Rayla struggled into a seated position, staring tiredly at the empty place beside her, before swinging her legs over the side of the bed. She yawned, stretched and slowly rose into a standing position. She walked over to her window, looking out across the vast landscape beyond the Storm Spire. It looked to be a clear day—or will be, once the sun fully rose.

She looked down at herself, knowing it was too soon to give birth even by human standards, and definitely by elf standards. Her body was not made to have a half-human baby growing in her. But she hoped it would be soon that she would give birth. She was afraid she wouldn't be able to get the baby out if the pregnancy lasted as long as the typical elf pregnancy did. Or human pregnancy.

"Come out when you're ready, Little One," she whispered. "But not…too late, please."

She heard scratching at her door, and smiled. Zym had shown a great interest with the baby since almost before she knew she was pregnant. It seemed he was able to somehow feel the baby, in a similar way Ibis was able to with his magic. She walked over—though much to her chagrin walking felt more like a waddle these days—and opened the door. Zym let out a happy whine, before pushing into the room.

He sat back and chirped. "Alright, alright," Rayla said, walking forward and standing before him. She rolled her eyes humorously as Zym chirped and cooed, pressing his face against her belly. "Just no lightning," she warned.

Zym moved his head away to give her an annoyed look. "I know, I know, you already know this," she said. "But still, you need to be careful. The baby isn't as strong as an adolescent dragon is."

Zym ignored his, pressing the side of his head against her belly again. She reached out and affectionately pet his head. She liked having Zym around—and not just because she was tasked to protect him.

She considered the young dragon to be one of her closest friends.

As Zym pressed his cheek firmer against her, purring loudly, she felt something strange deep within her. A fluttering feeling in her stomach…then it was gone. Then…

Zym backed away quickly—so quickly he almost toppled over his tail. They stared at each other for a moment.

"I think…" Rayla began, slowly, carefully, and excitedly. "I think the baby just moved!"

She stared down at her belly, before seeing it almost roll before her eyes, the baby inside clearly moving. She laughed, placing her hands on her belly and looked up at Zym who was starting to give her that goofy dragon smile of his. He chirped happily and bounded back over.

She didn't realize she had started crying until Zym gave a small whine of worry, and she felt dampness on her cheeks. Her cheeks flamed with embarrassment as she quickly wiped the tears away. "It's just…" she said softly, sitting down in a chair and pressing a hand against the side of her stomach, where she felt the sensation of the baby moving. The baby had just pressed their foot or hand against her own hand…

"I was so worried for so long…" she whispered. "Despite the fact that my stomach is huge and my back aches and I have every other symptom of pregnancy, it didn't feel…"

Real.

But now… now she knew there was something alive inside her. Something growing. She smiled again, looking down at her stomach. It had stilled, the baby obviously not moving around too much now, but she swore she could still feel it moving slightly within her.

"Ibis!" she said, standing up suddenly—a little too suddenly. She swayed slightly and Zym pressing himself against her side to steady her. "Sorry," she muttered, embarrassed. Being pregnant, especially with a larger-than-elf human baby, made her more clumsy than she ever preferred to be or would ever like to be again in the future.

"Come on," she said, motioning for Zym to follow her. "Let's go see what Ibis has to say about all of this."

She felt the light and warm pulse of magic as Ibis pressed his hand against her stomach, but this time, she felt something different press back—another pulse of magic, almost akin to a heartbeat.

Ibis smiled. "The baby has quickened," he said. "Late—but perhaps that is normal for humans." Then, contemplatively, he added, "Or perhaps it is because you are an elf, and not meant to carry a half-human child that the timing of things are slightly…off…"

Rayla pulled down her shirt, patting her belly affectionately. "Doesn't matter anymore," she said. "I don't care how uncomfortable I get or how sore or how little I can sleep…It's all worth it if the baby is fine."

"From what I can see the baby is quite healthy," he said. "And this is good—this way we can induce early—before the baby grows too much more, and we won't have to worry too much."

Rayla frowned. "But…" she began. "Now?"

"No," Ibis laughed, turning to give her an amused look. "But within the next week or two. Much more than that and you might not…" he trailed off for a moment, before looking at her seriously and saying, "And you might not survive the birth. It's important not to let the child grow too big before labor."

Rayla licked her lips nervously. "But…" she began again. "This is early, even by human standards…but for a elven child—there's no way any elven child could survive being born this early. What if…"

"What if the child doesn't survive?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "If you die because you're unable to get the child out, you'll both die. It's a risk, and a hard decision to make, but the answer should be clear as to which is the logical one."

Rayla nodded, absentmindedly rubbing her belly, willing the child to wake up and move again. "I had hoped Callum would be here," she whispered, to no one in particular.

"I know," Ibis answered, sympathetically.

Zym laid his large head on Rayla knees, gazing up at her forlornly.

Every time Rayla felt as though she had almost recovered from Callum's abandonment…Every time she thought she was finally over it, finally passed it, finally…free from the trauma of knowing he didn't want anything to do with her or their child…she would get a wave of sadness and confusion.

It's like she never knew him. After all, the Callum she fell in love with would never have willingly abandoned her and their child. But…there was no news that he was not alright. There was barely any news at all. And what news she did receive from Katolis confirmed that Callum was quite well.

She sighed, standing up. "For now," she said, "I need to focus on the situation at hand. Ibis," she turned towards the Sky Elf. "How is Yehven?"

"I haven't given him a full physical yet," Ibis said, "But he's…not quite himself."

"So you think something must have happened to him, too?" she asked.

"That's one way to put it," Ibis said, thoughtfully, though his voice had a strong note of concern in it. "He's…strange. Too…relaxed for having just gotten back from whatever it is he had experienced."

"Relaxed?" Rayla asked, frowning. She thought back to when Yehven had arrived the day before. Yes…he did seem a little too…not himself. And not just the muteness or the slowness to his movements. He was…strangely unperturbed by anything, and hardly seemed to register what was said to him.

"He must have seen some terrible things," Rayla said, hugging her arms to herself. "I'll go speak to him—he always was an early riser, I'm sure he'll be awake now. I want to visit him before too many people are up…I won't have time afterwards."

Ibis nodded, returning to his work table.

Rayla walked out of the room, Zym following. "You go back to your mother," she said, scratching Zym affectionately under the chin. He cooed in appreciation. "She'll be worried with you being gone too long."

He gave a chirp of agreement, before bounding off down a corridor and out of sight. She stopped and watched him leave, smiling, before heading back on her way to Yehven's room.

Rayla stood in front of Yehven's door, not quite sure how to bring herself to knock. She felt incredible guilty, more than anything.

Yehven had been a young recruit—and had been under her care and tutelage. And she had been angry with him right before he had disappeared. Little did she know it was morning sickness, not food poisoning. But still—he had disappeared and she had been powerless to find him.

She lifted her hand to knock, before lowering her arm again. She needed to think of something to say. Something to assure him she would do anything to keep him safe this time. She didn't like losing members of her team. The idea of him being lost out in the woods…traumatized by whatever happened to him to the point of…

She turned to go, and heard the door behind her open as she took a few steps away. She turned to look at Yehven, who was staring at her blankly. He then smiled, but it was such a delayed reaction that it only solidified the fear she had that whatever happened to him out there was terrible, and the poor, young elf obviously had some trauma from it.

"Hey," she said, slowly. "So…we didn't get to talk much before you retired for the day…just wanted to see how you were doing…"

He continued to smile at her.

Rayla licked her lips slightly, before continuing. "A lot has happened since you, uh…I'm pregnant now," she said, motioning to her stomach, as if it weren't already exceedingly obvious. "Callum's the father—so…yeah, that's what I've been going through…"

She wanted to slap herself. She was being so awkward and only making the situation worse. "So," she said, crossing her arms, and trying to find a comfortable position to stand in. "How are you feeling? When you're rested more I'm going to have Ibis take a look at you. I want to make sure that you don't have any injuries that need looking after."

Yehven continued to smile at her, before taking a step towards her. Then another. He held out his hand for her.

She stared at it, blinking a few times. "What…"

He moved his hand—in a physical indication for her to take it.

"Alright, then," she said, placing her hand in his.

His smile, never faltering, was unnerving at this point. He began to walk past her, leading her down the hall and towards the exit of the caves. "Yehven, where are we going?" she asked, her voice soft and careful.

Whatever Yehven had gone through out there, it must have been beyond words—literally, and figuratively. After all, he was acting strangely, even for what would be expected of him right now.

She shook her head. She had no right to judge him. If he wanted to show her something…perhaps it would help him work through whatever trauma he experienced. She would just go along with it—whatever it took to help him recover.

He let her to the stairs that led down the Storm Spire. As he began to walk down the steps, she stopped, grabbing his hand more tightly and stopping him. "Yehven," she said, her voice kind and gentle as if speaking to a young child. "I don't think this is a good idea. You've got to get rest and be seen to before you go out."

He pulled at her hand, trying to lead her down the stairs again.

"No," she reversed the action, halting him again, but still holding his hand in case he tried to go down the stairs by himself. "Whatever it is, it can wait. I understand that you need to work through things, maybe even show me something…but your immediate health is more important right now."

She pulled her hand out of his. "Let's go back inside."

His smile fell away as she turned around and headed back towards the caves. Yehven was not himself, but that was to be expected. She couldn't fathom what he had gone through. She sighed, almost reaching the cave entrance, before hearing heavy and clumsy footsteps hurrying towards her from behind.

Her brows furrowed in confusion, and she turned around in time to see Yehven reach for her throat, a maddened expression on his face, his mouth open with his teeth prepared to bite.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Thanks for reading!

See you next week!