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Ai bows to her wisdom and goes to sit by Fortuny, laughingly putting his nose to the wall, remembering a time when he and Kero had done pretty much the same thing. Closing his eyes he daydreams of flying low over a verdant plain, playing tag with an eagle or riding a storm. With such pleasant thoughts to keep him occupied, twelve minutes fly by in the blink of an eye.

Ai grins at her, then impishly sticks out his tongue. "Old am I... ye little whipper snapper... just ye wait until I get me hands on ye... let's see ye call me old when yer laughing so hard ye can't talk..." he growls and lunges for her in an all out tickle attack.

He sucks the back of his hand and eyes her with a grin. "Careful there, Princess, those claws of yers are lethal weapons. All ye had to do was say please..."

Ai gives her a gracious nod. "Very well, no more tickling... see all you had to do is ask properly. Now I think I will sit here for awhile and talk with yer mother, why don't you go play?"

Ai sighs and collapses in his chair by the fire. "She growing up rather fast, isn't she?" he remarks with a grin. "How are the little ones doing?" he asks Fortuny leaning forward in his seat to see them better.

There is laughter in his eyes as he gently redirects Gem back toward his mother. "This one is an explorer... can't even see where he's going and already he's wanting to know what makes the world tick. May I hold him?" he asks scratching the tiny cubs head, marveling at the stone on his forehead.

Fortuny nods, grateful for the chance to not have to divide her attention between the two. "But of course, he seems to be trying to get to you anyway."

"Naw, I'm just a big warm thing in his way... aren't I, little one?" he croons, picking up the cub and leaning back in his seat, cradling him against his chest.

"Let's see..." he remarks, carefully settling him in place and laughing as he tries to crawl in his shirt. "Your family sure has a wide variety of talent, m'lady... but the greatest talent they have is for winning the love of those around them. All your children are precocious darlings."

"Ummm... tell me again, Hopian... how old was Kero when I got him..." laughs Ai knowingly. "I keep telling you people I've known him for a very very long time now and have raised him through most of his stages... I"ve had him almost from the time he could put two words together... right? How much more trouble could she have been?"