Author's Note:

If anyone's curious, the name that Raistlin chose for the baby, (Ulin) is actually the name of another Dragonlance Character, Ulin Majere. He's from the third book in the Crossroads series: Dragon's Bluff by Mary H. Herbert.

He is the son of Caramon and Tika's only surviving son Palin, so that would make Ulin Raistlin's nephew in the actual books.

Just thought I'd throw that explanation in there. :)

~Sweet-Hearted SilverEars~

Chapter 7 Decisions And Joy

Raistlin sat up in bed, his long white hair in disarray and his golden-hourglass eyes glaring at the large shadowy figure at the foot of it, his hands covering his ears against the shrill, wailing cries. "Caramon, so help me, if you do not control that child!"

"It is only for one night, Raist," Caramon said, trying to soothe his brother and the baby at the same time.

"It had better be," the red-robed Mage snapped, lowering his slender hands from the sides of his head only when the child's cries had stopped and it was sucking contentedly on the bottle that Caramon held. "I need what little sleep that I manage to get each night."

"But you have been sleeping fine lately," Caramon said in confusion, sitting down on the edge of the bed as he fed the child. "What exactly is bothering you about this child being here?"

"I do not want it here."

"I know that, Raistlin, but why? It is only a baby."

"Because, I…" the Mage began, his voice softening as he continued to speak reluctantly in explanation of his actions. "I do not want to get attached to it. Not when we can not keep it, for several reasons."

"I do not understand.. Wait, are you saying that you want a baby?"

"No," Raistlin said quickly, looking down at the comforter that lay atop him as he spoke. "And… Even if I did, it is not practical when we can barely support ourselves. And then there is the issue of secrecy. When it got older, it might not understand the danger and let something slip about our relationship with each other. I do not want to have to run again. I am tired, Caramon. I just want to be happy here, with you."

"I know, Raist, I know," Caramon sighed, leaning closer to kiss his brother's lips with a brief tenderness.

Caramon then stood up to go and lay the now sleeping baby back down again in the small wooden cradle that he had made for him and placed at the foot of the bed.

Flint left the borders of Qualinost, and Tanis, behind him to make for the small village where Caramon, Raistlin and Taz had gone.

Tanis had only been in Qualinost for two days. Two relaxing, blissful days that he'd spent with Laurana. And with Gilthanas, when his Speaker's duties did not interfere, and he'd never been happier…

"Tanis. Tanis? Tanis! Tanis, are you even listening to me?"

The half-Elf looked up at the sharpness in Laurana's normally soft voice, blinking before he answered her slowly. "Sorry, 'Lara, what were you saying? I was just thinking about how happy I am here."

Laurana's countenance softened at his words, and she moved closer, reaching out to draw her cousin into a gentle, open-mouthed kiss. She relaxed with a sigh when Tanis slipped his arms around her waist gently, his right hand moving from her left shoulder down to her hip, then down her leg, finally moving boldly under the edge of the bottom of her soft white cotton skirt. His touch made her moan and shudder as he touched her intimately between her silky alabaster thighs.

Laurana lay back on the pillows, trembling at his touch, neither of them hearing the door open as Gilthas returned to his rooms, shutting the door behind himself quietly.

"Tanis!" Laurana gasped, shivering all over as she pushed herself up into the touch of his hand desperately now. "Please!"

"I see that you started to get ready without me," Gilthanas said teasingly in a quiet voice.

Tanis and Laurana both flushed as they looked up at him, but they did not seem overly worried to be caught in this position by their First, the lover that looked out for them both now. Gilthanas and Laurana had explained to Tanis the way that such relationships worked in Elven society.

Gilthas was the First, responsible for caring for and looking after Laurana and Tanis both. Tanis was the Second, responsible for caring for and looking after their Third, Laurana. Though, that was officially. Unofficially, they all looked after each other, loved each other. And since Gilthanas and Laurana were brother and sister, they never touched each other sexually. Though Tanis believed that was more due to the fact that Gilthas had no interest in women to speak of, rather then it being forbidden in Elven tradition.

Gilthanas moved to sit down beside them then, pulling off his boots and stockings and setting them aside before reaching out to take hold of Tanis's chin and draw him into a gentle kiss. He was most pleased when his cousin moaned softly, his lips parting with the sound to let Gilthas's tongue have access to his mouth. Their tongues moved together as Tanis continued to stroke and caress Laurana intimately until she cried out, begging him for more, with her voice and the smooth, wave-like undulations of her body.

"Tanis! Tanis, please! I need you!"

Gilthanas ended his and Tanis's kiss reluctantly at his sister's plea, nodding toward her quivering form. "Finish her, cousin."

Tanis nodded back, removing his hand from beneath Laurana's skirt so that he could push it up to her waist, his other hand reaching out to touch the rounded swell of her right breast through her soft white linen blouse. He caressed it gently as he freed himself from his pants, pressing forward to push himself into her body when she spread her legs for him with an eager sigh.

"Tanis.. My love.."

Tanis smiled at Laurana's words, leaning down to kiss her lips gently as he started to move quicker now, driving her up toward her release. Laurana moaned again helplessly, her hands moving to clutch at Tanis's lower back as they moved together. Soon she was shuddering as she came apart quickly under his masterful strokes, Tanis slumping down atop her and panting heavily after he released as well.

Then Gilthanas pulled Tanis up and off of Laurana, drawing him back into their kiss now tenderly, pleased when he submitted with a soft moan like before. Laurana watched them kiss tiredly through half-closed eyes until she fell asleep.

Gilthanas guided Tanis down to lie on his back, stripping off his clothing as his cousin did the same for him. He kissed Tanis deeply, lovingly, as he reached down between his cousin's spread legs to prepare him with warm oil and gentle fingers, causing Tanis to moan and shake with longing.

Then Gilthanas withdrew his fingers, surprised by Tanis's resulting ragged cry of clear disappointment in response. But he pushed his strong legs up and back as he moved atop him, Tanis wrapping his legs around Gilthanas's hips tightly as he pushed inside his body. Tanis then twined his arms around his lover's neck as Gilthanas started to move now, thrusting into him quickly with obvious hunger on his face and in his green eyes, the same intense need reflected back at him from his cousin's face and eyes.

"Gil, please.." Tanis groaned softly. "Please, harder!"

Gilthanas nodded in reply, smiling down at him as he increased the speed and depth of his loving of him, Tanis shuddering and clutching him closer. Then he was crying out helplessly as he arched his back and came with a loud moan of almost agonized sounding pleasure, slumping beneath his cousin weakly as Gilthanas came as well where he was buried inside him.

Gilthas withdrew from him then with obvious reluctance; kissing Tanis's face, lips and neck gently as he cleaned them both of each other's seed with a soft cloth before setting it aside and drawing him close into his embrace. Laurana's sleeping form lay on Tanis's other side, her face peaceful as she unconsciously snuggled close against their cousin's form with a quiet sigh of happiness.

Later when the three of them woke rested and refreshed, Tanis lifted his head up from Gilthanas's bare chest where it had been resting, turning his head away from him to look at Laurana with a slight smile. "So, 'Lara.. What was it that you were trying to tell me earlier?"

"Mmm?.." she hummed with obvious contentment. "Oh, yes. I am pregnant."

Raistlin woke late the next morning because of the baby keeping him up most of the night, though Caramon had taken care of the child.

He dressed quickly in his robes, drawing up his hood to conceal his face as he descended the stairs to enter the workroom. He continued out into the shop to unlock and open the door before returning to the counter to stand behind it just as his first customer of the day walked in through the open door.

When Raistlin closed up shop at the end of the workday in relief, he shuffled up the stairs and pushed his hood back as he entered the entertaining room. His golden-hourglass eyes went wide as he saw Caramon sitting in the same chair as before, cradling the baby in his arms as he fed him from the bottle.

Taz sat on the floor nearby, the contents of his pouches strewn over the rug as the Kender sorted through and exclaimed excitedly over "his" treasures.

"Caramon.." Raistlin spoke in a deceptively calm voice. "I thought we'd agreed that you would find that child's mother today."

"I tried, Raist, I did," Caramon explained as he looked up at his twin and lover. "I took him to the mayor, but he said that his mother was dead. Then I took him to the orphanage, even though I did not really wish to. But the lady in charge said that there just was not room for him, and to try back in a month if I really did not want him. I.. I am sorry, Raist."

Raistlin sighed softly as he turned to leave the room. "Do not worry about it, my brother. We will figure something out. But in the meanwhile, I am going to bed. Goodnight, Care."

"Goodnight, Raist."

Caramon left the room later that night briefly, checking to make sure that Taz was still asleep in the guestroom and not up to mischief anywhere. He did so a second time, just in case, on his way back to his and his brother's room after dealing with the problem that had woken him in the first place.

When he went in and shut the door behind himself he was shocked at the sight that met his wide eyes. Raistlin was sitting on their bed with the baby cradled with obvious tenderness in his arms as he fed him from the bottle that Caramon had refilled before coming up to bed with the child and Taz.

"He woke up and started crying.." Raistlin murmured softly as he stared down at the boy's soft brown eyes, standing up to move to lay him down in the cradle gently when he fell asleep.

They climbed back into the bed together, rolling closer to his twin and laying his head on his chest. He smiled slightly for a moment when Caramon's large left hand started to stroke his shoulder length white hair lovingly. "I could not just let him lay there and scream. Caramon?"

"Yes, Raist?"

"I want to keep him. We will talk about it after I close the shop tomorrow."

"Yes, Raist."

Tanis stood next to Gilthanas and Laurana, trying not to look as nervous and uncomfortable as he felt. A brief smile of relief curved his lips when Laurana slipped her left hand into his right to steady him, seeming to pick up on his nerves easily after all the time that they had spent together lately.

Gilthanas lifted his arms to call for silence from his people, obviously in full Speaker mode as he began to speak softly but firmly, his green eyes unyielding as he looked at them all. "I have good news, my people. Laurana, our cousin Tanthalas and I have formed a Triad of Love with each other."

There were shocked exclamations over this news, some blank faced with stunned eyes, others on either side of the issue. Some looked happy for them, others upset.

"I apologize that I have not informed you sooner," Gilthanas continued softly, though it was so quiet in the clearing that all heard him speaking easily. "But the time when our union could have been objected to is long past, for Tanthalas has gifted my sister's womb with life."

Flint arrived the next day while Raistlin was working, and the red-robed Mage directed the Dwarf up the stairs and into the house with a wave of his golden skinned hand. "Taz is upstairs with Caramon and Ulin. I will be along in a few hours."

Flint merely nodded as a customer entered the shop just then, heading up the stairs to locate the Kender and the human male. He entered the entertaining room where Taz sat on the floor reciting some far-fetched tale or other while Caramon pretended to listen to him. Flint was surprised to see that the large man was holding a tiny baby in his arms. Caramon looked up to see him just then.

"Oh, Flint, you're here. I'm sure that Raistlin will be relieved. This is Ulin," Caramon said when he noticed his eyes on the boy-child in his arms. "Raist and I have decided to adopt him. We're just waiting for the papers from the orphanage."

"Are you sure that's a good idea, lad?" the Dwarf asked him in concern.

"Well, we weren't at first, though I really wanted him. But Raist was adamantly against keeping him. I'm still not sure exactly what changed his mind, but now he seems to want to keep him just as much as I do. Maybe more."

"Aye? Well, you'll find your own path. You both always have. I'd planned to stay perhaps a day or two, but then I'll be heading back to Solace. Will you be accompanying me, Taz?"

The Kender looked up at him with wide, child-like eyes. "Well, Flint, I don't know. What if Raistlin needs help with the shop? Or Caramon needs help with the baby?"

"I think they have each other for those things, lad," Flint said, placing a hand on the Kender's small shoulders gently. "Just like Tanis has Laurana now. But I don't have anyone to help me in my forge."

"Oh? Then I guess I'd better help you, Flint. I'll go with you, so I'd better go pack up my stuff."

Caramon spoke quietly once Taz had left the room. "So, Tanis and Laurana?"

"Aye, lad. He didn't tell me so exactly, but I guessed as much from his behavior. He seemed to be happy."

"That's good, then. It's about time. Kit was no good for him," Caramon said with a smile, glancing down at Ulin to see that he was asleep. "I'd better put this little one to bed now. Then we can talk more."

"Aye, lad."

Flint and Taz left two days later to travel back to Solace together after bidding the twins and Ulin farewell and promising to return for a visit soon.

"Tanis?"

"Yes, Gil?" he asked his cousin with a smile, his head resting on the other male's bare chest. Laurana slept peacefully nearby.

"Are you really happy here? With us?"

Tanis propped himself up on his elbow at his question, looking down into Gilthanas's beautiful eyes seriously. "Of course I am, Gil. Very happy. If I wasn't, I would have left already. But I'm not leaving you and Laurana, or our child. Ever. I want to be here with you, forever."