably wanting to pout again. “I think all I’m going to be able to make is ruins, not a pretty castle.”
He was just as dramatic as an Earth dragon.
Daddy was going to fit right in with them once they stopped being naughty, but I was smart and didn’t say that out loud. Nope. He got a cheek kiss and a big smile. I did it good. “That’s such a good idea, Daddy. You can make the ruins so we’ll have the now and before castles. Like a set.”
Ha.
Daddy couldn’t grumble about that.
He paused.
He frowned.
He sighed.
“You’re kind of sneaky.”
Yep. Yep. Yep.
“Oh, Daddy.” Cheek kiss time. That’s what the other littles would do. “I’m your good boy.”
I could be a good boy and sneaky…Lorne said so.