Kayci POV
Resh had long since left the two alone together, citing how he wanted to see Lydia and the baby after so long, which was a valid reason in her eyes, and prompted her and her Dunmer to go off to their own bedroom. Kayci didn't know why but for some reason she was really getting some maternal instincts, probably being around a kid for the first time in centuries and having in a proper relationship had something to do with that.
Despite Resh's obvious objections Kayci really had to do something about this, whether he liked it or not he had to help them out, but now she was just pleased to be with Brelyna again, it was a shame that she was going to leave to fight Alduin with Resh in a week or so.
Wondering about Brelyna's opinion Kayci finally spoke up, gaining the attention of her lover who was currently trying to get some sleep. "We've talked about it before, but I think we should have a kid. Resh seems against using his magic to help us out though."
The subject seemed to startle her awake, but after the initial shock Brelyna entertained the idea. "We have been together for a year and a half now, if not longer, and we do love each other. But he's the only person who knows the spells to make it work we don't really have the option do we?"
"I could just order him to," she suggested lazily as she held her. "Despite him being a King of his own country now he still needs to follow the ones who are technically his superior. Unless he decides to ditch our system entirely."
Brelyna sighed, not liking the idea. "Kayci, you're his friend, you can't abuse your rank like that and force him to do something he doesn't want to, you know it wouldn't be right. Besides, I mean this in no offensive way, but you aren't really… responsible, do you really think you'll do a good job looking after your own child?"
The Tsaesci woman snapped. "Why does everyone think I'll be a shit mother!? first Resh now you too? I can understand him having no faith in me, but you're my girlfriend! you should be encouraging me."
"I'm sorry," Brelyna quickly replied, hugging her closer to try and soothe her. "I didn't mean it that way, you'd make a great parent, just… a bit reckless. Is this the only reason Resh doesn't want you to have a child, because he's afraid you won't treat it well?"
"Well, he's right isn't he? you pretty much said it yourself," her voice turned to slow and sullen, depressed at the unfortunate realisation of the truth. "Maybe it's just a far fetched dream anyway. I'll stop, I'm sorry for waking you up, we should sleep."
"If that's his only issue then it won't be hard to get him to change his mind, there are two of us, one of the parents is allowed to be an idiot, I'll be the sensible one. I just finished my tuition at the College, I've decided I won't take it any further, seeing as I don't really have a need to try and get qualifications for a mage job now I've got you, and a friend who owns a country," Brelyna explained to her, because of Resh's new power, she and Kayci would never have to work a day in their life, they'd get a free house, and will never have money issues.
They had loads of time to raise a child together, Kayci could be as stupid and immature as she wanted, and it would be fine. "So you think he would let us?" Kayci asked, interrupting her thoughts.
Brelyna smiled at her. "I'm sure of it if we explain that to him."
Cheering up Kayci started trying to ease herself to sleep in the loving embrace of the Dunmer. "Are you sure you want to do this Brelyna? just because I want to doesn't mean I'll put you in a situation you don't want."
"I want this just as much as you do… so long as you have the child though, I am not going through birthing like Lydia," Brelyna stated with a voice as hard as stone, from what she has heard about it is sounded awful.
Kayci immediately went to stop any thought about that. "I wouldn't put you through that, our system with laying eggs is so much better than yours, it doesn't last nearly as long, and it's painless. Plus I'd rather have a Tsaesci child anyway, I feel I'd be able to teach it a lot more than I would a Dunmer."
"Good idea, is there anything I should be on the look out for once we start all this?" Brelyna sked, deciding it was best to get the awkward questions regarding racial differences out of the way now.
Kayci thought about it for a while. "I'll have the egg in me for about two to three months, if not less, I'll act completely normal for that, not like Lydia. But once it's laid I should be extremely protective of my clutch, I'd probably kill anyone I see who isn't immediate family or friends if they enter the room. And if those closest to me get too close without permission I'd kill them too. That's about average, when Resh's sister was born his mother was much worse."
"Wow…" Brelyna started. "That seems… excessive, how long will it take for those hormones and your protectiveness to wear off?"
"Once the eggs hatch it'll be better, and maybe a few weeks after that I'd be willing to no longer be in it's company, if left with those I trust. We're a very maternal species, probably why I want to be a mother so much at the moment. I bet I'd probably be even more protective than usual with my clu-"
"Wait a second, how many children are we talking about in this 'clutch'?" Brelyna interrupted, the word 'clutch' feeling very strange and uncomfortable as it left her mouth, it would be hard getting used to her lovers snakeyness. "It sound's like you're talking about a lot here."
"Oh yeah… about that, Resh and his sister both being the only ones in their clutch was really really strange, honestly, it's like the first time that's happened. And as for me, I don't know the circumstances of my birth very much, so I likely wasn't an only child," Kayci went on, trying to avoid what could be a sensitive topic.
Brelyna frowned at her and warned. "Kayci… how many?"
"Uhh, there was this one clan where the average was about 90 to 120…" Kayci said apprehensively, quickly talking again when she saw Brelyna's eyes pop out of her head. "But I should have much less!"
This could have been a massive deal-breaker for the Dunmer as she ground out. "How much less?"
Kayci looked scared no seeing things seemingly fall apart. "Well, from the amount of unfertilised eggs I usually have we should be expecting about anywhere between… seven and… twenty…"
After a few minutes of staring even Kayci's adorable wide eyes failed to stop the exasperated sigh of Brelyna as she fell back onto the bed. "That's a lot of children Kayci…"
"They're raised very differently to your species," Kayci started saying, almost as if she was begging. "Please… we can deal with it I know we can, they'll never once leave my sight, or even be a problem until they're old enough to look after themselves. Please…?"
"Even seven is too many…" Brelyna argued in a defeated tone, feeling awful she was shooting down something Kayci seemed to want so much. "I just can't d-"
"They're not like Mer children, they age quickly, and don't cry at all. I swear you won't even experience them alone causing trouble until they're old enough to function like young teenagers because I'll be too protective to let them leave my sight," Kayci went on, tears starting to form in her eyes as she started to get more high pitched.
"Fine, Fine!" Brelyna gave up, not wanting to see her lover so upset, and quickly hugging her close again to calm her down, so the woman could cry into her shoulder. "We'll do it, you have to be extra responsible though, and not reckless at all. And everything you just said about them not being a hassle had better be true."
"It is, I swear! please believe me!" Kayci begged her as she held the Elfs arms, clearly she wanted these children a lot to cause her to act in such a way.
Brelyna smirked, kissing her lovingly, "Great. Now get to sleep, we'll talk to Resh in the morning."
Resh POV
"No! no no no! I'm not doing it," Resh growled at her. "How many times do we have to go over this? I am not letting you have children, I've said my reasons, and I want you to respect them."
"But Resh, Brelyna has some good reasons you sho-" Kayci tried to interject, but wasn't allowed to continue.
"I don't care about yours or her reasons, it's my decision. Now, you come in here and interrupt me when I'm trying to be with my own child, and start pestering me about your own ridiculous decisions," he said angrily, pointing the two out of the room, so they would not wake Lissandra with their talking, and so that he would have more time with her.
Fortunately Lydia decided to speak up now, taking the side of the other two girls. "Although you really should've waited for a better time to ask Resh than when he is with his daughter, I think you should at least listen to them, they're your friends, and mean a lot to you and me, you owe them that."
Looking from her back to the other two, who stared with eyes of begging, Resh sighed. "Fine, we'll talk outside, but I will let you know now, my views will likely remain how they are."
Once they were outside Kayci immediately started jabbering out as many reasons as she could, almost getting hysterical, Resh could see this mattered to her a lot. "-and I'll name like… four after you! or I'll do anything, I could teach Lydia sex things or-"
"Stop!" Resh snapped, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I don't want you to… 'teach' Lydia things… and as for naming some of your children after me that'd a terrible idea, not just because it'd be weird for more than one child to have the same name. But all your offspring will be daughters, it's the father that makes the child a male, with both of you this magic will make girls all the time."
Kayci thought for a moment at what he had said. "How about I name one… Reshi? It's sort of sounds like a girls name cause it's got my bit from my name at the end but is still 'Resh'."
"That's not what I was looking for…" he snapped. "Tell me those weren't the 'good reasons' you mentioned earlier, or I am very disappointed."
It was Brelyna who spoke now, deciding that the less Kayci said the better. She loved the woman, but she really wasn't helping their case. "You don't think Kayci is responsible enough, from what I hear that's the only reason you don't want her to have a child, and personally, it's a good one I completely agree with and understand. But, not both parents have to be responsible, I know that you want her children not to grow up with some of the… flaws… you consider Kayci to have, but with a sensible parent, me, that won't happen."
"True… true," the Tsaesci muttered, although he didn't seem completely convinced. "Still though, no. You'll be lucky if you even get to see them when they're first born, let alone influence them."
"I swear I'll make a difference. I won't leave her side for the next month, even if she does try to push me away, which I doubt," the Dunmer argued, upset with the idea that Kayci would just throw her out as soon as she lays eggs, or not let her enter the room to see them.
Resh stopped for a moment, seemingly thinking something over she hadn't. "The next month huh? do you plan on doing this right away if I say 'yes'?"
She paused for moment, wondering why he would ask something so mundane. Brelyna and Kayci were almost in unison when the replied with an awkward: "Yeah…"
"I'll do it then," he replied completely surprising the two who had thought he had made up his mind and was sticking to it stubbornly; they didn't question it though, and let him continue with happy grins on their faces. "I'm assuming neither of you know how this works though?"
They shook their heads, still pleased with the conversation result, Kayci was pretty sure she'd have beaten the shit out of him and knocked him unconscious if he remained adamantly 'no'. Fortunately for him though he wasn't as narrow minded as she thought.
"Well, then this is slightly awkward. I'll give you the condensed version… you two have to have sex, as expected, and I… have to be there too," Resh muttered, not really wanting to explain something like this to them.
"I thought you said this was magic!" Brelyna snapped at him, suddenly irritated at what she had discovered. "I'm not going to let you have a threesome and get Kayci pregnant, I wanted to be the 'father' so to speak."
Resh sighed, trying not to be annoyed at her even more than he already was. "Pull your mind out of the gutter, I wasn't talking about anything like that, and it is magic. I basically cast the spell as you two fuck."
The Dark Elf looked like she was going to apologise but before she had the chance Kayci kissed her deeply and looked over to Resh. "You going to do this thing then or what? just start doing your thing, and me and Brelyna will do ours."
"Not now you idiot!" he hissed, pushing her off the stunned Dunmer. "We're in the hallway where any guard could just walk past, not to mention we're only a few metres away from my daughter and lover who could hear everything. Gods, just think things through for once!"
"Fine, we'll just go to my room then," Kayci laughed cheerfully, happy after so much recent seriousness. "I can't believe this is actually happening."
He and Brelyna sighed in unison. "Neither can I…"
An Hour Later
"So that's it? I'm pregnant just like that?" Kayci asked, nervous about his reply, but still excited that it might be true. Brelyna was still red with embarrassment and refusing to leave their room after telling them to get out.
"Yes, that's it. Do you want to know how many there will be?" Resh smiled, pleased with how happy Kayci was at his words, and now actually being glad about what he had done rather than regretting it.
"It's not too many is it? Brelyna was worried about this," Kayci muttered, although not really caring either way.
"It's 14, have fun thinking of so many names," he laughed after seeing her face get slightly shocked. "Most Tsaesci parents spend a few months prior to getting pregnant deciding upon a lot of names like this but you only have a few. I guess you can spend a lot of time wondering it while I'm away fighting dragons and not distracting you."
She glared at him. "Resh I said the other day, I'm going to go with you, you're not getting all the glory."
"But Kayci, you can't come with me," Resh smirked, as what he had planned only and hour ago now was benefitting him. "You're pregnant and wouldn't want to put your potential children in danger," Resh saw the anger grow in her face at the knowledge she had been tricked and laughed. "I guess I'll just have to fight Alduin myself…"
Kayci POV
For several weeks Kayci had actually begun to think that Resh had lied to her just so she wouldn't go with him, after all, she had no actual proof whether or not the eggs currently within her coils were actually fertile or not. In the end though she came to the conclusion the were, they were a slightly different colour than usual, and just 'felt' different, slightly warmer.
If she was wrong though she was going to kill the bastard, she'd spent the last month with Brelyna trying to think of names, and currently she was now holed up in her room with her clutch doing nothing but keeping them all warm. If this was all just a waste of time there would be hell to pay for making her feel like a fool.
It had been only a couple of days however since she'd actually laid the eggs rather than just having them inside her, and since then she found herself getting increasingly violent, even to the extent where she was no longer able to share the room with Brelyna. The Dunmer fortunately didn't have any hard feelings though, which was lucky seeing as Kayci had destroyed their bed when Brelyna took a step too close, thankfully she realised that leaving was the safest option for her and least likely to cause stress.
With Resh's absence it made sense that Brelyna ran the kingdom for a while, she definitely couldn't do it in this state, and Lydia wouldn't want to. It served as a good reason for them to avoid each other for the coming weeks, and also a good excuse for Brelyna to take over Resh's room for her own.
One thing nagging on the back of Kayci's mind though was food, she hadn't eaten in a while, and she would need at least one good meal to last her until the hatching. She wasn't sure if Brelyna was aware of that though, considering they haven't spoken in two days, so it was becoming an issue. She needed something to eat, but there was no way in Oblivion that she was leaving this room alone.
As if on cue she heard a knocking at the door, she could smell it wasn't someone she knew, so it must have been a guard sent to check up on her, and likely leave her something to eat, considering the smell of meat was overpowering.
It must have been the mans first day, as after receiving no reply after a few seconds, he went into the room. Had he been trained properly he would've known to wait for her to answer, or leave the food by the door… but never enter.
Almost immediately Kayci hissed at him, making it clear he was to leave. Unfortunately though the guard was terrified, and rightly so, not having expected something like Kayci to be on the otherside. In his panic he dropped the meal onto the floor and drew his sword, taking a defensive stance pressed up against the wall.
Seeing the weapon, and cringing at the sound made the Tsaesci lunged at the man, who in turn cried out in fear and pain when he felt his sword hand pulled free from his body, causing his blood to splatter the walls.
Kayci was willing to let him go now on the condition he never came back or said anything, but evidently he didn't understand her warning as he screamed in agony and staggered forwards prompting her to think he was going for her clutch. Knowing that was the last straw she grabbed him by the helmet and twisted, silencing him.
A few moments passed and Kayci looked down at the dead man, maybe she had overreacted a bit, she actually felt quite bad about what she had done. The guard was only trying to do his job, and was obviously new and young, and the more she thought about it the less she thought he was trying to cause her or her young harm.
Regardless though, he was dead now, and no amount of mild regret was going to bring back the innocent life she had just ended. It actually brought a tear to her eye, she always tried to do 'the right thing', but emotion took over and she had committed an act of evil, Brelyna and Resh would hate her for it.
On the plus side she was now going to get a larger meal than whatever meat was lying on the floor…
Resh POV
It had been a lot easier than he would've thought it would be to convince Jarl Balgruuf to let him capture a dragon in the city. He would've expected a lot more resistance seeing as he barely knew the Jarl and hadn't seen him in a year, or even more importantly that he had just asked to capture a dragon in a castle where the main hall was made of wood.
To Resh it just seemed like a disaster waiting to happen, but he wasn't going to say anything, after all now he could just call this 'Odahviing' dragon down, trap him, and go and fight Alduin. It wasn't his problem if Dragonsreach burned down in the process, and it would've been Balgruuf's stupidity, not his.
Eventually Resh came to the conclusion it must have been due to his new title as King of the Reach, being the, now ex, Thane of a Hold he was no longer affiliated with and setting up a treaty in the civil war couldn't have been enough for the old man. And if it was then he was insane.
Not wanting to waste any time Resh walked onto the balcony to get this whole thing over with as soon as possible, he was going to get back in time to see Kayci and Brelyna's clutch hatch, all he had to do now was kill the Dragon God Alduin… this was going to be fun…