A/N 3-29-21 - Hey there! So after several weeks of being incredibly busy with work and home life, I finally got some quiet time to fine-tune this latest chapter to my satisfaction! Yeah, it's a pretty slow and long one, but it does help fill a few gaps and bring old things full circle. So with that being said, go forth and enjoy!

...

It wasn't easy for everyone in Cloud Ruler Temple to stay away from her chambers for one whole day. They all wanted to see the newest addition to the fort, and the idea of waiting until tomorrow sounded like torture for some. Despite Isa strictly telling everyone to leave Tala alone until the next morning, there were certain individuals who tried to break the rules. Around lunchtime, Ferrum and Fortis attempted to knock on the door to see if they could sucker her into letting them in and taking a peek, but Jena followed them up and surprised them from behind as she grabbed their shirt collars and drug them back towards the stairs. Around the late afternoon, Reynald quietly tapped on the door asked if it was okay to come in, but Guilbert told his brother he needed to wait. Tala did at least get out of the bed and show the baby to Reynald for a few seconds, but told him she'd respect Isa's judgment and not let people barge in and demand their turn to see and hold. Reynald was satisfied with the quick peek and let them be after that.

And throughout the day, Tala and Guilbert kept playing with different names, just to see if anything new sounded better for Tala's sanity's sake. But they always kept returning to Martin- or Marten, as they decided to go with- as the baby would always respond in some way to being addressed as such. So as much as Tala knew it would be a risky move, she decided to go with the name. And while she loved spending the day watching him sleep in the bassinet or cuddling him in her arms, she loved it more when she watched Guilbert hold him. And the first time Marten grabbed his finger for the first time, her heart practically melted as she watched him try his best to contain happy tears. It was a comforting feeling to see them bond, but it also made her a little sad. Even though she knew he was watching her in spirit, Tala still wished that Martin was still alive so he could hold his son. She tried her best to push the thoughts aside- for they only did her harm- but it wasn't easy. But at least, for once, she was able to restrain her tears.

Once the morning of the seventeenth finally arose, Isa returned to check on Tala and her child. She decided to let Jena and Eyja come in with her, much to the chagrin of the other Blades. "Good morning. How are you feeling?" The Imperial healer greeted.

"Tired and achy, but otherwise fine." Tala replied.

Isa smiled and let a warm chuckle escape her throat. "A natural sensation to feel after childbirth, obviously. Now I want to make sure you're not developing any complications and that he is still nursing properly. Then I'll be on my way back to Bruma."

As she performed another quick physical on Tala and brought the baby back to his mother's arms, the other three people in the room stepped out with their backs to the open doorway so Tala could have a little sense of privacy. They waited for the newborn to fall back to sleep before the Imperial healer decided that mother and child were doing well enough that she could leave them be.

"Before I leave, I have to ask... has a name been decided yet?" Isa asked her.

As Guilbert looked over his shoulder in the doorway to see how she would respond, he watched as Tala confidently smiled and answered, "We're naming him Martin- after our last Emperor, and my good friend. Without his sacrifice, our world... and this child... would not have been possible. It seemed fitting to name the baby in his honor."

Isa's eyes widened a little before she eventually gave her a warm smile. "How admirable! Martin Jemane. A fine name indeed. Well... I shall leave you be. Before you depart for your home, please see me one last time to make sure the both of you are continuing to do well post-partum."

Tala gave her one affirming nod in acknowledgement, but made no verbal reply.

After Isa left, Guilbert came back in with Jena and Eyja so that the girls could see the baby. Tala decided to let Jena hold him for a little while, and she found herself in happy awe at how the Imperial was quick to dot over the newborn, talking to him as if he understood and softly squealing at how cute he was.

"I had no idea you liked babies so much." Tala said to her with a warm smile.

"Well this one in particular I am very fond of." Jena replied. "He's my Knight Sister's son... and he's the last of the Dragon line. He's a pretty special baby." She then grinned and wiggled her index finger at the baby as she added, "Isn't that right, Amal?"

Tala's smile faded when she realized that Jena didn't hear what she told Isa. "Actually... I decided not to go with Amal as his name."

Jena quickly took her eyes off of the baby and stared at Tala. "Really? But I thought you liked that name."

"I did... but I didn't think it was the right fit for him."

Jena pursed her lips and twisted them into a disappointed frown. "Aww man... I really liked that name, too."

Tala chuckled and shook her head. "Tell you what, since I'm not using the name, why don't you have it? You can name your future son Amal someday."

That's when Jena immediately let out a harsh laugh. "Yeah right! Like I'll have time to settle down and have kids. I'm a Blade, remember? My loyalty keeps me here."

Tala simply shrugged. "I never thought I'd marry or have children. Yet, here I am. You never know."

The Imperial Blade simply gave her a smirk and shook her head as she gave the infant back to his mother. "So if you're not naming him Amal, what are you naming him?"

She looked down at her son- whom remained sound asleep despite being passed around- and said, "We're naming him Martin." As Jena's jaw went slack in surprise, Tala saw Guilbert smile brightly and she couldn't help but smile back. "We're also going to slightly change the way we pronounce his name, so I can differentiate between my child and his father. So we're calling him Mar-ten, rather than Mart-in."

"Aww, that's kind of cute!" Eyja chirped.

"Yeah, I admit that is cute... but does Jauffre know that's what you guys named him?" Jena cautiously asked.

"No... not yet at least." Tala nervously replied. "I'll tell him in a little while, I promise."

While Jena gave her a sideways reproving stare, they heard a knock on the open door. Everyone turned to see Caroline and Belisarius standing anxiously in the doorway.

"Are you able to entertain a couple of visitors?" Caroline tensely asked.

Tala softly chuckled. "I bet if I say yes, I'm going to have more than just a couple of visitors."

"You might." Belisarius replied. "I mean, it's not like there's a line behind us or anything."

Tala shook her head as she held her amused smile. "Alright. You can all come in and see."

That simple little offering of consent seemed harmless. Tala really didn't expect it to be a big deal. But it took only minutes before every member residing in Cloud Ruler Temple suddenly came pouring in- almost all at once- to get their chance for a meet and greet. And in that moment, Tala could understand why Isa wanted her to have at least one day to herself; the crowd was slightly overwhelming. They did at least courteously ask how she was feeling first, which she would tell them she was doing well and then waved her hand at them to gather around the bed to see the newborn a little better. They all couldn't resist taking in the fact that not only was a baby born in the fortress for the first time in history, but that also the Septim line was not dead after all. It was no surprise that Caroline chirped and cooed at him, but it was amusing to watch Pelagius and Achille do it when they both wanted turns to hold. Otherwise, most of the men merely smiled and observed. But everyone stared in amazement when they saw his eyes. They were just as astounded to see the color as she and Guilbert were when they saw it for the first time yesterday.

While everyone else got their turn to crowd around her, Tala noticed that Baurus hung back and seemed hesitant to approach. And when Jauffre stepped in to chase the Blades out and back to their duties, he was the first to step out of the room. Initially the others didn't want to leave, so the Grandmaster and Guilbert had to push a little more to get them to exit the chambers. But eventually everyone left and headed for the Great Hall, including Guilbert- who decided to head for the kitchen to find him and Tala something to eat. Once the room was clear, the Breton noticed that Baurus remained in the hallway, as if he was guarding the room. She then made a point to slip out of bed with Marten still in her arms as she approached the doorway.

"You can stay and say hello if you'd like." She kindly told him.

Baurus jumped a little at the sound of her voice, but when he turned fully to look at her, he took a long while to respond. "You didn't have to get up on my account." He said.

"I need to walk around a little. Isa said it's good for me to stretch. Here." She then narrowed the gap between them and stood more to the side of him, that way he could get a better look at the fussing newborn.

Baurus remained stoically quiet as he just examined the baby as it continued to fuss for another moment or two before ultimately settling down and drifting back to a sleepy state. The lack of any emotion on his face suddenly made Tala uncomfortable. It brought her back to ten months ago when she stood in that very doorway behind her as he expressed his disappointment in her choices. Then she remembered how curt he seemed towards her when she returned a couple of months later. He also displayed his displeasure towards her decision to remain hidden from the Elder Council, and he recoiled at the idea of accompanying her back to Skingrad. He had been courteous with her afterwards, so she assumed his standoffish behavior was due to his own guilt of failing to protect Martin. But now a part of her felt as if his reasons were because of her behavior. Perhaps their friendship was forever strained by her lack of royal responsibility. And her post-partum hormones only worsened her concerns the longer he continued to say nothing as they stood dead silent in the hallway.

So she finally asked him in a low and quiet voice, "Are you still angry with me?"

His turned his attention away from the infant in order to look at her with a mildly surprised stare. "For what?"

"For lying to Ocato that day in the Temple of the One. For trying to kill myself with the Ebony Blade when we returned to Cloud Ruler. For... well... everything I've done since that day?"

Baurus remained quiet for another long, heavy moment before he finally responded. "I won't deny that I was disappointed in your choice not to speak up to Ocato, and I was upset with you when I found you in this very room preparing to just throw everything away. But no... I'm not angry with you... at least not anymore. I've had plenty of time to realize that it wasn't right of me to hurt you like that. I was trying to pry that sword out of your hands, begging you not to kill yourself, only to give you no reason for why you should stay. In being angry with you, I chased you away from a safe place to grieve. I shouldn't have done that."

Tala dropped her shoulders a little and let her eyes fall downcast to the ground. "I understand why you were disappointed. I was rather disappointed in myself after a while. It just hurt. It had hurt so bad to watch Martin sacrifice himself. It hurt to watch him in pain as his body turned to stone. It killed me inside knowing that I failed to stop him, and that he left me there, knowing that I'd be devastated to loose him. I couldn't do what he asked. I... couldn't do what everyone else asked. I just-"

"I know. I understand that now." When her gaze met his umber eyes, he continued. "It took me some time to realize that maybe we asked too much of you in that moment. We all saw how difficult it was for Martin to adjust to the idea of being Emperor, and he had six months to come to terms with it. We expected you to come to terms with it in six seconds. It's just..." He paused for a moment to gather his thoughts before he eventually let out a heavy sigh through his nose and tightly shut his eyes. "I believed in the both of you. I believed Martin was going to do right by the Empire and you would help him accomplish that by his side. We all did, actually. It was just as devastating for us to see you break down and retreat as it was for you to loose him. I was just so distraught and upset... but I shouldn't have been pettish with you about it while you were distraught and upset as well. And for that, I ask for your forgiveness."

Tala furrowed her brow as she shook her head. "There is no need to ask for my forgiveness. I don't hate you, or hold a grudge. If anything, I should be the one asking you for forgiveness for all the pain and confusion I left everyone in. And I apologize for walking out on everyone here."

"There is no need to apologize either, Tala. Like I said, we recognized how much you were hurting. Jauffre told us to let you go and retreat that day, said you needed the space from us. I did want to follow after you out of concern that you'd try something again, but Jauffre told me to just leave you be and we needed to take our time to mourn and decide what our next plans were as Blades, now that the Septim line was dead... or so we thought." He then looked back down to the baby for a moment before he added, "I'm glad you didn't decide to try and harm yourself again after you left... and I'm glad that I prevented you from succeeding in your attempt to do so. Otherwise, this little guy wouldn't be here, and all hope would have been lost."

Tala also looked at her son and let out a soft sigh. "Yeah... I'm glad I didn't succeed either." She didn't want to tell Baurus what became of her after she came home to Skingrad, otherwise he might have felt bad. It wasn't the time to add more pain into the already heavy emotions... especially when today should be a day of joy and celebration.

"By the way..." Tala started. "That day I stormed out, I didn't take the Ebony Blade from you. What exactly did you do with it?"

"I took it up into the Jerrall Mountains and buried it deep in the snow, along with the Sanguine Rose." Baurus replied. "They were daedric weapons, seeping with evil from a Daedric Prince. We didn't dare send the Ebony Blade back to you out of fear of what it might've done to you, especially since you just tried to use it to skewer yourself. We certainly didn't want a daedric artifact residing in these halls, and we were not about to go return them to their respective Daedric Princes. So I volunteered to dispose of them in a treacherous area of the mountains where no one would willingly go. May no one ever find them..."

Tala smiled and drew in a much-needed breath of relief. "Thank you, Baurus. You're a good friend. And you're a good Knight Brother of the Blades. I really am sorry for all the grief I caused so long ago. But honestly... I'm glad I did. I think this will be better for us than the Empire and the Elder Council dictating our lives."

"Yeah... I think you were right about the Elder Council, too. You may be the people's Champion, but they wouldn't have willingly accepted you as Martin's successor. They would have worn you down, and you probably would have grown to hate the position. You did what you knew was right, even if it was out of pain and grief. And now that you and Martin have a son... you're right to believe that his life would have been in danger now with the Empire in such chaos."

There was a moment of silence between them as Tala reflected on the words. But eventually she looked at the Redguard and said to him, "Thank you, Baurus."

"You're welcome... but you know you just thanked me not moments ago, right?"

"I know." She said with a subtle chuckle at the end. "I'm just glad you don't truly hate me for what I had done. Because honestly... my life had changed for the better after meeting you and Emperor Uriel. You could have taken the Amulet of Kings from me that day in the sewers, but instead you trusted me to carry out his wishes. You were the one to tell me where to find Jauffre, and in turn he led to me to Martin. I'm now a part of the Blades... and I now have friends who care for me. And because of Martin, I got to know what it felt like to be loved by someone as great as him, and I have a beautiful reminder of that here in my arms. It's all because you trusted me, even when you saw me as nothing but a stranger in a prison cell. I'm honored to have fought by your side more than once, and happy that you looked out for Martin... and myself... and now our son. So again... thank you."

Baurus remained enigmatically quiet for a moment before he eventually gave her the warmest of smiles. "You're welcome." He kindly responded. There was a pause between them again before he broke the silence. "By the way, I've always wondered what you did to wind up in that jail cell to begin with."

"Wrong place at the wrong time." Tala replied.

"Yeah, sure it was." He sarcastically commented.

"No, really, it was!" Tala countered with a laugh. "I was trying to hunt down a bandit camp in hopes of collecting a reward and make some money. But I had a small problem that involved my lack of fighting skills and the bandit camp being larger than advertised. So it was me against ten men... and I lost. The guards showed up last minute to finish them off, but when they saw me, they thought I was a bandit too. Rather than kill me, they just threw me in jail. So... you could say I had some pretty bad luck in life prior to ending up in that cell. But honestly... if the gods gave me back those days, I would do it all over again so I could return to this moment."

Baurus's smile slightly faltered. "Really? You mean you wouldn't have tried to stop Martin from sacrificing himself?"

Tala paused for a very long time as she thought about it. If she did get a do-over, of course she would have professed her feelings sooner. She would have spent more time with Martin as his lover as well as his friend. She probably would have asked him to marry her before Paradise so that if she had to rest, they could have made it to the Imperial City that evening, instead of holding a ceremony last minute before their departure. Maybe then they would have gotten to the Dragonfires sooner. Maybe he would still be alive. But also...

"I would have done anything to spare Martin from sacrificing himself. But I realize that fate had different things in store for us. He was meant to give his life to save Tamriel... and I was meant to watch over it... as well as make sure his legacy lives on in his son. And after watching Guilbert hold and bond with the baby, I realized that I made him very happy. I gave him the family he always wanted. In the beginning, I felt like maybe I was doing wrong by letting Guilbert play this role as a surrogate father to Marten, but after spending the last day with him, I see now that I did a good deed... and it lead to a good thing for both of us. So maybe I would have acted on my feelings sooner with Martin and I would have seen if it changed our fates... but if it didn't... then I wouldn't be completely devastated to end up back here in this situation all over again."

Baurus cocked a suspicious eyebrow. "While I admire your new acceptance of past events, I have to backtrack a little here. Did I hear right? Did you call him Marten?" All he got for a response was a sheepish nod. "You mean you named him after Martin?" When Tala softly nodded again, he blinked hard and slow several times in a row before he simply shook his head. "Let me guess... you haven't told Jauffre yet."

"No... but I need to." Tala shyly admitted.

"After all that work to have people believe that this kid is Guilbert's son and you name him after his actual father?"

"You can thank Guilbert for suggesting the name."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

Baurus let out a heavy sigh and shook his head at her for a second time. "And you went along with the idea?"

"Not initially. I knew it would be asinine to do it. But after trying out several names, Marten sounded right to me." She then looked down at the baby and added, "It sounded right to him."

"Well now you have to make sure it sounds right to Jauffre."

Then it was Tala's turn to let out a heavy sigh. "Yeah. I know."

"You know he's not going to be too happy about this."

"You mean like anything I do?"

Baurus let out a chuckle. "I don't know about anything you do, but a few of your choices have left him flustered in the past."

"Yeah and with this one he's probably going to respond the same way he's responded to any of my past decisions... with great distain and slight disappointment, but still accepting it anyway." Tala flatly replied.

Instantly, Baurus busted out in a sharp guffaw before he turned and staggered down the hallway, laughing the whole way down the stairs.

As Tala turned around and returned to her room, she couldn't help but giggle as she looked down at Marten and said, "He laughed because he knows I'm not wrong."