[ CLOSED ] A little light in the shadow

[ombranera]

WHO: Zevran, Mia
WHAT: Zevran receives an unexpected delivery
WHEN: Current
WHERE: Skyhold, Zevran's Quarters
NOTES: The reason for Zev's mysterious absence.

All told it is a relatively short conversation. Shorter than Zevran might have expected, longer than he would have had were it the other way 'round and he was the one depositing this particular surprise upon someone else's doorstep. Quick and lilting Antivan winds back and forth between he and Serena, hands flicking to the basket on the bed, the door to the hall and the world beyond. Now and then a curt phrase in common- "You can't-"

"I must."

And there is no arguing the point when she has her mind made up. His for a night some time ago but he remembers that well enough. It is not the worst leaving, truly. She murmurs an apology and kisses Zevran's cheek, Zevran presses a purse into her hand of coins that she declines but the once before clinging both to him and the weight in her palm. It is no easy thing for all that the talk is short but...as quickly as she'd swept in, Serena swept out once more, leaving Zevran blinking at the basket on his bed. He is still staring at the basket when the contents snuffle themselves awake and begin to fuss. With shaking hands Zevran forces himself to scoop out the infant, all tanned skin and blonde curls, and rest him against his shoulder. Luciano, she'd said, his son.

Brasca.

Comments

[lettersfromhome]

The eyes are most certainly his mothers, but she can see Zevran in the child without question. The thought tugs her smile wider as she reaches for the baby, firmly cradling his little bottom under one arm and supporting his back with her free hand. It had been some time since she last held a child, but she remembered how.

"Hello there. What do we think, mm?" Carefully she shifts her hold, allowing him to recline comfortably in the crook of her arm, swaying slightly from side to side on her feet. "What does our brave little man think of all this?"

[ombranera]

Perhaps it is her ease with the infant- or the familiarity of a woman's voice and warmth that has the beginnings of burbled laughter bubbling up from Lucci. A happy baby sound. That is...very unfamiliar to Zevran, but proof enough he could slip away to gather what he'd need from the kitchens.

"I think he finds you quite agreeable. I shall be back in a moment, yes?" he could flee, he thinks. He thinks and shakes off entirely. If he could stand before the crows, before dragons, before the archdemon? he could stand before a child.

[lettersfromhome]

"Of course."

Her gaze lifts to watch him depart, though it never crosses her mind for an instant that he will flee and not return. She knows him to be a better man than that, who wants better for those that he considers his.

And there is no one closer, no one more indelibly his now, than this child.

So she smiles down at the little one, fingers stroking the back of one tiny hand. "It's alright. I think the idea is growing on him," she murmurs conspiratorially, before lifting her brow knowingly.