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The pain was more than the Amazon had expected; delirious she reached out and grabbed for whatever was closest. Unfortunately for the two elves.. it was them. When a contraction hit she yanked, pulling them sharply together. The crack as their heads met was enough to bring her somewhat back to her senses, "Oooh! Sorry!"
The child was humming and babbling hysterically, not quite sure what was going on, only aware that An'Thaya could hear her again, and that things were changing drastically. "Galain," the Amazon yanked him close to her, "Talk to her please.. calm her down."
Galain not only had a headache now, but he was being strangled by an Amazon in pain. The solace here was that Elyen was experiencing the same sensations.
He managed a bare nod before he tilted his head into a more comfortable position and dove into his unborn child's mind.
Hello little one. Papa Galain here. Everything's okay. You've got your fathers and your mother here. Not to mention a couple of aunts and uncles of the adoptive nature. He spoke to her in a series of soothing chitters and clicks before he began a soft dragon lullaby, remembering what DragonGrin had sung to him when he'd "hatched".
Gods he was glad they had found An'Thaya... his mind sank into wonder as his daughter responded and crooned with him.
Chez's eyebrows shot up as Tallin grabbed hold of Marion, that was definitely unexpected. He paused for a moment, unsure if Tallin was really going to hurt her or not... The thief could usually take care of herself just fine, but this was a mage with a mental instability problem.
"Just who the bloody hell do you think you are," Marion demanded as her dagger was brought to her throat. Her breath caught when she saw Thaya fall...the baby...
Wonderful. Just frickin' wonderful. Guy holding sharp pointy object to my neck will probably kill the baby, Galain and Elyen know just how much about childbirth? And blast it he just knicked my skin! That breath began to rumble out in the form of an irritated growl as Marion decided she just didn't have time for this guy.
Without thinking Marion stomped down on Tallin's foot and grabbed the hand and wrist that held the dagger. Grunting the thief bent over, pulling the mage down and flattening him quite unceremoniously on the ground. "You know, you're not nearly as comfortable as Chez," she commented, sitting on Tallin's chest and tossing the dagger over towards her husband. This was probably a case where smashing their larynx with the whip was better than something sharp and pointy that could be turned on you...
"So what was your business with the Amazon?" Her voice was far from gentle as she demanded answers, the pressure on Tallin's throat just light enough to allow some sort of response.
Ohnononononono... Elyen's mind gibbered as the elf stared at the Amazon-in-labor. He couldn't do this.
Not again.
Dammit, elf-boy, that was a long time ago. Now will you STOP living in the gods-forsaken past and move yer butt? Something inside of him screamed to listen to instincts and do something constructive even as his mind continued to run in circles around a brick wall.
He made soothing noises, then reached across the bond towards An'Thaya, sending support and, ironically, calm. Now, if memory served him right...
"Galain, is the baby in the right position?" He muttered as he swallowed hard and encouraged the Amazon herself to take up the "right position". He'd fought evil villains, been tortured by darkness, and he wished he'd go back there. Delivering a baby evoked traumatic memories, and frankly, he was afraid of what he might do wrong.
Couldn't he just boil water or something?
"Deep breaths, 'Thaya. Deep breaths..." His arm was beginning to feel numb as the Amazon's strong grip tightened as another contraction hit her. Oh gods...
Galain gave Elyen one "You gotta be kidding" look before he "talked" to their child again.
You ready to go? Head pointing the right direction? Hell, for an elf who'd had more than his fair share of children he was pretty ignorant.
Well, remember those first few magic shocks sent by the Amazon? Yeah. One of those had managed to give enough force to throw the elf against a tree and knock him out cold.
By the time he was again with the living world so much had happened. He hated missing things, dammit! Off in one direction was An'Thaya, Galain, and Elyen (seems that happens a lot), and in the other direction-
Wait. Was that Marion on that guy? Yeah, it was. And she didn't look too happy, either. Carefully Railen got to his feet, putting a hand to the sore spot on his head from the tree, and walked over.
"So this is the guy that's supposed to be all evil and powerful, eh?" Railen just cocked his head to one side and looked at him. "I'd just kill him," he said with amusement, watching the guy's face in reaction to being both taunted and asphyxiated.
"Idiots!" An'Thaya smecked both of them, "Yes.. she is in the right position, and so am I." The contractions were coming closer together; an Amazon in pain is not a pretty thing to behold. "Just keep her from going dragon during this and we will all be okay.. okay?" Gads... she had the midwives from hell....
"Gods this hurts!!!!!!!," in a moment of insanity she grabbed both elves by the groin, "By the goddess the both of you are going to hurt too!"
Okay, ordinarily An'Thaya grabbing Galain by the groin would have thrilled the hell out of him, but it was how she was doing it and how tightly. At least Elyen was feeling the same pain, yes?
"Love," he accidentally stuttered as he grasped blindly for An'Thaya's hand. Old habits do die hard. "An'Thaya, please. Leggo. It's hard to stay calm when one's manhood is in jeopardy.
Like she'd be listening...
How would he explain the story of her birth to their daughter later?
Well honey, it was like this. Your mother grabbed our cocks; we all screamed and pop! You were born...
No. That would never do. That would never do at all.
Focus on the baby... never mind that bit of anatomy there... it'll heal. Yeah...
"@#%$!" He exclaimed. He wrenched whatever smallclothes An'Thaya had on off and stared hard at the crown of the baby's head.
Already?
Well boy howdy.
Elyen blanched and squeaked. Nodding in agreement with Galain, he reached one hand down, and another hand to pat the Very Pissed Off Mother-to-be's shoulder. "Now, dear, please... let go..." With one hand, he slowly uncurled the clenched fingers and breathed a sigh of relief as the pressure lessened.
Ow.
He didn't want to know about birthing. If he did too much looking, he'd probably faint. How anyone could squeeze such a large object through such a small hole, he'd never understand...
An'Thaya would have obliged Elyen with a one on one demonstration, namely the hilt of her dagger up his nose... but she was a bit to busy at the moment.She glared at him from underneath a curtain of damp red curls, "Would you mind catching your daughter instead of worrying about your family jewels," she snarled, Galain seemed to have found some common sense at least, or maybe the baby was telling him what to do... who knows, but at least he was cradling the baby’s head and waiting for the shoulders. "Never mind, Blondie seems to have got a cluoooooooo!"
And Galain was doing just that. Hell, one didn't sow one's seeds madly about and not learn something about childbirthing eventually. Kaylin's own birth was something he still winced over.
"Elyen, we need a blanket, something, anything. We need a sterilized knife; we need someone to get water. What the hell are they doing over there? Gods!"
He had their daughter's head in his hands, her shoulders were coming and...
Wow!
Baby!
Yaaaagh!
"Elyeeeennn!" Galain exclaimed urgently.
Uh-oh. They looked a bit panicked, didn't they? Railen had wandered over to investigate the screams. He had not a clue about child birthing. Hells, he'd never even seen a baby that young.
Was Galain asking for a blanket?
Yeah. He was. But where were they going to find a blanket out here? Damn.
Oh, just do it.
Well, here goes another memory to put with this old thing.
With a sigh he hurried out of his vest and handed it over. It wasn't much, but it was big enough to wrap that little one in and keep it from getting cold. He knew a thing or two about how warm that vest could be.
"Here..... take this."
I'll never look at that thing the same way again. Now, what was that about a knife?
Galain snapped the vest out of Railen's hands and quickly wrapped the baby with it.
"Knife! Gods you two! You both have knives! Knife! Anyone!"
Well hell. He'd find another way to cut the umbilical cord thing.
Jeez.
He kept up an unconscious crooning and humming to their daughter the entire time, welcoming her in dragon. He stared down at her and grinned. Bloody, covered in all sorts of lovely birthing material, the little girl child was still a beautiful sight especially as she suddenly let out a lusty yell all on her own.
Railen jumped when Galain growled at them. A knife! A knife! Of course! Need to clean it first, though. It was always a handy thing to have a tender box around.
It just so happened that Railen had one.
So in only a matter of moments there was enough flame to clean the blade of one of his daggers from infectants. Very carefully he handed it over and nodded an apology for being such a nit about such things.
"Someone needs to get some water, yes?"
He looked around at everyone with questioning eyes.
With a sigh he went to go do that, too.
Marion shook her head and looked down at her prisoner. He wasn't making much of any moves, which was a good thing. "I've water in my flask," Marion yelled, shifting to hold the whip with her feet while she reached into her back pocket for the flask. "Here!" It wasn't the best throw she'd ever done, but...the thing flew end over end and landed at Railen's feet. "And make sure I get it back!"
Railen paused as the flask landed in the dirt in front of him. He blinked, looked up, and nodded. "Sure thing, sweets," he yelled back, hoping that it was enough.
Of course it occurred to him that he didn't have anything to carry water in, anyway... so it would've been hard getting some to his friends in the first place.
Some people just weren't very prepared.
He grabbed up the flask of water and head back over. "Will this do?" he offered lamely as he held it out, brushing the dirt off cautiously.
Galain took care of things with the umbilical cord, snatched the flask, washed the baby, rewrapped her and handed her to Elyen.
"There Daddy Elyen. Make sure Mommy An'Thaya holds her too."
Meanwhile Daddy Galain would take care of all the little extra stuff one doesn't talk about after a birth.
Fun!
How the heck had he become so calm at this sort of thing?!
"Thanks, Railen," he finally said, flashing the other elf a grin. Then he turned around, what was happening with the others? Oh who cared. The Elen crept around to An'Thaya's head and gave her a kiss on her forehead.
"Congrats, Amil 'Thaya. Your Sy’Rish is holding your daughter at the moment." He grinned at her as he hurriedly took his own vest off and covered the lower half of her. Then he motioned Elyen to get down by the Amazon's head so daughter and mother could meet eye to eye.
All in all, as long as An'Thaya looked at himself and Elyen without seeing ghosts Galain would be happy.
"Baby? Baby! Show mommy baby?" Oh yes, Elyen was incoherent. His mind just snapped from the fact that he was a father (he might be in denial about that right about now), and that the squalling babe in his hands was his daughter.
He grinned idiotically and leaned down so that he could present the still flushed (and extremely tired) Amazon with her daughter. "See? Mommy, meet baby! Baby has name? What's that? Anelain? Mommy 'Thaya meet Baby Anelain." He was babbling. But he was babbling proudly.
Somewhere inside that ridiculous mass of happiness, an elf sat back, content that all was (for once) well... and he had a group of remarkable friends to thank for that. The elf realized just how lucky he was as he looked across the baby and smiled into the Amazon's eyes. Love you too, he whispered mentally, then quirked a grin over at Railen.
"Thank you," he said simply, then grinned even more as realization set into Railen's eyes. "Big Brother Railen, ready to meet your little sis?"
Galain sat back. Really. The only thing he'd contributed here was some accidental DNA and his help. He was more than content to watch Mother, Father and Brother of sorts view the daughter/sister. This was why they'd gone a-questing -- to find An'Thaya and make sure the little one and she were found -- alive and well.
As for Tallin. He could fry in hell as far as Galain was concerned.
Of course An'Thaya had still to speak a word besides her incoherent screams of earlier...
Marion rolled her eyes and looked over her shoulder at the three point five elves and the baby. "Excuse me but I kinda am sitting on an evil mage here, so what the bloody hell do you want me to do with it? Can I kill it or what?"
Patience is a virtue, which explains why Marion has so little of it. Besides, her butt was going numb.
An'Thaya mentally thwapped Galain and reached out her arms for her child. "Hello Anelain," she smiled, taking in the big blue eyes of her daughter for the first time. "You are a beauty aren't you." Parting the vest a bit she did the customary mommy thing and counted all her fingers and toes.. yep, everything was there. "Oh look!" she giggled and pointed to the tiny patch of golden scales on the baby’s belly. "That’s soooo cute!"
"Just hang on," Galain hollered at Marion. For gods' sake, where the hell was Carnil, Kalisandra and Chez? And he was smarting from the mental thwap from An'Thaya.
He eyed her while she counted fingers and toes and cooed over little golden scales.
Much better than screeches.
Why did that phrase sorta make him cringe? It wasn't that the child wasn't cute.... she was adorable and it took all the restraint he had in him not to coo over the kid along with the parents.
"Um. Well. Maybe I should uh..... just take a look. Big brother's duty and all," he said as convincingly as possible as he carefully crouched down to look at the babe more closely.
"Oooo. Scales."
He let Elyen and Railen fawn over Anelain while he looked very intently at the Amazon.
"An'Thaya. What do you wish done to your uncle?"
It was a very important question after all.
Tallin was really getting sick of that blond elf, he had been there the first time, when An'Thaya had brought Corin back from between dimensions. The dark mage had simply lain there for a moment, saying nothing in response to the thief’s taunts and threats. The child had come into the world and not into his hands as he had planned... he should have waited, his impatience had done him in again. But... there was always next time.
Quietly he gathered his energies, and by the time Carnil leaned over him he was ready. His hand darted out and grabbed the Krolians blade, sending a bolt of lightning along the edge that took the red head off his feet. The Changeling had wisely grabbed hold of his wife and yanked her clear as lightning crackled in a great orb out from Tallin’s' robes. He was disappointed for the moment, he had meant to fry the little wench, but Chezlar took the full force of the spell as he stood between them.
"Well met Messenger," he snarled, then laughed, "You can't be there all the time can you? Someday she will be your undoing!" The Changeling merely looked at him with slowly whirling golden eyes before raising a hand and opening a portal, "Go... before the Fates change their minds." With a snort of disgust Tallin leapt through and was gone...
"Real nice fella," Marion mused, bouncing her leg rapidly on her toes. The pins and needles were just hitting and it was just at that annoying part...
"And what was all that about me being your undoing?" Despite the fact that she could feel nothing below her buttocks but stinging, Marion turned and gave Chez a quick squeeze. "I'd never do anything to hurt you...After all, who else would save my ass consistently?"
Elyen instinctively threw himself over the baby and the new mother as light and lightning exploded from the direction of their friends.
"What was that?" He asked. He already knew though, when he saw Chez cradling Marion and Carnil lying on the ground, swearing.
Tallin had escaped them. Again.
When the light show started Railen jumped up and pulled a few blades, ready to send them flying at any opposing force. Of course, by then it was all over and the bad guy had vanished through a portal.
That was a bad thing, he was sure of it.
"Well... so much for revenge," he said to himself.
Chezlar’s brow furrowed a bit, he had always been blind to his own future, and Marion’s as well. Looking down at his wife he smiled and bent to kiss the top of her head, "I know Namor... it was just the ramblings of a mad man, pay it no mind. Uhmm.. are you ok?" The thief was doing an odd hoochie coochie type thing. "We should go over and greet the new elf type creature don't you think?"
An'Thaya had watched in silence as Chezlar had let Tallin leave, somehow she new there was nothing that could be done about it. He would always be there, waiting for his chance. The Amazon looked down at her tiny daughter, so innocent and sweet... and for a moment she knew what Se’Liene must have felt... The understanding of a mothers sacrifice, to give up everything to save your child. A part of her found peace at that moment, and forgiveness for her mother. ~You only meant to protect me... I can see that now.~
The Amazons life was rife with danger, always on the move, some path always calling her to follow it. What kind of life would Anelain have.... and where would she be safe from Tallin? Certainly not Corin... and Elyen’s family had no magic to speak of... Tager had been gone for centuries... Her eyes focused on the golden patch of scales... and who would teach Anelain what it meant to be dragon?
Emerald greens rose to meet sea green ones. ~Galain... ~ She didn't need to explain, her eyes said everything, and her heart said more. ~Call Summerlin please...~
"'Thaya," Elyen felt his bonded's intention through the bond and ran a hand through still-damp hair, needing to feel contact with her.
On one level, he understood the need to send Anelain away. It is for the babe's safety, and best for her future that she go learn with Summerlin. On another level, he didn't want to part with a child new-come so soon.
He looked from the baby's wide eyes to the Amazon's steady gaze. "I understand. We can visit..." And for all his wandering, the elf will stay as close to his daughter as possible, without stifling or bringing harm.
Galain was startled for just a moment, then nodded. He didn't have a bond per se with his sister. But he could call to her on occasion and that's precisely what he did just now. He got a startled response and then there was just the slightest of rustlings as a gold portal opened a few feet away and the statuesque figure of Summerlin stepped through. It appeared she'd been gardening, the knees of her breeches were stained with dirt, but her hands were clean and her hair tied back in a long strawberry-blonde braid that hung to one side.
Galain smiled at her and crooked a finger, beckoning her to come. She had a questioning look on her face that turned to pure delight when she saw the tiny baby.
"An'Thaya has a request," he told her.
The Amazons head was bent over Anelain’s, gazing on her daughter as if she was trying to memorize every molecule of her face. She heard Galain speak to Summerlin, and after placing a soft kiss on her child’s forehead she looked up at the Elen Earth Mage. "Ad'vere, you are the only one I could ask this of, a sister in the art of magic, and kin to my daughter." She paused and looked at Galain for a moment before looking back to his sister.
"You also know what it is to be dragon, and Anelain will need someone to show her. She will need to be taught the nature of magic.. and be kept safe from Tallin... " Brushing away a tear An'Thaya managed to get to her feet, straightening out the skirt of the dress she had been wearing before making her way to Summerlin. She was still a bit shaky, but resolve made her stronger. "Would you be her Godmother Summerlin? And raise her in my stead?"
Summerlin’s knees nearly buckled. What was she being asked? She stared over once at Galain, then Elyen, before startled eyes returned to An’Thaya’s face. She found herself unusually thick-tongued for once. She would never have children of her own. Her husband was undead, the profligate demon that had used him long gone. To have the chance to raise a child was not something she’d expected. She stared into An’Thaya’s deep green eyes before she finally spoke again, placing one hand against the Amazon’s face.
“Sister, I will do this for you.” She faltered, feeling the deepest grief suddenly well up for this mother. “But first, come home with me?” Summerlin could not and would not have the baby simply given like this. She gazed beyond the Amazon to Elyen and Galain. “All of you? I don’t even have a cradle for her yet.” She returned her gaze yet again to her Amazon friend. “Please?”
A feeling of relief swept over the Amazon, the knowledge that she would never really be separate from her daughter, not as she had been from her own mother. "Thank you," her voice was barely a whisper; she could feel Elyen's presence just behind her, ready to follow mother and daughter. "We would love too." She looked over at Galain questioningly, would he enter the city of his people? Things didn't stand well with his Father at the moment... but Anelain was as much his as Elyen’s and her own.
Chez looked at Marion and raised a questioning eyebrow, "Did you want to tag along? Or do you have somewhere to be?" You never knew with the thief, she might have had crown jewels to steal or something. He offered her his arm anyway... and why did she keep wriggling around like that? Ants in her pants?
Galain caught An'Thaya's look and smiled.
"I go home occasionally. What Father doesn't know won't kill him." He looked over at Summerlin who gave him a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. But she beckoned to him and the others.
"I'm afraid only my quarters and my garden area will be accessible for now, but please come. At least rest a bit before continuing on to your own homes."
The invitation extended was genuine and Galain himself formed the portal that looked into a small herb garden.
"Me? Have somewhere to be? No." Marion only did things when chance dealt her a nice hand. Otherwise, she enjoyed vacation time. "Why, do you have somewhere to be?"
A quite goofy grin spread across Marion's features and she stopped squirming. I can finally feel below my belt again...yay...
She settled into a chair in the garden as the others filed through, looking up only once to snicker at Chezlar as he had to duck to step through. ~You would think by now Galain would have learned to make the portals a bit taller.~ Anelain cooed in amusement, her all to aware blue eyes sparkling up at her Amil. Her gentle agreement that Alcarinque was the best place for her to be set the Amazons heart at ease. ~You have quite a future ahead of you...~
Everyone seemed to have settled in now, and Summerlin was happily playing hostess as she always did. Some things never changed, and that was oddly comforting in a universe of eternal chaos.
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