There is an extravagance to this, a festive gathering, just to welcome the newest royal member to the family, just for there to be a celebration for the firstborn child of the Wisteria royal family, a pageantry, that doesn't feel real to have arrived, and one that Izana finds he likes less and less.
Haki already looks tired, and with her hand in his, he wonders if there was something he could do. Perhaps kick out all of the other people in the room, other than him and the doctor? Like Haki should get to live this moment without a royal painter ready, as if somehow at birth, a baby looks the most glamorous. Granted, the painting will look different than the reality; he's absolutely positive of that, especially when looking back at his own painting or even earlier. He doubts he looked that calm then or that his parents weren't a little exhausted.
And there's Haki here, laying on their bed, with a doctor on her other side, telling her whatever she needs to do next, and offering gentle reassurances, that Izana doubts she's actually listening to. She can be pretty good at drowning out the world around them when she wants to be, and he's pretty sure, her focus right now is on the little one, that is giving her more than a little difficulty.
Izana holds her hand firmly, and despite his usual composure, he lets himself ignore the painter and the small throng of people serving as their audience, as he leans down and kisses her on the forehead, a gentle touch, a gentle I love you, if only to help relieve some of her suffering.
It doesn't look easy from where Izana stands to be in labor, and Haki's grip on his hand tightens. And she mouths, 'thank you.'
Izana stays put, even though he half-feels like pacing or kicking the crowd out. He's supposed to be the calm, level-headed king of Clarines. But right now, he feels anything but calm; if he could just take their child out of her right now, she wouldn't have to push anymore and the pains of labor could just end. If only it was that simple.
This is the most powerless, he's ever felt; there's always been a plan, a way to make things work out the best in the end, a little bit of cunning, and even if it's a little slow, it's okay, they get through it all okay. Just he can't make a plan to make labor easier or shorter or pain-free, like he wishes he could. Even pain-less doesn't sound like enough; if only there was absolutely no pain.
And Haki takes a deep breath, and Izana figures he probably should breathe that way too, and then in a final push, Izana suddenly sees a tiny head, and that is followed by a body and two small legs. And Izana is breathless, half in disbelief that this has actually happened, as if he hadn't seen his wife's pregnancy and known what it meant.
And then the doctor is over helping ease the baby from Haki, and the doctor speaks; it feels like it's barely loud enough for Izana to hear, though it cuts through his momentary haze.
"Do you want to cut the umbilical cord? I know you're the king, but..."
Izana nods, "I will." And he takes what he needs from the doctor and cuts the umbilical cord and listens to his daughter cry.
He was sure his hands would have shaken, but they didn't. And then his daughter, their daughter, a little girl, is handed off to Haki after the doctor carefully cleaned off the remaining blood.
The doctor continues to clean up from the birth, and the crowd is practically silent, no clapping. Some disheartened murmuring.
"We have a princess!" Izana raises his voice slightly to try to get some excitement going, and while these events always hope for a prince, Izana doesn't mind the fact that he just had a daughter, not a son.
Clapping finally starts up, and Izana moves a little closer to Haki, and looks down at his wife, holding their newborn daughter, and cannot think of a name. A name will have to wait a little longer. He's sure they will come up with a name in time.
And dimly, he can finally hear the painter begin to paint, and the small throngs of an audience walk away. Their excitement is over. Izana will probably be angry with the painter later for delaying when he realized it was a girl, and refusing to give her the ceremony and honor she deserves. Some days, Izana is convinced people are a little messed up.
"She's beautiful." Izana looks over at Shirayuki, who is smiling, and there is no trace of disappointment on her face; she probably didn't care about whether her brother and sister-in-law had a son or a daughter.
"She is." Izana's only bit of startlement is that he and Haki spoke at the same time, made the same affirmation, in the same words.
"Brother, sorry about..." Zen began, then stopped, and Izana could have hit him.
"It is fine." Izana told him, firmly. He'll explain better when the painter leaves the room and the doctor too, for that matter.
"I'll check up on her in the morning. She looks healthy." The doctor tells them and politely leaves them alone with just family and a painter.
"Could you hold her?" The painter gestures to Izana, looking a little nervous. He's too young to have been the one there when Izana was born, and royal painters are not called often to their tasks.
Izana listens, picking up his daughter for the first time, holding her the way that Shirayuki made him practice for so many months leading up to this. She told him back then, it was better to practice and not need it, then to not practice and need it.
When the painter finally finishes, he leaves quietly, and Izana stares down at his little girl, who has fallen asleep by this point.
"She looks like you, more than she looks like me." And Haki sounds like she's half ready to laugh, even when he looks over and sees her exhaustion, along with her gentle joy.
"You can get some sleep." Izana told her leaning down towards her, to offer their daughter back, in case Haki missed holding her with all of the ruckus of the painter and everything else.
"I will. Later." Haki stifled a yawn.
"It was a long day." Izana reminded her, though he knew his wife needed no reminder.
"I was there for it, you know?" Haki's voice carries with it all of her amusement, though she looks far more relaxed now than she did earlier. And she holds their daughter with the gentleness and love of a mother, so tender, so sweet.
"I am aware." Izana told her in reply.
It will be later when he gets onto Zen for his younger brother's slight worry over the complications that being the king of Clarines demands from Izana; besides, Zen will know in time anyway what this moment is like. There is still plenty of time yet, months beforehand.
"Do you want me to stay close, in case you need anything before the morning when the doctor comes back?" Shirayuki is always quite a helper, isn't she?
"Probably. If you're not too tired." Haki responded before Izana could, "We've all had a long day."
Izana was going to send the two of them away and just stay ready in case Haki or their newborn daughter needed anything, but he wasn't about to argue with Haki right after she gave birth. What she says can be right now.
"I'll be fine." Shirayuki's all smiles right now, as if the long hours didn't wear her out. Zen definitely has his hands full with how busy she can be.
"Shirayuki?" Zen's voice is all the concern of one who doesn't want his pregnant wife to overexert herself.
"I'm only about three months pregnant; it will be okay." Shirayuki reminded him, and Izana covered his own laughter. Zen definitely has his hands full.
"I know, but..."
"No buts, Zen. It's really okay." Shirayuki chided him, and Izana figures they will work it out, even as he decides to crawl into bed and hold his wife and daughter close. Tomorrow will bring possibly picking out a name for the little girl and hopefully, way less ceremony and stress.
Shirayuki has been trained for moments such as this anyway.