Shortly after finishing her cup of warm milk, Marie began dozing off. Her head slowly bobbed back and forth until she could no longer fight gravity and laid it on her hands. It wasn’t even midday, but Anima had still expected that she would take an early nap—after all, she was the first one to rise and had been running around outside all morning.
Myuke and Bram were still mad at each other, but they wouldn’t start arguing in front of the sleeping Marie. Instead, they were giving each other the silent treatment. Anima wanted to make things right between the two as soon as possible, but he had to do something about Marie first.
“Should I take her to bed?”
“Please do. Be careful not to wake her up.”
“I will. Should I carry you up in my arms too?”
“Maybe next time. But I wonder, do you think I should rest with her?”
“Yes. We can’t leave her all by herself.”
“Mm, that’s true. But please wake me up around noon. I’ll make lunch.”
They’d finished the leftover stew for breakfast, and Anima wasn’t exactly cut out to be a royal chef; the most he could do was help Luina with vegetable chopping and other basic tasks. Myuke could make vegetable soup, but eating the same thing day in and day out wasn’t very healthy. Moreover, she clearly wasn’t in the right mindset to focus on cooking.
“Sure, I’ll wake you up. That should be enough sleep for Marie too.” With that settled, Anima picked Marie up, gently walked up to the bedroom on the second floor, and laid her down. Luina lay down next to her and tucked both herself and Marie in. “Give me a shout if you need anything.”
“I will. Good luck with the girls.”
He nodded, then went back to the dining room. Luckily, they hadn’t started arguing again in the brief time he was out, but they definitely hadn’t made up either. The situation was tense. Even the smallest thing could spark an argument at any second.
I have to do something...
His fatherly instincts kicked in. He sat down and started thinking about his best course of action. Moments later, he cleared his throat and opened his mouth. He’d had an idea.
“Why don’t we all take a bath?”
The girls looked at him, which meant the first step of his plan—getting their attention—was a success.
“Right now?”
“It’s still early, m’kay?”
They must have hated the fact that they’d reacted at the same time, as they fiercely glared at each other for a second before whipping their heads around, pouting. Anima, however, continued without hesitation.
“You’ve been playing outside in the snow all morning. Let’s take a bath; it’ll warm you up.”
Warming them up was only an added benefit of his plan. His real goal was to get them to talk. He figured that since they always had a great time in the bath, they would naturally forget about their quarrel and enjoy themselves. If that worked out, making up was sure to follow.
“I’m not really doing anything else. Might as well take a bath.”
“A morning bath’s definitely nice every once in a while, m’kay?”
They both answered at the same time, giving Anima a serious sense of déjà vu.
“I’m the one taking a bath, m’kay?!”
“I said it first!”
“You can go outside and play, m’kay? That’s what you wanted to do, isn’t it?!”
“Yeah, until someone ruined my mood!”
“You really know how to push my buttons! I’m gonna get mad if you don’t cut it out real fast, m’kay?!”
“Oh, don’t even try to pretend you’re calm. Anyone within a hundred miles can tell you’re fuming! But whatever, go take your bath. Hope you like cold water, ’cause I sure won’t be heating it up for you!”
“You think I can’t light a flame without you?! I’m way better at magic than you are, m’kay?!”
“Just so you know, the fire lizard stone is super difficult to control! You’d burn the whole house down if you tried to use it!”
“All right, girls, let’s calm down. You’re going to wake Marie if you keep shouting.”
They both went quiet. Bram stood up, left the room, then returned a bit later with the fire lizard stone in her hands.
“I’ll warm the bath on my own, m’kay?”
“Daddy, make sure you watch her. We still need a place to live.”
“Hmph!”
Bram took Anima’s hand and left the house through the kitchen. She was shaking, which meant that the cold was definitely getting to her, yet she didn’t seek Anima’s warmth. She wasn’t in the mood to ask for comfort.
Once they’d gotten behind the bathroom, they crouched down in front of the ventilation opening. With Myuke’s comments running through her head, Bram nervously looked down at the magic stone.
“Do you want me to go and ask Myuke to light it instead?”
“N-No. I don’t want her help, m’kay?”
She took a moment to fight off her nerves before making her decision. Anima watched as her skirt lifted up slightly and a tail came wiggling out from under it. She had successfully used the fire lizard stone and lit a perfect, dainty little flame. She stood up and let out a cute sneeze, though Anima wasn’t sure if it was because of the cold or a sense of relief.
“I’ll watch the flame, so go and take your bath. And don’t forget, you can always call Myuke if you get lonely.”
“I-I’m not lonely, m’kay?!” She circled around the house and went back inside through the main entrance to avoid running into Myuke. “It’s only lukewarm, m’kay?”
“Wait a bit before you get in.”
“I already took my clothes off, and it’s warmer in the water than it is out of it, m’kay?”
Anima heard her sink into the bath then let out a long, deep sigh.
“Hey, Daddy? I don’t want you to hate me, m’kay?” Bram said timidly.
“I don’t hate you. There’s no way I ever could. What makes you think I would?”
“Because I’m a bad girl, m’kay? I slacked all day, didn’t help at all, and even got into a fight with Myuke... Though she’s the one who started it, m’kay?”
“Don’t be silly; you’re not a bad girl. You helped out plenty when it was warmer. Cold weather like this is completely new to you, and I assume you struggle moving your body the same way you usually do. Am I wrong?”
“No, you’re right, m’kay? I can throw a snowball just fine, but I accidentally launched it at full force ’cause it was so cold.”
That’s exactly how Anima imagined the incident had played out. She’d wanted to hit Myuke, but she couldn’t accurately control her throw because of her inexperience with cold weather. Running around all morning had warmed her up enough that her sluggishness was mostly gone, so she’d accidentally thrown the snowball as hard as she could. It had still been too cold for her to finely control its direction, though, and it had hit the snowman instead of Myuke.
“Either way, no, I don’t hate you. I’m sure Myuke doesn’t either.”
“I... I don’t even care if she hates me, m’kay? She needs to learn some anger management. If only she took after Mommy...”
“Yes, Luina is kind, but I think you’re mistaken. Myuke is kind too. Remember this morning? She filled your bowls to the brim and only kept a very little bit of stew for herself. She wanted to make sure that you two ate well, even at the cost of her own breakfast.”
“N-No one asked her to do that. And it doesn’t change the fact that she’s hotheaded, m’kay? I didn’t mean to ruin her snowman...”
“I know. You just wanted to have a snowball fight with her.”
“I did, but not anymore, m’kay? She’s always...”
Bram continued grumbling for ten minutes straight, and the only reason she stopped was because the water got too hot.
“It’s getting too hot in here, so I’m gonna get out and go nap with Mommy. You should come and take a bath so you don’t catch a cold, m’kay?”
Anima put out the flame after he heard her leave the bath. He went inside, only to find Myuke restlessly fidgeting in front of him.
“Where’s Bram?” she asked.
“She went up to bed.”
“Oh. Well, I’m glad we didn’t run into each other. I guess that since she went up so quietly, she didn’t burn herself... did she?”
“No, she didn’t. Are you worried about her?”
“N-No! I was just afraid she’d start screaming, ‘It huuurts’, and then it’d take hours to calm her down.” She hopped up from the chair and grabbed Anima’s hand. “C’mon, take a bath with me. I have a lot I wanna talk to you about.”
“I’d be happy to.”
Though he’d hoped Myuke would ask him how to make up with Bram, all he got was a long rant about her sister.