Yousei no Kuni

by Yuuki-hiro

Two - Important Lesson to be learnt: Don't Get Caught!

"Boys, can I come in?" Not really expecting an answer, Inoran pushed opened the door and went into the boys' room.

Both Die and Kyo were huddled together in Kyo's bed. Die was sobbing while Kyo was bawling into his big brother's chest.

"Oh…." Inoran sighed as he settled himself onto the bed.

"Mommy~!" Kyo brawled out loud as he turned around and lurched himself towards Inoran's opened arms. Die, despite being a few seasons older than Kyo, was still nevertheless a young elf-ling, scrambled into his mother's warm embrace.

"Oh my babies…" Inoran started to hum a smoothing tune, calming the boys down. By the time the tune was over, both elf-lings were not crying anymore. With their puffy red eyes and redden noses, they looked like little pixie-faced rabbits, only instead of normal sky pointing ears, theirs were currently drooping down.

"Better now?" Inoran asked. Both boys nodded, "Want to tell me what happened?"

Both boys were silent, then Die spoke, "There was a surprise test today…."

"Non of us in school were prepared for it…" Kyo continued, " so we decided to prevent the test from taking place…. "

"By setting off the 'Forest Fire' alarm….." Die ended.

"Mh….." Inoran was thoughtful.

"We were very careful about it, honest!" Kyo eagerly added, "Nii-chan even used his magic stone to create illusion smoke in the wheat fields!!"

"And we were sure that no one saw us setting the alarm off!!" Die added, his eyes wide and his ears twitched as he stated his case.

"Did you use a Shield Spell?" Inoran asked.

"Yes!" Both boys answered.

"Mh, show me." Inoran ushered the boys off the bed and made the boys show him what they did. When the boys were done, Inoran was frowning.

"Mommy?"

"No wonder you two were caught, your incantation wasn't complete. I can see both of your feet the whole time!"

The boys looked shocked as their mother told them their mistake.

"And no wonder your Daddy was so pissed. Both of you made the biggest mistake any fairy in Faerie can ever make, and that is to get caught. What if a human was to catch you? Can you imagine the consequences?"

The boys truly looked guilty now that they have realised their grave error.

Inoran pouted, staring at his two boys with disapproval, "Before bedtime tonight, I want you both to copy down, 100 times, the right Shield Spell incantation, get it?"