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

[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.