Page 15 of The Elven Healer's Apprentice

Ignoring both the mother and me, Adela shoved her face so close to the child’s that their noses almost touched. “Shush!” she commanded without raising her voice.

To my utter astonishment, the boy complied. Closing his mouth with a moist hiccup, he regarded her with earnestly luminous eyes. “Bub?” he asked.

Adela reared back and eyed him sternly, hands on her hips. “No.”

“Why?” His bottom lip stuck out as he regarded her innocently.

“Because badly behaved children don’t get what they want. Use your words, not your screams. Calm yourself and then we can talk.”

The boy wailed. “Buuub!”

Ignoring him, Adela turned to the mother. “Have you been indulging him?”

“No.” But the way Ethe avoided Adela’s eyes negated her protest.

Hugion’s wails intensified, but Adela continued the conversation as though nothing untoward was happening. “He knows how to talk. Insisting that he use his words instead of wailing is important.”

“I try, but he doesn’t obey.”

“Then you give in, right?”

Ethe nodded reluctantly. Giving up on crying, the boy had begun hiccupping and sniffling in the most pathetic manner.

“That is why he keeps wailing. Every time you give in, you encourage the behavior.”

“So, I bring him to you.” The mother gestured to the child. “I don’t know what to do with him. He won’t listen to me.”

Adela caught Ethe’s hand. “Then make him listen. You are his mother. I cannot be his mother; you must.”

To my surprise, Adela’s soothing tone cut through the mother’s apparent anxiety. My instinct would’ve been to be harder and firmer in my communication, perhaps even shocking in my bluntness to cut through the patient’s clear lack of compliance. But this human woman’s calm tones and gentle firmness were making headway.

“But he won’t respond. He rages and rants.”

“Then you wait.”

“He will hit me.”

“Restrain him gently, tell him no, and place him where he can’t hurt anyone until he calms himself.”

“He will hold his breath.”

Adela smiled slightly, as though the complaint triggered a fond memory. “If he is anything like a human child, he can’t do himself harm by holding his breath. If he is stubborn enough to hold it until he passes out, his body will resume breathing again on its own.” She glanced my way, as though to confirm this.

I didn’t confirm or deny.

She smiled warmly at the mother. “Hugion will listen when he sees his efforts to force your hand do not sway you. Remember what I told you last time? Children need firm but gentle guidance. You can provide that.”

Ethe didn’t appear convinced.

“Isn’t that right, Hugion?” Adela turned to the now- silent child watching them with wide intelligent eyes.

“Bub?” he asked.

“Yes, you may have a hug.” Scooping the shadow elf child into her arms as though he were the most precious thing, Adela hugged him tight against her. “Are you going to listen to your mother now?”

Something deep in my chest stirred at the sight. Surreptitiously, I rubbed at the ache manifesting in the center of my chest.

The child chattered a bunch of incomprehensible gibberish. Meanwhile, the mother watched the human and her child as though observing a strange beast. “He only wanted a hug?” she asked.

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