Two seconds. Two bloody seconds! That was all it had taken for Thea to vanish into thin air. Dax had paused to greet an acquaintance and when he turned around, his daughter was gone. How someone -even a small someone- in a bright yellow gown could disappear so thoroughly boggled his mind, but it had happened, and now he was fighting down panic as he combed the crowded thoroughfare of the west market looking for his little girl.
Thea was old enough to find her way back to the Tower on her own if she needed to, he knew that. Her capability was not what worried him. His daughter was small, and curious, and innocent; if anyone knew the underbelly of humanity and its likely response to finding such a girl by herself, it was Dax. He kept his fear to himself as he searched and tried not to think of what to do if he didn’t find her.
What felt like years later -but was probably only a few minutes- he heard a familiar piping voice over the dull roar of conversation. “My father is a guy-deen.” Dax shouldered through the crowd without hesitation, ignoring the objections of those he jostled (or straight up pushed aside). When he reached the shop he found a little girl in a yellow dress clutching a box in one hand, a stranger’s hand on her shoulder as if guiding her. That stranger looked entirely too interested in what she was saying….which made sense, damn it, considering Thea had just informed him who her mother was.
“There you are Thea, I’ve been looking all over!” Dax said, holding his hands out. “What’s your friend’s name, sweetheart?” His eyes swung from his daughter to the stranger, the look conveying his concern and suspicion more clearly than anything he could have said.