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Claude and Clement had turned one a few months ago and their parents were taking them to see their potential new home, walking through Arlathan woods, Evka and Antoine held their sons on their sides as they made their way to the cabin marked on the map Bellara provided them with.
“Should be there soon”
“The cabin is near a lake, yes, maybe we can take the boys there after?”
“You wanna teach them to swim, don’t you?”
“I mean, if we end up living here it’ll be a nice activity for them, also an opportunity to teach you too”
Naturally, living underground with zero large bodies of water in sight, Evka never learnt to swim, and is frankly scared to, but she will not admit that.
“Not happening”
“You say that now”
“Never”, the dwarf gave her husband a death stare as she refused, just enough for the elf to back down, for now.
“Here we are!” Evka announced, the place wasn’t what they were expecting, especially Antoine, growing up in a shed most of his childhood and obliviously calling it a cabin gave him minimal expectations to say the least.
This place was quite big, not huge, but calling it a cabin was an understatement, it had a long enough porch, a grey brick chimney built into the left-hand side and another one hiding way in the back, it’s top sticking up slightly just enough to know it’s there, and looking closely it seemed to also have an attic room, having a latch on the roof.
Antoine and Evka looked at the abandoned house, even for a place that hasn’t been lived in for a while, it wasn’t as messy and dilapidated as they envisioned.
They stepped up onto the porch slowly, being careful of potential broken boards. The elven man made the first move, reaching over to grab the door handle, pushing it down and opening the entrance, a low creak echoed through the cabin while Antoine pushed the door open.
It was dark, but not so much that they couldn’t see anything, among the dim lighting the first thing they saw was the second part of the grey bricks, being a big enough fireplace with a metal spit and hook where a cauldron was meant to be, in front of that was a homestead couch, a coffee table and three chairs, one chair knocked over and missing a leg.
Next to that living area was a hall, the hall presented four doors, likely leading to the bedrooms and restroom, the right of the room showed a ladder leading to a latch in the ceiling, confirming that there is an attic space, beside the ladder was a series of cabinets and a diner table with six chairs surrounding it.
“Not bad, quite big though” Evka stated, Claude sat up in her arms looking around the place, “it is spacious, yes, but it’s nice, no?”
“Yeah, I’m gonna have a look at the rooms”
“Alright, Clement and I will be in here”
The woman smiled and nodded as she walked off into the hallway with their eldest, meanwhile Antoine and their youngest remained in the living room, “this is a nice house, yeah?” the man said to his oblivious child, the one-year-old just giggled at his father’s goofy smile and clang onto his coat.
Antoine explored a little around what seemed to be the kitchen, looking through the empty cupboards only to be met with cobwebs and the occasional spider, “this’ll need some cleaning, won’t it?” the elf said to his son, despite the fact he couldn’t hear or understand him yet.
A sudden chill ran up the man’s spine.
A tingle, or more of a small surge, the temperature went from a comforting warmth to a bone-rattling cold.
Antoine turned around to look around, the weather outside still looked very sunny as per usual for Arlathan, but the elf couldn’t shake this overwhelming feeling around his body, so sudden and strong. The man’s breath hitched, his muscles clenched ever so slightly with ever step he took, pulling the front door open again and stepped outside.
The sun peered through the trees with its familiar honey-coloured glow; however, Antoine still felt the chill in his bones and flesh, not like he was cold, but like his body was panicking, scared even, he’d never felt like this before.
The elf’s mind ran trying to think of an explanation for this odd sensation when he snapped out of his trance with a bap on his nose.
Clem stared at his father with his big, bright ocean eyes as if to ask the man if he was okay, though it was likely the child was just confused at why his dad wasn’t doing or saying anything.
“Ah, sorry, my son, I don’t know what... let’s go see was mama and Claude are up to”
“Baa~” Clem cooed in response, gently bapping the man’s cheek.
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Evka opened the creaky door at the end of the hall and found a big bedroom, it was just about two times the size of their tent back in Lavendal, if not bigger.
It didn’t have much for now, there was a double bed to the left and a grey brick fireplace to the right, similar to the one in the living area, “pretty cozy, what do you think, sweetie?”
Claude giggled and cooed, earning a kiss on his forehead.
The woman went over to the bed and pressed a hand against it to test its support and strength, the mattress was thin but soft and the sheets were surprisingly clean for not being changed in ages.
Now satisfied that it was stable, the dwarven woman sat up on the bed with her son in her lap, “it’ll need a little fixing up, and a good dusting, but it’s nice here, isn’t it?”
“Baa~”
“Ha, it’ll be weird being away from Lavendal... but we’ll visit, and the others can visit us, would you like that~?”
The dark-haired boy weakly gripped his mom’s top, displaying a toothless smile making his mother let out a sweet chuckle, “yeah, that’ll be nice”.
Evka suddenly heard the creak of the door hinges again, her husband walking through with Clem laying comfortably on the man’s shoulder, “so, what do we think?”
“It’s... nice”
The elf sat next to his wife and sat Clement on his lap.
“Just nice?”
“I mean, I’m just... trying not to get too excited, y’know”
“Why wouldn’t you wanna be excited?”
“It’s not... I love it, I really love it, Ani, I just don’t think I’m ready yet... I don’t want us to go too fast with the move”
Antoine gave an understanding smile and wrapped his arm around Evka, “it’s okay, darling, we have plenty of time~”, the elf punctuated his sentence with a kiss on his wife’s temple.
“You think the boys will like it, if we move here?”
“Mon coeur, wherever we end up living, we’ll raise them to love their home no matter what”
Evka smiled at Antoine’s response, leaning her head on his shoulder, the elf reciprocating with his head against her hair.
“How about the lake then?”
“Oui, It’s a nice day for it”
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Evka sat on the dry, yellow grass, admiring the tall warm-coloured trees with Clement crawling in front of her on a soft blanket they packed. Antoine and Claude were in the clear water of the lake, the elven man holding their older toddler on his tummy as the little boy flapped his arms aimlessly, attempting to swim.
Though the woman was sceptical and fearful, she trusted her husband to keep their son safe, meanwhile the younger toddler crawled up to his mom babbling for her attention, “hi sweetie, having fun?”
“Ba ba~”
“Good~”
Evka booped the toddler on the nose as he continued to crawl around the woman.
“There you go, easy now, bravo, very good!”
The woman looked up to watch her other two boys again, her husband had Claude kicking his little feet in the water, still holding his hands, leading him along the shallows, “there, you got it, magnifique!”
Evka smiled as Antoine praised their son, the dark-haired boy drifting through the ripples with his father’s help.
Tiny hands caught Evka’s attention, the younger boy gripped her shirt from behind her, reaching up and up, “whatcha doing back there?” the woman asked the curious little boy, but her eyes remained on the two in the lake.
“Baa~!”
“Hmm?”
The dwarf heard an excited coo from behind her; she turned right around to find her youngest son.... standing.
“Oh... maker, Clemmie!”
“Ba?”
“Antoine!!”
Antoine and Claude looked up from their little swimming lesson and locked eyes on Evka and Clement, the curly-haired boy was standing on his feet right next to his mother who was gawking at the young boy.
The elf picked up his eldest and came rushing out of the water, kneeling beside his wife and youngest, “Clement, he’s standing?!”
“Yeah!”
Clemmie giggled as he noticed his mom and dad’s excitement, going to take a wobbly first step to then be caught mid-tumble by his mother, “very good, Clem, good job, baby!”
The woman lifted her son into her arms and smothered him with lovingly kisses, “bravo, petite poussin, bravo, my beautiful boy!”, Claude also laughed in excitement at his brother’s achievement, even if he’ll never remember it.
“Our amazing sons, one is already swimming, and one is walking”
“Oui, they’ll be up and about in no time”
Antoine embraced his amazing wife and children, hugging them close and gifting all three of them sweet, gently kisses.
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Antoine tossed and turned in bed after another horrible nightmare, his wife slept peacefully next to him so naturally he didn’t want to wake her up just because of a bad dream.
The elf huffed, squeezing his eyelids shut, trying to go back to sleep when all of a sudden, he and his wife were woken up again by the sound of one their sons crying out for them.
“Mmm, I’ll go settle him,” said the exhausted elf
“It’s okay, Ani, it’s my turn anyway”
“Non, mon amour, you go back to sleep... I was already awake”
Antoine got up from the cot and made his way over to find that Claude was bawling his eyes out for comfort, “come here, it’s okay, papa has you~”, the elf scooped his son into his arms and placed him on his shoulder.
“There there, shh, I’m here little one, it’s okay, sshh~”
Claude continued to wail in his father’s hold, his little arm reaching out for something, “what is it, petite poussin, what do you want?”, the elf turned to look at what his son was reaching for only to see Evka, half awake, laying down on her side looking up at them, “no, sorry, my boy, mama isn’t feeling well at the moment, I’ll have to do for now, okay?”
The boy wasn’t having it, he screamed, both of his hands extending for his mother’s love, “Ani, it’s okay, just give him here”
“Non, my love, you are sick, you need to rest, I’ll handle it”
Evka sat up in bed staring at her husband and crying son with tired eyes, the dark-haired boy bawled for his mama, bapping his papa’s shoulder in demand to give him to her, “Claude, it’s okay, papa is here, ssshhh, relax”
The boy still yelled out to be held by Evka, the now awake woman looking at their toddler with sorry eyes, until Claude broke.
“Mama!”
Both wardens froze.
“Claude, what was-”
“Mama, mama!”
The couple looked at each other in shock, the boy just outright said his first word, three times. In defeat, Antoine sat on the edge of the cot, handing the boy to Evka which almost immediately made him stop crying.
“Well, I’ll be damned”
“Whatever Claude wants, he gets I suppose” Antoine let out a weak chuckle of surprise mixed with fatigue as he watched the infant settle in his mother’s embrace.
“His first word, I wish we were more energized for it” the woman laughed softly with her spouse, rubbing Claude’s back to comfort him.
“Well, we’re happy about it, that is what’s important~”
“Mhmm”
Claude went from loud wailing to peaceful cooing, the boy snuggled up against his mom’s chest happily, the woman smiled and covered him up with the blanket on her, giving him a goodnight kiss on his dark brown locks.
“Why were you awake, by the way?” Evka asked her husband.
“Oh... nothing important, just another vivid dream.... what about you, mon amour, are you still feeling sick?”, the woman had a bit of a bug today, of course causing Antoine to monitor her all day and night, “I’m fine, Ani, it was just a little nausea, I’m not dying”
“I know, I know, but you know I worry and I just want to make sure you are in good health, is that so wrong for your dear husband to do?”
“No, of course not”
Evka rolled her eyes playfully as she received a kiss on the forehead before her husband carefully returned the sleeping boy to his crib, tucking his Assan plush in beside him and kissing him goodnight too.
“When you say ‘vivid dream’ do you mean...”
“... it is nothing to be concerned about, mon amour-”
“I’m just concerned for your mental health, is that so wrong of your dear wife to do?”
Antoine smirked at Evka in surrender, fiddling with his fingers and nearly avoiding eye contact with the dwarven woman, “it... it was about... him, but I’m fine-”
“Antoine”
The younger warden shied away, his head turning to face something else but was halted by his partner’s hand, the tips of her fingers gently turned the man back to her, “Ani... you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to... I just don’t want you to lie to me, okay”
“I... I didn’t want to bother you, because you’re ill and... I still feel childish sometimes... when I need you-”
“Ani, you were hurt, really badly hurt, it’s not childish to have nightmares and feel like you need someone to talk to... I’m your partner, you can talk to me”
Antoine laid down and cuddled Evka really close, nuzzling his face into her bosom for solace, “...... I’m sorry” the man sniffled, small tears travelling down his cheeks, “hey, it’s okay, I know it’s still hard for you sometimes, but I promise, I’m here for you, yeah?”
“Okay... thank you”
“Of course, sweetface~”
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‘Dear Antoine,
We just wanted to thank you again, so so much for talking with Krystal, she hugged Neve and I for the first time yesterday and she’s opening up to us about what she’s going through after what happened.
I’m not entirely sure what you said to her, but it really helped, thank you so much (I feel like I’ve said thank you too much) or not enough!!!
Hope things are going well in Lavendal, Irelin also told me that you took a look at the cabin, I hope you guys like it, I think it’ll be a nice place for the boys!!!!
Love, Bellara Lutare and Neve Gallus <3’
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Antoine felt a deep, warm sensation in his heart as he read the rushed looking writing, making it obvious that it was Bellara’s handwriting.
He couldn’t help but feel proud for helping Krystal in her situation, but more so, he felt kinship toward her, he could only wish he had someone there for him to untangle his broken mind at her age, he couldn’t imagine the state she’d be in if that retched, filthy man succeeded in what he wanted to do to her.
“Who's that from?”
The elf got a little fright when his dearest walked into the Grey Hold with more letters in her hands, Claude and Clem were pre-occupied in their playpen that Holden so generously put together for them, “Bellara and Neve, they say thank you and that Krystal is doing much better”
“Well, that’s good news, how are you feeling?”
“I’m fine... how are you feeling, still ill?”
“No, not really, just a headache”
Evka sat in her seat holding her head, Antoine strolled over and knelt beside his wife, holding her hand in his, “just let me know if you need anything, okay~?”
“Of course~” the dwarf cupped her partner’s adorable face, kissing him on his freckled forehead.
“Irelin was asking what we think of the cabin, and what we wanted to do, what do you think?”
Antoine looked up, Evka held a yellowy-orange letter signed by the co-leader of the Veil Jumpers, “well, what do you think?”
“I asked you first” the dwarven woman said, booping the man’s hooked nose.
The elf rested his crossed arms on the chair his spouse was sitting in, glancing over at the playpen their sons were in before looking back up at Evka, “I quite liked it there, and the boys seemed to enjoy themselves, but how do you feel about it, darling?”
Evka paused and looked at the letter once more before giving a hopeful smile.
“I wanna go for it”
“You sure?”
“Yeah”, the woman held onto her husband’s hand tight, receiving a sweet smile from the elf along with a kiss, “alright, I’ll get a response started”.
Antoine got up with enthusiasm and went on his merry way to write a letter confirming their move while Evka remained sitting with the rest of the letters and the anxiety of finally going ahead with this step.
“Mama!” Claude caught his mother’s attention, gripping the bars of the pen and standing to look over the edge, “excited to move to our new home, sweetie?”
“Mama, mama!”
“Heh, of course you are~”
Evka looked down and saw a familiar looking letter, from Kage, the wax seal coloured in a violet purple, she opened the envelope and read the letter to be met with the news that Draven, Luno and Aster Dellamorte had been born.
The excitement adding to the overwhelming feelings in her heart and mind, they’d have to give them a visit as so as they could.
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A bony hand slithered under the dwarven woman’s shirt as wet, plump lips sucked on her skin, her husband’s head nestled into her neck.
Evka just laid back and relaxed while Antoine worshipped her, softly kneading her breast beneath her top.
“Ani~”
Flynn and Martin took the liberty of watching the boys for the day so that the couple could have a little ‘alone time’.
Antoine moved from his wife’s clavicle to see her face-to-face, his big, glossy eyes stared down at her, “Antoine~”
“Mon amour~”
The elf removed his skilful hands from the woman’s bust area and interlocked their fingers, holding her arms apart at the sides of her head, “just relax, mon cher, let me love you~”
Evka obliged, wrapping her legs around her wonderful man.
Antoine leaned down and kissed the dwarf with the most tender passion he could muster, lifting her hips up onto his lap as she hugged her arms around his neck.
“I love being like this with you~”
“Mmm, me too, darling~” the younger warden said, kissing down his wife’s chest again before she stopped him, “mon coeur?”, Evka looked around at their tent at the packed boxes, the now empty space that will be down in a month after they leave, “sorry... I... I’m just gonna miss this”
“So will I, darling...”
Antoine moved off of Evka and snuggled up beside her, “it’s gonna be weird not living in a tent... never thought I’d say that either” Evka laughed, rubbing the elven man’s arm that was wrapped around her, “it will, but you are happy with our decision, yes?”
“I am, can’t wait to see our boys grow up there”
“Me too, they’ll love it there~”
Antoine planted and kiss on the dwarven woman’s cheek, nuzzling back into her neck, smooching the crook with immeasurable love.
“You’re a sweetheart~”
“Only for mon petite moineau~”
The couple continued to love each other for the last couple hours of their tent life.
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2 months later
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The afternoon sun peered through the maple-coloured leaves of the tall white trees, a warm glow lighting up the waving grass that surrounded the cabin, Evka leaned over the railing of the porch with a cup of tea clasped in two hands.
Soft breezes of fresh air wisped past her face as she admired the new scenery, they had almost completely refurbished the house aside from the attic room, which they would leave for a while to take a break.
“Mama!”
A small dark-haired toddler approached the woman, clutching to her side, “enjoying the view, mon amour?” Antoine followed Claude with his younger brother walking by his father’s side.
“Yeah, it’s really pretty in the afternoon”
“Trees!” Claude yelled, pointing at the tall plants with maximum positivity, “I know, honey, aren’t they beautiful?”
“Halla?”
“Ha, we can go see the Halla tomorrow, but now it is almost you and your brother’s bedtime” the elf said, coincidently followed by a tired little yawn from Clement, the curly-haired boy holding onto his griffon toy with one arm and supporting himself with his dad’s leg with the other.
“Okay...” Claude let out disappointedly, hugging his mother before waddling inside.
“What did I tell you, up and about in no time?” Antoine said playfully, picking up the sleepy boy at his side, “they’ve really got the hang of walking and talking, well, at least Claude has”, due to his lack of hearing, it seemed Clement hasn’t really figured out how to talk yet, but the couple were happy either way.
“They are very smart, aren’t they?”
“Yeah~”
Evka leaned up and kissed their youngest on the head, “good night, baby~”
“Mmm~”, Clement snuggled his plushie tight and shut his eyes, the elf rubbing his back before making his way back to the front door to put the boy to bed.
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In their new bed, Evka laid.
Waiting for her husband to return from tucking Claude and Clement into bed, and just like clockwork, he did.
“Mon coeur~”
“Hello, sweetface~”
The elf slipped under the blanket of their new bed and instantly wrapped around his dearest love, his lanky arms coiled around the woman’s waist as his head laid comfortably on the pillow next to Evka’s, allowing them to face each other.
“How are you, my love~”
“I’m doing good... very good”
Antoine smiled and kissed his love gently on the lips.
“You are happy, yes?”
“Why wouldn’t I be? I’m living in a cozy cabin in the woods with my amazing family~”
“As am I, it is wonderful”
The couple snuggled up together, Antoine laying his head on Evka’s chest, listening to her perfectly rhythmic heartbeat.
“Yeah, it’ll be even better with the five of us~”
Antoine looked up again at his wife with a confused expression on his face, growing more confused by his spouse’s suspicious smirk, “five?”
“Yeah”
“Darling, there is only four of us, you, me, Claude and Clemmy-”
“And the fifth~”
Evka grabbed and guided her partner’s hand toward her stomach, spreading his palm over her belly while giving him a sweet grin.
“I... wait, you’re-”
“Yes~”
Antoine’s eyes widened before he dove in to give Evka a massive hug and loads upon loads of kisses, they were gonna have another baby.
“Ani, Ani stop~!” the dwarven woman laughed
“Sorry, darling, did I hurt you?!”
“No... no, I’m fine~”
The elf pressed his head against his wife’s head with tears streaming down his face, “I love you so much, mon coeur”
“I love you too~”
Antoine protectively held Evka’s barely showing belly all night, holding his beloved close until they drifted off in each other’s arms.
Their little family growing bigger than they could ever imagine.