How Are We Going to Do This? (pt. 1 of 2)

Writers: Kaysea, Vix
Date Posted: 18th May 2008

Characters: Hartam, Tayette
Description: Hartam celebrates Tayette's birthingday and they discuss possible names for the babies.
Location: Vintner Hall
Date: month 9, day 22 of Turn 4

She struggled out of bed, rolling onto her side first, and then slowly pushing herself up from the mattress with both hands. Her stomach was huge, well rounded and incredibly hard to the touch, occasionally she would just lay down and watch as the babies within tossed and tumbled against each other, but today, she was just plain uncomfortable.

Before attempting to stand, she slipped her feet along the floor reaching for her slip-ons shoes. If she didn't get them on before she stood, she would have no hope of managing once her stomach blocked the view of her feet. She noticed that her ankles hadn't gone down as much as they should have overnight, and wondered if this was one time she should actually go and see the healers.

"Ah, there she is, as beautiful as ever!" Hartam pushed his way into the room, his hip nudging the door to offer space to enter, tray held in both hands. "How are you feeling this fine morning?" "Oh Hartam." she felt tears spring to her eyes, and wiped them away swiftly with her hands. "I feel so..." she shook her head, how could she describe the way she felt and make him understand. "..full?" she said on a half laugh. "If I said I felt like a bloated watchwher, would you understand?" she asked, thinking of the most ugly, and slovenly thing she could possibly compare herself to.

"Absolutely not," he told her, feigning his most shocked expression. "To me you're beautiful." He set the tray on the bedside table and then sat on the edge of the bed next to her, one hand reaching to rest on her abdomen. "As to feeling. . . full, that I can understand." "I just want them out, now." she said, holding his hand tightly against her stomach. "We've had to wait a long time for them Hartam, and now I'm just impatient to have them out here with us." She rubbed at her eyes, and then glanced over at the bedside table. "You made me breakfast?" she felt tears welling in her eyes again, and brushed at them with the back of her hand. "What did I do to deserve you?" she asked, smoothing her hand over this cheek. "I love you."

"Well, I didn't so much make you breakfast as go to the kitchens and tell them what I needed," he admitted. "Because I love you as well." His hand rubbed over her belly. "And them as well, oddly enough. How is it that I can feel so much for them without ever seeing or really knowing them?" "They're a part of you, dear one." she smiled up at him. "And they kick the dickens out of you each night, how could you not have feelings for them?"

"They have been the cause of quite a few sleepless nights," he nodded as he spoke, and then his face brightened. "Of course. Only a little longer and then we'll be able to put them in their cradles and we can sleep peacefully." "That's something I've been meaning to talk to you about..." she said, snapping her fingers. "We keep calling them _them_ and _they_ - we haven't really discussed names, Hartam. Is there any name you would particularly like to use - anyone you would like to honour?"

He frowned at that reminder. "But we don't know whether they'll be girls or boys." "We _need_ names for them, at least two names; two boys names and two girls names. We can always choose which names we'll actually use later, once they're here. But Hartam, I can't imagine calling them - he and she, or him and him, once they're born."

"I hadn't really thought about that." His frown deepened. "I somehow thought that. . . that the names came afterwards, chosen to suit the person. To decide on a name ahead of time seems wrong somehow. How will we know that these little ones are fitting of the names that we choose?" "We won't know, we can't know - not until they're older." she shook her head, "but it would be nice to know we have some names we both like, before the babies arrive, in case nothing else comes to mind?"

"True." He puzzled over that. "I've never had to offer up names, only to memorize them and pass on their significance to others. Those are the names that I know, and most would place far too high a burden on a poor babe." "Then let's not pass on a name. I know that for myself I have no one I care to honour enough to name a babe for them." Especially not her father - not after his betrayal of her.

"My nephew did pass away in the first 'Fall of this Pass," Hartam mused. "His is the only name that I'd consider using, and I'd consider that name to be unlucky. I suppose that we should find all new names." "I think we should." Tayette didn't want to chance anything happening to either of the babies, and gifting a name on them from a relative who had died prematurely wasn't what she wanted.

"So. . . how does one go about choosing names." He held her hand in his, absently stroking her fingers. "Something short, or something that's going to be shortened to an acceptable version." "I, do you know, " she gave a short, self conscious laugh. "I'm not sure, I don't honestly know. I've never been close to anyone involved in such a process."

The harper sighed. "Tay, how are we going to do this? You've a little more idea of what's in store than I do, but even you express doubts."

Last updated on the June 1st 2008

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How Are We Going to Do This? (pt. 1 of 2)