In Which Arydath's Fears Are Unfounded

June 28, 1177

Arydath kicked the door shut and took a second to catch her breath. She'd never been so late for a birth before, but in her defense she hadn't anticipated being needed. This was Laveria's territory--not to mention, Laveria's great-grandchild--but it turned out Laveria was down with a bad summer cold. There was Arydath's own mother, but she was getting up in years and her bad hip didn't let her take on many clients outside the direct vicinity. That left Arydath herself, startled when a frenzied groom had shown up at her gates with the news of Asalaye's labor a shire away.

Though in hindsight... well, she would have made it here more quickly had she not tried to convince one of the twins to come with her. She had five daughters, two of whom were grown and two more nearly so now, and she'd always hoped that at least one of them would follow in her footsteps. Celina and Feoda, however, were every bit as uninterested as Lyraina and Hilla before them; it had been stupid of her to press.

"Sir Lonriad?"

The young man stiffened, his gaze never leaving the puppy in his hands. Oh, he was a tall strong lad now... but Arydath had pulled him from Lady Alina's womb with her own two hands, back when he'd been one of the tiniest, sickliest babies she'd ever seen. Frankly, she'd been startled that he'd survived; what if his own progeny was not so lucky? Or what of the young woman birthing it? Four babies before Lonriad and Lady Alina had never looked so faint.

"I... I've only been here about half an hour or so." The puppy pawed toward him as if to cheer him up; the poor thing's efforts were in vain. "I was out fishing with Searle. Stupid of me, wasn't it? I mean, we knew it would be soon..." The puppy yipped. Lonriad lowered it to the floor, then turned around to meet her eye. He had his father's eyes, and his had the same look to them that the other pair had worn ten years prior, for two years on end.

Oh, the guilt. She supposed she could sympathize... not that there was much he could've done anyway. "As a woman who's been married twice, let me assure you that husbands are all quite useless when it comes to childbirth. Now, who's in there with your wife?"

"Nanalie, plus Asalaye's maid and a couple other servant girls." Arydath raised an eyebrow. Despite not having any children herself, Nanalie wasn't completely lacking in delivery experience--she'd helped with Lyraina's last labor, and apparently Avine's last two as well if either Lyraina or Asalaye was in a position to know--but witnessing three births hardly qualified one to take charge of a fourth. Then again, someone had to take charge. And who knew? Maybe one of the other girls was a little more seasoned. "I went in there when I got back, but Asalaye swore at me and Nanalie kicked me out. One of the girls left a while ago and came back with a cup of something, but other than that I..."

He shook his head, the rest of his body responding in kind; in an attempt to steady him, Arydath placed her hand on his shoulder. "I haven't heard her screaming since the girl went back in. That's bad, isn't it? If she's screaming, then at least she's--she's--"

"Oh, she's fine, you dolt. I wouldn't expect sex any time soon if I were you, but she's fine."

Lonriad looked up and Arydath spun to meet the speaker. It was Nanalie, lingering in the bedroom doorway--and not unaccompanied.

"I sent that girl out to get some mint tea. I told Asalaye it would ease the pains."

Arydath frowned. All her years of midwifery and not one had she heard such a thing. "Does it?"

Nanalie shrugged. "Probably not; I just told her it would. I did the same thing with my father when he dislocated his shoulder last fall."

Well. That was... "Clever."

"Thank you." Nanalie landed a tickle on the baby's stomach as she carried him forward. It appeared that Arydath's fears had been unfounded; it was a wide-eyed, curious-looking little thing, complete a good complexion and a not-unhealthy size. "Anyway, Asalaye said you wanted to name the baby after your mother. Personally, I think his future wife will find that hilarious."

"A boy?" Oh, that grin. He wasn't the first man to have told his wife he didn't care what she had, and doubtlessly wouldn't be the last to have lied about it. Or maybe she was being too hard on him. He was probably just happy everyone made it out alive. "Can I hold him?"

"All right, but he might be disappointed that you don't have any cleavage to swat at. We've got ourselves a little breast man here."

As Nanalie transferred her nephew into her brother-in-law's arms, the baby looked up at Arydath with his grandmother's wide blue eyes, like he was telling her everything was going to be just fine. She returned the stare with a smile; at this point, it was always refreshing just to get something that wasn't outright bawling.

"He has my mother's eyes."

"And probably my father's nose, but I guess a little fellow can't win them all." Nanalie gave the baby a quick kiss, then turned back to Arydath. "Asalaye seemed fine to me, but if you wanted to look her over yourself, it probably wouldn't be the worst idea."

"I agree." She gave the girl a quick nod, then started off toward the bedchamber. "Well done, though."

Yes, well done indeed...

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