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“Don’t you worry about a thing, Shionne. I’ll bring him back in one piece!”
Shionne knew she should be more confident in Law’s assurance, if not in his ability. He was already an exceptional fighter when they'd all travelled together, and the intervening years had only helped him to hone his skills.
But she was worrying for two now.
Shionne knew she was likely grimacing at the younger man, and so she looked down. She couldn't see her feet; not for the bump that protruded out and under her yellow dress. Kisara had only just altered the garment a few weeks ago, but it would probably need letting out again at this rate.
It was another thing to think about, but right now her head was spinning with worries of another sort. Though her head was bowed, Shionne heard Alphen close the front door, settle his pack down and stand in front of her. Shionne sighed, feeling his hand cup her cheek. She looked up. He was smiling at her, and Shionne couldn't help how she smiled back. How could she do anything but smile back at the man in front of her?
“I don’t have to go,” he said, quietly. “Not if you don’t want me to.”
“Doc asked for you,” Shionne replied, with a shrug that was the complete opposite of how she felt. Her stomach was tied up in knots. “Besides,” she added, as lightly as she could, because if there was anything worse than how she felt, it was how guilty he looked. “I know you’ll be okay. I just wish I was going with you. Watching your back.”
“And his front.”
“Law!" Rinwell snapped, and when Law's only reply was to laugh, she growled out her next instruction:
"Hootle, attack!”
Alphen didn’t even turn his head to look at the all-too familiar sight. Instead, he dropped the hand from her cheek, and held it to his forehead. Already, Shionne could tell, he was regretting asking them to come along.
From what Shionne could see, Hootle was pecking Law quite insistently, as the martial artist pleaded for the mage to call him off his attack. Rinwell looked apathetic, with arms folded and a tilted head that said she would do no such thing.
Shionne had no sympathy for the younger man either. In her mind, he deserved it.
“Maybe I'll use this as practice.”
At the sound of his voice, Shionne returned her full attention to her husband. Now, Alphen was cradling the bump, gently. Shionne smiled brightly, at the sight. When she'd first begun to show, he'd been terrified of touching her, worried that he might hurt her or the baby growing inside her. Thankfully Dohalim and Kisara had managed to convince him that wasn't the case.
Alphen chuckled and leaned closer. Shionne heard him, as he said: “I sure hope you’re nothing like your Uncle Law or Aunt Rinwell.”
“Hey!”
“Hey!”
Hootle joined Rinwell and Law's shouts of disagreement, with an indignant hoot of his own. The white owl returned to Rinwell's shoulder, and Law looked relieved by the pause in his assualt.
“Look,” Shionne said, amused, and with a pointed glance in their direction. “They agree on something now.”
Alphen, the picture of fake-innocence, pulled back. He lifted Shionne’s hand and pressed a kiss to it.
“We’ll be back in a few days,” he said. “Kisara should be here to stay later tonight.”
Shionne nodded; grateful that this job only required Alphen, Law and Rinwell. Dohalim was on Lenegis for the rest of the week. Shionne would've been bored, and lonely, if Kisara hadn't been able to stay. And she'd spent so much time being lonely.
Even if she'd wanted to be alone, Shionne knew she wouldn't have been allowed. Kisara was visiting to keep her company, yes, but she was also - as Shionne had put it - there to 'babysit' her, given that she was so far along in her pregnancy.
“Hmm, that’ll be nice."
“What’ll you two do when we’re gone anyway?” Alphen asked, picking his pack up from the ground, and throwing it around his shoulders. Shionne adjusted the straps, knowing she was fussing as she did to delay his trip. If she could even have a few extra seconds with her husband, that would be enough for her.
But the sooner he was away, the sooner he would be home. She mulled over his words.
“I don’t know about Kisara. Cooking and fishing, I suppose,” Shionne replied. “Me?”
And suddenly a memory came to her out of the blue; the last time she and Alphen had been apart for more than a few days. It wasn’t a happy separation, but it had been so long ago, and their reunion had been a happy one.
“I’ll miss you.”
Alphen blushed slightly; did he remember? Shionne couldn’t tell for sure, and she knew by the tapping of Rinwell’s foot, and Law sparring with thin air that she wouldn't have a chance to ask him. The two were getting bored and restless. It wouldn't be long before Law said something, Rinwell took umbridge - whether rightly or wrongly - and Hootle was unleashed again.
Alphen leaned down to kiss Shionne's cheek, said one last farewell to her bump, and turned around. Law and Rinwell raced ahead of him, desperate to get moving. They moved up the hill, in the direction of the caverns that would take them to Cyslodia. Alphen held back a little, making sure he had everything, before beginning at a slower pace.
When they reached Cyslodia, the trio were to make their way to the passage that connected the icy region to Caliglia. A wild zeugle had recently made a nest there and was interrupting trade. It was small, especially compared to what they had fought before.
Shionne knew that.
Even so, it held its dangers. And without her healing artes-
“Alphen!”
She rushed to him, as quickly as her bare feet would allow. Alphen held his arms out and caught her. Without a care for Rinwell’s blush or Law turning himself away embarassed, Shionne crushed her lips to her husband’s. He responded in kind, even as the villagers around them paused and stared too.
Later, when recounting the story to Kisara, she’d blame the hormones. They made her feel everything and all the time. Sad, angry, happy, wistful, even amourous, to name a few.
“You better come back,” Shionne said, forcefully, when they pulled apart, but still in one another’s arms. “I’ll kill you if you don’t!”
Against Alphen’s chest, she heard his reassuring laughter. She needed to hear that laugh for the rest of her life, their child deserved to know their father’s smile and laugh. Alphen had so much love in his heart, so much to give to their child. So much still left to give to her too, realised Shionne.
“I mean it,” Shionne demanded. “You know I do.”
Alphen pulled back, a little, so that he could hold Shionne at an arm’s length. His eyes sparkled, and his lips tugged into a smile; Shionne still remembered the day she’d realised that smile was just for her, and she’d known, for certain, that her heart was his.
That smile said more than words could.
I’ll be home soon. I know you will. I love you.