Having children was a funny thing, wasn’t it?Sigrin had thought about having children in the past—who hadn’t? The idea of having little feet running around the house, little feet that maybe looked like you—that was the adult dream, wasn’t it? Adults were supposed to want children at some point in their lives, but Sig had never thought that xie’d be ready for that. Oh, maybe someday—when xie was fifty or something, mature, collected, financially stable. But as xie’d reached each of those landmarks, xie had come up with some other excuse not to have children. Xie was mature—well, as mature as a person could expect to be. Xie was collected and calm, with no major issues. Xie didn’t have anger control issues, or a lack of motivation. Xie had a steady job and a disposable income. Xie had a house—well, okay, a condo. But that was basically the same thing—the point was, xie had a home.
So why no children?
New excuses kept popping up. Xie wanted to wait for a while. Xie wanted to enjoy being single. Xie wasn’t sure how or when or if to imbue. Xie…
Xie was running out of excuses, and the last one, that being single and childless was a blissful and wondrous state, washed away with the latest piece of news—Jurvik had adopted another child.
Jurvik…
Sigrin had known Jurvik since the Academy. They’d been good friends, along with Flash and Berek. Sometimes Sigrin thought xie knew xeir friends better than xie knew xeirself. Jurvik was kind, sweet-natured, calm, always polite and even-tempered, and also very nurturing. Jurvik kept adopting children, and he was a damn fine father, so far as Sigrin could tell. He could listen to their problems for hours, and he loved working with them. He was a good father. And because he was also a Geist, he wanted his adopted family to be a part of his actual family as much as possible (although at this point, Sigrin wasn’t sure which of them was adopted, Xenophon and Nkiruka, or Sigrin, Flash, and Berek!
The kids were good, and they were sweet, even Nkiruka, whom Sigrin was told was a livewire when there weren’t too many adults around. Jurvik was taking them all sorts of places—to visit Santa Claws at the mall, to go to pumpkin patches, just plain…spending time together…
Sigrin had always wondered why people had children in the past. Xie’d never been able to figure it out, but watching Jurvik, Sigrin understood why it was that people had children—to watch them grow. All of a sudden, Sigrin wanted to have children of xeir own. Xie wanted to imbue. Xie wanted to adopt as well, but mostly xie wanted to imbue.
Xie had options, of course. Xie could imbue a stone only with xeir own magic, creating a perfect replica of xemselves in miniature. That seemed pointless, though—Sigrin didn’t want to do that. Xie could, instead, imbue with a random stranger, which was a definite possibility. But watching Jurvik and his kids, and thinking about how Jurvik was like a part of everyone’s hearts, and how much xie wanted to be included in his family, Sigrin knew what xie wanted: xie wanted to imbue with Jurvik.
“You’re very kind,” xie murmured over Jurvik’s kitchen table. “You’re welcoming and loving, and you’re so warm.” Xie grinned. “You have to know that we’ve all thought about imbuing with you in the past.” Well, maybe not Sigrin, but Berek and Flash had discussed it, of course. “You’re just too wonderful not to imbue with. And that’s why I’d like to imbue with you, Jurvik—I want my children to have a father, and older siblings, and a big family and lots of love, and I think between the two of us, we could raise children in a lot of love.”
