Private Tales Those Fallen

[Saul Talith]

A few months ago had been the darkest time in the history of the Broken Sword, well, aside from when the Chapter had been created. They'd nearly been on the verge of collapse entirely, but now?

Now it seemed as though they would be stronger than ever. "I suppose we should see what the others have found."

His arms squeezing around her as he spoke.

The fortress was big, so he doubted they'd explored even a tenth of what was there, but still.

"And make sure no one else takes this room." He smiled. "We should've brought a piece of chalk."

 

[Anastasia]

"There's coal in the fire pit," she informed him, not straightening as she rested against him, trusting him to hold her weight.

She made no other move to stand up or go find the others as he suggested, seeing how long she could treat him like a standing bed.

 

[Saul Talith]

He squeezed gently.

"There's a book on the book case." Saul countered with his own obvious statement.

There was no real hurry to get back to the others, but he'd always been more than curious. A greater part of him wanted to know what the others had found.

Still, he was compliant, deciding that for a few moments at least he would act as a counterweight to Ana...but only a few.

 

[Anastasia]

Ana snorted, thunking her head into his chest.

"No, I mean. Take some paper, take some coal, mark the coridor as taken." She assumed the others would want to stay in it with them.

She'd guilt them senseless if they didn't.

She pushed off of him, going to the fireplace and squatting down to grab said coal. "And they say you're the brains of this operation." She pulled herself up, visibly agitated by the effort it took.

 

[Saul Talith]

"Ah." Well yes that did make more sense didn't it.

"Most of my brain power goes to organizing all this." He gestured to the fortress. "I'm building an entire righteous organization here. Can't worry about things like writing."

Saul smirked slightly, watching her as she struggled to stand. He quickly took two steps behind her, laying his hands gently on her to make sure she didn't suddenly fall over onto the ground. Ana wasn't a porcelain doll, but after the talk with the midwife...well there was more than a small amount of temptation to treat her like one.

"We'll put my personal mark." He told her. "Scare away the civilians."

 

[Anastasia]

Ana pulled away from his support, one hand cupping her back. She wasn't a porcelain doll, no, but the loss of her usual athletic flexibility made her feel as weak as a cripple. How could she fight a wraith like this? Unacceptable. She would stand up on her own.

"That'll show 'em, threaten beheading," she grumbled dramatically. She passed him the centuries old coal without flair, done marveling over the age of the place. "Val-- oof." She winced, pressing a hand to her stomach.

 

[Saul Talith]

Saul moved the step it took to reach Ana so fast that he might as well have teleported.

She hadn't moved far to grab the coal of course, but it was enough that he couldn't just grab her. His expression was one of immediate concern and worry, lips thin as he quickly doted on her. "Are you alright?"

His word were quick, almost spat out in such a hard rush.

Hands reached all over her, gently grasping and checking to make sure that she was still entirely whole and not suddenly falling into pieces.

 

[Anastasia]

Ana stood frozen in place, a mix between confused, shocked, and flat out horrified.

The hand pressed firmer into her stomach, trying to verify what it had felt.

“It moved,” she whispered, voice just as much on edge.

 

[Saul Talith]

A smile touched his face for one brief moment and then disappeared. "Is that okay? That's supposed to happen right?"

He remembered having a conversation about that with one of the midwives.

Saul wasn't entirely sure about this of course, he was no expert in the field of babies and pregnancies. Part of him wished he was, and he'd actually borrowed a book from one of the doctors, but as it turned out the whole thing was more…anatomical than he really needed or wanted.

Perhaps no one had gotten around to writing something more relatable.

 

[Anastasia]

Ana looked unsure. It was one thing to feel the soft flutters that had developed the last month. It was another all together to feel something inside of you kick.

She grimaced again, the internal subterfuge returning. She grabbed his hand, yanking it to where hers had been. A tense moment passed, Ana not daring to breathe, and then it happened one more time.

Movement.

She looked up at him, eyes wide with fear and almost comical horror. "It's like a witherin. Or a- a- persic." Yes, she was comparing their child to magical parasites. What else would she have knowledge of.

 

[Saul Talith]

Saul frowned at the comparison, but thought back to that book and realized that the comparison was likely fairly accurate

He supposed it was the outcome that changed things. With those parasites you end up dead, here? Well hopefully the outcome was something far more bright and cheery than that. His hand gently rubbed across the small of her back. "Why don't we find one of the midwives?"

The Templar asked.

"Get her thoughts." Just in case.

Saul didn't think there was anything wrong, but it didn't hurt to double check. Part of the porcelain doll theorem one would suppose.

 

[Anastasia]

That did very little to appease her. She took a step back, the 'weirded out' expression gaining some genuine fear credence.

"It couldn't be. No. ...Could it?" Had they really mistaken an infestation for a pregnancy?

...It wouldn't be the first time a victim of a persic had. In fact, that was a common symptom...

The joke born from distress turned into real panic. She clawed at her stomach, breathing quickly, very little of her Templar-trained levelheadedness to be found in a moment like. "What are the tests-- what- are are the signs," she demanded.

 

[Saul Talith]

Saul stepped forward, enveloping her. "You would sense it."

The Templars words were strong, reassuring. His arms wrapped around her, his hands petting gently and soothingly as he did his best to subdue runaway thoughts.

Magical parasites were just that, magical. Their abilities, the one that she was an expert at and he a supposed master would have allowed them to heed such a thing ages ago. He understood the paranoia, but rational thought won out for him.

"You have none of the other symptoms." She was neither any more pale nor had black lines grown forth through the maze of her veins. "It is just a bit of movement from the baby."

They did that at times, everyone knew that.

 

[Anastasia]

The rapid breathing slowly calmed, his words finding a place inside her panic and slowly calming her down. She clung to him, face pressed into his shoulder. "It would be just like us--" She whispered, voice quite and tone dark. "To think-to think we have something-" she swallowed hard. "Something good, only for it to- to be that."

Such thoughts had not been spoken by her yet, not in the weeks she had returned or the months they had been apart. Things had been getting better. Too better. Beyond it, secretly, was fear that it would soon be lost. That this baby would be lost. They had seen so much death from those they had known this year, it was a very easy jump of thoughts for a stressed, hormonal mother to be to make.

She hadn't dared use too many terms of endearments towards the creature inside of her. Always 'it', never 'baby'. And here was why-- templars knew to keep a guard up-- to guard themselves against the death of those around them. This child included.

"It is just our fate," she breathed, the parts of her that never healed stressing inside her defeated tone.

 

[Saul Talith]

"No." Saul countered as once again his arms tightened around hger.

"Our fate is what we make of it." There was a tightness to his voice, a slight constriction that said he spoke with true conviction rather than false platitudes. "We are building this."

He told her. "A new Order, a new home."

A pause.

"A family." Isn't that really what was happening? Saul wasn't speaking of the Templar now of course, he was talking about them. He and Ana, their friends. "We are doing it because it is what we want, because it's what we deserve."

Years, decades spent fighting for others, for the good of Arethil.

It was time to get their due, time for them to get the happiness they deserved.

 

[Anastasia]

Her arms clung to him in a vice grip. "You deserve that," she confessed to him. And while she hadn't said we, it was progress on the front of what had to do to their own kind to survive this year. She had been working through forgiving herself for what she had done, at times that process seemed slow and unmoving, but if she could see that Saul deserved happiness despite it all, then she wasn't that far behind in her eyes.

He had led them, after all.

Her face pressed into him again, rubbing away her wayward thoughts. "Sorry." She released him, trying to regather herself. "You have to think I'm crazy- calling it a parasite- my thoughts go crazy sometimes and-" She pushed her hair out of her face, frazzled by her own rollercoster of emotions.

 

[Saul Talith]

He nodded slowly. "It's alright."

The midwife had mentioned that this could happen. Emotions ran high during pregnancies. Even those most stable could have moment that were...off-putting.

He had expected it in a way, prepared for it.

"I understand." He said softly. "None of this is easy."

None of it. "But it will pay off in the end."

Gently he brushed a hand against her cheek.

 

[Anastasia]

Her eyes flickered closed, her face pressing back into his hand.

"You mean to say a baby. It will end with... a baby." And hopefully not a persic. She threaded her hand with his, her stress diminishing into the back of her thoughts. She took a deep breath, letting it back out and scanning his face.

He was being really patient with her. It served as a strong reminder-- "You want to get back out and catch up with the others, don't you," she noted, amused. She released him in silent permission, almost apologetic at keeping him tied down.

 

[Saul Talith]

"Kind of." He admitted quietly, unable to keep the excitement out of his voice.

It was something that he couldn't help.

They...he at least had dreamed about something like this since childhood. Exploring one of the great fortresses, seeing what their ancestors had built and the wonders they had left behind. Already they had discovered something, even if it was somewhat mundane.

Automatic windows!

What else would they find in this place? What else had the other Templars left behind that would fascinate and aid them. Saul couldn't help but want to see it, couldn't help but be thrilled by it.

"Come on." He said offering a hand. "Let's go see."

 

[Anastasia]

She took his hand, half wondering if she could even keep up with him in this state. Even when not carrying a possibly-persic-demon-baby Saul had been a handleful enough for any one of them. Still, she smiled, his excitement infectious as she let him guide her out and mark out the hall as claimed.

"If I didn't know any better I'd say you were swapped with a 12 year old," she laughed as they went.

 

[Saul Talith]

He smirked. "At twelve I would have been running all over this place."

Saul had always liked exploring, always liked going into every corner and seeing whatever he possibly could. He never had much of a knack for book Learning, but seeing and observing things himself?

He was good at that.

Clutching her hand in his and holding the journal they'd found in the other Saul quickly lead Ana back down the way they had come. By the time they reached the bottom of the steps he could hear voices.

Some he did not recognize, but one he did. Berrick was boasting about a Kitchen he'd found three levels down, apparently large enough to have three stove tops next to one another.