Two

            He’s had two fathers.  His memories of his papa are little enough:  a tall Man who would pick him up, swinging him into his embrace and then onto his shoulders every time he returned home.  And he remembered the hardness of his father’s ring as he was held warmly in Papa’s grip.

            His adar loved him no less, although Ada was not the sort to swing a small child about as had Papa.  And Ada, too, wore a ring—Estel often felt its presence when Ada took his hand.

            But he could not describe what either ring looked like.