The Promise - Tori and Avi

[Sylista Ravenwood]

A faint knock caught Sylista’s attention from the Rathskeller’s paperwork which her daughter could not handle without more training that the young girl was not ready yet. When eyes lifted from where her ink and quill scratched against the paper, an eyebrow raised when she saw the nanny looking at her. “Kelly, is everything quite alright?” The only other time the woman had knocked, one of the girls had become ill, and it was more about informing the mother about her child’s condition than an emergency.

The brunette nodded, her caramel eyes amused as she looked at her employer’s writing instrument. “Good evening, Miss, everything is just fine. Do you need a pen? I have one in my bag.”

“No, thank you. Unfortunately, I find that ink uneven and it makes the paperwork untidy. How can I help you?”

Kelly remained in the doorway and closed her eyes, tilting her head so an ear could listen down the hallway before she smiled. “I want to show you something, do you mind?”

“Not at all,” Sylista responded, her curiosity piqued. Once the quill was on a surface away from the paperwork, a chair rolled backward, and hands smoothed out the skirt of her dress as she stood. “Paperwork can always wait, life only happens in the moment.” Something she had only learned after Vincent had arrived, and she marvelled in the way each day was something new for him.

Kelly placed a finger over her lips once in the hallway and led them both to the twins’ room. The nanny used her head to indicate the Flameweaver should peer into the crack while whispering, “she’s been with her every night this week. It started with staring, but then she read stories to her. Of course, I didn’t want to say anything with your birthday and all…”

Smiling, Sylista nodded her understanding before stepping up to the door, grateful that the lighting in the hall was dimmer than that illuminating the room.

--

Tori leaned on the crib’s railing as she looked down at the baby with the same eyes. It was hard not to smile down at the little thing babbling to herself in a seated position. "I’m glad you’re up," she whispered, a hand reaching to pet the feather-fine black hair, “I’m starting to enjoy hanging out with you.” Avi turned and smiled her gummy smile up at the teenager making happy noises. “Hello to you, too!”

Hands started making grabbing motions to indicate she wanted up, and Tori was happy to oblige. Immediately reaching in and retrieving the infant, Tori giggled before moving to sit on the comfortable rocking chair with the baby standing on her thighs. The face-to-face positioning made Avi so happy she squealed with a giggle.

“Hey, shhh. You’ll wake your sister,” Tori murmured before her head canted. “I wanted to talk to you about something, just us, and, since you’re in the memory-making stage, I figured now might be a good time for it? I know you probably won’t remember any of it, but I want you to hear it in case the idea stick sticks.” Avi started bouncing up and down while Tori held her hands with only enough strength to secure her counterpart. “I’m really sorry that I was so jealous of you when I saw you with dad. I thought he loved you more, and maybe he did, but he had a good reason for it! I was a little sh-” her throat cleared. “Don’t learn to talk like me, alright? I’ve got a potty mouth sometimes. Anyway, yeah, I was super jealous and I kinda hated you, but I couldn’t let Indigo have you knowing I knew where you were. I had a chance to make your life better and I took it. Ethics or something, and, yeah, It just sucked for a while. Dad loves you, but he doesn’t love me any less for it. Just like mom loves Vincent and both of us. It’s different, it’s always going to be different, and that’s okay.”

Pulling Avi toward herself, Tori was able to confidently wrap hands around the ribcage surrounding (surprisingly) powerful lungs so she could lift the little one into the air to keep her entertained, “I promise to make sure you’re always safe. No one is *ever* going to treat you like I was treated growing up. If anyone is a threat to you, I am going to do everything I can to make sure you’re okay. You aren’t going to grow up scared like I did.”

Tori lowered Avi to her lap and handed over a squishy toy as lips pressed against her tiny head. “It’s so weird talking to you and I know we are, like, the same person, but our personalities are going to be different because you’ll know love.”

--

That was enough. Sylista could not watch any more private conversation between her girls and took a step back to return to the office. The sniffle that threatened to expose her while watching won, and a single tissue pulled from the box on the large wood desk pressed against the corner of each eye that betrayed how touched the moment made her. “Thank you,” the emotional whisper was for Kelly, who was watching with warmth. “She is going to be okay.”

Kelly nodded, grabbing a tissue from the box and wiped her face before stepping back to the doorway. “Yeah, she will. Both of them will. You’re lucky, Miss.”

Sylista smiled, taking a deep breath to brace the emotional dam about to betray her before shaking her head. “Luck has nothing to do with it, my dear. Persistence, dedication, and a desire to make life better for them than it ever was for me. I never believed I would ever say this, and yet I cannot help myself - my family is the most important thing to me.”

“Your dad would be proud,” the nanny stated just before she turned to leave the room to give the mother some time to reflect while on her own.

The door was closed enough that the teenager would not immediately catch her mom crying, something Sylista felt grateful for as it also kept the whispered, “he already is," from being heard.