A/N: A post-HKT with a twist. This takes place about twenty years after HKT and touches on a possible course of events for the books while taking a peak into a happily ever after. It may not be what some expect, but I think it's interesting.
SSSSSSflashback start and end
Reminisces Chapter 1:
A small thicket rustled with sudden activity as a doe escaped from her hunter and leapt past Stevic. "You shot too soon Zavier."
"I know Grandfather. I guess the table will have to go without venison tonight," Zavier answered with a resigned sigh. "Can we go home now?"
Stevic had to laugh at the plaintive tone of voice coming from his usually stoic grandson. The conditions of the morning had quickly become miserable after they set off in pursuit of game. Already chill, a steady rainfall began as they settled in to wait for their query, which were not showing one hair of themselves in such weather. Moisture quickly seeped between the layers of their clothing and made them shiver. It was, in short, not the male bonding experience Stevic had been hoping for when he arranged the outing.
"Yes, yes, we can go home. I imagine my sisters will have tea and lunch waiting for us when we get home." Zavier sneezed impressively, "They'll have something for that too, I bet." Zavier only grimaced at the thought of the herbal concoctions his great-aunts could force down his throat.
They mounted their horses and headed towards the G'ladheon manse. It was a sprawling structure that included a family wing, a guest wing, a great hall, the ample servant quarters, and large stables. Stevic G'ladheon bought it and added space with a grand legacy in mind.
As newlyweds he and Kariny dreamed of a large family under foot and bouncing grandchildren on their knees. Years progressed, wealth was built but they began to lose hope in their dreams of family. Kariny miscarried five times and a son died within hours of his birth. When Kariny told him that she was pregnant again, he sobbed. He was terrified for his lovely wife. Her life had already been put in danger because of the miscarriages, and as strong as she was, he didn't think she could lose another baby. Each time he had to be the strong one for her to lean on as she fell apart in grief. Every time she came out of it she was just a little quieter and a little more withdrawn. He tried to prevent the pregnancies, but the most effective means were a woman's responsibility, and she refused. She wanted to be a mother more than anything, and in truth, he could never deny his Kariny anything.
The months of pregnancy passed. Kariny went through all the difficulties of pregnancy that he had become far too familiar with. He tried to be detached from the child growing in his wife, and Kariny hated him for it. When Kariny passed her sixth month, he began to hope just a little. Then the time came for the birth.
Kariny went into labor quietly on a summer evening just before they settled into bed for the night. She labored for twenty hours with little progress. When the midwife shooed him out, he sat in his modest library with a fine whisky and thought of all the worst possibilities. The midwife would pop in to inform him of the progress, but her expression became grimmer as dawn came for the second time since the labor started.
Finally, he heard the wail of an infant over his wife's moans. Stevic waited in agony until the midwife called him into the birthing room nearly a half hour later. And there was his beautiful, glowing, exhausted wife holding a red-faced bundle.
"I thought we should name her Karigan. What do you think?" Were her first words to him as she looked up and beamed the brightest smile he had ever seen—and she could light up a room most days. He found he had no voice when he tried to answer. Instead, he looked into the bright eyes of the little bundle and felt himself lost forever. By the blessings of the gods, little Karigan was completely healthy.
In the years to come, they doted on their little girl. When Kariny died of fever, carrying another child with her, he saw his daughter as even more of a gift. In hindsight Stevic realized that the only reason Karigan wasn't a spoiled brat in her adult life was the influence of his sisters, and to a certain extent, her service in the Green Riders. His greatest shock as a father was when he discovered his little girl in the middle of coup. When she insisted on joining the Green Riders a year later, he knew that she was a grown woman capable of her own decisions.
xxxxxx
"Zavier, Father, you're back," Karigan greeted the two men as they trudged into the kitchen of the G'ladheon home. They were quickly bundled in thick towels and given steaming cups of tea by Aunt Stace and Aunt Brini. No one mentioned the lack of game from the hunting trip, although two Aunts were not present.
Stevic watched his daughter as she teased her son about his drowned rat status. It was hard for him to grasp that the boy had turned nineteen during this visit. Time was beginning to slip away from him faster than he ever imagined it would. Even the youngest grandchild was chattering away and squirming to run as she sat in her mother's lap, and yet he could remember receiving the news of her birth via Green Rider so clearly. Although he could remember receiving the news of Zavier's impending arrival with even more vividness.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
"Karigan, what are you doing home?" Stevic G'ladheon exclaimed. Upon seeing the wane expression on his daughter's face, he added, "Not that I am not happy to see you any time. Did something happen?"
"I asked for some leave time," was Karigan's only answer before asking to excuse her self to take a hot bath. Stevic watched with concern as his daughter walked up the stairs. Every fatherly instinct told him that something was seriously wrong. Five hells, he didn't need any instinct to tell him something was wrong. His daughter had just left her swordsmaster and officer training to ride through the tempestuous weather of early spring so she could show up on the doorstep of her childhood home with no notice and no explanation. As much as he wished she would return to Corsa and settle down, he knew when she accepted officer training that she would not be returning to the life he wanted her to lead. She had chosen her own life.
At dinner Karigan was silent and withdrawn. She pushed around the food on her plate and left abruptly halfway through. When the table was clear, Stevic assured his sisters that he would find out what was wrong before the night was through. He found his daughter in the sitting room before a crackling fire.
"I know there is something you need to tell me—if only for your own peace of mind."
Karigan pressed her lips tightly before taking a deep breath and confessing what troubled her in a smaller voice than he had ever heard from her. "I'm pregnant."
Stevic collapsed into the overstuffed arm chair in shock. Pregnant! He knew the more conservative frowned on a young woman being in uniform, but he had always felt that they were overly critical. He trusted his daughter to act as she had been raised. "Who's the father?" he finally choked out.
Resolve formed in Karigan's expression before she answered, "It doesn't matter. The father won't be part of the baby's life."
"Kari, do you have any idea what it means to have a fatherless baby? Who is the father? I will hold him responsible for this child and what ever he did to lure you into such…such lascivious behavior." Stevic was beginning to see red as he thought about some shiftless man taking advantage of his daughter.
"Lascivious behavior?" Karigan stood and stared him straight in the eyes, "you mean like what you do at the Golden Rudder?"
Stevic was thunderstruck. "How do you--"
"I was forced to stay overnight at the Golden Rudder after jumping in an icy river. Imagine my surprise when they gave me a gratuitous stay because of my father's kind patronage!"
"Why would you jump in an icy river?" Stevic asked.
"Don't change the subject. I felt humiliated. The man I idolized participates in an activity that degrades women who have no one to protect them and no way to defend themselves. How can you, who have raised a daughter to be strong and honorable, do such a thing? And now you accuse me of being lured into lascivious behavior. I will not be dictated to by a hypocrite."
Stevic guiltily assimilated his daughter's censure. He recognized there was truth in what she was saying, but he would not be lectured to at a time like this. "Wait just one moment. This is not about my behavior. You are the one who is pregnant and refuses to name the father. You would rather bring shame upon the clan."
Karigan looked as though she had been struck. In a much calmer voice she told him, "I had hoped that you would help me, but I can do this alone too."
"You think you can do this alone?"
"Yes, I have an estate and soon an income from it. What more do I need? All I ask, all I hope is that I don't have to do it alone." Despite his anger, Stevic began to see the steel and the misery in his daughter's eyes. If he was not a supportive father at this moment, he would lose her forever. She would never trust in him again.
"Okay, I don't like it, but okay," Stevic told her. Relief flooded Karigan's face and the two of them sat in companionable silence, alone with their own thoughts for the rest of the evening.
SSSSSSSSSS
"Are you packed yet?" Karigan asked her second child. Stevic realized that he was lost in memories yet again today.
"Yes Mother, I just finished," Kally answered as she dished out a bowl of stew for herself.
"Everything fit?" Zavier asked in teasing amazement, "What magic did you use?"
Kally glared at her brother in a way only a sixteen year old can manage. Karigan and Stevic smirked at each other across the table. Kally was everything Karigan's aunts wanted in Karigan so many years ago. It was a mystery of inheritance, but Kally was happy to wear elaborate dresses and serve tea for an afternoon. As might be expected she was leaving Corsa with a much fuller trunk than she arrived with thanks to several shopping expeditions.
Karigan accepted her daughter's more frivolous tendencies in stride because she had seen enough to know that her daughter's fluffy exterior overlaid a core of solid steel. Karigan's only hope was that time would give Kally better judgment when it came to picking her fights. Karigan (and the Weapons) was getting tired of coming to the rescue when Kally decided to stand up to a bully who was much more skilled with fists, or a dagger.
"So, you are really leaving tomorrow?" Stevic asked.
"We're expected back by the end of the month," Karigan answered, "and we won't be traveling quickly."
"Don't worry, I'll be back Grandpa," little Talia piped in.
Stevic reached down to where she was standing next to his chair and gave her a tickle. Talia wiggled away with a laughing shriek. She was the youngest of five children and just three years old. It was natural that she loved being the center of attention.
Kally and Talia's presence reminded Stevic that he had yet to see two grandchildren. Ayden and Laurel were eleven and ten respectively. In all likelihood they were in the stables with the new foals. He was pretty sure one of the barn cats had birthed a litter in the past week too.
It was after the birth of Laurel that Stevic began to accept that his daughter was living a very unconventional life. She maintained her rank and duties within the Green Riders and was the acknowledged lover of Sacoridia's "Bachelor King." Stevic and his sisters had many bitter fights with Karigan and the king where they condemned the couple's perceived sins. However, after Laurel's birth Stevic realized that his daughter was happy and for reasons he had yet to understand, the Sacoridian people were accepting of the situation.
With the mended relationship he now could looked forward to seeing his daughter and his grandchildren at least once a year. His pseudo-son-in-law often accompanied the children, but this year royal duties kept him away. Secretly Stevic was glad of it. He could accept that Karigan and Zachary loved each other, but seeing the two of them together without the blessing of the gods disturbed him. Now that the visit was coming to a close and he would have to say good-bye for another year. Best to leave old memories behind and enjoy the company he had now.