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Bravery could feel her cheeks cramping as she smiled and said her goodbyes to yet another member of Austalfur’s aristocracy. If only her work for Thraemeus could include working with people who actually knew something about adventuring—Iodessa and her brother seemed to be black sheep in the ranks of the elven nobles. The heads of Austalfur’s houses slowly filed out of the meeting room as Bravery continually nodded her head to accept their thanks and pretended to be interested when she was invited to various social gatherings, saying that she would see if she could make it.
As soon as the large wooden door slammed shut, Bravery spun on her heels, cape swirling behind her, and hurried to the other side of the room, leaving through a small back door. She rushed through the halls of Austalfur’s palace until she reached the room she had been given, surprisingly not knocking anyone over on the way. She shut the door behind her and leaned back against it as she caught her breath.
For the past week, Bravery had been keeping an issue in the back of her mind, hoping that it would resolve itself, but she found she couldn’t take it anymore. Her mind was weighed down with worry to the point that she could hardly focus on her work. She needed to Commune with Helm, and she needed to do it now.
Bravery nervously gathered the materials she needed to speak with her deity, dreading his answer. She slowly lit the incense, watching the gentle smoke from each stick rise to the vaulted ceiling before moving to the next. She poured a vial of holy water into a wooden bowl, then brought it into the circle of incense, sitting in front of it. She placed the tips of her fingers into the cool water, closed her eyes, and then cast the spell that let her directly communicate with the one who provided her powers. Bravery took a deep breath as a gentle glow began to emanate from her hands.
“Vigilant One, Helm the watcher… am I pregnant?”
As Bravery waited for her answer, she held her breath. The room was completely silent—no noises came from the hallway, and the strong winds outside took a pause from rattling her window. Bravery waited for what seemed too long, and she worried she wasn’t going to hear an answer until a deep, male voice finally filled Bravery’s mind.
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?” Bravery, in shock, had blurted the words without thinking.
“Yes,” the voice responded, much quicker this time.
Bravery sat for a moment, all reverence gone from her mind, as her revelation sunk in. “Is it safe to teleport while pregnant?” she finally asked.
“Yes,” the voice said with exasperation. The spell ceased.
***
With a flash of light, Bravery appeared in the basement of her home in Ornimar. She could hear that Veezara was home, puttering around in the kitchen, so she urgently ascended the stairs.
“What are you doing?” Bravery asked her husband as she opened the secret passageway into the kitchen. Veezara paused, mouth half open awaiting the cheese in his hand. He glanced at the half-eaten wheel of cheese on the table and then back at his wife.
“You weren’t supposed to be back yet,” he replied, words garbled from his mouthful of cheese.
“You ate that much cheese just this week?”
Veezara swallowed. “…Yes.”
Bravery sighed, then changed the subject. “I have news.”
“Is that why you’re back early?” Veezara queried. “Is everything okay?”
Bravery nodded as she finally closed the passageway. “I’m fine. This is just… unexpected, and something you needed to know.” Veezara held his empty, cheeseless hand out to his wife in comfort, which Bravery gladly took. “I’m…”
Bravery’s voice faltered, but Veezara tightened his grip on her hand. He gave her a comforting look, his whole attention on Bravery as he let her know she could take her time.
“I’m pregnant,” Bravery finally divulged.
Veezara’s eyes widened. “Holy hell.” He took another bite of cheese.
***
Bravery sat on the floor of hers and Veezara’s room, the paraphernalia of a Commune spell again surrounding her. She asked her questions rapid-fire, not waiting for an answer before asking the next. “Is forty-five too old to have a baby? Will I lay an egg? How will I be able to adventure and work for Thraemeus if I’m pregnant?” Bravery waited for the familiar voice of Helm to appear in her mind again, but there was no answer.
As she realized that her last question could not be answered with yes or no, a blinding yellow light suddenly seared her vision through her eyelids. She instinctively covered her eyes with her arms, but the light only lasted for a second or two, and at the sound of a familiar, deep male voice, she brought her arms back down.
“Bravery Brightwater,” Helm announced, “calm the fuck down.”
Bravery’s eyes were met with the familiar silhouette of her deity. Standing at least fifteen feet tall, he was stooped over to fit in the bedroom. He was clad in full plate armor, his face hidden by his helm, and gently emanated a holy aura—but these were characteristics Bravery had only seen in paintings or read about in books. Helm rarely showed himself to his followers. Yet, here he was, his divine presence on the Prime Material to speak to one of his most powerful acolytes.
“I’m sorry?” Bravery asked.
“Get a hold of yourself,” Helm spoke again, his booming voice rattling the walls of the house. “Remember your name. You have no reason to be frightened.”
“But—”
“You continue to ask me these questions that an experienced midwife could answer just as well, yet there is still one you do not ask, that some would consider the most important—will you be a good mother? But you already know the answer to that, do you not?”
Bravery was silent.
“Your two adopted children have been loved and raised well, and this one will be too. You need not worry about your age or your work with Thraemeus. Everything will work itself out, in time. You are not alone.”
With another flash of light, Helm was gone.
“Wait!” Bravery called. “You didn’t answer my egg question!”
***
The Brightdragon family, like every night, was gathered around the dining room table. This time, however, enjoying Veezara’s cooking was not the only objective.
“Your father and I have something we need to tell you,” Bravery began.
Arani was the older child, a seventeen-year-old half-orc girl. She looked up from her plate with suspicion. “What’s up?”
Runaeth, known better as Rune, was the younger, a ten-year-old dwarven boy. “Are we going to visit Io and Sel again?”
“We will at some point, yes, but that’s not what this is about.” Bravery took a deep breath. “You’re going to have another sibling.”
“Adopted?” Arani asked.
“No,” Bravery and Veezara responded in unison.
“You’re having a baby!” Rune cheered.
“It’s about time,” Arani laughed.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Bravery.
“It was gonna happen at some point, with how often you guys, you know.” Her parents just stared at her. “What? You guys are fucking loud!”
“Arani! Watch your language around your brother.”
“He’d hear that word a lot less if you’d soundproof your room, for once.”
Bravery’s eyes widened in shock, but Veezara suddenly burst out laughing. “Veezara, now is not the time,” Bravery chastised.
Bravery eventually gave up her attempt to wrangle her family back into a normal dinner atmosphere. Rune’s chorus of “We’re having a baby! We’re having a baby!” rang through the house as Veezara and Arani continued to laugh at the memory of Bravery’s shocked face.
“Mom?” a gentle voice asked once everyone had calmed down.
“Yes, Rune?”
“Can I have a new brother and a new sister?”
Bravery sighed. “We’ll see, buddy. We’ll see.”
***
“What did you two really want to meet us for?” Selavra asked halfway through their meal.
“What do you mean?” Bravery asked. “We can’t just want to catch up with old friends?”
“You certainly can, but I know you two. You get so caught up in whatever work it is you have going on that you never initiate the ‘catching up.’ The only reason you would actually think to meet us is if you have something to tell us, in person.”
Iodessa looked back and forth between her partner and Bravery, fork hesitating just above her plate, apparently unaware of this quirk in their relationship with their friends.
“Do you want to say it, or should I?” Veezara asked.
Bravery opened her mouth to answer, but then very suddenly closed it. “Excuse me,” she quickly whispered before rushing from the table. Somewhere in the house, a door slammed shut.
“Is she okay?” Iodessa asked.
“She’s fine,” Veezara answered. “Just morning sickness.”
Iodessa and Selavra took only a second to process Veezara’s words before suddenly erupting in excitement.
***
“Where are you going?” Veezara asked his wife as she walked out the door, thinking his question was innocent enough, but when it took her a second to answer he knew something was up. “Bravery, if I go to the basement looking for your Sun Blade, will it be there?”
Bravery reluctantly came back into the house and set the hilt of her Sun Blade on the counter next to Veezara.
“Where did you think you were going with that, seeing as you’re seven months pregnant?”
“I was going to help quell a zombie uprising,” she muttered.
“Zombies? And you didn’t tell me?”
“If I told you, you wouldn’t let me go!”
“You are very pregnant and don’t have armor that fits you! Why do you want to go?”
“I thought it would be fun.”
***
Bravery and Veezara both lay in their bed, exhausted. “Whose turn is it to feed her?” Bravery asked.
“I don’t remember,” Veezara groaned. “I’ll do it.”
“Thank you,” Bravery whispered before turning over. Veezara slowly sat up and looked towards his newborn daughter’s room, preparing to leave the comfort of his bed and brave the cold floor.
“Shit! Bravery, wake up!” Bravery was suddenly very awake as she sat up and followed where Veezara was pointing. Colored lights seemed to be dancing at the crack beneath her daughter’s door. “There’s someone in there.”
Both parents quickly found their hidden weapons and rushed to protect their daughter. Bravery flung open the door, longsword ready to smite anyone who dared hurt her child, only to see there was no one in the room other than the baby in the crib.
Four colorful lights spun around her crib as she giggled. Bravery’s and Veezara’s hearts dropped to their stomachs as they simultaneously realized what was happening.
Bravery had not, in fact, laid an egg when she gave birth to Meadow Brightdragon, much to Rune's disappointment. He was happy to have a baby sister, even though she wasn't also the baby brother he had asked for. In fact, the only piece of the baby tiefling’s dragonborn heritage that was visible was the two symmetrical patches of golden scales on either shoulder. At first, her parents had just thought that it was an interesting quirk of combining two races that didn’t usually have children together, but now everything made sense.
“She’s a sorcerer,” Veezara observed as his daughter continued to laugh at her own Dancing Lights spell.
***
Luckily for Meadow’s parents, she didn’t learn any more spells until she was two. Her second spell was also just a cantrip, but it was much more troublesome than Dancing Lights could ever be.
When Meadow’s favorite stuffed rothe started floating next to her, Bravery immediately knew she was witnessing Mage Hand. Before she could swear, though, Meadow swore first.
“Shit!” the toddler happily babbled, copying her mother’s words from the last time she had stubbed her toe. Meadow’s Mage Hand dropped her rothe (known affectionately as “Rothy”) and picked up her plate of food in the kitchen that Veezara had not finished preparing.
“Please tell me that word isn’t your verbal component,” Bravery pleaded as Veezara stared at his child in wonder.
“Shit!” Meadow giggled, and the plate of food dropped to the floor, replaced by the floating rothe.
“This is going to make finding a babysitter so much harder.”