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When I finally go into labor, Lo’zar puts on the amulet to fetch the midwife, and I almost tear it off of him. I need him here,mytroll. But when he holds my hand, looking into my eyes, I know that it’s him.
After a day and a night, I’m drenched in my own sweat and exhausted all the way to my bones. Lo’zar’s fallen asleep with his head on the bed when at last, I feel it. I’m finally almost there.
He jolts awake at my scream. “Fuck,” he says, holding my hand tight.I didn’t know this was going to hurt you so much. I’m having second thoughts.
You’re having second thoughtsnow? I growl. He laughs, and then I’m lost to the pain.
Her scream pierces the air. I don’t have to see her to know who she is, because I know her the way I know Lo’zar. But it’s not over. He holds our screaming daughter, the tiny human girl with a thin coat of black hair on her head, while I pitch forward and cry out.
“He’s not wanting to come out,” the midwife says, trying to disguise her worry. “Just push harder, dear.”
He isn’t crying when he emerges, but the edges of my vision are already crawling in.
Is he breathing?I ask, terrified of the answer. Lo’zar is quiet for a long time as he holds our wailing daughter.
Eventually, he whispers the word,Yes.
* * *
Ji’zan is small, smaller than his sister, and quiet as a mouse. Lo’zar likes to curl up with him in the hammock, sometimes one in each arm, enjoying the ocean breeze. They’re so tiny, our two little human children, that he can easily palm them.
It’s so strange,he says, smoothing back Hara’s hair, who’s the much wilder of the two.That they would come out human.He shoots me a playful grin.You didn’t sleep around on me, did you?
I tug on his braid as I sit in his lap, and he shifts to hold all three of us.I wonder that, too,I say, bringing Ji’zan into my arms.I feel like it’s tied to the pyramid, somehow. What we discovered down there.
He cocks his head.You think our whelps are magic?It actually looks like he’s considering this.Bold statement. What’s your evidence?
I shrug.Just a feeling.
Suddenly, Lo’zar crows, “Oh!” and both Ji’zan and Hara start crying at once. I roll my eyes as he fishes around in his pocket for something—and pulls out two tiny gold rings.
What are those?I ask.And when did you get them?
Hey, I paid this time.He leans down and takes Hara’s tiny hand, trying to put the ring on it.Had them custom made.
I carefully remove the ring.Lo’zar. You can’t give a ring to an infant.
He frowns.But it’s insurance. Now they’ll never know what it’s like to have nothing.
Tracing a finger down his tusk, I sigh and shake my head.They’ll never have nothing as long as they’re with us. Don’t worry.
He looks at me in silence for so long, I wonder if time has frozen.
I’m so glad I found you, princess,he says, tucking a rogue hair behind my ear.
Even though we had to destroy a priceless artifact to get here?I ask.
No one was using it anyway.
The babies fall asleep again, rocked by the swaying of the boat.
I never think of my parents, not anymore. This is my world, my home, my place. And as long as Lo’zar and I are together, there’s nothing we can’t do.
* * *
