Frostbound

Taking care of all the kids didn't turn out to be that bad. All of them were well-behaved and there weren't any that were really young, so no babies or toddlers. The youngest one out of the six kids was Lily's younger brother who was 5 and my nephew Josh was only a little older at 6.

Anna turned out to be the most troublesome and wouldn't stop bugging me all day. I was in charge of watching them so I had to keep them in sight, it also kept me in sight of them. I had been practicing my magical skills while turning my skills on and off to train wisdom. I didn't have an axe to swing so that left [Fortified Body]. The side effect of turning [Fortified Body] on was that mana illuminated my body as it was used to strengthen it. As soon as she saw that it was like a shark to blood.

"Come on Uncle Topher! I wanna see you glow!" She would demand.

"Glow!" and sometimes it was just a command.

I looked to Jonathan for help since it was his daughter and he just gave me a look that said, 'That's your problem buddy'. The other kids liked to see me glow too, but Anna loved it. She thought it was the coolest thing ever.

The day all went well until after lunch and I heard Jonathan shouting. I walked over to see Anna crying and Jonathan yelling at her. I lingered at a distance to not intrude, but I was curious as to what happened to make Jonathan angry. He was usually a chill guy and rarely raised his voice. It ended not long after and Anna ran crying away towards where I was.

"Come here, sweetie." I knelt and beckoned her over.

She took my invitation and walked into my arms. Lifting her was awkward with one working arm but I managed. It took her a minute to calm down and peel her face away from where it was buried in my shirt. The whole time I was making soothing gestures and saying calming words.

"There there, it's alright. Why don't you tell me what happened?" I asked after she calmed down.

"I -hiccup- don't know. Sniffle- I found Daddy lying down in our tent (cough) and I wanted him to play with me. I ran up and jumped on him to get his attention and he just started yelling at me." She was still working through her emotions so it was hard to make out the words from the sniffling and coughing.

Ah, I know what happened. She wanted her dad to play with her so she ran up and jumped on him to make him get up. Ran and jumped full force onto his leg... which hadn't healed yet. That must have been painful.

"It's ok honey. He's not mad at you, he's just not feeling good right now." I said while patting her on the back, "It's not your fault, you just have to be more careful."