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When Rayla told him she was pregnant, Callum couldn't be more happy. After almost three years of marriage, they were going to have a family of their own. There had been rumors among the kingdom and Silvergrove (and the other kingdoms) that they were incapable of having children and they were starting to think it was true since they had been childless for so long despite trying. Now it seemed like everything was falling into place.
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Rayla woke to the mid spring light spilling into her and Callum's room. Stretching, she got up and placed a hand on her stomach. She was already starting to show but no one could accurately say that she was pregnant. She and Callum had made the announcement about Rayla's pregnancy a few weeks after Valentine's Day and the kingdom and Silvergrove had rejoiced at the news. She couldn't even feel the baby move yet but she wasn't even in her fifth month yet which was when the midwife told her she would be able to. It was hard for her to believe that she was carrying Callum's child and that they were going to be parents but she was extremely happy at the thought.
"Hi, Midnight," she said when her pet jumped up on the bed.
The three-year-old shadowbandit had been a wedding present from Callum. He had found her while on a shadowbandit hunt with Ezra, Bait, Zym, Soran, Ibis, Corvus, Commander Gren, Runaan, Ethari, and Lain the day before a wedding (a tradition among the elves). They had come across Midnight's mother near the Midnight Desert where Runaan was forced to shoot her after they discovered that she had been bitten by a soulfang snake. They had then discovered Midnight and, because she was too young to be on her own, Callum had brought her back to the Storm Spire.
Midnight rubbed against Rayla's side; the sunlight glinting off the metal of her green collar and her tag (the moon Arcanum over the two towers that were the symbol for Katolis (the crest that Callum had designed for their family stating that he didn't feel right claiming the royal seal for Katolis as his since Harrow was his step-father and he had no idea what crest his birth father's family used)).
"Excited about having a play mate?" Rayla asked her pet. "It's going to be a while before it can play with you."
Getting out of bed, she began to get dressed. While she was unable to wear her more formfitting cloths, Rayla was extremely happy that she didn't have to wear the maternity cloths that Opeli sent her...at least not yet. She was also very happy that her morning sickness had stopped. She was tired of being unable to eat anything except dry toast for breakfast. Once dressed, she headed downstairs where she found Callum in the dinning room. Several of the servants (both human and elf) that had been assigned to the house (despite Callum and Rayla's instance that they didn't need servants) were busy going about their morning chores.
"Good morning, Your Highness," said one of the servants, a female skywing elf, as Rayla joined Callum at the table. "Can I get you anything for breakfast?"
"Some eggs, please," Rayla said. "With some bacon...and hash browns...and sausage...and toast."
"Someone's hungry," Callum said.
"Someone," Rayla replied, "is eating for two and hasn't thrown up in a week."
"Your Highnesses," said a sunfire elf servant as Rayla and Callum were finishing their breakfast, "you have some visitors."
"I wonder who it could be?" Callum said as he and Rayla exited the dining room.
Outside of the elf and human carpenters Callum hired to build it, only a handful of people knew where Rayla and Callum's house was. There was Ezran, Corvis, Opeli, Commander Gren and his wife Kazi, Aanay, Apolla, Runaan, Ethari, Rayla's parents, Soren, Ellis, Lujanne, Ibis, Amaya, and Jania (and Bait, Ava, Zym, Phoe-Phoe, Pyrrah, and Zubeia). Also the house was protected, hidden from view by the same spell that hide the Silvergrove from view. A special rune was needed to enter the grounds and Callum and Rayla only trusted it to a select group of people.
"Runaan! Ethari!" Rayla said happily. "And you brought Artamis."
The one-year-old Moonshadow elf looked at them. She knew who Rayla and Callum were; had known them all her life. But Rayla knew that it was probably because she couldn't understand why Callum and Rayla lived together when they were a male and a female.
"Hi, cutie," Callum said as Runaan passes his daughter to the prince.
"You're going to need the practice," the former assassin said.
Callum held Artamis and memories of holding Ezran when he was this age came back to him. Runaan had accepted Callum into Rayla's life almost immediately. Callum assumed that it had to do with the fact that he and Ezran had forgiven him for what happened the night they and Rayla had discovered Zym's egg.
"What brings you here?" Rayla asked as the four of them take a seat in the sitting room with Artamis settled in Callum's lap babbling happily at Midnight who was sniffing her.
"We came for a visit," Runaan said. "And we have some news."
"Luna has agreed to carry another child for us," Ethari said. "Artamis is going to have a half sibling to play with."
Luna was a friend of Runaan and Ethari's and had been a surrogate mom to Rayla when she was growing up. She had even given her a Moonstrider pup that Rayla had named Moon Lily. Rayla loved Moon Lily but sadly her friend had been bitten by a soulfang serpent in the Midnight Desert when Nyx had set her and the Shadowpaw with them free to prevent Rayla and Callum from coming after her to get Zym back. Rayla missed her terribly but she and Callum had gotten a pair of Shadowpaws (whom Callum had named Luna and Sombra as a joke since they were the draconic words for "moon" and "shadow") as a wedding present from Runaan and Ethari. Luna had also been the surrogate mother for Artamis; carrying her for nine months and giving birth so her friends could have a child of their own. They had used an ancient Xadian spell and Luna had become pregnant with Runaan's child almost two years ago. Now she was carrying another child for them.
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Luna paced unhappily in the paddock. She and Rayla hadn't gone for a ride in months and she was getting restless. However, it wasn't just for the safety of Rayla and the baby that Rayla hadn't gone riding since she and Callum returned from the Banther Lodge after Valentine's Day. Luna was expecting kits of her own, though she was so solidly built that no one could tell. Rayla patted the shadowpaw.
"It's okay, girl," she said. "Maybe Callum can take you out for a little ride later."
Luna continued to pace. Rayla knew exactly how she felt. Being pregnant might be an enjoyable experience but it wasn't easy. Both Rayla and Luna were active and not being able to do what they wanted was difficult. The only thing that Rayla really enjoyed about it was that she and Callum were going to finally have a child and that Callum was waiting on her hand and foot.
A low roar drew Rayla's attention to her right. There, lying in her favorite patch of sun, was Pyrrah. The sun dragon had traveled back to Katollis with them nearly three years ago and had stayed close to the castle. However, shortly after Callum and Rayla had moved into their new house, she had shown up and made a home in the caves that were practically next door. Ever since, she'd been keeping a close eye on Rayla. It was like she has taken it upon herself to keep Rayla and her unborn child safe.
"Hi, Pyrrah," Rayla said. "I bet you're loving this weather."
The dragon just looked at her then went back to sunning herself. Rayla was used to living near dragons (they made their homes all over Xadia) but it had taken Callum a while to get used to leaving the house to find a dragon outside.
"She's still here?" Runaan asked.
"I don't think she'll be leaving anytime soon," Rayla said. "Ezran said that she told him she has a life debt to Callum and me."
"Well dragons can be stubborn that way." Runaan turned to look at Rayla. "We brought something for you and Callum."
"You didn't have to do that," Rayla said.
"We wanted to. And I think you'll like it," Runaan said pointing to the far side of the paddock.
Rayla looked where he was pointing and smiled when she saw what was there...or rather who was there.
"Moon Lily!" she said happily as the moonstrider approached her.
Moon Lily lowered head over the railing and sniffed Rayla's belly as Rayla petted her.
"I thought I lost you in the Midnight Desert," Rayla said.
"She showed up in the Silvergrove three weeks ago with a male," Runaan said. "Ethari recognized her and thought you would want her back."
"Let me look at you, girl," Rayla said. Her eyes were drawn to the moonstrider's large belly. "What have you been up to? It looks like you got yourself into the same situation that Luna and I are in."
Moon Lily began lipping her hair, a habit from when she was a pup. Rayla laughed before resting her forehead against Moon Lily's. It felt so good to see her old friend again.
"Here you are," Callum said coming up to the paddock. He looked at the moonstrider on the other side of the fence. "She looks familiar."
Moon Lily leaned forward and began lipping Callum's hair.
"Now I remember you," Callum said gently pushing the moonstrider's head away.
Rayla laughed running her hands against her baby bump. Their little family was defiantly getting bigger; bigger than she had thought when she told Callum she was pregnant.
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It was late and Rayla should have been in bed resting. But instead, she and Callum were in the barn. Luna had gone into labor and they wanted to be there when she had her kits.
"It's okay, girl," Rayla said stroking Luna.
In the next stall, Sombra looked over the divider at his mate. Across the barn, Moon Lily and her mate Shadow Runner tried to look over to Luna's stall. Luna whined in pain. It wouldn't be long now. Soon the first kit was born followed shortly by its five brothers and sisters. All six shadowpaw kits squeaked as they crawled blindly to their mother to nurse.
"They're like kittens or puppies," Callum said as they watched the kits nurse from Luna. "I thought they would be more like foals."
The stablemaster (a moonshadow elf whose family raised shadowpaws and moonstriders back in Xadia) lead a very anxious Sombra into the stall.
"We're going to have to find homes for most of them. We won't be able to keep eight fully grown shadowpaws," Rayla said.
"We can still keep one though, right? They're so cute."
"They won't look so cute when they're running around the stable yard. But yeah we can keep one. By the time the baby is ready to learn how to ride, it will be trained."
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Ten weeks later the six shadowpaws were running around the paddock with six little moonstrider pups (Moon Lily's litter born several days after the shadowpaws). Several had been picked out by the servants and marked with colorful bridles but Callum and Rayla had saved four ahead of time (plus the two that they were keeping). They had been picked out by Soren, Ezren, Corvus, and Opeli and were going to be sent to the palace in a few weeks where Soren planed to train his new moonstrider Eclipse as a soldier's mount and Corvus planned to train his new shadowpaw Hunter to be his partner in tracking. As for Ezran's new shadowpaw Moon Dance and Opeli's new moonstrider Lady, they were going to be trained as a king's mount and a lady's mount.
"Luna and Moon Lily aren't going to be happy when these little guys have to leave," Callum said as he and Rayla watched the moonstrider pups and shadowpaw kits chase each other around the paddock.
"It can't be helped," Rayla said. "We can't keep eight shadowpaws and eight moonstriders. The barn and paddock aren't big enough. Hopefully having Dusk and Moon Rose remain here will make things easier for them."
"Hopefully the baby will be a better rider than me," Callum said.
Smiling, Rayla ran her hands over her swollen belly. This baby was something that everyone had been waiting for. This was Rayla's third pregnancy. She had miscarried her first baby (conceived on her and Callum's wedding night) when she was only four months along. Her second pregnancy a year ago had been to term but the baby had been still born. She could only hope that third time's the charm. She felt arms wrap around her and Callum's hands slid over hers.
"Don't worry about it," he said kissing her cheek. "Something tells me that this baby is going to make it."
"I've lost two already," Rayla said. "Maybe elves and humans can't have children."
"Don't say that. We've beaten the odds before. And a miscarriage and a still born birth doesn't mean we can't have a healthy baby."
"You don't know that, Callum. There hasn't been a baby born of an elf and a human in over a thousand years...maybe never."
"I do. My mother had a stillborn child before she had me and miscarried before she had Ezran."
Rayla had never known that. Of course, she hadn't told him that her mother had a stillborn and two miscarriages before she was born. Maybe it wasn't the fact that Callum was a human and she was an elf that caused her to lose two babies. And maybe, just maybe, this one would make it.
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The summer afternoon was warm and sunny. Despite being a moonshadow elf, Rayla loved days like this. Her garden was in full bloom and the scent of all the flowers filled the air. Looking up, she could see Dusk and Moon Rose playing in the paddock. Nearby, Luna, Sombra, Moon Lily, and Shadow Runner grazed while keeping a watchful eye on their children. Rayla and Callum had decided to name the baby shadowpaw Dusk and the baby moonstrider Moon Rose. The two were running around the paddock chasing each other. Rayla smiled as she watched them. They were so carefree and Luna and Moon Lily were such good mothers. She laid her hand on her stomach. She only hoped that Callum was right and this baby would make it.
Pyrrah looked around the other side of the barn. Her mate was out hunting so she was at home tending to their cave. Rayla knew that sun dragons (like all dragons) attempted to have eggs as soon as they mated and sun dragons had eggs much easier than storm dragons so she had no idea why Pyrrah and her mate Sun Fire were waiting so long since they had mated last summer. Rayal went up to the dragoness and took her muzzle in her hands.
"Why are you and Sun Fire waiting?" she asked wishing not for the first time that she could talk to animals like Ezran.
The dragoness simply bumped Rayla gently with her nose. Rayla smiled and rubbed the dragoness's nose. It would have to do for an answer for now.
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The servants were busy going about their choirs when Opeli arrived. She came by once a week to check on Rayla and make sure that she and the baby were alright.
"Cleric Opeli is here," said one of the servants showing Opeli into the sitting room.
Rayla looked up from her work. She had been busy sewing a blanket for Runaan and Ethari's new baby. She had been expecting Opeli. But, as a princess (and nearing the end of her pregnancy), she didn't rise to greet her. Callum had told Rayla that this happened when a baby was expected in a royal family.
"Your highness," Opeli said bowing.
Rayla gestured to the chair across for her. Opeli took her seat as a servant brought in a tray of tea and cakes.
"Lady, Moon Dancer, Hunter, and Eclipse are settling into the stables at the palace," Opeli said picking up her tea.
Opeli always started with small talk and the shadowpaws and moonstriders that she, Ezran, Corvis, and Soren got from Rayla and Callum was a good starting point. The two continued to talk for a short time.
"How are you and the baby feeling?" Opeli asked coming to the point of her visit.
"We're fine. The baby keeps kicking me though," Rayla said.
"Well, from what I remember from when Queen Sarai was expecting, that's a good thing."
"That's true but it still doesn't make it feel any less strange."
The two women continued to talk. They had actually been on good terms since the Battle of the Storm Spire. Then Opeli had to take her leave. As High Cleric, she had a lot to do back at the castle. Ezran may be king but even his father didn't run the kingdom alone. It took a lot of people keep the kingdom running smoothly. There were all kinds of advisors and dignitaries to help Ezran make inform decisions. Of course, Ezran wasn't one to let others sway his decisions. He had seen what happened when Viren was King Harrow's advisor. He had manipulated him into killing Zym's father when he had decided to moved on. While Ezran loved and respected his father, he wasn't going to make the same mistakes. Rayla rose to see Opeli out. Just because she was pregnant (and a princess) didn't mean she had forgotten her manners. After all, Runaan and Ethari had raised her right.
"I almost forgot to tell you. Runaan and Ethari are going to have another child," Rayla said when they got to the door.
Opeli smiled. She liked Runaan and Ethari.
"I'll inform Ezran," she said. "He'll want to send congratulations to them."
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Rayla had just returned from a trip to town when Pyrrah met her at the house.
"Hi, Pyrrah," Rayla said getting out of the carriage.
The dragon gently pushed her towards the back of the house.
"Where are we going?" Rayla asked.
Turning the corner, Rayla saw what the dragon was up to.
"A baby shower," she said seeing Opeli, her mother, Janai, Kazi, General Amaya, Queen Anya, and Queen Zuiba.
"A little birdie told us you needed some things for the baby," Zuiba said.
It was true. When Rayla had the still born, she and Callum had sent all the baby supplies they had received to Runaan and Ethari after learning that Luna was expecting Artemis. It was too painful to look at it after loosing two babies. But this time was different. This time she believed, like Callum, that this baby would make it.
Unlike her last baby shower, this one was more quiet. Her last one had been at the palace since that's where she and Callum lived before Callum had this house built for her and nearly all the noble ladies had come and treated Rayla's friends as servants. But this was so much better. Rayla and her friends talked and had a nice lunch in her garden. Having been born a commoner, Rayla liked things simple. It was also nice to see her mom. Since marrying Callum and moving to Katolis, she didn't get to see her parents that much. Rayla had her duties in Katolis as princess and her parents had theirs at the Storm Spire as members of the Dragon Guard. They came to Katolis a few times and Rayla and Callum visited them at the Storm Spire. But now it was to difficult to make the journey. Rayla couldn't travel much now that she was in her third trimester.
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Callum was fast asleep when Rayla shook him awake. He was up with a jolt. With Rayla so close to the end of her pregnancy, a midwife had temporarily moved into one of the spare rooms and they went to bed every night wondering if the baby was going to come.
"Rayla," Callum said concerned, "is everything alright?"
Rayla was clutching her stomach and seemed to be in pain.
"Get the midwife," Rayla said before wincing in pain. "It's time. The baby's coming."
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"Breath, your highness," the midwife said. "It won't be much longer."
Rayla was exhausted. She had been in labor for nearly twice as long as last time. She had been in labor for nearly twice as long as last time. She wanted her baby to be born and be healthy. Another contraction seized her body. She had been taught to ignore her pain but she couldn't ignore this. She braced herself against Callum as the pain subsided.
"You're doing fine, Rayla," Callum said. "Our baby is almost here."
"Your highness," the midwife said, "one the next contraction I want you to push."
Rayla wasn't sure if she could. She was in so tired and in so much pain. But her maternal instincts were telling her to keep going. She tried to hold back her tears but she couldn't. Suddenly she had the feeling of something exiting her body and a baby's cry filled the room.
"Congratulations, your highnesses," the midwife said placing a small bundle in Rayla's arms, "it's a girl."
Rayla looked down at the child in her arms. Her baby was here and she was alive and healthy.
"She's beautiful, Rayla," Callum said.
The baby was a perfect blend of her parents. She had brown hair and five fingers like Callum and two tiny bumps on her head where her horns would grow in. And, when she opened her eyes, they were the same shade of Lilac as her mother's.
"So you're the one who's been kicking me," Rayla said to her daughter.
"Do you have a name picked out?" the midwife asked as she cleaned up the after birth.
"There's a tradition in my family that the first child born is named after one of the grandparents," Rayla said.
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Callum asked.
"Her name is Sarai."