Congratulations!
The party had stopped their journey for the night. Tonight they would have to camp overnight, as there was no inn or even a tent village nearby. Sarevok was consulting the scrying ball and quietly chatting with Ali, his angular features softer than ever.
- "...she did? That must have been fun," he commented on the child's enthusiastic explanations of what he and Allonia had been up to.
Jelena was preparing potions,and Imoen was cooking rabbit stew with the singing Cespenar, giggling, delighted.
- "Me'se making rabbit all dead and juicy and yummy oh yes..."
- "The rabbit is already dead," Imoen pointed out.
- "Pink-head is being all fussy, oh yes..."
Winski was hunched over a tome, concentrating deeply. He was studying the Shou alphabet.
- "Now learning to read this alphabet is one thing," he muttered, "but writing it is something else entirely. And if I discover that the Kozakuran alphabet is completely different from the Shou one, I may react uncharacteristically emotionally."
- "Yeah..." Peri said, absentminded, the only one of the family who didn't seem content with the quiet peaceful evening. "I suppose waiting to find out before you start studying is not an option?"
- "No. I want to make the most of our stay in Shou Lung."
Peri nodded.
- "Jelena?" she asked. "Would you walk a bit with me?"
- "Certainly." There was really not much to walk to, as their surroundings were arid plains and rocky desert, but they walked nevertheless for a while in silence.
- "Something is bothering you," Jelena said kindly.
Peri hesitated for a moment, then took an anxious look at her.
- "It is that... you take galanga root and whirlwood sprouts, not cedar root and whirlwood sprouts? Right?" Her eyes were pleading, but she knew already.
Jelena understood immediately.
- "So it is," she said. "And you got them mixed up."
- "I was so drunk," Peri said, her voice pained. "The first night, I barely kept on my feet."
Jelena put her kind, loving hands on Peri's belly and concentrated for a moment. Then she looked at the young woman, her eyes compassionate.
- "It seems that you are with a child, Peri," she said.
Peri was quiet for a moment, biting her lip.
- "DAMN! DAMN, DAMN, DAMN! Just what we needed!" She kicked the desert sand and slammed a nearby rock with her hand, her knuckles bleeding. She didn't pay any attention to that or to the pain.
Jelena waited, thinking it best to let her steam the initial reaction out.
- "Peri... there are ways to prevent the birth... it would pain me greatly to do so, but if you..."
- "No." She was adamant. "A life has begun in me, I won't kill it. It is a part of me. I will manage."
- "No," Jelena said. "WE will manage."
- "I can travel for a long time still, but at some point it just doesn't work anymore. Sarevok has been hindered too much already."
- "Peri..." Jelena smiled gently. "Do you really think you could make him leave you behind in such a situation? Think again."
So they made their way back to the encampment.
- "I have an announcement to make," Peri said flatly, tears of bitterness in her eyes. "So I bungled with the preventive herbs because I was drunk and I know you were all worried and protective and if you feel all smug and 'what did I tell you' I will kick your collective teeth in. Oh and yes I am pregnant."
There was a moment of stunned silence as the group digested the information. Sarevok was the first one to react. His face melted int joy, and he leapt to scoop Peri in his arms, effortlessly tossing her like an infant.
- "This is wonderful! What is that foolishness about! A child!"
- "Sar... you were, to put it mildly, against my fling with Saemon," Peri said, puzzled.
- "Immaterial. If we have managed with a dead god of murder as our sire, I'd say it would be hypocritical the least to hold it against an innocent baby that its sire is a two-bit conman. As I can never have children of my own, this... I will love and care for your child as if it was my own, Peri!"
- "Hey, it is all right," Imoen said. "You have all your family with you."
- "This will be... interesting," Winski just said, smirking. "I am not sure if this is the appropriate phrase, but anyway, congratulations!"
