How Green Becomes Wood

Dark took the book from Xander and held it up to Ivy. After he caught her attention with it, he asked, "What is this, Tifla?"

Ivy reached up for it without trying to get out of her Baba's lap, "Book!"
 
"Hummingbird!" Daizi cheered, peppering Ivy with kisses, which made her baby giggle, "What a clever baby! And what a great word to know!"

"That is why we have read so many books today," Dark told Xander.
 
"Let us know if you need any help," Daizi said, meaning it, and then settled in to the very late afternoon. Soon, they'd have to cook dinner, but it was nice for the time being to just be together and keep out the cold.
 
"Your brother was saying something similar," Dark mused.

After Xander was gone, Daizi snuggled closer into her husband, nestling her face deeply into the crook of his neck and enjoying his warmth and how wonderful he smelled. Nothing significant had happened in her day, but it still felt long and stressful. This moment made it better. As she wrapped her arms around him, she passed her hand over his waistcoat's pocket and paused, "Do you have something?"

"I had forgotten," He frowned, taking out the bracelet, "We believe Ivy found Ciara's bracelet, I meant to text her about it." Holding it in one hand, he snapped a quick photograph of the object before tucking it away and sending the text.

Hello, Ciara. Ivy found this near our front door today, I was wondering if it belongs to you?
 
It took a while for Ciara to respond as she was currently out at dinner with colleagues, but since Dark almost never texted frivolously, she checked her phone to see if it was an Ivy update or something more serious. Seeing the bracelet, she excused herself to text back. Yes, that is mine. I thought I had lost it in the airport and was annoyed at myself for wearing it on a plane ride. Will you be able to keep it safe until my return?
 
I certainly would not dispose of it Dark assured her, Just alert me when you come back to town, until then I will put it in Daizi's jewelry box. You need not worry, either, Ivy presented it to us prior to attempting to eat it. Although, if she had done, he would've just cleaned it and said nothing about it. Or, he probably would've lied and said Ivy hadn't tried to eat it, even if she had.
 
This is good news. I doubt it would taste good or done anything good for Ivy if she had attempted to eat it. Thank you for keeping it safe. After a pause, she sent a second message, And thank Ivy for finding it. I will let you know when I have returned home.
 
Thank you. Book is a good word to learn. Have a good evening. Ciara signed off and went back to her table. When asked if everything was all right, she calmly and formally informed her coworkers that her niece had found the bracelet she'd lost and had said a new word. There was communal congratulations for the absent baby and suitably impressed expressions all around. The conversation that was supposed to be work related of course then shifted to various baby stories. Ciara happily sat back and enjoyed her meal now that she didn't have to actively pay attention to what everyone was saying. It was the best gift Ivy via Dark could have given her. And, really, everyone else at the table except for the one person who actually wanted to work over dinner.
 
"Your Aunt Ciara is very happy you found her bracelet for her, Ivy," Dark praised, "and she is so proud you learned to say book."

"I'll bet, she's telling all of her coworkers about how special sweet Ivy-Qadira is," Daizi praised, despite not actually believing Ciara would do such a thing. It didn't strike her as something she'd mention.
 
[Some established time later]

Alec and Xander left school and headed home, but they had little time to do anything other than say hello to their family, change clothes, and grab snacks for the road. Xander drove them to the pottery studio in town, the one Alec had been to once before, and they went in to sign in for their class. It was a singular class, not a series, and highly popular for date nights. Alec and Xander found themselves one of the few people there not in some sort of coupleship. At least no one thought they were together.
 
After everyone was set to arrive, two instructors came out. The first was the one who led the class when Alec was here with his parents, the one who Daizi had stabbed. The second, whose job was mostly to float around, make sure everyone was doing okay, and answer little questions... was Claire. Her blonde hair was up in two space buns, which she had decorated with the sorts of hair ties with colorful bubbles on the end, and she had a yellow star pimple patch on her cheek. It wasn't for fashion, it was doing a job, but she hadn't gone for the invisible ones. Her outfit, though, was much more beige than she normally wore. Upon spotting the twins, she made a confused face for a moment and then waved to them with a bright, excited smile.
 
Xander raised a hand to acknowledge her, somewhat curious about her being there, but not thinking much of it. He'd never taken too much notice of Claire other than to note that she was always nice and very good at her chosen sport. She seemed like a good friend to have around. That was as far as his thoughts had ever taken him.

Alec smiled just as bright and waved back at her, beaming. He hadn't realized she'd be there! He remembered something about her liking pottery, but he hadn't thought that meant she'd work at a place like that. He was quite happy to see her. She was probably pretty good at pottery to be able to do something like this, and, not to mention, exceedingly cute with her buns and little star sticker. He made a mental note not to be too friendly and risk her professionalism. This was work, not school.
 
Claire was delighted they had waved back but then refocused on her job, helping to distribute the clay to all of the students in the class while the main instructor gave the requisite safety information.
 
Alec listened attentively even though he'd been through this once before, taking it as seriously as if it was his first time. He didn't want to mess anything up by being absent headed. Xander listened, too, serious but not as intense as Alec. He figured it couldn't be that dangerous if anyone could take this class, but he also didn't want to stab anyone by accident.
 
After the safety talks were done, Claire and the other instructor gave a demonstration on how to work the clay to remove all of the air bubbles, because otherwise it'd just explode in the kiln. Following the demonstration, they both walked around so they could help people manage theirs if they were struggling, and check if theirs was ready for the next step. They made kneading the clay look easy, but in reality it was a pretty solid lump that didn't let just anybody work it out.
 
Alec was struggling with his lump, frowning in concentration as he tried to get it to cooperate. He glared at Xander, who was slowly bending the claw to his will. "How are you doing that?"

Xander shrugged and smirked. "I do more with my hands than draw and do handstands."

Alec snorted. "I need some serious grip strength to stay on that wheel!"

Xander nodded to the clay. "Then let's see it!"
 
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