Note: You'll love this one.

Chapter Twenty-Three

In the next two months, things quieted down in the Imperial Palace. The Emperor and Empress celebrated their first anniversary, and one of Kaddar's gifts to his wife was a luxurious blanket of sable fur, more than big enough for two, given with a mischievous grin. The sable blanket was joyfully experimented with that night, and Kalasin deemed it one of the best gifts she had ever been given.

Foreign ambassadors were staying away from Carthak for reasons unknown, not that Kaddar or Kalasin were complaining. All-important Council decisions had been made, and the summer became an unofficial vacation. Kalasin was learning how to cook, and Kaddar had taken up the admittedly risky job of sampling her dishes.

One afternoon, she and Varice were discussing how to make red velvet cake. "…And we'll finish by adding a little bit of red wine to it, just for fun," Varice completed. "Does that sound all right? We tried vanilla, strawberry, lemon, and coconut before, and this is the only one left."

Kalasin nodded, surveying the ingredients. "Sounds perfect to me. Varice, a favor?"

"Mmm?"

"Could you do anything involving eggs and red wine for me? I'm not being lazy or anything," she said hastily, "but lately, I've been feeling a bit off whenever I smell any of the two."

Varice frowned. "Of course. It's a bit strange, though—you didn't have a problem with it before? Is it smell or taste?"

"I don't think so," she said thoughtfully. "I think it's the smell. It makes me…nauseous, somehow. Either that, or I get a headache."

"Oh, Goddess. I hope you don't have the stomach flu, Kally."

Kalasin wrinkled her nose. "I hope not, too. I'm not going to ruin my vacation by getting horribly sick."

"Hmm. Go to Nadi, and ask her if you are. I might be wrong, you know, but if I'm right and we catch the sickness in its early stages, it'll be easier to treat."

"But…the cake…"

Varice grinned, pushing a lock of her blonde hair behind her ear. "I'll take care of the cake, Kally. I won't have you spreading germs to everything in the kitchen, anyway. Out with you."

Kalasin made a face, deserting the kitchens and their delicious dessert-smells. Wandering the hallways absentmindedly, she noted the lack of people in the palace. Everybody had retreated to their summer estates in cooler places. She made a note to tell Kaddar that it was time they visited Radzyn again, and soon.

She knocked on the solid wood door of Nadi's office, feeling a little bit nervous. It was truly ridiculous, since she was a healer herself, but she disliked medical visits with a passion. At least Nadi was her friend. The chief Healer at the Tortallan University had frightened Kalasin greatly.

The door opened a little, and Nadi poked her head through. There was a huge blot of ink on her nose, and she blinked a few times before recognition hit. "Kally! This is a surprise. Come in." The door swung open, and Kalasin trotted in. Nadi's office was immaculate, as always, belying her somewhat ink-blotched appearance. "So, what's going on with my favorite little sister?"

Kalasin sniffed, and looked down the inch separating her from Nadi. "Not so little, might I remind you."

"Ouch," she winced, but then grinned, unable to remain serious for long. "All right, Almighty Imperial One. Point taken. Sit down and tell me your troubles."

The empress sat, admiring the bright, airy office. A silky blue tapestry fluttered in the slight breeze let in by the open window. "What makes you think I'm having troubles?"

"Because people only go to a healer when they're having troubles," was the succinct reply. "When you're not having troubles, you always visit me after hours."

"Okay, fine, All-Seeing One," snorted Kalasin. "What troubles am I having today?"

"Schizophrenia?"

"You sound like Kaddar," said Kalasin with a frown.

Nadi gave her the quill-through-the-heart look. "That was completely uncalled for. Comparing me to my little brother? I'm heartbroken. I thought you liked me, cruel Kalasin."

Pouting, Kalasin tilted her head appealingly. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. Now, can you fix me?"

"Very well. What's wrong?"

Kalasin outlined her symptoms, and Nadi furrowed her eyebrows thoughtfully. "I doubt it's the stomach flu, not with you reacting to only two things so far. Unless…"

"Unless?"

"Unless you're developing an allergic reaction to eggs and red wine. Which would be rather upsetting, especially as it's not as much fun to get drunk on Scanran vodka as it is with Gallan wine. Would you go and sit on the table over there? I'm going to test you with my Gift."

Kalasin gave her most world-weary sigh as she walked over to the table, flopping down on it unceremoniously. She dangled her legs while waiting for Nadi, feeling like a little girl again. Nadi caught sight of her expression, and laughed. "You like you're about to receive a death sentence. Don't fret, Kally, I'll give you a piece of chocolate if you get through this without too many tears."

Kalasin made a face, but remained still as Nadi approached her, her palm glowing with the red-orange fire of her Gift. "This may be a little uncomfortable." With that, she put her hand on the top of Kalasin's head, and the empress shuddered. A little uncomfortable was an understatement. Nadi's Gift felt refreshingly cool, but it seemed to trickle through her entire body. It relaxed her aching back and feet, and rejuvenated fingers tired from being in the kitchens for so long. And then, the cool fire that soothed her body began to change.

The center of her body was beginning to heat up, almost making her sweat. The warmth traveled away from her chest gradually and centered in her stomach, so that it felt like she had eaten a peck of pickled peppers. "Ow! That hurts!"

Nadi pulled her hand away from Kalasin quickly, realization beginning to dawn on her face. The fiery heat was gone, but Kalasin's stomach still felt uncomfortably warm. "What is it?" she demanded, seeing the look on Nadi's face. "What's wrong with my stomach? Do I have the stomach flu? Am I not eating enough spicy food? Am I eating too much spicy food? Am I dying?"

Much to Kalasin's chagrin, Nadi began to laugh. "Oh, Goddess, no, you're not dying!" She tried to switch to a serious tone, but spoiled it by giggling in the middle of her sentence. "Empress Kalasin, I would like to be the first to congratulate you on your new child."

Kalasin stared.

Nadi found this even more amusing. "Kally. You're pregnant!"

It took Kalasin a few more minutes to recover the capabilities of speech. Pregnant? Her? She and Kaddar were going to…have a baby? Like Lianokami, except theirs? A child. A heir.

"Oh," she managed to squeak out. She hugged herself tight, trying to make sense of the thousands of confused thoughts swirling around inside her. "A baby. What are we going to name a baby? It's not like naming the palace cat, you know…"

Nadi grinned at her brightly. "I always thought Kallydar had a nice ring to it. Kally and Kaddar. And it can be a male or a female name. Princess Kallydar, you can make it Kallydara if you want, or Prince Kallydar. Or Kaddarasin. Aren't I a genius?"

Kalasin felt like laughing. So she did, collapsing in a fit of giggles.

The other woman rolled her eyes. "You've known for less than five minutes, and already you're reminding me of Nadareh when she was pregnant." She helped Kalasin off the table, and then hugged her close. "I'm so happy for you, darling. Aren't you looking forward to putting some of those nosy councilors in their place, next time they ask about an heir?"

Kalasin nodded, running her fingers through her hair with a slightly dazed smile. "I can hardly believe it. How am I going to tell Kaddar?" she demanded suddenly, for the thought had just dawned on her. "I can't just pounce on him and yell that we're having a little Kallydara or Kaddarasin, can I?"

"Oh…" Nadi hesitated. "Just…make sure that he isn't drinking anything at the time. You might want to sit him down first. Or rather, don't. If he faints, I'd love to remind him—and Kallydara, and Kaddarasin, and their children—and the rest of our family about his reaction to the news."

Kalasin smiled, nevertheless feeling a little nervous. "All right, then. Thanks, Nadi."

Nadi watched her sister-by-marriage leave, feeling a little envious of her happiness. She would never really know what it would feel like. She closed the door with a sigh, and immediately felt guilty afterwards. She would never trade what she had with Varice for anything, not even the joy of having her own child.

--

On the day of October seventeenth, 463, Kaddar had no idea about how drastically his life was about to change. The only thing he knew was that he was going to murder all of his councilors, and blame it on Zaimid. He didn't know he would do it, or when. All he knew was that if they were gone, his life would be a lot easier.

He wanted wine. Or water with lemon and cucumber slices. Something cold.

After dragging himself up to their room, Kaddar collapsed on the sofa, feeling half-dead. If he died before he was going to murder his councilors, he decided that he was going to leave everything to Kally. Pretty Kally. How would she survive without him? Zaimid would bewitch her into marrying him, and then his spirit would cry. And Kally would, too. Anybody who was married to Zaimid would cry. A lot.

He closed his eyes for a while. When he opened them, he marveled at the fact that he wasn't dead. Kalasin stood above him, looking a little apprehensive. As soon as she saw his eyes open, she quickly schooled her expression into one of less apprehension. "Hello, Kaddar. You look…dead. Dying, actually."

"I know," he winced, sitting up. "My shoulders ache. First Council meeting in an age, and here I was hoping that they had mellowed out after a couple of months of blissful nothingness. Did I mention my shoulders ache?"

"Subtle," she replied dryly, moving to stand behind him. She started to knead at his shoulders, and he sighed in relief as he felt the relaxing warmth of her Gift on his aching muscles.

"Kally, we should run away from this," he said, sounding depressed, and then he brightened up. "We're going to elope. To Sarain!"

Kalasin rubbed the base of his shoulder blades, and was rewarded with a pleased-sounding purr. "We can't elope. We're already married."

He tilted his head back and kissed her wrist. "Mmm. You have a point."

Impulsively, she leaned down and hugged him from behind, stifling the urge to squeak out at the sudden ache in her chest as it pressed against the back of the sofa. "I was going to ask you for a vacation at Radzyn, you know," she mumbled against his hair.

Kaddar tugged on her hand insistently and drew her around to his side of the sofa. "But?" he prompted, having a sudden flash of perception. When it came to politics and diplomacy, he was perceptive all the time. When it came to Kalasin, he was rather obdurate. These moments of perception were few and far between, and one had just hit him now. "What happened? Anything drastic? Something I should know?"

Kalasin fidgeted. He had put her on the spot, and she didn't like that. It was one thing when she was trying to explain to him that she hadn't meant to get drunk at that one party and compare him to a meek kitten in front of, oh, all of his sisters and female cousins.

It was a whole different story when she was trying to explain to him that she was pregnant. And it didn't help that he was staring at her.

"Hello, Kally? Is it something embarrassing? Or," a seemingly bright idea struck him. "Can you fit into that robe now? Better yet, did you get one in red?"

Needless to say, Kaddar's perceptive moments regarding Kalasin and her motives were few and far between. And briefly lasting, at that.

Kalasin buried her head in her hands. She was going to crack. She felt it. No. No, she was going to be strong. A few seconds passed.

"Oh Kaddar, we're going to have a little Kallydara or Kaddarasin and I don't know what to do because they're so small and tiny and they're going to be ours but first I have to have them and I don't know how to have children and then we have to raise them and I forgot we have to name them, too—"

For his part, Kaddar didn't completely lose it. He registered the words we're going to have a and then Kallydara and Kaddarasin completely slipped over his head. Then there came tiny and ours and have them, followed by children, and everything clicked into place.

Kalasin was still babbling on about whether their future child would be made fun of because Kaddarasin was such an unconventional name, and then which Gift and eye color was dominant over the other.

Kaddar reached out and gripped her wrists lightly. "Kalasin. Shh. Stop talking. There is no need to worry about Gifts and eye colors now."

She blinked at him. "But—"

He pulled her into his arms, still feeling shocked. "Slow down a bit. When did you find out, and who are Kallydara and Kaddarasin?"

"This afternoon. They're our future children's names, courtesy of Nadi. Kallydara for Kally and Kaddar, and Kaddarasin for Kaddar and Kalasin."

"Adorable," he said softly, nuzzling her ear. "This was a huge surprise, you know."

"Are you happy?"

The emperor snorted, and hugged her very gently, as if she was fragile glass that might break—a huge change from his usual rib-crushing embraces. "Of course I'm happy. I mean—wow. I didn't expect this, but…" he trailed off and was silent for a few moments. "I think brown eyes are dominant over blue."

Kalasin smiled, feeling a sense of relief wash over her. He was happy, and pleased with her. "I hope they aren't," she muttered. "You know what I'm looking forward to?"

"Telling all the councilors," he said with relish. "Name a heir, name a heir or the country will fall apart and everybody will die and it'll be all your fault, my foot. Let's milk it to the fullest. Say that we're having the best little Kaddarasin or Kallydara ever, no thanks to the pressure they put on us."

"So, we're going to tell people? Who first?"

"My mother, probably. She'll probably pinch your cheeks and tell me to be nice to you and obey your every whim. It's best to get that over with first." He grinned at her. "Should we skip around and yell it from the rooftops? Put the palace gossips in their places?"

Kalasin began to giggle. "I'd love to!"

They lapsed into silence after a while. "I love you, Kally," he said at last. "I hope Kallydara looks exactly like you, blue eyes or not."

The empress blushed, ducking her head a little. "Thank you. And, Kaddar?"

"Mmm?"

"…Um. Anything sweet. Do you have any? I keep having these inexplicable cravings for it."

Something told Kaddar that in the next seven months, chocolate imports from Siraj were going to increase. Times ten.

---

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-giggles- Kallydar spawn!

And, by the way, Nadi's suggestions of Kallydara and Kaddarasin are my little in-jokes for those of you on the Dove, because Kallydar is my convenient little pairing-name for Kalasin and Kaddar. -grin-