Bestest Big Brother

Writers: Estelle, Miriah
Date Posted: 9th January 2021

Characters: Lusilk, Lorican, Silgan
Description: Lusilk and Lorican tell Silgan about the baby
Location: Sunstone Seahold
Date: month 8, day 13 of Turn 10

Lusilk

"Mama?" Silgan hurried to his parent's bedroom as soon as Lorican
brought him back from the creche in the evening. Excited to spend time
with his mother again, he was disappointed to see her bare shoulders
peeking out of the furs and mussed hair covering a pillow. He sighed
and plodded out of the room to look up at his Da. "She's sleepin." There
was a distinct pout to the boy's expression.

But Silgan had woken Lusilk. It seemed as though that once her travels
were over, her body had been demanding nothing but rest and sleep.
Nausea had been intermittent, causing only a few trips to the privy
during the day, but the call of the comfortable bed had been too great
to ignore. Still, her son's voice had been enough to rouse her.
Yawning, she waited until he'd stepped out, then reached to grab the
first thing she could to cover her bare body. Sitting up, Lusilk
slipped one of Lorican's under tunics over her and rose, the shirt
falling nearly to her knees as she sleepily stumbled out of the bed
chamber.

Her hair was a mass of waves over her shoulders, unbound from her
regular braid. She didn't slip on her arm sling, but just wandered out,
rubbing one of her eyes. "I'm awake... what time is it?"

Lorican looked up from where he'd crouched by Silgan's side, his eyes
lightening with appreciation. He'd seen his wife in many different
guises - her usual practical garb, her wedding gown, wrapped in a towel
fresh from bathing - but he couldn't help liking what he saw now,
especially the way the wide neck of the shirt draped over her shoulder.
"Nearly dinner time. You've slept all day." He rose. "How do you feel?"

"Awake. I think. " Lusilk yawned and then grunted as Silgan rushed at
her and slammed into her with a tight hug. "Easy, SIlgan." She
returned the hug and rubbed at her belly where his head had slammed
into her. "Not so rough." At least her stomach wasn't roiling.
Instead, she felt a gurgle of sudden hunger, but had no desire to
dress to go to the dining hall.

He looked up, eyes wide. "Are you sick, mama? You never sleep so much.
It's my birthingday soon. Are we gonna have a cake?"

It took her brain a moment to switch from one topic to the next. "I'm
alright, Silgan." She moved to sit on the couch and before she could
curl her legs under her, he crawled up into her lap. She grimaced as
he laid his head against her shoulder, but didn't move him, just
shifted a little to adjust his position. "Sure...cake."

"Not tonight, though," Lorican said, smiling. "It's just ordinary dinner
tonight." He looked at Lusilk. "Do you want me to bring you anything to
eat? You must be famished."

Lusilk turned to him and her stomach rumbled audibly enough for Silgan
to giggle. "Dinner sounds good. Just nothing greasy please. I don't
think my stomach can handle it."

Silgan then looked more concerned as he looked up at his mother. "You
_are_ sick. You gotta tummy ache?"

Looking over at Lorican, Lusilk's lips lifted slightly. "Should we tell
him?"

"I think we should, before he guesses it for himself." He sat down
beside them on the couch. "Mama's not sick, but she does have something
very special to tell you."

Looking down at Silgan, who peered up at her with questioning in his
eyes, Lusilk's lips lifted a little. "Mama has a baby in her belly,
Silgan. You're going to have a brother or a sister."

Silgan's eyes widened in shock and suddenly a wide smile spread over
his face as he hurriedly leaned back and placed his hands on his
mother's stomach. "A baby? A real baby?" He beamed and looked over at
Lorican. "I'm gonna be a big brother! And Da will be it's Da too,
right?" He looked down at his mother's stomach, then slipped down to
his knees on the floor to peer at the still flat tummy. He looked up
at Lorican and his mother, his eyes bright. "I want a sister! Can you
make it a girl?" Then he frowned, looking back down at her belly. "How
will it get out? When will it come out? Can I hold it?"

"Yes, Lorican is the Da and it's a real baby." Lusilk ruffled his dark
hair and a wry smile twisted her lips as she glanced at Lorican.
"It'll get out the same way it got in, but we won't know if it's a boy
or girl until it's born, Silgan. And yes, when it's born you can hold
it."

Lorican watched the boy's excitement with all the warm pleasure he'd
felt when seeing him playing with the other children in the creche,
knowing that Silgan wouldn't be lonely any more. "Growing a baby is hard
work, though, so we'll both have to be extra helpful to Mama for the
next few months. She'll need plenty to eat and lots of rest."

Silgan nodded eagerly. "I'll help!" He hugged his mother tightly and
when she grunted, but returned the hug, then he hurried over to
Lorican and crawled up into his lap to hug him as well. "I'll be the
bestest big brother!"

It was so different, she thought as she watched them, from her
pregnancy with Silgan. Staying in a dark cell, sick, hurting,
perpetually feeling weak and hungry, hating her condition, hating the
father of the child inside of her, hating the babe, and wanting
nothing more than a quick death...to this. So very different. **The
beginnings of a family.** She thought, then twitched a bit. What did
she know of families or being a part of one? She held little affection
for her own mother, though she had loved her younger sister dearly,
and though she also loved Silgan, she'd been gone from him so much and
had been focused so much on protecting him that seeing him now with
Lorican, she almost felt jealous. She'd had no father to hold her like
that.

"I know you will." Lorican hugged the boy back and kept an arm lightly
around him, mindful that the child might unknowingly hurt Lusilk's
still-bruised body. "Right! Who wants to come with me to choose some
food for Mama's dinner?" He looked down at Silgan with a smile. "Who
knows all her favorite dishes?"

"I will!" Silgan grinned. "Mama likes bread and fruit and meat pies!"
He got up and grabbed Lorican's hand eagerly, trying to pull him up to
go immediately to the Hold's dining hall.

Lusilk grimaced at the thought of the meat pie and looked at Lorican.
"Perhaps some bread, fruit and cheese. That should be fine. I'm really
not wanting any meat right now, honestly. Thank you." She turned to
Silgan. "And you. Pick out some good fruit, okay?"

"I'll make sure he does." Lorican leaned over and kissed her forehead
lightly before allowing Silgan to pull him to his feet. "We won't be long."

She accepted the kiss and for this time, didn't pull away from the
obvious affection. "Thank you." She sighed and watched them with a
brief smile, looking forward to the meal; she was hungry and had
missed two meals already. "I'll try to be up and about a bit more
tomorrow."

"Take all the time you need. There's no reason to hurry." He smiled and
let Silgan lead him out of their quarters. "All right, son, what were we
going to get Mama again? Bread, cheese and f...f... flowers? Fish tails?
Firelizard eggs?" As the door swung closed, he could be heard playfully
pretending to have forgotten their errand already.

Last updated on the February 19th 2021

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