Guest Chambers

Kiara smiled, sighed and nodded, " I see but do give her some slack in that department Horatio... She is in strange place where nothing is familar... I may not have acted like it.... crying and showing fear were weakness when I was younger, but I was quiet lost, and reacted as best I could given the situation. German is her first language or one of them form the look of it, she says it with out thinking, it is whats familar to her. And she is only five or around there, we are lucky she speaks other languages so fleuntly at such a young age" she said quietly so the children in the room couldn't hear her.

She chuckled at Ciaran and Eglantine play, they were cute and so innocent.

" I can imagine we will have alot to talk about once they grow back" she said with amused chuckle. "Ciaran is adorable as a child" she whispered.

Then a small furry visitor crept in to the room.

Lav looked around the room and saw her mistress was back, with a meow she ran over to Kiara lept on to her shoulder.

"Ah hey Lav, I missed ya, how are you?" she asked with a smile.

"Meow." Lav simply said as she licked Kiara's face.

Horatio nodded. "I know... but it is frustrating nonetheless... although it was nothing compared to your conduct, young lady." he stated, mock-sternly, winking at her. "But that is understandable considering your horrid childhood." he added.

"Yes, I do not look forward to the conversations...no doubt Eglantine will be slightly bothered with me and Ciaran..." he chuckled. "I so look forward to making sure he remembers every detail of this."

"NO!" Ciaran shrieked, climbing up on the table at the sight of Lav. "Get it out!!!" he ordered, cheeks red and his eyes wide. Eglantine looked around as if expecting a snake or worse, but only saw the cat.
She giggled softly and walked over to Kiara, her arms outstretched for the kitty.

"S'il vous plaît?"(please) she asked to hold the cat.

Kiara blushed at Horatios comment, she had been rather horrible to him, calling him names, running away, if she remembered correctly even kicking a few shins... she tried her best to get Horatio to hate her... Because deep down she had to admit he was a sweet old man. But afraid he would leave her just as her father had. So to protect herself from being hurt, she refused to let herself like him or let him get close to her.

"Thanks for understanding Horatio... I am sorry again though, you didn't deserve such a fate" she said before she jumped at Ciaran's sream.

She blinked, so that is why he dislikes cats so much... he was frightened of them as a boy.

She did over smile at Eglantine and nodded.. lowering her self to her knees so Lav could jump into Eglantines awaiting arms.
"D'Eglantine de cours, son nom est Lav, pourquoi vous n'allez pas le jeu avec son accord ? " Kiara said as she conjured a string for Eglantine so she could play with the Kitten. ((Of course Eglantine, her name is Lav, why don't you go play with her okay?))

With a concerned glance at Ciaran she quickly added "Pourrait être meilleur vous la prenez un futher de peu loin Petit l'un. Ciaran semble très être effrayé de chats." ((Might be best you take her a bit futher away Little one. Ciaran seems to be very scared of cats.))

Then she whispered to Horatio, "I had no idea he was so scared of cats" as she made her way over to Ciaran to try to consol him.

"It is all right Ciaran, she won't hurt you I promise" she said kneeling infront of him.

"My pleasure." Horatio bowed, puffing a bit on his pipe. "Perhaps it has given me a better understanding of firstly why I never desired children and secondly why I wish I had." he chuckled. "Irony in its purest form."

Although he disliked seeing his nephew scared, Horatio had known of his fear of cats since infancy. He patted the boy's head and tried to soothe him.

Ciaran watched, intrigued as if Eglantine had taken hold of a snake spitting forth venom.

Holding the kitten gently, Eglantine kisses Lav's furry head and nodded to obey Kiara. She took the kitten to the corner and sat quietly to play with her. A piece of string slipped out of her pocket and she dangled it in front of the cat's darting eyes.

Horatio chuckled.
"Yeah, it got better as he grew older. His aunt had an awful tabby that liked to bite him and chase him." it was obvious he found the whole thing very amusing.

Ciaran sniffed, folding his arm.
"I'm not afraid." he muttered, looking at his feet.

Lav was instantly drawn to the string infront of her eyes, and started swating at it with kitten like playfulness. She rolled and pounced on it liking the game the little human girl was playing with her.

Kiara nodded to Horatio in understanding, bad expriensed with things tend to leave a bad dislike or fear of it.

She sent a small smile at little Ciaran, still deny's he is afraid even as a five year old, no wonder he had been sorted into Gryffindor, not that she had doubted it before.

" That is good to hear... there is nothing to fear from Lav, she won't hurt a child or anyone in this room for that matter." she said as she placed her hand on his small shoulder.

"Look Hon... " she said as she pointed to where Elglantine and Lav were playing. Lav had at some point confusing the tring for her own tail and was now chasing it around and circles.

"Not all kitties chase and bit little boys" she said.

Eglantine played with Lav silently, not even smiling at the kitten's antics. Her mother and father had hardly cared for noise, especially laughter, and her many sitters, off and on had forced silence even further. Plus, in silence, Eglantine felt more at peace, after all, a silent child was an ignored child. If she showed pure joy, someone would take the kitten away.

Ciaran nodded, smiling. "I'll pet her then." he announced proudly, climbing down and slowly approaching Lav. "Good cat." he murmured, reaching out to touch the darling's head.

However, Eglantine wouldn't allow it. Shrieking, she pulled the kitten away from Ciaran's reach, letting out a string of curses that would pale most marines, both in French and German. Looking fit to kill him, Eglantine moved further from him, leaving Ciaran with his mouth open and his hand still outstretched.

"What'd I do?" he asked, throwing up his arms as he'd seen his Da do.

Kiara looked very confused by Eglantines reaction and kneeled down next to the to children.

"Quel est la mauvaise Eglantine ? Ciaran simplement le besoin pour caresser Lav. ne l'a pas blessé ou l'emporte je promets."

((What is wrong Eglantine? Ciaran merely want to pet Lav.. not hurt her or take her away I promise.))

Lav startled at being so quickly picked up, and additionly the added agression in the room jumped from little Eglantine's arms and on to Kiara's shoulder.

Kiara sighed and lightly scratched Lav behind the ear to comfort her, while she waited for Eglantine to tell her what was wrong.

Eglantine ignored Kiara, looking at the wall in complete silence.

Watching the situation with growing concern, Horatio approached as well.
"That was odd..." he murmured, patting Ciaran's shoulder. "It's okay lad." he assured him.

The little girl stood up from the floor and ran back to the table, climbing under it. They were mad at her... the girl-turned woman asked her what was wrong... with her... Eglantine knew that that meant she would be locked up or screamed at. Maybe even whipped. Sometimes if she hid, they forgot.

Horatio sighed. "Maybe we should let it go..." he suggested.

Kiara sighed and put Lav down... this behavior reminded her when she first offically met Eglantine in September, they had slight miscomunication in her office and fled without a word. Eglantine later revealed she feared she would be mad or had offended her in some way, which led her to think she would hurt her.

"hmm if 5 year old Eglantine is anything like the Eglantine I knew when I first met her.. I think I may know what is, she may believe we will get mad at her and hurt her if she does something wrong. Perhaps she has the same out look I did when I was a child, any Adult around meant trouble it didn't matter what there intentions were, it was interupted in a negetive way." she therorized. Her eyes on the table she shook her head and sighed.

"Even if we let it go, it won't help" she said to Horatio.

Lav looked around for a moment before rubbing her self against Ciaran's leg and purred.

Horatio nodded. "But then again, my dear." he murmured. "I have known Eglantine far longer. Perhaps she thinks we intend to punish her, or perhaps she simply is confused as to how to go about dealing with the situation of us possibly not harming her. Many times for harmed children, they find it easier to assume all is bad, than to possibly think something is good and be wrong."

Suddenly Eglantine emerged from the table, her hands folded in front of her. Looking at both Kiara and Horatio she set her little mouth.
"No him." she stated clearly, pointing at Ciaran. "Promets..." (promise)

Horatio blinked. "And just what did that mean, Kiara?" he asked.

Kiara scratched her head, clearly confused as well, " I am honestly not sure Horatio, perhaps she doesn't like Lav near Ciaran?" she said.

She knelt down, her eyes glanced over to her little cat how was still rubbing on Ciarans leg.

To Lav the boy smell like the man her mistress was rather fond of... but.. he looked very young... for a human anyway.. but her smell didn't lie so.. here she was finally tring to make firends with him.

"Lav, come come sweetie" Kiara said motioning her hand for her cat to come to her.

Lav bounded over to her mistress and sat on her lap.

"Que signifiez-vous peu l'un ? Que sur votre esprit ? " Kiara asked gently as she could, yet wanting to know what was bothering her, so they could fix it.

((What is wrong Little one? Whats on your mind?))

"Nous ne comprenons pas seulement pourquoi vous êtes dérangé. Si vous nous dites nous pouvons aider. " she explained honestly hoping Eglantine would explain.

((We only don't understand why you are upset. If you tell us we can help.))

Horatio said nothing, merely nodding in response as he led Ciaran away from Eglantine and Kiara. Ah the complexities of life and children... he pondered, summoning a bag of crisps and giving them to Ciaran.

Raising an eyebrow, Eglantine cocked her head to the side.
"Vous êtes bizarre." (You are odd) she stated, looking straight into Kiara's eyes. But then she smiled softly, touching the woman's cheek. "Bon." (good) she muttered. Leaving Kiara, she approached Ciaran.

"Pardon."(sorry) she apologized, curtseying. Ciaran shrugged.
"No problem." he smiled.

Kiara gave Eglantine a confused look once again before smiling shaking her head and going to stand by Horatio once again.

"And she said I am odd" she said with a chuckle. "I still do not know why she was upset, but she seems to have forgotten about it" she said softly.

Lav went over to the children once again, and nudged and purred against Eglantines leg much like she did with Ciaran.

Looking at the two children, she was remainded of another child she loved very much.

"Horatio? How is Tav doing with all this? Do you know" she asked a slight amount of worry for the boy she concidered her son. She knew how devoted Ciaran was as a father. Him being a 5 year old at the present time left that job pretty much unattended to.

Horatio shared her chuckle, watching Eglantine carefully.
"Of the two of you, it is hard to determine who is more odd..." he joked, puffing another breath from his pipe.

Eglantine played with Lav, gently grabbing Ciaran's hand and helping him pet the animal as well. He smiled, keeping his body as far form his hand as possible in case the kitty turned on him.
"She's soft." he murmured. Eglantine said nothing.

"Oh he is fine. He's been helping Esis with Edwin, you'd be proud of his conduct. And he's the one who choose the right snacks." He coughed. "Um...Esis and I had no idea what to purchase."

Kiara laughed and sent him a mock glare and in a moment to childishness she said with a giggle "Takes one to know one Horatio"

Lav was soaking up the attention and purring loudly, she licked her sandpaperish tongue over the hand that was petting her and continues nudging for more pets.

Kiara smiled, and a note of pride in her soon to be step son could be seen in her eyes. In times like these Tav acted beyond his years, for 8 years of age he was very mature.

"I am glad.." she said with a smile still on her face.

"Mind if I go talk to him for a minute?" she said as she motioned for the floo. "He would be with Esis right now right?" she asked.

Horatio chuckled. "Touche'..." He bowed. "I figured you would be, Kiara. Tav loves you both deeply and has been glad to help anyway he can. Imagine his first reaction to seeing you both as children. I think to say he was "stunned" would hardly to it justice. And no, not at all." he nodded to the fireplace. "He's probably there."

Eglantine grinned wickedly as Ciaran summoned the courage to sit on the floor to pet Lav. She tapped Lav's nose and doubled the kitty, so her clone would leap onto the boy, causing instant screams. As soon as Ciaran scream cut through the air, the "smoke" cat vanished and Eglantine innocently looked around.

Kiara couldn't help but laugh at the look on Eglantine's face after she played her prank on Ciaran. It was funny she had to admit and it was immpressive the control Eglantine had over magic. She was impressed.

Lav her self had been startled by the sudden twin of her self, and had ran over to Horatio, hiding behind his ankle.

Still smiling Kiara called Esis's chamber's, " Hello? Esis? is Tav there to talk for a bit?" she asked.

Eglantine crawled over to coax Lav back to play and Horatio laughed as she climbed under his lifted foot to gently pick up the kitten.

"Yeah!" Esis bellowed back, not knowing Kiara was right there. "I'll get him!!!" she left Edwin playing in a pool with inflated rubber ducks on his arms and hurried to get Tav from the other room, where he had been watching TV.

He ran out.
"KIARA! You're not a kid anymore!" he sounded terribly relieved as he sat in front of the fireplace. "Is Da?"

Lav gladly let herself be picked up and she rubbed her soft furry head on the girls chin purring once again.

Kiara smiled at Tav through the floo but shook her head and whispered so Ciaran couldn't hear her. "No.. he is still a adorable 5 year old at the moment. I am surprised I thought Esis would have told you I changed back.." she said in amusment.

"Now how are you Tav? I hear from Horatio you took things rather well concidering what happened, I am impressed" she said with a smile.

"I am sure your Da, will be back soon Tav, a few more days at most" she said.

Tav rolled his eyes.
"Are we talking about the same Esis?" he joked. "No, she forgot to mention it..." he glared at the Esis in question over his back. She whistled innocently.

"I'm fine." he assured his soon-to-be-step-mom. Blushing from her praise, he looked down at his shoes. "Thanks... And I'm glad to see your alright. Same with Da."