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Aeliana had spent much of her life so far around horses. She already knew how to approach them safely and loved being near them. But today she hesitated.
"It's all mine?" she asked, slightly awed.
"She is," Laurent agreed.
"She's a girl pony?"
"Yes. What do you want to name her?"
Aeliana looked at her father like he was being purposely stupid. Nikandros found it hilarious to see that look – a tiny copy of the one Laurent himself often wore at court – being directed at Laurent himself. "She's called Pony," Aeliana answered, as if that were a foregone conclusion that Laurent should already be aware of. That was what Laurent got for thinking he should allow a barely five-year-old girl to name something herself. Though it could have been worse. Her patchwork doll had borne the moniker 'Queen Magic Sunshine Sparkles', according to Aeliana.
Laurent's lips twitched. "Is she? She might prefer a more unique name so that she isn't mistaken for all the other ponies."
"There aren't other ponies here," Aeliana told him solemnly. "They're all horses."
Damen laughed. "She's got you there."
"Yes, well, that will change in a couple of years when your brother grows big enough to ride as well."
Aeliana shrugged. "So?" It sounded exactly like how she must have heard Nicaise say the exact same thing at least a hundred times over the years. Nikandros saw a yelling match in their future when she refused to change her mind about this.
"I could help her come up with a better name for it," Nicaise offered slyly.
"No," said Laurent, Damen and Nikandros in unison.
"How about we deal with naming her later. You can make friends with her and go for a ride first," Laurent suggested.
Aeliana agreed to that in a way that made Nikandros think there was exactly no chance that she was giving up 'Pony' as a name, but that she was willing to let her father think she might if it meant she could ride the animal already.
Laurent helped her up into the saddle. She excitedly bounced in place. The as-yet-unnamed pony was thankfully good-natured and calm enough to seem unbothered.
It was hardly the first time Aeliana had been on a horse, but doing it alone was a lot different than when she was more or less sitting in Damen's lap. Laurent tried to show her how to sit in the correct position and hold the reins.
"I know. I can do it myself," Aeliana said stubbornly. She might have Akielon colouring, but there was really no question about whose child she was. Nikandros was pretty sure that her tutors were going to secretly hate her, even while they were outwardly pretending to fawn over her as the rest of the kingdom did.
"I'm sure you could," Laurent said. "But shall we wait around while you figure it out, or shall we get you actually riding as soon as possible?"
Aeliana glared at her father for daring to question her skills, but ultimately let him teach her.
Eventually, Laurent took the lead line. Continuing to watch Aeliana like a hawk and thereby making sure that she was moving well with the shifting of the pony and was in absolutely no danger of losing her seat, he guided the animal into a slow walk.
Not to be outdone by his sister, Helios was riding atop his own 'horse'. Perched on Damen's shoulders, with his father's large hands entirely engulfing his shins so that Damen could hold the boy safely in place, Helios looked tiny to Nikandros's eyes. He clutched his fingers in Damen's curls, trying to use his grip to 'steer' his father to follow alongside Aeliana and her mount. Damen obliged, trailing happily just behind his husband. The moment they started moving, Helios opened his mouth and started making an over-excited whooping sound. It would have been impossible to believe that amount of noise was coming out of a body so small if Nikandros hadn't already frequently been treated to evidence of Helios's strong set of lungs.
"You'll wake the entire palace, Little Hellion," Nikandros scolded. Apparently, he was the only one among them who could actually be bothered to impose any discipline about such things.
"So?" Nicaise said. "Scream louder, kid. If I'm awake at this hour of the morning, everyone else should have to be as well."
"No one made you come down here," Nikandros reminded him. "You could have gone back to sleep."
"You took my pillow away."
"I didn't –"
Nicaise cut him off by demonstratively leaning so the side of his face was pressed against Nikandros's shoulder. Oh.
Nicaise didn't move away once his point was proven, but he did shift just enough so that he could silently watch the Kings and their children making a loop around the expanse of grass. Aeliana was calling out, "Faster!" to absolutely no avail, for Laurent wasn't having that at all. Helios had replaced his yelling with giggling, much to the relief of everyone's eardrums. Their parents were both smiling, though Damen's grin was more open and obvious. Laurent's soft smile was more covert. It was almost a mirror to Nicaise's face just then.
Nikandros was fairly certain that the real reason Nicaise had tagged along was less to do with Nikandros leaving him alone in bed, and more because he'd wanted to be there for the excitement when Aeliana received her nameday gift and rode it for the first time. Nicaise could pretend he found the two royal children unbearable all he wanted, but Nikandros knew the truth of how he felt.
He wondered what would happen if they revisited that particular conversation sometime in the not too distant future. Nikandros found himself feeling more readily open to the possibilities than he once was, personally. He thought there was a very good chance that Nicaise might be as well.
Though if they did eventually decide that path was right for them after all, Nikandros was definitely going to make sure their children were better-behaved and less wild than Damen and Laurent's two monsters. The palace probably wouldn't survive otherwise.