momslilassassin | The Skywalker-Wiggin House by the Lake in Naboo

"Excellent point," Ben said as the ice cream, thankfully, arrived.

"You'll get more ice cream if you don't drop your bantha again," Ender told Val, as he snagged the little spoon intended for her.

Val mulled that over, then reached for the spoon, still clutching the bantha.

Ben laughed. "She can be taught."

"When it's in her best interest," Ender laughed, letting her take the spoon for the moment.

"Which makes her not that much different than us," Ben laughed.

"She's still a little bit more malleable than we are," Ender said wryly. "I hope."

Ben chuckled. "Or else it's gonna be a long...life," he agreed, watching Val size up her bowl of ice cream.

"Have you got it figured out yet, sweetheart?" Ender asked.

Val poked at it dubiously with her spoon.

"I might cry if she doesn't like it," Ben admitted.

Ender chuckled. He reached over to gently put his fingers on the spoon. "Just dip it in..."

Val dipped her finger in instead. "Cold!" she said, looking surprised.

"Ice cream," Ben said.

"That's why you have this," Ender said gently, tapping the spoon with one finger.

Val picked up the spoon and poked at the ice cream experimentally, then reached in and picked out a banana. She knew she liked that!

...except it was also cold. Huh.

"It's okay, sweetie," Ben said. "It's still banana."

"Put it in your mouth," Ender said, miming just as much. "It's a cold banana."

Val put it in her mouth and grinned around it. This wasn't so bad!

"Now the white stuff," Ben urged.

"With the spoon," Ender said, holding it up for her to take.

Val scooped up a bite in her spoon, then let it drip back into the bowl and laughed.

"She is kiiiiiiilling me," Ben whined.

"Calm down," Ender said, rolling his eyes. "You can eat a whole double sundae later."

He took the spoon from Val again. Gently, and paying very close attention in case that made her cry.

Val watched Ender carefully, eyebrows drawing together in an expression very reminiscent of Ben when he was in full engineering mode.

Ben, blessedly, shut up.

Ender dipped the spoon carefully into the ice cream, took out a small bite, and put it in his mouth.

He was very, very careful and slow with every movement.

Then he offered the spoon back to her. "Your turn."

Val took a tiny, tiny bite...and her entire face lit up.

That was good.

"Congratulations," Ender said dryly. "You won't be disowned by your own dah."

"I wasn't going to do it," Ben said. "I was just nervous."

"Uh-huh," Ender said, though it was hard for him to keep his dry tone going when he was beaming at Val that much.

"It's good, huh, sweetheart?" Ben said, beaming just as hard.

Val had somehow managed to cover her face in ice cream in the five seconds since she'd discovered the stuff.

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