Page 63 of All That Has Flown Beyond
“Okay. Um. Amaya, grab that paper and pen. Um, let’s write the steps for the desk first, yeah? Dad, what do you think? Where should we start? And you guys can give suggestions when he’s said something but don’t shout,” Isla said to Ahmik and Thea.
“We’re not going to shout,” Thea said. Everybody managed to refrain from rolling their eyes.
With her dad’s help, Isla managed to guide them into setting out the steps for the desk and then asked Amaya and Ahmik to get started on it while the rest of them wrote out the steps for the cabinet. When they were done, Thea and Isla started on the cabinet with Emil supervising both.
They exceeded the twenty minutes quickly, but Kaiyo let them be. The actual building of the structures wasn’t complicated. The desk was finished first, but Isla asked Ahmik and Amaya to watch instead of butting in. Soon, the cabinet was finished too.
They all stepped back, beaming.
“Well. Mission accomplished. Well done, Isla,” Kaiyo said.
“That was great, honey!” Thea said, giving Isla a kiss on the cheek whilst Ahmik ruffled her hair.
“That was way more than twenty minutes,” Isla protested, blushing.
“So?” Amaya said. “Well done, kiddo.”
“What went right?” Kaiyo asked.
“She had a plan first. She delegated and listened. And she separated the terrible two,” Emil said, pointing at Ahmik and Thea on the last comment. Thea poked her tongue out at him, but she could hardly argue against the statement.
“Exactly. First, make sure you’re aware of your resources, both material and in terms of skill. A leader is not the one who does everything. Quite the opposite. They are the one who oversees and so should know how to delegate in order to be able to do that. They must be able to take advice but make the ultimate decision. Teamwork, guys. That was the lesson, in case it escaped anyone,” Kaiyo said.
“So, I’m a crappy leader,” Ahmik said, trying to make it sound like a joke. Kaiyo looked at him.
“This isn’t just about you. This is about the pack as a whole. You need to learn how to trust them, Ahmik. And they need to trust you in turn. Isla trusted that her dad knew better than her when it came to construction, and that’s okay. It made her a better leader, not a worse one, to do less than him. Believe in your pack, and they’ll believe in you.”
Ahmik’s eyes were serious as he looked back at him. Kaiyo was suddenly hit by another version of Ahmik. Younger, lost in the aftermath of loss, desperate to fit into the sudden role of Kephale.
It’d been too much to ask of someone at that age after what had happened. But life often demands more than you feel you can give. Ahmik didn’t have to forgive it his loss, but he had to accept it. His fear of failure was only driving him towards it.
“Okay. I think we deserve a break,” Kaiyo said. Edu smacked his hands together.
“Look at my wise little guy!” Thea laughed, walking towards Kaiyo to take Edu from him. The tension around them eased.
Kaiyo glanced back at Ahmik for a moment. Ahmik’s green eyes were still on him.
Kaiyo didn’t want to know what lay within their forest depths.
**********
“I’m guessing you know that Isla’s Ousía is conductive,” Kaiyo said, sitting in Thea and Emil’s living room. The two werewolves looked at each other where they sat on the couch.
“Yeah. I mean…we haven’t told her. We, just…what could we do about it? We don’t have anybody to train her—it would just frustrate her,” Thea said. Kaiyo said nothing about the wisdom of that choice. He didn’t know what it was like to have to constantly make choices that you thought would be best for your child.
“Well, I know I’m only here for a year, but I would be happy to start her training. She’s young, so it can just be the basics. She’s only recently manifested, so…” He didn’t add how confusing it must have been, to manifest without knowing what the experience was.
“Really? You’d be happy to do that?” Emil asked.
Kaiyo nodded. “I’d love to.”
Isla stepped into the living room warily when she was called.
“What is it?” she asked, looking between the three of them.
“Sit down for a sec,cariño,” Emil asked, patting the space beside him on the couch. After a moment, Isla walked over to them, sitting down.
“Don’t worry, it’s nothing bad,” Kaiyo assured. Isla did not look comforted, so he went right to the point. “Remember when we talked about different types of Ousía?” Kaiyo started, recalling one of the conversations they’d had in another of Isla’s visits to his conservatory.
