“Ba! Big ba!”
Baby Retvik was incredibly excited as nurse Kafin carried them into a private room. Already waiting for them was Retvik’s big sibling Litvir, who had arranged a play date and was in the middle of laying things out.
“Little ba!” Litvir picked themselves up off the floor. “Hello, kyr Kafin, thank you for bringing me my little sibling!”
“How… how did you know my name?” Kafin asked.
“Oh…” Litvir shrugged. “I just know things sometimes. Is there anything I need to know about looking after little ba? And can I feed them?”
“You can feed them, yes, but they cannot have solid food yet. Retvik is wearing a nappy but we can help change it if it gets too full. I will be outside if you need me.”
Kafin handed Litvir the baby, then bowed and left the room, closing the door behind them. Retvik waved with excitement as Kafin left, then snuggled up in Litvir’s arms.
“Ba!”
“Yes, ba is here!” Litvir smiled. “We are going to have fun time together! Which I think we both need, because you did not have a good day yesterday, did you?”
Retvik gurgled, not really understanding. They were a baby, so the flow of time didn’t make much sense to them. That being said, the day prior, Retvik had been taken to the doctor to get their booster vaccination shots and have a quick medical check over. They hadn’t been a fan of the injections though and their arm was a little bruised. Admittedly, Retvik had mostly forgotten and was just glad to see their big ba.
“Ba good.”
“Yes, I am good. Are you good, little ba?”
“Good!” Retvik repeated.
Litvir was happy with that answer. They put Retvik down in a cradle for a moment, while they got to work setting up some sort of contraption. Retvik immediately wriggled out of the cradle, somehow managed to roll onto the floor and crawled over. When Litvir didn’t instantly pay attention to Retvik, Retvik started poking at Litvir’s tail, then at their side, before crawling round and nudging Litvir’s hand.
“Ba!”
“Oh, you are excitable!” Litvir exclaimed. “Hang on, I am nearly done with this!”
“Ba! Ba ba ba!”
Litvir wasn’t quite finished, and knew that Retvik wanted attention. So they started multitasking. Litvir normally avoided using their divine powers to do stuff while Retvik was around, but they also didn’t want to keep Retvik waiting. So they used telekinesis to put Retvik back into the cradle, but they also moved the cradle so that Retvik could look outside and into the garden. A couple of floating sprites of light kept Retvik occupied while Litvir went back to work. Work was mostly now inflating a very wide but shallow paddling pool, and putting together a bubble blower.
“Baaaaa!”
“I know, I know! Give me a second!”
The paddling pool was now inflated, and Litvir filled it with a small amount of warm, bubbly water. They had heard the story (myth? Legend? Litvir wasn’t sure) that one could drown in 3 inches of water (whatever an inch was, Litvir again wasn’t sure) so they didn’t want to take any chances. They then also laid out a bunch of towels, keeping several to one side so they could dry off when they were done. There were also fresh nappies on hand. Retvik was wearing a clean nappy already, but Litvir didn’t want Retvik to get in the water wearing a nappy.
Once everything was done, Litvir got up and fetched Retvik, who was trying to bat at the light motes.
“Ah! Ba! Ba do?”
“Big ba has everything ready!” Litvir beamed. They threw off their loin cloth and fabric clothing but left their armour on, they took off Retvik’s nappy (leaving it to one side so it could easily be put back on later) and they gently sat both themselves and Retvik down in the insanely shallow, bubbly water. Litvir showed Retvik how to splash the water to make more bubbles, then turned on the bubble blower.
Retvik splashed briefly, but the bubbles immediately caught their attention. They waved their hands, popping every single bubble they could reach.
“Bubub! Bubub bubub!” Retvik gurgled.
“I know! Lots of bubbles!” Litvir held Retvik steady as they popped the bubbles. “I remembered that you liked them so I got a bubble maker for you! I also looked up how to make big, strong bubbles, by putting some… some… glycerin… I think that is like sugar syrup… in the water alongside the washing up soap liquid. Because I wanted you to have good bubbles.”
“Bubub!” Retvik wasn’t really paying attention. They were having fun. “Ba! Bubub!”
Litvir smiled, then helped Retvik pop some of the bubbles. They also took some of the smaller foamy bubbles from the water, and put them on Retvik’s head. They then put some of the foam on their own face, which made Retvik laugh.
“Baaa!” Retvik giggled. “Ba silly!”
“I am, yes. But I also have more to show you.”
Using their telekinesis, Litvir closed the curtains and turned off the lights, so it was dark in the room. They then created a new light mote, essentially a black light but as a mote. This lit up the room oddly but, more importantly, it made some of the bubbles glow. Some glowed a pale blue, others glowed in yellow.
Retvik blinked, then gasped and gurgled, utterly mesmerised by what they were seeing.
“Wa…”
“You like?”
“Ya. Ba good! Ba… ba good good.”
“We are both good, little ba!” Litvir settled down. “And I want you to know, Retvik, that I will make sure that we are happy. We may not be, like, actual genetic blood siblings, but I do not care. We are big ba and little ba, forever and ever.”
“We ba! We good!” Retvik squeaked, splashing in the water.
“We are. I love you, Retvik. You will always be my little ba, and I will always look after you. And I hope that you can learn from me… Admittedly, you already are, because you are learning to talk from me.”
“We good good!” Retvik giggled. “We good good good!”
Litvir giggled back. “You are absolutely right, Retvik. We are good good good…”