"Understood, Mummy," Lyra said, bowing her head in that ridiculously formal way she'd copied from Damar when he was pretending to listen to tribe elders.
She stepped forward, her posture perfectly erect, and effortlessly took Sora from my arms.
Sora immediately giggled, her pale snow-tiger ears flattening as she buried her face in Lyra's perfectly braided silver hair. Lyra didn't flinch, but her tail did the 'thing' where she's excited to be holding her baby siblings but her face doesn't show it.
"Come, Kaelen," Lyra directed her sharp emerald eyes down at the black-haired menace currently dangling from my left arm. "If you try to bite my boots, I will submerge you in the aqueduct pool myself."
Kaelen blinked his wide, dark wolf eyes, let out a tiny, high-pitched yip, and immediately let his limbs go limp, allowing Lyra to scruff him with her free hand.
