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Evelyn woke abruptly from a sound sleep, blinking into the darkness for a few moments while she tried to place where she was and what time it was. Deep in the night, she determined from the velvety quality of the darkness outside her window. And when she reached for Fenris, the bed next to her was empty.
Sitting up, she could hear a faint murmur from down the hall, and a pang of guilt struck her. Bianca must have awakened crying, and again, Evelyn had slept through it while Fenris got up to tend the child. Fenris's consistent reminders to her that he rarely slept a whole night through and that he was more than happy to be the one to get up when Bianca cried had been falling on deaf ears for the better part of three years now, Evelyn unable to get out of her mind the idea that as Bianca's mother, she should always be the one to wake when her child needed her.
She got out of bed now, reaching for the shirt that lay at the foot of the bed and pulling it on over her head. Barefoot, she walked carefully across the wood floor to the doorway, standing there and listening to the murmur coming from the bedroom down the hall.
A warm breeze stirred the curtains at the windows behind her, and Evelyn closed her eyes, enjoying its caress. The consistent warmth and beauty of the weather in Antiva was still a happy surprise to her, after having spent most of her life in cold muddy Ferelden and chilly damp Kirkwall.
Fenris's voice continued as she made her way down the hall. Taking extra care not to make any noise as she neared the doorway, not wanting to disturb the moment, she stopped just outside the door. Inside the room, his voice rose and fell in a familiar cadence. He was singing the Chant of Light to their baby, bits and pieces drawn at random from the different verses as they came to his mind, or as they seemed appropriate for soothing a child to sleep.
Evelyn's eyes prickled with tears as she thought how pleased Sebastian would be if he knew what a lasting impact he had had on Fenris. Maybe he did know—maybe he was looking down on his old friend and his namesake Bianca Vael from the Maker's side. While she wasn't a particularly devout Andrastian, Evelyn had seen enough to believe that anything was possible.
Quietly turning the corner, she watched Fenris as he rocked slowly back and forth in the chair. "Blessed are the peacekeepers, champions of the just," he sang. He shifted Bianca in his arms, the little girl growing heavier to hold as she approached her third birthday. Switching from the Canticle of Benediction to the Canticle of Threnodies, his voice deepened. "There was no word for heaven or for earth, for sea or for sky. All that existed was silence." He let the words drift off, still rocking, looking down at the slack face of the sleeping child, her thumb resting just at the edge of her mouth. Gently he lifted it, tucking her hand against her body. He rocked for a few more moments as Evelyn watched him, drinking in the beauty of the sight, these two people who were her world so at peace together here in the depths of the night.
Bianca gave a deep sigh as she slid farther into sleep, and Fenris got to his feet, very carefully, his free hand under her head supporting it as he carried her to the crib and laid her gently down into it. There was a sleepy murmur from the crib's occupant as Fenris drew the sheet up around her waist and moved her doll closer so she could find it if she woke again.
Only when he was certain Bianca wouldn't wake if he left her did he take his hand from her back and turn from the crib. Evelyn had expected him to be startled when he saw her, but he smiled as if he'd known she was there all the time. Probably he had. His ears were very sharp, and this was a scene they repeated frequently.
Taking her hand, Fenris led her from the room so their whispers wouldn't wake Bianca. "I am sorry if I woke you."
"I wish you would. I could take a turn with her."
Fenris lifted her hand to his lips, kissing her fingers. "I enjoy it. And you enjoy watching me put her back to bed."
Evelyn couldn't deny that. Fatherhood was an appealing look for him.
"Do you think Sebastian knows?" she asked softly. "That you sing the Chant to our baby?"
Fenris looked over her shoulder out the window, as if he could see all the way to the Maker's side. "I like to think that he does. Or, if not, that he imagined such a future when we all were still together in Kirkwall."
"He probably did."
"Did you?"
"Imagine this as our future? Never. I could never see past the crises of the day. And you?"
"I would never have dared to believe such happiness was possible," Fenris admitted. He drew her to him, his arms closing around her waist. Nuzzling her ear, he asked, "Will you be able to sleep again? Or shall I take you back to bed and sing you the Chant, as well?"
Evelyn smiled, leaning into his caress. Much as she enjoyed hearing his voice rising and falling in the cadence of the Chant, she had something else in mind to help her sleep tonight. "Maybe tomorrow night."
His voice roughened, his breath warm on her face. "You have other ideas?"
"Mm. A few. They all require you coming back to bed, though."
"Such a tempting invitation. How can I refuse?"
Reaching for his hand, Evelyn led him back down the hall. "I really don't think you can."