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Elnara laughed softly.

"So says you," she smiled ruefully. She put her free hand on her ribs. "From about here down my body is screaming at me the reality of all of this."

Then she returned her hand to where it had been, checking on Garrick to make sure he was still all right. "I'm just glad there weren't any problems," she smiled softly. "It's so easy for something to go wrong ..."

Stories of Shael's delivery were still in her mind ... though Rhea would be a year old already in a week or two.

Elnara looked down at the infant once more and giggled. "He's snorting while he's drinking," she laughed. "It's so adorable ... but I guess that's just a baby thing, since they breathe while they drink."

She looked over at Hana, who was still fussing, but quietly. "I'm not sure, but I think Hana's a bit bigger than Garrick," she mused. "Though I can't tell ... and I haven't been able to hold her yet ..."

Suddenly she felt her shirt grow a little wet, and she looked down again. "Ach, he's spilling," she sighed softly, smiling with amusement. "I guess now I know why most women use a blanket while they nurse."

"And the same for you," Elnara giggled, "when you get to hold Garrick next."

She smiled and leaned back again, shifting a bit under the blanket. "Whether I have the energy or not," she murmured, "I'm definitely taking a bath once they're fed ... and I hope it's good and hot. I've never ... never felt so sore in my life ..."

Or so dirty, but that was to be expected - considering she was half covered in blood still.

"And Alyse's bed will have to be washed before she can sleep in it again, too," she laughed. "I hope she doesn't mind the couch."

Elnara thought about it for a moment.

"I might," she admitted. "Definitely with getting in and out of the tub ... probably with dressing ... and for that matter just washing ..."

She laughed softly. "So I guess with all of it, though hopefully I can at least walk there myself. Mother and Ada can watch Hana and Garrick, though hopefully they'll fall asleep by then."

Garrick hiccuped, spilling a mouthful of milk, and looked up at Elnara, opening his eyes for the first time - and just as Lore had predicted, his eyes were a brilliant green, just as both Lore's and Elnara's were.

Elnara giggled. "Exercising muscles is how you strengthen them, just like any other muscle in your body. Still," she looked down at Garrick again, "being born is hard work, I'm sure they must be as tired as I am."

Garrick continued to look up at her, his green eyes barely open, and then he hiccuped again.

Elnara giggled. "Are you all done, little one?" she cooed, cradling him in her arm and closing her shirt again. She held him against her shoulder and gently rubbed his back, careful to hold his neck so that his head wouldn't fall backwards. "You're such a good boy ... going to grow up to be just like your papa, hm?"

She looked at Lore, her eyes sparkling with laughter.

Elnara laughed softly at that. "Well, I suppose we'll have to wait and see," she grinned at Lore. "But I think that it's going to be one wait that I won't mind."

No, she wanted to treasure their time with their children. Her other children had grown up so fast, and she felt distanced from some of them - Celebor especially now - and she wanted more time with these two little beings before they went off on their own.

"Would you like to burp him?" she asked Lore. "Then I can start feeding Hana ..."

She lowered Garrick to the crook of one arm, then moved her other arm so that Lore could place Hana in it so that he could take Garrick from her.

Elnara smiled down at Hana and brushed her cheek gently with one finger.

"Probably," she murmured softly to Lore. "It was his first feeding ... who knows what his stomach will do."

She opened her shirt once more and set Hana up to nurse, from the other side as Garrick had nursed. She didn't bother with a blanket for herself - she was already in desperate need of a bath, and her clothes were about as dirty as they could get, so she didn't think a little more milk would make a difference.

Once Hana was feeding contentedly, she looked up at Lore again. "What do you think?" she asked. "Hana's a bit bigger than Garrick?"

That was the feeling she had, anyways, though of course they could take the measurements later and find out for sure.

Elnara smiled. "But I think that ... it's fairly safe to say that he's probably going to be the louder one of them," she murmured. "Not that that's a bad thing."

It was just in her nature to compare things - the way she compared worlds, languages, writing styles and alphabets, cultures, and people.