The weeks continued in a slow march towards spring. Daine sent the midwife's questions to her mother, and her mother sent a response back with the badger. Daine was alone when the animal god came, reading in Numair's chair, which she has taken over as her own recently. It was one of the only places she could get comfortable. The badger told her that Kitten was behaving herself in the Dragonlands and had quickly been taken into the fold of her cousins. Daine was relieved. She had worried that Kitten would be seen as an outcast among her dragon family.
Numair had spent the day at the university and came in late. Daine was already in bed, curled up with several cats and a family of martens.
"You told me you would be back for dinner," she said as he sat on the end of the bed to take off his boots.
"I know. I'm sorry, magelet. I was caught up in something." He lay back, his long legs still hanging off the bed. "Will you forgive me?"
She smirked at him. "Maybe." He turned over and crawled closer to her. Reaching her lips, he kissed them firmly, then continued down her jaw. "You're disturbing the cats," she told him quietly, her pulse reacting to his gentle kisses. The animals had started to grumble about being jostled by the mage's weight on the mattress. He sighed as he reached where her neck met her collarbone.
"Let's not do that, then." He turned over, laying on the pillows and closing his eyes.
"You look tired. Did you overdo today?"
"Just some experiments with the advanced students." He rubbed a temple.
"You know if I ask Thom he will tell me the truth." Their adoptive nephew could easily pull Numair into getting lost in magic and learning, but would always tattle on his Uncle Numy if Daine asked him directly what they had been up to.
"Why don't you tell me what you did today instead?"
Daine rolled her eyes at his attempt to change the subject, but decided to give up on berating him. "Sat. Napped. Read two books. Tried not to loose my mind." He gave her a grin. He knew how annoyed she was at being cooped up inside. "The badger came. He said Kit is having a good time with her cousins."
"That's wonderful to hear."
"He brought Ma's letter back for the midwife, too." She reached to the bedside table and handed it to him.
"You read it?" he asked, his eyes already scanning the words.
"Of course I read it. I told you; reading is the only thing I have to do these days."
He was silent a few moments as he read. Towards the bottom of the second page he winced and pointed to a sentence. "This really happens while giving birth?"
"Yes, Numair."
"And this as well?" He pointed to something else.
"Did you never attend a birth in all your university training?"
He shook his head. "Thankfully, none of my teachers saw that as instructive."
Daine had attended quite a few births, both animal and human. The human ones are what she thought of the most now. She had been a young child, too young to be left home alone when her mother was called to attend. Daine had sat in the corner of the room, watching everything with wide eyes. She mostly remembered the women screaming in agony, their faces purple with the strain of pushing. She remembered the smell of blood in the room as the babies entered the world. She also remembered how the mothers would cry and clutch their tiny infants after it was over, seemly forgetting the terrible pain they had just endured. Daine shivered now thinking back to it.
"Are you nervous? About the birth?" Numair asked, seeming to read her thoughts. He set the letter aside and picked up her hand.
"Not about the pain, really. I've been in pain before. It's the unknown that worries me the most."
"You don't like surprises," he agreed.
"I also worry about when the baby is here. I know Ma said to concentrate on the birth and we will deal with the rest later, but I just keep thinking about what we will do with a baby that can't pick a shape. How will it nurse? Where will it live?"
"And what about it's bowel movements?" Numair murmured quietly, and she laughed.
"Gods, I hadn't even thought about that! We will be cleaning up all kinds of things."
Numair looked up at her from his place on the pillows. "I think about those things too, dear. It's hard not to. I do think we should try to follow your mother's advice and take things as they come, though." He began to play with her hand. "Do you think Mistress Elnid would allow me to attend the birth?"
Daine snorted. "No."
"Why not?" he asked, feigning wounded pride. She suspected he knew the answer.
"I don't think she likes you all that much. Also, midwives are strange about who they want in the room. I don't know why." Her mother had always been the same way.
"And you?" he asked quietly. "Would you like me to be in the room?"
"Of course I would, but I also know not to cross a midwife."
"Wise, as always." He kissed her palm.
The baby shifted, and Daine felt a moment of relief from her magic. She pulled the blankets away to reveal her human shape, her belly swollen under her nightgown. Numair excitedly sat up and moved over to it, raising her nightgown and kissing her large belly gently. He took his hands over it, his eyes alight in wonder. "If you would just stay like this, you would save your mother and I much trouble."
Daine felt the baby kick, and Numair looked up into her face. "What was that?" he asked. She giggled.
"A kick. I don't think the baby liked what you told it."
He shook his head. "You are going to be quite the adventure, aren't you little one?"
The baby kicked again, and Daine smiled.
The next morning, after Mistress Elnid finished her weekly examination of Daine, Numair followed her into the hallway and asked for a word. The midwife sent her assistants on and looked up at him expectantly.
"How do you think the delivery is going to go, if you don't mind me asking? Please, be frank. I want to know what you are truly thinking."
The woman let out a tired sigh. "I don't know what to think, Master Salmalin. Daine is strong, and the fact that she has divine blood in her gives me much hope. Of course there are the normal worries: infection, breeching, things like that. I think she will be very weary when it comes time to deliver, since she will be using so much magic as she labors." The midwife paused, as if she was reluctant to go on. "My biggest concern is what happens when Daine no longer knows what the baby wants to shift to."
Numair's stomach dropped. "You think that will happen?"
"Of course it will. Like all babies, at some point your child will be free of its mother and be its own…person." She only momentarily struggled over what to call the child. "Whatever tie the two of them share that allows Daine to know what shape the baby is choosing will stop. That could happen when the baby is born, or it could be when the baby is in the birth canal." She shrugged. "Whenever it happens, if the baby chooses a shape that is too big for Daine while she is in human form, it could be dangerous."
"You worry about her hemorrhaging?"
The midwife seemed pained. "I worry about the baby completely ripping her apart, Master Salmalin. Just think if the baby changed to an elephant or a whale and she wasn't able to change with it."
Numair paled, the awful scene coming to his mind. He shook it away. "May I have your permission to attend the birth?"
Mistress Elnid's face changed from concern to sternness. "I don't let fathers into the birthing room."
"Daine's circumstances are different than any other woman, Mistress Elnid. Surely, with the risk, you will allow me to—"
She held up a hand to cut him off. "I will not. A delivery is no place for a man. Besides, I don't trust you to let me make the decisions will need to."
"Why is that?" Namair asked, trying to keep control in his voice.
"I don't you know well, Master Salmalin, but I have heard how protective of Daine you can be. I may have to make some rather quick decisions and do not wish to know how you would react if you did not agree with them."
Numair bristled. "I would never hurt anyone—"
"Even if it was hurting her?" Mistress Elnid asked, raising an eyebrow. Numair didn't have an answer to that. The midwife nodded her head curtly. "You may stay with her as she labors, but when it comes time for her to push you will wait out of the room. Also, please tell her to stop sneaking out of the palace at night and traipsing all the way down that hill and back. I haven't come this far with her just to see her have this baby early."
"I will tell her." He hadn't realized she was still slipping out to go see the horses when he wasn't in, and would have stopped her weeks ago. Daine was far too large and uncomfortable to be going that far anymore.
"Good. Please keep what I have told you to yourself. I would hate to worry Daine anymore than she probably already is."
"I can assure you I feel the same way."
The midwife turned and left without another word.
The weeks continued to go by. The weather slowly warmed and the bright sun filled their rooms. Daine felt increasingly trapped, like she was a caged animal. The fact that the newest Rider trainees had arrived and many of her friends were too busy to see her made her even moodier. Numair spent as much time with her as he could, limiting his university visits to once a week, but Daine's usual sharp rebukes turned even sharper the larger she grew. He reminded himself that it was only because she was so very miserable, and didn't pull away from her even though she took out most of her temper on him. If she wasn't cross, she was fighting tears over trivial things. He navigated the choppy waters of her moods as calmly as he could.
April came and went, with the usual amounts of spring rain. The seamstresses finished Daine's dress. Numair had his own wedding clothes made and hung them in the back of the wardrobe away from Daine's prying eyes. Daine sent Lindhall to a jeweler in the city to select a wedding band for her soon-to-be husband, with instructions on what she wanted. Their friends slowly began to arrive back to the city, and before they realized it, their wedding day arrived.
Daine felt a kiss to her forehead and groaned. "It's not even dawn," she whispered.
"I have strict orders from the queen to leave before you are awake." Numair kissed her nose and cheek.
"You're waking me up right now," she grumbled.
"I know. I can't resist."
She cracked open an eye to look at him. His hair was still sleep tousled, but he had changed into a plain shirt, breeches, and wore a wonderful smile. "One last kiss as lovers?" he asked, and she gave a small laugh.
"One more kiss as lovers," she agreed, and slipped her arms around his neck and kissed him fully. She was glad he had cleaned his teeth that morning; she had not and felt bad about it, though he didn't seem to mind.
Numair pulled away. "Have fun today. Don't let the ladies give you too much of a hard time."
"I won't," she assured him. "I love you."
"I love you, my darling magelet." He kissed her forehead once more and left her.
Daine fell back asleep for a few more hours, only to be awoken by her bedchamber door banging open.
"Up and at 'em!"
Daine levered herself to her elbows as best she could, and saw Onua and Alanna at her bedside.
"My, you have grown!" Alanna said, taking in her friend's blanket-covered belly. Daine laughed and reached out a hand for help sitting up.
"Well, it has been a few months since I've seen you." She hugged Alanna, then Onua. Pulling the blankets away, she saw her lower half was currently a zebra, bright white and black stripes and all. Alanna looked pained.
"It's not as bad as it looks," Daine promised, hand going to her belly in defense.
"She's lying," Onua told the Champion, and Daine sighed.
"Alright, it is fair miserable, I suppose. But it can't be worse than twins." She stood with a groan. "I don't know how you had two babies in you at the same time!"
Alanna shook her head. "At least they stayed human."
Daine excused herself to the privy, which she frequented these days. She relieved her bladder, washed her face, and cleaned her teeth. Staring at her huge belly in the mirror, she almost laughed. What would the people of Snowsdale say about her if they saw her today? Nine months pregnant and getting married to the love of her life, with the king and queen and many other very important people attending - all of them her dear friends. The Snowsdale gossips would be flying from ear to ear if they knew.
Her friends were waiting to take her to the queen's private chambers. They made their way very slowly across the palace, Daine having to stop many times for a shape change or simply because she had to catch her breath.
"This baby better wait to come until after vows," Onua said, grasping Daine's hands as the baby shifted and she swayed.
"Oh, I don't think it's coming anytime soon," Daine replied with a laugh. "Just to try to torture me."
The queen welcomed them into the chambers, where Buri waited with her and several attendants. They all enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, and then Daine was taken off to be bathed in the nicest tub she had ever been in. The attendants washed and combed her thick curls and poured wonderfully smelling oils into the waters. Afterwards, she was wrapped in a robe large enough to envelope her changing frame and led to a dressing room, where her friends sat and talked as the attendants pinned her hair. Thayet approached once they finished and slipped a hair clip with sculpted silver birds and branches and studded with jewels.
"What is that?" Daine asked, touching the clip on the back of her head. Someone handed her a mirror so she could turn around and inspect it.
"A gift. And don't say a word about it being too nice for you. You are far from the young girl who had never owned a book when she arrived."
Daine smiled at her in the mirror. "It's perfect. Thank you."
It took three attendants to get her into her wedding gown. She had yet to see the finished product, and gasped with delight when she did. Cream and blue silk made up the bodice, sleeves, and skirt, with tiny jewels sewn all into it. The skirt started high on her waist, giving her middle plenty of room, and went all the way to the floor to hide her changing feet. The entire outfit was embroidered in golden threads with tiny animals of all kinds. Birds, wolves, bats, badgers, rabbits, cats - there were too many for her to see. She even noticed a tiny dragon on the hem of her sleeve. She looked into the large mirror before her in awe. She was huge, and swollen, but even she had to admit she looked beautiful, with her hair perfectly pinned and a glow to her skin.
"You look lovely," Onua told her. She beamed at her oldest friend.
They all went down to the lower level of the palace, to a small audience room where they had decided to have the ceremony. Onua waited with her as their other friends went inside.
"Did you think this is how all this would turn out, when you first met me?" Daine asked with a smile. Onua laughed.
"If only I had known what you would mean to me - and to one of my dearest friends." She shook her head in wonder. "I do think that, if you had told me after your first summer with the Riders, this is where you and Numair would end up, I wouldn't have been surprised then."
Daine cocked her head. "Really?"
"Really. You two were like magnets from the beginning. When you told me you had decided to be together after the war, it just made sense to us all."
"There were bets, I remember."
Onua laughed. "Yes, and Sarge won them all."
Just then, they heard feet coming down the hall. They turned to see Numair coming into view, and Daine's face lit with a smile.
He was always handsome to her, but he looked so very good in that moment she felt her chest swell with pride. He had spent time taming his hair into a horsetail, and was dressed in black breeches with a cream silk shirt and the finest black velvet tunic she had ever seen. As he came closer, she realized his tunic was embroidered in the same style as her dress, the little golden animals perfectly placed in the soft velvet. He gave her his biggest smile, his eyes shining. Daine felt Onua kiss her cheek, then her friend disappeared into the audience room, leaving the couple alone.
Numair didn't say a word, just walked up to her, cupped her face in his hands, and kissed her gently. She rested her hand on his chest and kissed him back, so very happy that she felt like she was going to burst. He pulled away after a moment, but didn't let go of her face. She beamed up at him.
"You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen," he whispered, and she giggled.
"You don't look too bad yourself." She ran her hands down the front of his soft tunic. "I like this. How did you know about the animals?"
He looked down at the embroidery. "Thayet told me, and I let her seamstresses take it so we could match." He pointed to the small dragon by his heart. "I told them we had to have Kit with us."
Daine lifted her sleeve to show him her own tiny dragon. "I wish she was here. She would be recking havoc on everything, but I miss her so."
Numair nodded. "So do I, magelet." He brushed her cheek with his thumb. "I have dreamed of this day for so long, my dearest."
She kissed his hand. "I have, too."
He gave her a skeptical look. "Have you, though? You told me no so many times."
"It wasn't no. It was just not right then. Doesn't mean I never wanted to marry you." She ran a hand over her belly. "Did you dream of me this large on our wedding day?"
He laughed. "I dreamed of many possible ways to get you here, and I can't lie and say that I didn't think about this happening once or twice."
She chuckled, too.
One of the doors opened, and Alanna stuck her head out. "Alright, you two. You can stare into each other's eyes later. We need to get started."
Numair held out his arm to Daine. "Let's get married, my magelet."
The hall had been decorated with flowers and ribbons. The audience room they had selected had large windows that opened in the back, and they had all been opened to let in the People. Birds perched in the high beams over everyone's heads and Cloud, Spots, and Mangle all had a head in a window. Small woodland creatures were all around the alter to the Goddess that had been set up, and cats and dogs filled the empty places between seats. Zek and his new mate and kits were all clinging to Lindhall to be able to see, making Daine smile hugely.
A priestess preformed the ceremony, and before their friends and the Goddess they pledged their lives and their love to each other until their last breaths. Both Daine and Numair couldn't stop smiling at each other, their happiness bubbling over to infect every other person in the room. When the priestess completed the last rite, and declared them married in the eyes of the law and the Goddess, Numair pulled Daine as close as her large belly would allow and sealed it with a kiss as their friends cheered.
After the ceremony, they gathered with their friends for a dinner to celebrate. They received many wonderful gifts, hugs, and well wishes. Daine, who hadn't been out of their rooms in weeks, was exhausted by the time they were served dessert. Numair took her hand and whispered that they should go.
As they were leaving, Alanna called out, "Don't forget what the midwife said, Numair!" Several of their friends laughed, and Daine thought she caught the end of a rude gesture from her new husband, but she just pulled his hand and kept walking.
"You told her about that?" Numair asked her in the hall.
"About you not sticking any part of you in me?" she giggled. "Perhaps. It was too funny not too."
He just shook his head.
They slowly made their way through the palace, stopping often for Daine to catch her breath. Neither of them minded. It had been such a perfect day that they didn't want it to end.
At their door, Daine paused. Since she had lived with Numair, there had been a plaque under his name that had hers as well. When it had first been hung, it had been shiny and new, but over the years had worn to look more like his. Now there was a new plaque, shiny like the other one had been, and it said Veralidaine Salmalin. She touched it and smiled at her husband. "You couldn't get this up quick enough, could you?"
He laughed. "Actually, I'm fairly certain that Thayet was the one who ensured it was hung today. Not that I didn't have it ordered as soon as you agreed to marry me." He opened their door, and lying on the floor was her old nameplate. Numair bent to pick it up and handed it to her.
"What should I do with it?" she asked, turning it over in her hands.
"Keep it. It's a good way to remember the past chapter of your life before we begin this new one."
She thought about that. When she had first moved in with Numair and he had helped her pack up her room in the stables, he had told her it was a new chapter then. She had said goodbye to her girlhood and become woman. Now, she was becoming a wife and a mother. Those two things were something that she hadn't truly dreamed of for herself until more recently, but now they fit around her well, like a new cloak made especially for her shoulders. She smiled and carried the old plaque to her dresser, setting it on the top so she could easily see it.
Numair came up behind her and very carefully unlaced the back of Daine's gown, kissing the nape of her neck and her shoulders as he pulled it off her. She shivered, and helped him to pull the dress down and onto the floor. She turned to help him strip off his tunic and started to unbutton his shirt, though her large and changing belly made getting too close to him difficult. She unlaced the front of his breeches and pushed them to the floor, and in a few more moments they were standing bare before each other. Daine wrapped her arms around her husband the best she could and rested her head on his warm chest.
"I'm sorry we can't consummate our marriage on our wedding night," she told him. He chuckled and she felt it under her cheek.
"My sweet, if you are pregnant on your wedding night, I don't think you need to worry about consummating anything." She laughed, and nuzzled against his chest. "Let me get us something to put on," he told her, and did that.
They ended up in their bed, wrapped in each other's arms, talking about the day. Numair had spent the morning with Lindhall, then gone to visit the horses and give them each an apple to celebrate the special day. Daine told him about her day with their friends.
"Onua said she's always known that we would end up together."
Numair stroked her hair. "I think I've always know it, as well. Somewhere deep inside."
She turned her head to look at him. "Truly?"
"Truly. I still remember the first time I saw you. I was drugged and out of my mind, but I knew that you were safe. I have always loved you in some way, even before I loved you."
She smiled up at him. "The same for me, too."
He kissed her forehead. "And this baby, no matter what it decides to be, will be loved as well."
Daine nodded. "It will." She yawned and snuggled closer into his chest. "I've been thinking about just how I want to raise this baby. Most of my friends who are mothers don't get to spend much time with their children at all, especially when their little ones were babies. I don't really want that. I don't want a nurse or a nanny. I want it to be like when I was little, when my Ma just drug me around everywhere. I learned so much and wasn't locked up in a nursery all day."
Numair was quiet a moment, stroking her back. "Daine," he said after a few moments, treading lightly, "do you think that, if your mother could have had the help, she would have taken it?"
"But she couldn't've! We didn't have money for anyone to keep me, and we weren't some nobles who don't nurse their babies. Grandda helped when he could, but Ma mostly just had her with me. Besides, you can't leave a baby you haven't weaned."
"I think you misunderstand me, dear. If your mother could have afforded the help, do you think she would have taken it? Not because she didn't love you, but because she truly needed the extra set of hands?"
Daine was quiet a moment. "I've never thought of it that way." She shook her head. "But still, I don't want a nurse for our baby. I want to be the one who nurses it, and I want to be the one that cares for it - well, you and me both, because you have to put in some work, too."
"I think we are both going to have to give and take a little for that to work out."
Daine lifted her head to look at him. "What does that mean?"
He sighed and rubbed his face tiredly. "I completely agree with you, Daine. I don't want our children to grow up in a nursery and never see us. As someone who was sent off to university well before I should have been, I cannot agree with you on that point more. However, we are both going to have to make changes. Both take on less work. Say no to things we may have said yes to in the past. Try our very hardest to spend any time we can at the tower and not here - because I do not want our children growing up in the shadow of the court." He shivered at the thought. "At the same time, I don't think there is anything wrong with them going to the nursery for a few hours when we both need to work, or asking our friends to help care for them. And I say this because I know you and I know that you are usually the last person to ask anyone for help. We are going to have to ask for help, if we want to continue in our rolls for the realm and try to raise our children under our own noses."
Daine took this all in, then gave him a slow smile. "I'm glad we are on the same page, then. I'm realizing now we probably should have talked about this a while ago, and not a few days before the baby comes."
"Well, if we did disagree, it is much too late to do anything about it now." He fingered the wedding band on her hand.
"Also, I keep noticing you say 'children.'"
"Do I?" he asked with mock innocence.
"Yes. Just how many of these babies do you think I can take?" She gestured to her belly, which was currently the shape of a seal.
"Oh, I was thinking a nice round number. Six, eight."
"Six or eight! You really have lost your mind."
He grinned. "You know us Tyrans, always have to have too many mouths to feed."
She shook her head, grinning as well. "Well, you are Tortallan now, remember? And so am I. So I say maybe two, three if you are lucky. We already have Kitten, and I'm pretty sure you yourself counts for me taking care of two children."
He chuckled, and kissed her. "I would have a hundred babies with you," he whispered, his lips tickling hers.
"That's just because you like to make them," she whispered back wickedly. He raised an eyebrow and covered her mouth again, gently parting it and taking his tongue along her bottom lip. She slipped her hands into his hair, pulling him closer, kissing him harder, until they were both so lost in each other it was hard to tell whose breath was whose. Numair took his hand down her back, around her hip, and lifting her nightgown felt - fur. Her whole leg was now the thick fur of a sheepdog. He pulled away slowly.
"Sorry," she whispered, blushing a little. "It's not very seductive, I know."
He laughed. "Now I know what you feel when you touch my legs."
She laughed at that, too. She had remarked to him, on more than one occasion, that it was a good thing she liked hairy things so much, including him. She pecked his lips and was suddenly overtaken by a huge yawn.
"Let's get some sleep, dear. It's been a long day." He kissed her again. "Mistress Salmalin."
She giggled and kissed his long nose. "Goodnight, husband."