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[mythalenaste]

Time/date appropriately.

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3/3

[ombranera]

Not....




Told Alistair. About my son.

[mythalenaste]

...All right.

[That's just about the most bizarre thing she could have expected to hear.]

I won't spring it on him before you have a chance, then.

[ombranera]

I did not want to tell him before I knew what I was going to do- I considered sending him away to somewhere safe and can you imagine his reaction if I told him 'oh I have a child but I am sending him away for his own good?'

Better that he not know if I do that. Now he is in the Western Approach dealing with warden things and, I think, hurt that I did not join him and this is something I would tell him to his face.

[mythalenaste]

Of course it is. Because you're a decent friend.

[She cuddles Lucci a bit, her heart reaching out toward that biological urge to have one of these. One day.]

Babies change everything. He'll stop being hurt when he realizes there's a baby. That's how people are.

[ombranera]

I have no idea how I am going to tell him. I suppose I shall await his safe return and see how it goes from there.

[mythalenaste]

You tell him like you told me. Put a baby in his lap and there is no chance he could be angry.

[She kisses Lucci's bald head.]

[ombranera]

He is terribly adorable, isn't he?

[mythalenaste]

He's yours. Of course he's adorable.

[ombranera]

He has his mother's eyes, but my- well. Everything else.

[mythalenaste]

Were you close with her at all?

[ombranera]

Serena? No. We shared a very lovely night together in Antiva City some time before I began traveling south to assist the Inquisition. It was meant to be only that.

[mythalenaste]

Well. It must have been a very lovely night, to make a very lovely baby.

[ombranera]

It was. I sang to her, of course- she is a Merchant herself, a very fine Antivan lady. Hair like midnight, eyes like stars, and absolutely no patience for my posturing. You would like her very much I think. She knew my reputation, knew what she wanted, and we both enjoyed ourselves quite a bit.

[mythalenaste]

[A broad smile as she rests her cheek against Lucci's head.] It's rather like us. We knew what it was, we enjoyed it, and we remember it. But now we're friends. I like it better now, actually.

[ombranera]

Exactly that. I have no doubt she could have become one of my contacts in Antiva City if not for this...complication. And you may wish to-

[ Too late, Lucci has reached up to catch whatever bits of Pel's hair is in his little hands reach. ]

Move.

[mythalenaste]

It's all right. [She starts to gently coax her hair from the little hands.] I've been accustomed to this for years. Some bits of my hair are shorter than others because of babies. I don't resent it. They are all perfect.

[ombranera]

I am now envisioning you as a mother. It suits you.

[ Pel with a child of her own, with someone to care for her and support her in all that she did, doting and working in equal parts. It is an idyllic scene.

Unawares Lucci shifts his grip from her hair to her fingers, tugging them to his mouth to gum. ]

[mythalenaste]

[There's a broader smile as she lets Lucci gum her fingers, gently casting an ice spell that helps cool his swollen, teething gums.]

I want about a hundred of these. I've been there for some births, and a lot of babies. I remember when Merrick was born. I want some to call my own.

[ombranera]

You have known him that long?

[ It does paint their relationship in a certain light, that. A kind one. ]

[mythalenaste]

[She nods.]

I was...seven? I always had this idea he was my baby. A couple years later, his mother died in the plague. And his father...

[She grows solemn, and holds Lucci like he reminds her of someone else.]

Someone needed to be his mother.

[ombranera]

His father?

[ He prompts, gently. It is not a story he will ever hear from Merrick, this much he knows. ]

[mythalenaste]

Died.

[Her eyes fall.]

Badly.

[ombranera]

Ah. Not a conversation to have above an infant, yes?

[ Look, Stella, in your very arms. Life. Life gnawing away and drooling quite happily, in fact. ]

[mythalenaste]

[She looks at Lucci. He has such delicate ears, but such a lack of regard. He takes it for granted that he will live.

Maybe that's why she wants children so badly. Children remind her the Child is not wholly successful. No, that's not everything, but she sees Lucci and knows the Child cannot win every time.]

Elgara vallas, da'len, [she sings softly, tucking Lucci's head beneath her cheek, and pauses, aborting the song before it takes flight.] News doesn't spare infants. Darkness doesn't. I would, when it's possible.

[ombranera]

What we wish for our children is that they have a better life than we did, yes?

[ It is all he wants for Lucci. Something safer, something kinder. It is not so easily done in this world, let alone as an elf. But as he reaches out to smooth back some of his curls those eyes catch his and he cannot help but smile.

Perhaps there is hope. ]

He shall know no fear as I did when I was a child in the Crows.