BioWare owns all but my character's name and her dog's name, oh and the little bundles of joy. : )
So, Morrigan shows back up and hail hail the gang is all here. Oh, and I tweaked this chapter at the end a little, it wasn't all I wanted it to be, so I hope you will all reread it. : )
Thanks for sticking with me and my story. And for all the new fans who put me on their alert lists, and favorites, thank you. Reviews are always welcome and really help keep the juices flowing. So thanks to you all that do reviews as well. I am back at work, sigh, I wish I was getting paid with bennies to write this, because that is what I would do. But I have to eat, so I am sorry if this is delayed, but I hope you continue to find it worth the wait.
Blessings!
Morrigan reached into a pouch on her belt and pulled out a small bottle. "Plan C is this, 'tis a poison in large amounts but in tiny doses gives one great energy and stamina. But you have to know how much to use, and we don't want the babe affected, 'tis a double edged sword, no?"
"We can't use that, if it is a poison, we could kill them both!" Wynne's voice raised a decibel.
"'Tis better than the dagger, is it not, for that will surely kill her, even with all the mages in the room." Morrigan looked at Wynne, "'tis Kai who should decide, dagger or potion?"
Kai knew that the underlying question was also whether or not Kai trust Morrigan as she used to. This was a test of faith and love. Kai went with her gut. Morrigan had been there so many times, had come now in her hour of need, though she knew not how Morrigan had known. But the act that sealed it for Kai was that Morrigan had shown up at Alistair's funeral.
"Let's use the potion." Kai looked at Morrigan, hoping the witch saw the love and trust shining in her eyes. She had missed her "sister." She hadn't realized how much until now, she expected Alistair's voice to protest, but it remained silent.
Morrigan took a deep breath, unstopped the bottle and dipped her pinky into its depths. With the barest hint of a liquid shimmering on her fingertip, she bent forward and kissed Kai on the cheek and whispered in her ear, "If this kills you, my sister, I shall drink the rest." Kai looked into yellow eyes that glistened with pain, loneliness, regret, sorrow, worry, and love. Kai had only a moment to register all of this before the shutters went down in Morrigan's eyes again, and she felt the sweet concoction brushed across her lips.
Kai didn't know what the potion was called or what it was made from, and it was probably best she didn't know. It was as if someone had started a storm inside her, like an electrical current that crackled in the air when lightning hit. Kai felt as if she could throw Sten or even Shale over the hunting lodge's roof. When the contractions came, she found herself bearing down as if she had just started, not as if she had been at it all day and into the night. Her womb convulsed, and she rode it like swimming on waves in the ocean. Even as dangerous as this potion supposedly was, she almost wished she had had it from the beginning. Eventually, the pressure she was now familiar with built up again.
"One last push, Kai, come on, my child, you can do it!" Wynne's voice called to her as if from a distance. Kai found herself growling as she bore down hard. The pressure built and lessened as her second child slipped into the world.
Wynne did the same procedure with this babe as its sibling. She cleared its mouth, and thumped its feet, but no cry came this time. Wynne gave a little giggle and thumped it again. Still nothing. "Wynne?" Kai felt her heart start to beat so hard in fear she thought it would burst through her rib cage and fall out of her chest to flop around the room. Her breath constricted in her throat.
Wynne only waved a hand at her, "It's all right, child, this little one apparently doesn't feel the need to cry like his sister." Wynne simply smiled and placed the second babe on her chest so she could tie off the cord.
"Did you say 'his'?" Kai looked at her second child with the same awe and love she had the first. Two in one, a girl and a boy, how could she be so lucky? Her son looked at her the same way her daughter had, but he had a more serious look on his face. Kai felt a happy little flush in saying that even in her own head – her daughter, her son. Then, the babe chirped at her and put his tiny fist in his mouth. His little head had fuzz the color of Alistair's, but even squished from his journey into this world, he reminded her of Fergus and her father. His dark eyes looked like Fiona's. He chirped again as if he wanted to tell her all about what had happened, and Kai reached for him, his little fist grabbing her finger.
"Ah, my beloved, I am the happiest man to ever live, or be dead," Alistair's voice laughed in her ear. It was a giddy sound, and she found her own laugh echoing it.
"Let's get Kai and the new arrival washed off, and then we can probably get them all safely put to bed." Wynne's brisk voice brought everyone out of whatever thoughts they were in.
Morrigan helped Kai wash off with a cloth and water. It wasn't as good as a soak in a tub, but it made her feel better. That and a clean dry shift made her feel almost human again. Morrigan tucked her in and sat on the covers next to her. Fiona and Wynne brought the babies over to the bed swaddled and wrapped up tightly in blankets, which seemed to have soothed them to sleep. They placed them between Morrigan and herself.
Kai was so tired, but her system was still singing from the potion. And she couldn't stop looking at the little faces in the bed with her, tears poured down her cheeks. Wynne just kissed her and stroked her still wet hair before stepping back. Fiona too came forward and looked once again at her grandchildren, before stroking Kai's cheek and smiling a sad smile. Leliana too gave Kai a hug and a kiss before addressing Morrigan. "I am sorry I called you evil." Morrigan only raised her hand in a shooing motion. The three women all walked out of the room, closing the door behind them.
Kai looked at Morrigan to find the witch looking at the twins with love and sadness in her eyes. She had reached out a hand and was stroking the tiny cheek of first one, then the other. Kai caught something glistening on Morrigan's cheek, a tear? Kai reached out and grabbed her hand. "Morrigan, I have missed you. Sister, I am sorry I made you feel unwanted by refusing your offer. I just couldn't take the chance on that Old God coming back to bite us all in the arse. It was the most painful decision I have ever made, and for so many reasons. I lost you and Alistair to it, and even Wynne for a little while." Kai felt tears again running down her cheeks.
Morrigan just grabbed her hand and held it to her own cheek, "You have hardly lost the fool Templar completely." And Kai knew Morrigan did not mean the twins.
"You know about my hearing him that he talks to me from the Fade?" Kai felt her eyes getting wide and her eyebrows shooting up, she didn't think anyone knew about that.
"Ugh, that annoying man, He came crying to me in the Fade while I dreamt and babbled in his usual idiot way and would not let me alone, kept saying you were going to use a dagger and kill yourself. It took me forever to get him to calm down and to explain. When he did, I turned myself into an owl and flew here as fast as I could, the fool." Morrigan's voice was tinged with annoyance and an underlying affection that would be hard for anyone else to hear if they didn't know her. "And now you are stuck with me again, so it seems you have not lost as much as you thought, unless you wish me to go?" Morrigan's voice held both hope and despair.
"I have you back," Kai smiled at her. "But, why did you leave?" Morrigan looked away.
"I always told you love is a weakness. When you refused my offer, part of me admired you for your strength, and another was angry at you. I thought you were being a fool, I knew in my bones that Riordan was not going to be the one to make the sacrifice. And I knew, my sister, you would be the one to do so, and I felt fear. I have never felt fear before."
"You felt fear, for whom?" Kai looked Morrigan's profile as the glow from the fireplace lit the planes and contours of it.
"For me, I felt fear because I could not bear to watch you die, you are the only person who had given of themselves to me, asking or demanding nothing in return. You are the only person who wanted me around for me. My own mother wanted me as a sack to fill."
"And still does, no doubt." Kai reached out and grabbed Morrigan's hand.
"No doubt," Morrigan squeezed back.
"Men always looked at me and just wanted this body. The Templars wanted me because I am an apostate. Only you have ever loved me, my lack of social graces and all. And I realized that what Wynne said was true, the old biddy."
"What did Wynne say?" Kai had heard Wynne give advice on many topics.
"She said I would come to the end of my life and no one would mourn me. I knew the only person who would mourn me was you, and you were going to be dead on top of Fort Drakon. So, I left, I could not watch the only person who had loved me and whom I had loved back, die. Love is a weakness, so I ran. It would seem the fool Templar and I have more in common than I thought. He couldn't live without you and neither could I." Kai watched another tear slide down Morrigan's cheek.
Kai reached up and brushed it away. "And yet, you returned, you returned for Alistair's funeral, and you returned to help me. I would say it is what we do with love that makes it strong or weak. You are one of the strongest people I know." Kai stroked her cheek and smiled.
"Ugh, sleep now, or you may annoy me and make me wonder why I returned." And she put Kai's hand across the twins and stood, smiling down at her. Kai had only a moment to groan to herself as the potion seemed to be wearing off, and she felt a familiar blackness engulfing her, she'd been doing so well, too. She hadn't gone comatose in months! Sod it, the others were going to kill her for sure.