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Chapter Text

Teztli turned back and forth in front of her mirror. The robes she wore were her favorite dark purple, her hair was clean and brushed. Hells, she'd gotten a higher quality, cuff style piece of jewelry to put in her septum piercing, and spent an atrocious amount to have it enchanted with her preferred makeup glamor as quickly as possible so it would be ready in time to meet Gale's mother.

She shouldn't be this nervous; she knew she looked good.

Tez smoothed her hand over her stomach—still roundly soft, she probably wouldn't show for awhile yet— but she imagined she could feel the flutter of their baby under her palm. The little one was barely larger than an orange at this stage. The baby flutter transformed to nervous stomach butterflies. She was meeting Morena not only as her soon-to-be daughter-in-law, but as the mother of her grandchild.

Tonight had to be perfect. Meeting with her own parents…Teztli winced, shying away from the memory of the painfully awkward dinner with Mother and Father two weeks prior. The burn of their disapproval that their grandchild wouldn't be fully dwarven still stung.

Mother pulled her aside as Lily, Astarion, Gale, and Father went ahead to sit at the dinner table. "Teztli, I am so disappointed in you. You really couldn't have just joined the party like you were supposed to and chosen someone proper? We had members of some of the best families from the East Rift there! Instead, you got yourself kidnapped and brought home… Him. A human. Is he even from a good family?" Mother's face twisted like she had bitten a lemon and she let out a huff. "I suppose we can tolerate the marriage since it's taken you this long to find someone, and you're already expecting. You had better carry it to term, and the wedding had better take place before it comes."

Tez was left speechless, eyes tearing up as Mother stomped into the dining room. She choked back a sob and took a moment to breathe deep before walking in herself. Astarion elbowed Lily. Tez didn't understand thieves' cant, but knew he was telling Lily something. Lily's eyes narrowed at Mother before plastering an icy smile on her face. "Excuse me, Lady Thunderforge. Where is the water closet?"

Her main consolation was that Lily had taken the time to case the house during her bathroom break, then went back later to steal her great grandmam's circlet and presented it to Tez to wear whenever she and Gale actually had a wedding. Tez was glad she hadn't told her parents she and Gale had already been blessed and signed the marriage license with Dame Aylin and Isobel.

Lily and Astarion also pinched most of the silver, all of the good wine— while popping the corks off the bottles they left behind—a few of Mother's left shoes— all from Mother's favorite pairs— and all of her father's pipes. "Do you think tonight will go well?"

From his seat across their room, Gale said, "My dear, I swear to you on the stack of books we procured—"

"Stole."

"—procured from Sorcerous Sundries, my mother will love you. Dare I say she'd love you if you showed up in a burlap sack with leaves stuck in your hair."

Tez turned and walked across the room to him, putting her hands out. "Do you promise?"

He sat forward, taking her hands in his own. He brought one to his lips, placing a kiss on the back. "I promise. Mother has been contacting me all week inquiring as to your food likes and dislikes. She is preparing to meet you with open arms."

"Miss Thunderforge," Tara chirped from her bed atop the bookshelf, "I have known Professor Dekarios for a fair majority of Mr. Dekarios's life. You are precisely the kind of partner Morena has been hoping— nay, praying— for Gale to find for many years. Tonight will be nothing like that stiff, dreadful affair with your parents." The tressym stretched out her wings with a flutter of feathers. "Gods, I will never know how that pair of sad sops produced such a delightful girl as you, Teztli."

Gale nodded in agreement with Tara."Mother was chattering my ear off via Sending stone from the first time I told her about the charming, chaotic dwarf sorceress who swept me off my feet. It is all you, Tez."

Tez gave him a weak smile. "I only had to carry you one time. There was no sweeping."

"And you stole my heart in that moment." Gale's eyes sparkled with affection, and he slid forward out of the chair so he could be face to face with her. "I swear, she loves you already. Telling her about the little one will just be the icing on the cake for her."

"I'm trying to believe that. Really. It's hard to undo…" Tez rolled her shoulders, trying to loosen the anxious knot between them. "Being raised by my parents in such a short amount of time."

"Understandably so. If it is any assurance to you at all, I have contacted Lily and Astarion and promised that they can steal all of Mother's good silver if it goes sour." Gale scrunched his nose at the mention of their friends. "Of course, knowing them, they'll do that anyway, but I digress."

"Are they coming with us, or is it an 'I'll send you a Sending if your services are needed' thing?" Tez perked up at the thought of seeing Lily again. The whole mess with the Dead Three's Chosen and the Absolute hadn't been that long, relatively speaking, but those months had solidified Tez's feelings for her beloved Gale and the best friend she'd ever had. And Astarion, she supposed. He and Lily were happy together, and she liked seeing Lily happy.

Hells, now she missed everyone. Tez made a mental note to send letters to everyone when she got the chance.

"They're on standby for now; Rolan agreed to Teleport them to the circle in the basement here whenever they wish to visit. I can ask for them to come regardless if that will make you happy." Tez nodded eagerly. Gale chuckled. "I believe commissioning a 'bonded pair: do not separate' sign for the two of you may also be in order."

"Hey, we're not that bad." Tez shoved Gale's shoulder.

"My dear, you get absolutely despondent if you don't hear from Lily at least once a day—" Gale stopped and cocked his head, then nodded. He stood and brushed at the knees of his pants, flicking away invisible dust. Tez really did love him in that boreal blue. It brought out the warmth in his eyes. "That's the time, Tez dear. We must be on our way in the next few minutes or we'll be late."

"Hells!" Tez ran over to her closet and pulled out the finely embroidered slippers Figaro had designed to go with her robe.

Tara swooped from the top of the bookshelf towards the tower window. "I'll meet you both there, Gale. It would do me well to stretch my wings a bit."

Tez slipped her feet into the slippers, took a deep breath, and let it out. "Right. I've defied three gods and killed a Netherbrain, how hard can meeting your mother be?"

Gale had hired a coach to take them from his tower in the northwestern Dock Ward to his mother's house on the northern end of the Castle Ward. It rattled loudly over the paved streets, although some enchantment or another kept the passengers from feeling even the slightest bit of jostling.

Tez couldn't believe how wide and relatively clean the streets were, even in the Dock Ward. Baldur's Gate was comparably busy, with just as much trade and commerce— at least, it had been before the Netherbrain attack— and it appeared that part of rebuilding would include shaming the patriars into maintaining the streets properly. There was no reason to leave the people of the Lower City walking on half-paved dirt.

Waterdeep had many wonders beyond the exceptional streets, many more than the limited view Tez had from her window in Baldur's Gate. There, she could only see Ramazith's Tower, a bit of the Wide, and some of the Lower City. Gale's home had the famed Walking Statues who were ever vigilant in guarding the port city. Their size took Tez's breath away. Even above the tall buildings lining the road, Tez could see the Griffon and the Hawk Man, and the Lady Dreaming was starting to peer over the rooftops as the coach rumbled along.

"I can't believe you grew up here," she said, watching more of the Lady come into view. "There's so much going on, so much to see. How could you ever focus on your studies?"

Gale gave a thoughtful hum. "I wasn't the most social child. It's easy to focus on your studies when you'd rather find a new book or work out a new spell than play with other children, I suppose."

"I would have given anything to be allowed out to play with other children when I was small," Tez murmured before sitting back against the cushioned seat.

"That's not to say I never played with other children, of course, and I spent time with the other apprentices at Blackstaff." Gale took her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "If Mother overwhelms you, Tez, we can walk to Blackstaff tower from her house and I can give you an abbreviated, after-hours tour."

"You grew up that close?" She appreciated the distraction from the anxious knot in her stomach. Of course, it could also be pregnancy nausea… or both. Probably both. Tez hoped Morena had some ginger or peppermint handy when they arrived.

"If I truly took my time and dallied, I could stretch it from around five minutes to at least twelve. There were a few strays that I befriended by saving them bits of bacon from my breakfast."

Tez smiled, picturing child Gale swimming in his apprentice robes and getting distracted by the street cats on the way to the Academy.

"You know, dear, this is the first time I'll be seeing Mother in person since…" Gale rubbed at the spot on his chest where the orb had once left its mark, his skin now blessedly clear. "I'm sure to get an earful from her comparable to when Tara found us in Rivington. At least as bad as the one when I contacted her after we destroyed the Absolute, in any case."

"Really? You didn't see her once in all that time?" Tez scooted closer to him, leaning on his arm. "No wonder you were lonely, if it was just you and Tara in the tower."

"She tried, she truly did. I'm the one who left her on my doorstep for Tara to commiserate with." Gale sighed. "I kept telling myself that at least if I was in the tower, it was designed to hold in any magical mishaps. Waterdeep would be safe, and with Mother outside, she wouldn't be caught in the blast."

Tez drew their joined hands into her lap. Even after the Absolute, Gale hadn't talked about that year before being snatched up by the Nautiloid very much. In fact, he hadn't mentioned it at all since retrieving the Crown of Karsus and giving it over to Mystra.

He let out another sigh. "I left in the middle of the night when I realized the orb had consumed almost all of my magic, and I had so little left in the tower to sate it— and was unable to obtain more quickly— that it seemed the end was nigh. My thought was get as far away as possible, maybe even all the way up the Long Road to the Spine of the World so when the orb finally destabilized completely, it would be in a place so remote, no one else would be hurt."

"And that's where the Nautiloid got you." Tez spoke barely above a whisper. If Gale had left a day earlier or later, he wouldn't have been taken by the Nautiloid. He would be dead, devoured by the orb. She would be alone, not even aware of what she had missed.

"Indeed. I was on the other side of Triboar from Waterdeep, it popped out briefly to grab me before heading into Yartar."

Tez did some quick triangulation in her head. "Astarion, Shadowheart, Lily, and I were already on the Nautiloid at that point. Lae'zel got captured sometime in the stretch from Triboar to Yartar, and Wyll and Karlach were snagged in Avernus. Gods, eight survivors out of however many were taken just by that single ship."

"We need to factor in that you just happened to use that particular path on the cliffs and found the rune I was trapped in." Gale removed his hand from hers, then looped his arm around her shoulders to pull her closer to his side. "I really must thank you again for freeing me. Even if you did slap my hand first. Though, that is quite humorous in hindsight."

"I'm glad I did. Free you, that is. And the hand slap." Tez smiled and tucked her head in against his chest. "I don't remember half of what you said when we first met. I couldn't stop thinking about how beautiful your hands and eyes were. Are."

"Dare I say, I find your eyes more beautiful." Gale smiled down at her, his eyes growing misty. "I would be the happiest man alive if the little one has your eyes." He brought his hand up, running his thumb along her cheekbone. "My dear Tez."

He leaned in and kissed her. For a moment, Tez forgot everything. Her nerves about meeting Morena, the continuing problems with her parents, all gone in the feel of his lips on hers.

A cough interrupted them, "We have arrived saer, milady."

The coach driver stood aside from the open door, looking away from them and pointedly sweeping their arm out to encourage them to exit.

"Ah, yes. Thank you." Gale moved across the bench seat, a blush crept up his cheeks as he stepped out and stood aside. The driver moved in and flipped out the steps that the shorter races used to enter and exit. Tez stepped down and moved to stand to the side of the door of the charming little manor the coach had stopped in front of.

She breathed in and out, willing her racing heart to slow down a little as Gale paid the coach driver and gave them a time to come back for the return trip. Above them, Tara fluttered in through an open window.

"All right dear, are you ready?" Gale smiled down at her.

"No." Tez fanned herself, "But we're doing this anyway."

He tugged the bell-pull, the jangling clear even through the door. There was a rhythmic tapping— maybe a walking stick?— and the door swung open. Gale stood straighter. "Mother. I'm delighted to see you again. May I introduce my fiancee, Miss Teztli Thunderforge? Tez— Mother, she prefers to be called Tez as opposed to Teztli— this is my mother, Morena Dekarios."

Gale's mother gazed down at Tez, a severe expression on her face. Morena was a taller woman, though Tez could tell she was shorter than Gale— she didn't have to tilt her head back as far to look at her— with a round yet trim figure and posture that would make her mother cry in delight. Her son had obviously inherited her coloring, though the wavy dark brown hair neatly pinned back from her face was streaked with gray throughout, as opposed to the small clusters Gale had at his temples. Her deep brown eyes peered at Tez through a pair of silver-rimmed spectacles that perched on the bridge of a softer version of her son's nose. Laugh- and smile-lines crinkled at the corners of her eyes and mouth. The severity on Morena's face melted away in a beautiful smile that lit her up, the lines deepening as she dropped down to kneel at Tez's height. She took Tez' hands in her own, tears welling in the corners of her eyes.

"I am so delighted to meet you, Tez. Gale has told me so much about you, and I can't wait for you to tell me everything else. May I give you a hug, dear girl?"

Rendered speechless, Tez nodded.

Morena folded Tez into her arms, hugging her tightly, "Welcome to my home, Teztli. I am so, so delighted to welcome you to my family."

Chapter Text

To her embarrassment and horror, Tez burst into tears as soon as Morena hugged her.

Alarmed, Morena tried to sit back, but Tez stopped her by hugging her tighter. The older woman looked up to Gale. "Is she all right?"

"Her relationship with her own parents is…" Gale hesitated, visibly mulling over what to say in explanation, "…complicated, and I think she's needed a motherly hug along with a shoulder to cry on for a while." He knelt next to them, rubbing Tez's back. "She's been so anxious about meeting you that I think it all became too overwhelming, especially in her condition."

Tez tensed up in Morena's arms. Gale's hand froze in the middle of Tez's back as he realized what he'd said.

This was decidedly not how they had planned on telling Gale's mother she was pregnant.

Morena turned her head; unnervingly, the movement resembling an owl that had spotted prey. "Condition?"

"Ah. Yes." He flexed his fingers on Tez's back, nerves making themselves known. "We wanted to let you know, dear Tez and myself are expecting." Gale gave her a nervous smile. "Surprise?"

"Gale. Phaethon. Dekarios." Morena stood and grabbed him by the ear. "You are coming inside right this instant so we don't do this on the sidewalk." She turned to Tez, face and voice softening instantly, "Tez, my dear girl, please do come in and make yourself comfortable."

"Mother, please. Let's not—ow!"

Morena turned sharply toward the house, Gale stumbling along behind her.

"Inside," She bit out. "Right now."

She pulled him through the doorway and down the entry hall.

Tez, however, remained on the sidewalk in shock. This certainly hadn't been how she'd wanted to tell Morena that she was going to be a grandmam, but she also hadn't expected Morena to react by dragging Gale in by his ear like a naughty school boy.

Tara padded down the entry hall, then planted herself to the side of the open door. "Teztli dear, please do come in. We can't leave you on the step gawping like a fish."

"Is…" Tez wrung her hands together. "Is his mother upset with us?" Gale had promised Morena would be overjoyed.

The tressym sighed, "To settle your nerves, no. Come in, dear. I'll show you to the sitting room and try to explain the rest."

After Tez stepped into the entryway, Tara pushed the door closed with her paws. She turned to look over her shoulder. "This way."

Tez followed Tara in and was briefly distracted by taking in the cozy surroundings. There was a spare pair of spectacles on top of correspondence left on a side table. The runner carpet was good quality, but obviously well-loved from years of being walked on. Tez smiled when she peered into what turned out to be a library and noticed a collection of teacups on the low table next to an overstuffed chair. There was a book abandoned on the cushioned seat. So that's a familial thing.

Gale's mother's home felt lived in. Loved. In comparison, her parents' manor was practically a showroom, a display for their wealth and inherited luxuries, cold as a museum. It staved off the rising panic better than Tara's reassurance had.

Tara crossed in front of her, stopping her outside the sitting room door. A small tassel meant to help the tressym turn the knob still swung against the wood; Gale and Morena must be inside.

"Now, Teztli, there is something you must understand," she began, "This is the first time Professor Dekarios has seen Gale in quite some time, and he was distinctly not forthcoming about why he sequestered himself away before. I enlightened her as much as I could without intruding on Gale's privacy or going against his wishes. The last she knew before all of the Absolute nonsense was that he was 'ill' and unlikely to survive, and that the illness stemmed from him making a foolish attempt to impress Mystra."

Tara sat primly, curled her tail around her paws, and fluffed her wings before folding them against her sides. She twitched her ears behind her, probably trying to hear what was going on inside?

Placing a hand over a stomach rolling with nausea and rapidly returning anxiety, Tez murmured, "So you showing up with a Sending stone, him telling her he was alive in Baldur's Gate helping with cleanup, and he had a fiancee who wasn't Mystra must have been quite a shock for her."

They could hear muffled yelling coming through the door. The anxious knot tightened. She also remembered she hadn't had anything since breakfast because of the anxiety. In retrospect, that had probably been a bad idea.

"It's more than that, dear." Tara growled and flicked her tail across the rug in annoyance, ears coming forward. "Even though the Nautiloid didn't come down to Waterdeep, it was all anyone could talk about after it wreaked havoc in Baldur's Gate, then appeared near Triboar and left that dreadful mess in Yartar. Morena is a very smart woman, and she put two and two together when I told her Gale had departed and was missing. It was…" She heaved a large sigh, ears flicked back towards the door when there was the sound of muffled crying. "It was very hard on her, especially after she lost Gale's father in a similar manner."

"Gale's never mentioned his father," Tez replied sadly, then swallowed hard. Her mouth was so dry.

"Of course he hasn't." If tressym could roll their eyes and facepalm, she was fairly certain Tara would be doing so. Tara turned her head over her shoulder to glare at the closed door. "For as much as Gale likes to talk, he is terribly emotionally constipated when it comes to Deucalion."

"What happened to him?" The hallway began to sway and black spots danced in her vision. Tez wondered if she could make it back to the library to sit down. She breathed out, "Tara, I need—"

"Mr. Kanakaris was a librarian at Candlekeep, with all the hazards that entails. Gale had summoned me for the first time about a month prior, and one day Deucalion used the Teleportation circle at Blackstaff to go to Candlekeep, and never came back. His compatriots saw him arrive and enter one of the private study rooms to remove and re-shelve the books the prior occupant left behind. He never reemerged. Morena was—" Tara turned her head back towards Tez and stopped. She stood, sounding alarmed. "Teztli, are you well?"

"I need to sit down," Tez whispered, reaching for the wall to steady herself before the swaying hallway spun and everything went black.

"Tez! Goddess, Tez, please wake up. Please!"

Gale's voice sounded like he was calling to her through water. As she slowly crept back to consciousness, she could feel his hand on her cheek, thumb brushing against the crest of the bone and tracing the scar there. Even though she wanted to, Tez's eyelids felt so heavy, too heavy to open, and she couldn't control her body. All that came out when she tried to talk was a weak groan. Gale's thumb stopped moving, waiting to see if she made any other noise.

"Tara, what happened?" Morena's voice was also far away.

Tez could feel Tara's fur and wings under her ankles, propping her feet up as much as the tressym could with her body. "I was trying to explain some of the context of why you were so upset, Professor Dekarios, and the poor girl went pale and fainted."

"Do you think it's because I was angry? Gale told me shouting and the like makes her anxious." Morena again; she sounded like she was coming closer. "Is she wearing a bodice or anything we need to loosen?"

"Tez hasn't worn a bodice since she found out about the little one, Mother." Gale's hand shifted from her cheek to feel her forehead, likely to verify there wasn't a fever they'd missed. "My poor dear. I am sorry, Mother, this isn't how we planned to tell you or how we'd hoped for this evening to go. It's my fault for not coming to see you sooner."

Tara shifted out from under her ankles. "Quite frankly, I don't recall Tez having luncheon and she's been fretting to Gale all day. I think being a pregnant, hungry ball of nerves did it." Tez felt a gentle pair of hands position a footstool to hold her feet up instead. She tried to open her eyes, but they still felt far too heavy.

Morena sighed, "Very likely. If she doesn't wake up in the next few minutes, we should get a cleric. We might want to do so regardless to check on the baby."

"She didn't hit her head, I can verify that much. I think Teztli knew she was fainting, she leaned against the wall and slid down." Tez felt Tara's damp nose lightly touch her forehead and sniff, then a soft-furred cheek rubbed against her skin. "Her breathing changed, and her eyes are moving under her eyelids. I think she's coming conscious, at least."

Gale's hand moved back to her cheek, "Tez, my love. Can you hear me?"

Tez tried to reach for him and managed to flop her hand against his leg where he knelt next to her. Her throat felt terribly dry and she croaked out, "Gale. I'm sorry."

"Oh, Goddess, thank you. Tez, can you sit up?"

Finally, her eyelids no longer felt like lead, and Tez looked up at Gale.

Gods, he's gone pale himself, and his eyes are red. Had he been crying? "I don't know."

"Here, let me—" He shuffled around, helping sit her up against his side.

Tez closed her eyes as the hall spun again. "I'm so dizzy, I can't…"

"Gale, can you carry her? If we can get her into the chair she can prop up her feet on the footstool again and that should help." Morena hovered in the sitting room doorway, fingers anxiously drumming on the frame, red-rimmed eyes focused on the woman sitting on her carpet. "Tez, I am so sorry if I did anything that might have contributed to this."

"Professor Dekarios—"

"Morena, please, dear. Gale is Professor Dekarios now," she joked weakly.

"Morena, it's not your fault. Truly." Tez blinked a few times, relieved that everything remained firmly in place, no more spinning.

Gale shifted. "Hold on, Tez, I'm going to carry you to the chair."

"I can walk, Gale." Tez told him softly, "I just need a moment."

He got a stubborn set to his jaw, "Loop your arm around my neck, love."

Tez bit off a surprised shriek as Gale looped his arms around her shoulders and under her knees and lifted her up, his knees audibly cracking.

"Gale! Your knees!"

"You and the little one are more important to me, Tez. I can ice them when we get home." He swept—well, tried to sweep, it was more of a stumbling lurch— into the sitting room.

Tez clung to him like a barnacle; she wasn't used to be carried at all. Morena stepped in behind them to pick up the footstool and, once Gale deposited her in the chair, placed it under Tez's feet again.

Gale looked proud of himself. "See? All settled."

Morena pulled another stool next to Tez and took her hand, then turned to Gale. "Gale, please fetch Tez some tea and a few ginger cookies, it sounds like she needs to eat something immediately."

"Yes Mother." Wisely deciding not to argue, Gale hurried out of the sitting room, Tara trotting along after him.

"How are you feeling, dear? It's been quite some time since I was carrying Gale, but I remember how uncomfortable even the early stages were for me." Morena gently chafed the back of Tez's hand.

Tez felt a flush creep up her neck. "Better. Embarrassed that I fainted in your hallway. And nauseous still, honestly."

Morena made a soft noise in her throat. "You poor thing. Hopefully the ginger cookies will do the trick for the nausea. And please, don't be embarrassed. I vomited on Gale's grandfather's shoes from nerves when I met him, I didn't even have the excuse of being pregnant at the time."

"Really?" Looking at Morena, Tez couldn't imagine her ever being so nervous that she'd throw up on someone's shoes. She was so poised and collected, and carried herself with a confidence few could emulate.

"Indeed. Before I started teaching alchemy at Blackstaff, I was horribly shy and nervous. You're meeting me after a few decades of handling rowdy apprentices who are only capable of thinking of inappropriate applications of Enlarge potions and other youthful nonsense." Morena's eyes unfocused, and she smiled sadly. "Gale's father loved hearing me talk about them." Her eyes refocused on Tez. "Deucalion would have loved you."

"Tara told me a little about what happened. I'm so sorry. Gale's never mentioned his father." Tez squeezed Morena's hand.

"He was ten when Deucalion disappeared."

"Tara said it was about a month after Gale summoned her."

"Tara, for gods' sake…" Morena gave a little huff of annoyance with Tara's selective gossip, then nodded. "I think in his child's mind, he believed that he exchanged his father for Tara. For months after Deucalion disappeared, he read every book and paper he could find on equivalent exchange, writing out page after page of spells where he was trying to close every loophole. Hells, there was a point where I think he could have made a pact with a fey and outdone them. He even decided to go by Dekarios instead of Kanakaris because of it, too. Like he didn't deserve the name of the father he believed he'd banished."

Tez felt her heart clench. A little boy, thinking he made his father disappear because he summoned himself a friend after being told he couldn't have a kitten. "So that's one reason why he worked so hard to be the best wizard he could. To make up for it."

"Almost certainly. Unintended consequences." Morena's eyes grew shiny with unshed tears. "And once he caught Mystra's eye, it became worse. Setting himself higher and higher bars to clear, ignoring warnings—" she let out a laugh, "—I can't believe that getting taken by that mind flayer ship turned out to be the best thing to happen to him in ages. It brought you into his life."

"It was the best thing to happen to me, too." Tez put her hand over her belly, again imagining that she could feel the baby flutter. She winced at the rising wave of nausea returning. "Despite the side effects."

Morena nodded. "I remember those times, even though it's been awhile. How far along are you, dear?"

Scrunching up her nose, Tez did the math in her head. "We're pretty sure I've just crossed six months. According to a healer friend of ours, Nettie, I'll likely still carry for the full twelve months for a normal dwarven pregnancy—" She let out a deep breath and leaned her head back, hoping it would stop the nausea spinnies. "—But that depends entirely on the little one. Half dwarves aren't so common that there are entire books on how the pregnancies go for the carrying parent like there are with half elves."

The sudden silence had Tez tilting her head forward again. She burst out laughing at the horrified expression on Morena's face. "What?"

"Twelve? Gods, and I thought nine was too long!"

"Oh I'm sure I'll agree by the time I hit nine." She dropped her head back again. "Especially if this nausea keeps up like this."

"I have just the solution for that, my dear." Gale swept in, his Unseen Servant behind him carrying a tray with a tea set and small pile of cookies. "Ginger tea and ginger cookies."

Gale took the tray and set it on the side table next to the chair, positioning the cookie pile next to Tez's elbow and gesturing for her to dig in. He poured some of the tea into a cup, eyeing the steam that curled up. Lifting the teacup, he blew a quick puff of frosty breath across it, then held out the cup and saucer for Tez to take. "That should be just right; if it's still too hot, I can cool it more."

"Thank you." Tez let go of Morena's hand and took the cup, bringing it up to sip. The tea was still a touch hot, but not enough to burn her lips or tongue, so she let it be. The spicy warmth started soothing the nausea, and she sighed in relief. "Thank the gods."

Gale knelt next to the chair and hovered his hand over her stomach. "May I, dear?"

She nodded.

"Be kinder to your mother, little one," he said softly as he rested his hand on her belly, caressing his fingers over the soft rise that didn't yet show her condition. "There's quite some time yet until we meet you, and we hope it will be a happy wait for all of us. You are included, Mother."

Morena had her hands clasped in her lap, eyes bright. Tez set the teacup and saucer aside, and held out her hand to the other woman, "Do you want to feel, Morena? They're not very big, I can't even feel them moving yet, but…"

"Only if you don't mind, Tez." The hope, the sheer excitement that lit Morena's face made Tez want to cry. "I know far too many people feel that they are free to paw a pregnant person's belly any time they like."

This is what she had hoped for from Mother and Father, and hadn't received. Mother hadn't shown any desire to feel the baby, or to relate any thoughts or advice from her own experience. Father… he hadn't even acknowledged his impending grandchild beyond a stiff mention of updating the will to include them.

"Please," Tez gestured for Morena's hand. She held it out, and Tez gently flicked Gale's where it rested. "Move it, beloved. Your baby needs to be introduced to their grandmam."

Gale laughed and moved his hand away. "As you wish, Tez dear."

Tez placed Morena's hand on her stomach, "They're only about the size of an orange, but healthy as can be according to our friends Halsin and Shadowheart. Little one, this is your grandmam."

"Oh," Morena sighed, "Hello, little one."

Gale took Tez's free hand, "How do you feel, Tez? Better?"

She smiled and nodded, "Better."

Better. Loved. Like a family.