OPEN | The daylight is almost gone

[mythalenaste]

WHO: Pel and YOU
WHAT: November/Firstfall open post
WHEN: Throughout Firstfall
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Pel has near-constant morning sickness, so if you are squicked by vomit, let me know somehow and I'll spare you.

I

Knitting is a refuge, though it is a trying task as Pel's hand heals. Healers have carefully arranged the bones at each healing, but there is still a great deal of stiffness in her right hand. It makes knitting a slow and imprecise effort. Right now, it's a baby blanket, made of the softest wool she has. The pattern is popcorn, little buds covering every centimeter to make the blanket thicker and warmer.

She can also be found at her regular job during the day, in the library, thoughtfully twirling a pen between her fingers as she studies some ancient text.

At night, she can be found on the battlements, facing the sunset and sending up a quiet prayer.

II

There are some days when Pel is hunched over her desk in the library, cheek against the surface waiting for nausea to lessen.

Some days she doesn't get out of bed.

There is one night when she walks into the tavern from her room above, her face covered with her neck handkerchief and eyes watering. She dashes to the far end of the room, picks up a plate with an abandoned half-eaten boiled egg on it, and flings the egg as far out the window as she can manage, even using some magic to make it go as far as possible. Face still covered like she is entering the sulfur pits of the Western Approach, she runs to the other side of the room, then the top of the first flight of stairs, before at last daring to breathe, suppressing a gag amidst her gasps.

Wildcard

Comments

[justice_is_blond]

"Him?" He hasn't tried to sense the gender of the baby. Most of the time he doesn't until the mother asks because it's theirs to know, but he wonders if she's gone to someone else to find out. "You've done fine by the child, Pel. I didn't sense anything awry."

[mythalenaste]

"Just a feeling." She doesn't like saying 'it' about her unborn child, and 'he' is coming more naturally than 'she,' for whatever reason. Maybe she's just too tired to pronounce the 's.' "I was so afraid something would happen, after--"

Between emotion and pregnancy brain, she can't manage to spit out the name of the clan that held her captive.

[justice_is_blond]

"Your child is whole and well, Pel."

Anders stops fiddling with herbs and reaches over to take her hand. "I'd personally advise you to take missions that carry less apparent risk. To be more careful. But your actions have not harmed the baby."

[mythalenaste]

"The risk wasn't that apparent," she insists. "They'd agreed to talk, and nobody thought they'd attack two Dalish. It was like death was reminding me who's in charge."

[justice_is_blond]

"I see. I'm sorry. I'd gotten the impression that the threat was more apparent earlier."With all the talking it had been easy to get turned around in the conversations. "You could still stand to be cautious when it comes to mission matters in the future, though, and more so as your time gets closer."

[mythalenaste]

She nods, and shifts a little, trying to pull away from that memory and back to the present.

"I will," she says distantly, and takes two deep breaths. "I...wanted to talk to you about the birth. I don't know what's customary where you're from, but there are some things I want, specifically."

The more she says, the clearer her mind becomes, turning back toward a happy event in her future.

"I don't want to give birth here. Healing tents. People are sick here, and it's in the middle of everything. I don't want all of Skyhold to hear me going about my business when my time comes. There's a grove of trees a short walk from Skyhold. I want it to be there."

[justice_is_blond]

Anders takes a seat, nodding, as she continues. He's never delivered for a Dalish elf before. It makes sense, though he'd not thought about it, that she'd want something other than what humans normally asked for.

"In the trees. All right." It's still going to be chilly then, though warmer than now, and Anders frowns in thought. "Can we put up a tent there so there's warmth, or are you asking to give birth in the open?"

They can string up sheets, but his concern is more for the infant being hit with cold air while covered in all of the detritus of birth.

[mythalenaste]

"A tent is fine. Just...not in Skyhold. Maybe in the open if it's warm, though it likely won't be. And it'll be windy, it's always windy here."

If they were in the Free Marches, she would certainly be able to give birth outside. It's not like it's never been done.

"Also. When the baby is born, I need something very specific to happen." She doesn't know if humans do this, or city folk, or whether human babies have the same instincts as elven, but here it is. "He's to be put on my chest, here, his skin against mine." She flattens her hand between her breasts, as much as she can now that they are the size they are. "Dry him off, cover us both with a blanket, and then get on with the afterbirth. You're to leave him be until he's nursed."

[justice_is_blond]

All right. So he's going to need a tent that can be quickly set up and warmed, and closer to the time he's going to need to have a stack of blankets and other supplies ready to be hauled down at a moment's notice. There's a few months for that yet, but he turns to note this down on a scrap of parchment before stopping and looking back at her at the other request.

"Just... leave him there? Not help him find what he needs?" Anders has never heard of this before, and it's a little worrying. "Is there a time at which, if he hasn't begun to suckle, we assist?"

[mythalenaste]

"Maybe after a couple of hours. They usually find it before then. And it's not like he'll be alone." Her gaze falls away, and it's one of a million moments in any day where she's thinking about how transcendent this is, how weird and wonderful. "He'll be with me. His mother. We'll learn each other. And every animal in the wild can find its mother's breast. What makes you think babies are any different?"

[justice_is_blond]

A couple of hours. That will work; a newborn can't be harmed by hunger that quickly. Anders nods before shrugging.

"I've simply not heard of it being done with a child before. Doing that isn't taught to healers, and you're the first mother I've delivered for to ask that of me. I'm willing to do it." No precedence in his experience doesn't mean anything's wrong with trying. He just wants insurance for the baby's sake in case.

[mythalenaste]

Being called a mother creates a little leap of joy in her chest, and her face immediately brightens, though like with all her expressions, the change is subtle.

"Thank you," she says softly. "There's just one more thing. In...a clan--" she avoids saying which clan "--I would be attended by some relatives. My mother, traditionally, but since I've only met mine three times, I thought I should ask Cyril and Merrick. They're my closest family, really."

[justice_is_blond]

Now Anders is quiet and thoughtful.

"Cyril, of course. I've... There's some talk that Merrick may have a... particularly touchy temperament. If you think he'd help and not make the process more stressful, then by all means, ask. But if it's true and he starts causing more difficulty, I'd like to have permission to ask him to leave." She's the mother. Her say generally goes. But some calls might have to be made, and he's glad that at least they're discussing things beforehand.

[mythalenaste]

"Of course. Cyril will know when there are warning signs, and will take him away on an errand if he needs to." Pel can't give birth and comfort Merrick at the same time. It's not possible.

[justice_is_blond]

Anders nods. That's that, then.

"Is there anything else I should know or have prepared? You're the first Dalish elf I've delivered for." Not the first elf, period, but the first Dalish. He probably should have expected sine cultural things, but he'd been more focused on the healer aspect of it.

[mythalenaste]

Pel considers quietly for a moment, then appears to jump to life.

"Oh--the afterbirth is something we usually plant. It's good for crops, so I think it ought to be given to Sina for the garden."

[justice_is_blond]

"Plant." That's a new one too, though it makes some sense on second thought. "Right. I'll not discard it, then. Do you... Forgive me, but I'm curious now. Does a mother keep track of where it was planted? Would a tree be named after the child, or something? Is there a Pel tree?"

[mythalenaste]

"That's what we do with our dead. The afterbirth's just good for the soil, that's all."

[justice_is_blond]

"Oh." Oops. Anders ducks his head. "I'm sorry. I didn't know." Maybe he should stick to simple questions instead of speculation when it comes to other people groups.

"Mm." Continuing after he's put his foot in his mouth is always a little rough. "Did you want to go through breathing exercises today, or save that for another visit?"

[mythalenaste]

"...I have to practice breathing?"

[justice_is_blond]

Oh good. Safer ground. Familiar ground. ...Not like putting his foot in his mouth is unfamiliar.

"There will be a lot of pressure, and possibly a point or more when you'll need to stop pushing and simply breathe despite how your body will be telling you to push. If we go over it beforehand, if the rhythm is familiar, you can fall into it more easily."

[mythalenaste]

Pel blinks, eyes going briefly wide, and then nods. She gave him the orders regarding custom, but he must be the one giving orders with regard to anything medical.

"Then I would like to practice now."

[justice_is_blond]

And then he taught and it was awesome.