Michael wasn’t even three years old, but Khan could already spot clear resemblances with his parents. He seed to have mostly taken after his mother, but Khan couldn’t help but see traces of George everywhere in that young boy.
The little boy had to squint his eyes to look past Khan’s light. It was actually a strange experience for him to be among so many bright-eyed people, but his youthful innocence worked in his favor there, making him curious rather than scared.
Michael heard Khan’s words but half-turned to look at his father, who was still holding him straight from behind. George nodded, reassuring his son, who understood the silent invitation.
"Uncle Khan?" Michael asked, facing the blue light again.
"That’s right," Khan confird. "I’m your Uncle Khan."
Michael remained still, doing his best to study the stranger he had heard about many tis, not knowing how to react.
"Hey," Khan called, jokingly scolding the boy. "Give your Uncle a hug."
The request solved Michael’s confusion, but he still looked at his father, waiting for his approval, which he gave with another nod.
Michael didn’t hesitate anymore at that point, spreading and lifting his arms so that he could wrap them around Khan’s neck when he pulled him onto him.
"What a polite young man," Khan exclaid, containing his strength despite wanting to pamper that boy rotten, lowering his voice to address his friend. "How is that even possible?"
"Jealous much?" George snickered, but fatherly pride replaced his teasing mood when he focused on his son. Truth be told, even he was pleasantly surprised by that unexpected result.
"I can’t wait for you to be big enough to hear your father’s stories," Khan joked.
"Don’t you dare," George cursed, reaching for his son’s back to pull him away from Khan and make him face him. "Your old man is a paragon of virtue. Don’t let evil Uncle Khan corrupt you."
"Uncle Khan is not evil!" Tamara promptly cried, almost making Zalpa ss up her braid-making.
"You are just too much of a good girl," Khan praised, switching the target of his affection, gently pinching Tamara’s cheek. "And look how beautiful Aunt Zaza made you."
Tamara giggled but still pouted in George’s direction, not wanting to let it go. Yet, Michael also looked back at her, ending up agreeing with Khan.
"Pretty," Michael muttered, and Tamara’s pout lted, replaced by a happy giggle, seemingly making her forget about the matter.
George glanced at his son, not knowing whether to be confused or nod proudly, but Ilman beat him to it.
"Your son is just like you!" Ilman laughed. "What you learned on Nitis is carrying through."
"You must still tell more about Nits," Jenna reminded, pulling Ilman’s arm even further.
"I’ll take you there one day," Ilman promised, and Jenna couldn’t help but snuggle toward his face, searching for his lips.
George was still unclear on how to take that rollercoaster of emotions when Doku leaned in his direction to hand him another drink, voicing a helpless comnt that seed to co from experience.
"You can never win against kids," Doku preached. "You’ll get used to it."
George sighed, ruffling Michael’s hair while pulling him down, planning to enjoy his drink, only to see Alis and Freoc’s gazes darting between their daughter and his son, sensing that sothing was up.
The scene left plenty of room for interpretation. After all, the matter was about kids who didn’t think too deeply about what they said. However, Zalpa didn’t care about that, and George found her protective glare pointing straight at him.
Khan had to refrain from exploding in one of the loudest laughs he was capable of. The scene was too much for him, so he retreated to his wife, hugging her from behind, deciding to focus on the daughter sleeping in her arms instead.
Yeza woke up under that familiar blue glow, matching it with her own while releasing happy noises. She even struggled to sit up, wanting to climb over Liiza to reach for the smiling face above her.
Liiza helped, and Yeza ended up on her shoulder, where Khan started playing with her, uncaring of the general attention his gesture claid.
Doku couldn’t help but gulp down his drink, hesitating to stand up to dwell a bit longer in that scene. He was surrounded by couples and their kids, making him yearn for the sa thing.
"You are making miss my family," Doku sighed, forcing himself to stand up, only to freeze. Sniffing noises ca out of his nose, reminding Khan and those who knew him of sothing specific.
"Oh," Liiza exclaid, looking in the distance. "It was her then."
Khan shot a questioning look at Liiza, only to follow her gaze toward an incoming group of auras. He had sensed those long ago, ever since they had appeared on the teleport, actually, but that event had beco so common during the party he had stopped paying attention to it.
Nevertheless, there seed to be sothing special about that new batch of guests, and what beca evident once they got close enough to the group. More white-eyed figures had landed on Earth, and Khan was surprised to recognize one of them.
Ten years was a long ti, and Khan’s perception back then was incomparable to what he wielded today. Liiza obviously was an exception, but he had forgotten many of the unique auras he had sensed in the past.
However, Khan only needed one look to reawaken those distant mories, recognizing the woman walking hand in hand with two shockingly cute children, a boy and a girl.
Of course, Doku was the most shocked of them all. He slowly turned in the direction of the new group of Niqols, focusing on the woman, wearing a stiff smile.
"[If it isn’t my loving family]!" Doku exclaid, switching to the Niqols’ language.
"[Your loving family would have loved a call]," Azni scolded. "[Imagine my surprise when I teleported to Coravis in a hurry, only to find out you had gone drinking on Earth]."
Reviews
All reviews (0)