How Green Becomes Wood

Beyond a shadow of a doubt, Daizi believed Tara could hear if she chose to listen. It wasn't necessary to do it at the gravesite, but it was nice to do it there. She spoke like they were old friends, despite having never known her in life. They had the same children, so she felt they knew each other in a special way.

Dark did not believe. He had borne witness to too much death and destruction to have any hope of anything beyond. Still, he knew it mattered to others, so he kept those thoughts to himself, and spoke to the dead to comfort the living.

Meanwhile, Ivy just squirmed and, tugging at her father's beard said, "Baba please down."

"We should probably head home and give Ivy a place to run," Alec said quietly once everyone had had their say. "I think she's quite tired of everyone talking to the empty air, as far as she can tell."

Xander nodded. "Or she could run around here, but she might trip over someone or something."

"Before we go," Daizi said, raising her head, "We wanted to give Tara a Mother's Day present, but we didn't want to just give the pair of you an increasing number of objects. We decided we'd like to make a donation in her name, but we wanted to ask if there was anything you think she'd might like that money to go to." They could've brought it up at home, but if it was a gift for Tara, she felt it mattered to offer it here in particular.

"Otherwise, we were planning to make a donation to a charity which helps support single parents," Dark told them.

The twins stared between Dark and Daizi in awe, unable to speak at first. Their hands found each other, and they squeezed hands lightly.

"She would love that," Alec said quietly. "Two places come to mind. One where they help women or really anyone escape domestic abuse situations, like WISP or Healing By The Numbers. Or one of those places that help teen moms keep the baby and support them in the beginning stages. She'd like one of those kinds of places."

"We can donate to both," Dark told them, "Or choose one this year and another the next." But he knew if they named two places, they'd donate to both, regardless of what the twins answered.

"One this year, one next. If that's what you want," Xander said quietly. "She'd really appreciate it."

Alec stepped over and put one arm around Daizi, hugging her gently. "Thank you, Mama. Baba."

"We will do it then." Dark promised them.

"You are very welcome," Daizi replied, hugging Alec back, "We just wanted to do something that meant something."

After giving them a few more moments, Dark suggested they head home.

"It means a lot. That you'd do this, and that you even thought of it," Xander said seriously.

Alec gave Dark a hug, too, though briefer than Daizi's hug, trying not to overstimulate him too much.

When Dark suggested they head home, the twins nodded and said goodbye before walking carefully through the graveyard to the car. Xander had to be careful not to knock over any decorative urns and things with his crutches, but they made it through all right and were soon in the car and ready to go.

Dark did hug Alec back, and when he did, Ivy grabbed onto him and tried to shift from Dark's arms into Alec's. Unless Alec accepted her, Dark prevented this, so she wasn't dropped.

Then Daizi said goodbye to the grave, encouraged Ivy to do the same, and walked with her husband back to the car.

Alec took Ivy and hugged her, nuzzling her little baby cheeks happily. She was so cute! And so innocent. He hoped she could stay like this a long time. He carried her with him to the car, walking slowly as he looked at the gravestones around them.

Ivy babbled back at Alec, holding onto him like she was a little koala. She didn't know what this weird place was, and thought it was kind of boring, but she loved being outside, she loved her family, and she was starting to think she might want to take a nap.

At home, Daizi brought her up to the nursery and rocked her to sleep. Normally, naptimes were her husband's domain, but it was Mother's Day, and she wanted to spend some quiet time with her baby girl. Then she went to the music room to play on her harp for a little while and then called her aunts, even though Mother's Day in Egypt was in March.

That evening, after Ivy was in bed for the night, she went to her study for her workings. First, she did a ritual to honour her own mother, whom she never knew. Then, she worked for Tara. Finally, for Xander's secret, impossible dream.

Then, at last, tired and happy after a wonderful day, she crawled into bed beside her husband and snuggled up to him. It had been a really great day, and the perfect way to end it was in the arms of her husband.

Two days later, Dark and Daizi were waiting for Ciara outside of the school. Given the situation, they both dressed down somewhat, both of them choosing to dress more in the outfits they would wear to work or a job interview, where their style wasn't totally erased from them, but it was pushed far enough back it wouldn't immediately colour opinions of themselves.

Ciara arrived shortly after Dark and Daizi, and she walked up to them in her typical "uniform" of a skirt suit, this one in steel grey with a white-as-white-could-be shirt underneath with a very simple necklace with a tiny pendant. She carried a briefcase and had her fading red hair up in a tight bun. Her black heels clicked as she walked All business, no flash. "Mr. Dark, Dr. Wahid," she greeted them calmly. "Are we ready?"

"Ciara," Daizi replied, trying to match her formality but not quite making it. At the greatest need, she could be pushed into truest formality, but she didn't feel quite there, "Thank you for coming."

"It is this way," Dark said, opening the door to both of them, "She has my old classroom."

"Of course," Ciara agreed, walking alongside Daizi. "It will be an interesting experience. Please, take the lead in this, Mr. Dark. I feel it would be for the best as they are your children."

Miss Jones sat at her desk, quickly grading papers while she could.

"Thank you," Dark replied, a strange feeling come over him as he opened the door to his classroom and saw it utterly changed and not knowing the name for it. Once more he held the door open for Daizi and Ciara and followed behind them, still intuitively jostling the handle as the door closed behind them so it actually did stay closed. Extending his hand politely, he said, "Thank you for meeting with us, and for being willing to change the meeting time. I am G.M. Dark, this is my wife Daizi, and Alec's aunt Ciara, who requested to be present. May we sit?"

Miss Jones looked up from her papers, and her eyes widened as she had to look up, and up a little farther, and then a little farther still to reach first Daizi's face, and then Dark's. She sat motionless for a moment, a complete statue as she took everything in. Then, as if nothing had happened, like a delay in a cutscene, she started talking with a welcoming smile.

"Of course! Please, sit down," she said, indicating the folding chairs. "Wait, let me get you another one." She stood and stepped out of the room for only a moment before returning with a third folding chair she set up for Ciara. "I am so sorry. It slipped my mind that you said there would be another person joining us."

Thanking her, Dark first helped Daizi to find where the folding chair was and then sat beside her, "I hope this will be quick, I think Daizi and I really just wanted to speak more regarding Alec's grade on his most recent assignment. Ciara is who helped him find some of his sources, which is why she requested to be here."

"I see," Miss Jones said, sparing Ciara a confused glance but then turned her attention to Dark and Daizi. "Both of... your boys... are good students. They are usually in the top five or so of their class," she told them as she quickly shuffled through a few papers to bring out the relevant ones. She handed a copy of Alec's and Xander's last grades to Dark and hesitated uncertainly with a second copy in hand, clearly trying to decide if she should hand it to Daizi or not. Ciara leaned forward and indicated she wanted the copy, saving Miss Jones from her dilemma. "I wanted to bring this up to show you that no prejudice is being practiced here toward... your boys." Again the nearly imperceptible pause before labeling the twins as belonging to Dark and Daizi. "They have always earned the grades they have been given, and they are usually very focused students."

Dark thanked Miss Jones for the paper and flicked his eyes over it, not pausing when the teacher hesitated to call Alec and Xander their children. Of course he noticed, Daizi did too. They took it in stride. Leaning over to her husband, Daizi softly asked a few questions which Dark replied to. They spoke in English.

Then, Daizi asked, "In your estimation, what went wrong with the most recent assignment?"

"A failure to show trustworthy primary sources," Miss Jones said simply. "If you will note on some of Alec's past works, that has been an issue. Not a major one, and many people do have issues finding primary sources, but, in this case, all of his sources were suspect. I gave him the grade I did because he did work hard on the project, but it was ultimately flawed. It would be like working on the wrong math problem from a completely different section than the one you were supposed to."