Tala spent two weeks at Cloud Ruler Temple with the baby as a safety precaution. By the time the second week rolled around, she wasn't sure if by now everyone was going to be sad or relieved that she was leaving soon. After spending several days and nights listening to a newborn babe crying and waking everyone up every couple of hours, Tala didn't blame them if their delight over the infant went out the window right behind her sanity. She would be forever grateful that they let her back into their lives and stay long enough to have her child born in a safe place. But she knew she shouldn't stay here forever with a baby. She knew the twins were eager to return to Weatherleah to check on the home after being gone for so long, so she felt it was best to return there and start her new life with them.

During a few of those sleep-deprived nights, Tala wished that Martin would have appeared in her dreams- if only for a brief moment- so that she could speak to him. But anytime she was able to dream, he was never there. On the other hand, a few of her dreams did involve memories of her parents and her childhood town. Between those dreams and her newly acquired maternal instincts, Tala also began to miss her mother and wondered what it would have been like if she were still alive and here to help. It was times like these where she really wanted her mother's guidance, especially since her "good deeds lead to good things" advice wasn't very applicable in this situation. Even though everyone here continued to remain helpful as best as they could, for Tala it still didn't compare to her mother's comfort. The thoughts of her life back in High Rock slowly started to surface as the days continued, and they made Tala depressed and extremely homesick. She did her best to shove those thoughts aside into the same corner of her mind that she shoved any emotions she didn't want to currently address. Since she couldn't do anything about it, there was no point in letting it consume her. So instead she did what she does best: distract her grief by focusing on something else to do, such as addressing Marten's needs and packing up her things in preparation for the trip.

When those two weeks were up, all of Tala's smaller items were packed and ready to go, leaving Guilbert and Reynald to simply handle the heavier items such as the baby's crib and her ungodly burdensome chest full of gold. Jena had to convince Roliand and Baragon to help her and the Jemane brothers in lifting it and carrying it down to the wagon waiting at the main gates. At least with two people on the handles and three people lifting it from the center by a rope underneath, it was not as excruciatingly painful compared to just two or three people trying to lift it up the stairways. Eyja also decided to pack up and go with them, even though Roliand begged her to stay at the fortress with him. She simply smiled, patted him on the cheek, and told him that she'd be back again soon, since she promised Tala that she'd be helping her with the baby and she intended to keep that promise.

Once they were packed up and the horse was hitched to the wagon, Reynald saddled up Lily while Eyja climbed in the back of the cart as Tala and Guilbert took the front seat and the reigns. After saying the many goodbyes to the Blades- as well as a few apologies for the sleepless nights- they eventually headed down the road and into Bruma. They stopped briefly so Tala could enter the Chapel of Talos to talk to Isa about how she and Marten both were doing, like she promised she would. After that, they were homeward bound.

The sun was setting when they approached Weatherleah's homestead. And as the others dismounted the wagon to turn the horses out to pasture, Tala continued to sit there with the baby wrapped up snuggly against her body. She could still see her breath in the cold First Seed air, but the thin layer of snow on the ground was a welcome greeting compared to the frozen tundra of the Jerall mountains. Eventually, Guilbert offered her a hand down and she graciously took it, and after she stepped off the wagon, she took a small bag from the back to help unload and bring things in.

While the brothers brought the crib inside and up the stairs, Tala stepped down into the dining quarters and stood quietly by the fireplace for a moment, just taking in the fact that this was her new home. This would be where she lived from now on. It would be where she raises her child. It would be where she settles into a simple and uncomplicated routine. And as she looked to see the Escutcheon of Chorrol mounted proudly above the mantel, she couldn't help but complacently smile as she felt completely at peace with this realization.

By nightfall everything was at least moved into the house so the items were safe from theft- especially being so close to Hackdirt- and the horses were provided with a bale of hay for the night. After that, it was a simple dinner before setting up a bed for Eyja on the second floor. Guilbert showed Tala to the top floor where they'd be sleeping; when she entered the room, she couldn't help but smile wide. She was amazed at the difference in the house compared to how it looked when they first reclaimed it from the ogres. The top story once had boards missing in the floor with scattered bones everywhere; now it was cleaned up with the holes repaired and rugs lain down. There were two beds and two dressers- one for her and one for Guilbert, she guessed- and the crib was placed by the window, but still within reach for Tala.

"I hope it's alright if we share a room." Guilbert commented. "I wouldn't ask you to share a bed, but I figured with the two of us in one room, it means I can help get to Marten if need be."

Tala turned to Guilbert and smiled warmly. "It's just fine. I don't mind. In fact, I love it!"

Aside from Marten crying twice and getting Tala up to feed him, the first night in Weatherleah was a pleasant one. The next morning, they all had breakfast together before the girls worked on unpacking their belongings. Eyja settled into a small portion of the room that used to be a storage section, but it fitted her bed and belongings just fine and she unpacked in no time. As for Tala's things, the biggest challenge was her chest full of gold. They decided to empty all the coin-purses onto the floor of the dining room and brought the empty chest down into the basement. From there, they refilled the chest, making the process long, but much easier. Tala also stored her Imperial Dragon Armor in an empty chest in the basement. She knew at some point she wanted to display it on a mannequin, but she'd have to purchase one at some point. Currently, it wasn't high on her list of things to do.

By the afternoon, Tala was just down to her small items, which she either tucked away in a bottom drawer in her dresser or displayed on top of it. As she sat on the floor carefully unwrapping everything, Guilbert lightly knocked on the side of the wall as he entered with Reynald following right behind him.

"Sorry if we're interrupting anything." The more spirited of the twins spoke. "I just wanted to come in and see my nephew."

"Well he sounds like he's awake for a moment, so go right ahead." Tala said.

Reynald then walked across the room and leaned on the crib to peer in. "Hey you!" She heard him cheerfully say to the baby. "I know I really haven't been seeing you as much, but there were a lot of people at Cloud Ruler Temple who wanted to see you before you left. We're all living in the same house, and I get to help take care of you, so now I can get all the quality time I want."

"Same here." Came the sound of Eyja's voice as she entered the room. "All the Blades could have all the quality time they wanted for the last two weeks because we get all the time with him for the rest of his childhood."

Guilbert simply chuckled. "That is a fair point. I did wonder why you two hung back so much while we were there."

"And I'm wondering if I need to go back to paying Eyja." Tala interjected.

Eyja's face went slack as she stared at Tala and blinked long and hard. "Why?"

"You've been really helpful for the last several weeks and you're still being helpful now. I can't be taking advantage of a friend's generosity for free, you know. I feel I have to repay you somehow."

"Yeah but I said I'd offer my help. I'm living in your house for free, after all. The least I can do is resume some sort of housekeeper services and help you with Marten."

"I know, but I-"

"Yeah, yeah, you feel bad and don't want to abuse my kindness. You're not, so don't worry about it and just say thanks." When Tala opened her mouth to protest and then stopped, Eyja smirked at her and added, "You're welcome. No payment necessary."

Tala couldn't help but half smile and roll her eyes as she turned back to unwrap the jewelry box and stand up to put it on her nightstand, all while silently admitting that Eyja had her figured out.

Guilbert chuckled and smiled initially, but the smile slowly faded when he looked down into the crib and watched the infant reaching up in an attempt to grab one of Reynald's fingers. "Man... the reality of all this continues to sink in for me. I can't believe this little guy is here and settled into the home after all this time of waiting."

When Tala noticed his serious stare, she walked over to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Don't get cold feet on us, okay?" She playfully teased. "You've been with me through the hard parts. Now here comes the fun part."

As he stared at Tala, Guilbert managed to form a half-smile. "I have no intention of going anywhere. I'm here for you... and Marten. I... it... this still has a little more getting used to. I have my own family now... it's something I never thought would happen. But thanks to you, it's become a reality. I know I've said this a few times now... but thank you."

Tala playful smile slowly shifted to something more warm-hearted. "Well, thank you for offering your name and helping me raise my child as your own. Not many people would have willingly up and offered themselves to play such a role and you did. Your kindness has not gone unnoticed."

As they both chuckled for a second, his half-smile turned into more of a smirk and something in his eyes changed as he dropped his gaze to the floor.

"What's wrong?" Tala asked.

"Nothing really. It's just that... I hope we can pull this off in the long run. If what Jauffre said was right, and Marten grows up looking like Martin... then how do we explain that my son has no definitive traits from me?"

Tala rapidly blinked as his thought slowly worked into her head. 'He's right. How else could we do something that might help people believe Marten is his son, even later in life?'

"He'll still resemble Tala, especially with those eyes. So we could just say that he takes after his mother's side more?" Eyja suggested.

"I suppose we could go with that." Tala lightly responded. She then wandered back to her bag full of items and returned to unpacking them as she gave it more thought.

"Yeah, we'll see how much he actually resembles Martin as he grows." Reynald commented as he slowly brought his hand away from Marten's grasp to inspect the hair on the child's head. "Too bad you couldn't get away with saying the brown hair runs in our family because it doesn't. Does brown hair run in your family, Tala?"

"A little on my dad's side, mostly. My mother's side was a range of blondes, from sunny to strawberry."

"Yeah, same here. Too bad he didn't inherit your mother's side of the hair color heritage."

She then looked away from Reynald and absentmindedly grabbed the next item out of her bag and set it in the drawer. But before she grabbed another item, she looked into the drawer and she froze in mid motion. The item she had just set inside was the potion that Sinderion had made for her. She then turned her body to look back at Guilbert and her gaze wandered a little higher up to look at his head of sunflower-blond hair.

Her eyes slowly lit up and she simply said, "I have an idea."

Guilbert tilted his head in curiosity at her. "You do?"

Tala then grabbed the vial and stood back up to come and show him. "This potion was given to me by Sinderion several months ago as a gift. He made it specifically for me... so that if I wanted, I could permanently change the color of my hair."

"Seriously?!" Eyja exclaimed. "How does that work?!"

"He said all I had to do was pull a lock of hair that has the color I wanted and add it to the vial. Then I just shake it up and pour it into my hair, and the color changes."

"You sure it works?" Eyja questioned further.

Tala nodded. "I would assume he tried it first before he gave it to me. He's a master alchemist after all. If it was a failed experiment, he wouldn't have given it to me."

Guilbert slowly blinked, with each blink widening his eyes a little more and more. "You... you mean to say that I should pull a lock of my hair and put it in the vial... and then pour it on Marten's hair?"

"That's a great idea!" Reynald excitingly blurted as he walked away from the crib and closer to inspect the vial. "If he's got your hair color, it can be more believable that he's your son!"

While Reynald and Eyja seemed thrilled at Tala's idea, Guilbert did not crack a smile. "Are you sure you want to do that?" He softly asked her. "I mean, it's a great idea... but do you want to loose his real hair color?"

Tala subtly smiled and replied, "I'd actually like to cut a small lock of his original hair to have as a keepsake. But otherwise, I'm okay with it. If we do this, it means he has a part of you in him as well. And if his hair is the same as yours, it makes it easier for people to see him with you and believe that he got the color from you. Then he has some sort of 'trait' that resembles you. So let's do it."

"Let me go get a bowl from downstairs." Eyja suggested as she made her way out of the room. "We can put his head over it and if any liquid spills over we can catch it in the bowl instead of making a mess in his crib!"

"Oh, good idea!" Tala concurred.

Guilbert then pulled the dagger he had equipped to his belt and Reynald stepped out of the way while Tala went to grab Marten. As she picked him up, Guilbert grabbed a pinch of his hair and carefully used the dagger to cut what he held. Tala asked him to do it a second time in order to feel like she had enough of a lock and then he wrapped it safely in a clean handkerchief. As Tala was tucking the handkerchief into her journal, Eyja was returning with a wooden bowl from the kitchen. The blunette then sat down in the chair that rested beside the crib while she waited for Guilbert to yank a hair from his head and add it to the vial. As the potion was succussed, they all watched as the black liquid quickly changed into a sunny yellow- the same color as Guilbert's hair. He then brought the vial over right as Eyja put the bowl under Marten's head.

But as he pulled the cork from the mouth of the vial, Guilbert looked Tala directly in the eyes and asked, "Are you certain you want to do this?"

"Don't you want to do this?" Tala replied with a question.

"I just want to make sure that you're positively sure that this is what you want to do. You haven't used the potion before and we're going to use it on an infant. Do you trust that it will be fine?"

A weighted feeling suddenly bubbled up in her chest. He had a point: she didn't want the potion to have a negative effect on her baby. But the feeling in her chest didn't reach that feeling in her gut that guided her judgement since this all began, so at least her hesitation wasn't because of an instinct holding her back.

"Sinderion has never steered me wrong. He didn't tell me about any adverse effects. So... even though my maternal instincts worry about him... I'm confident that I want to do this to protect Marten... as well as offer a chance for you to give him more than just a father-figure in his life. So... just pour it on lightly and carefully and we'll take it slow."

Guilbert subtly nodded as he brought the vial over Marten's head and slowly tilted it downward. As the thick liquid slowly spilled over into his hair, the baby flinched initially from the sensation of something touching his head and he began to fuss. And as Guilbert made a point to lightly lather the potion in every hair, the infant started crying, which made Guilbert pull the potion away and stop.

"Shhh, it's alright." Tala soothed as she gently swayed her son back and forth. "This is just something for your hair. It's no big deal."

When she brought her free hand up to gently take one of his, Tala noticed that the potion began to rapidly sink into the skin and the hair quickly started drying. And as it dried, she saw that it was remaining blonde. His skin remained unscathed underneath the hairs, and after waiting a few minutes they didn't observe any negative reactions.

"It worked!" Eyja rejoiced.

Tala and Guilbert both let out breaths they didn't realize they were holding. He then asked Eyja to keep the bowl underneath just a little longer as he thoroughly inspected Marten to make sure every hair on his head was no longer brown before he dipped his finger in the vial twice to wipe some of the potion across the baby's eyebrows to make sure they also turned blonde and called it a success.

"It's done." Guilbert commented as he put the cork back on the vial and set it on top of the dresser.

As Tala took in the fact that her baby boy now had blond hair instead of brunet, she suddenly felt a wave of relief. This was a very easy way to help enforce this lie they created, and she was thankful that she kept the potion rather than use it or throw it away. She figured it would come in handy someday, but she wasn't sure how at the time. Now she did.

"Well, now that that's over, let's go downstairs and get some lunch." Eyja happily said as she headed for the door.

"Good idea." Reynald concurred as he followed her.

Rather than get up and join them, Tala remained on the chair and ran her fingers through Marten's newly yellowed hair. When he looked up at her with his own sapphire eyes and gave her the brightest of smiles, she couldn't help but grin back at him. And in her thoughts, she couldn't help but think of her mother again. Her mother's hair was a little more golden than Guilbert's, but yet seeing her child with blond hair made Tala think of her... and then her sweet smile slowly grew sadder.

"What's wrong?" She heard Guilbert ask.

She didn't realize that he was still in the room, so she quickly shook her head and sniffled while she ran her free hand across her face in embarrassment. "I don't know." She lied. "I... I guess I'm still overly emotional. Isa said I might get a bout of Baby Blues and I could feel sad for no reason. I guess she was right..."

Guilbert walked back to her side and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "Is seeing his hair a different color what's upsetting you?"

Tala shook her head. "No. I wanted this. I'm not sad about it. I... I guess now that I'm a mother, I keep thinking about my own mother. I haven't really thought about my parents much up until recently. I had been distracting myself from thinking about them while I was running around playing Savior of Tamriel. And I had Martin to help distract me from the pain. But now he's gone too... and I had to find other things to keep me from thinking about how I lost him. It's been three years since I left home, and two years since I found out they were killed during a bandit raid. You'd think I'd have gotten over that grief, but..."

Guilbert then gently patted her shoulder for a second before he returned to resting his hand hand on her. "Grief never goes away, Tala... it just gets different." He softly replied. "Trust me, I know. I still have my moments were I mourn my father even though he passed a few years ago... and despite finding out recently that he was a master thief. But he was still my father... he was still the man that raised me and whom I looked up to most of my life. Those feelings of love and loss never go away. I don't expect you to get over losing your parents... or even Martin. And it's not easy to cope with that loss while you're tired and overwhelmed."

It was then that Tala's memories from home came flashing into her mind again. She thought of her father making potions or playing with spells while his cup of coffee grew cold on the table, the smell she could still vividly remember. She thought of her mother taking her hand while they performed blessings in the chapel and how she taught Tala about Akatosh and the other Divines. She thought of all the laughter from jokes and playtime, the hugs and kisses before bed or when she got a cut or wound, and the gentle words they gave her when she was sad or upset. There was always a distraction to help her numb the ache. And now that she was at a point in her life where there was nothing to help her avoid the grief, she realized she couldn't ignore any of it anymore.

As she nodded in acknowledgement of Guilbert's words, she broke down in tears again. She felt Guilbert take the baby from her to put him in the crib and then felt him pull her up from the chair to bring her into an embrace. She didn't fight him the entire time. She just welcomed his comfort as she cried into his chest for a minute or two before she finally found words to say.

"I do m-miss my family." She brittlely spoke. "I wish my parents were here for this. I wish I had my m-mother to help me when I need her. I... sometimes wish I hadn't left home and that my last words to them weren't so casual, as if I thought I'd be back soon. If I had known that was the last time I would see them, I'd have h-held on longer and said goodbye more than once."

"I'm sorry you lost your parents." Guilbert softly replied. "But I am glad you left home. If you had stayed, then you might have met the same fate, and you never would have become the Savior of Tamriel. I'm sure they were happy you were spared from the raid and that you found an amazing life here in Cyrodiil. And if you hadn't left, then you and I would never have met. You wouldn't have met Martin either and Marten wouldn't be here."

Tala then paused to sob for a moment before she gathered enough breath to speak again. "I still have my moments where I wish Martin could have at least been alive l-long enough to see and hold the baby. He wanted to be a father, and I-I was still unsure about being a mother. I haven't s-seen him in my dreams since before I went into labor. I'm still g-glad you're h-here to help me and raise Marten, but I can't h-help but miss him. And now I'm also really h-homesick... and I miss my Mom and Dad. I-I'm so sorry I'm just dumping this all on you now. You're probably tired of hearing me talk about missing Martin all the time, but in the last couple of w-weeks I couldn't help b-but think about the past and the people I lost and I just can't suppress it anymore."

As she started to break down again, she finally realized that he was gently rubbing her back as he held her tight. "I know." He gently said. "And there's no need for apologies. While I was happy to know you found closure with Martin through the Amulet's Shard, I could tell you'd been holding a lot of your emotions back for quite some time. I was wondering when they'd finally boil over."

She then brought her head up to look at him and wipe her swollen eyes. "Why are you so Gods damned nice to me?" She cried as another round of tears ran down her face.

Guilbert then placed his hand on her cheek for a brief moment to wipe away one side of her face and smiled. "Because I'm a good friend... and I like you." He then gave her a quick kiss on her forehead and pulled her back to his chest to let her keep crying.

As Tala nuzzled her cheek into his chest, she couldn't help but feel a sense of calm as she realized her thoughts and buried feelings were finally expressed and there was someone there to comfort her in a moment of vulnerability. And in that same sensation, she also felt a tinge of guilt again. She knew better. She knew he loved her. He had already admitted once that he wanted to know what it was like to gain her affections. But she was still very much in love with Martin and had difficulty returning Guilbert's affections in full. But it was like Eyja said: she didn't have to love Guilbert exactly like she loved Martin. Her love for Martin was unique. Her love for Guilbert is just as unique in its own way. And, in a way, she was starting to think of Guilbert as more than just a friend. But for now, what they are to each other is working fine.

Perhaps once she's gotten in to a routine with Marten, she could explore her feelings a little further with Guilbert. But for now, she was just happy to have a friend who was willing to let her cry on him... and get his shirt a little wet with those heavy hearted tears.