A/N: That is right! I have returned, but this time, for my very first ever, ship month! WOOO! Rayllum month ladies and gents and non-binaries, we have crossed the threshold! First of 31 days.

Now, without further ado, Day 1: Beach Day

Chapter Summary: Rayla hasn't always been fond of surprises, and a day at the beach with Callum reminds her why that is. Future AU

Word Count: 2,315

Surprise

Rayla didn't often like surprises. As an assassin in training, she grew up on focusing in on her senses and staying alert. Surprises were the speciality of assassins, and so she never made a point of getting surprised herself. Runaan taught her that religiously. So whenever the event occurred, it startled her. The first time Callum tried to surprise her, he covered her eyes and shouted, "Guess who?" All sense flew out the window along with Callum's whole body, as she twisted his arm and launched him over her shoulder. From then on, Callum made a habit of trying to get Rayla used to "fun surprises."

That term sounded weird to Rayla.

Mixing fun with an element of something she often attributed with danger, was strange contrast. But then again, it was a nice surprise the day she learned Callum loved her back. It was a nice surprise when a good portion of humans and elves, from both nations, began to accept the peace after the war. It was a nice surprise that Claudia and Soren settled on no hard feelings when they reunited with her and Callum. It was also a really nice surprise when Callum dropped on his knee and showed Rayla her ring. Eyes swelled up in tears and a choked, "yes," later, the two found themselves in a joyful marriage. Fast forward years later, two little halflings and a baby Sky Dragon later to be exact, she found herself with a family of five. That was a surprise.

So of course, Rayla learned not to question Callum's desire to surprise her whenever proposed. It was why she easily closed her eyes and let him blindfold her. It was why she trusted him when he took her and the kids, also blindfolded, on a long, secretive carriage ride. It was also why, despite the sounds of waves crashing and the familiar, discomforted feeling of scattered sand at her feet, Rayla remained faithful in her husband. Because surely, after all their years together, he wouldn't dare.

"And now," Callum shouted, removing her blindfold, "surprise!"

Rayla slowly peaked open her eyes and her face paled. It was exactly what she thought. A flooded floor of sand before her feet, and a large, vast oceanside staring down her path. Her body flinched as the next wave crashed at the nearby rocks aggressively. She felt her hold on her children's hands tighten at the sound of the water waving back and forth. Realizing the cause of this predicament, she turned and glared at her husband, who cleverly enough, was several feet deep into the sandy beach. She took it back. Surprises were still terrible.

"Callum," she said through gritted teeth.

"Yes my dear?" he sweetly replied, laying down a large blanket at his feet. She hated it when he was being sweet, especially when he was doing it deviously. That was her thing.

"I'm going to kill ya," she spat.

Callum rolled his eyes. "Love you too!" he shouted as he began pulling off his clothes. Rayla couldn't help but stare at the man's sudden bare chest. He had obviously grown in health over the years, and his muscles definitely grew too. His body was more toned, and his calves were great. So maybe there wasn't that much of a downside to this, but Rayla was still mad. "I know you're staring!" he teased as he kicked off his boots. All he had on was a pair of beige pants, rolled up to his knees and an overwhelming large sense of pride. He was so smug looking at her nervous face. He was basically asking for a punishment.

She was definitely making him big spoon tonight.

"Callum, we're going back to the cottage."

He frowned. "Aww, c'mon Ray, what about the kids!" he gestured to them.

Rayla looked down and noticed Lian and Isha were wearing nervous looks as well. "They're scared Callum!" she shouted back. "C'mon, we have to go! Ya can't make 'em do this if they're afraid!"

Callum chuckled. "Ray, you let them learn Primal Magic with me and taught them self-defence, a little water won't hurt them!" he shot back. "Besides, how will they conquer their fears if they keep avoiding them?" he added with a sly smile.

Rayla groaned. "I hate wizards," she whispered to her kids. "They're stupidly wise."

"Mum said ya're stupidly wise Da!" Lian announced.

Callum laughed. "Of course! Now, as your resident stupidly wise father, I suggest you all come on down and hop in!" He turned around and ran straight into the next wave, raising his arms high and wide as the water overwhelmed his body. Rayla's body jumped at the sight of her husband disappearing into her enemy element, but relief washed over like the water as she saw him emerge, near the coast of the beach. "See? It's fine!"

Rayla released a shy smile as she looked at the kids once more. Lian slightly giggled at the sight of their father goofing off, but tightened his hold on Rayla's hand. Isha looked more pensive as she inched her foot forward and kicked the sand. They were still scared. "Callum…" she said strainingly.

"They're only nervous because you are," he retorted as he shrugged at her.

"Am not!" she shouted.

"If you say so Ray," he nonchalantly replied. A yip echoed out and another small splash emerged at Callum's feet. "Ahh see!" he smiled as he watched Zeusia hop out of the water and splash once more. "Zeusia loves it! And she's a Sky Dragon! They're practically opposite elements!"

Rayla frowned. "Ya're a bloody Archmage, ya know they're not!"

Callum shrugged again. "Whelp, as the only Archmage, I'm now declaring that they are!"

"Ya can't do that!"

"Why not?" he teased back. "You can't exactly stop me from doing what I want, since…" a smirk creaked on his lips, "you're all the way over there." He raised a sly brow as an annoyed frown fell on Rayla's face.

He was so dead. "The second your shrivelled lil' wrinkly body crawls outta there, I'm beating ya with my bare hands!" Rayla roared as she stomped off. "C'mon kids, let's just sit in the cool shade while your father fools around!" She hurriedly led the two over to nearby tree and sat them down. Rayla now understood why Callum didn't let her bring her books or any of her gear, nothing else to entertain her and no weapons to throw at him. She hated that her husband was smart. As she sulked in the shade, she noticed Lian was boredly fingering a spool of grass whilst Isha looked over at the ocean.

They were as bored as her. This was Callum's fault. She knew what he was trying to do, but this was a family vacation. Not a moral life lesson or anything. He was ruining their fun. Lian released a bored sigh as Isha slumped her shoulders. Rayla reached over and patted her daughter's back. "It's alright sweetie," she lovingly soothed, "Ya don't have to play in the water."

Isha looked back at her mother and managed a small smile. "Okay Mum. I won't—"

A sudden heavy, loud splash disrupted their focus. All eyes flew over to the water, where they immediately widened at the sight of a twisted snake-like stream of water, twirling high into the sky. At the base, floated Zeusia, who looked as if she had just hopped off the high skyscraper of water. At the top, rested Callum, who was coasting alongside the twirling water, waving down at the three. "Geronimooo!" he whooped as he hopped off.

Rayla gasped as she covered her eyes. All she heard was a splash and a fit of laughter. Both Callum's and the kids'. She slowly peeked her eyes and saw the two laughing at their father splashing around. The two were closer to the sand and waving at him as he casually floated around his water tower. "See? Fun!"

"How'd ya do that Da?" Isha shouted.

"Ocean Magic, my little mage-in-training!" Callum shouted back. He lifted a finger and as it glowed bright blue, painted another Draconic symbol. Whispering into it, he pushed through the airborne letters and released a large wave out from under him. The wave skated across the shore of the beach and kept Callum afloat above, safe and sound. "If you want to learn…" he snapped his fingers and allowed himself to drop gracefully on the soft sand. "Hop in," he gestured a free hand toward her.

Isha smiled as she took a step forward. The second her food connected to the sand, she froze up and looked over to her mother. With a pleading look, her eyes asked it all, "Can I go?"

Rayla released a deep sigh and slowly nodded. "Be safe," she advised. Her daughter eagerly ran off, shedding herself of her garments with the acception of her wrappings underneath. Rayla watched with a strained smile as her daughter splashed in the water, laughing as her father attacked her with an obvious light and softened, water spell.

"Can I go too?"

She looked at her youngest, and felt her heart quake at his delicate question. He pouted at her as he shyly swung his hands at his sides. Rayla nodded once more. "Stay close to your Da and sister. Don't go far from the shore, ya hear?"

"Yes Ma!" Lian shouted as he ran away. Of course, being the young'un that he was, he forgot to shed himself of his clothes and dove right into the water. Callum gasped in shock as Isha laughed at her younger brother's antics. Rayla merely facepalmed at the sigh of her husband trying to pull off her son's now heavily wet clothes.

As she removed her hand she slowly smiled at the sight. At least they looked like they were having fun. Rayla knew that her kids got their fear of water from her. From their first baths, she realized that the fear had been instilled into them from her. Callum took responsibility of handling all baths after that, as he managed to amuse them with simple ocean spells to distract them during their cleaning. Rayla wished Magic could help her get over her fears. But she wasn't like her kids.

Isha had a knack for magic and inherited Callum's curiosity, so she was more attracted to Magic. She still learned the basics of self-defence, as Rayla wanted her to, but mainly devoted herself to her father's teachings. Lian was more flexible but had a definite interest in fighting, despite being so relatively young. His interest in combat arose the same time Rayla began training as a young elf. Yet the sight of Magic and spells still entertained Lian's young mind, so he watched whenever he could. They had their reasons for being interested, so they had their reasons to ignore the ocean and live in the magical moment.

And Rayla had…

Her face dropped to a frown. She had her kids, she had them to look forward to everyday, their smiles and laughter. She had a new pet, a Sky Dragon who she declared to protect and take care of for the rest of her life. And she had her husband. A lovable idiot who, despite knowing her deepest fear, still pursued the chance to help her conquer it. Rayla's face shifted to a small smile. She definitely had something to help her live in the moment. She had multiple things that made her look forward to every single day. She had her happiness.

She rose up from her spot and dusted away at her dress. With all that happiness, she could always shoot for ambitious goals. With a wide smile, she ran over to the shore. Running full speed, she jumped at her oblivious husband. With his back turned and in the middle of an incantation, she landed right on him. Wrapping her legs and arms around his entire body, she exclaimed, "I did it! I did it! I did it!" ignoring her husband's shrill shriek of surprise.

Callum stumbled his footing as he tried to balance himself out whilst also grabbing onto Rayla's legs. "Whoa whoa, careful Ray!" he advised as he found his footing. "Don't go saying you did anything yet, you're not even touching the water!" he started leaning back, smirking smugly as he did so.

Rayla's eyes widened as her grip tightened. "Don't drop me!" she squealed as she ducked her head into his back. Callum laughed as he stabilized himself. She quickly made a fist and lightly punched his back before grabbing back on him. "Shut it," she muttered.

"Ha, ha, Mum's scared!" Lian teased.

Isha erupted in a fit of giggles. "Aww, Ma's afraid of the water!"

Even Zeusia chimed in with her own yips of laughter.

Rayla's face flushed. "Oh knock it off ya lot!" she barked. "Ya were feeling the same too!"

Callum snickered. "Nah, I'm pretty sure they just felt bad for you."

Rayla frowned she arched back her other fist, but halted a she noticed the scene before her. With a smirk, she placed both hands on Callum's shoulders and pushed herself off him, sending him forward. Somersaulting through the air backwards, she perfectly landed on her feet and smiled at the confused bunch before her. With a sly wave of her fingers, their collective faces dropped as they realized the increasing noise behind them. As soon as they all turned around, a huge wave collapsed on top of them, immersing them in water for a good few seconds. Rayla laughed boisterously as she clenched onto her stomach, ignoring the annoyed faces of her kids. Callum merely smiled warmly back at her. Wiping a tear from her eye, she released a content sigh.

She supposed surprises weren't so bad every once in a while.

A/N: I know it was kinda short, but I hope you all liked more of the Future Family AU! There'll definitely be a variety spread out over the course of this month, so stay tuned! Head over to rayllum-week-and-month on tumblr to follow and check out cool fanart/fics! And also to see the entire month's prompt agenda! Tomorrow's prompt: Stargazing.

Review Responses:

Readhermione: I'm glad you liked it, because there'll definitely be more to come during the month!

GwenuitHolland: That's an interesting look on it, I'll be sure to keep that in mind when I'm writing the next one! Glad you enjoyed!

C. : Hahaha, happy to see you think the same! I appreciate the kind words and will be sure to pace myself, that said, here you've got an entire month of content!

I am definitely participating in the entire month, don't worry. There might be some delays, might stack up on some days, but there will be 31 fics for this month guaranteed. Not all will be long, not all will be good, and not all will make sense probably. But there'll be 31!

Until next time,

- Bleh