"Myra!" Reiss lashed out, her cheeks turning bright red at the idea.
It was Gavin who glared, "Cute ones?"
"What? Not for me," she jabbed at her chest and rolled her eyes. Myra adored her husband but she didn't quite have the same blinding focus he did when it came to love. Not that she'd ever act upon it, but even Reiss got to hear the occasional comment on a rather nice set of ___ walking around that day.
"Mom," Myra reached over to her, "think about it. You want to retire. Why not do it in luxury? With us, and your grandkids, and seriously this place is so big. There's a fountain with a fountain in it. Double fountains. Dad was out of his mind when he handed that one over to Gavin."
Reiss tipped her head down in thought. A simple elven farm girl who was barely literate when the blight began. Orphaned by fourteen, she and her siblings transformed into Ferelden refugees hanging on by a thread outside Kirkwall. Thrust into the army of the Inquisition to survive, she thought she lost everything upon leaving it. Stumbling into the employ and arms of Alistair was beyond anything she ever could have imagined for her life. He was her bedrock, even if he acted like a silly trampoline. He gave her Myra, the drive to create her agency -- which was flourishing across Ferelden and talks to open one in Cumberland.
That little, knock-kneed elf scrabbling to pick beans on their tiny farm would spend her golden years in an opulent palace with her children and grandchildren. It was beyond comprehension.
Smiling, Reiss nodded her head. "All right," she laughed a moment at the absurdity, "you're right. I will, I'd...I'd love to."
"What Gammy?" Duncan asked, focusing up from his drawing at the tears of happiness sliding down his grandmother's cheeks.
She tucked her arm around him and rubbed her nose against his cheek, "I'm going to live with you."
"Weally?" the quill tumbled from the boy's fingers as he fully focused on her.
"Yes," Reiss laughed, "Really. Forever and ever and ever." Her grandson who carried the lineage of three amazing people and herself in his blood wrapped himself tighter and squeezed while he squealed in delight.
Myra turned to embrace her husband as well, Gavin burying his face in her neck while he swayed her in his arms. The joy was palpable, nearly sparkling in the air as the little family growing larger every day, faced a new, wonderful future.
"Ah," Myra slid back to get Gavin to look her in the eye. "There's one other thing I should have mentioned, um..."
As her eyes darted around, her fingers clawing through the air, Gavin's smile faded to instant concern. "What? What is it? Myra, are you...?"
Her mouth opened, no words dropping free, before she shrugged and with a big smile announced, "I'm carrying twins."
Gavin's entire face plummeted to the ground. "T-twins?" Horrified, his eyes slid down to her stomach, "There's...two? Two babies at, at once?"
"Yep."
"Sweet merciful Maker," he prayed, his eyes shut tight.
Laughing, Myra said, "You're so cute when you're horrified beyond imagination." The poor man was sweating bullets, his adams apple bobbing in agony. Myra chuckled at it again before she glanced behind at Reiss who was only smiling. "How come you don't look scared?"
"My, you're as big as a house. It was blighted obvious you had multiples in there. Are you sure it's only twins and not triplets?"
"Triplets?!" Gavin shrieked.
"Yes," Myra raced to soothe his ruffled feathers, "only two. Which..." She picked up his good hand and waved it over her belly. "We can handle this. We've taken on a lot worse with a lot less prep."
He bounced his forehead against hers and a great smile rose on his lips. "Yes," his golden eyes opened and their only concern was for Myra. "Yes, we have."
"Did you hear that Duncan? You're going to have two baby brothers or sisters," Reiss said to her grandson who was far more interested in her tin of biscuits than any babies.
Gavin groaned once more, but Myra cut it off with a kiss. "I love you," she said, buffing her nose against his.
"And I..." he sighed deeply, "I cannot imagine my life without you."
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Love
After fetching a glass of water and reading from the thickest book in the stack, Reiss finally managed to lean over and kiss her grandson goodnight. His green eyes trailed her, a concerted sneer on his lips while she pulled back.
"Sleep well, Duncan," she ordered, Reiss needed elsewhere, but the boy reached over. How in the Maker's name did his hand even get out from under her seal tight tuck? Too much of his mother in there.
"Gammy," he pursed his lips together, his nose scrunching in concentration. "Where do babies come from?"
Blighted hell. It wasn't a surprise he'd have babies on the mind right now, but... Leaning to him, Reiss drew back his brunette curls and smiled, "Ask your mummy when you next see her."
"Okay," he was resigned to not getting the answer he most wanted, but it seemed something best left up to a brash Myra and combusting Gavin. Certain that he'd finally go down this late into bedtime, Reiss moved to slide off of his bed when the boy coughed. She paused and turned to the little child propped up on new pillows in the biggest nursery room she'd ever seen.
His big, elf-green eyes flared as his thick lips asked, "Where did I come from?"
Because a girl, who'd struggled to find her place in this world, fell in love with a boy who wanted to do what was right. The boy was scared and lost, but the girl took his hand and brought him into her arms.
And that girl was made because a foolish elf let herself fall for the King of Ferelden. While that silly, heartfelt boy tripped deep into her. If not for assassins targeting him, if not for that girl closing her eyes and leaping into the unknown, there would be no baby to make her grandson.
The boy came to be because a templar dared to love a mage. Because the world shifted and shuddered when mad men broke against the walls. Rather than scurry into the darkness, those two people stood at the edge and said this far, no further.
Because a templar and a king risked their lives to save a mage trapped beyond anyone's understanding. Because even as thedas faced eternal destruction, that templar and mage trusted in their hearts and risked everything to try. Because that mage called upon that far flung templar from her past, despite the scars gouged between them, and let go of their pain together.
Because an elven refugee -- after so much loss, and hatred, and pain in her life -- opened up her heart. Because the king, weary of his crown, of the ice coated around his royal skin, let the elf dressed in armor melt it.
Because a young man, a boy really, walked up a set of stairs with a golden ring digging into his fist and was brought to his knees by the beautiful girl before him.
"Love," Reiss whispered to Duncan, who bunched his lips up harder. He wanted concrete answers, but she couldn't give him one. He came from so many people facing untold horrors, rising back to their feet, and forging into the world while trusting their hearts to another's keeping.
The boy's nursery door blew open and Gavin rushed inside. Sweat coated his brow and he guzzled in air, no doubt from running the entire length of this massive estate. Reiss turned, her heart rising in her throat until she spotted the great smile on his face.
"Two girls," he cheered, "both screaming their lungs off right now while Myra helps scrub them down." The tears in his eyes transferred to Reiss who hugged tight to her grandson. There was another piece of Alistair brought into this world, two pieces who no doubt would act just like him and their mother. Maker have mercy on them all.
It wasn't fair. But life rarely is. Even still knowing that truth, we get up, we stand against that darkness, and we trust in the person holding our hand.
Take a breath.
Be happy.
And love.
THE END
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