A/N: well I have returned from the dead, writing wise. I was feeling bored last night, so I wrote this little one-shot about Jon's birth. I have been reading in this Fandom for a few weeks now, and I have a couple of questions. One, why aren't there any fics about Jon's parents? And 2, why is everyone so against fics that have Jon/Thayet as the major pairing?!? I'm actually getting rather tired of all the Jon/Alanna fics, ALANNA BELONGS WITH GEORGE, JON BELONGS WITH THAYET, END OF STORY!

Disclamer: I own nothing but the names of Duke Gareth's wife, Roger's Parents, and the name of Alanna's mother.

Anyways, enough rambling, on with the story. Enjoy!

A Prince is Born

King Roald the First of Tortall paced nervously in the corridor. He could hear his beloved Lianne screaming in pain, it tore his heart to hear it and be unable to help her.

"Roald, please will you sit down and stop pacing, you're making me even more nervous!" came from behind him. Roald looked at his brother-in-law, his best friend and his Champion. Gareth of Naxen smiled weakly at him. "There's no point wearing yourself out, you know that all you can do is sit and wait."

Roald sighed in frustration, "But I can't stand it when she's in pain Gareth, and I want to be with her."

His friend glared at him, "She's my only sister, do you think I like it when she's in pain?" he glared at his King some more, "And they wont let you in, try and bang the door down if you must, but don't expect it to get you in there." He added in a dry tone as Roald eyed the door to Lianne's chambers

"How can you so calm about this all!"

"Gary is a year old now, in case you've forgotten that fact. I've been through it before. You should remember that, you were with me."

Roald sighed again; it was definitely going to be a very long night. "Well, I also remember sitting up with Endon when Jasmine had Roger, and look what happened there!"

Gareth watched as a spasm of fear flitted across Roald's face. He too remembered what had happened that night, Roald's elder sister, Princess Jasmine, had died giving birth to her and Endon's first son, Roger. That was ten years ago now, but everyone had seen the impact that it had made on the royal family, Endon had never really recovered, he himself had died of an illness three years ago. King Jasson, the Queen they had been beyond shock and grief, and they too had died within the past few years, two years ago to be precise. And Roald, he'd only just turned 13 at the time, he'd barely been able to cope with it all. Roger himself had been shipped of to Carthak University this year, for his Gift was extraordinarily powerful.

"It won't come to that Roald, your sister was only seventeen..." he trailed off slowly.

"But-"

"But what? Lianne's strong and healthy, please, believe me, I know my sister, she'll get through this just fine." Gareth tried to soothe his brother-in-law, while trying to banish his own fears over his younger sister. Looking at Roald a few minutes later, he saw that the King had finally decided to listen to his advice, and had calmed down, so much so that he was gently dozing off.

Getting up awkwardly, Gareth stretched his arms. His sister was so lucky, having a husband that cared about her so much. After all, so many of the couples at court were constantly lying to one another, having affairs, and other things that spell death to a relationship. He also considered himself lucky, with his darling Marianna.

Thinking of Marianna, he also thought of his son. Marianna had insisted that their son be named after him, and he hadn't the heart to argue about a name when she looked exhausted, so he was Gareth the younger of Naxen, but that had already been shortened, to Gary. Thinking about his son, the King's Champion and newly appointed Training Master, Duke Gareth chuckled to himself. Gary was already getting to everything. He briefly wondered what he was going to be like to train, because, unless something drastic happened to Gary or himself (Gods forbid), he would end up training him as a page and squire. That could prove to be...interesting...

Gareth's thoughts, and whatever dreams Roald was having, were suddenly interrupted by the door to Lianne's room creaking open.

One of the new healers poked their head out. Gareth briefly searched for a name to put with the face, Baird of Queenscove wasn't it?

"Your Majesty, your Grace." He said bowing to both Roald and Gareth respectively, "The queen is able to see you now, and, your Majesty, congratulations." He bowed again as he left to two men. Roald started forward immediately, Lianne's brother on the other hand, held back. The two of them need some time alone before he joined them.

Roald entered his wife's room quickly. The moment Lianne saw Roald hurry into the room, her face face lit-up like the sun. Happiness was almost visibly radiating out of her as her husband approached her and kissed her on the forehead.

After holding each other for a few moments, Roald looked at the bundle in Lianne's arms. Seeing what he was looking at she smiled "Would you like to hold your son, Roald?"

He nodded, speechless with an emotion he couldn't quite name. The baby boy shifted slightly in his sleep as his mother passed him over, his coal-black hair ruffling in a slight breeze. Roald was filled with an inexplicable awe as he held his son. His son. He was father, he had helped create this life.

Lianne smiled as she watched her husband's face as he cradled their newborn son, she was exhausted, but she didn't want to let her child out of her sight for a minute. "What shall we call him?" She asked.

Roald thought for a bit, "What about naming him after my grandfather, Jonathan?"

Lianne smiled, "Perfect. Prince Jonathan of Conté it is. Maybe it could be shortened to Jon." She held out her arms to indicate that she wanted to hold her son again.

Roald handed him back, somewhat reluctantly. Looking into his wife's brown eyes, he read the weariness in them. "Do you think we should let your brother in now?" he asked in mock seriousness.

Lianne's eyes snapped wide open, "Oh, Goddess! I'd forgotten about Gareth!"

Roald smiled slyly, "I'm sure brother would love to know that you'd forgotten him."

She slapped him lightly on his arm, "Don't be mean, my love."

Roald simply grinned at her as he went to let his brother-in-law in.

Gareth was waiting impatiently as Roald opened the door.

"Finally, am I allowed to see my sister yet O Great One?" he inquired sarcastically.

"Of course, you dolt." Roald replied. "She's tired though, she needs to rest soon."

"I know that, I'm not exactly going to talk all night, am I?" remarked Gareth as he walked in behind Roald.

Lianne of Conté smiled broadly as her older brother entered the room. "Well, brother, I suppose you would like to see your nephew, fair enough." Said Lianne, her wicked sense of humour returning, "But if you wake him up, I will get revenge on you."

Duke Gareth of Naxen smirked at his sister as his nephew was handed to him. "Well, my Queen, as I have a one-year-old son at home, that shouldn't be a problem." He glanced down at features that were like that of his mother's. Same hair, same stubborn chin, although that could be from the Conté line as well. "What did you call him?" he asked softly.

"Jonathan." Supplied Roald.

"Well, young Jonathan, I hope you don't get up to as much mischief as your cousin Gary does." He chuckled wryly; "I hope that for your parents sake more than anything."

Roald grinned at that statement. "Surely he can't be that bad."

Gareth shrugged. "Anyway, you look tired Li, I'd better leave you to rest," he grinned wickedly as he added, "While you still can!"

He handed Jon back to his father before he departed. After a couple of minutes, Roald placed Jonathan in his crib next to Lianne's side of the bed, and went to hug his wife and queen. Lianne snuggled into his chest as she drifted off to sleep. He smiled as she muttered in her sleep, "no, Jon, you can't do that." She was getting in practice already he thought merrily.

Slowly, Roald too drifted off to sleep. His dreams were strange, he'd almost say that they showed his son's future. A black-haired blue-eyed page, Jonathan? Standing with a group of four others, one looking so much like Roald's brother-in-law that it could only mean that it was young Gary, the other three he didn't recognize, he did however recognize the short red-head that the five were speaking to. Catherine of Tameran had been one of Lianne's friends before she'd withdrawn from court after her marriage to the Lord of Trebond. After all, how common was red hair and purple eyes?

The scene changed, Jonathan and the red-headed boy were fighting strange creatures, in a city that gleamed of black stone, light flared as the last two creatures disappeared.

Again it changed, the throne room, he was sitting on his throne, Roald's dreamself gasped when he saw Lianne, she was so pale and thin! The same red-headed boy, Alan, as he'd found out his name, fought a duel – with none the other than what looked to be his nephew, Roger. Roger struck a blow with his sword, and in that moment, Roald couldn't believe it, 'Alan' was a girl, called Alanna, a knighted girl. An orange cloud gathered around Roger, stretching to reach Jonathan and himself. Alanna struck him with her sword, hard.

Once again, the dream shifted. Now a sober young man stood looking at two graves. When he looked at the names, Roald's dreamself was shocked to find both Lianne's and his. Jonathan only looked about the same age Roald himself was now.

The dream moved on yet again, Jonathan looked almost giddy this time. Roald soon saw the reason. Royal weddings are always a grand affair, you can't exactly mistake one. Roald looked around for any familiar faces. He found some, his brother-in-law, looking a bit worse for the wear admittedly, with Marianna, their son, his nephew, Gary, was giving Jon hard time. Looking again, he also saw Sir Myles of Olau and Catherine's knighted daughter, Alanna. He couldn't really recognize any of the others around his son and Jon's soon-to-be wife, although he suspected that one of the men might have been a Goldenlake.

As the Roald's dream shifted for the last time, Roald found himself wondering if these were prophetic dreams or just pure nonsense, they seemed so real, but... a girl becoming a knight? He knew that there used to be warrior maidens years ago, but still.

This last part showed Jonathan fighting with some thing that looked suspiciously like the Dominion Jewel from the legends, against creatures from other legends, he searched for the name given to them, Stormwings, that was it. It was a full-scale battle that raged around Roald's son.

Slowly the dream ended and faded away to true sleep. Deep in his subconscious, Roald was storing the dream away as a kind of prophecy, even if his mind wouldn't remember it in the morning.

A/N: Well? What do you think? Was the dream thing OK? Please press the little purple button down there to tell me! Constructive criticism welcomed.