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After the minor dramas of acquiring Takhi’s consent to wait out the last portion of her pregnancy in safety, in company, and out of the main flow of dangers that came with Taliuma proper, things settled significantly. Lithian and Casseth found that she had not taken her state as any excuse to cease exercising or exerting herself, but she seemed to balance her practice with her new weight and encumbrances well, all things taken into account. The twins waited another nine days from the beginning of her stay before deeming their time appropriate.

On a bright and cloudless, early summer afternoon, Tanarah and Talanah were born without incident: healthy, lively, loud, and one directly after the other. No feeling in the world, Lithian decided in that instant, matched that of the first moments when one’s children came into the world. Sun poured warm-yellow over the sheets over which Takhi lay, and after quick, rudimentary cleaning spells and brief, once-over checks for their health, each of the girls was swaddled in soft cloth.

Her dark, golden-brown skin flushed with exertion, Takhi reached, lifting a tired hand. “Come, then, the first one. Tanarah. Let me see her,” she said, and Lithian obliged, shifting the weight of the first girl out and turning her carefully over to the arms of her birth mother. The other, Talanah, he held for himself a moment, throat temporarily incapable of anything but the raw pinch of emotion. Tiny. A healthy size, he knew realistically — larger than Ataya and Akara had been at birth — but still tiny by comparison to all else, her fists bunched like pebbles and lips pursed up in an infant’s pout.

Dark skin. A rich, deep brown. Whispy tufts of loosely looping black hair. Barely-there nubs of what would soon be horns, he knew, and a dusting of bright, hot pink scales. Vision bleary with happy tears, Lithian shut his eyes and dipped, brushing his lips feather-gently to his daughter’s forehead with the whisper, “I love you…” before raising his gaze to his mate, suspecting Casseth would want a part of this as soon as possible also. “Casseth?” he asked, by way of offer.

In response to the question, Takhi grunted, though her expression was warm, her eyes on her daughter. Their daughter.

“Oh, aye,” she said, her finger toying lightly with Tanarah’s grip — who, for her part, seemed intent on attempting to burble, spit, or chew on as much of her mother’s digit as possible. “Pink as a desert sunrise ‘til I chose my clan. Stood out like a flower field in spring against a dirt road.” When Tanarah began fussing again, groping blindly in want for something, Takhi moved her without a word, down and over, helping her to latch on to a breast. “Got all sorts for it, too. ‘What a pretty pink flower girl, what are you doin’ here, oi? This is a boy’s game, we’re learnin’ to fight, wouldn’t want to chip one o’ your scales.’” She shifted, cradling her daughter more comfortably before continuing. “Taught ‘em right quick that fightin’ like a girl is a compliment and a privilege and ain’t a one of ‘em that fought like a girl.”

Lithian hummed, shaking his head and moving over to his mate. After watching him a moment, his smile spread all the broader, and he leaned, pressing a kiss first to Casseth’s shoulder — lingering and gentle — and then just beneath his ear, where he whispered, “See? You’ve nothing to be nervous for…” He stepped in, placing a hand to rest at Casseth’s waist and watching Talanah in his grip. “You’re a natural.”

“Oi, I can — the gods blessed me with two tits for a reason I suppose,” Takhi said, sitting up a touch to accommodate the offer and take her other to her. Tala settled in well, imminently pleased to be fed, and the evening progressed from there. After their feedings, both infants and mother were exhausted enough to spend the next few hours — the hottest part of the afternoon at that — blissfully asleep and recuperating.

Lithian and Casseth took the time to put into place final preparations around the house with the idea that, come night at least, the girls would sleep with them. That precise arrangement had not been discussed yet fully with Takhi, nor had they settled on how much longer she intended to stay with them now that the birth was behind them, but all those were issues for tackling after a solid rest. The last touches of an evening meal being put in for a slow cook were underway when Takhi made her appearance. After assuring them that the girls were, for now, still asleep, she made her way out with voiced intent to start enjoying having ‘her body all to herself’ again.

This, from the look of things, apparently meant sand-bending, stretching, warm ups for combat routine, and swimming. With a shake of the head, Lithian spared Casseth a glance and then started up to check on the girls. After their mother’s departure, they were already stirring when Lith and Cas arrived, prompting them to opt for exposing them to a little fresh, afternoon air before nightfall. So it was that, with dinner cooking and their mother out stretching her body in the nearby stretch of ocean, Tana and Tala spent their first evening in Eowyn air cradled in their fathers’ laps, flitting between drowsy periods of sleep and more lively moments of inarticulate gurgling, sound, and spit-bubble experimentation.

Lithian, cross-legged on the deck beside his mate, leaned to press a kiss to Casseth’s shoulder before tucking his chin there, lightly, and eyeing him, his own expression aglow with warmth. “Casseth,” he asked, “…are you happy?”

Lithian flushed, relaxing further and beaming at the answer. “That we can, and we will.”

A second, more enthused and lingering kiss initiated from Lithian’s end was cut off only by the nearby splash of water, followed by arms as Takhi propped herself up on the deck, arms folded under her chin and body still in the water. Soaked and beaming, she looked a great deal more like herself than she had the past few months, and — despite her resiliency through the pregnancy — the rebound and weight off her shoulders was clear to see.

“Oi, so, lovebirds,” she said. “Some things…first: tonight.” She made a vague hand gesture, lifting and then tapping one finger to the deck. “And then…after that. We should be on the same page, yeah? Not here to overstay my welcome…”

Lithian blinked. “Takhi…you’re always welco—”

Takhi waved him off. “Oi, you know what I mean. First things first, mm? The girls. You had their crib in your room. You intendin’ on sleeping with ‘em tonight? I thought I’d give my gut and legs and mind a rest and spend at least one more evenin’ here, but ah…my thoughts weren’t to stay a great deal longer’n necessary. As soon as I’m on my feet proper again…” She hesitated, a convoluted look passing over her features before she reached, running a hand back through her wet hair. “Well, I was figurin’ on takin’ a ship out next I can catch one. I’ll be back around and all, but maybe not for another several weeks or, ah…months. Dependin’ on how things go.”

Lithian’s gaze flit to Casseth, and then back to Takhi. “I…well…” He frowned. “I did assume they would sleep with us tonight…?” After another furtive glance towards his mate, he met Takhi’s gaze. “We’ll be the ones needing to learn see to them through the nights, so…it’s what I’d prefe—”

“Great,” Takhi cut in. “So—”

“But for your health,” Lithian said, “I think you would benefit from at least waiting two or three days, if not longer, to give your body chance to rest itself…and you are fully welcome here in that time, or to head back as you please.”

“Mmn, well.” Takhi rest her chin on her hands, tapping a finger to the deck. “Suppose we’ll figure those details out when they come, mm? ‘Til then…” She blew a kiss towards the two infants, and then was sinking back, into the water, and moving out.

Lithian blinked, startled by the rapidity of it all, but then glanced to Casseth. “You…are alright with that?”