(no subject)

[best_thief]

Thank God for magic. At first Lila had wanted to refuse it. She heard the rumors, that you could get addicted to popping out kids. Not like drinking or smoking, more like once you got one tattoo you wanted to keep getting more. So she'd been wary, figured if she felt how bad it hurt it would just be one more reminder that this was it. But it hurt like a bitch, to coin the common phrase, and her body was a disgusting mess, so when Kell offered she accepted all form of healing and cleaning. She'd worry about baby addiction later.

For the moment she was addicted to exactly one baby, who she held in her arms, stroking her downy soft hair with one finger gentler than she'd probably treated anything in her life. Even her knives. The baby was blessedly asleep for the moment, which was a nice respite from the crying - their neighbors had lucked out when they moved in, Kell's silencing wards kept all sound from leaving their apartment. (This wasn't the first time he'd used them.)

"There aren't any names that are good enough for her," Lila declares, picking back up earlier conversations they've had about what to name the baby. Every name sounds...not enough, and neither of them have family members they like well enough to want to name her after. Except Rhy, but he's a man.

Comments

[bloodandflowers]

Time is funny. It must have always been so, but Kell had never noticed before how moments may stretch out into eternity, sometimes pleasurable, sometimes torturous. When he's at Lila's side, staring at their little girl, it feels as if he's always been here. And when he has to tear himself away to fetch a cloth or glass of water, the time apart feels equally endless.

He reseats himself on the couch, pressed in close so that he can tuck his pinkie finger into their daughter's tiny fist. The physicians had said it's meant to comfort babies, but just now, the gesture is all for Kell.

"There aren't," he agrees, thinking not only of names, but of futures, destinies, all the opportunities she might discover down the road. "There's nothing good enough for her."

[best_thief]

Lila leans into Kell when he sits back down, snuggling into the crook of his other arm. Despite the magical help, she's still tired and worn, it's not like it puts everything back to a hundred percent. Her doctor had told her she was supposed to be confined mostly to bed rest for two weeks after delivery, to which she'd loudly protested at the time, and later silently agreed with herself that it was never going to happen.

At the moment, though, she's maybe not going to fight it so much.

"At least we know she has the best magic to protect her," Lila says proudly, looking down into the baby's mismatched eyes as she slowly blinks them open, one brown and one all black. The same as she must have been when she was born.

[bloodandflowers]

"Both a blessing and blessed," Kell murmurs, mouth crooked in the same helpless, wondering smile he's worn for days. He's never known an Antari's power to be hereditary, but he's also never seen two Antari from the same world. He's grateful that their child was born here, where no one can take advantage of her, or her parents' pedigree. The baby's grip releases, and Kell slides his fingertip along her forehead, clearing it of her already full, if wispy, dark hair.

"Mas aven. Our blessing."

[best_thief]

The baby tries to follow the path of Kell's finger, but she's still so little that Lila isn't sure how much she can even make out. It means she's already determined and curious, though her eyes are as solemn as her fathers. Every time Lila tries to find bits of them in the baby she feels a bit ridiculous for it, but also secretly elated.

Kell's words break through her thoughts.

"Aven. We could name her that. All the baby books list the name's meanings, and it might not be a proper name, but no one else speaks Anesian so they won't know."

[bloodandflowers]

"We can move between worlds," says Kell, breaking into a broader smile when Aven's brown eye tracks his finger. He touches the tip of her button nose, then leans down to kiss it for good measure.

"We have no use for ordinary." He brushes his hand down Lila's arm. "How is your pain? Do you need a charm?"

[best_thief]

"No, I'm fine." Lila looks up from Aven to press a kiss to Kell's shoulder. She's a little sore despite the medicine and magic already at work, but it's nothing she can't handle. Not that she isn't grateful for the magic, if anything it's let her focus more on the baby.

"I wish we could take her to one of those worlds," she adds in a quiet voice.

Maybe someday something in Darrow will change. Maybe it will let them leave. She can't stop hoping for it, despite all odds.