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Luna has never known a bone-deep weariness like this. Not even during the worst of her battles, the longest struggles, the most dire injuries. She has never been so tired that she's not even sure she could reliably tell someone the difference between up and down if pressed.
If only she’d taken the words of well-meaning, too-knowing women to heart rather than assuming they were having fun at her expense.
She knows she must have slept. The tightness in her breasts indicates that a reasonable amount of time has passed since she collapsed onto her back, uncaring of the prod of her horns into the pillow.
But she certainly doesn't feel any better for it.
At the very least, she doesn't feel worse. Sitting up, she rubs a hand over her face, longs for a cold rag to wick away some of her sweat and leave her feeling just a little more human.
Perhaps G'raha might run her a bath…
It takes her thoughts drifting to her husband to realise that he's no longer in bed with her, as well as that the cot beside their bed is empty. She forces down the instinctual panic of early motherhood, takes a breath, and listens instead.
Faint, yet still audible, she catches the sound of a voice on the air and recognises the gentle lullaby of a song she taught him one long and lazy evening, remembered from her Corvosi childhood.
And while Luna will generously allow that she can mostly hold a tune when settling their daughter, G’raha can sing.
Tiredness all but forgotten, Luna gets out of bed, stretches gently and pulls on a robe. She cuts a quiet path through their little home, the sound of G’raha’s voice getting louder with every step in the right direction.
As she reaches the main floor she finds the front door open, G’raha standing in the entryway as rain pours down outside, rocking their daughter in the way they’ve both learnt she likes best.
What rumbles beyond the threshold to their home is the sort of storm that they’ve desperately needed, loud enough that she’s somewhat surprised Riva is sleeping through it… but with a melody as beautiful as the one her father is singing in her ears, perhaps it isn’t all that unexpected after all.
Luna leans up against the wall to watch them, welcoming the chill in the air and feeling slightly more like herself with every passing moment.
Eventually G'raha turns, maintaining his gentle sway lest Riva sense something amiss. He obviously realised Luna was with them long before he gave such a fact away, because he does nothing but wink when his gaze settles on her, continuing the song as he chances moving back into the cottage.
When Riva doesn't stir at the closing of the door, he makes the somewhat risky decision to trail off, watching her face carefully to make sure he doesn't need to restart the lullaby to ease her back down into slumber once more.
They've both been caught out by feigned naps, in the few short moons of her life.
Apparently satisfied, G'raha tips his head back to the stairs and together they make a quiet, careful path down and back to the bedroom, both of them barely breathing until Riva is back in her cot, snuffling and stretching but settled once more.
They creep back out of the bedroom like thieves in the night, leaving the door cracked so they can hear when she inevitably wakes up hungry and desperate for Luna’s attention.
Until then, however.
G’raha sweeps her up into an embrace the moment they both exhale their relief, hands settling at the small of her back as she loops her arms around his neck, fingers diving into his unbound hair to tug gently on the ends.
“Will you sing to me so sweetly the next time I can't sleep?”
G'raha chuckles, his cheeks taking on a charming pink hue. “Given that both of our rest patterns rely entirely on the sweet little terror we just set down to sleep herself…”
“Yes, yes. Insomnia rather pales in comparison, doesn't it?”
They are increasingly able to make time for each other now, with friends and family desperate to look after the newest addition to their little group. But these quiet moments, where Riva is sleeping and both of them are actually half-awake, are still vital to keeping the connection between them as strong as it's always been.
Mother and father they might now be, but they've always been Luna and G'raha first and foremost.
“My darling…” Luna murmurs. “Before your lovely show I was going to ask if you'd run me a bath.”
“Of course, my love.” G'raha says, lips soft against her cheek as they form his response. “Might you want company?”
She eases back, smirking at the hopeful look on his face. As if she'll deny him, after getting to see him be the perfect father that she always knew he would be, after getting to wake naturally without the doleful wailing of a child to stir her, after having her life made infinitely easier just by his presence at her side.
“Always, Raha.” She smiles. “If I ever say no to an offer like that, do check I haven't been replaced by an imposter.”
He laughs, pressing a hand to his mouth to stifle the sound of it as he moves over to the bath and sets it to fill.
“The next time there is any doubt as to your identity, love, that will be the first thing I try.”
She can’t help but laugh too, walking closer to him and settling up against his side when he holds out an arm for her.
Watching the water pour into the tub is more soothing than she expected, and the moment of serenity it brings allows her thoughts to overcome her once more, dragging her into the darker places that she prefers not to dwell, given the choice.
“It isn’t easy, is it?” She asks, though it would have been all too simple not to speak the words, to keep her insecurities buried as deep as she normally does.
But if she can’t be honest with Raha, then who?
“No, not at all.” He agrees, the arm around her squeezing tighter. “It is every difficult thing that people told us uninvited in the latter moons of your pregnancy. But it is also so much better than I could ever have dared dream.”
The gratitude she feels to be going through this life with him as her partner hits her so acutely that her eyes sting. Luna turns her face into his throat in a vain attempt at hiding it from him but he notices, of course he notices, making a soothing noise and pressing his lips to her forehead.
“Should I worry?”
“No, no.” She sighs, once again longing for the days where her emotions feel like her own again, not puppeted by whatever strange magicks overtook her when she was with child. “I’m so grateful darling. That you’re the father I knew you would be. That you chose this life with me. I don’t think I could have ever done this with anyone else.”
G’raha hums, kisses the ridge of her scales. “I feel much the same. There are days I simply can’t believe my luck.”
“And there are days when she won’t stop screaming.” She chuckles, easing back to stare at him, taking solace in his soft eyes and open expression.
“And then there are those.” He allows, smiling gently. “But I am grateful for those just as much. Because she’s here, and she’s ours. And she’s going to make sure we know it.”
Luna allows him to move away and select an oil, smiles to herself when he tests the temperature of the water like he does for Riva’s baths. She shucks her robe and can’t deny a thrill at the way he gazes appreciatively at her body, even changed as it is from carrying their child.
“Hot enough to cook you, just as you like.” He holds out a hand to help her climb in and then strips to follow her in, settling up against the side so she can curl into his chest.
“I love you.” He says, his words tickling her horn. “I love our life. Thank you.”
She turns her head and welcomes the gentle, easy kiss that he gives her. “And I love you, Raha. In screaming days, and those like this.”
“May there be more of the latter.” He laughs. “Though I believe I will take any day, so long as you both are there.”
While they do not get too long to themselves, Riva awakening with a plaintive cry while Luna's in the process of finally washing herself clean of the night’s accumulated sweat, it is a good day. One of the best she can remember, in fact.
How lucky they are, indeed.