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A light rain pattered against the window, treating the couple to a washed-out ambiance. Esha reclined against Davrin's chest, her own rising and falling with breath. Her eyes were closed, one of her hands resting in Davrin's with their fingers laced together, and the other resting at her side.
Her mind was hazy, someplace between wake and rest, though still able to distinguish between the two. She was tired, of course, but something was keeping her on that edge, not able to completely rest in their new situation. Perhaps it was the new house, or the stress of moving with children, or maybe even the fact that she was kinda hiding from her siblings.
Davrin was not having the same issue as her. He was fast asleep, as evidenced by his light snoring and steady heartbeat. She could feel it pulsing under her own chest, and she longed to press her cheek into it, to listen to it and calm her weary mind, but her current position didn't allow for it.
They were about three days into their stay in Treviso, and this new manor had proven to be worth the coin Illario's realtor friend had quoted them. It had taken them the last few days just getting set up, ordering furniture, buying supplies, getting the kids settled in. The only person who even knew they were in the city was said Realtor, and Illario who Esha had practically threatened at knifepoint to keep ths secret from Allona and Kal. She adored her siblings, truly, but their energy was a tad overwhelming for her at the moment, this was a stressful time and she just needed to be with her kids and husband right now. Now that they intended to stay in Treviso at least six months out of the year, she wanted her reintroduction to life in her hometown to be smooth.
Sleep was beckoning, and she wanted to follow it into that blissful unconsciousness, but it eluded her. She had yet to come down from this extended anxiety.
Just as her mind began to drift, a soft, weary voice called to her. Stirring with a groan, she glanced at the doorway. She could see nothing in the dark, though the garden lamps outside the window illuminated the top of the dresser and the upper half of the doorway, but there was nothing there.
“Momma?”
She looked down, and her eyes landed on a shape that she assumed to be one of her children based solely on their height. As her eyes focused, she could see the tightly coiled hair that was mussed from an attempt at sleep, and the ears of a rabbit she knew belonged to her daughter, Violet.
“Vi-” Esha started, but her voice came out just a tad too loud. Davrin grunted, so she quickly shimmied out of his grasp while he was rolling over. “Violet.” She crossed the room and knelt down so she was eye-level with her. “What's up, sugar bear?”
Her daughter looked up at her, equally leary, her face crumpled and streaked with tears. “I had a bad dream…” She mumbled, and looked towards Davrin. “I want Dad.”
“Dad's asleep.” Esha lifted Violet into her arms and carried her into the hall, which was dark. They hadn't had time to find any staff willing to work in a smaller house for half the year, so the lamps remained unlit. She quickly closed the door behind her, to allow Davrin to continue to sleep. “Why don't you tell mama about your dream?”
Violet nodded, which surprised her. She was usually a daddy's girl. Burrowing into Esha, she hiccuped. “It was scary. There was a big monster.”
Esha hummed affirmingly, rubbing her back as she paced the hallway. It wasn't entirely unusual for Violet to get nightmares, ever since the incident that had caused her to lose most of her hearing when she was younger. But Emmrich had always encouraged them to talk it out afterwards, to ensure that there was no magic lingering.
“Do you want mama to come lie with you for just a bit, until the scary dreams go away?” She asked quietly.
Violet nodded quickly, her grip on Esha tightening as she buried her face into her chest.
Esha took off down the hall towards the room they'd designated as Violet's. The door was open, so she could see the lavender and birch furniture they'd selected mere hours ago bathed in the light from the windows. The windows in her room were larger, and cast dancing shadows from the trees in the orchard outside.
“Okay, mama will be right here.” Esha sat down on the edge of her bed. “You just try and fall back asleep, okay?”
“Can mama sing to me? The song about the ducks who fly north?” She yawned and untucked herself from Esha, slipping to crawl across the bed and wrap herself in her fluffy white orlesian duvet they'd special-ordered.
Esha smiled warmly, her fatigue not able to ruin this moment. She leaned over and pressed a kiss to her daughter's forehead. “Of course, sugar bear.”
She took a deep breath, as Violet scrambled to a laying position, watching her mother with rapt attention. Then she began to sing. Esha was not an excellent singer, she had been out of practice for years before Violet's birth. But she still knew how to sing this specific song very well for Violet and Oakley. As she sang about the ducks, and the changing seasons they went through, she watched her daughter's face change from wide awake to sleepy, and then she snuggled deeper into the duvet and her breathing evened out. By the second verse, Esha was practically whispering the song, and Violet was fast asleep.
Her singing petered out to a hum for a few moments before her own eyelids fluttered against her cheeks. The rain outside had gotten louder, pounding a steady drumbeat against the windows.
Despite the anxieties of the last few days, nothing could ever beat these moments. This was why she brought them to Treviso. To have a taste of a normal childhood. She would do anything for them and Davrin, they were her anchors in an otherwise unsteady world.
Standing to her feet and dusting herself off carefully, so as to not wake up Violet, Esha tiptoed to the doorway, around the toys that somehow her daughter had already scattered about the room. Tripping at the last minute, Esha yanked the door shut behind her, only managing to slow it's closing at the last second to leave it slightly ajar.
Davrin was waiting for her in the hallway, watching amusedly as she stumbled to stand properly. He reached out and helped steady her. A soft chuckle escaped him, as he leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Quite the stealthy exit, Crow.”
Esha let out a relieved sigh, pressing into Davrin's touch. “The toys have decided to stage a rebellion, please save me, my big strapping Warden-” she giggled, and Davrin wrapped his arms around her and kissed her cheek, then her nose, then her mouth.
“Trouble-” He said, then kissed her again.
She continued to cackle, trying to be quiet so as not to wake her daughter, or her son who was in the room across from her. “Sorry, hun. I tried to let you sleep, did Vi wake you?”
“Nah.” Davrin pulled her away from Violet's door, back to the bedroom. “Was you.”
Esha allowed herself to be corralled, sleepiness tugging at her muscles enough that she had no strength to resist. “Missed my warmth, did you?”
Davrin scoffed. “More like you walk like a herd of halla.” Esha's offended ‘hey!’ was cut off by Davrin lifting her bridal style into his arms. “What was up with Vi?”
“Nightmare. She wanted you , but I managed to assuage her with that song, you know. The one about Ducks.”
“Good job, mama.” They re-entered their bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed. “I know you've been stressed lately, I was hoping you'd actually get some rest tonight.”
“This is nice.” She yawned. “Just us, the little ones. The rain of Treviso. I used to fall asleep to this rain so often.” She laid back, staring at the sunroof above them where the rain pooled in the dips in the glass. “it feels like coming home in a way I…hadn't expected. I dunno, it's different in some ways, the same in others.”
“Treviso suits you, you know. The longer we're here, the more I can feel you relaxing.” Davrin took a lock of her hair, much longer than it had been years ago, and toyed with it, twisting the slightly curled lock around his finger as he gazed lovingly at her.
Esha flushed, turning away. “Thank you, by the way, Dav.”
“For what?”
“Everything. I know it was a lot, and you've given up a lot for me over the years. A lot . I honestly can't imagine any reality without you, and yet it feels like…this is the only reality where it could happen. Everything just seemed to line up perfectly, you know? I'm glad to have you.”
Davrin frowned. “That's what's been on your mind?”
Esha hesitated, then turned back to look at him with woeful eyes. “Partly.” She admitted softly. “I ask too much of you, you have to admit. You're barely even a Warden anymore, and Assan isn't going to like Treviso as much as the Lighthouse despite all the gardenspace we managed to get, and I uprooted the kids from everything they've known…and-”
“Stop. You're spiraling, Esh.” He leaned back so he could look at her at the same level. “I'm not mad. My life is with you and the kids, not as a Warden. Being a Warden gave me a purpose, then the Veilguard filled that, and now you and the kids do. That's all I've ever wanted in life. You've fulfilled every wish I never knew I had.”
Esha huffed, though her eyes teared up. “Shut up, smooth talker. You always know what to say.”
“Oh I'm the smooth talker, now?” A laugh punched its way from Davrin's throat. “It's just the truth. And the truth, Esha, is that Treviso feels good to you because you feel good here. Honestly, we should have come here earlier.”
“Yea…”
Davrin pulled her in, so they were nose to nose. “Now. Will you sleep?”
She squinted. “You are impossible. What if I don't want to sleep?”
“I'll make you.”
“Oh? And how will you accomplish that?”
A mischievous look graced his face as he moved down to nuzzle her neck. “I do have…ideas.”
Esha was far too tired for that, but she couldn't stop the shiver that raced through her. “Oh you do?” Her anxieties were quickly fading, trapped in her husbands embrace.
“Yes, ideas. Many of them involve a certain wife admitting she's exhausted .” He pressed a kiss to her jawline, pulling the covers up and over them.
Esha sighed contentedly, allowing him to do so. She couldn't put off sleep for much longer, she needed to be rested for the coming days of adjusting to her new-old home. “Fine, I'm tired, you win.”
“Another idea…” He chuckled a low rumble as she snuggled up closer. “Involves me holding you, unable to escape, until you finally fall asleep in my arms.”
“That's…that sounds nice…” Esha's eyelids were burdened, drooping as she couldn't even struggle against the tide of sleep.
Esha finally let go, surrounded by her family, the rain, Treviso, and the peaceful night sky above her. She wasn't sure if Davrin followed her into her dreamless sleep, but all she knew was that she couldn't wait for this chapter of her life to begin.