Chapter Text
The first time Essek saw his brother was, obviously, when he was born.
Actually, Essek wasn't interested in the idea of becoming an older brother at all and that at the time, he hadn't found it at all attractive and interesting, he considered that he was too busy with his studies to pay attention to a new soul that was going to require the attention of everyone in that house and that he was always going to be in his shadow, noticing everything he did to imitate him.
The first time he saw his younger brother, he was in their father's arms as their mother seemed slightly upset that she hadn't had the daughter she so desired and had left her husband in charge of the children while she, just a few hours later after giving birth, met with the Bright Queen, and it was he who announced that this was his younger brother, whom they had named Verín, and that now it was going to be his responsibility to protect and teach him, to be there for him.
His internal reaction is a "No, thank you."
But Essek was forced to hold the baby wrapped in that white blanket, when his father with a proud smile ended up offering it to him, assuring him that he wasn't going to hurt him and that he had to take practice for the future , assuming he was interested in being a father at some point in his long life. His new brother didn't impress him at first glance, he was a small version of himself, nothing he hadn't seen before. He thought it could be passable as long as he didn't cry, but Verin must have felt that he was thinking that because after a few seconds the baby began to cry as if he was being killed, causing his older brother to grimace and look at everybody around him, looking for someone to calm him down or get rid of him.
He was so loud, how could something so small could make so much noise?
In the end it was their Den's nanny who took it upon herself to take little Verin away to feed him and rock him until he fell asleep.
And actually the first months with his brother were a nuisance for Essek, the baby cried all the time and for everything and that irritated him because he wasn't able to sleep well and much less study. He had important work to do, a lot to learn, and the noise was unbearable.
He didn't even come close to trying to comfort him in the crib because the only time he did it, he vomited on him and spent two hours in the bathroom wanting to get rid of that smell of whatever the child had eaten from his hair.
So Essek decided to find a way to learn a spell to soundproof his room because he had the feeling that it was something he was going to need.
Essek and his brother, however, hadn't been born into a normal family of the Kryn dynasty and what was expected of them is exceptional and their mother agreed that the eldest of her children had to be above all since because he was not only his heir, but he had to stand out above the children of the rest and if he wanted someone to take care of the child, for that they had hired a nanny or for that the father was there.
So the truth was that during the first year of Verin's life, Essek wasn't very present to say, busy as he was with his studies and that his mother didn't have much interest in her youngest son until he could be of use or started to walk or talk, whatever happened before.
The first thing happened slightly before the second and it was a horror, Verin for being so small was incredibly fast and as soon as the babysitter took her eyes off him for a second, he was running down a hallway and someone was behind him because with the little balance that he had such it would end up tripping and hurting himself and no one wanted that to happen because then they would have to face the wrath of the lady of the house.
One day Essek found that Verin had escaped from the nursery again and was running down the hall with a wooden toy and getting dangerously close to the stairs.
He never admitted it, but Essek noticed that he was growing old a few years from fright when he saw his brother like this. But luckily as soon as the toddler saw him he smiled from ear to ear and ran towards his older brother.
"Verin!" Essek rushed to catch his brother before he could get hurt "You know you don't have to run through the hallways, how many times do they have to tell you?"
But he doubted that his brother understood what he was saying, he was still too young to understand according to what things but Essek didn't know how to address a child, he had heard his father treat him in that way that adults sometimes did and that it seemed that he was indicating that his son was stupid but he didn't quite like that.
Verin was overjoyed, he seemed oblivious to the chaos that could have been caused by the simple fact that he had fallen down the stairs, and he was looking at his older brother with those large eyes so identical to his, shining with an innocence and affection in them that made him Essek was overwhelmed.
"Essek!" a voice exclaimed then.
For a second he thought that there was someone else in the house, that his mother or father had found them, that they had already returned from the meeting with the Bright Queen, but that voice didn't belong to any of them and it took him a while to understand that it was about Verin.
Essek wanted to go to the nursery and try to make Verin fall asleep but after hearing that he froze and was about to drop the toddler to the ground if it weren't for the fact that he clung to his neck, happily oblivious to what had caused him to Essek's brain was shutting down and kicking that hit his older brother's chest as he babbled in a language he didn't know. In silence he took his brother to his room where there was no one since he assumed that the nanny must be looking for him in the rest of the house and left him in her crib, hoping that the child would get bored and he ended up falling asleep.
A Essek left the nursery after that, telling the nanny to be more careful or the next time she was going to be fired and after that he went back to his room to try to study but couldn't.
He was stunned, he didn't know what had just happened, well yes he knew because he wasn't stupid, Verin's first word had been his name, he didn't understand why he had to be the one chosen, his father made more sense, even his nanny had more sense that he. But he couldn't shake the feeling of pride that it was him.