Sorry about the wait. The next update should be in a month, if not sooner. Just to give you a better idea of them, I'm going to list the ages and heights of the adult characters in this chapter. The first number is their age on Siri's Birthday, and the number in parantheses is their age when Merric is born-if there is no number in parantheses that means they have a late winter, spring, or early summer birthday that didn't occur during the chapter. Height is after the dash.
Leia/Garen: 32- Leia is 5'6", Garen is 6'5"
Zell: 50 (51)- 6'6"
Nida: 34- 5'7"
Xu: 23 (24)- 5'6"
Karin: 21 (22)- 5'8"
Lana: 20- 5'4"
Loran: 28- 6'4"
Loric: 26- 6'3"
Nicolai: 30- 6'5"
Lucia: 29 (30)- 5'8"
Ellimere: 31- 5'8"
Numair: 33 (34)- 5'9"
Sera: 33- 5'5"
Murtagh: 29- 6'2"
Enjoy the chapter! And make sure to leave me some reviews, please...
46th Day of Summer, 978 AS
Guadosalam
Leia was in the midst of cooking pancakes for her children's breakfast when her front door opened, and one of the last people she expected to see came in the house.
"Garen!" she exclaimed happily, nearly dropping the spatula in surprise. "What are you doing here so early? I thought you wouldn't be coming until the afternoon."
Garen grinned, paying half attention to her and half to the kids, who had crowded around him as they usually did when he came home. "Zak gave me all of today and tomorrow off," he said. "And I believe it's your birthday today, isn't it, little one?" He was speaking to Siri, who beamed and clapped her hands in delight. Garen chuckled as he picked her up, and crossed the room with her in his arms.
"I've been offered a promotion," Garen said, sitting down on one of the tall stools at the kitchen counter, and putting Siri down on the one next to him.
The boys burst out with questions and exclamations from the table, but Leia ignored them. "You… what… how…" then she suddenly understood, and gasped. "Sub-Commander? They're putting you in charge of the Garrison? But Zak's not old enough to retire…"
"No, he's not," Garen agreed. "The Commander, on the other hand, is. Zak's going to be the new Commander, and he's asked me to take his place as Sub-Commander of Guadosalam. That's why he gave me today and tomorrow off, so I could come home to consider it."
"You should, it'd be cool!" Anakin called out from the table, but Leia waved at him to be quiet.
"Do you want to?" she asked, glancing up at him in-between flipping pancakes.
Garen sighed slightly and leaned forward, placing his elbows on the counter and propping his chin on one hand. "Honestly, yes. I wouldn't be able to come home quite as often, but it's a great opportunity, I get paid more, and…" a small smile came onto his face. "I think Zak would be pretty disappointed if I said no. But I wanted to ask your opinion."
Leia grinned, feeling pleased at Garen's consideration. "Well I think you should, definitely," she said. "You know I'll support whatever you want. And your family would think it was great, especially your Dad…"
"Hm, I didn't think of that, but you're right." Garen's father had been a Warrior Monk himself in his younger days, and for several years had been the Sub-Commander of Djose. "I'll talk about it with Dad and the others when they get here," Garen said. "But I think my mind's pretty much made up. I'll tell Zak that I'll take it when I go back on Tuesday."
"Hey, Dad," Anakin piped up from the table. "Speaking of that, when I join the Warrior Monks, do I have to call you and Uncle Nicolai 'Sir'?" Anakin had been aspiring to follow in Garen's footsteps for years, and in the last several months had talked with his parents and seriously decided that he wanted to be a Warrior Monk when he got older.
"Of course," said Garen, causing Anakin's eyebrows to shoot up and the younger boys to start snickering. "If you get assigned to Guadosalam I'll be your Commanding Officer, and if you get assigned to Djose you may very well be in Nicolai's unit. You don't get any special treatment."
"I know that," said Anakin, looking slightly offended. "I just meant-"
"I know, I know," Garen said understandingly, his expression relaxing. "If we're both on duty and there are other Warrior Monks around then yes, but if we're off-duty or nobody else is around then no, you don't have to." Anakin nodded and went back to his food, just as Nida poked his head around the front door.
"Good morning!" Nida said happily. Then he caught sight of Garen. "Oh, hey, you're early." He grinned at Garen, who lifted a hand in welcome. Nida came inside and knelt down, producing a wrapped present from behind his back, and Siri's eyes lit up. She ran over to Nida, calling his name, and Nida laughed as he scooped her up in his arms.
"Happy birthday, sweetheart." He glanced up at Leia, who was still making pancakes. "Can I help?"
Leia raised her eyebrows with a slight grin and offered her brother the spatula. "Yeah, you can finish it. My feet are starting to hurt." Nida took the spatula and started tending the frying pan, and Leia gratefully sat down at the table and poured herself a drink.
Ellimere arrived with Numair, Ryelle and Raine as Nida was finishing cooking, and Sera and Murtagh showed up with Jess and Jaicen about 5 minutes later. Mid-way through breakfast Jyscal, Anima, and Seymour showed up in one of the rare times that Leia ever saw all 3 of them together these days, and like all the others they came with extra food and presents for Siri—Anima had knitted Siri a sparkly blue and silver sweater, for use later in the year when it began to get cold.
Just as Leia was finishing eating, there was another knock on her door. Seifer tripped over Squall trying to get to the door, Raine beat him there, and pulled it open to reveal Lucia, Xu, Karin (Garen and Xu's sister, a young woman with gold eyes and red-brown hair—she was taking vacation from her job as a Healer at the Luca Hospital), 4-year old Shaylie, and Garen's father, Zell.
In the midst of hugs and greetings, Leia's eyes were drawn to Lucia. The 29-year old had a bounce in her step, a twinkle in her eyes, and looked happier than Leia had seen her in a very long time. Forget happy, Leia thought as she looked at her sister-in-law. She's glowing. Leia guessed the truth even before Lucia opened her mouth, and when she got everybody's attention and announced she was pregnant, Leia felt a broad grin come on to her face. I knew it.
When Leia got close enough she grabbed Lucia's hands in her own, and for a few seconds the two women simply smiled at each other. "How far along?" she asked, casting an appraising gaze at Lucia's midriff, which still looked flat.
"Two and a half months. My due date is the 61st of Winter."
"Does Nicolai know?" Leia asked curiously. Nicolai was Lucia's husband and one of Garen's brothers, and was a Warrior Monk based at Djose.
"Nope." Lucia grinned. "He'll be home tomorrow though, so I'll tell him then. Ooh, are those chocolate chip?" Lucia stepped around Leia and snagged a cookie from the plate on the counter.
Leia took a cookie as well. "How's Shaylie taking it?" she asked, perching herself on one of the tall stools at the kitchen counter.
Lucia shrugged. "She thinks it's cool, but I don't think she understands that pregnant women don't get like this-" Lucia held a hand out in front of her stomach, "right away. I told her I was having another baby and she looks at me and says 'but it couldn't fit in your tummy! If you had a baby in there you'd have a big tummy!" Leia laughed, remembering the times when her older sons had said almost exactly the same thing, and with a happy sigh she settled down to enjoy her daughter's 2nd birthday.
32nd Day of Autumn, 978 AS
Besaid
In the shade of her home, resting in a camp chair, 20 year-old Arielle was knitting a baby blanket. She was 6 months pregnant with her first child, which was due in mid-winter. Just as she was reaching for a new ball of yarn, somebody poked their head around the open tent flap.
"Hey!" said the cheerful form of Arielle's best friend, Leyla. "What're you up to?" Leyla stepped into the tent. She was a year older than Arielle, with blue eyes and short brown hair, and she was also pregnant, even further along than Arielle was. Leyla already had an 18-month old son named Wakka, and she was a day past her due date with her second baby.
Arielle shrugged and spread her arms wide. "Not much. Is that lunch?" she nodded to the large picnic basket Leyla was holding.
"Yeah. You want to take a walk up to the Temple with me?" Arielle nodded and abandoned her knitting, heaving herself up out of the chair and setting off with Leyla.
"Have you and Yuri narrowed down the name ideas?" Leyla asked curiously, as they strolled in the direction of the Temple.
Arielle nodded as she took a small hair-band out of her pocket, and pulled her long silver hair into a ponytail. "Yeah. Boy names are still completely up in the air, but if it's a girl we've decided either on Paine for my grandmother, or Lulu for his. I don't know which we're going to end up going with, though."
At that moment Arielle heard somebody call her name, and turned around to find her husband jogging up to them. Yuri was 3 years older than her, tall and skinny with jet-black hair and brown eyes; he was also a Crusader, and from the looks of it had just returned from a patrol of the path leading to the beach.
"Hey!" he called out as he approached. "You sure you two should be walking around so much?" Yuri crossed his arms, his look of concern fading into mild annoyance as Arielle giggled and Leyla rolled her eyes.
"We're fine," Leyla said. "We were just going up to the Temple. Have you eaten yet?" She held up the picnic basket and Yuri sighed and uncrossed his arms, conceding defeat.
"No," he admitted. "But let's stay in the shade, alright?" They started walking again, but before they had taken two steps Leyla suddenly gasped and dropped the picnic basket, doubling over and clutching her stomach.
"What's wrong?" Yuri and Arielle exclaimed simultaneously, each grabbing one of Leyla's arms to support her. "Is the baby coming?" Yuri added, looking worried.
Leyla nodded as she caught her breath. "My water just broke." Yuri's eyes went wide.
"Oh, um… alright, Arielle, take her up to the Temple. I'll run down to the beach and get Vidina and Wakka." Vidina was Leyla's husband, and served as goalie for the Aurochs—he had taken Wakka down to the beach with him in order to give Leyla a few hours of peace this morning.
Arielle nodded. Picking up the picnic basket in one hand and putting the other arm under Leyla's shoulders, she and Leyla set off at a slow pace towards the Temple. Two of Arielle's neighbors spotted them and hurried over to help—once Arielle explained the situation one of them took the picnic basket away, and the other ran off to find the midwife.
3 hours later, Arielle was in the middle of a small group sitting together in the main room of the Temple, waiting to hear any news of Leyla or the baby. With Arielle was Yuri, Vidina with Wakka in his lap, Vidina's teenage sister, and Leyla's mother, who was the only surviving grandparent on either side of the family.
At long last, the midwife appeared and beckoned to Vidina to follow her; he went and returned five minutes later, with a small bundle in his arms.
"It's a boy," he said with a grin, showing them all. The new baby had Leyla's fair skin and blue eyes, but also had the same distinctive red-orange hair that his brother and father did.
"Did you decide on the name?" Vidina's sister asked, and he nodded.
"Chappu," he said, with a soft smile. "For mom's brother." He carefully passed baby Chappu to his mother-in-law, and they all took turns in welcoming the newest resident of Besaid to the world.
60th Day of Winter, 978 AS
Domremy
When Zell woke up at 8 AM in the morning, it was to the familiar and heart-warming sound of a full home—people chattering to each other and calling across the house, the delicious smell of breakfast wafting up from the kitchen below, and footsteps echoing up and down the stairwell. The 51-year old put off getting out of bed for a few moments, simply laying there and enjoying the cheerful atmosphere. His two story, six bedroom house (one of the largest in Domremy) was so often empty these days—his wife had died in a Sin Attack 9 years ago, his sons only came home infrequently, and his daughters spent most of their time at Guadosalam, Luca, Djose Temple, or some combination thereof, meaning that Lucia and Shaylie were usually the only other ones in the house. Today, however, 5 out of his 7 children were home, the others weren't far away, and every bedroom was occupied.
Just as he was about to get up a light set of footsteps came padding quickly up the stairs, and his bedroom door opened to reveal a small, red-haired figure, who promptly jumped up on the bed.
"Wake up, grandpa!" squealed his granddaughter, 5-year old Shaylie. She was bouncing up and down on the quilt next to him, grinning eagerly. "Breakfast is ready! Get up, get up!"
Zell laughed, putting his hands out to get Shaylie to stop bouncing. "I'm up, I'm up," he assured her. "Who made breakfast?"
"Auntie Karin, and Auntie Xu, and Auntie Lana," Shaylie informed him. "Mama wanted to but they said she had to rest, and Uncle Loran wanted to but they said he'd just burn it, and-"
"Alright, alright, I get the picture," Zell said, chuckling as he climbed out of bed. "Why don't you go tell your Aunties that they shouldn't be mean to their brother, and I'll be down in a few minutes." Shaylie promptly jumped down to the floor and ran out of the room.
When Zell came downstairs five minutes later, he found the inhabitants of the house distributed between the kitchen and adjoining dining room—Xu was cooking at the stove, Karin was slicing up fruit at the kitchen counter, Lana was pouring drinks which she handed one by one to Loric, who took them to the table, and Loran was sitting at the table, entertaining Shaylie with a few small toy animals.
"Where's Lucia?" he asked, noting the conspicuous absence of his very pregnant daughter-in-law.
"Bathroom," Karin said promptly. "You know, baby pressing on the bladder and all that…".
"Oh, right." Zell sat down and took a biscuit from the center of the table, and at that moment Lucia appeared, her green eyes glittering brightly and both hands clutching her large, round stomach.
"I'm in labor," she gasped, leaning against the wall, and everybody stopped what they were doing, then all burst into action again at once.
"We'll go get Nicolai," Loran said, and without further ado he and Loric got up and left, pausing only to grab coats and gloves before leaving the house.
"I'll go to Guadosalam, and I'll find Arisa and your sister on the way out of here," said Xu, taking the frying pan off the stove, but before she'd left the kitchen Karin grabbed her by the arm.
"Let me go with you," Karin said. "You shouldn't go by yourself if you don't have to."
"Alright." They started to leave, but with an indignant expression at being left behind Lana followed them.
"Hey, I want to come too!" Lana joined them, and the 3 young women hurried away, leaving Zell alone to comfort Lucia through her contractions, as they waited for the midwife to arrive and for their family to return.
Guadosalam-90 Minutes Later
Nida had just finished brushing his teeth after breakfast, and was thinking about going over to his sister's house for the morning when he heard a knock on his front door.
"It's open!" he called out, and he came into the living room to see his girlfriend standing there, her coat and pink cheeks suggesting that she'd just been outdoors.
"Xu!" he exclaimed happily, crossing the room and hugging her tightly. "What's up? Did you come by yourself?"
Xu shook her head and pulled him closer for a brief kiss. "Karin and Lana are with me," she said after they separated. "But they went to Garen and Leia's. Lucia's having the baby, so we came to bring you guys back with us."
Nida's eyes widened. "Oh! Alright, just a second." He went to get his own coat and gloves, and within a minute was ready to leave.
An hour later, he, Xu, Karin, and Lana had reached the north bank of the Moonflow River, along with Leia, Garen, and their 7 kids. They had to take two trips to all get across the Moonflow—Leia and Garen took the first shoopuf with Lana, Anakin, Laguna, Siri, and Liam, and Xu, Karin, and Nida waited and took the next one with Rowan, Squall, and Seifer.
"Do you think Siri will remember this, when she gets older?" Nida asked curiously, as the shoopuf plodded slowly through the water.
"I doubt it," Xu replied promptly, shaking her head. "She's only two and a half. I barely remember Lana being born, and I was almost four."
"And I definitely don't remember, because I wasn't even two yet," Karin added. "The first person I remember being born is Anakin." Nida, however, wasn't listening—he'd just had to grab Seifer by the scruff of the neck to stop him from falling into the water.
When they disembarked on the south bank, Leia and Garen were nowhere in sight, but Nida wasn't surprised—They would have wanted to get to Domremy as soon as possible. Between them he, Karin, and Xu took the 3 children and made the short walk from the Shoopuf station to Domremy, and when they entered the town Seifer and Squall darted ahead, having been to Domremy so many times they knew exactly where to go.
Nida followed his nephews, and in a few minutes they'd all reached the house. For a moment he thought about knocking, but Xu walked ahead of him and pushed the door right open, the rest of them following her.
The living room was crowded with people—in addition to Leia, Garen, and the rest of their kids, seats were taken by Shaylie, Loran, Loric, Zell, Lucia's older sister, her husband, and 3 of their children.
No sooner than had Nida sat down, when the distinct sound of a baby's cry floated down from upstairs. Everybody in the room let out relieved and happy sighs and smiled at each other, and after about ten minutes Nicolai came slowly down the stairs, carefully cradling a bundle of blankets in his arms.
"It's a boy," he said, his face alight with happiness. Nicolai walked over and sat down next to Shaylie, and with a soft smile said "Say hello to your baby brother."
Nida leaned closer to get a good look. Nicolai's son had his gold eyes, and there were a few curls of red hair poking out from underneath the tiny knitted hat on his head.
"Are you still naming him Merric?" Lucia's sister asked, and Nicolai nodded.
"Definitely. He even looks like your uncle. The red hair certainly doesn't come from me." Lucia's sister chuckled appreciatively, and gently took Merric in her arms when Nicolai offered him to her.
"We want you two to be his godparents," Nicolai added, looking back and forth between Lucia's sister and her husband, who glanced at each other before looking back at him.
"We'd love to," Lucia's sister said with a smile. She passed Merric to Nida, who was seated next to her, and when Nida felt the warm weight of the baby boy in his arms and looked into his gold eyes, he was overcome with a sudden feeling of contentment and… rightness. He wanted this, he wanted to have a family, and he wanted it… with Xu. Nida looked up and caught Xu's eye, and from the expression on her face he could tell she wanted it, too.
I know you want to be Lana's guardian, and I know it'll have to wait until after her pilgrimage, but someday…someday we'll have children of our own. He glanced up at Xu again as he passed Merric to Garen, and she smiled at him. Someday, we'll have a family.