Laughter
Laughter
"Hmm… So she teleported to Hell unguided." The Goddess gently nodded her head. She was visibly upset for her granddaughter's safety. "We can't keep on letting that happen. It's unsafe for her."
"Yes, that's why I wanted to ask if there was a safe way to bar her from doing that," Theodore asked in a concerned voice.
The Goddess thought for a while and nodded her head. "I can cast a spell to prevent that. And I can break it when she will be a responsible adult."
"That would be great." Adeline let out a sigh of relief. "We don't have to constantly worry about her getting into some trouble."
"And what about her wings?" The Goddess asked as they were now talking about Ariel's development and powers.
Adeline glanced at her husband and then at her mother-in-law. And then she replied, "We haven't seen her with the wings yet."
The Goddess nodded her head and then said to Adeline and Theodore, "I think she will be able to grow her wings soon. So you should let her know what to expect so that she won't get scared or confused. It's time that you start telling her about her lineage."
"We will start telling her," Theodore looked towards the door to his room where Ariel was currently playing.
Adeline and Theodore knew that the day would come when they would have to explain all the things to Ariel, without scaring her or making her confused.
And now that they needed to do so, they were a little nervous. There were so many things that Ariel needed to know and understand that they had a hard time just thinking about the starting point.
Ariel already knew some of the things though. Like how her father could do some magic tricks and how her mother had a flying horse.
She also knew that one of her cousins was a witch though she didn't know what that meant because Joyce was not allowed to perform spells outside of her class.
And Ariel had heard her other twin cousins boasting that their parents were werewolves. But again, she thought that they meant that her uncle Nigel and aunty Rhea were wolves in their past lives.
"I will go and call Ariel," Adeline got up and went towards the door.
She peeked from the door to see Ariel jumping on the bed and pretending to fly around. She really liked Damien's wings and wished that she would also have a pair.
Adeline smiled and called her daughter, "Ary, your granny is here to see you. Come."
"Granny is here?" Ariel excitedly climbed down from the bed and ran towards the door.
Adeline held the door for her daughter and watched her run towards the mother immortal.
"Granny!" Ariel happily shouted and stood in front of the bench where the Goddess was sitting. And then she held out her tiny hands and asked, "What did you bring for me?"
This had become a little ritual for Ariel and the Goddess. The Goddess would always bring small gifts for her granddaughter and Ariel would always expect one.
The Goddess smiled and put her hand inside her pocket. "Now, where did it go?" She pretended to search for a while and then took out a handful of candies that she had made herself.
Ariel joined both of her hands and gleefully watched as the candies filled her hands. "Thank you, granny. I love this candy."
"I know," the Divinity pinched Ariel's tiny nose and shook it.
Then she picked Ariel up and made her sit on the bench. "Shall I open one for you?"
Ariel nodded her head. Her mouth was already watering. And she happily watched her grandmother take one of the candies from her hand and take off the wrapper.
"Do aah," the Goddess brought the candy close to Ariel's mouth.
"Aah…" Ariel opened her mouth as wide as it would get. She gave a smile full of gratitude to her grandmother when the sweet taste of candy hit her tongue. And then put the rest of the candies on her lap and gathered her skirt's rim to hold the treats.
Adeline laughed at how her daughter was trying to hoard her candies instead of giving them to her or Theodore for safekeeping.
"Will you give them to me? I can keep them for you." Adeline asked her daughter.
Ariel looked at her candies and then at her mother. She kept one aside and gave all the others to Adeline.
"Good girl," Adeline ruffled her daughter's hair and kept the candies inside her pocket. And she said to her daughter, "Ary, your grandmother will do some magic on you, okay? So that you won't get lost like earlier."
Ariel stopped chewing her hard candy and asked in a mumble, "Can I still meet Damien?"
"Of course." Adeline gave a reassuring smile and said, "Your father will take you there if you want to meet him."
Ariel happily swung her legs. And she replied, "Then granny can do the magic. I don't want to get lost."
Adeline then glanced at her mother-in-law and gave a nod.
"Close your eyes, Ary," the goddess instructed the baby.
And when she did, the Goddess held out her palms on either side of Ariel's head and began the spell. A white glow entered Ariel's head.
Adeline was nervously clasping her hands together. Theodore also looked tensed. They both hoped that the spell wouldn't hurt Ariel.
Ariel furrowed her brows as though she was in pain. Both Adeline and Theodore felt a prick in their heart when they saw their daughter's expression. But it ended quickly.
"Okay, all done," the Goddess leaned down and kissed Ariel on the head.
Theodore and Adeline finally let out a deep sigh of relief.
The Goddess then instructed Theodore, "When you feel that Ariel is ready, ask me to lift the spell."
The three adults started talking about how they were going to get Ariel acquainted with all the peculiar things.
Ariel, on the other hand, went to one corner of the garden and picked a rock. And she started digging the soil to hunt some worms that were eating her favorite plants.
After a while, another guest arrived there in the cave.
He was beaming with a golden aura. His eyes were full of life. And so was his body – full of life and youth.
And a very familiar and husky voice resounded in the garden, "Oh, I was just testing my luck because I was bored. I should be very lucky that I found everyone here."
"Azizi…" Ariel flung the rock away and ran towards Azriel.
"Ary! You cannot call your uncle by his name!" Adeline lectured her daughter immediately.
But Azriel laughed and covered for his niece, "Oh, don't worry, Adeline. I love it when she calls me that." He chuckled again and picked Ariel up in his arms, "It's cute how she cannot even pronounce my name correctly."
Theodore wrinkled his nose and said skeptically, "You're forgetting that the two of you have similar names. She pronounces her name correctly."
He caressed his daughter's hair and teased his daughter, "This little devil just pretends not to know yours because you laugh every time she calls you Azizi."
As if to prove her father right, Ariel looked at her uncle's face and said in the cutest voice, "Azizi."
And without missing a beat, Azriel burst into laughter. "Ohhh… she sounds so cute… I cannot even… control myself."
"And Azizi sounds like a horse when he laughs."
Theodore instantly burst into laughter upon hearing that remark from his mischievous daughter. "That's so true!"
"Hey! You father and daughter are ganging up on me." Azriel was surprised by that bold remark from his niece. But he kept on laughing.
Ariel also laughed along with her father and uncle.
And the Goddess and Adeline also chuckled because thier laughter was very contagious.
Ariel looked at everyone with a proud look on her face. She was proud that she was able to make everyone laugh.