Mature: Desert Moon

[Emora Deen]

Tenele didn't understand why Vlad wanted her to move. She didn't want to leave Tenara on the bed if the earth was shaking. She wanted to hold her and protect her. But, she was also confident that Vlad could get to her if anything happened. She reluctant stood up and went to the spot her husband told her to go. "We should go outside if there is an earthquake, shouldn't we?"

[Soran Nightblade]

"She is our earthquake. We'll stay with her until she is done shaking," Vlad said soothingly so the the bundle in the blankets could hear him.

[Emora Deen]

Tenele frowned at Vlad. She didn't like being so far away from Tenara if the child was that upset. How long would it take for her to stop making the world shake? How powerful was this child?

"Tenara," she whispered, crouching and stepping closer to the bed again. Tenele climbed onto the bed and under the covers. She burrowed down with the little girl into a small ball. Now there were two lumps under the blankets, just a foot apart.

Tenele rested her cheek against the mattress and observed the little miniature version of herself and her lovers. Tenara's eyes were closed very tightly, and her hands were clutching at the sheets.

Tenele began to hum. It was the same song that Tenara hummed when she was feeling happy. Tenele hummed it to let the child know how happy she was to see her.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad watched. At first he wasn't sure about pushing Tenara too hard, but his wife was a special woman. He smiled as he looked at the twin lumps in the blankets. He thought about last night, about how his wife's form had relaxed when he pressed up against her, her beneath the blankets and him safe around them, the protective pride he felt to know she grew calm in his embrace.

He walked slowly to the bed and eased down on Tenara's other side, almost on top of her. His arm and leg folded over the little ball in the blanket like a safety belt. "Thank you for protecting me, snack. I will protect you from now on. I missed you, daughter of my soul."

[Emora Deen]

The rumbling slowly stopped, and the bed went still. They went fifteen minutes without a word. Tenele had managed to turn on her side and run her fingers through her daughters hair. The child's eyes weren't clenched anymore, but they weren't open either. Her hands had loosened from the sheets.

A minute later she stirred. "Daddy," she called up to him. "You're squishing me." There was this soft playful sound to her voice, like half a giggle wanted to burst free.

Tenele laughed softly. Her daughter's blue eyes opened and looked around. "Mommy," she whispered.

"Tenara," Tenele sighed pleasantly, scooting closer to her.

[Soran Nightblade]

"That is my job," Vlad asserted. "Squishing and tickling. Do you prefer tickling?"

[Emora Deen]

"No," she giggled, wiggling her tiny frame and inching like an inch worm out from under his arm and leg.

"Raaarrrr!" She exclaimed, rising out from beneath the blankets with her hands up, her fingers curled in like claws. She pounced on her father's back and latched onto the back of his neck with her little teeth.

[Soran Nightblade]

"Ahh!" Vlad cried in mock terror, rising up, and collapsing back down dramatically. "Mercy."

[Emora Deen]

Tenara slipped relinquished her light bite, sitting on the small of her father's back. Tenele watched them with a smile, so very happy to see her child happy again. She reached up and brushed the silver hair from Tenara's face.

"Sweet girl," she whispered to her.

"Mommy!" Tenara dove off her father's back and wrapped her arms around her mother's neck. She burrowed her face against her skin and tangled her legs around Tenele's waist. "Mommy, mommy, mommy..."

Tenele laughed. "I'm here. We're here. Papa's here. As soon as he is done with work he will come visit you too. We're all back together again."

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad smiled at the words. All together again. "How have you been feeling, Snack?" he asked, knowing her state when they entered the room hadn't come from nowhere. Even a three year old needed to confront her feelings, when she had powers like Tenara. "It must have been scary, when we fell off the boat."

[Emora Deen]

Tenara nodded, her face still buried in her mother's skin. The warm heat, the familiar heartbeat. Tenara knew that heartbeat so well. "It was scary," she whispered. "I was so scared I fell asleep."

Talon coughed. "She passed out after... after an accident happened to the man who attacked you," he whispered. "She doesn't remember anything about it. Only what happened leading up to it."

Tenele stroked her fingers down her daughter's back. "Sweet child," she whispered, pressing kisses to her head. "Its okay now."

"I didn't think you'd come back. I thought Espha was mommy now," she admitted.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad paused, pondering those words. Knowing that Espha had warmed to his daughter made him slightly more comfortable with the idea of sharing his King, but not much. The idea of watching them marry sent his stomach sour. "No matter what happens, there will always be people to protect you and take care of you, Tenara," he promised. "I'm sorry we were gone so long. Mommy and I got trapped on an island and had to wait for Papa's boat to come get us. There were all sorts of lizards there."

[Emora Deen]

Tenara perked up. "Did you bring me one?" she asked him excitedly.

Talon chuckled. "She's been trying to catch the iguanas in the garden. They are big and I think they scare her a little."

"Nuh-ugh," Tenara argued.

[Soran Nightblade]

Vlad grinned. "I do have something for you," he said, producing the small woven pouch he'd made out of muskrat hide. It was too small to be especially useful, but he'd felt amused by his random craft and swept it up at the last second when they were leaving the island. For Tenara, who was ever collecting pinecones and flower petals\ ("only the "good" ones") and little creatures, it might be worth keeping.

[Emora Deen]

"Oh!" she took it and held it to her chest. "Beautiful! Thank you, daddy!" The little girl snuggled her face into the fur and then drew back with a wrinkly nose and a soft cough. "Its kinda smelly."

Tenele laughed. "We'll air it out and put some powder in it. It will smell nice in a few days, I promise."

Tenara started humming her happy song, playing with the pouch. She opened it up and peeked inside, and jumped off the bed to go find something to put in it.

A knock sounded at the door. Talon went to it and drew it open. Espha stood on the otherside, looking beautiful in a silk dress fit for royalty. Since she was chosen as Atul's bride she was already being prepared for her future and treated like the Queen she'd be. Her olive skin was smooth and flushed around the cheeks, her lips painted a deep red. Her black hair was drawn up and held with gold pins tipped with pearls. She was definitely very different from the young girl they'd met in Ida over four years ago.

"Hello, Talon," she whispered, smiling gently at him.

"Espha," Talon replied, doe-eyed and smiling. He shook his head. "Oh, please come in."

"Thank you."

Espha stepped inside, clasping her hands in front of her. Tenara skipped over, clutching her muskrat pouch and wrapped her arms around Espha's legs. "Hello, Tenara," Espha greeted, patting the child on the head. She turned her gaze to Vlad and Tenele.

"I hope you don't mind me visiting, I heard you arrived and I wanted to make sure you were alright and to see if you needed anything."