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“Honeybee, should you be working so hard right now?” Finbar asked his heavily pregnant wife who was cussing out the storage for their other baby, the Sprite Spring.
Elyse was about 11 months along now, and she felt as big as Hira’s pet frost salamander. She had confided in him, as they were drifting off to sleep one night, that she hoped that she didn’t feel as big as a dragon at the end. At that, he had simply kissed her forehead, and told her that even if she was, he would love her until the end of time. She smiled at the memory, which quickly turned into a wince as the baby gave a fierce kick.
“Another kick, honeybee? Maybe you should sit down, I’ll get you a chair. I’ll finish this with your direction.” She caressed her pregnant belly, and said, “That does sound nice, and I swear this baby has your strength already, I’m grateful that we’re nearing the end.”
He smiles at his girls, and says, while leaving the room, “She gets a good deal of that strength from you too, my love”
Finbar returns quickly with a chair, humming a Feywild lullaby. He had been doing that a lot recently, while painting and furnishing the baby’s room, during every checkup, while satisfying her ridiculous cravings-who had ever heard of putting peanut butter on cherry popsicles, with the cherry juice having to come from Mount Celestia? It was both soothing and haunting, he had told her that the words were about there being worse monsters than sleep, and that they would survive them.
Elyse sat down carefully and directed her husband. “No! That doesn’t go there, it goes there!” She pointed in two very different directions. With his strength and dexterity, and her direction, Finbar swiftly put away the stock that they had recently received. When he finished, he came over and gave her bump a quick kiss, and her a lingering one on the lips. When they pulled away, both of them a bit breathless, they felt the baby kick again, more gently this time.
At this, Finbar smiled, and gave the bump another kiss, and told their little girl, “I can’t wait for you to come and meet everyone. Kyana, VR-LA, Dani, Hira, Everen, and many others can’t wait to meet you, either”
She felt another pain, sharper this time, but lower down than the kicks had been. It felt like the cramps she sometimes got during her period, but that couldn’t be right. Maybe it was early labor, she thought.
“Fin, I think she’s coming.” Elyse said, feeling a bit detached from the intense pain that she knew would be feeling soon.
“Are you sure? There have been false alarms before.” Elyse could tell that Finbar was trying to stay calm for her sake, but she had seen him freaked out enough times to know that he was.
“I am.”
Suddenly, Finbar scoops her up into a bridal carry, past a surprised Sidonie and out into the street. “Do you feel up to casting a Sending to Surri? And could you have her meet us at Hira’s?”
“First off, I’m not going to give birth in the next couple of minutes, I can walk by myself. And second, yes I can, and I will.” Elyse then casts Sending to their midwife, telling her that her contractions were about fifteen minutes apart, and asking her to meet them at Hira’s palace.
“I know you can walk, honeybee, but it will be faster if I carry you. You focus on yourself and our little girl.” He gave her a kiss on the forehead. They continued on this way until they reached Hira’s palace, Elyse having a few more contractions along the way.
When they neared the entrance to the Demi-plane, a pair of women were there. One was a bit taller than Elyse, had shoulder length, softly curled gray hair pulled back, and the figure of a woman who had not only helped many women give birth, but had given birth several times herself. The other was much younger. She also had shoulder length hair pulled back, but hers was brown and poker straight. “Thank you for meeting us, Surri. On no notice too. And who’s this?” Finbar said all in a rush to the gray haired woman.
“Babies come when they’re ready, not when they’re due,” Surri said sagely. “And that goes double for firsts. And this,” she gestures at the brunette. “Is my apprentice, Anka.”
They entered the Demi-plane, and Everen was at the door, as usual. “Finbar! Elyse! And who are these ladies?”
Still in a rush, Finbar introduced them. “Surri is our midwife,” he added.
“Oh, is it that time already? I thought you weren’t due for a few more weeks”
“Babies come when they’re ready not when they’re due,” Surri repeated, but this time she had a bit of annoyance laced in her voice.
“Alright, let’s get going, up to Elyse’s room,” Finbar said. On their way to the staircase, they passed Roy. At that moment, Elyse had another contraction and let out a small groan of pain. When the fire genasi heard it, he looked up, spooked, dropped the wrench he had been holding, and ran.
When they reached Elyse’s room, Surri tutted and said, “Let’s get those pants and underwear off, so I can examine you, dearie.” Elyse does so, and lies down on her bed. Surri looks between Elise’s legs and raises her eyebrows. “You’re progressing quite quickly, dearie. You’re already 2.5 inches dilated. That’s halfway.” The four of them pass the next two hours rather uneventfully, except for the contractions getting harder and closer together. Surri checked Elyse again, and said, “It’s time to push, Elyse. Finbar, you’re already holding her hand, keep doing that and don’t let go of her hand, no matter what.”
With a gush, Elyse’s water breaks. Surri gets Elyse to stand, and wraps her arms around Elyse, just under her breasts. Anka squats in front of Elyse, ready to guide the baby out. Elyse lets out a cry of pain that bordered on a scream. Finbar kept holding her hand, and humming that same lullaby that he had been humming for months.
“If you keep humming that gods damned lullaby, Finbar, I swear that I will tear your vocal cords out!” Elyse roared.
Not wanting to anger his wife any further, Finbar stopped humming. He kept hold of her hand though, firmly, but not tight. Elyse, however, was gripping his hand so tight that her own was turning purple.
Anka reaches out for the head, and eases it out gently, then the body, and finally the legs. “One more push, Elyse, just enough for the afterbirth.”
With one more almighty cry, Elyse pushes out the afterbirth.
Anka cleans out the mouth, and the baby gives a hiccuping cry. Surri lays Elyse back down on her bed, and cuts the cord. They then clean the baby off, wrap her in a blanket and hand her to Finbar.
Finbar looked softly down at his little girl and murmured the name that him and Elyse had agreed to months beforehand. “Byrnwenys Cardamom Broussard de Chasse, I promise to love and protect you.”