on guard

With Isabel on the move Cael is constantly defending his toys from her reach. She is completely enthralled by him, follows him everywhere, and he is quickly becoming disenchanted. But every now and then he glimpses the possibility that she could fill a new roll in his life.

She stands with a precarious, wobbly hold on the piano bench. He starts to attack her with the orange screwdriver, but stops, looks around, runs to get the blue screwdriver (the flat-head), and stuffs it in her hand. Isabel is wide-mouth thrilled as they fence with their plastic screwdriver swords.