————————☾♛☽ through dangers untold ☾♛☽——

             Patience was quickly becoming a thing of the past.

                Arriving home from a late shift at work, Bard was confronted by Tilda’s toys strewn all over the living room, pizza boxes on the couch (he had said no to Bain on the phone, he was certain of it), and none of his children seemed even remotely ready for bed. He had a fine suspicion what he would hear if he even dared to inquire after homework.

                The three of them were speaking all at once, Tilda excitedly waving a storybook back and forth (it was late, so late, so very past her bedtime already, why wasn’t she asleep?), and Bard’s temple throbbed with barely contained frustration (God, he was tired).

                “Da! Da! I want to read this one tonight, can we, Da? It’s about a boy and the Goblin Queen, and he gets taken away to her kingdom by her goblins–”

                “I wish the goblins would come take you away right now,” Bard snapped. Silence was his answer, three sets of shocked eyes staring at him. Rarely did their father have an outburst like this. He regretted it immediately, and made ready to apologize.

                And wouldn’t that have been a nice, s i m p l e ending to his evening?