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WHO: Cullen, Puppy, a ~~four~~ three year old prince, and you
WHAT: commandering
WHEN: whole month
NOTES: So, yeah, Cullen is just basically collecting small cute things. Newest one is a prince from the Anderfels.

It's a little unsettling how much overlap there is between caring for a small child and caring for a dog. Unsettling, but it works for Cullen. He has vague memories of being this age. he knows what he wanted, and while the circumstances were very different from Baldewin's upbringing, he figures at the heart of things, all children are probably the same.

He lets the boy play with Puppy. They two are contented to spend massive amounts of time together. While the boy is less thrilled to be stuck in Cullen's office all day, he understands that this is where he needs to be. Of course, big sad eyes and repeated pictures drawn for the man of the three of them playing in grass and surrounded by trees and rocks and other people does tend to wear him down. Some work is portable. Cullen can be seen in courtyards quite often, a small box of work at his feet, and Baldewin and Puppy playing within his line of vision. You don't have to come spend time with all of them, but if you're around for long enough in any capacity, chances are the tiny prince will draw you a picture.

Young boys also get dirty. Very dirty. Very often. Even exiled princes, it seems. Perhaps especially exiled princes, free from the shackles of the title and able to enjoy their childhood for the first time. There's freedom that comes in shedding the mantle of royalty. If you see Cullen at the hot springs during the day, he will most likely be sitting near the a shallow area in some cloth trousers bathing the day's dirt off of the little boy. Puppy will try to help. Puppy will not actually be much help.

He still goes to the hot springs late at night for himself, though now these trips no longer involve Puppy. Whenever Cullen is not with them, Puppy has been tasked with watching after the prince, and is taking his new role as royal guard dog very seriously. ANyone attempting to approach the sleeping child is going to get a chunk taken out of them by a mabari. Not figuratively.

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Inessa often brings Garahel to the courtyard for a game of fetch, hoping to wear him out enough so she can enjoy the library in peace. It's a mutually beneficial arrangement; Garahel gets playtime and attention, and she gets a snoozing mabari who won't disrupt the peace of the library. She's in no rush, though; quality time with her beloved mabari companion is always savored.

Upon spotting Baldewin and Puppy, Garahel rushes forward to greet them. He barks happily, then sets about to licking them both, young mabari and young prince alike. Ever since Inessa's trip to the Anderfels, Garahel has been protective of the young one they brought back. Inessa can't blame him there, as she's felt the same way, just without the slobbering. Approaching, she smiles warmly at Baldewin and waves. She'll check on him as his pictures after Garahel calms down a bit.

Turning to Cullen, she smiles. "I was just going to wear out Garahel with some fetch time, but this will do nicely. Perhaps the two of them will manage it for me instead."

The sounds made by the trio of mabari and royalty increase drastically in volume, but stay happy, and Cullen is content to let them all wear each other out.

He chuckles, and shakes his head. "Can you believe we were all once that small and thrilled with the world?" It does his heart good to see it. It's his proof. He may not be entirely certain what its proof of, but it's his proof all the same. "Maybe Garahel will give Puppy a fighting chance. I've never seen a child with so much energy. Did you know that mabari snore? I didn't. Not until him. Now Puppy sleeps like a boulder." A noisy boulder, but a boulder.

That gets Inessa to laugh softly. "Oh, I learned that early on, when mine was just a pup. It took some adjustment, but now I find that sound comforting. It would be stranger not to hear it." Now, it's just white noise that lets her know it's alright to let down her guard and rest. If Garahel thinks there's no danger, there isn't.

Eyes on Baldewin, she smiles softly. "I was that age when taken to the Circle. The Templar assigned to bring me there realized I had nothing but the clothes on my back, so when we stopped for supplies, he bought me this large, plush mabari with a red ribbon around its neck. I was so impressed by it, that I had to show everyone when I arrived."

"I wonder... if I could find someone to make him a soft toy that looks like Puppy." He doesn't enjoy thinking about when the child will leave, but of course he must. He can't stay here forever. Cullen is no kind of father figure. He just happens to be the best they have at the moment.

He watches the three of them tumble around in the grass and dried leaves, the young boy running back and forth between the two large dogs, being almost herded by them. They don't play gently, exactly, but they are also quick to grab at his clothes or nudge him in ways that keep him from hitting the ground too hard. Not gentle, no, but they're watching over him.

Baldewin certainly gets plenty of nuzzles and licks from Garahel, happy to have someone who appreciates his slobbery affection. Inessa nods encouragingly at the idea. "It's worth attempting. He had to leave so much behind, after all. If I still had that mabari, I would let him keep it. But, I had to leave it behind."

She hadn't wanted to, at all, but there's no way the plush toy could come with her and remain unscathed, given her path. Best that it remain in the tower until she can return there sometime. "It's still difficult to believe that anything good came of that trek to the Anderfels. The entire area was a mess...but because of him, I don't regret going. Has the Inquisition decided what to do about him?"

Her fond, worried tone indicates she's more focused on the fact that he's a young boy and less that he's heir to the Anderfels. That can wait...and by necessity, must anyway

"More or less." Cullen sighs, and then spreads his arms slightly to encompass himself. "You're looking at it. We can't send him away, not with all the areas under our influence being so unstable. If something happens to him... Right now, this is the safest place for him to be, and he needs someone who can watch over him. Protect him." While Cullen thinks he's a piss poor father figure, he's one hell of a protector. Between him and Puppy, anyone looking to get to Baldewin will die trying.

"Agreed, on all counts." Inessa gives a firm nod of approval, then smiles as she watches the dogs and boy at play. "I suppose now is not the time to think long-term anyway, not when so much hangs in the balance. But if you need assistance, Ciri, Garahel and I would be glad to lend it. Having some familiar faces from the journey here can't hurt."

"I appreciate that. Truly. I know that I won't always be able to watch over him. It's reassuring to know that I have capable hands to leave him in when duty necessitates." Baldewin has been hurt so much. Cullen can see the pain that licks at the edges of the boy's smile. He has no desire to add to it.

Right now Cullen is content to watch the boy play what he must assume is a strange game of tag with the two dogs, chasing after one and then the other as they bound around him, darting in to lick his face or hair and then sprinting away again, dirt and grass flying as their paws churn up the earth. He's happy. All children deserve as much, though not all get it.

"I admit children aren't my forte, but we seem to bond on the matter of dogs and pictures." Inessa chuckles watching the enthusiasm from all parties. "I still have his masterpieces from earlier, written on the backs of those rune schematics. Where he got those, I still don't know." Baldewin just shrugged when she asked and that's as much as she got out of him, given his exhaustion and whatnot.

"He's been using the back of messages and reports. I keep a stack ready for him in the office. I'm afraid what he might use if it ever runs out. Luckily, a lot of useless correspondence crosses my desk." He watches the game for a few more moments, a look of deep concentration on his face. "Do you think he understands what's happened? Is he old enough to know what it all means?"

Observing them, Inessa's expression softens. "He understands that his family is gone, that his home is no longer safe. That in itself is a lot to process, let alone that he may be in exile for some time to come. No, his losses are more personal."

And that is what they've bonded about, on the trip back. Inessa told the young prince about how she was separated from her family to go learn at the Circle at his age, how she had to be brave on her own. She's not sure how much it helped, but hoped that it did somewhat.

Cullen hasn't tried to have that conversation with the child yet, and he's glad that no questions of that nature have cropped up. The boy wants to know everything - why the sky is blue, why mabari are so smart, how bees make honey, why birds fly, but he doesn't ask anything about his own life and circumstances. Maybe he doesn't want to know. Cullen can't say he blames him. As long as the boy can stay happy, he doesn't care what circumstances make it possible.

"I'm glad you found him. If anyone can understand upheaval at this age, it's you." There are probably others who might also understand, but Cullen doesn't know them well enough to comment on it. Inessa has felt the loss, and is still a kind soul.

Inessa manages a small smile at that, glad to do what she can for the boy even as she wishes that he didn't know the pain of separation as well. "I'll do my best, though we'll see how he is when the shock wears off. I doubt this situation seems truly real just yet, but it will." And when it does, he'll need all the support they can muster. "Mabari therapy does wonders, though. Your companion will give him something bright and happy to focus on, and that's important."

"That's-- what I've been trying to do. I've been trying to get him to focus on what he has instead of what he's lost. A family, a kingdom, an identity. He's had to leave behind everything he was. I know grown men who can't handle that kind of uprooting. I was worried he wouldn't be able to let go of being a prince, but he seems to like being just Baldewin. I suppose it offers him a kind of freedom."

It certainly offers him an opportunity to interact with more people. A random child is of no strategic use to anyone. He's safe, as a nobody. It won't last forever, of course, but it can last for a while. Puppy has managed to knock the boy over with some very enthusiastic face licking, and now child and dogs are rolling around in a pile, every one of them wiggling with glee.

"Youth are resilient. He has endured loss, yes, but he isn't so entrenched in what was that it will be impossible to move on, however it happens." And Cullen has a fair point, about the freedom a lack of title would bring. She smiles wryly a little at that; it's not as though an elf would ever be able to tell for themselves.

Observing them, she laughs softly. "I have something you can give them both, if you like! But ask Garahel to shake, first. He knows better."

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