Talk of the Children
Notes:
This one is sweet^^
*****
Kalmar fell asleep almost immediately, as if he did not have a care in the world and his stomach wasn’t empty from the lack of food. The crusts Amrah had thrown in along with the candlesticks were enough to tide them over for a little while, of course the fact that they rationed them made them less substantial, but Janner knew they needed real food, otherwise escaping really would not go well.
With escaping in mind came the other thing that troubled Janner. There was a huge chance they were going to die within the next day, and while they would be dying for the Maker, who were they saving or redeeming through their death? No one. Rather, they were giving Amrah temporary pleasure that would not satisfy her, even if she believed it would.
So he couldn’t sleep. He couldn’t sleep for the thousands of thoughts racing through his mind about whether they would live or die, whether he would live or die, whether he would see Sara and Evnia and Elquinn again in that lifetime. If he couldn’t, he didn’t want to sleep. He wanted to spend every moment he could spare remembering them and how much he loved them.
As he recalled every little detail about his family to his mind, he realized that he hadn’t told Kal anything about them. His brother might not even know they had twins! Things might look a little bleak, but at least I can share that good news, Janner thought bittersweetly.
Hours later, Kal finally woke up. The first words out of his mouth were, “Breakfast sounds delightful.”
Janner laughed a little and struck a match, lighting the wick on one of the candles. Amrah had thrown in a decent number of them, so they had enough to last another day and a half. “I hate to break it to you, but there’s no breakfast other than more stale bread. I think you were just dreaming.”
“But it was a good dream,” he mumbled as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
Janner looked at Kal who was acting as he had for years when forced to wake up early. He opened his pack and pulled out this journal, then handed it, a quill pen, a miraculoulsy not broken ink well, and a packet of ink powder to his brother.
Kal stared at it, his eyes wide. The same had happened the last time he had been offered the journal, and the truth was that his little brother's surprise and excitement thrilled him. “That’s your journal. And you let me draw in it once already.”
Janner nodded. “And I want you to get more chances to draw in it. Please.”
Not waiting for another second, Kal took it eagerly — Janner could see reverence in his actions as well — and began to draw.
Janner entertained himself by watching over Kal’s shoulder as he drew all sorts of Annieran, Skreean, Kimerian, and Hollish places, animals, people, plants, anything he could think of. Hopelessly incapable of drawing, Janner knew he would never come anywhere near his younger brother’s skill level, which was largely natural talent anyway.
Kal was drawing a picture of Galya standing on one of the Annieran hilltops, her curly hair blowing in the wind, when Janner asked, “Have I told you yet?”
Kal’s head jerked up from Galya’s picture, and his cheeks were bright red. “Told me what? What did I do? I didn’t do anything.”
Janner smiled. “About Sara’s baby.”
Light dawned in Kal’s eyes and relief spread across his face. “Oh! You’re talking about that. Not…anything else suspicious or anything at all…that was anything to do with an auburn-hair girl...um.” Kal coughed a little. “Yeah, you know, I saw the very basics when Leeli played her whistleharp that first time — that Sara isn’t pregnant anymore and probably gave birth and named your kid, most likely not after me — but nothing more. I think. There was something funny going on with the connection, because I couldn't tell if the baby was a boy or a girl, since I was getting stuff saying both.”
A grin of pleasure spread across Janner’s face. This is going to be fun, he thought. “Well, going back to the beginning, it turns out that the night I had the nightmare about Sara and the baby, she was giving birth at that exact moment.”
Kal furrowed his brow for just a second. “Wait, wasn’t this the night that…nevermind.”
Janner cleared his throat awkwardly. “Yeah, it’s the dream that made me freak out and ask you and then get mad to an uncalled for extent, but all things aside, Uncle Artham found me and brought me back to Anniera. Other than him, the first person I saw was Sara. And the second two were Evnia and Elquinn.” Janner clasped his hands and looked at Kal, guessing it would be a minute or so before the realization dawned on him.
Kal seemed as though he was thinking very intently and trying to figure out what he had just been told. He moved his hands around and murmured to himself as he thought mostly inside his head but a little out loud. “Wait a minute,” he cocked his head and squinted at Janner. “Who are Evnia and Elquinn?”
“Evnia and Elquinn,” Janner paused for dramatic effect. “Are the twins.”
“What are you talking about? We don’t know any twins!” Kal gestured very emphatically with his hands, and Janner just kept smiling at him. “I mean, I’m sure there are several sets of Annerian twins and that they’re all very lovely, but we don’t know any of them very well and we never have known any of them. Janner Wingfeather, if you’ve been making friends while I was away and left me out of it, I’m going to be very annoyed!” He crossed his arms and scowled a little.
Janner laughed aloud this time. “Kal, I spent the majority of the time when you were away either internally panicking in a room or preparing to come and rescue you. Not only do I not make friends easily, but even if I did, I didn’t have time to make any new friends. And we’re not talking about Annierans. Well, we are, but not other Annierans. We’re talking about new Annierans. New family members. New Wingfeathers.”
Kal stared at him, blinking. Janner could almost see the thought process going through his mind. “Wait, Wingfeathers ? With an ‘s’?” Janner nodded. “You’re telling me that you and Sara had TWINS?! A girl and a boy?!” Janner nodded again, smiling broadly.
Written on Kal’s face was a look of pure wonder, utter astonishment, and perfect joy. “I’m the uncle of TWINS?!” he shouted, and when he received Janner’s confirming nod once more, he leapt to his feet, brought his hands up to his mouth, and shouted at the top of his lungs. “I’M PRETTY SURE ONLY A LOT OF FANGS CAN HEAR ME, BUT I’M THE UNCLE OF TWINS! I’M THE LUCKIEST BROTHER IN ALL OF AERWIAR!!!!”
Janner burst out laughing and stopped just a second later as the pain blossomed in his chest and nearly sent him into a coughing fit that he swallowed, because it would ruin the moment. “I’m pretty sure they all heard you,” he smiled up at Kal once he had gotten his breathing under control, loving the look of happiness on his brother’s face.
“Yeah, well, they’re going to be hearing it again because I don’t have much else to do down here. And I’m pretty proud to be the uncle of twins. And I’m also glad they’re not dead because of me,” he added softly.
Janner studied him for a minute, trying to decide the right thing to say. “Even if they were,” the words made a nasty taste come into his mouth as he said them, but he pushed the horrifying thought aside. “It still wouldn’t be your fault.”
Kal chuckled a little. “Can you seriously still not remember what happened before the sail or during it?”
Janner shrugged. “Whatever it was, it happened, but it’s not all that important right now. What matters, though, is that every one of us is alive and well. And if it is the Maker’s will, we’re going to stay that way.”
*****
“Twelve weeks old today,” Sara whispered in Evnia’s ear as she held her daughter up against her shoulder. Evnia cooed happily and put her fist in her mouth. Nia was taking care of Elquinn for a change in pace, just so she could have a bit of a break. “Twelve weeks old and daddy’s not,” she faltered and swallowed the tears gathering in her throat. “Daddy should be back soon,” she finished instead.
Janner had been gone for almost a month, and what a difficult month it had been. Almost impossible, really. Why had it been so hard for her? For the twins? Even for him? For some reason they had been forced to fight against storms again and again, and they weren’t even storms that normal people faced. It wasn’t as though she and Janner were miscommunicating in their marriage, their love certainly hadn’t waned, and she wasn’t having all that much trouble with the twins. It would have been harder without Nia and Arundelle’s constant help and Galya’s fairly frequent assistance, but it wasn't all that difficult.
No, all the “normal problems” that new wives and mothers had were not problems. The problems were abnormal ones, like potential death, borderline insanity, and the simple state of not being together. No, instead she was in Anniera and Janner was on a mountain somewhere trying to rescue Kal because he was the Throne Warden, his brother’s safety was his responsibility, and, no matter what was happening, at who knew what time he was required to drop everything to go and help.
“Oh, Maker, why have you given Janner this task?” she whispered, sitting down on her bed gently and hugging Evnia a bit tighter. “Not only that, but — and I know it’s selfish — why have You allowed me to experience so much pain and grief in my life?”
Sara, My daughter, I have allowed this grief to make you stronger. I have not left you alone, remember that. You have support from those who love you and you have support from Me.
Sara squeezed her eyes shut and felt tears that had been prickling at their corners rolling down her cheeks. “Help me believe this. Please.”
*****
Notes:
Sara's been gone for a while and because the climax spans multiple chapters that take place over just a few hours (like, three-ish?), she won't appear until the last chapter. So I felt like we needed to get in touch with her again^^
"Only a lot of fangs" 😂😂