Chapter Eighty-Four

Duncan Theirin

The next few months were… unexciting – nothing much happened past Kell and I exchanging new rings and Leli and Aedans' wedding – which had gone off without even a little hitch.

I had given Kell a black metal ring with golden tigers engraved into the band, and he gave me a simple Dragon Bone ring with a single round moonstone in it.

In the final two months, I had no sex… at all… I was pent up, and knew I still wouldn't be having sex for a minimum of two months after giving birth too.

I had told everyone what Duncans' due date was – not the estimated due date; no… if I had been telling people what day he would have been due based on conception, no one would have expected the one-week early delivery.

As it stood – everyone was on edge the moment midnight hit on Bloomingtide 14th. I was relaxed – I hadn't told anyone that it would be around 6 in the evening not early morning.

Alistair had been given 2 weeks to spend with me and little Duncan before bringing the new Prince of Ferelden home. Eamon had all but shoved him out. Actually, all of my mates were here – Alistair, Cullen, Fenris, Sebastian and Kell were all around and waiting on me hand and foot.

Rain had shown back up today after heading to Danu last week to go to the Moon Fae… they had been anticipating him; two of them were packed and ready to come here.

Nebula and Asta were their names; Nebula was 5'5 with pink and purple hair reminiscent of a star cloud and dark grey eyes. Asta was 5'6 with white and pink hair and light grey eyes.

They would only stay for a few days to talk with me and Sebastian before going back home.

Alistair refused to leave my side for any longer than he had to all day… it was cute; and if he did need to do something – like use the toilet – then he had any of my other mates with me until he returned.

My house was bustling with activity – I had Sebastian fetch Elthina for no other reason than I knew she wanted to be here, Seamus was here, the Arishok sent someone since I had declared that my son would be worthy of leadership, there were all the people that lived here, all of Hawkes' crew, and Leliana and Aedan had come too.

At this point – with all the visitors to my house – I was sure that all of Kirkwall knew that my son would be born today.

I was sipping on a glass of water as I sat in bed – wearing nothing and the bed was magically enchanted by my favorite savant so that we would only need to get rid of the sheets later and not the bed entirely when all the blood and whatnot came out – with a wood tray in my lap as I wrote my latest romance idea out. Varric and I had come up with it together; he was writing Swords and Shields all on his own, but as a former best-selling erotica novelist… well, I figured it was time to get back into my actual craft.

I already had 4 of my former novels written out and tweaked to make sense in Thedas; I just hadn't found a decent publicist yet. This novel that I was writing out now was going to be a sweet, non-erotic tale about Aedan and Leli – I already had their permission… well, I got Lelianas permission and she bullied her new husband into agreeing when he was reluctant. I told them I would make it the story of what their romance could have been had I not been there – I changed the names, made Aedan the Hero, and perfecto; a 'Retelling of the Blight with an alternate ending'. I was calling Origins of course – and I would also write the 'Tale of the Champion' as though I hadn't been here… yes, I would call it Exodus.

Varric came in – everyone had been told I would be naked all day so they expected it; but with my lack of modesty, I really didn't care. My mates were told they could come in at any time without knocking as long as they knew they might walk in on me having sex with another mate – hence Cullen walking in on me and Alistair that one time.

I glanced at him, "I've almost finished it – I went off the choices they would have made too. Aedan would have killed the werewolves, chosen Harrowmont, killed Loghain, made Anora and Alistair marry and sided with the Templars; and since Aedan is against Blood Magic, this means that Conor would have died that day… it's already tempting to write another version using Sereda as the Hero; or even a Dalish, Casteless, or city elf… oh – a mage… I guess I missed playing the games more than I thought."

Varric snorted, "Actually, I think it might be popular to write several versions as long as they're all somewhat different."

"Being here in person… I know exactly how things would go with each of those people. I already talked to Merrill about Mahariel; Lyna would have sacrificed herself and she never would have entered a romance during the Blight. Sereda would have chosen her brother and would have adored Alistair. Wynne once talked to me about both Daylen Amell and Neria Surana so I know what they would have chosen too. And having different openings in each of the books makes it feel new…"

"And the best part will be that you can read any of them and still have the second book make a great deal of sense, right?"

"For the most part – the cannon version will be that of the first one and it would be pointless rewriting the same book with different backstories; Hawke will always be one of three personalities or two genders. Even if I change that up and have Hawke make slightly different choices, his tale doesn't change nearly as much as Origins ever did. So the first one will be called Origins: Cousland Edition. I think for that's how I'll do it… Origins and then the last name of the would-be Hero. Cousland, Amell, Mahariel, Tabris, Aeducan, Brosca… I won't be doing a Surana edition; it'd be almost exactly the same as the Amell version and this way I have two for each of the races that could have saved Ferelden. But I still want to pay tribute to the woman…"

"You could make her Daylens' best friend – she was," Cullens' voice sounded slightly pained from the doorway. I gave him a sad look, "If she had lived – if she had been the Hero… she would have loved an assassin and traveled Thedas killing a cell of Crows with him… she would have married him, Cullen. And if she didn't end up with Zev, she would have ended up with Leli… and if she ended up with Leli, you might one day ask about her, but… you would have eventually moved on if… I mean… even without me it was possible you would find love."

"But would I in this timeline?" he asked – he was getting good at picking up the whole 'alternate time-lines' thing.

I shook my head, "Maxwell Trevelyan is a man – had he been a woman, his name would be Evelyn and you might have fallen for her. Lavellan is usually meant for Solas if female. You aren't romantically interested in Vashoth or Dwarves so they aren't in the consideration."

He blinked, "I… Vashoth?"

"Herah Addar – if female – could have taken my place as… Inquisitor." I narrowly avoided the other title.

He coughed, "I see. And Dwarven?"

"Cadash."

"Oh – do you mean Malika?" Varric asked.

"A Carta Dwarva sent to spy on the Divine Conclave at the Temple of Sacred Ashes seeking to put an end to the… uh… very bad, no good thing… I actually personally know one of her ancestors – Shayle Cadash was a volunteer for the Golem Project back in -225 ancient. The only female volunteer of the project – Shale doesn't know she had two kids before being put to the Anvil at age 30 – she has no memory at all of anything past 30 years ago. Malika is a direct descendant of Shayle and the Paragon Cadash. Actually – attempting to find Shayle was what got House Cadash exiled in the first place; apparently, they used offensive methods. Malika is one of the ones that I can eventually save with no substitute; Addar, Trevelyan and Lavellan are also on that list – because each one of them could have been Inquisitor due to… circumstances that would have labeled them the 'Herald of Andraste'. None of them will be now."

"Because that will be… you?" Varric guessed. Alistair nodded from his spot beside me, "Due to her giving information to the Guardian in the Temple, yes – I was there when she learned of it. This information is sensitive so tell no one else until the time is right."

Cullen was pale, "The Herald… Makers' Breath – you must be joking."

"Not at all – hey, Alistair; I need a refill on water please."

Alistair took my glass and kissed my forehead before turning to the pitcher on the side table.

"Anyway, Feathers – do you know about what time you'll be holding a screaming bundle?" Varric gave me a charming grin.

"What's the betting pool?" I quipped back.

He sighed, "I should have known better – I bet noon, Curly bet early evening, Choir Boy already lost, Rivaini says almost midnight, Daisy said 3 in the afternoon, Broody refuses to bet, the Fae all refused too, Blondie said 9 am so he lost too, Aveline said it wouldn't be right to bet on this and then passed me 50 silvers for 9 pm, and finally… Mother Brienne said 10pm…"

"Curly wins – 6:15 is about the time Duncan will be born; I'll go into labor around 5." I picked my pen back up and continued writing the final chapter.

Cullen smirked and held a hand out; Varric grudgingly handed over a sizeable pouch of coin. I chuckled, "I'm surprised you actually placed a bet, My Lion."

"It's a well-kept secret – I do gamble on occasion; not often, mind you… just once in a while when I think I have decent shot of winning."

I laughed, "I never take a bet I don't know I'll win; ever. I learned that from my dad."

"That is… a good policy…" Alistair sniggered – he was more relaxed knowing I had another 5 hours before I went into labor.

I chuckled, "I learned a lot from my father – he was the one that taught me how to cook; mom taught me to bake. Dad taught me the language similar to Antivan… though his methods were strange looking back."

"How did he teach you that?" Cullen sat in a chair near the bed.

"He'd hold up his empty drink and ask for 'more please' in the language. He'd causally say the trash needed to go out with saying only the word trash in Spanish so we had to guess. He'd ask where his keys were, but say only the word keys in Spanish – again we had to guess. As we got quicker on learning what each thing was, he'd use more and more Spanish words in the sentences. I could speak Spanish fluently by age 10 when English was my native language. It was a slow teaching process – most born in bi-lingual houses know the second language as they grow up."

"That is… a clever way to teach someone a language, I'll admit."

"It's how I'm teaching Hawke for the most part – and half our friends are picking up on it too."

Cullen flushed, "I just thought you slipped into your native language on occasion – I didn't realize you were teaching…"

"You're learning, aren't you?" I quipped.

"I would repeat each word over and over – I wanted to learn your native language…"

"And who's teaching you Danu?" I asked.

"… Obsidian…" he coughed.

My lip twitched, "He's a good teacher – considering that was actually his job in Danu, that isn't such a surprise."

"I thought he was a lord?" Alistair asked.

"Not Obsidian – there are just slightly more Fairies than there are cities; abandoned due to underpopulation or not. Obsidian loves kids – he chose to teach and swore to never lord over a city."

"And I was a professional Healer – Katt was a combat instructor; we met when someone shot an arrow and widely missed the target… the arrow went in the opposite direction." Rain said as he and my missing mates all came into the room.

I smiled at him, "Why didn't any of the Fae enter the betting pool?"

He snorted, "We aren't stupid enough to take a bet like that; you already sort of told us it wouldn't be early in the morning or late at night – it wasn't fair for us to enter the pool."

I blinked, "How did I let that cat out of the bag?"

"… You told us not to wake you early because there was no point; you told us to have dinner ready at the usual time… yeah – you may not have realized, but you essentially told us it would be early evening." Magma said.

"Then why didn't you enter the pool – even I would take a bet that I knew I could win; it's the only time I bet…" I muttered.

"Varric might have gotten suspicious if all of us bet the same as Cullen." He gave me a cheeky grin.

Varric nodded, "2 or 3 people, I can see – but all the Fae and Curly… I'd call the bet off unless they all had damn different reasons."

Oh – well, that was fair enough then. I hummed, "What – like the Fae all saying they had to stand beside one of the Princes since he was the only one in the betting pool that hadn't lost yet?"

"Ah… I might have accepted that reason, actually. Not anymore – but if they had said it before you did…"

Cullen chuckled, "Well – I won this time so…"

"Did you know, Curly?" Varric narrowed his eyes playfully.

"Actually, no – I had no clue; but she was so relaxed last night…"

I looked at Alistair, "Now – I need to know… you still plan to come over frequently… right?"

"Of course – you're my wife, the woman I love and now the mother of my child. How could I not come over frequently? And I'm sure you'd want to see our son just as often – I'm not about to keep him from you."

I smiled, "Good – with Levi, I was almost always with him as a stay at home mom; this whole… see him often but not all the time thing is going to be strange for me. I'm a worrier when it comes to kids – why do you think I keep in constant contact with Althild and Vaala? I already see Vaala as my kid, sort of, so… and Hanan – Goddess, if she said she wanted to stop working and just relax, I would allow it – she's still a kid; you know? I think I'm actually a little more nervous about the girls – I only had a son before… and I did want a little girl…"

Alistair smiled, "Well, we know you'll get one too; a Fairy girl, right?"

I hummed and set aside the – now finished – manuscript to curl into Alistairs' arms, "At minimum – but as I told you; I want a whole brood of kids. We can afford it and damn it… I love kids."

Kell chuckled, "I wouldn't mind a child or two – I've had more practice since Levi with my sisters' kids… none of them survived Red-Lion Hold, but…"

I held a hand out and he came to sit on the side of the bed. Fenris said, "I do not see myself as a father… but it might be nice… to have a family."

"Goddess – you'd be the most over-protective out of all my mates, Fenris; you know it. Imagine that our child was kidnapped – just pretend…"

His markings glowed, "I can already see your point."

Sebastian coughed, "As can I… Fenris would go in – likely alone if he discovered the whereabouts of our child without anyone else – and he'd slaughter everyone that dared try."

I nodded sagely, "That he would. I smell bacon – do you smell bacon?"

That's when Hawke came into the room with a plate of bacon. I lit up, "For me?"

"Yes, actually – you haven't eaten much…"

"Oh, thank you!"

Kell sniggered, "I do recall something – when you went to have the doctors force the labor with Levi, didn't you finish off a lot of breaded chicken bites?"

I nodded, "That was back when Sonic still had the 'Family Size' popcorn chickens – I ate two of them with ranch in less than 10 minutes… now I want Popcorn Chicken… damn it… I'll make some later…"

"How do you make it?" Rain asked.

"Like chicken nuggets but in pieces no bigger than this," I held my finger and thumb so that they made a hole for size. "Is… is that all?" Rain asked amused.

"That is exactly the difference – size. I don't know – popcorn chicken just tastes better to me though…"

"I'll make some for you," Obsidian chuckled. I had learned that cooking was a mandatory class for Fae; in general, home economics was. Cooking, cleaning, hygiene, hospitality, clothe mending, and child-rearing were all in the curriculum plan.

Considering that Fae were considered minors until age 30… there was a lot that went into their schooling – most learned at least 5 languages and how to care for at least one type of 'magical' beast. Magma was a Dragon, but he hadn't known his ability back when he was schooling – he reared salamanders which were vastly different from dragons. Galaxia had picked sharks – I mean… sharks…

Then you had Drake – rather than pick an animal native to his biome, he chose Falcons. So yes, my Earth Sylph Guard was a Falconer when that animal was generally considered an Air animal.

Celeste hadn't chosen that elective; she chose vocal lessons instead… and she could also play a strange instrument that was reminiscent of a Harp Guitar from Earth with the added bonus of having a small bell that could be rung at intervals… more power to her; I couldn't play anything that complicated.

Around 4:45, everyone had everything ready – there was a basin of hot water that would be kept warm by Magma, there were black towels (easier to clean the blood out of), there was a basinet, baby clothes and cloth diapers… everything was ready.

Alistair was sitting behind me – I was leaning against him just relaxing at the moment; I still had 15 minutes before the water broke and the pain started. I was lucky – With Levi, it took only 30 minutes from when they popped my water to when I gave birth. My mother had suffered 12 hours of labor with me.

Little Duncan would only be an hour of labor.

I had no epidural this time though – and my pain tolerance had decreased since the start of the Blight… I knew it would hurt; oh it would hurt like fuck… but at the same time… all I could focus on was holding my baby.

I'd had so many people in the room with Levi that I really didn't care who was here now. I wouldn't care if Meredith was in the room even. But hey – I was generous like that.

When it began, I gasped – I suppose I hadn't been as prepared for the pain as I'd thought. My hand found Alistairs' as tears filled my eyes. Kell was there, "I recall… last time, looking into my eyes helped?"

I gave a strangled sob, "Your eyes were green then… I was… trying to…" a cry of pain ripped from my throat and I squeezed Alistairs' hand. He grunted – but wisely said nothing.

Kell caressed my cheek, "You can do this – I know… there's no uh… what was the word…?"

"Epidural," I grunted out between the waves of pain.

"That – but you are the strongest woman I know; you burned alive without a sound…"

Another cry of pain – this time accompanied by cursing, "Son of a bitch!"

"Well – he will be…" Hawke joked calmly from the safety of his corner of the room. I don't know how, but I managed to grab my water cup and lobbed it at him. He ducked – barely.

Kell shook his head, "Lowlanders."

Rain was the designated nurse today – for obvious reasons – and said, "Two of you hold her legs back."

Cullen grabbed one and Fenris grabbed the other. "Fuck…!" I was already breathless and there was an hour to go.

Between waves of screams and cries of pain, I cursed – it helped. I was almost positive that I had also broken Alistairs' hand after about half an hour; but he was determined not to show any pain – and I think I took that personally, because I know I squeezed harder when I realized he wasn't feeling nearly enough of my pain.

Sebastian noticed – he gave me a look of amused sympathy. I was calling Alistair all sorts of mean names too – and I would feel bad for that later, but right now I felt justified.

At 6:12 I heard the first cries – it spurred me on to push harder; breaking Alistairs other hand with how hard I squeezed it.

3 minutes later, I heard Rain say, "No surprise – it's a boy."

I relaxed against Alistair as the baby was lain on my chest and Rain got to work with the after-birth – after healing Alistairs' hands. All of my mates were gathered around as we looked at my little son…

Not much could be ascertained at the moment – the tufts of hair on his head were white, his eyes were closed and he was covered in the red and white goopy stuff that came with just being born. Someone handed me a bottle of prepared goats' milk – Fae had a way to make it perfect for humanoid babies because it wasn't exactly rare that a woman didn't produce milk these days – they were worried about that since there had also been the decline in birth rates until I showed up.

Alistair – being exactly who he is – said, "He's so small… and… Maker, I'm worried if I hold him, he'll break."

"You were the same way when we held Vaala… and she was smaller," I pointed out with a tired smile.

He chuckled, "You're right… is it normal for them to be so… strangely colored right after birth?"

Kell snorted, "Should have seen Levi – he came out with more hair than this that was a darker brown and he was just… so chubby looking."

I shot Kell a pout, "Are you saying our son was ugly?"

"No – it was common knowledge that all babies look like potatoes after birth," he shot me a cheeky grin and I wrinkled my nose at him.

The umbilical cord was cut not too long later – and Alistair got to hold Duncan… while I passed out.

The funny thing was that I knew it was a dream – and I knew it was a vision – but I wasn't active in it like I had been before; I didn't feel the emotions or anything…

It wasn't that far into the future – I knew because Alistair in the Vision was holding our son and saying, "You know, Duncan… I love you. I mean – I love you so much…"

I approached hesitantly and smiled warmly when I took in our son.

His skin was tanned naturally, and his white hair settled into a white-blonde; his eyes were mine – silver like the moon at night. He was cooing and looking up at his father – reaching for his hair unless I missed my guess. He was already looking very much like his daddy too – he would certainly be a heart breaker; even unintentionally.

I shot awake with a gasp and a smile. Sebastian was the first to speak, "Good dream?"

"Vision… er… Alistair – just a warning – babies like to play with hair; yours is long enough for him to tug and try to chew on later so…" I was happy, "How long did I sleep?"

"Not long – it's only 9 now. Alistair hasn't stopped worrying since Duncan fell asleep." Cullen smirked.

"And I take it no one has told him that Duncan will sleep for a up to 18 hours following birth?"

Alistair looked at me wide-eyed, "He will?"

"Being born is tiring – yes, he will. Though, don't expect to get much sleep at all in the following… 18 years?" I smirked.

He snorted, "Longer if we count possible future children."

I nodded, "I'm starving… food?"

"There's more popcorn chicken – I made a large batch," Obsidian said. I nodded eagerly.

Kell sighed, "I don't recall much from Earth, but I think I recall that women still get their pregnancy cravings for a long time after… right?"

I nodded, "The hormones are usually still present, yes."

"… I'll make some Deviled Eggs," Cullen said. He'd been learning how to cook several things from earth – Deviled eggs were so easy.

I curled into the bed – Alistair was laying on the side with the basinet next to it and Fenris was sitting up on my other side… I was comfy. I yawned – I was still tired and I knew the only reason I was awake was for food.