Chapter 2 #2
"Human ears for now, cub," I chide. Leighton shifts just their ears, then gives me a charmingly cheeky bear grin. They look strange with human ears protruding from their furry bear face, but I'm wise to the fact a reaction will only encourage the behavior, so I ignore it.
Myra does not. "Cub, bird, or human, Leighton, you know you're getting too big for partial shifts."
To my surprise, the toddler obeys their sister.
Sometimes I'm shocked my niece didn't declare as an alpha with her bossy streak, but Ty, her genderfluid alpha bear shifter parent laughed and said that's an omega trait among ursine shifters and Myra has known she's an omega for years before the fledging ceremony we had at the rave to make it flock-official.
"Swimming time!" Leighton, now shifted back into their fully human toddler form and pouts at their sister.
"Then listen to Aunty's rules so we can all get in the water," Myra says primly.
It warms my heart to hear the kid claim me as her family with no hesitation.
It took her a while to warm up to me since I'm more standoffish with the kids than most of my family.
Still, I couldn't be prouder to claim her as part of our flock, so I'm glad she knows that I've got her back.
Myra had her coming of age ceremony in front of the entire raven flock a few months ago and I've never seen my brother, Bram, prouder than when he watched his adoptive kid accepted as one of us.
The other fledglings even made her feel welcome, and I made sure to play buffer with the shifters most likely to make thoughtlessly cruel comments anywhere in the kid's earshot.
If losing my flight was good for anything, it was sorting out the shifters who only see flock as those who are exactly like them.
"Pool!" Leighton points as they jerk my arm in an effort to get to the water. Damn, the kid is strong, and it wasn't a great pain day to begin with, so the sudden pull is agony.
I wince, hissing out a breath that has Elric, Myra, and Cory all exchanging worried glances.
Their reactions only confirm that my moms and Bram still think I need a minder as much as the kids.
Ugh. What's worse is that sometimes I'm not sure they're wrong.
I'm still breathing through the pain when Myra eases her sibling's hand from mine, crouching to be eye level with the toddler.
"Just a minute, Leighton. Remember, no running near the water? And we have to be careful with Aunty's hurt arm," Myra reminds her little sibling.
"Oh yeah." Leighton glances up at me with wide apologetic eyes. "Sorry, Aunty."
"It's alright buddy, I'm excited to swim too.
" I ruffle their soft black curls. And it's not even a lie.
Even with my routine turned inside out by the winter break schedule changes, I want to share my favorite place with the kid.
"Let's find a place to put our sandals and towels, then we can swim.
" I gesture to an empty bench against the far wall with some of the towel hooks above it unoccupied.
Myra shoves her inflatable beach ball at Cory with a demand for him to blow it up as we walk around the pool.
As we pick our way past soggy towels and scattered toys and flip flops, the magical combination of the echoing room with its tall ceiling and the sheer volume of water dulls individual sounds and reminds me of why I usually find my peace here in these simple cinderblock walls.
When I'm swimming laps, the pool mutes the ambient noise to a cozy haze of soft splashes.
I can tune out the shifters around me and focus on my steady breathing.
It feels so good to be capable and strong.
Open swim isn't what I expected, but this is still my pool and the water will still hold me up the way I can't trust my wings to do ever again.
The safe containment of the lane markers I'm accustomed to look different, but the single floating divider across the width of the pool where the shallow end's floor slopes down to form the deep end serves the same purpose of maintaining order.
We're almost to the bench, but now that I've found something to center myself, it's easier to calm my racing thoughts.
This time when I search for the familiar, I see Hilda doing an aquarobics warm up in a corner of the shallow end while her kits cavort with the other youngsters around that octopus shifter I noticed earlier.
It's like she’s a one shifter amusement.
"I see Pippy! So, can we swim now?" Elric asks, waving to a group of older fledglings by the diving boards on the other side of the room. I follow their gaze to see our cousin, Pippy, lined up next to a crow shifter Elric hasn’t stopped talking about in weeks, Gracen.
Elric's cheeks darken in a flush when the pretty crow shifter beckons them over.
"Rules recap, first. The faster we get through the rules, the sooner you can flirt with your friend," I say as I set down our things.
"What? Ugh! Gross. I'm not flirting with Pippy!
" Elric squawks indignantly. They cross their arms and sulkily refuse to look at me.
Their feathers would be so damn ruffled right now if they were wearing them.
I don't point out that I was talking about Gracen, not our cousin.
Elric knows who I meant, and I've probably embarrassed my sibling enough for now.
"Anyway, I'm not a little kid, I know the rules and I know how to swim. "
"Good. A review won't hurt you, so, listen up and then you can all swim. The rules are important to help us share the pool with our neighbors and keep it safe for everyone."
"We already rinsed off in the showers," Cory points out, shivering. He shoves the plug into the mostly inflated beach ball. "It's cold."
Featherdust, the kid has a point. I mentally revise the list of rules down to a minimum.
No point telling them not to leave their crap everywhere or avoid excessive splashing when clearly that's fair game during open swim.
I should talk to Marilee, the pool manager, about changing the name to feral swim with how disorganized the entire debacle is.
"I know it's cold, but it's important to wash any chemicals off before we get in the water. Also, no running around the pool, no diving in the shallow end, be mindful of others and try not to splash or play rough without consent." I focus on Myra and Cory for that one.
"Ugh, that was one time and he was splashed me first." Myra rolls her eyes as she recites, "It's not fun unless everyone is having fun. I know."
"Good. Oh, and if you need the toilets, they're in the changing area.
Leighton and Kyrie, you need to tell me if you need the potty, the rest of you, don't forget to rinse off before you get back in the pool please.
And be mindful of beaks, teeth, and talons with others.
Got it?" I make brief eye contact with each of my charges.
"Yep!" Leighton nods, and moves to pull away again. Cory, Myra, and Elric echo their agreement. Kyrie nods and stuffs their thumb in their mouth.
"Can we play with our friends now?" Myra demands, the impetuous bear cub shifter takes her confetti filled beach ball from Cory.
"Wait, no, you can't..." I trail off, not bothering to tell her she can't throw that in here because she clearly can.
In fact, I see several other balls lofting through the air.
And Myra just lobbed hers at two of her schoolmates who are already boisterously splashing each other and calling for her to join them. "Never mind, clearly you can."
"Thanks, Cory!" Myra shoots me a cheeky grin over her shoulder, the way she tilts her head to study me reminds me of my brother Bram.
My oldest niece is technically his step-daughter, but woe betide anyone who points out that petty detail in front of him.
She's his kid in the ways that count, like the charming way she smiles at me as if she didn't just trample over what I was trying to say.
"Relax, Aunty, bears are natural swimmers.
This is going to be fun. Come on Cory, we're playing dodgeball.
" She grabs his hand and pulls him after her toward the water.
"Uh, right, have fun?" I say half-heartedly. There's no point in saying anything else when Myra is already halfway down the accessibility ramp, descending into the chaos with her friends. Cory trails along in her wake, swept into her antics as usual.
In retrospect, taking five kids to open swim might not have been my best idea for our mandatory family fun time.
I swallow hard. At least I left Amari and Cole, my infant niblings, with my moms. They get extra snuggle time with my oldest two brothers' infants while I keep the rest of the hatchlings and adolescents occupied and out of their feathers for a while.
"Don't worry sis, you've got this." Elric claps my shoulder comfortingly. "She's not wrong that we can all swim, and I'll keep an eye on those two, you just focus on the chicks."
Their supportive sentiment rings hollow as they abandon me with Leighton and Kyrie to go flirt with their crush. Okay, I can do this. How hard can it be to wrangle two toddlers? Bram does it every day and decided to add another kid to the mix, so it can't be that hard, right?
"I guess that leaves the three of us to play together, huh?" I say, crouching to talk to the two little ones.
"Swimming time!" Leighton pauses, then grabs my good arm to tug me toward the ramp, eager to plunge into the water with their big sister.
Kyrie still has one chubby fist clenched around the bag where I've got a stack of towels for when we're done and the thumb of their other hand in their mouth as they gaze up at me with wide worried eyes.