Ethan

Quiet voices broke him out of his dreamless stupor. Yawning, he crawled out of bed to investigate. Back closest to the walls, he shuffled to the stairway which led down into the I-screen room. Mother's door was closed, so he ducked forward past it to sit on the first step to get a glance at Father's many dressed friends. Most of them wore suits in different shades of black. Chalen never wore the same suits, often taking something simple and loose, but he was among them all the same. Jozten, Father's close follower, did his duty and stayed close to Father, with his own crisp suit as they waved some of the others down into the basement where Father often had special 'meetings'.

Ethan asked once what they did, but Father said, "We sit down and discuss business."

Business. He repeated the word in his head over and over. Sit down and discuss business. He shifted back when Father glanced his way, though didn't bring attention to him as he nodded at Jozten, then disappeared down into the basement, followed closely by Joz. Mother was always nervous around Jozten, and especially so around Father. Ethan glanced back at her door as he continued to sit in the silence of the stairway. Mother was always nervous when the suits came around.

Maybe that's why she likes Chalen. He doesn't wear suits. He stopped, considering the events from a couple days ago. Mother never played with him anymore, and he didn't wear suits. He switched his head back when he heard Keren fussing in the room across from Mothers, while his own rested in a dark corner, near Father's study.

He folded his hands and sat there, hoping to hear voices carrying from the basement. Keren continued to fuss and whine, so he forced himself off the stairway to peek into his brother's room. Keren was awake, like him. He drew further into the dark room as Keren wobbled in his protected bed. Green eyes wide, he sat on his knees to point at him.

"Ethis," he whispered.

"Ethan." Ethan headed up to him to stare.

"Ethis."

Ethan glanced back at his brother's door, then to him again. "Why are you awake?"

Keren stood up then pointed at Mother's chair. Ethan frowned. "Mother's sleeping."

Keren shook his head, then made another intense point. "No, Ethis. Blanket. Mamma forgot."

Ethan walked away from Keren to head back to his room. He stopped when Keren gave a soft whine, bouncing a bit against the safety railings of his bed. Ethan kept a grip on the handle, closing it and causing Keren to quiet. Opening it, Keren frowned deeper. Ethan repeated the process several times until Keren stared at him. He headed to Mother's chair, grabbing Keren's favourite blanket off the seat. Keren smiled wide as he approached.

He heaved the blanket up, then dropped all its weight on Keren, who gave a sound of surprise. Nothing more than a squirming pile of fabric, Keren found the exit and stared up at him. Keren held the blanket close. Ethan rolled his eyes then headed away from his brother without another word.

"Nighty, Ethis," Keren said as he reached the door. He held onto the handle, and dug his fingers into it when Keren repeated, "Nighty, Ethan."

Do better, Father's voice echoed in his head. Ethan breathed outwards, turning his head to his brother, who drew back with a frown. Do better. Don't let me see you stealing my cards. An invitation to try and sneak around Father, to get better. Ethan let go of the handle, while Keren fell quiet, clutching the blanket tighter. Do better, you're not allowed to fail.

What has gotten into you?

Ethan slowly moved up to Keren's bed. He gripped onto the safety railings, and Keren continued to stay quiet.

Shadows knew what he did in the silence.

"Goodnight, Keren," he said.

Keren relaxed, and as he turned to walk away, he came to a stop when Keren got up and stretched out his arms. Ethan frowned, then came closer to allow his baby brother to hug him. Aware of the watchful shadows, he held his brother before releasing him. "Go to bed." He walked away from Keren to leave the pressing walls and back to his room, in its lonely dark corner.

Morning came, and the routine fell into familiarity. Jozten drove him with Father. In the back, he sat in the silence, observing their faces when no words went between any of them. No goodbyes as Chalen and Mother would. He hopped out of the car, and at most, Father gave him a nod before the doors slid closed and they drove off.

In class, Urto and Jesti got into a deep discussion about who was taller, which devolved into a heated argument in Tersilian on the schoolyard. Most of all, Ethan wanted some peace and quiet. By the shallow pond, he sat on his favourite rock, schoolwork open while Urto and Jesti tried to compare heights with Jesti's stretchy toy. Nearby, Ms Beylett supervised his classmates.

"Urto!" Jesti screeched.

Ethan peeked over his work. Jesti and Urto stood at the pond's bank. Urto frowned deep as Jesti knelt down to reach his hand into it. Ms Beylett headed over, past Ethan. "What's going on?"

"Ms, Urto tossed my toy into the water!" Jesti whined.

"No, I didn't!" Urto snapped. "It bounced out of my hand! You shouldn't have bouncy toys!"

Ethan shoved his schoolwork back into his bag sitting against the rock to investigate the commotion. Ms Beylett raised her hands in placation. "Alright, how about we discuss this after we've found Jesti's toy?" She smiled at Urto, who gave a shy nod. Jesti jumped into the shallow pond to dig through the muck. Ms Beylett and Urto joined him.

Ethan stood there, confused.

"Ethanius?" she asked with a gentle smile to remind him of Mother. "You want to help?"

"Why?"

In a moment, the smile dropped to match Mother's nervousness, except it returned in the blink of an eye. "Well... It's good to help others who ask for it. It's the right thing to do."

Ethan stepped closer. "Will... Jesti let me have his toy?"

Ms Beylett frowned deeper at that. "Ethan, sometimes it's good to help people without asking for something in return. Having compassion and empathy for those in trouble is an important thing to have in our galaxy." She turned to Jesti, who fiddled with a cattail. Ms Beylett smiled at him, but he remained out of the water's edge, the pull of help.

Ethan shook his head, and Ms Beylett frowned deeper, with no smile returning. She headed over to help Urto and Jesti.

Help... because it's good? Ethan clutched his hands as they continued to dig through the muck. He inched closer to the edge, staring deep into his reflection, where the embered starlight fell around him when he burnt the paper to ash.

Do better, don't let me catch you.

Ethan waited for them to circle to the other side of the pond before peeking at the edge. He spotted Jesti's strange rubber toy, reaching into the water's chill. His grip found the stretchy rubber, pulling it out of the mud when everyone's backs had turned on him. He shook it out while they continued to search.

Search for something so close.

Ethan headed back to his bag, shoving it into one of the pockets before zipping it up. He turned back to the other three as they failed to find Jesti's toy, and would never find it. He frowned when Ms Beylett caught his eye, something thoughtful, but no less concerned.

Why is she concerned about me? Jesti's the one that shouldn't have lost his toy so easily.

He headed away from the pond to head to the arts and crafts room. No one rested in there, and the supervisor bots powered down. He dipped JEsti's toy in clean water, cleaning off the mud and grime before shoving it back into his bag when the bell rang.

Ethan sat at his desk, listening to the supervising bots chirp at classmates. Jesti continued to bemoan his lost toy, with Urto apologizing for his actions, offering to share his holotoy with Jesti, who perked up at the motion.

Kindness.

He worked at his desk quietly, though noticed Ms Beylett considering him.

Don't let me catch you.

Ethan gripped onto his pencil before taking his work book up to place it in the small hand in box. All the other children laughed or whined, but he remained silent, watching, observing. He let go of his workbook as Ms Beylett returned her attention to a couple of bickering classmates. Ethan drew back to return to his desk, while Urto and Jesti continued to play together with the holotoy.

When the end of the day came around, Jozten picked him up again, but no Father. He stayed in the back seat, sitting in the silence. Ethan opened up his bag to take a second look at the toy. Out of the confines of Father's car, he headed into the house, where a meal simmered on the stove. Mother stood at it, brow tightened into thin wrinkles.

"How was your day?" she asked with a smile.

Ethan opened his mouth, but shut it, causing Mother to frown. "It was a day," he settled before rushing past her up the stairs. He threw his bag back into his room, taking out the freshened toy, heading to Keren's room.

Keren sat at his tower, considering it before switching his attention quickly onto Ethan.

"Keren," he said.

"Eth...an," Keren drew out and sat cross-legged to stare up at him. "Momma making dinner."

"I saw." Ethan knelt down onto his level. "Do you want to play?"

Keren widened his eyes. "Tower?"

Ethan shook his head, then held out the stretchy toy. Keren grabbed one end, pulling hard. It wriggled, and he clutched onto the squirming half with his other hand. Ethan let go, causing it to bounce into his brother's arms. Keren waved it around, a gleeful expression on his face.

It wriggled with every motion, bouncing along. His brother kept a tighter grip on it than Jesti had. Ethan sat in front of his brother to observe his playful demeanor while Mother bustled about downstairs.

Keren got up to head to his toy box, tossing the stretchy toy deep into it. Ethan frowned when he drew out a toy ship, which lit up when Keren pressed a button. He shuffled up to him, holding it.

"Best toy," he said. "This one flies."

Keren pressed another toy, and it hovered in the air between them in silence.

Ethan stared at his brother as he pushed the ship around himself with an expression of endless wanderlust. He went back to the chest to grab the stretchy toy again, sticking the ship to the end of it. He moved the ship around with much greater ease and a large smile.

He got up, while the water continued to lick across his hands.