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Kal strolls into Allona's room, uncaring of anything that may or may not be going on beyond that door. His sister knew he was visiting today. It's her own fault if he walks in on something. With his offering of sweets, he hopes to pry her away from Illario long enough to have a few minutes to themselves.
Slamming open the door in his usual style, his sister flinches where she sits. "Must you do that every time? You're lucky Viago doesn't charge you for the doors you've broken." Well, someone's in a bad mood today.
"What shit in your breakfast?"
"Not now, Kal." She grumbles. "I have bigger problems than you right now."
She has his interest for the moment. "Like?" She glares at him, then shifts to looking like she might cry. Allona glances at her sleeping boyfriend before extricating herself from her spot and coming over to him. There's something different about her that Kal can't place as he's led out into the hall and the door closed behind him. Allona glances down the halls, then leans closer to have a whisper conversation.
"I'm pregnant." She admits.
Kal blinks at her. "What's that mean?"
She swears under her breath. "Maker, I forgot how much of an idiot you can be. It means I'm going to have a baby."
"How?"
"You know what. No. I'm not having this conversation right now. Give me five minutes. I'll be right back," Kal blinks as she vanishes down the hall in a matter of moments. Does she not want the sweets? Kal baked them specifically for her.
Before he can come up with an answer to that very pressing question, Allona's back in front of him with a box of cuttings from some of her and Viago's garden. "Here. Take this and go see Emmrich. He can answer your questions." She takes the sweets from him. "And thanks for the dessert… Stab you later?"
Kal perks up." "Stab you later!" He calls back as they go their separate ways. Luca is busy today, so he has time to run over to the Necropolis. He should probably let Luca know where he's going, though. Not like last time when he may or may not have vanished for a whole day out of boredom to go shopping for new recipients and ingredients and forgot to tell Luca.
It doesn't take long for Kal to find Luca in his office with Spite hanging over his shoulder. "Kal!" Luca cheers, pulling himself from his desk and over to give him a quick kiss. Kal smiles into it, as well as the hug from Spite before the demon starts rubbing against him like an overly affectionate cat. "What brings you?"
"Allona didn't want to explain how she's going to have a baby, so she told me to go visit Emmrich." Luca freezes. A million emotions Kaldoesn'tt understand flash across his face." "So I thought I'd let you know before I left for the Necropolis." He's not responding. "Luca?"
"Your sister is pregnant. With my cousin's kid." Kal shrugs. "Mierda. I need a moment." Luca gives him a second quick kiss." "I thinkit'ss for the best that you talk to Emmrich. Be safe?" Kal nods, returning the kiss and offering one to Spite before turning and leaving.
The trip to the Necropolis was calm and uneventful. The Necropolis itself was its usual amount of bustling with skeletons, spirits, and necromancers all moving and working together. Even so, Kal manages to remain on task and find his way down to the room with the bell so he can start looking for Emmrich.
Oh! Look at that! Emmrich's speaking with Myrna and Vorgoth! "Emmerich!" Kal yells across the chamber, startling the hot older man." "Where do babies come from?" He's not even halfway there, and he can already see Emmerich's mind racing.
"Spirits, Kalias. I know you know better than to scream across rooms to get your point across." Emmrich sighs, then collects himself into the professor he's known to be. "Where do babies… Ah, Allona. I see."
"WE FOUND ONE ON A GRAVE." Vorgoth states.
"Really? Is that where they come from? Is it any grave or just the ones here? Are Allona and Illario going to come here to get the baby? Do they get to pick, or is it just… Given?"
Emmrich lets out a pained sigh. "Vorgoth, please. You're going to confuse Kalias even further."
"Do they not come from graves?" That sucks.
“WATCHER INGELLVAR CAME FROM BELOW.”
" Yes. He did. But this isn't about him." Emmrich turns to him." "Kalias. I know you've your struggles with literature, but has Viago never explained this to you?"
Kal blinks, cocking his head to the side. "Why would he? Is it important? Does it involve assassination?"
"Right." Emmrich turns to the other two. "I'm afraid I must postpone our discussion. Perhaps we can continue tomorrow?"
"Certainly, Professor," Myrna states.
Emmrich turns to him and then motions for him to follow. Manfred shambles up, takes the box of plants, and follows behind them. The necromancer stays silent during the journey to what Kal thinks might be a set of quarters, given the beds and one room in particular that's scattered with books and notes in the familiar way that Emmrich's study was.
"Thank you, Manfred. Would you mind preparing some tea? I'm afraid this may take a while."
"Yes!" Manfred moves off to do his task.
"Now. Kalias. What do you think you know about pregnancy and having a baby?"
Kal blinks, considering. "Those are words that exist." Emmrich moves to collect some books. Kal takes a seat, waiting for him to finish browsing and make his selection. It's a few minutes before Emmrich returns with several tomes and diagrams in hand.
"So. First things first, I suppose. Pregnancy can be described as the act of a woman carrying a slowly developing baby inside of her for approximately nine months before it's ready to survive in the world." He pulls out a diagram with different pictures on it.
"How does it get in there and how does it come out"" Kal asks immediately.
"Pregnancy occurs because of sex," Emmrich explains. "It requires a man and a woman to have sex together and for the man to ejaculate inside the woman for the conditions to be met. Once the baby has grown and is ready to be born, a process called labor ensues where the woman's body begins pushing the baby out." Emmrich pulls out a book with pictures. "Now, this is how the entire process generally occurs..."
Kal walks back to Treviso, and the de Riva villa specifically, with a million thoughts in his head at the new information he just spent the last six hours learning. Should he bake more sweets? Allona likes sweets.
"Oh, Kal. You're back!" Allona greets as he walks in. "Those confections were delicious. Thank you." She hands him back the plate from this morning.
"You didn't tell me you have a whole child in your body!"
"Kal. I did. You were the first one I told. You're just an idiot." Before he can say anything, she speaks up. "And no, I didn't tell Emmrich. He figured it out and told me."
"Oh."
She smiles and reaches up to ruffle his hair. "You may be an idiot, but I still love you. You had no way of knowing. I don't blame you." He wouldn't care if she did, but it's nice to hear. "Now. Instead of being all mopey, why don't you go bake me some of your world-class cupcakes? I have a craving for chocolate, and your sweets are the best." Kal nods. He can do that! Maybe Luca is even off work and will help!