Another Introduction
Notes:
I actually kind of like this chapter! We get to see someone we haven't seen for a good stretch of time in quite a while^^
And now I have lack of faith in this chapter because I explained it to my sister and she said it was pointless. So...I'm sorry if it's pointless....
*****
“Uh, maybe now isn’t the best time!”
Kalmar’s frantic voice reached Janner’s ears, and the sounds of two sets of fast-paced feet pounding up the steps came with it. He furrowed his brow in confusion for a moment — first because there was no reason for anyone to come up the stairs quickly and forcefully enough to where it made such a racket and second because he wasn’t exactly certain whom his brother was talking to. The next few seconds revealed the answer to that very quickly, though.
“She’s my best friend, an’ I don’t need ye tellin’ me when and why I can’t see ‘er!”
He groaned, and Sara sighed. “It’s Maraly, isn’t it?” she asked, though considering how distinct the accent was, it was almost impossible to confuse her with somebody else.
Janner nodded, Kalmar’s declaration of, “Maraly!” confirming their suspicions. Despite his insistent calls and pleas, it did not seem as though the subject of said calls and pleas had any intention of responding.
“Well, she was going to find out at some point,” Sara stated matter-of-factly and stood quickly, smoothing her skirts. “We can only hope she neither explodes nor tells everyone else the truth.”
Janner felt himself going cold at the thought of such a thing happening and he swallowed nervously. Sure, he had released one enormous secret that day, likely the biggest secret he had ever kept in his entire life, but that didn’t mean doing so had been comfortable as the confession happened. Plus, it wasn’t as though he had to tell everyone about Amrah and everything. On the other hand, if Maraly found out about Cerlon and told everyone, everyone would have to know and soon Anniera would know and what would they think and—
“Hey, are you alright?” Sara asked him gently, squeezing his hand.
Janner wasn’t sure if he was planning on responding or not, because it was only another second before the knob turned and the door swung open, somehow managing to keep from banging loudly against the wall.
Maraly stood there, looking not at all breathless and appearing very normal, except for the frustration that lined her face and snapped in her eyes. She tossed her head, her brown, shoulder-length curls flying. With her stance and the way her hands were planted stubbornly on her hips, she might have actually looked threatening, if not for her lack of height. Not that Janner had anything against short people. Plus he was still sitting on the floor, so she did look kind of scary.
She stared at them, specifically taking her time to gaze very intently at Sara before flatly stating (without bothering to say, “hello”), “Why aren’t ye pregnant?”
“Um, surprise?” Sara offered feebly. Maraly did not appear to be very convinced, and Janner stood up stiffly, just in case it came to blows. Though he doubted that would happen. Probably.
In that moment, Kalmar manifested behind her, looking incredibly flustered and apologetic. “Uh, hi,” he said awkwardly. “Maraly, why don’t we come back later? Because there’s another Kimeran-Annieran meeting in a few minutes and we both sort of need to be there for that so—”
Maraly scowled intently. “Bother all the meetin’s! Every time I’ve tried to see my best friend someone tells me jest why I can’t, an’ I’m tired of it! When I finally get to ‘er, she’s not pregnant, which happens to be quite the opposite of what ‘er husband said.” She glared at Janner when she said the word, “husband,” and he shifted uneasily, his hands twisting.
He caught a glimpse of Kalmar mouthing something at him, and when he glanced up he pieced together what appeared to be the question, Are you okay? He nodded in response and gave a half-smile that likely wasn’t convincing. He was reasonably alright with the Amrah situation, at least as alright as he could be, albeit a little uneasy regarding her as a whole. But Cerlon was a different story, a different mountain to tackle. He was something Janner had no control over, and no matter what he did, it was all in the Maker’s hands. He couldn’t change anything, and he couldn’t actively do anything to fix the problem.
Maraly had been glaring at him and practically fuming all the while, and when Kalmar put his hand on her shoulder in an effort to calm her down, she swatted it away. “I want some sorta explanation!”
“Of course!” Sara said agreeably. “Janner, do you want to go with Kalmar and—”
“No,” Maraly snapped. “He’s the one who lied to me an’ a bunch of other people, so he’s gonna do the talkin’.”
Janner squeezed his eyes shut so her fury wouldn’t be as palpable. If only she already knew. Maybe then she wouldn’t be so harsh, so insistent. Maybe she wouldn’t speak so fiercely or snap so angrily. He wanted her to know the truth, and she did deserve to know. He just desperately did not want to be the one who had to tell her.
He opened his eyes and cleared his throat. “Alright. So it started about nine months ago—”
Interrupted by the sound of Cerlon’s cries, Janner breathed a silent thank You to the Maker. Sara briefly excused herself, speaking specifically to Maraly, whose mouth had dropped open. It took her a minute to get Cerlon, see if his diaper was wet, get his bottle when it wasn’t, settle him in her arms, sit down in the armchair, and begin feeding him.
It was enough time for Maraly to stop staring with her mouth gaping open and breathe, “So ye really did have another kid, didn’t’cha?”
Sara laughed lightly. “Yes. What did you think? That I was never pregnant with our third child, and Janner was just making up something on a whim?”
Maraly grinned in embarrassment and stepped into the room, passing Janner without glaring at him and coming closer to Sara. “Well, in me defense, I didn’t have that long to come up with some sorta reasonable conclusion.”
Kalmar came in after her and stood next to Janner. “Are you sure you’ll be okay telling her?” he asked, concern lacing his tone.
Janner shrugged and kept his voice low as he replied. “I don’t know, but it’s not as if I have much of a choice, unless she chooses to drop the subject after she looks at Cerlon and falls in love with him. Thanks for asking, though,” he added.
Kalmar nodded in acknowledgement.
Maraly was still fawning over Cerlon — which looked a bit strange, considering that Janner hadn’t seen her “fawn” over much of anything except her daggers — so he took the opportunity to at least steer someone in the right direction. “Shouldn’t you be in a meeting right now? That one that you just mentioned to Maraly?”
Shrugging, Kalmar shook his head. “I mean, I can be in it and so can Maraly, but honestly I think Uncle Artham and Gammon would rather take the opportunity to just haggle with each other and talk or something like that than having to deal with both of us being bored out of our minds and demanding the meeting end as soon as physically possible.”
A sound that could only be described as “cooing” came from Maraly’s mouth, and Janner looked at his brother strangely. “That’s Maraly, right?” he asked, just wanting to be certain.
Kalmar nodded. “Yeah, but I think babies must just do something to her? Like, they make her act not like her or something?”
Janner considered the possibility. “Where’s Galya?”
Chucking, Kalmar shook his head. “You sure have a lot of questions, don’t you?”
“Well I’ve either been in here or in the dungeon all day,” Janner retorted, in that moment feeling a wave of guilt wash over him at the thought. He really needed to get his act together. “I haven’t had time to find out anything. Now I completely take the fall for that and I promise, I’ll attend the other meetings with you today or even sit through them alone while you’re gallivanting across Anniera, but for now would you mind telling me?”
“I was teasing you, you know that, right?” Janner hadn’t known it and he would’ve liked to have known before he went on an unnecessary, quiet tirade, but he appreciated at least being informed. “And don’t attend any meetings today. I can deal with it. Spend time with Sara and Evnia and Elquinn. And maybe sleep more if you can. Skip the evening meal with everyone else again. Anyway,” Kalmar continued, speaking quietly enough that Maraly and Sara would not hear him over the sound of their light laughter. “Galya is with Arundelle, trying to teach all the kids how to shovel snow. Now they aren’t actually shoveling the snow,” he added quickly, keeping Janner from bolting out the door to go and stop them and take over. “There’s not more than a light dusting on the stone pathways in the royal garden, so they’re just ‘shoveling’ that.”
Breathing a sigh of relief and nodding, Janner was disappointed when the tension returned just seconds later.
“Now,” Maraly’s commanding voice declared. “Cerlon’s cute, real cute, I’ll give ye thet. So I’ll be nice. But I still wanna know why ye lied to everyone.”
Janner sighed, clasped his hands behind his back, and prayed it would be over quickly. “Sara got pregnant about nine months ago,” he began again. “It was a really rough eight months and she was sick almost the entire time—”
“Ye didn’t write me ‘bout it?!” Maraly demanded, her question directed toward Sara. She looked a bit hurt.
Now it was Sara’s turn to look uncomfortable. “I did write you,” she said slowly, obviously choosing her words very carefully. “And I told you I was having trouble, just not in obvious words. Enough people were worrying already, and there was no reason to worry somebody else.
Maraly shook her head. “Sara, I woulda liked to hear,” she said softly. “But ye said ye got pregnant with ‘im nine months ago. He’s already here, an’ I know what a newborn looks like. He’s not a newborn, even if he’s smaller ‘n one. So what happened?”
Janner sighed. “He was born early. A little over two weeks ago. There’s been trouble, and he almost died two days ago,” he voice broke, and he felt Kalmar’s hand squeezing his shoulder. He resisted the urge to wince in pain, because apparently he had been shoved into stone harder than he had thought. He cleared his throat before he continued. “And we just decided not to tell anyone what’s going on because it’s just better that way. We don’t need half or more of the Isle knowing when things are falling apart.” He couldn’t keep the brittle tone out of his voice, and he regretted it instantly when Maraly began looking at him more sympathetically than he preferred.
“I think I get it,” Maraly said after a little while. “I mean, I probably don’t really get it. But I sorta do. Still, I woulda preferred to know. An’ don’t worry,” she added. “I won’t tell anyone. Well, maybe Gammon.”
Janner smiled a little. “Sure, you can tell him. As long as Sara’s okay with it.” He looked at her, and she smiled and nodded. “Just, make sure you swear him to secrecy, okay?”
Maraly nodded solemnly. “On me honor as Shadowblade who never plans to fall in love, I swear.”
*****
Notes:
Is Maraly's last sentence a nod to the fact that I want to ship her with somebody? Yeah, yeah it is. Am I going to try to do that in the next fic? Maybe 👀
PLEASE DO THAT!!!!!!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEEEEEEEEEEEESE!