Chapter 5 - Meeting the uncle

As Hati contemplated the possible reasons for and consequences of the changes to his abilities, there was a knock on the door. Sif, who had just started to get worried for her son again after he had stopped responding to her, yelled with a little agitated edge to her voice, "Who is it?!".

A male voice responded in a slightly confused tone, "It's me, sister. Is everything alright? Lisa said you were fine, but you sound agitated. Can I come in?"

Sif's voice became a little gentler as she responded, "Ah, Leif, yes, you can come in." The door opened, and a handsome-looking, well-build, middle-aged man entered the room. He had the same off-blond hair colour as Sif, stood at about 1.8 meters (5'9) tall and had a modest beard. When he got closer to the bed, he spoke with a smile, "Hello, dear sister. The maids told me you gave birth. I'm glad to see everything went well."

At his words, Sif began to pout a little, "Hmpf, don't pretend to care about the well-being of your nephew after you abandoned him." Being glad about the birth going well essentially meant being glad that Hati was healthy since there was almost no way for a fourth-revolution Einherjar like Sif to be harmed from giving birth.

Leif gave a helpless sigh as he explained, "You know that's not fair, Sif. I may be the patriarch right now, but when every elder is against something, I simply don't have the power to overrule them, either politically or otherwise. I may as well try to convince them the sky is purple for all the good my words will do on this matter. I am just glad they don't interfere with most of what I do."

The Fenrir clan had multiple elders, who were all fifth-revolution Einherjar and former clan heads. A Fenrir clan Patriarch or Matriarch was usually the strongest person below the fifth revolution as long as they had a certain status within the clan. 

They would then become an elder upon reaching the fifth revolution. The clan head would deal with the more mundane clan matters, while the elders would just concentrate on growing their strength and only came out for critical issues. When any elder disagreed with a decision from the clan head, they could challenge them and call for an elder vote. 

All the elders would then vote on the issue, and a majority vote would mean that the clan head's decision would get repealed. In the case of whether or not Hati would be recognised as a contender for the position of patriarch, assuming he grew powerful enough, the elders had unanimously decided that they wouldn't allow it. 

At least not as long as they didn't know the child's exact parentage. And even then, it would depend on who the father actually was. To be honest, it wasn't really an unfair decision. After all, you don't want a clan head that suddenly turns out to have loyalties to external powers. But since when have loving mothers ever cared about fairness when it came to the well-being of their children?

Sif sighed and stopped pouting. "Fine, fine, I don't really blame you. I knew what would happen when I returned from my travels carrying a baby in my womb. But you better make it up to your nephew by aiding his development!" The pout reappeared on her face as she continued, "I don't want you to ignore or even hate him just because you think his father is a scoundrel." 

"Haha, of course, there is no way I would ignore my little nephew's growth. There's no need to pout. I would have helped him anyway." His eyes narrowed before he continued, "But no matter how much you pout, I make no promises about that father of his. When I meet him, he better have a good explanation, or I'll have to beat him up a little." 

Leif cared greatly about his little sister, especially since their parents died. He wouldn't simply let the man go after he defiled his sister, impregnated her and then sent her on her way like a two-dollar whore. Even if she insisted that that's not what happened. Still, he wasn't the kind of guy who would blame a son for their father's crimes. 

Hati, who was listening to all this, couldn't help but like this uncle of his. He seemed like a man who cared a lot about family. Of course, Hati didn't yet have the same level of care for his mother that his uncle did, but that didn't mean he didn't want an explanation from his errant father, too. Regardless, that would have to wait for now, as he couldn't even walk on his two tiny legs yet.

Sif giggled and held her hand before her mouth as she said, "Thank you for your care, brother. But I promise the reason is good, and he is as sad about the situation as I am. And please believe me when I say that my next sentence is born out of love. But Hati's father could wipe the floor with you while bound, gagged and asleep, hahaha." A proud smile adorned her face, wrinkling her nose and making her look incredibly cute and lovely.

Leif's face scrunched up a little when he realised how little faith his sister had in his victory when he suddenly picked up on something Sif had said. "Wait, asleep? Don't tell me that he and you…?" 

Sif quickly silenced him before she put up an isolation barrier using her physical element of blood to isolate them from any foreign intrusion. A drop of blood left Sif's eye and quickly formed a shimmering barrier that surrounded the three of them. 

Since she was just at the fourth revolution, any of the elders could easily listen in on them if they wanted. Still, they definitely wouldn't be able to do so without destroying the barrier and thus alerting Sif. So, as long as the barrier was up, no one could listen in on them.

"Shhhh, who knows who is listening in on us, hoping to hear something about his father? But yes, what you are thinking is correct. Hati's father does possess the other half of my sin shard." 

Hearing this, both Hati and Leif had their brains going into overdrive. While marvelling at the strange red barrier, Hati was trying to figure out what a sin shard could be, and Leif was considering what question to ask first. 

In the end, Leif decided to only ask a single question, partly because he was not sure he wanted the answer to his other question and partly because he couldn't really trust her reply on that one anyway. "Is that why you won't tell any of us who his father is?"

Nodding, Sif answered, "Yes, that's part of the reason, but not all of it." Then, starting to smirk, she continued, "And I can see the other question on your mind, but despite the fact that you're too afraid to ask it, let me answer anyway. I am the primary. 

He is technically stronger than me, but since the contest is mostly about potential and he also underestimated me, I managed to get out on top. And I know you can't trust my answer on that, but it will have to do until you meet him." 

Shrugging as she said that last part, she returned to playing with Hati, who was annoyed that he couldn't figure out what a sin shard was. Partly because he could still only understand fragmented parts of his family's conversation.

Leif stared at Sif for a while before he sighed and said, "Fine, I suppose I will simply believe you for now and make sure when I meet him for the first time. Besides, it's not like being a primary gives you control over the secondary, so even if you lost the contest, I doubt he could force you to put your family in danger, especially now that you're away from him. 

Anyway, with all that behind us, can you tell me why you sounded agitated when I entered the room?" 

Sif smiled a little, relieved that her brother trusted her and told him the truth. "Hehe, it's nothing, probably just a mother worrying over nonsense. Hati has just had a few bouts of strange seriousness as if he was thinking deeply about something. He would even start doing it in the middle of playing with me! Humph, this little brat already dares to ignore his mother!"

While Sif pouted a little at the end of her sentence, Leif turned his attention to Hati for the first time since he entered the room. It wasn't that he was purposefully ignoring the baby. He just cared more about his sister.

As Leif stared at Hati, Hati stared back at him, angling his head slightly to the side and making the occasional baby noise. Leif, who wasn't about to be outdone by a baby in a staring contest, moved his head closer to Hati until their noses almost touched. Hati, deciding that now was a good time to act like a regular baby, reached out his hands, grabbed his uncle's nose and started giggling. 

Not expecting this, Leif was dumbfounded for a second before he started chuckling, "Hehe, my nephew is pretty cute, and his eyes have a certain intelligence to them. I think he will grow up to be a very bright kid." He smiled as he pulled his head back, "I don't think anything is wrong with him. You can rest assured. He's probably just curious about the world."

Hearing this, Hati thought, 'You don't know the half of it, Uncle Leif.'