Post partum

[Faith Augustin]

81st Zi'da 717

"Are you sure they're asleep?" Faith asked, quietly. She knew he was sure, she knew that they were if he said they were, she just needed to check. The crib where their children slept was there, in the corner of the room and Faith looked at him as he fussed with the blankets she had made. That was all they needed, because it kept them warm but she still had to resist the urge to be holding on to them. They'd brought the crib out into the living room and she was sitting on the sofa with a blanket draped over her. Ironically, she didn't need that, but she liked the feeling of comfort it gave her and she lifted the blanket up as he sat down next to her, glancing at the twin wolf pups who slept below the crib even as the babies slept above, inside it.

The trial before, their children had been born and Faith supposed it wasn't usually like this for most new parents. They'd been going for a meal when men had grabbed her, tried to kidnap her and take her to Alexander, the necromancer who had kidnapped her previously. She had been bundled into a carriage and had fought for her life. For their children's lives (as it turned out) and so too had he. Faith was worried about Padraig, there was no doubting it. She was worried about him and he knew it thanks to the bonds and marks they shared, thanks to the love they did. Of course, he was worried about her and she knew it. And so it went in a whole great spiral.

Yestertrial had passed in something of a blur for Faith, once they'd been bundled home, babies in tow. There had been a warm bath, she remembered, and fussing from everyone about her, how she was. It was odd, she had thought, that they were concerned about her when there were the two whole people who hadn't been there when they went out that morning. They'd needed feeding and a doctor had come. She had slept and then eaten. Cyrus and Katie and Luna had been there and the sight of the older Augustin standing there with Padraig, holding a newborn in their arms, each of them had made her cry. Three generations of a family, and she remembered thinking what a shame it was that his mother didn't know.

But it was blurry. Which was odd, Faith knew, because she was Adored of Vri and she never, ever, forgot anything. She could remember being born. Her first dream, every trill of her life. Yet yestertrial was rather blurry after the carriage doors had opened and she'd recognised the doctor. She knew why and how. It was protection. She'd been in shock, emotionally and physically overwhelmed and so she'd been unable to process what had happened to her, so she had closed down and simply concentrated on the babies. Yet, after a warm bath and some food, the fussing of the doctor who'd come here despite her telling Padraig more than once that she was fine, just bruised, she had slept. This morning, she was much more herself, much more clear.

"We made people." Faith said with a heartfelt smile to him. Silver eyes regarded him and her hand moved immediately to take his as he sat with her. Looking down at their hands, held there together, the new mother frowned slightly as she tried to formulate the words. There was no need for a lengthy explanation from her, no need for her to explain why she was concerned. He, of all people, knew. "I...," damnit but she was shoddy at this. "Are you alright?" Lifting her head up, she smiled. It was a genuine one, there was no doubt. "I'm so happy. They're so beautiful and I love them so much. But it was awful and I'm worried about you. And me. But not us." Leaning against him, Faith had to recognise that she was bruised and battered in a way that most new mothers weren't. So too was he similarly unlike most new fathers. She had a solution though. "Shall we hide here for the next ten arcs?" It had been horrific; painful and terrifying and yet? Looking at him her face showed her delight, the grin on her face unmistakable. "I won't mind. We made people and they're beautiful. I could just look at them for ten arcs, that will be fine."

[Padraig]

Faith made sure the babies were sleeping, and then in spite of reminding himself that she was perfectly in the position to know, Padraig could resist doing the same just a few trills later. It wasn't as if the two of them couldn't see them from their spot on the couch.

In addition to the two wolf pups seeming perfectly in tune with their charges, Cosmo had also made it his duty to keep them informed, alerting them to the smallest movement or sound. Thankfully, so far, he'd gotten on very well with the pups. Quattro was another story however. She wasn't convinced just yet, and definitely wasn't enamored. There'd been no scuffles though. No real aggression beyond a spit a hiss and a brighter arc between her four tails when they'd first come into the house. Since then, the four tailed cat hat simply chosen to ignore and avoid them by hiding under the bed, or keeping the high ground whenever she needed to walk near them.

"Sound asleep," he told Faith when he sat down beside her and made sure her cup of tea was full and warm enough. Safe and sound, them and her, and it was all that he was interested in for now. Especially after the events that had unfolded the trial before. Quiet now too, since Cyrus and Katie and Luna had gone off to their little place across the wide porch between houses. When they'd been there, Padraig hadn't hesitated before placing one of the twins into his grandfather's arms. After all, he didn't need to be reminded that Cyrus had raised him all of his own, from the time he was just a few trials old. It was interesting too, and gave Padraig a deeper insight into his grandfather.

Was this how he'd been with him all those arcs ago. He hadn't, Padraig thought, given the man nearly enough credit. He only knew it now because he was beginning to grasp how large a job this parenting business really was. "We did indeed," he told Faith, and smiled when she remarked what they'd made together. "Two perfect little humans." And he might be a bit biased but Padraig didn't think so. And maybe it wasn't a particularly scientific approach. But they must be the most perfect, and already the most clever little humans alive. "I'm alright," he reminded her, because it wasn't the first time she'd asked. "I'm more than alright."

Of course he still worried about her. Not so much the physical, because physically he knew she was fine. It was the emotional trauma Padraig was concerned about. Not least because the bastard who'd orchestrated the events of the trial before, was still out there. Which only served to increase his willingness to remain here, the two of them and the babies, for ten trials to come. "We'll become shut-ins, recluses the four of us," he agreed. "I can't think of anything I'd rather do."

[Faith Augustin]

81st Zi'da 717

They ran the risk, of course, of waking the twins up by constantly checking that they were asleep. There were the wolf-pups, Cosmo, her and him and they were all able to see them. Yet she breathed out and nodded when he said they were sound asleep. He checked her tea, then he looked at her and Faith returned his gaze. "Everyone's fine. All of us." Her voice was just a whisper but it was something that they both needed to keep remembering. "I was so afraid for you, up there. He was the most dangerous of them." She'd been scrappy, there was no doubting it. He'd been fighting for his life, her for hers and both of them for the lives now contentedly sleeping. Of course, there was another truth, too ~ she'd been fighting for him and him for her. It was how they were, how they'd always been since they first met and if Padraig was to be believed, before that even. She didn't know where he ended and she began because all she knew was that when she hurt, he did and vice versa.

Life as a free woman was complicated, Faith had decided some time ago, but really, why had no one warned her just how big this whole notion of being someone's mother was? Padraig was clear. Two perfect little humans and she nodded her head. "Perfect. Brave, too. And clever. Beautiful, of course, too. Strong. I think we might be biased." Leaning her head against his chest for a moment, Faith heard his reply. He was more than alright? She smiled against him and just allowed herself, and him that moment together.

When he agreed that they'd stay recluses until the babies were ten, Faith chuckled. "By that point, we'll have become crazy people with nothing to do except make more of them. We'll have ten children, three canines, two equines and a feline. Or maybe eleven canines. One for each of the ten plus Cosmo." Considering it, she pulled herself close to him and said, entirely seriously, "Is it bad that it sounds vaguely appealing?"

There were things which needed to be said between them, though, things they needed to discuss. He wouldn't, she knew, until she did. So, she did. "We need to talk about Alexander." Faith looked at him and that slight line on her forehead which indicated that she was thinking deep thoughts. "Yestertrial, I would have said something different. Even in that carriage, I would have." Looking up at him, Faith still wasn't sure, not completely. She was fighting, internally, but the decision was made and she was mostly happy with it. "You want to go after him?" Uncertainty flooded in on her; what would he think of her? Would he think less of her for what she was about to say? Even as she thought it, she shook her head in despair at herself. Would she never learn?

"I'm worried you will think poorly of me, which is ridiculous and I should know better. But Padraig, if you want to go after him, I," she struggled to say the next bit, struggled to admit what needed to be admitted. "I don't have to go with you. I don't want you to go alone, let me be clear." She didn't want him to go at all, but that wasn't something she'd say. He knew, she didn't need to. "But I'm not sure that I'll help you." Breathing in, she turned slightly. "If you're worrying about me and whether I'll hold it together, then you might hesitate. I don't want that." It would put him in danger, there was no doubt in her mind. However, he knew her and she meant it. Did she want him to go charging off without her? No, not for a trill. But she needed him to survive and now, of course, there was something else.

Or more precisely someone else. Two of them.

Faith had an overwhelming sense of protectiveness, fierce and as fiery as she never usually was, at the thought of those babes. With a slight frown, but a very clear expression on her face she looked at him. "If you are in any doubt, Padraig, I'll do whatever we need to, in order to make sure that they grow up safe and with two parents. Two." Suddenly, she explained to him, so many of the things which had seemed important just weren't any more. "I've never killed anyone before yestertrial," he knew that. Of course he did. What surprised her, though? "I'd have done whatever I needed to in order to protect them. Bun, as I thought at the time. Maybe I need a holiday, I've become a mad woman."

[Padraig]

Had the driver been the most dangerous of all? Padraig might disagree, considering that the driver hadn't been one of those inside the carriage with Faith. But there was no question that the man had been difficult. "He seemed almost inhuman," he said, frowning as he set his mug of tea aside and opted to just sit side by side with her. "If he was human at all." Padraig hadn't really bothered to pick apart the man's race, but had simply seen him an obstacle between where he was on the top of the carriage, and where he wanted to be.

"We're all safe now though, it's all that's important." Of course he'd never be convinced that his family was truly safe, until Alexander was done for and gone for good. Padraig couldn't imagine that after this most recent failure, the bastard would simply give up and walk away. Though he still struggled to understand what it was about Faith in particular, that could consume Alexander to such a degree that there seemed to be no end to it.

Still, when she talked of their children, he smiled and looked towards the crib. "They're all of that and more," he assured her, then teased, "I fear we're in danger, if we're not careful, of becoming those parents." The type that hovered and fussed, that held tight even when their children were too old for it, who didn't let them risk falling and scraping a knee or getting a spot of dirt on their cheeks. Cyrus had been anything but that kind of parent. And in Padraig's mind, grandfather or no, that's what he'd been.

It had taken a long time to really grasp hold of the concept. But he was a father, and the only one he'd ever known. He was on course now to be a great grandfather too. "I came upon him early this morning, speaking to them as if they were miniature adults. None of that infant speak that you hear some parents engaging in. I could have sworn that Bun 2 understood every bit of it, the way that she was watching and conversing back at him." In a cooing, babbling sort of way of course. But it sure sounded like conversation to him.

But it was true. He didn't want to talk about Alexander and would prefer to believe that the man had walked away, hands thrown up in defeat and would simply disappear forever. Padraig knew better though, and they'd have to deal with it sooner or later. So long as the man was out there, he was a danger to Faith and to the babies. "I want nothing more to go after him and finish him," he admitted. "And yet I know that I might be playing right into his hands by leaving you and the children behind. I know," he was quick to add before she could, "that you can recall me in an instant, right back to your side. But now, he knows it too."

He couldn't expect Cyrus and Katie to be able to protect her either, though both were capable and each would do anything and everything they could. But this threat was beyond the norm. Far beyond it. "He'll also be expecting one or both of us to immediately pursue him." But he could easily kill the man, even out of the heat of the moment. But the heat of the moment wasn't the best way to go about it, he didn't think. "I think it's going to take more than me going after him alone. We can't rely on the guard, we've learned it the hard way." Maybe the city's peacekeepers were overextended? Under trained? Overwhelmed? He didn't know.

"We should speak to Kura about it maybe. She may have some ideas," he suggested. But in the meantime? Well, they'd talked before about getting away, whether in the short or the long term. "You still interested in going to Desnind?" he asked her.

[Faith Augustin]

That the driver had seemed to be more than human didn't surprise her and Faith nodded. "When he took me the first time, the men who did it were strong, stronger than they had any right to be and nothing that I did stopped them." She looked at him with a vaguely rueful expression. She'd fought like a possessed creature then, too, as she had the trial before and had used every skill and ability available to her in order to keep herself and the babies safe. It was pure instinct, not thought through or considered, not something she did because she should or ought to. "I think we neither of us cared what they were, just knew we had to fight and fight until they were gone." He said they were safe now and Faith looked at him. Were they? Were the children and was he? If she was in that situation again, he'd come after her even though she'd escaped already by the time he found her last time and this time.... well, this time in fairness, he'd saved her life. Whatever the case was, she knew that neither of them would rest until they knew, knew that Alexander was no longer a threat.

It was a much preferred topic, the children and Faith smiled in contented delight at him as he spoke of them. When he spoke of Cyrus, though, Faith's expression changed to one more thoughtful; the older man had so much to teach and they, both of them, so much to learn. "Bun 2 is going to be the chatterbox, you know. She listens and makes noises that mirror what she hears. " She looked at him and considered for a moment, then launched into what she was going to say. "I've been thinking about Cyrus. I think we should call him grandfather to the children. Not great-grandfather. He's your father, Padraig, in all the ways that matter, and he deserves the chance to be a grandfather, too." She smiled and said, quite seriously, "I understand it's more fun."

They had to talk about Alexander, it was true. Neither of them wanted it, but when he said that she could call him back, Faith shook her head. "Once a cycle, so every two seasons. Not again now, although you can call me once in that time." So, that was nearly as good, but not really, since he called her, not the children. "Oh, Padraig, we should make sure that we've done all the marks and bonds with them, too. That's important, before anyone else can visit or anything." But what to do about Alexander? Faith frowned slightly, thinking about it from his point of view. She realised that, fundamentally, she couldn't do that and she smiled slightly. "I don't want you to go anywhere without me. I know it's silly," She understood, she explained, that he was perfectly capable of looking after himself, but there was still that simple fact. "We're stronger together, I think we always will be." She thought that, in this, she was a liability to him. Alexander seemed to be obsessing over her, after all.

Then, he asked about Desnind, and Kura and Faith frowned slightly more and spoke after thinking. "I love the idea of going to Desnind. It was so nice there, so quiet and calm. I worry about you, though." He was so busy, had so many people that relied on him and there were questions, too. "What about your return expedition?" Faith asked, and then realised what she was doing, so smiled and shook her head. "I'd love to. The four of us, the seven of us. Our family." They were, very much. She would need to sort out Cally's, Faith said, and there was the faction, but maybe in Desnind they could work to getting it all sorted. Leaning against him on the sofa, she smiled to herself. "I know it's selfish, Padraig, but I want to be selfish. I want to spend this time with you and them and Cyrus and Katie and Luna. I feel like I've earned it, you know?" She shook her head. It didn't work like that, she knew, but right now that was what she wanted to do. "I'd like to go, still. What do you think?"

[Padraig]

"Well tend not to think it comes naturally to them," Padraig agreed, when Faith remembered aloud the first time she'd been taken. Men weren't just born that way. Human men at least. And there was only so much that training and fitness could do. At some point it just became bloody unnatural. And that's what the man on top of the carriage had seemed to be. Ultimately he was flesh and blood however, judging by all the bits and pieces that had been scattered on the carriage and the ground beneath it.

Faith was right though. Neither of them had been willing to give up, and hadn't cared what it took. However, while those men might be dead and gone, Padraig wasn't foolish enough to think that Alexander would simply walk away, or that his family was safe from the man now. That wouldn't happen until Alexander was gone. The topic of their newborn twins was a much pleasanter conversation. "She's uncommonly clever already, and she knows it," he said of Bun two. And intensely curious to boot, while Bun one worked and worked already to roll himself over and push himself up.

"I think he'd like that," he agreed when she suggested that Cyrus should be grandfather and not great grandfather. "I always called him grandfather, but you're right, he wasn't. He was my father. I guess that's why I've never much cared to find out who that might have been." And in truth, he still wasn't interested in knowing. And his mother wherever she was or if she was even alive, probably didn't know either. "It won't hurt them to do it now?" he asked when she mentioned putting their marks on the babies.

But it wasn't silly, he told her. He didn't want Faith out of his sight, and he didn't want her out of his. That feeling might endure for a while, at least till Alexander was dealt with. As for the expedition? Well he'd work that out later. It wasn't the most important thing after all. "So we'll go to Desnind," he agreed. "You and me, bun one and bun two, Cyrus and Katie, Luna and all our menagerie," he added with a smile. And the rest? Well, the rest he told her, would work itself out.

[Rumour]

Name: Faith

Knowledge:
Caregiving: It's always alright to check one more time on newborns
Endurance: Violence and birth aftereffects are painful

Loot: N/A
Injuries: N/A
Fame: N/A

Points: 15

- - -

Name: Padraig

Knowledge:
Caregiving: It's always alright to check one more time on newborns
Caregiving: Caring for newborns
Caregiving: Caring for new mothers
Discipline: Not giving in to your own worries

Loot: N/A
Injuries: N/A
Fame: N/A

Points: 15

- - -

Comments: This was a lovely little transition thread to help fill in the gaps between big events. Congratulations to you both on having a whole family and being (temporarily) out of danger! Knowing the two of you, that won't last for long. Looking forward to reading about your Desnind adventures and the hunt for the Great and Terrible Alexander!

If you feel I've missed anything or if you have questions about your review, please don't hesitate to send me a quick PM. Thanks!