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First Flight "Aidan! It's good to see you again!" Shauna hugged him with her usual all-out exuberance. She never did anything by halves. Flame Song smiled tolerantly. She still felt a faint pang of sorrow to see this other woman, and she always would, but she had come to like Shauna. "Dad." The solemn aerian boy greeted Aidan with much less enthusiasm. He seemed a bit unsure what to think of his seldom-seen father. Aidan smiled at him and held out his hand, not wanting to push an unwanted hug on the child. "Damien." The boy hesitantly smiled back and shook hands. He was eight years old now, and was very pleased to be treated like an adult. He took after his mother more than his father, a sturdy boy with sandy blond hair and gray eyes, of fairly average height for his age. The only sign that Aidan had fathered him was the pair of white-feathered wings on his back. He had them folded now, but Aidan could see that he had flight feathers this time. He hadn't had them when Aidan had last been there roughly two years previous. "Looks like you've come into your flight feathers," said Aidan. A sullen look crossed the boy's face. "Yes." Aidan raised an inquisitive eyebrow and looked over at Shauna. "That's part of the reason why I'm so glad to see you," she said. "He ought to be able to fly by now, but he refuses to even try." "I see." Aidan looked back at his son. The boy was glaring at him, radiating a kind of aggressive tension. Aidan smiled. "Well, no point in tackling that right now. We only just arrived. We can talk about it some other time." A little bit of the tension went out of Damien at that. Aidan had a suspicion he knew what lay behind the boy's refusal, but it would take a little time to sort it out, and he and Flame had only just landed. "Yes. Here, I've gotten the guest room ready for you. Come on." Shauna opened the door of her house and went inside with Aidan and Flame Song trailing behind her. They had both been slightly uncomfortable with it the first time they'd visited, but Shauna had insisted that they stay with her and not at the inn. And although she didn't bother to hide how much she liked Aidan, she had done nothing at all beyond smiles and hugs, which had eventually set them both at ease. She insisted on cooking for them as well, and by the time the light started to fade they were gathered in the kitchen. "I like to think I'm a fairly good cook," said Shauna. "I think that you are one," said Flame. "This is excellent." Damien didn't say anything, he was too busy eating. Aidan chuckled. "It almost makes me sad I can't join you," he said. He was sitting at the table with them, but there was no plate in front of him. "Almost?" Shauna looked curious. Aidan shrugged. "I'm quite happy with my own means of gaining sustenance." "I would think it would get kind of boring." "It hasn't so far. And the other benefits are more than worth it, most of the time." "So if you could go back to being alive, I mean alive like most people are, you wouldn't?" Aidan considered this. "I'm not sure, actually... Probably not though. If I weren't a vampire I'd have died several times by now. Maybe I wouldn't have taken those risks if I'd still been alive in the normal sense, but maybe I would have." Damien had stopped eating and was looking at Aidan with a peculiar intensity. When Aidan looked back, he dropped his eyes and went back to his food. I wonder what that's all about? I think I need to talk to him. There's something going on there...
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