#kid sylvain | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

callmewishful · 4 months

Text

Man this took a totally different turn than I planned. Gautier Family Week day 3: Duties (ish? lol)

(There is hunting and the stuff that goes with it in this, just as a fair warning. Nothing graphic though!)

.—.

Miklan watched from the side of the bed as his second mother gently brushed back a mess of flaming red hair. The baby had been born many hours ago, but this was the first time Miklan got to see him.

“What do you think, Miklan?” His mother asked. Miklan had already been forewarned that this was a trick question.

Truthfully, Miklan wasn’t sure what to think. The baby was a weird shade of red and kind of boring. That brought the little bundle in his mother’s arms into a negative light. He had been told that having a little sibling would be fun. If all this baby did was sleep, how could he be any fun?

Still, no matter Miklan’s true feelings, he had been informed that he should give positive responses only. His mother had gone through many hours of pain and the least Miklan could do for her was be polite. “I dunno. He’s quiet.”

Miklan did think the baby was polite to be so silent. Nieve had said that the baby would cry and be loud. But the baby gained a little of Miklan’s good feelings by proving Nieve a liar. Since Miklan had been in the room, it hadn’t cried once.

“He’s very sleepy.” She told him, looking far more tired than the little baby. Even more tired than after the night her and Miklan had stayed up because he had been sick. He decided then that he didn’t want a baby.

When Sylvain got even older, Miklan found he was good at listening and asking questions to understand things. That was probably Miklan’s favorite. He liked teaching a little brother and showing him cool things. He liked when Sylvain stared up at him with big wondrous eyes. Syl was super curious and asked so many questions of Miklan, just like Mik used to do to their father. He wondered if Sylvain thought Miklan knew everything, just like Miklan thought Father knew everything. That was a cool thought.

To make things even better, Sylvain was kinda fun. He followed Miklan around and did what Miklan asked him to and never complained about getting dirty or having to be quiet while they snuck around like some of the other kids did. In fact, Sylvain seemed to like just about anything as long as he got to hang around Miklan. Mother and Nieve had been right. It was fun to have someone to play with all the time.

Miklan and Sylvain’s favorite thing to do was play spy. They’d tiptoe around the manor and listen to gain information. Father didn’t like it when they played the game with him, so they played with manor staff and Mother instead. They usually didn’t play for long because most older people talked about boring stuff like Lady Fraldarius having a baby, King Lambert enacting some new law, or Galatea soil not producing any crops. But every now and then, they’d hear something really good like the cook was baking cookies for dessert or a wild beast was on the loose in the woods.

Sylvain tugged hard on Miklan’s arm. “We gotta investi-bate!” Sylvain was only four, so he didn’t say things so good sometimes. He had the right sentiment though.

“Of course we do! We gotta protect Gautier from the beasts! Come on, Syl! We gotta grab our weapons and armor!”

Both boys took off running towards the armory. Even though they were small, they got to keep their weapons with the big knights. It made them feel just as important.

Miklan helped tuck a blanket into the back of Sylvain’s jacket so it fluttered like a cape. Sylvain wasn’t big enough to have armor yet so blanket padding would have to do it. Armor really just absorbed the hits anyway. Blankets would probably do the same thing.

Miklan put his armor on and grabbed his axe and a lance. Father taught him that it was important to have a backup weapon in case your first one broke. He handed Sylvain two small lances as well, warning him to be careful because it was sharp. They couldn’t fight beasts without real weapons.

Sylvain was good at memorizing routes, so Miklan let him lead the way west while Mik strategized their plan. The beast was probably pretty big so they had to account for that because they were small, especially Sylvain. Maybe Sylvain could provide long-distant support like an archer. Miklan wore heavy armor to be able to take hits up front. He could distract the beast while Sylvain snuck up on it! Sylvain was little and quiet. It would work perfectly!

They walked for a long time through the snow, Miklan sharing his master plan with Sylvain. Both boys agreed it would work wonderfully, and Sylvain was excited to get to help even though he was small.

After wading through heavier and deeper snow, Sylvain stopped, eyes bright while he tapped Miklan’s arm. “Look!” He pointed to their left. Miklan grinned.

It was the beast.

The animal was big and tall, meaty and mighty. Light brown fur coated its back and legs, though it had a little scruff of white on its neck. Sharp pointy horns sat upon its head. They’d have to watch out for those when attacking.

It didn’t notice them yet, so Miklan took this opportunity to rediscuss the plan. As soon as he stepped closer to kneel by Sylvain, the beast’s head snapped up. They’d have to be extra quiet if they wanted to catch this.

Miklan placed his finger to his lips. He pulled out his lance and showed Sylvain how to position it to throw. They’d never be able to sneak up on it with the beast being this jumpy, which meant they’d both have to go for a long range attack. Miklan held up his left hand to count them off. One…two…three!

They both threw their lances as hard as they could. And they stuck! Both lances got the beast in the back leg; Miklan’s in the upper, Sylvain’s in the lower. The beast took off running, hobbling a bit with its injury.

“CHARGE!” Sylvain shouted, pointing after the beast. His little legs took off as fast as he could go, which wasn’t that quick. Miklan hoisted Syl up over his shoulder so they could go fast. He didn’t want to miss the monster!

With the beast’s slowness and the little trickle of blood to help them, the boys tracked the monster to its next stopping point. It was harder to keep quiet with his heavy breathing, but Miklan silently took Sylvain’s final lance to make one last attack. He knew that hearts were closer to the front of most beasts, so that’s exactly where he aimed.

Back on the ground, Sylvain’s little hands were gripped into tight fists, teeth clenched in anticipation of the strike. Miklan slowly brought the lance forward over his shoulder, practicing the throw before lunging it forward. Direct hit!

The mighty beast fell hard and Sylvain screamed a great cheer! They had done it!

Sylvain jumped up and down following behind Miklan to check out their triumphant victory. Miklan took out the lances and cleaned them against the wet snow while Sylvain admired the pointy horns of the animal.

“We did good.” He announced with an emphasizing nod. Miklan agreed.

Together, one boy on each set of horns, they pulled the mighty beast back to the manor. It was getting dark out, though thanks to Sylvain’s memory and Miklan’s directional skills, they were still able to find the right path home back home. As they got closer and closer, they could hear shouting but couldn’t make out what was being said.

“Another beastie!” Sylvain determined, dropping his half of the animal to run forward. His little blanket flapped behind him as he went, partially covered in red blood.

As he got closer, he realized that people weren’t shouting over a beast. They were shouting for him and Miklan. He listened closer and thought he could hear Mother and Father among the voices.

“Momma!” He shouted, running ahead again. The thought of his mother and father being attacked pushed energy through him.

Phelan heard him coming, she always did, and he collapsed into her safe arms.

“Oh Goddess.” The woman inspected him, eyes wide. “Matthias! Matthias, bring a healer!”

Sylvain didn’t understand the urgency. He was fine. A little tired and heavily breathing from the running, but fine.

His father ran up to them, crouching down so he could inspect Sylvain for himself. He grabbed Syl from his mother’s grip and started taking his coat off. “Where are you hurt, Sylvain? Where’s Miklan?”

Phelan looked past their younger son then, trying to spot Miklan from where Sylvain had come from.

“M’not hurt.” Sylvain told them. “Miklan has the beast!”

Both parents stopped then, staring at Sylvain with frowns and worried expressions.

“The beast?” Matthias asked.

“It has horns!” Sylvain exclaimed excitedly. “But we got it. Miklan ran fast!”

The adults shared a confused look between them. Sylvain wasn’t sure why. Him and Miklan saw a beast and saved the town! What was hard about that?

“Where is Miklan?” Matthias asked again. He did this often when he couldn’t understand what Sylvain was saying. Miklan was better at explaining things because he knew more stuff.

“Back there with the beast.” Sylvain pointed in the direction he’d come from. His father told his mother to take Sylvain inside before running off in the direction Sylvain pointed in.

Phelan scooped up the little boy and started to bring him towards the manor. They had just met up with the healer when his father started shouting for his mother again. She shared a look Sylvain couldn’t read with the healer and turned back.

Breaking the clearing was his father and brother, Matthias holding the beast up with one hand by the horns. Sylvain marveled at his father’s strength. The beast had been heavy for Sylvain, even with Miklan’s help.

Phelan looked from Matthias to Sylvain, lips pressed together in a thin line. She looked like she wanted to say something, but wasn’t sure what. It took her until Matthias and Miklan were only a few feet away but she finally asked, “What the hell is going on?”

Matthias sighed, looking from the animal back to her again. “Apparently I need to take my sons hunting more often.”

#these kids!!#I love them so so much #we need more good sibling content #miklan anschutz gautier #also #Matthias teaching Miklan to carry two weapons because Matthias’s broke when trying to save rodrigue #yes #gautierfamilyweek #sylvain jose gautier #matthias raoul gautier #oc: Phelan Mirela Gautier

14 notes · View notes