Disclaimer & Note: All recognizable characters are the creative property of Emily Rodda. Stand-alone companion oneshot to Expected Ways.
Many months passed and seasons came and went as life in Del drew forward. Jovial gossip floated around the city in a manner that lifted the spirits of every townsman: at last, a true heir was soon in coming.
And to that extent would they praise Adin; the news of the queen's pregnancy had fortunately lain to rest many fears about the wretched librarian becoming the next ruler. In sooth, notwithstanding the debacle concerning the so-called Toran Plague several years back, the people of Del were still reluctant to place their faith in any foreigner from their sister city to the west.
However, be that as it may, hearing the sadistic tales of Lief's struggles in tending to his now heavily-pregnant wife continued to warm their hearts, despite themselves. In fact, the rumors only served to demystify the public's cultural worship surrounding the Royal Family and showed that the king and queen also dealt with problems that everyday people encountered.
From the morning sickness to the unusual midnight cravings, it seemed none of the typical symptoms of budding motherhood escaped Deltora's two youngest heroes. If truth be told, Lief did not think he would much longer be able to handle waking up at ungodly hours of the night in order to satiate Jasmine's newly-found appetite for food; especially not if it was only going to end up being regurgitated all over him the following morning anyway.
Waiting hand and foot on a pregnant queen was grueling work, but he much preferred it over her previously depressed mood those many moons ago. The sleepless nights she had spent in the library poring over her supposed infertility among other things had taken a tremendous toll on both her health and their relationship, and as a result, all this running to and fro was a welcome, if high maintenance, relief for Lief.
Amazingly, Jasmine had also been developing a notably strong connection to all things written as of late. Forbidden by almost everyone from leaving the Palace grounds on her own, she had instead opted to take up a hobby in reading and could often be found nowadays lingering around Marilen in the library.
With each passing week, her literacy improved ten-fold and she began to take a more proactive role in the internal affairs of governance. There were even times when Jasmine would answer letters written to Lief without him knowing, just to prove that she was becoming ever more capable. He only prayed that whoever the recipients were would forgive him.
As it were, the next few months would no doubt be long and arduous for his wife. She at first could not rationalize why she was being kept under constant watch and had demanded her independence unconditionally; however, Lief knew this was something he could not allow himself to be swayed on, especially after the entire incident with the markets not so long ago. After all, this was the future of Deltora they were fussing over... and he had to admit he was already becoming extremely protective of his unborn child.
Even now, as he sat cheek-in-hand in the Great Hall for his daily conference, Lief found that his mind continued to wander every so often to the prospective future. Long gone were the days when he would become flustered even discussing a potential romance with Jasmine; no, the boy—or rather, the man—had indeed aged considerably in both wisdom and sentiment.
Yet, despite all of his trials and tribulations, the young ruler could still do without the constant reminders of the discomfort his wife was going through. Why, just last week he had been subjected to another one of her horrendous tirades in which she consistently blamed him for well-near everything that was wrong with the world.
Lief knew her tantrums were a natural symptom of pre-motherhood, but there were times where he could not help but feel slightly upset when Jasmine yelled at him. It certainly hurt to hear her speak as though she did not even want the child that was slowly growing inside of her, the same child that he himself had already become attached to.
"Hello-o?" a low, but distinctively female voice sounded, breaking into his thoughts. "Lief!"
"Hmm?" he grunted, lifting his head up in a daze as a small hand waved in front of his face. "Oh, I apologize Gla-thon. Please, continue." The Dread Gnome rolled her eyes in response to this and scowled at Doom and Ranesh who sat on opposite sides of Lief. The pair of advisors answered her glare with a silent shrug, as if to say they were just as baffled by the king's inattentiveness.
Earlier that morning, Gla-thon had flown in with Prin from Dread Mountain to give the Emerald territory's annual status report. To their excitement, they had both caught word of Jasmine's pregnancy and knew that Lief would be worried sick, but needless to say they had not anticipated he would suddenly develop such an attention deficit problem.
"You seem distracted, Lief," piped a high-pitched squeak. Turning his head, he focused his attention on the winged creature that had spoken. No longer the small child she was when they had first met, Prin herself had fleshed out and grown to become a mature kin over the years.
"I apologize," repeated Lief, giving a weak smile and waving his hand to signal Gla-thon to continue.
"Right," the gnome said in frustration as she exhaustedly rubbed at her temples. "As I was saying, the Boolong Trees this season are—"
As if on cue, the large wooden doors of the grand room swung open forcefully without warning, breaking her off mid sentence. The thunderous collision of wood on stone echoed between the walls of the ceiling, causing everyone to flinch.
Having had his back towards the doorway where he had been seated, Lief jumped up and spun around on his feet. He placed a hand protectively over the Belt around his waist and readied his sword to face the immediate threat. However, when he laid eyes on the intruder, he blinked in surprise.
There standing beneath the arches in all of her childbearing glory was the woman of the hour, radiantly beaming from ear to ear. A long, silken green maternity gown that matched her eyes draped gracefully over her distended belly, and her normally wild black hair had been pinned up into an elegant bun. For reasons unknown, she was also barefoot and her long tan legs were exposed, but thankfully the gown covered what was needed to be covered.
"Greetings, friends!" sang Jasmine, waving liltingly at the group as if she had not just made a scarring crack in the walls.
The collective eyebrows raised as the five former occupants of the room gazed speechlessly at her exuberance. Lief in particular stared questioningly, wondering what had made her so jovial. Picking up the edges of her gown, Jasmine began to waddle in an almost comical manner towards them.
As she approached, the woman immediately jumped into Lief's arms, and crushed his lips with her own, nearly knocking his balance. Taken off-guard and not quite understanding what was happening, Lief stood momentarily still, a million thoughts running through his head as he attempted to make sense of the situation.
When he finally regained his composure, he instinctively returned the kiss while Jasmine snaked her arms around his neck, careful to avoid disturbing her swollen stomach. Her random display of affection certainly bewildered him, but he found no reason to complain; it was not often that she initiated any form of romantic gesture and he was more than willing to take what came.
After a long uncomfortable minute for the others, Doom at last cleared his throat politely, causing the queen to break from her still stupefied husband. "Why are you awake, Jasmine?" the older man asked in his monotonous tone. "You should still be resting." Crossing his arms, her father narrowed his eyes at her disapprovingly.
"Sleep is boring," she replied nonchalantly with a shrug. "Besides, I became lonely. Sharn says I should speak to the baby... but that makes me feel silly."
Bemused, Lief hid a smirk as he searched her shoulders for his two favorite animals. "Where are Kree and Filli?"
"Outside."
It was a vague answer, if anything, but before he could ask her to clarify, her eye soon caught sight of Prin and she had already begun to wave her hand excitedly once more. "Hello, Prin! Gla-thon! What are you two doing here?"
Fazed by her unfamiliar behavior, the Dread Gnome and kin glanced at each other hesitantly before returning their attention to the hyperactive mother-to-be. "Well, I was supposed to give our yearly report to this oaf here," Gla-thon answered, jabbing a finger at Lief, "but sadly, he has the attention span of a muddlet."
The man frowned defensively in response and opened his mouth to retort, but was quickly cut off by the woman in his arms: "Oh, then may I join you all?"
The silence that followed was deafening. Lief's hazel irises widened impossibly when he heard this, and judging from their expressions, the others had likely reacted the same way. Even Doom's normally stoic face displayed a mixture of shock and disbelief. Had they heard correctly? Could it be true? Did Jasmine actually want to attend a... meeting?
Seemingly oblivious to their strange looks, she continued to smile brightly up at them. It took a moment for Lief to fully comprehend how unusual Jasmine was acting today and he looked down at her in caution. "Are you feeling well?" he said slowly to which she responded with a vigorous nod of her head.
Gla-thon meanwhile sighed in defeat, and lowered her face onto her hand. "Oh... why not," the aging gnome conceded as she slumped back in her seat. "It is not as if you could distract him any more than he already is."
Jasmine in turn gave an angelic giggle that all but melted Lief's heart, the beauty of the sound forever resonating in his memory. With a grin, he moved his hand to rub at her belly affectionately. "And pray tell, what is so funny, love?" he asked playfully when she continued to laugh to herself.
Pointing at the gnome, the queen teased: "She also calls you an oaf."
In the hours that followed, Gla-thon would come to regret her words dearly. Declining Ranesh's offer of his chair beside her husband, Jasmine had instead chosen to seat herself directly on Lief's lap, much to the discomfort of the room. And though he tried with all his might to listen to what the pair from Dread Mountain had to say, the young king found it increasingly difficult to pay attention as a result.
Honestly, he did not even know why Jasmine had wanted to join them; it was not as if she was being particularly attentive either. This newer version of the girl he had fallen head over heels for was a refreshing change of pace, to say the least, though he vaguely wondered whether it was just another phase of her pregnancy. If that was the case, then everything he had ever been warned about mood swings would have to be thrown out the metaphorical window to be sure.
Still, he could not really say that he did not find it adorable. Indeed, occasionally the woman would at times look down at her own enlarged belly with curiosity, poking and prodding at it in an endearing way that made Lief chuckle to himself as he watched her.
Then, at other times, she would innocently wiggle and squirm around in an effort to become comfortable, thus forcing Lief to fight with himself to keep the blood in his head from rushing south. More than once, he had had to whisper vainly in her ear to 'stop moving around so much' as he struggled to calm the fire in his loins.
Fortunately, however, his wife at last seemed to settle herself and leaned into his chest quietly without much brouhaha, allowing him to focus on Prin's description of the crunchiest of Boolong cones. It was definitely a relief to hear that the population of kin was slowly recovering with the help of the Dread Gnomes. Their mutualistic relationship was truly breathing life back into the mountainous border and subsequently eased many of the concerns that Doom had been harboring recently.
As Lief listened to his friends speak, he felt a light tug on the sleeve of his shirt. Glancing down, he was met with a gaze reminiscent of that of a small child. "What is it, Jasmine?"
"I am hungry."
He blinked. "Why did you not eat before coming here?" he asked in amusement as he wrapped his arms around the needy stomach in question.
"I did."
Lief regarded her quizzically without reply. He knew that she was technically eating for two, but he was also fairly certain that most pregnant women did not have two meals per sitting. Then again, he could always be wrong, having discovered that it was better to not question such things and to instead expect the unexpected.
"Will you fetch me something, Lief?" she continued in a low whisper.
Hesitantly, he spared a quick glance at Gla-thon, who had since then shifted topic to discuss the ever-thinning storages of leftover poison from Gellick. "I am sure we are almost finished here," the king whispered back. "We can have luncheon after."
"I am hungry now, though," his wife insisted while continuing to tug on his sleeve.
"But Jasmine—"
"Please?"
She stared up at him with large, widened eyes, and rested a finger on his chest, slowly wearing at his defenses. Biting at his bottom lip, Lief sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair, unable to resist her newfound charm. "Fine."
He pushed her off him gently, and got up in one slow motion, stopping the Dread Gnome mid sentence once more. "I am sorry for interrupting again, Gla-thon," he apologized. "I will return soon, but you may continue without me."
At some point in the past hour, both the gnome and the kin had all but given up on attempting to report anything to Lief and instead had been speaking directly to Doom and Ranesh. Still, Gla-thon knew it would be in her best interests to pay respects to the king and nodded politely.
With that, Lief strode quickly out into the hall and let loose a long breath. It was no wonder that the kings of old would only sire a single heir: caring for their queens must have driven them all insane! That being said, credit where credit was due to Adin for fathering five sons and daughters, though Lief doubted Zara was anything like Jasmine.
Muttering quietly, he made his way swiftly down to the Kitchens and crossed through into the Dining Room where Sharn sat conversing idly with Marilen. A variety of delicious fruits and cheeses had already been lain out in front of them in preparation for the midday meal which was to begin soon.
As Lief entered, both women greeted him warmly and he dipped his head in acknowledgement without a word. He scanned the long table for any food that Jasmine might enjoy. Spotting the plump red berries he knew to be her favorites, he grabbed at the yellow wooden bowl before having his hand slapped away by his mother.
"Mind your manners, dear," chided Sharn in a maternal tone. "The cooks have not even finished."
"It is not for me!" Lief whined while gingerly rubbing at his hand.
"Jasmine?" At his sheepish nod, her eyes softened and a gentle smile played on her painted lips.
Marilen in turn laughed daintily behind her slender hand. "My my," she grinned, "Jasmine is certainly becoming quite a handful. I wonder if I was like this when I was carrying Josef..." Her voice trailed off as Lief discreetly grabbed at the bowl of berries a second time and snuck out of the room. He had not intended to be rude by leaving so quickly, but he knew better than to keep his queen waiting.
Hurrying back to the Great Hall in record time, all heads turned towards him as he swept through the double doors in a pant. He made his way over to Jasmine, who apparently was being fawned over by Prin, and offered the small, round fruits to her as he tried to catch his breath.
The woman accepted the bowl gratefully and gifted him a loving smile. "Thank you, Lief," Jasmine cooed sweetly. She then glanced down into the bowl and frowned suddenly as she considered the red berries. "Oh... well I was actually hoping for those little brown candies... You know, the ones we tasted in Noradz?"
The king looked up from where he stood, huffing and puffing with his hands on his knees. "C-candies?" he stuttered incredulously, feeling a slight twitch of the eye. "You mean chocolates?" Since when had Jasmine taken a liking to chocolates? Frankly, Lief was not sure if she should even be eating sweets while she was pregnant.
"Yes! That is what Barda called them, I believe."
"But Jasmine—"
"Please?"
Lief hung his head in defeat and exhaled deeply while faint snickers could be heard from the others in the room. It was unbelievable! Even when she was not her usual defiantly confident self, Jasmine's benign doppelgänger still managed to become just as, if not more, demanding!
Knowing it was about to become another long day, he wordlessly snatched the wooden bowl out of her hands and made an abrupt about-face, his cloak flaring behind him in a huff. The young father-to-be stalked back towards the doors in exhaustion and grumbled irritably to himself as he pulled at the large brass handles.
"We are never having another."