Extra #3: Two furballs
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Generally, the situation wasn't anything nice, at least from a human's perspective.

In one of the villages a bit farther away, a couple had birthed twins. The mother was weak after the birth, which - as Alvarr had explained to him - happened often when it was more than one child, as the children were born larger than human babies and the process was highly taxing for the women. 
Due to the weak, now sickly mother and the father that wanted to concentrate on watching his spouse, the children were going to be given away.

A terrible thing for a human, very much normal for the Gods, who had no real connection to their birth parents but only to those who raised them. The children were amazingly flexible, adjusting even if not with their birth parents, and it was a normal thing for couples to birth children for another, who couldn't.

It had taken Farin a while to adjust his mindset to what was going on, but the general information was that the couple, who were acquainted with Alvarr, wanted him to raise them.

Farin - who had kept the name after getting used to it over the years - poked the cheek of the female twin that was curled up next to him, holding onto his clothes.

Alvarr had built him what essentially was a treehouse, mixing what both of them were used to. The area where the little ones slept was the highest, created as a small, tight space that could barely fit another adult next to them. 
They loved it the most when one of their parents, now Farin and Alvarr, sat in the middle so that they could sleep curled against them.

Not that the little ones were sleeping like adults. Small as they were, they had a very regular schedule of sleeping, eating and playing every two hours. The highly flexible Alvarr took the night shift, Farin the day shift.

It still felt a bit surreal, as overjoyed as he was to have two children that now were his own. Their birth parents visited sometimes, even, with no malice at all.

"When you can stay away longer, I'll introduce you to my side of your grandparents", he whispered warmly, watching the girl chew on his finger with soft teeth. She was growling playfully, tired but not wanting to sleep, contrary to her brother.

Her fine ears twitched when Farin spoke. They were learning the human language alongside their own.

When she turned her head to the door-like entrance, Farin knew that Alvarr had woken up. He barely slept two hours in the morning and evening and otherwise either watched the children or accompanied Farin.

"Welcome back", he greeted happily, tilting his head for Alvarr to kiss him on the cheek. The God didn't fit into the tiny room next to Farin, but at least stretched his head and arms inside. 

Alvarr purred, caressing the girl's and then the boy's heads.

"We can take them out", he offered, lifting up the male twin and setting it on top of his tail where the little one immediately attached himself. Before he could even reach out to the girl, she was already mewling and lifting her arms, eyes falling shut every few seconds.

"She's tired, but doesn't want to sleep", Farin commented, handing her over to Alvarr, who placed her beside her brother.
"She'll fall asleep if we walk for a while."

The suggestion was a good one and Farin happily left the house to climb down and catch some fresh air. The little ones were too small to bring out of the cave and introduce to his family, but they liked being outside.
Alvarr also knew that as a human, Farin couldn't take sitting still all day just to go to sleep at night, and made sure that he could go outside as often as possible.

Either way, in half a year the little ones would already stay up for hours at a time, which would make things easier. By then, he would also be able to leave the cave more often again.

The temple had found an excuse for him: Just like monks that lived around the capital, the former carrier had 'decided to live mostly in solitude' and devote his life to 'praying'. They gave him a completely white and overly simple robe to work along with the story, gave him a stupid ceremony and some kind of headdress. 
It was enough that if he wanted to go to the village, people would just praise his determination to serve the Gods.

Since not only the temple master and the heir but even his family, friends, Lori, Alec and Cyrille went along with the story, everyone believed it.

Things were working out surprisingly well.

Some other Gods, young ones, greeted Farin in passing, their faces showing rough smiles. Just like Alvarr, they tried to accommodate the human habits as best as possible. Farin would have liked to return the sentiment, but he didn't have movable ears or a tail and he couldn't replicate the sounds or keep perfectly still.

One could say, the Gods were more flexible in imitating human behavior than the other way around.

Hands held together, the couple strolled around. Now that the little girl had gone to sleep, her brother woke up with tiny, adorable mewls.

"Come here, darling", Farin whispered to him, holding him under his outstretched arms and lifting him up. The boy purred and nuzzled his face close to his father's. He didn't have a name yet; wouldn't have one until he was a year old. Despite that, Farin found that there was a large number of things one could call their child:
Sweetie, darling, honey, little one, ... 

The list went on for a while. He was a hopelessly doting parent.
Alvarr was stricter with them, but most of the time, it balanced out.

"Faaa-yaa", the boy called, tail curling around Farin's arms. The children had a limited amount of sounds they could make, so Farin's name turned into a mewl after the first syllable. They had tried making them say 'Alvarr' once, but pretty much everything about the word had caused them to stumble, so they decided to try some other month.

"What is it? Are you hungry?"
Instead of answering, the child waved his arms towards Alvarr. They were walking closely in the first place, but Alvarr just smiled, took his daughter up in his arms and walked shoulder to shoulder with Farin.

Satisfied, the boy reached out to grip his sister's hand - who drowsily moved it towards him before continuing to sleep - and then purred loudly.

The carrier held back a laugh and slowed their walk even farther, just so that the children could hold hands as they rested.

Once they were older, he'd definitely annoy Alvarr about adopting some more.

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