How Green Becomes Wood

"I'm a bit jealous to hear that, honestly," Daizi replied, moving her hair over her shoulder. At Ciara's question she paused, her eyebrows coming together for only a moment before carefully saying while dressed in a carefully chosen smile, "Having them here made Ivy's birthday very special."
 
"That is very good," Ciara said with a nod. She caught the carefulness, she guessed there was more to it than was being discussed, but private things were private. She had no desire to pry where it was not welcome. "It seemed like a very special day. I do not know how you could top that."
 
"No, I have no idea what we'll do next year. Dark is already trying to figure out what he can build for her next, we only have so many birthdays before she stats asking for specific gifts, ones that can only be bought at the store." Daizi replied, finding the cup of water and taking a sip from it after running her fingers along the rim to learn if there was a straw in the glass or not, "Of course, now we're really just focused on planning our vow renewal. It's only a few weeks away."
 
"I suppose he could make a stool that folds into a chair," Ciara suggested cautiously. "Although, perhaps that is at least one more birthday away. She could have a seat or a step to be able to help mother in the kitchen. Or father," she hastily added, remembering Dark would be the stay at home parent."
 
"That is not a bad idea, although I'm not sure if it's a particularly fun gift, even though it's practical. She will need a step stool of some sort, though, you've been to our home. It's built for people like Dark and myself, it'll be ages before she can comfortably reach some of our shelves or counters on her own." Daizi laughed softly to herself, "We actually hide things from the twins on the top-most shelves, and I've hidden things from Dark on our lowest ones."
 
"I can imagine you would be," Daizi replied, an almost-teasing note in her voice, "And we certainly do. So far it's gone without incident. Dark's most frustrating trait, I think, is he never checks the bottom shelf. It's not like some people who refuse to bend over at all, but if he never expects things to be that low to the ground. And if we put things on the top shelf all the way in the back, he can still reach it easily, but the twins will struggle to see it at all. We still somewhat obscure it, though, if it's meant to be a surprise for them we'll put it in a paper bag. And I'm blind, so I'm pretty sure Dark just leaves surprises for me out in the open where I'm unlikely to try and touch them. Once, I was so mad, I learned he had bought a box of chocolate for himself and it was just on his bedside table the whole time."
 
"Oh my," Ciara said, hiding a smile behind her hand. "That would be incredibly frustrating. I trust you did a similar thing but put it too low for him? And the boys, where is it they hide their treasures?" It did not occur to her that they could keep things in their room and their parents would not enter their room. Although that did not say how they could hide things from each other.
 
"Oh, I certainly did get back at him," Daizi giggled, "I'm not sure where they hide things, because they're hidden. In their bedroom, I suppose. We don't go in there without permission. And Xander has his leatherworking shed, so he may also hide things in there."
 
"Bedrooms were not considered private spaces when I was growing up," Ciara replied almost dismissively. "My parents' room was off limits at night and by permission during the day, but the children's bedroom was a part of the living space."
 
Daizi nodded, "My family is sort of like that. It was a little different, because of the understanding of male and female spaces, so my father wouldn't have walked in without permission, but my female relatives would. And Dark's childhood home was so small, privacy just wasn't possible for his family. We both absolutely hated it." She took a sip of her drink and after swallowing said, "And anyway, when we first brought them home, it was meant to be temporary. They probably would've run back out into the night had we said we'd go into their space whenever we wanted and for any reason. Showing them trust helped them to trust us in return."
 
"It was fine," Ciara said automatically. "It had been just myself and my parents for some time by that point. It was not much of an adjustment to make. Which was beneficial as I soon had to move back in with Mother when she became ill."
 
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"It was good of you to move back in with her," Daizi said, "I had to do the same for my father, but I was only a teenager at the time, I didn't have a choice to say no. By all accounts his recovery was miraculous," she waved one hand, thinking with a significant amount of guilt how much easier things would've been had he not recovered, "I do regret never trying to live on my own, though. I bounced between my father's house to boarding school before moving in with Dark and Cooger, and obviously, I never moved back out."
 
"Living on one's own certainly requires a certain amount of life skills that may never be utilized otherwise, but it is not something everyone feels comfortable with," Ciara said. "I think there is no shame in never living on one's own. It may put you at an advantage, certainly, but I think, even as someone who does live alone, that it is perfectly fine to never do so. For some, it is simply not an option."
 
"I don't think it's something I would've been unable to do," Daizi mused, "It certainly would've been more difficult for me, but manageable. I'm not really ashamed to have not had the experience, I just think it might've been nice and sort of... freeing, in a way that never being totally on your own isn't. Maybe I'd have gotten a guide dog, I've never had a guide dog." She thought about it for a few moments and then laughed at herself, "I guess Dark is my guide dog."
 
"He is a very large and very well-trained guide dog," Ciara said with a completely straight face. "I suppose if you should ever desire to feel what it is to live alone, you could take a vacation by yourself. It would be a small bit of freedom."
 
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