Chapter Twenty-Five: In Which Castle Glower Gifts the Glowers Peace

"Oh, Rolf, he's so tiny," Lilah gasped, stroking her nephew's cheek with one finger.

Rolf smiled proudly, looking down at the baby. Celie could see how genuine his smile was as he lifted the baby from Lilah, cuddling him close to his chest. Though the new parents looked incredibly tired, they also looked happy with their baby. Kalys had brought out the gentleness in Rolf Celie had rarely seen, and Malcolm had made him almost docile.

Celie watched as the week and a half year-old wriggled his tiny fingers. He wasn't swaddled, leaving his arms and legs free to curl about. He was certainly the cutest baby Celie had ever seen, though she supposed that she was a little biased. His chubby cheeks were just oh-so-pinch-able, and the way his large eyes just rolled around, taking everything in. Despite Queen Celina's insistence that he would lose his hair, Celie couldn't help but wish he kept his soft, dark curls forever.

Dagger had surprisingly been okay with the baby. Celie had thought he would at least be a little grumpy about it, but he was fine. He slept right next to the cradle, ready to hiss if anyone other than Rolf or Kalys or Celie went to pick up the baby, something that annoyed Lilah, but Celie was secretly glad that Dagger thought her worthy enough. Then again, other than Bran's nasty little griffin, all of the majestic creatures trusted her. She supposed Beatrice was just bitter because she was still a little runt, and couldn't play with the other griffins safely. She felt sort of bad, but Bran's griffin was very nasty to anyone other than Bran.

"I must say, Celie, you have surprised me," Pogue commented from next to her. He was up and walking finally, but she knew he was still pretty sore. "I didn't really expect to see you cooing so much."

Celie sighed, looking up at him. He was smirking at her, as if he'd found out a secret or something. She didn't really expect herself to be so overjoyed with feelings when she held Malcolm, but he was just so darling.

"I-I just don't see babies that often, and he's just a darling. Don't you think so, Pogue?" She asked, winningly, and Rolf raised his eyebrows at the knight. Pogue couldn't really insult an infant to defend himself, much less the new prince of Sleyne.

"My mother had another baby three months ago," Pogue said gruffly. "Ten children, half of them infants and toddlers, is a lot of crying."

Celie often forgot that Pogue had so many siblings. He lived at the Castle, though he visited his family often. Celie was the youngest, so she didn't have really any experience being with children. She could see it be rather frustrating having so many younger siblings, especially since Pogue was the only son. It must be chaos to have nine sisters living in one place.

"Don't you want children?" Rolf asked dryly as Queen Celina scooped the baby in her arms, kissing his cheeks.

Pogue blushed looking away. He spread his hands. "I don't know. I haven't really thought about it."

"Neither did I," Rolf muttered. "But it happens."

Celie cleared her throat. "You should just stick to being an uncle. Because then you get to be around the joys of children, while your siblings to all the work." Celie had always planned on being an aunt. She knew she'd be a great one; all her nieces and nephews would love her, but she wouldn't be the one waking up with them four times a night or giving birth to them. She grimaced at the thought. She couldn't think of something more painful. Or being pregnant? She'd seen what Kalys had gone through. That was not going to be for her.

"That's the plan," Pogue said awkwardly. "Maybe I'll just never get married."

Rolf grinned. "Just flirt with pretty women the rest of your life? It's not going to hold up Pogue. Even you will eventually lose your good looks."

Pogue frowned. "I have not flirted in a very long time. It's behind me now."

Rolf laughed and so did Celie. Then again, she really hadn't seen Pogue flirt in awhile.

"I assume you haven't taken anymore visits to the kissing closet?" Rolf had stopped laughing, but he still had the good-natured lopsided grin on his face.

"A kissing closet?" Celie asked, surprised. "Where?"

Rolf looked over at her. "Find someone to go with you, have you Cel?"

Celie blushed. "No, I just didn't know there was such thing as a kissing closet."

"It's the old storage closet next to the laundry. Pogue was very well-acquainted with it in his time. Delilah could show it to you, too," Rolf told her, reaching over to tweak a curl.

Pogue sighed. "It's just a place where maids and guards go off-duty to, well, you know."

Rolf held up his hands. "To kiss. Nothing more that I've heard, Pogue. Don't give her the wrong ideas."

Celie was still blushing. "Alright, I get it."

They continued conversing, and Celie was lost in the times when things were good. She remembered three years ago, when Khelsh had taken over and Rolf had been king. Finding Rufus and traveling to Hathelande to fix the Castle. Then on to Grath, and across into the Well to get Kalys. And now here they were, a year back from Grath. The Castle had been seiged, a battle fought, and a baby born. And with Celie, it was alright.

...

There were many things that intrigued Rolf still about the east. But as he looked over at the orange-hued sky pointing there, his curiosity began to fade. Dagger snorted beside him, and he laid his hand on the griffin's feathers absentmindedly. He sighed as they watched the sun go down, the spring air clear to his lungs. He glanced when he heard footsteps behind him.

"I thought I'd find you here," Kalys whispered, clutching the sleeping Malcolm to her chest. Rolf softened, drawing her closer to his side. "It's weird isn't it?"

"What?" Rolf asked, pressing his lips to her forehead, one hand still stroking a purring Dagger.

"Everything being alright."

There's our short epilogue. Man, never thought this time would come. It's so weird. I just wanted to thank you all for your kind both vocal and silent support for this. I never thought I would finish. I still have to finish the short story for Mondays Full of Mayhem, and then I will be starting a new project for Castle Glower. Seriously still can't believe Sundays in Sleyne is over. Thank you, everyone, for pushing me to finish in about a year. Love you all, my Castle Glower fandom. Until next time,

-geeky34