Chapter Text
“Your Highnesses,” Oskar said, bowing when Rakel and Farrin entered the palace chapel, followed closely by a large white fluffball.
Phile, Kai, and Gerta looked up. The children bowed, then ran to greet the princess, but Farrin stepped between them and his very pregnant wife. “Remember, be gentle so the babies won’t be hurt,” he said kindly. Gerta and Kai slowed their pace and put their arms around Rakel almost in slow motion. Rakel smiled at them and patted their backs.
“Princess, you should be in bed,” Oskar clucked affectionately. Oskar, Phile, Harold, and a team of servants scurried around the room placing flower arrangements and attaching garlands of evergreen branches to the walls.
Rakel huffed. “Tomorrow is my brother’s wedding and I’m not going to lie around and let everyone else do all the work. I am perfectly capable of helping.” When the wedding had been planned, no one had realized that Rakel was pregnant. Now, on the eve of the royal wedding, there was concern that Rakel would not be able to attend the ceremony because of her physical condition.
Phile came to Oskar’s rescue. “Actually, Little Wolf, I got to wondering just today if you could build some ice sculptures to jazz up the chapel a bit.” Phile helped Rakel sit down on the nearest chair.
“I think so.” Rakel answered, beginning to call her magic. “What type of sculpture do you want?”
Phile tapped Foedus on her chin as she thought. Just then, King Steinar and soon-to-be-queen Lucy came into the room, Halvor ghosting after them.
“Your Majesties,” Oskar said, bowing deeply. Other than Rakel, the others in the room also bowed. King Steinar had told Rakel weeks ago not to bother because any princess pregnant with twins got a temporary pass on obeisance.
Halvor stepped across the room to speak with Farrin. Rakel noticed. I’m so glad Farrin has found a friend in Halvor. My two favorite soldiers.
Princess Lucy smiled, “We came to check on your progress. Will everything be ready in time?”
Phile answered, “It shouldn’t be a problem. As the oracle who gave me Foedus said to me long ago, ‘As long as the food is good and the wine is plentiful, the wedding will be a success.’”
Farrin chuckled. “I guess the part where they actually become husband and wife is beside the point?”
Oskar answered, “We will have everything ready, Your Majesties.”
“Oooo. Ooph.” Rakel groaned and put a hand to her stomach. Within seconds, her husband and brother stood by her side and her other friends stood very near, looking worried. She sighed in aggravation. “I’m fine, worriers. One of the babies just kicked me. He or she is getting stronger.” She shooed them away with a flick of her wrist.
Before ten minutes had passed, her fingertips were glowing silver and blue, but she sagged and whispered, “I’m tired.”
Farrin took her hand. “C’mon, Beautiful. I’ll take you home so you can take a nap.”
“No. I’m fine. I’m making a sculpture,” Rakel said stubbornly.
“You’ll have plenty of time to sculpt after the nap,” Farrin coaxed.
Rakel was ready to argue when King Steinar stepped in. He crouched beside his sister. “Rakel, if you don’t rest when you’re tired, Hanna is going to have you confined to your rooms until the babies are born. She’s worried about the strain your body is under. Now, let Farrin take you to your room. Get plenty of rest so that you’ll be fresh for the festivities tomorrow. I want my beautiful sister in attendance at my wedding.”
Rakel deflated. “Yes, Steinar.” As King Steinar stood and helped her up, she muttered darkly, “Just my luck. I have the only little brother on the continent who can pull rank.”
Phile cackled, Oskar coughed, and Princess Lucy smiled. The servants who had heard Rakel’s statement gawked. Only Farrin and Halvor managed to keep straight faces.
King Steinar smiled indulgently. “I love you, Rakel, even when you’re upset with me.”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I love you, too,” she said wearily.
King Steinar kissed his sister’s forehead. He said, “It’s fine, Dearheart. Sleep well, and I’ll see you in the morning.”
Farrin nodded to King Steinar and Princess Lucy then put his arm around Rakel and escorted her gently toward the Queen’s Corridor.
***
As the pregnant princess exited the room, to Halvor’s chagrin, Phile turned her sights on him. “So, Handsome Halvor, when are you going to make it so there’s no single people left on the advisory counsel? You’re greatly outnumbered now,” Phile said.
Oskar said slyly, “I’ve heard a rumor that the general has been seeing a lot of a certain merchant’s daughter lately.”
King Steinar said, “Oh, yes, I’ve heard she’s quite pretty with cornsilk hair and eyes as green as the grass.”
Princess Lucy put her hand on the crook of King Steinar’s elbow and spoke gently, “You shouldn’t tease him so.”
Phile asked, “What’s her name, General?”
Halvor, who had endured the entire exchange without reacting, decided to change the subject. “Speaking of names, does anyone know what the new prince and princess are to be named?”
Phile rolled her eyes, but Princess Lucy apparently took pity on the general. “Are we sure there will be a girl and a boy?” she asked.
Phile snorted. “There’s gotta be two of them, that’s for sure. I’ve lived in cottages smaller than Rakel’s current girth.”
Oskar gave her a scathing look. “I love you, but that was very disrespectful.”
Phile looked up at him innocently, putting her arms around his waist. “What? It’s not her fault. Her body has got to make room for them somehow.” Oskar acquiesced, kissing Phile’s cheek.
King Steinar said, “The healer insists that she can tell the gender of the babies through her magic. Farrin and Rakel seem to believe her, and they know much more about magic than I do. As for names, if they have chosen them, they have kept it a closely guarded secret.”
Phile groaned. “I have tried to snoop in their apartments and I can’t find any information at all about it. I hate not knowing!”
Halvor chuckled, “They know you well enough to know that if they left a hint, you would find it.”
Phile looked at him knowingly, “Is that why there’s no information in your office about the name of your little blonde girl?”
Halvor smirked at her.
Phile harrumphed and returned to decorating.
***
Farrin tucked a blanket securely around Rakel and sat beside her on the bed. She yawned. Her eyelids were already sliding closed when she said, “We still have to decide what we are going to name these children.”
Farrin pushed her curls from her eyes and dropped a kiss on her forehead. “Don’t worry, Love. We will figure it out. We have time.”
“What about Annaliesa, after your grandmother, and Oskar, after the first person who ever loved me?”
“It’s a worthy idea, but don’t you think you would raise Phile’s ire?”
She sighed. “You’re right. She’s been pestering us since before the wedding to name our first child after her.” Rakel rolled her eyes. “Do you have any ideas?”
“I have one that I’ve been considering, but I’m not sure it’s a good one.”
She pushed herself up on her elbows and said, “What is it?”
Farrin gave her a barely-there smile. “Lie back down, and I’ll tell you.”
Rakel gave him a dirty look but lay back against her pillows.
Farrin said, “Erik and Korsa.”
“They’re pretty names. Is there some significance to them?”
“Korsa is derived from all the letters in Oskar’s name.”
Rakel’s eyes glittered. “Sneaky! I like it. What about Erik?”
“It’s my younger brother’s name. We were best friends before I was taken. He was never afraid of me even when he knew I had magic.”
“I don’t want you to feel sad every time you look at our son.”
Farrin took her hands and gently rubbed the backs of them with his thumbs. “The memory used to be very painful--but it has not been that way for a long time. Now, I enjoy thinking about him, and if we are honoring the first people who loved us, Erik qualifies.”
Rakel yawned, then said, “I think it’s a lovely idea. Korsa and Erik. What are we going to tell people when they ask where the names came from?”
Farrin winked. “Who says we have to tell them?”
“Phile won’t give up easily.”
“So, we’ll make up new origin stories everytime she asks.”
Rakel let one corner of her lips tip up as her eyes slid closed. A moment later she popped her eyes back open. They were full of worry. “These babies will be loved, won’t they, Farrin?”
He had answered this question, or a variation thereof, at least a dozen times before. Her own lonely childhood has tainted her thinking. She can’t let herself believe the truth. Farrin answered patiently, “Yes, Love,” he stroked her hair as he continued, “by you and me, by Steinar and Lucy, by Oskar and Phile, by Halvor, by Kai and Gerta and Hilda and Inga, by Bunny and Crow, and so many others.”
“What if they have scary magic, Farrin?”
“Every one of those people will love our children no matter what kind of magic they have.”
“Are you sure?”
The corner of his mouth tipped up in a half-smile. “Can you imagine how excited Phile will be if our children have magic? She won’t care what kind it is.”
“What if--.” Rakel started.
Farrin put a warm hand on her forehead and whispered, “Shhh. Sleep now. We will talk about all of it later.”
“You’re as bad as Steinar,” she sighed.
Farrin just smiled gently. She rolled on her side, and Farrin helped her arrange a pillow under her belly. Within moments, she slept.