Every couple and both of the families—Eragon's and Gelarik's—along with Elva and all of the dragons, slept deeply that night. All through the still hours, the meadow sang its delight at the wondrous events of the day, creating a peaceful, soothing susurration of insects, night creatures, and rustling plants.
When morning dawned, the rays of the sun fell on the little family, still in the location where they had begun the previous day. Brom's mouth had never left Arya's breast, nor had the placenta yet detached from her womb, so he had slept as deeply as if he were still nestled snugly inside his mother. Indeed, her reassuring warmth, familiar smell, and the steady beat of her heart were all sensations he knew well from his time inside. But when the sun fell on his face, he squinted his closed eyes at the unfamiliar brightness and stretched, which made him lose his grasp of his mother's nipple. He squawked tentatively, wanting it back but not sure how to get it.
Arya stirred at the first sound from her baby since he had been restored to life and taken her breast. She had slept as deeply as when she had used Angela's herbal blend, for the physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion of Brom's birthday had been profoundly complete. She awoke to find herself pressed against Eragon's shoulder with her tiny baby searching doggedly for the nipple he had lost.
"Hello, little one," Arya crooned, almost surprised to find him there. She realized part of her must have thought the miraculous events of the previous day were all part of a strange, prolonged dream involving hours of singing and so many tears. Rivers of tears, both happy and sad. "Why don't we try the other side now?" she lovingly suggested in the high, sing-song falsetto every woman instinctively adapted when speaking to an infant or small child.
Arya attempted to lift herself to a sitting position but found the muscles of her abdomen so weak that she was completely unable to. Her intensive pushing efforts of the day before along with the many months of stretching under her growing womb had temporarily robbed her of her usual strength. The baby was becoming more insistent, his weak squawks increasing in volume. Though he still would not get milk for his efforts, he seemed to instinctively know that suckling at his mother's breasts was what he nonetheless needed to do to encourage the milk to start flowing.
Arya turned her face into Eragon's shoulder, breathing deeply and feeling the familiar fluttering of longing in her stomach that she had necessarily suppressed for so many weeks. Now that the baby was born, she wouldn't need to much longer. "Eragon," she murmured, and he stirred and mumbled, trying to respond with his usual alacrity. Arya guessed he had slept just as deeply as she, and she waited patiently, kissing his shoulder and continuing to breathe in his smell until he finally managed to rouse himself.
"Yes, my love," Eragon sleepily replied. "What can I do for you?"
Arya smiled that he was immediately ready to serve her. "The baby would like to continue nursing, and I want to shift him to my other breast, but I can't sit up. Would you please help me?"
"Baby?" Eragon muttered, still regaining full awareness. "We had our baby, didn't we? The events of yesterday seem as a dream to me the way my brain is recalling them." He sat up, taking Arya with him.
"I know exactly what you mean," Arya agreed. "And yet here he is. Our little Brom. His color is so improved, isn't it? He looks perfectly healthy, though so small." She shifted their son in her arms so he could latch himself onto her other breast, which she expertly supported as she leaned back into Eragon.
"What's all of this on his skin?" Eragon wondered, brushing his fingers over the thin wrinkles on Brom's back, which were filled with a whitish, waxy substance.
"It's called vernix," Arya replied. "It's a protective, waxy covering that coats the baby's skin, providing a barrier to the constant exposure to the amniotic fluid within the womb. You can gently rub it in. It will continue to protect his skin and keep it from drying out excessively. He has so much because he was born early. A baby born at full term has less, and one that comes after term even less."
She paused as the baby's eager sucking resulted in a strong tightening of her womb, filling the umbilical cord with another gush of blood. "At least Brom is getting some nourishment from his efforts," Arya commented, "though not in the way he expects. I wonder how long it will take for the placenta to detach. I'm grateful it continues to supply him with nourishment, but I'm also anxious to eat it. I know it will help my milk come in more quickly than anything else. Because it is still attached to my womb, the most unmistakable signal that my pregnancy is now over has not yet reached my body."
"He looks so thin and wiry," Eragon commented.
"Yes, darling. The baby's greatest gains of fat occur during the last weeks of pregnancy. The baby stores a certain type of fat—brown fat—that he won't have at any other time in his life. It's meant to support his life in the early days when his mother's milk supply is being established. Some weight loss is normal during that period but thanks to the fat, it's usually not harmful. However, Brom didn't get the full opportunity to develop that, so I'm going to jealously insist he remain at my breasts so he will get the milk just as soon as it comes. He will sleep excessively these next several months, mimicking what he would have done had he remained inside of me, and continuing on in the following weeks, as all newborns do. It usually takes several weeks to a couple of months for a baby to become aware it has joined a world with other creatures in it. I'm sorry, Eragon. I think this will be best for him."
Eragon laughed. "Arya, don't apologize. I'm not upset. I wouldn't have it any other way. I trust you completely to know what's best for our son. As long as I can hold you in my arms while you hold Brom, I'll consider it the same privilege. Just seeing him cradled there is as beautiful as I always imagined it would be. You're a mother, Arya. How does it feel?"
"Divine," she gushed. "I can still hardly believe it. Less than a year ago, I was cold and lonely in Ellesméra. Now I'm your wife and a mother. I'm so happy, Eragon. So perfectly full of joy. Thank you for making me a mother, my husband."
Eragon leaned over and kissed her. When he pulled back, Arya murmured, "Don't stop, darling. Kiss me longer." So he did, putting a hand at the back of her neck. As they allowed the kiss to evolve, both felt the rekindling of their deep longing.
Arya pulled away, quickly glancing around. None of the other couples were in sight, nor were any of the single members of their party, but she guessed that would not long be the case with the sun rising. She turned back to her husband. "Will you make love with me, Eragon? Please. I don't want to wait anymore, and perhaps we can encourage a strong enough contraction that the placenta will be born."
"Would that be wise, Arya? The opening to your body was stretched so insistently yesterday and the cord is still there. What of your womb? It's still loose and expanded."
"This will help," Arya insisted. "We most likely haven't much time. Much more delay and we just might fulfill one of our ideas of making love in front of everyone. Please, Eragon?"
"You needn't beg like that, Arya. I want you so much right now. I've never been more in love with you, mother of my son. My only hesitation is in ensuring your wellbeing. And Brom's. Will he be all right?"
"Certainly," Arya said. "He's a much less awkward obstacle to work around right here in my arms than enclosed in my womb. Help me turn around."
So Eragon did, insisting, "Arya, tell me at once if it's uncomfortable." She nodded, and he shifted his weight enough to pull his pants down.
At one point Arya said, "I should warn you. If this successfully causes the placenta to detach, there will be a lot of blood, especially once we're done. It won't be a sign that I'm in danger. I just don't want you to be alarmed."
"Thank you, Arya. You know how I feel about seeing large quantities of blood. I'll try not to be worried."
When their efforts brought about the first powerful contraction in her uterus, Arya relaxed with a focused look on her face then said, "I definitely think that helped."
Eragon offered to continue, in order to help with the placenta, which proposal Arya gladly accepted.
As the next contraction overpowered her womb, Arya relaxed again. When it was over, she breathlessly informed Eragon, "I think the placenta began to separate. It wasn't painful, so that must not have been what happened yesterday. I'm sorry for screaming right before Brom was born. I know how that must have affected you, but something painful happened and I was too tired to control my reaction. At first I thought the placenta must be tearing away from the uterine wall, but it must have been something else because I haven't bled excessively, which I would have expected if part of the placenta was free."
-:-:-
Eragon's face was pressed into her chest, and he was breathing deeply after the amazing sensation of channeling all of his love and adoration into her. "Shall we see if we were successful?" he asked after regaining his composure.
"Yes," Arya said.
Eragon lifted Arya by her hips, and as she had warned, a large amount of blood flowed from her body. If he hadn't been prepared, Eragon would have panicked. As it was, he was still shaky at the sight because it was coming from Arya. His only previous experience with that amount of blood leaving a living person's body all at once was after a mortal wound to the heart or neck drained them of life.
The placenta also flowed out of her in the rush, and Arya smiled triumphantly. "It worked! Good. Now I want to eat it. As much as I can while it's fresh and raw like this. And that very well might be all of it for how famished I am. It will be most beneficial with all of its properties live and unaltered by heat. Are there any fresh rags around? I'm not repulsed in the slightest by the thought of what I'm about to do, as odd as that sounds, since I've never consumed meat in any form, but it might be frightening for the others to find me with blood all over my face like I just killed and devoured a beast with my bare hands."
Eragon laughed, looking around until he found what Arya desired. He offered her the clean towel, but Arya asked him to spread it out, and she laid the placenta on it, folded the towel over, and pressed down firmly, repeating her actions over the whole organ. As she did, Eragon took the umbilical cord between two of his fingers and repeated the spell that would seal and sever it.
Arya finished removing the excess blood from the placenta, so she opened the towel and pinched a bit of meat off the coarse side that had been attached to her womb. She put it in her mouth and looked at Eragon while she chewed and swallowed, giving him an appreciative smile once she had. "That's good!" she said in amazement, taking more and repeating the process, as if some primal instinct were urging her on.
Eragon wryly commented, "You make it look so delicious, I'm tempted to try some. My stomach is about to eat me alive."
"By all means," Arya said with a laugh, extending a bite toward him.
Eragon grinned. "No, I think I'll pass. Not because I'm afraid, but because I know how much you need it. I'm not sure if an organ full of female hormones that just sustained a pregnancy for over eight months would be beneficial for a man."
"True," Arya agreed after another swallow.
-:-:-
Arya was nearly finished when the first of the others arrived to check on them. She wasn't surprised to see Willow and Varhog, and she was also glad.
"Look how busy you've been!" Willow cried happily, noticing many things at once. Arya laughed as Eragon flushed and hastily pulled up his pants, though he was covered all over in various fluids. "Never fear, brother!" Willow reassured him. "You've seen me in much the same way before."
When Varhog raised his eyebrows in surprise, Willow explained, "It was after I almost lost the babies and you had to leave. Eragon carried me to the washroom and stayed to help Arya while she washed me up." She laughed as Varhog relaxed. "So the morning after giving birth? Wasted no time, did you?"
Arya laughed again, amazed by how quickly the placenta was healing her. The steady flow of blood out of her body had decreased to a slow trickle as her womb began shrinking back to its pre-pregnancy size. She felt a warm flush in her breasts as the combined effect of having the placenta detach and consuming it raw was forcing her body into full-blown lactation.
"No, we certainly didn't," Arya agreed in answer to Willow's question. "The last time we made love was right after we left you at Rhunön's forge, when you had finished telling me about the spider. That has been how long? Three weeks? Four? It seemed like an eternity, however long it was. And the placenta still hadn't detached. It was providing Brom with blood and nourishment, but I wanted to eat it so my milk would come in for him more quickly."
"And how is it?" Willow wondered.
"Good!" Arya exclaimed, eating another bite.
"You've eaten most of it raw," Willow observed.
"Yes, I knew it would help me more quickly this way, not to mention how hungry I was. Poor Eragon here has been salivating over there, wishing for a good raw steak of his own." Arya giggled. "I feel amazing! So energized and vibrant."
"You look it," Willow said. "You looked so worn out last night and rightfully so. Here, brother. We figured you would be hungry. It's nice to understand one another as Riders, isn't it? Varhog is always hungry. Did I tell you how the spider shared with me that some females eat the males they mate with after they're done?"
Arya laughed, shaking her head as Willow continued, "Sometimes I look at my manly mate here and think that might be nice. Especially at night when our passionate lovemaking has done nothing to satiate my hunger and has only increased the other kind. This kind," she specified, tossing a bundle of food into Eragon's lap.
They were all laughing with Willow, and Varhog gave her a playful squeeze. "You have enough to spare, sweetheart," she teased. "You'd never miss a little bite nibbled out here and there."
"So that's what you were trying to do last night," Varhog joked.
"If only I had your fangs, I just might be able to manage it," Willow returned with mock regret. Varhog growled right next to her ear, and she laughed.
"And how is the baby this morning?" Willow cried, dropping to her knees as Eragon eagerly delved into the contents of the bundle and began eating the first thing he came across, which was an apple.
"Marvelous!" Arya gushed. "Just look at him. Isn't he the most precious thing in the world? He lost my breast once and let out the sweetest little protests until I could help him regain it. Other than that, he has been a perfect angel, unable to make the smallest noise around the nipple constantly filling his mouth." She giggled again. Having eaten all of the fleshy parts of the placenta, Arya continued on with the smoother side that had faced the baby and from which the amniotic sac grew.
"You really are going to eat all of that, aren't you, my love?" Eragon asked dryly, moving on to a loaf of bread and wedge of cheese.
"Yes," Arya said. "Especially since it doesn't look like you'll be saving me anything else." She smiled sweetly at his slightly guilty expression. "Never fear, darling. There are yet two couples to come visit us this morning and with wives in the mix, they are sure to remember every possible detail, not the least of which is that we'll be hungry. They know they're expected to wait on us hand and foot until we see fit to be responsible once more." She smiled in delight.
"You know, there really is something to eating that," Eragon mused. "You're looking amazingly well, Arya. Radiant. And you seem to be perfectly happy and balanced. I had come to expect that a woman who had just given birth would be pale, tired, grumpy, and emotional. Willow, do you think you might be able to spare any of your placenta, since it's sure to be so large after the demands of growing two? Arya just might be coming down off this high by then, and I wouldn't want her to feel the pangs of withdrawal."
Arya laughed elatedly, as did Willow. "I'm sure I'll need every last bit of it to replenish my body after the demands of growing this monster's two huge cubs," Willow ruefully rejoined, glancing up at Varhog with a teasing smile. "Every time I say that, I still picture two furry little bears popping out of me." She giggled as Varhog's deep chuckle boomed out of him, reaching up so he could pull her to her feet. Then she wrapped her arms around him, arching her back so her belly wouldn't be such an obstacle. "I wish we could still dance in our favorite way," Willow said with playful sadness.
"What way is that?" Arya wondered in amusement.
"This way," Varhog said, hunching around Willow's belly and placing her on his feet. He shuffled about awkwardly because of his stooped posture, humming in feigned earnestness, as if what he was doing was the most serious and formal dance imaginable.
Willow laughed in delight and held on around his neck. "Such a graceful dancing ram," she said in a low, teasing voice, also assuming an expression of deep sincerity and sternness. "I challenge you to attempt this again in another month."
"I accept," Varhog said, giving her a quick kiss.
"You two are adorable," Arya approved. "How far along are you now, Willow? I'm sorry I haven't kept better track."
"I wouldn't have expected you to," Willow dismissed. "I'm about twenty-seven and a half weeks along. Oh!" she exclaimed. "Varhog, did you feel your baby just kick you? He's already learning how to be a fighter. Or a dancer."
"He?" Arya wondered. "Did you find out then?"
"No," Willow said with a laugh. "I just always imagine sons, so I often refer to them that way. We decided that if they're sons we would name them William, after my father, and Varhog, after their father."
"What about daughters?" Arya asked.
"Willow and Monrow," Varhog answered. "Monrow was Willow's mother's name, and I love the idea of honoring her like that."
"How lovely," Arya cried.
Eragon said, "Did I tell you Murtagh discovered he's having a daughter?" They all shook their heads. "Yes, he told me when I scryed him, but Nasuada wants to be surprised, so don't spoil it for her."
"I wouldn't dream of it!" Willow promised. "Look, here they come now, along with Hanin and Maehrí. I think your chances of getting more food are promising, brother."
"Good," Eragon said, shaking out the empty bundle.
The newcomers approached with bright smiles. "What a mess," Murtagh playfully commented. "Arya, what have you been doing?" She had dry blood all over her hands.
"Devouring my placenta like a ravenous beast," Arya smoothly replied. "I didn't save you any, brother, so don't even bother asking."
Murtagh chuckled appreciatively at her quick wit. "You seem to be feeling well," he observed.
"Marvelous!" Arya exclaimed. "Don't try to sneak any of Nasuada's either, if you want her to be in as good of a mood as I am the day after your baby is born. Oh, and you'll also need to make love to her right away. That helped quite a lot, don't you think, Eragon?"
Eragon laughed. "You really are as uninhibited as you have ever been, aren't you, my love? And yes, I certainly do think that helped. Perhaps me more than anyone."
"You do look remarkably improved, Eragon," Murtagh agreed. "Though making love can hardly be the only reason. The fact that your wife and son are both healthy and alive is surely the greater cause. Congratulations, brother. May I have a closer look?"
"Thank you, Murtagh," Eragon said, looking to Arya for permission.
"Please," Arya invited.
Murtagh crouched down and peered at the baby's face. "He's a tiny little fellow, isn't he? But very handsome. What color are his eyes?"
"Milky, dark blue," Arya replied. "Which is the eye color of most light-skinned babies at birth. They very well might change in the coming months."
"His hair seems to be yours," Murtagh observed. "Perhaps his eyes will be as well. Hanin, you might have some fierce competition for handsomest male."
Hanin laughed, and it only grew louder when three females—Arya, Willow, and Nasuada—all said at exactly the same moment, "He already does," referring to the fact that they each thought their husband the handsomest. Then everyone laughed together.
Nasuada knelt by her husband—who had looked up at her in affection at her remark and its implication—and smiled lovingly at the baby. "Well done, Arya," she murmured. "He's stunning. Are you recovering? You truly do look amazing. Your cheeks are so rosy, your eyes so bright."
"I feel as if I'm perfectly recovered," Arya said. "Though when I get up to relieve myself, my legs might say otherwise. Speaking of being uninhibited. Eragon, if I can't go somewhere to relieve myself right this moment, I'll have no choice but to do so on these cloths, which really wouldn't be a problem, would it? They're already completely covered. But remember how I couldn't before Brom was born? Well, the obstruction has been removed, and now I've been holding it all night."
"Holding the obstruction or your bladder?" Murtagh asked with an innocent smile.
Arya giggled. "Both, I suppose." She looked expectantly at Eragon.
"I'll help you, my love," Eragon said, scooping up Arya as he stood. She had pulled the blanket over her lap as Willow and Varhog approached, so he simply kept that around her.
As he turned to go off into some bushes, Hanin informed him, "We've heated some water and prepared a bath for you in Ellei-an's old cottage, if you care to make your way there once Arya is done. You can get washed up, and there's plenty of food left from breakfast. The others are waiting there, and when everyone is clean, fed, and content, Ellei-an and Gelarik will share the information they mentioned last night."
"Thank you, Hanin. Maehrí. Willow. Varhog. Everyone. Thank you so much for your help yesterday with the birth. For singing with us. For the miracle that saved my son's life. For helping with the cord after. For helping us get comfortable so we could rest well. For bringing us food. For being such amazing friends. I feel as if we're as close as any siblings by birth. I love you all, and I'm honored to know you." Arya nodded fervently. "We'll rejoin you soon."