Chapter 113 - Toddler Trouble

Once Dory had finished settling little Celyn, she came back out into the nursery and looked round for Rhonwyn to carry on teaching her to walk.  When she realised that the toddler wasn't where she had left her she began to panic.  

"Elenie!  Where's Rhonwyn?  What's happened to her?"

Elenie put Bronwyn down and looked around for her other daughter, who was nowhere to be seen.  Turning back to her mother she attempted to calm her down.

"Mother, stop panicking, she's only little; she can't have gone far, she can't even manage the stairs yet.  We just need to keep calm and we'll find her.

As Elenie said this, Dory suddenly spotted a movement in the toybox behind her.   Rhonwyn dropped down into the toybox immediately, but it was too late, her grandma had already seen her.

Dory opened the lid of ther toybox and plucked Rhonwyn straight out.  "You little mischief you...  What were you doing hiding in that toybox?"  

Rhonwyn just looked up at her and giggled merrily.  Shaking her head Dory laughed.  "Imp!  Now, you show grandma how well you can walk."

When Ieaun got home from work, they took a break from teaching the twins to walk in order to potty train them for a while.

When that was done, Dory went downstairs to cook dinner while Elenie and Ieaun continued teaching the twins to walk.

The next day dawned sunny and bright, if a little chilly, and since Ieaun had the day off work the family decided to pay a visit to the autumn fair.  The first thing they did on arriving was to get a family photograph.

That done, Elenie and Ieaun took the twins to a small playground which was fenced off within the fairground.  There were a number of toddler rides there and Bronwyn chose a horse to ride, whilst Rhonwyn opted for a dragon.

They had a lot of fun, squealing to each other and their parents while they bounced backwards and forwards.  Eventually however, Elenie and Ieaun decided that ride time was over; Bronwyn happily raised her arms to her mother to be taken off but Rhonwyn resisted, folding her tiny arms and pouted as she chanted "no, no, no!  D'agon!" until Ieaun was forced to simply lift her off despite her struggles.

As soon as the two of them had been put down, Rhonwyn dived for the toybox and started pulling out toys.  Seeing that the two of them were settling down to play, Elenie and Ieaun left them and Celyn being watched over by Dory (and Ffion the fox).

Ffion showed a lot of interest in Rhonwyn, sniffing her carefully while Bronwyn played quietly with a toy.

After a while, Ffion wandered off to look for something and left the twins happily playing with toys.  As they played, Rhonwyn suddenly crowed " 'ook 'win!  Toy go poof!"

Bronwyn giggled and responded "Toy come bac!"

While the twins were discovering their new ability, Elenie challenged Ieaun to a pie eating contest.

It didn't take long though for Rhonwyn in particular to become bored with making toys disappear and come back and, waiting until Celyn started to fuss and distracted Dory, she tugged at her twin and whispered "splore!" before toddling off.

Not wanting to be left alone, Bronwyn merrily followed her twin, catching up with her as they reached the gate to the kids playground.  Spotting the "haunted house" set up across the fairground, they exchanged glances, giggled and headed towards it.

Unfortunately for the two of them, just as they reached it, Elenie found them.  She swooped down and caught Rhonwyn up in her arms, unerringly identifying the ringleader and telling Bronwyn to stay where she was.

Once she had hold of Rhonwyn she began tickling her ferociously "little mischief, where were you two off to?  Do you know what happens to naughty little girls?  They get tickled!"

Looking down at Bronwyn she added "Come along now, it's your little brother's birthday now and you're missing it!"

Alas, when she got the two of them back to where Dory and Celyn were waiting, Celyn had already aged up to a toddler.

A few days later, Elenie decided to pay her younger brother a visit on her own as there were things she wanted to discuss with Coryn.

Once she had told him all about the twins and Celyn, expounding at length on the antics that Rhonwyn regularly led her twin into, she asked about his life.

Coryn sighed "Things haven't exactly gone to plan for me.  I still love painting and art, but it's not worked as a career move, instead I'm teaching art to the kids here.  Nicola and I drifted apart after we left school; we're not seeing each other any more and I've not found anyone else."

Elenie hugged him "Oh, Coryn, I'm sorry!  Did you want to move home rather than live on your own?"

Coryn laughed, "Oh, it's not that bad,  I've found I actually rather enjoy my solitude so don't worry about me!"

Elenie looked at him carefully "Well, if you're sure..." she trailed off before taking a deep breath "There was something I wanted to talk to you about though."

Coryn narrowed his eyes "Mother.  You want to know why I don't want to see her.  I know you've said she was under all sorts of spells, but father tried to bespell me and it didn't work.  She should have fought his spells."

He took a deep breath to calm himself before continuing "Leaving that aside however, I'm wary.  Father was too powerful to let her and you go so easily, how do you know all his spells are gone from her?  You said yourself that he left a lot of damage in her head, especially her memories, what if he left more spells to be triggered later when we all trust her? "

Elenie considered that for a moment, "But, Coryn, it wasn't easy.  Ieaun died and I would have too if Evie and Talfryn hadn't come when they did.  Besides, your father is dead, his queen killed him for his failure - doesn't that suggest what happened wasn't planned?"

"Perhaps.  Do you mind if I think on this alone for a while?"

Back at home, Dory was teaching Celyn to walk while the twins played together with blocks, building structures and destroying them again.

As Dory concentrated on Celyn, she didn't notice the twins discussing their ability to disappear their toys...

"Toy go poof!  Poof!  Where toy go?"

"D'no, go poof, come bac"

"We go poof!  We fin' ou'!"

They continued discussing this idea for a while and watched their grandma, looking for their opportunity.  After a while, Celyn began to fuss and Dory took him to the rocking chair to calm him. 

 The twins watched and waited until Dory drifted off into a doze before quietly putting their bricks down and sneaking out of the playroom in search of somewhere to try their idea without interruptions.

They settled on Dory's bedroom and plonked themselves on the floor to practice with their toys before attempting anything more advanced.  

As they did so, Bronwyn said "me no go, 'win go, me stay"

"Bu, bu, why?"  Rhonwyn crinkled her forehead in confusion

"We go, no com bac, me stay, bring 'win bac"

Rhonwyn wasn't convinced on this idea, but Bronwyn stuck to her position and the two of them concentrated on the feeling they had when they disappeared their toys, but focussing that on Rhonwyn instead, and then in a puff of smoke, Rhonwyn was gone.

As the smoke formed around her, Rhonwyn closed her eyes instinctively and when she opened them again, she was somewhere else, staring up at a group of photographs.

____________________________________________________________________

Author's note: since you don't really get a good look at Rhonwyn due to the effects of her being a ghost, I decided to take pictures of both twins in CAS/Stylist so you can see what she's like properly.  Bronwyn is first (in purple) and the Rhonwyn (in blue)