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"Yes!" Long replied.
At the same time Mi replied, "No."

Long pouted at his wife and at this point Lin was trying her hardest not to giggle at him.

"Lin doesn't count. I mean, sure she's Kara and Donovan's daughter, but she's adopted, how was I supposed to know teaching her anything elemental is a bad idea?"

He waved his arms around and paused looking at Lin.

"Not... that anyone could really tell now...."

"Tried..." Lin shrugged, "I barely remember I have magic so the point is moot really."

Long chuckled, "You really can't tell now she's adopted. I mean... yes, when she was a kid, she looked a lot like her parents, but that could be written off as her being a kid, and kids can look like a lot of people when they're young. Once all that baby fat went away though and she grew into an adult..."

He motioned to his granddaughter, really she reminded him a bit too much of his son and daughter-in-law.

"If people didn't know how old Donovan was, they would really think she's his biological daughter."

"Niki already does," Lin murmured in good humour.

Mi snorted danity, "No offense to Niki, but he's well over two centuries old and more than a bit absent minded."

"Well... unlike most of my family, my magical skills are very specific, and I've never been put into a position where I needed to use them. Except that one time in the Human Southland, but that was only because I was hurrying..."

And it seemed faster to teleport at the time, but otherwise it really wasn't a skill she needed.

"In all fairness, most people don't need to use magic to get around," Long pointed out, "At least none of that flashy stuff. Fire is flashy as heck, but unless I'm going camping or face to face with a wild creature I'm not going to end up using it."

"Except these days he uses it to make fireworks," Mi muttered.

"Oh yea! That's what I do these days, displays for celebrations, it's fun!" Long grinned.

"It's like that here too, fireworks for new years that is," Long replied, "In the old days, any special occasion was used as an excuse for fireworks. This was fine except when people began to live in the city that became a problem. Before fire regulations it was amazing no one burned down a city by accident."

This was very true, and even in some clans there still wasn't a strict rule about fireworks, Vincent though can be quite strict when he needed to be.

"So says the person whose used fire as a distraction," Mi smiled with a sigh.

One could only imagine her rolling her eyes.

"Hey, it was a controlled distraction, nothing burned that wasn't supposed to," Long replied, "And it was kind of funny watching people run around like crazy. Some people panic too much in the face of fire."

"Panic maybe, but not an uncontrolled panic," Long replied with some seriousness, "All large organizations should have fire control procedures in place in case something happens. This includes evacuating the building or area, and calling the fire control if there is one."

It surprised Lin because her grandfather normally had a goofy exterior. He rarely said anything that seriously.

"Grandfather... did you...."

Long smiled at that, "Receive a bit of training on the matter? I never had the patience to be a traditional bodyguard, or the proper stealth or mindset to be an assassin, and you certainly don't want me as a doctor. I tried a lot of fire based professions, that included being trained to sense when a back draft would occur to when a wildfire would break out. I learned a lot about firefighting, and how to see the signs of a arson. In the end though I just ended up going on crazy adventures with your grandfather Daemon looking for artifacts and tracking down rumours. A Seer gets called on for a number of things, but you know... Daemon was never great at keeping himself out of trouble and no matter how much Yume tried couldn't teach him to fight. So, I often got tagged along and keeping him in one piece became part of my pay."

"How old is he, physically I mean?" Mi inquired.

Of course she would be interested in that, it was rare for someone in her family to not know how to fight, the same went with Long.

"Three," Lin replied.

Long looked thoughtful, "Hmm... and yet really smart to the advance stuff huh? But he probably likes all that advance stuff he's doing, and he's not old enough where you'd have to get tough on him."

Long wasn't a stranger to 'love tough' as some would call it. He hadn't been a difficult child, but like any child he often had to be reined in and reminded that what he learned was important. Though he also knew that look that Earendil had.

"It would be best also to delegate the teaching," Mi murmured, "I don't mean any offense Lin but like your father, it would be best you don't teach."

"For different reasons," Long added hasty, "We're not saying you're going easy on him, that had been Donovan's problem, but you're a bit too at ease with those skills. So you will have a bit of a problem judging what is a normal learning rate."

Lin blinked, it hadn't been the first time she had been told this or thought this herself. Especially with Miyuki.

"You think so?" she asked.

Long gave Lin a look, "Sweetie, you put up with Vincent during your growing years. Vincent! You remember how unpredictable, tough and downright underhanded he got sometimes. Distracting you with questions in the middle of a spar, getting you to work in difficult conditions... the wake up calls...."

"I didn't realize you had been watching closely..."

"Oh no... Donovan and Vincent went through the same thing with their grandmother," Mi replied happily, "It seems to be a prerequisite of all Heads to be a bit... difficult when they trained."

"And they wouldn't have been trained if they didn't have already had a good foundation and the right temperament to do so. That is, they were already showing to be quite good and they are stubborn as oxes," Long added, "So do you, that's why it always seemed like you and Vincent butted heads a lot, because one, he was supposed to, and two, his temperament is similar to yours."

Mi looked down her nose at Earendil (if that was even possible considering the height difference), "He's three. I don't know about elven psychology, but human three year olds are the most short sighted beings on the face of the planet."

Now it was Long's turn to roll his eyes because Mi had never seen herself as a mother until Donovan came along. Of course, Donovan was different, he was her child.

"What Mi is trying to say is, he's three years old, and while it's obvious he's intelligent, you have to understand in some races. A three years old, you're not going to think like an adult. Things that we think are common sense, especially socially will not make sense to someone that age. You say it's like an escape, we humans of three year old children call that temper tantrum."

"Aren't temper tantrums normally more... vocal?" Lin asked.

"Depends on the kid and depends on the problem," Long laughed, "Take your father for instant. He never threw himself on the ground and threw a fit. Instead he would just sulk, and I mean all out pouting sulking child when something didn't go his way. He was actually quite cute, got annoying after a while but it was still cute. Don't tell him I said that."

Long chuckled again as if he was seeing his own toddler right there pouting.

"But he did that because often he knew what we said was logical, that and he knew Mi wouldn't take a shouting match at all. On the other hand, he was too young to keep those emotions in check or think of a better alternative that could make him happy. That's where it really comes into play, the whole they don't think like adults. You don't think it's a big deal, because you two know better. You know what you're good at and not good at, and you know why you're not good at it. You both have the capability and the knowledge to express why a task or skill is difficult. He doesn't have that skill or mentality. All he knows is, he can't do it, but you two can and that is probably irritating the hell out of him."