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“I’m sorry, but it’s impossible.”
Pike’s heart wept as she watched the hope die in Vex and Percy’s eyes. She hated that she had to tell them this.
“Barring the intervention of a god, it’s impossible. Or, near enough to impossible that it’s not worth hoping for,” Pike continued.
Vex’s voice caught as she asked, “Wha - What do you mean?”
Pike sighed.
Vex and Percy had been trying to have a child now for three years. Whitestone needed an heir. But, for all their trying, Vex had never become pregnant. Finally, they approached Pike for help.
Pike had inspected both of them: physically, magically, and spiritually. She hadn’t found anything wrong with their bodies. Spiritually, they both suffered scars, but nothing that would interfere with fertility. Pike then began researching everything she could on fertility in libraries and consulting healers and sages. Finally, she consulted with the clerics of Ehlonna, the Goddess of Fertility. She hadn’t liked what she found.
“The gods tell us that a mother’s essence and father’s essence mix to create a baby at conception. But, the essences must match, in some way that we don’t understand, to successfully create a child. A gnome’s essence and a human’s essence, or a halfling’s essence and an elf’s essence, do not match, so they can’t have children.
“But, a human’s essence and an elf’s essence, or a human’s essence and an orc’s essence, almost completely match, allowing them to produce half-elves and half-orcs, respectively. The gods tell us this is because, at one time far in the past, humans, orcs, and elves shared a common ancestor. Over time, the three groups changed and became different from each other. Elves and orcs became so different from each other that their essences don’t match enough anymore to have children. But, both of them almost match with humans. Humans occupy a middle ground between the other two groups, able to reproduce with both.
“The almost-matching essences of the parents results in a child with an unbalanced essence. There is literally something missing in their core essence, putting it out of balance. Because of this missing bit of essence, half-breeds can’t have children, even with other half-breeds. This is why there are so few half-elves and half-orcs. They can’t have children with each other. They can only come about from cross-species mating.
“At least, that’s what most healers and sages think.
“The clerics of Ehlonna informed me that what ‘everyone’ knows is not quite true.
“It is true that male half-elves and half-orcs can never have children. Male essences are already slightly out of balance. Being a hybrid male puts the essence even further out of balance; making it impossible to match with anyone.
“However, female half-elves and half-orcs have, extremely rarely, managed to have children. The chance of them becoming pregnant, according to the clerics of Ehlonna, is one in a million - literally. And then only if the father is an elf or human - for a half-elf woman, or an orc or human - for a half-orc woman. It happens so rarely that most people don’t know it can happen.”
Vex was holding her hand over her mouth, tears in her eyes. “Then … Vax and Keyleth.”
Pike nodded. “Yes. I’ll have to inform them about this too. They will never have children together.”
Vex looked like she was about to burst into tears. She looked at Percy. “I’m sorry. Whitestone needs an heir. But because you married me…”
“Hush.” Percy pulled Vex into a hug and kissed her on the forehead. “I will never regret marrying you. You mean everything to me.” Percy turned to Pike. “You mentioned gods. I suppose a pact with a higher being could accomplish this too.”
“Please, don’t!” Pike nearly squeaked in her urgency. “Both of you have suffered enough from pacts with otherworldly beings! Please don’t make another pact! Please!”
They didn’t respond. Damn them! They were too good at controlling their expressions for Pike to tell what they were thinking.
“A pact with an extra-planar being might mean that you can have a child, but then never raise them. Or the child is taken from you after a certain age. Or the child is nothing more than a vessel for the outworlder’s spirit. Somehow, some way, you will end up worse off than what you were before.
“Can’t Cassandra bear Whitestone an heir?”
Percy sighed. “Technically, yes. But, she has gone through so much suffering. I want her to enjoy life. I loath placing this burden on her and forcing her to find a husband. Specifically, a human husband too, as you have just informed us. I’m not … comfortable … limiting her options.”
Pike glanced at their faces. She still couldn’t tell if they were considering making a pact with an extra-planar being. “Th-there may be another way.”
She had their rapt attention.
Pike wrung her hands uneasily. “Listen, this is highly dangerous and experimental, but… but you’re not selling your soul…” She sighed. “The clerics of Ehlonna have heard rumors of arcanists that are trying to develop a spell that will allow any cross-species couple to have a child.
“We know it can be done because that is how we think the dragons made the dragonborn species; combining dragon essence with human essence - two very dissimilar and non-matching essences.
“These arcanists probably have a myriad of reasons as to why they are trying this. Likely, only a few of them are attempting to create this spell because they want a child with their lover; who happens to be of another sentient species. Others may want it for darker reasons.
“Even if you could find one of these arcanists and, after investigating them, you find that they are trustworthy, it will be very expensive. New spell research requires exotic components. Those components are expensive. You would be either paying a lot for the research and components while the spell was being developed, or paying a lot after the spell was created so that the arcanist can recoup their expenses.
“And there could be side-effects, maybe permanent ones, depending on how the spell operates. If the spell alters you both to be permanently compatible and fertile with each other, essentially becoming a separate species that is just the two of you, it might include other changes too. Possibilities like skin color changes, growing an extra limb, or becoming a water-breather come to mind.
“If the spell is a one-use-one-child kind of spell that operates on the mixing of essences at conception, the side effects might exist in the child. The child could end up looking very different than either of you, possibly with a very alien physiology or mentality: extra limbs, extra eyes, a tail, or odd hungers and behaviors.
“You might find that you have become test subjects for a very shady arcanist. Some sages think that similar spells, that mix essences of dissimilar species, created some of the monsters in the world.
“But… If you could find an arcanist you could trust, this could be a better way than making a pact with an otherworldly being.”
Pike glanced back and forth at their faces while they absorbed this last bit of information.
“Do you know of one such arcanist?”, Vex asked.
Pike shook her head. “No, I don’t. There might not be one. It was only a rumor.”
“Thank you, Pike.” Percy ran his hand through his hair. “You have given us much to think about.”
“I wish I could have given you better news.”
“Nevertheless, we needed to know.” Percy squeezed Vex again. “And you have given us options. Again, thank you.”
Pike nodded and got up to leave. Now, she would have to have this exact same depressing conversation with Vax and Keyleth. She hated telling her friends bad news like this.