What do you want first?

A large yawn preceded movement of the shoulders as the dwarf tried to fight off wakefulness. It was no use as she was sure that there were things that had to be done. There were always things that needed to be done. Her hazel eyes opened to see the inside of her tent and she tilted her head a bit while trying to figure things out.

Last thing there had been was the joining and no one had died. They were all heading out and she was going to talk to Kraven but then what happened? Damn she had no clue what had happened. That wasn't good. Then there was the angle of the sun shining on the tent. It was early evening and about time for supper from the smell of things.

She tried to sit up then saw Kai and wondered why he looked so worried, "Did I just sleep a couple days? It feels like I did."

Kai watched as the small form on the cot began to stir. Kraven's spell had help her asleep for most of the day and she looked much better for the rest. As Nygozy sat up Kai was so relieved he reached for her and gave her a long passionate kiss before he could even think about what he was doing. They were alone at the moment with Torture watching the entrance so he indulged himself briefly.

Slowly and reluctantly he broke away and took her hands in his. "You umm.. No, not a few days, just most of today." The assassin began slowly. He really didn't even know where to start. "You collapsed after the joining. Jezarine and Kraven looked after you. Something about a spell and seers and dragons. You'll have to ask them and Drake for details." He stopped and looked at her for a moment really not knowing how to say the next part.

"There was a side effect to the spell. You... um we, uhh..." Then he simply reached out and placed his hand on her stomach. "I have an extra person to keep out of trouble now."

He kissed her passionately and that was startling her, making her wonder if she had some weird disease that could not be cured or something. It was as if he were terrified that she were going to die and leave him be the next instant. After a moment she kissed him back, taking the kiss in stride and enjoying it then gave him a look of complete confusion.

The next moment he was back to acting strange, talking slowly and as if he had no idea how to say anything. That was unnerving but she waited for him to get it all out. When he put his hand on her tummy she moved her head to look down, looked back up at him with her eyes without moving her head, looked down again then back up, "Has someone spiked your water?"

"Don't I wish, it has been an insane day." The blond elf replied with a chuckle. "Torture would you go get Jezarine?" Kai asked to the mabari still on guard at the tent flap.

"Don't worry, Cal has everything under control in camp. I'm sure the healer can explain better than I can. I'm still in shock myself." Kai shook his head to try to clear the fuzz. He had sat here alone thinking everything through for hours and he was still no clearer than he had been when Nygozy first collapsed.

A brow rose as Kai spoke and Torture barked then left without question. She wondered even more about that for a moment then turned to Kai, giving out a deep breath before saying anything, "Ok so ... no I really don't understand but it has to be wacky if I slept most of the day and it has been enough to freak you and your cousin out. Not to mention enough to have Torture watching the door so intently."

Nygozy was confused and feeling a bit unstable wondering what was going on. Her eyes were sad while she looked at him as she wanted to get up and go do something but the look on his face said something was deeply wrong and she felt sad for him for whatever it was.

"So you have another to watch over? And it's to do with ..." She looked at her tummy again and back at him then asked a dense question for a smart woman, "Are you hinting something?"

Kai now knew why Jezarine had had such a hard time with this conversation with him. It wasn't a conversation any of them had expected to be having. Nygozy looked sad and that was not something he wanted.

"Don't worry Hero, it's not something to be sad about. I don't think." Kai said, still unsure how he felt about the whole situation himself, and not sure how Nygozy would feel. It's not like it was a topic they had ever discussed.

"You're... we're..." he began and then swore. Where was that damn dog and that damn healer. A few hours ago he couldn't keep people out and now they weren't here when he needed them!

Alistair really had not been having a good day. Ignoring, first, that there had been a distinct lack of cheese at breakfast that morning (he suspected certain smallish dwarven Commanders might be responsible for the lack of delectably dairy products), he'd also been given the worst of the worst patrol duties imaginable. Alistair wasn't an idiot (regardless of what most people seemed to think), and he certainly hadn't forgotten his days as a Warden. How could he have forgotten, when he'd spent every moment of the past two years pining for those days? Being King hadn't given him any sort of inflated pride or sense of entitlement - in fact, they'd done quite the opposite. He felt more humble and more plain than ever, these days, which some (coughMachacoughMorrigancoughDrakecough) might think was a good thing but . . . well, maybe he'd been glorifying his Warden days a little too much in his head. After too years, it was easy to remember the thrill of battle, and of the feeling of doing something good and right and noble - he'd forgotten about the early mornings and cold nights and sucky, terrible, awful patrol duties.

Drake had given him the patrol duty earlier, and Alistair couldn't have been more thrilled at being the one following orders instead of giving them. He'd always been a follower, and while he knew that he was probably capable of leading, he was more comfortable with letting someone else take the reigns. Macha and Josie were always saying how much they believed he could be a good King, but in his own mind, he'd always be the orphan raised by flying Andrastian dogs who enjoyed cheese a little too much (or, at least, the bastard son of a king left to his Uncle for 'safekeeping'). He appreciated their support - he really did - but sometimes he thought they thought a little too much of him.

But none of that was really important. All that mattered was that he'd had a run in with a pesky bee that had somehow found its way into his armor, and then he'd tripped over a tree-root, and then he'd gotten just a little bit lost, and finally, once he'd gotten back to camp, he'd found that one of the Mabari (he suspected Torture but he couldn't be sure) had left a rat in one of his socks. Now, if that wasn't a low blow, he didn't know what was.

Right now, he just wanted to see Josie. If he could get her away from that upstart, snot-nosed, stalkery, holier-than-thou knife-ears (elf, elf - he wasn't racist, he just didn't like this particular elf), Kai, then maybe they'd be able to talk like they used to, and he'd be able to take his mind off of his bad day.

When he finally found Josie's tent, he coughed loudly outside of it (since tents distinctly lacked doors upon which to knock), and waited to see if anyone was in. Maybe he'd just stick his head in, anyway . . .

Aw, what the heck. Short of doing it in the tent, there was nothing too important that he'd be interrupting between Kai and Josie, so he poked his head in, smiling his arrival. "Heeeey Josie. How are - " he blinked, just realizing that Josie didn't look so . . . good. "Josie?" He said, a hint of a deeper worry creeping into his voice. "Are you alright?"

The brow stayed up as Kai tried to explain things once again and wasn't doing so well. It would have been funny if she didn't think that whatever it was would be something that would cause problems in no time flat. She waited it out then sighed, "Ok we're ... not supposed to be sad about some kind of magic deal and my belly?"

Nygozy scratched the back of her head then Alistair peeked in and spoke, "Ali? You look like your day sucked. I'm ... well ... ah ... confused."

Kai looked up as he heard someone approaching, praying it was someone come to save him from this conversation. Instead it turned out to be his worst nightmare. Kai growled in frustration. Alistair's presence was the very last thing the assassin needed right now.

Where was that blasted cheerful mage? Torture should have been back with her by now. Or with his cousin or someone, anyone, except that blasted smug king. If only he could get the words out it would sure wipe the smugness from him right quick. But for some reason he was struck even more speechless than he had been and just sat there beside Nygozy glaring daggers at the human intruder.

"It did suck," he said with a whine and a pout, momentarily forgetting that he should be worried about Josie, not the other way around. He got right back on track, though, and stepped into the tent, looking between her and Kai and then just ignoring the elf to focus totally on Nygozy. Kai could glare at him as much as he wanted, he wasn't leaving until he knew what was wrong with Josie (and maybe not even then, either).

"You? Confused? What about?" he said, his eyebrows drawing together. Josie was usually always so sure, but whenever she needed advice, she'd always come to him - she could talk to him, now. He wanted to be there for her.

Jezarine hummed away as she followed Torture but was rather disgruntled by the mabari. Everyone was fine and he wasn't pushing her to go fast but every time she looked at another plant the dog would flop down and huff at her.

"Well you don't look like it is any rush so why should I when I can pick pretty flowers for Nygozy?" She stuck her tongue out at the dog then walked into the tent with her little bouquet of sweet flowers of all colours. She noticed the men there and smiled at them as she went over to the commander's table and put the flowers into the vase.

"So you're awake. Did you tell her Kai?" Jez looked at Alistair, back to Kai then to Nygozy and back around the three again, "Why do you all look confused?"

Nygozy just hung her head and put her hands over the back of her noggin, "Why won't anyone just tell me what's going on? Straight up?" She was fed up and starting to get tired again.

Kai realized that Nygozy was probably now feeling exactly as he had when no one would answer him. The elf took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He gently took Nygozy's chin in his hand and turned her to look at him.

Ignoring the others he looked her in the eye and gathered his courage. This was scarier than any fight the assassin had ever been in. "You're... we're... having a baby." There. He'd said it. The words felt strange to his ears and yet... not bad or wrong as he had feared they would.

Fremelda poked her head in between the flaps of the tent to see what all the commotion is about. She heard Kai say that Nygozy was pregnant and this brough a mischevious grin to her face. Enough that she ignored Alistair being there (and thus, her disliking of nobility). "You've got an extra passenger inside you. You've got a bun in the oven. You're knocked up. You'll have a whale of a time. You're gonna be a mother." She said in rapid fire succession in response to the stunned look on Nygozy's face she knew was coming. "Don't think I've ever seen a half-elf, half-dwarf before. The spirits work in mysterious ways." she walked into the tent, smirking at Jezarine and Nygozy privately. She ignored the glare from Kai she knew was coming for her hamfisted approach to saying the news. "And if you don't want it, there's a potion I know how to brew from my... non assassin days. Never needed it myself, of course. I don't get pregnant unless it's with someone who matters... or so the family history goes." She muttered the last part with a shrug.

Kai growled as the red headed woman walked into the tent. Wasn't someone supposed to be on guard? Where was that useless mabari? Fremelda was just one more headache he really didn't need right now. Then the woman just wouldn't stop talking and Kai finally lost it.

"This is not a party hall. Jezarine stay. Everyone else out! NOW!" Kai doubted any of them had ever heard him raise his voice before and hoped it had the desired effect. He rose from his place on the ground, daggers in hand to prove he meant business. "If the next person to enter this tent is anyone other than Calliara they are liable to lose a limb." He said with a distinct snarl in his voice.

Nygozy blinked at Kai, astonished with what he said, her eyes wide as she tried to digest the severity of his words. This couldn't be. How could it be? Confused she tried to figure it out when Fremelda came in using a tirade of words which made Nygozy look up and glare.

Her hand went behind her grabbing a pillow and threw it at the assassin as she snarled just after Kai became upset and yelled, "WE GET IT, FREMELDA! NOW GET OUT! NOW!!"

As she snapped, Torture got up and went towards the woman, snarling and making it clear that she had better leave before he removed a limb or two to help Kai in his threat but he didn't react to Alistair even though Kai said everyone but Jezarine.

The commander shook, upset and in shock of what was going on. It took a bit for the words to really push through but when it did worries started to creep up on her making her wonder what to expect from this. There were so many things that needed answering and then other circumstances which were mind boggling in all their possibilities. She'd not thought of children and now she was confronted with it.

Alistair had been dumbstruck many, many times in his life. He was quite familiar with the feeling, in fact. So now, when he heard those words, put that way, said to Nygozy . . . jis Josie . . . that wasn't dumbstruck. It wasn't shock. It was some manner of being that he'd never fel- no. That wasn't true. He'd felt this before, once - when Riordan had told him that either he or Nygozy would have to die to kill the archdemon. That same cold, numb resignation that "yes, he'd die instead of Josie because he'd do anything for her." Except, this time, it wasn't about dragons, and it wasn't about him and Josie. It was about a new life, and it was about Josie and that assassin.

Josie was shouting that everyone should get out, now, and he knew that she was willing to carry through on threats very well, thank you. But he couldn't make his feet move . He tried. Really, he tried. But while his brain was trying to do the sensible thing, his feet and his eyes and his heart were all on Nygozy and . . . and . . .

"What?" he asked numbly, the word barely a low breath escaping from his throat. Normally this would be where he'd spout whatever witty rejoinder popped into his head first, but now wasn't . . . this wasn't . . . his baby?

Macha hadn't noticed when Fremelda had got away from her, and she'd realized the true extent of that momentary lapse in attention when she found the red-headed woman with a Commander and Mabari shouting at her from Nygozy's tent. She sighed, breifly wondering what Fremelda had gotten herself into now, and then she stomped up from behind Fremelda and grasped the former-assassin by the ear, tugging her away from the tent with a frown.

"I don't know what's going on in there," she started, "and I don't know what trouble you've caused now, but it's not my business to know, and I can see when you're unwanted. Now let's go." For the briefest of moments, she caught a glance of the scene inside the tent through the semi-opened flap, and frowned worriedly. Nygozy was one of her closest friends, if not her closest, and to not know what was going on to make her ill - it caused her no end of worry. But Macha was a good soldier, too, and friend or no friend, a good soldier followed orders, and if Nygozy didn't want them in the tent, then they would not. Go. In. The. Tent. Period.

Kai was momentarily shocked when he heard Nygozy yelling and saw a pillow go flying past him. He looked behind him and saw that Nygozy was so upset she was shaking.

Instantly the daggers were away and he was sitting on the bed beside her. Instinctivly he wrapped his arms around her small form and pulled her to his chest.

"Shhh, little hero," He whispered soothingly, running his fingers absently over her hair. "We'll figure it all out. Do not worry." The assassin was so absorbed in worrying about Nygozy that he barely even registered the priceless look on Alistair's face.

"Uhm I don't think ..." Jezarine cringed as both Kai and Nygozy yelled, closing one eye and looking out the other timidly as they both reacted so violently towards Fremelda. This was not what she had been expecting when she came in here and now she was worried about a fight breaking out.

Alistair looked completely flummoxed as Fremelda was pulled out of the tent somehow and Torture was now walking around the king nudging his legs to make sure he stayed in the tent. It seemed that the dog felt his master needed even more comforting.

"It is a good thing ... right?" She looked to Nygozy and Kai then back to Alistair again and remembered that both men loved her, "Oh. I think I ..." She was caught off guard now not knowing what to do.

To say 'this was all too much' seemed like something of an understatement, but Alistair was going to say (er, think) it anyway. The facts were clear, but that clarity of it all made it seem that much more absurd - Nygozy was pregnant, and Kai was the father. As if Nygozy being with child wasn't hard enough to believe, that fact that it was with . . . was with . . . right now, Alistair wished very, very much that a High Dragon would come and eat him up, and he didn't mean that facetiously. He'd known about Josie's relationship with Kai, of course, but he'd always hoped that maybe, just maybe . . . she'd come back to him. But now, that dream looked like it was crumbling, and Alistair didn't know if he'd be able to survive it.

And there was Jez, saying it was a good thing. Hah! 'A good thing,' indeed! It was the absolute worst thing Alistair could imagine, short of Josie dying (which would kill him as surely as putting a blade through his heart).

So much was running through Alistair's head that he felt he didn't know anything anymore; not what was up and what was down, or right or wrong. There was one thing he was very, very sure of, though, and he held onto that, because right now, he needed that one bit of solidity. He sucked in a quiet, deep breath, and after letting it go just as slowly, he stepped forward, grasped Kai by the shoulder, turned the elf around, and threw a punch right for his face.

Kai was so wrapped up in worrying about Nygozy that he barely registered Alistair's presence until the man came toward him. The assassin saw the attack coming just in time to let go of Nygozy and turn as Alistair grabbed his shoulder. The last thing Kai wanted was Nygozy getting hit by accident.

As the human's fist headed toward Kai's face, the elf kicked out his leg, attempting to kick the man in the knees and drop him to the ground. "Fool!" He growled as he attacked. "The last thing she needs right now is us fighting!"

The world was spinning in Nygozy's head but when Alistair and Kai moved in a dance she knew only too well, she was immediately on her guard and moved with her normal battle reflexes. She was off the cot and between the men, one hand up to catch the oncoming fist from the human and the other on Kai's shoulder to brace all of them while she held her feet steady, digging into the ground. Once she was sure that the movement had stopped she looked from one to the other and back, despair in her eyes.

She turned from both of them and looked up at the ceiling of the tent as if there was something interesting in the canvas and took deep breaths as she worked on calming down. She rolled one shoulder then the next but was silent except for her breathing.

Finally she started to walk and gave a couple quiet, depressive barks to Torture who immediately pounced around behind the other three, barked and pushed them with his head to make all of them move and follow. He growled to make it known that he meant for them to move or else.

Nygozy went out of the tent and put up her hand for anyone who was there to stop and back off then walked out, moving along a prey trail calmly, hardly seeming to know where she was going but kept moving almost in a daze. She stopped in a field far from camp and looked up into the sky.

"I want to know what is going on and you two are not going to fight." She turned her head to look back and gave the men a half hearted smirk but it was something at least to say she wasn't completely out of her mind, "I need both of you for this so if you start fighting I'll dump both of you over a waterfall and give up on men completely."

Kai was not impressed that Nygozy had gotten in the middle of a fight between himself and Alistair. He did not even want to fight the man. As soon as Nygozy turned that stare on him all fight left him and he followed her silently out of the tent.

When they stopped Kai turned to Alistair. "I do not like you, and never will. But the Hero is far more important than us. Truce?" The elf said slowly, then held out his hand to the human.

Kai waited for Alistair's reply before turning back to Nygozy. "I do not know all the details Hero, but I'll do the best I can. Any enemy wished to stop you and Kraven from stopping some big bad from leaving the fade. They have a seer that forsaw your alliance with Kraven and your... relationship with me. Somehow when you were somewhere with Drake and Sinjan they cast a time activated spell on you. You'd have to ask Jezarine or Kraven for the full details of the spell, but basically it was supposed to put you and Kraven into a perminent sleep."

The elf stopped briefly to gather his thoughts before he continued. Since Nygozy had not slept much lately, neither had he and exhaustion was beginning to cloud his mind. "They did not forsee you and Kraven not going through with the proposed ritual, so Kraven was spared, and therefor able to wake you. But they were clever enough to install a back up plan. The spell to make you sleep also allowed you to become... pregnant. I guess they didn't know you well enough to know that wouldn't keep you off the battlefield."

He stopped again, going over everything in his mind to make sure he had covered everything when he remembered the conversation with Wolfram. "Wolfram had some ideas about umm... ways you may be able to avoid the call and see the... our child grow up. You may wish to speak with him as I didn't understand much of what he said. Drake also talked about a connection to dragons that I did not fully understand."

With his report finished Kai stood silently watching the small dwarf, unsure of how to proceed next. Nothing about this situation was normal and he was totally out of his depth.

Fremelda's face visibly soured at the angry shouting she was given, plus the pillow to her face. When that hit her she delivered a cutting death glare to Nygozy. She turned her head to Kai. "You wanted help. I can see it in your face. I offered it. Apparently I'm not good enough." She growled and then exited the tent by being yanked back by Macha. She combed her fingers through her hair angrily. "Just once I try to be nice and they chase me out." She growled under her breath again and followed Macha to their assigned task, her anger boiling visibly.

As soon as they she'd dragged Fremelda far enough from the tent, she stopped short and turned on the assassin, her hands on her hips and a severely-disapproving frown on her face. Normally she would have wait a moment in silence, letting Fremelda think over what she'd done, but the words were already pouring out of her mouth.

"I don't know what was going on back there, but you had no right to barge in there and say whatever it is that you said. Trying to be nice, helping, however you want to call it, you were given an order to leave, and leave you should have. That's just being a good soldier. But more than that, we're family now, and family respects each others' privacy. Nygozy's not well, and is obviously upset, so what were you thinking, sticking your head in there and behaving like you have the maturity of a pre-pubescent street urchin?" She ended with a sigh, lifting a hand to her brow, and her hair swung behind her as she shook her head. "A little discretion wouldn't hurt, Fremelda."