Hey Happy New Year guys. As a treat for the new year, here's a brand new chapter. Last time Kalias had her baby, a visit from Draco in the her dreams and made some new friends. Now let's see how she and Colt are handling being new parents with the knowledge that Drake's existence is public now too.
Disclaimer time, I don't own Drake, Lin, Master Kwan or Geoff or Mansel or Lord Osric or the King. I do own Kalias, Colt, her baby Laia and Kelei. Now enjoy the chapter and let me know what you thought in the reviews below. Have a great new year.
Then that moment of peace is shattered when Laia starts screaming. It startles Colt, Drake and me as we sit up. I yawn and cradle her in my arms. I feel her nappy and it is soaked.
"What's wrong with her," Drake yawns and looks concerned.
"She's wet and needs a change. Probably hungry too," I sleepily answer as I get up and take to the wash basin.
After a fresh nappy, I hold her to my chest to nurse. It's feels odd to have her latched on but it's also a relief since my chest has been aching for the past few days before her birth. Laia make small noises as she nurses from me. It warms my heart to see her looking right at me while she nurses. And then I hear a snoring sound behind us.
"Looks like dada and uncle Drake went back to sleepyton," I softly joke to her while wiping the tears from my eyes as I yawn.
When she finishes eating, I hold her away from me with a towel under her mouth. Then I gently pat her back to burp her. I had to learn this trick from Mara years ago when I was first learning how to heal people and with new mothers. Doing it this way means the baby won't spit up on you as I learned the hard way. Laia, as predicted, burped and coughed up a portion of her first meal. As I clean her up and swaddle her, I hum one of the old songs to her to get her to go back to sleep. It works as her eyes close and she lays her head on my chest. I moan as I settle back to sleep with her for a couple more hours. After a full night of waking and feeding, I can feel dawn shining on my face from the grate. I feel for a moment in my sleep for Laia but she's not in my arms. I sit up in a panic until I look to my left and see Colt is trying to clean and change her himself.
"You certainly made a big mess for a tiny thing," He groans in disgust as he tosses the soiled cleaning clothes and nappy into a bin.
"Babies do that. She's probably want to eat again soon too," I chuckle as I come over to watch him and wash my face with the water basin for us, "You're doing fine. Just like I showed you with that doll. And now just tuck and pin there and there and she's all done."
" I did it," Colt proudly says as he holds Laia up and the nappy stays in place. She fuses a bit and reaches for me, "Ah mommy it's your turn."
He kisses her and me before handing her over to me and washing his hands.
" Thank you daddy. This is gonna take some getting used to," I say as I undo the top of my nightgown to feed her.
" Good thing we had practice with Drake," Colt points out as he dries his hands and gestures to the sleeping dragon, "Remember? We had to feed him every three hours on goat milk and chopped steaks in mush? And when he was sick? We had to mix it up even more to be put in one of the bottles we use for the foals."
"Oh yeah I forgot about that. Well I guess we'll just have to fall back on that routine with our little girl here," I chuckle and nuzzle her head with my nose as she nurses, "And then I got to starting training him and myself again as well as my healer duties."
"So soon? Don't you want to rest? I mean at least today," Colt asks in concern, "I know other mothers go back to work as soon as the baby comes but-"
"Colt, father visited me in my dreams last night. He helped heal me so I'm not useless and just sitting in bed like a lump. I feel fine I promise. And I feel like I want to take up archery again. I need to so Drake can be safe and Laia too."
"Ok. I suppose I can get you arrows and we can see if your old bow needs to be restrung or if you need a new one," Colt nods and starts listing things, " What about your blades?"
"One thing at a time Colt," I shake my head and see Laia has finished. I cover back up and hold her like I did before to burp her, "I'm not ready for swords yet. And I will need the carrier to keep her in on my back while I'm working and training."
"Looks like our foreign friends are one step ahead of you, "Colt says and points to the carrier I made weeks ago at the bottom of the stairs and my bow all fixed and polished and restrung like new.
" By the way, father also said that Kelei, Master Kwan and Lin were people we could trust. That whatever test Master Kwan wants Drake to do, Kelei passes it too. What do you think that means?"
" I don't know. I mean we don't know that much about them except they know of dragons too."
" Maybe we should find out. And he did say that Lord Osric is not to be trusted."
"Yeah, him. Honestly Kalias, the man gives me the creeps. Ravage is still wondering why King Ethan would chose HIM of all people to be his advisor. Even though he is a good fighter, training with him is...intense. He's almost unbeatable."
"Do you think we should cancel given that uh well, " I ask and look down at our daughter, who has burped and fallen back to sleep in my arm.
"We made a promise to the King and he might want to meet his new niece. Just for a little bit and then we make our excuses and put her and ourselves to bed."
"Oh alright but, what is that? " I ask and look at the new tunic folded on Laia's carrier.
"It's from Geoff," Colt says as he reads the note pinned to the red and gold tunic, 'Kalias look what I brought you. Lord Osric gave me one too! It would look great with the dress Drake and I made for you. I saw you had your baby last night. She is so cute. See you tonight.
-Geoff.
P.S. Don't forget to bring Drake. He is the guest of honor after all.'"
"Ok I will admit this does look nicer than my other one but Colt isn't this a little bizarre to you? I thought only nobles and knights like you were allowed to wear these. I'm a healer."
"It is a bit odd you should get one now. But at least it does go with your new dress. I have to get to the castle but I will be back to escort you and our sweet daughter and Drake to the party."
"Ok," I smile and kiss him goodbye and let him kiss our daughter too before turning to Drake to wake him up, " Drake? Drake wake up."
"Hmm? Oh really? I feel like I just got to sleep. It was kind of loud all night," Drake moans and covers his face.
"I know and I'm sorry. I should have warned your that newborn babies for the first week or so do this. But she's sleeping now and I was wondering if you could hold and watch her while I have a bath?"
"Me?! B-but what if she wakes up and cries because she's scared of me," Drake protests as I offer my daughter to him.
"Drake I was three when I met Papa and he didn't scare me," I chuckle as I hold his paw open and set my daughter in it gently, " Just support her head like this and talk to her softly. Like how you would when she was inside me. If she gets fussy, take her upstairs and ask Mansel to her or find Kelei or one of the other monks. They should be able to help you but you won't need it. I love you."
After making sure he has her, I gather some of my clothes I stashed here and a fresh pair of undergarments to head to the bath. As I head up the stairs, I can make out Drake softly singing to Laia. When I get to the bath and fill the tub, I think about the powers father said I had. Then I wonder if instead of put a fire under the tub to heat the water, why not just use my powers to make the water warmer. As I concentrate, I can see steam coming up and the water feels like its from a hot spring.
"Ahhh perfect. Ok don't get any warmer, this is just right," I sigh in content as I scoop up a pitcher full to rinse off with and let the water easy any tension out of my body. After some time passed, then I started washing myself. It took me about 15 minutes to get the job done, get out and wrap a towel around myself, drain the water and then dry off. As I am doing so, I hear someone walking close.
"Just give me a moment to get dressed and you can have the whole bath to yourself, " I call out as I dress quickly behind a changing screen.
"Take your time. I'm not in a hurry," I hear Kelei say to me.
"Good morning Kelei," I greet her as I dry off my hair and see Lin is with her, "Good morning Lin."
"Good morning and congratulations," She smiles at me, "Kelei told me about your daughter. Where is she?"
"Her Uncle Drake is watching her at the moment. I need to get back, I still have work to do today and I want to teach Drake how to fly properly. Oh thank you for bring my daughter's carrier for me. See you later."
They bow to me and I do the same before walking back to the dungeon. Before I do, I hear a whoosh sound but shrug it off as the wind. As I approach the entrance of the dungeon, I hear the most wonderful sound ever. Drake is coming out with Laia in his paw and she is giggling. He is making funny faces at her and she is loving them.
"Awwwww that is the most adorable thing I have ever seen, " I coo to them and take Laia back, "Did your uncle make you laugh? Huh? Are you happy with him? I think you are.
Laia smiles and giggles as she looks between the two of us.
"You were right, she's very sweet," Drake says and makes another funny face to make her giggle, "So what do you have to do today before the party?"
"I need to stop by my hut and see what herbs I have left and which ones I need to restock. After treating so many people yesterday with Colt, my stocks have got to be really low. But if you could help me, I would be done a lot faster and that would help me take care of Laia and I could teach you how to fly."
"I would love to help," Drake smiles and follows me. I show him the baskets that need to be restocked and the two of us well three since Laia was with us in her carrier spent the morning and well into the afternoon looking and replenishing my herb stocks. I yawn as I finish feeding Laia and setting her down for a nap with a full tummy and clean nappy.
"Ok we have a couple hours before her next feeding. If she wakes up before hand, we'll need to land so I can take care of her."
" Ok. Climb on," Drake says as he bends down for me to get on his back. As I do, memories of when I used to climb on papa flash in my head before I get on his back in front of his wings. I hold onto his neck as he runs down the road, flaps his wings and takes off. A few people shout in surprise as he takes to the air. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised by their reactions. It has been a lot time since dragons flew around. And even then people were afraid of them. Drake flaps his wings and holds them out. So far he is doing a great job. Laia wakes up a bit and to my delight, she's laughing at the wind. I look down and see an open field that would be a perfect place for a landing.
"Ok Drake, angle your wings slightly up and head from the ground."
"Like this?" He asks as does as I say.
"Yeah, now flap your wings backwards," I instruct him. He does and stumbles a bit when his feet touch the ground, ""Ok, that was better. A little more practice and you'll get it."
"It did feel better than last time. Last time Geoff was yelling all sorts of directions at me, I couldn't concentrate."
"Yeah, I can imagine," I say as I get off his back, "Now fly around a bit, have fun and then try to land like I showed you."
He continues practicing for a long time until I hear the church bells ring in the air 5 times. I finishes cleaning Laia by the stream and putting a new nappy on her.
"Drake it's time to go! Please come down!"
This time he lands perfectly.
"Come on, remember we said we would go to that party the king and Lord Osric are having in your honor?"
"Yeah, I remember, but I am nervous. What if people are scared of me?"
"Just be as nice and sweet as you can be," I tell him as I climb up on his back, "Then they will see that you really don't mean them any harm. And don't take it too personally; many people haven't seen a dragon in years, and some haven't seen one at all."
He nods his head and then takes off back home. As the wind blows in my face and hair, it reminds me of the times Father and I would go flying. I close my eyes as the memories wash over me. A smile forms on my face and I can feel a tear run down my cheek.
Drake lands us outside the entrance of the monastery and helps me off him, just like Father did years ago. Drake and I smile at the monks as we make our way back to the dungeon so I can get dressed for the party.
