The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2
Chapter 11

Part 3

The next few months were a series of long, comfortable days, filled with pleasant work done at a comfortable pace. But when they looked back on this period of their lives, it seemed that the time had gone by so quickly that it was most surprising.

Mark and Talia spent their time fishing, gathering, hunting, making warm clothes for the coming winter, and maintaining their household, gardens, and livestock. They spent time with Hilsith and Yzell, who gave Talia periodic examinations, and under whom they studied their role as parents, as well as doing what they could toward helping to solve what became known as 'the fertility problem'. There were eleven mixed human and elven couples in the settlement, many of whom had been together for some years, and of them, only Mark and Talia had been able to achieve a pregnancy. The elven Healer and Midwife spent the majority of their time working on this problem.

Within two months, Yzell was able to determine the gender of Talia's unborn twins with certainty. The smaller twin was female, and seemed to be developing at the normal elven pace. The larger was male, and seemed to be developing as quickly as human fetuses generally did. This caused Talia some concern as she feared a difficult birthing, but Hilsith and Yzell assured her that all would be well.

The three households who were their closest neighbors were also their most frequent visitors; those being Dalia, Bezedil, and Alilia; Yazadril, Nemia, and Hilsith; and Mark's cousin Dren and his wife Mandri, whose wedding they had attended in Belinhome Finitra some four weeks before the plan for Hiliani was decided. Mark had grown close to many of his extended family, but More so with Dren and Mandri since they were almost the same age as Mark and Talia, and shared most of the same interests.

They shared in the community activities of military training, magical research, and building hidden emplacements on the tops of many of the mountains on the islands. The natural caves in the islands were prepared as bunkers to be used as shelters in case of attack. They were stocked with supplies, and their entrances were fortified and hidden. The majority of their training was combat exercises against simulated demons, that were cast and directed by Quewanak and Ria; the spirit of Talia's sword, who was a copy of the personality of Visinniria in her youth, recorded long before she became a goddess. Quewanak and Ria became the most unlikely of close friends. Quewanak, no longer the eldest mortal since he was now secretly the new Draconian God of Dreaming, was the only friend that the spirit of the sword chose for her own sake, as her affection for Talia and Mark was duty-bound and spelled. Of course it helped that Quewanak was the only being in the settlement besides Talia whose touch was able to invoke Ria from the sword. Having two people who could do so afforded Ria many more hours of consciousness than she would normally have enjoyed, since Talia could not hold her sword for every hour of the day, and Quewanak did not need to sleep.

Sometimes Mark commanded their little militia, sometimes Yazadril did, or Alilia, but they all learned from every experience, and their skills increased rapidly.

There came a day in their third month on Hiliani when Mark and Talia were visited late in the evening by Hilsith, Yzell, and Alilia.

"Be welcome." Talia said as she waved them in with a smile.

"I hope we're not interrupting?" Yzell asked as they were seated in the living room.

"No, we're just studying Somonik's history of the first demon war, as translated and transcribed by Quewanak." Mark explained, showing them the twenty-seventh volume of the one hundred and thirty that detailed that ancient conflict.

"Good. I know it's late, so I'll explain why we've come." Yzell said as she accepted a cup of herbal tea from Talia.

"Alilia is conflicted because she desires something very much, yet she does not wish to desire it. She confided in Hilsith as her Healer, who counseled her, and recommended that they ask me about aspects of her problem, which they did.

"Alilia has told us of the breakup of her marriage to Gorsh, her vow of restitution and service to you both, and the times when you have shared your bed with her. There are things you may not be aware of. Talia, Alilia loves you very much, in addition to the many other emotions she feels about you. And Mark, Alilia is desperately in love with you, along with all else she feels for you. Furthermore, since the time when she thought her son Bezedil was lost to her, she has strongly desired to have another child. Yet she has low fertility, and Bezedil is the only child she bore in over four thousand years of marriage. "Mark, either your fertility is astounding, or your fertility with Talia only is astounding, or it was an incredible fluke that she managed to become pregnant by you the very first time you made love. That pregnancy was ended by the curse, and then you began using a contraceptive spell, and then she became pregnant again on your first try when she stopped using the spell. That eliminates the possibility that her first pregnancy was a fluke. You are incredibly fertile, either with Talia alone, or with any female elf, or possibly with any female humanoid, including giants, dwarves, gnomes, and sylvan. As a researching midwife engaged in the study of inter-racial fertility and elven fertility in general, I am of course very interested in the possibility that I might be able to isolate the property of your sperm that allows an elven female to become pregnant so easily, without decades of devoted mated love.

"I'm asking this on my behalf as a researcher, and I'm asking this on Alilia's behalf because she doesn't feel comfortable with asking it herself.

"She asks that the two of you will allow her to become pregnant by you, Mark. They asked me if she could become pregnant by you, and I think she could. And I ask that I be allowed to observe and record the conception with every diagnostic spell that we can bring to bear."

There was a long silence.

Alilia, who had been sitting staring down at her cup of tea with disciplined calm, softly spoke.

"I know that neither of you love me, though you do like me well enough, which is amazing, considering all that's transpired between us. I know you do find me to be attractive, and I think I can be confident that you've both enjoyed the erotic times we have occasionally shared.

"If you do this for me, I'll live within your house, or not, as you wish. You can spend as much time with our child as you wish, or as little. You can take whatever role you wish in the child's upbringing, so long as I'm the primary mother and parent.

"If you do this for me, there's nothing I could do to repay you. Already I am your slave, if you wish it, and I would do anything you asked if it was within my power to accomplish, yet you ask nothing of me. There's no repaying such a gift as I am asking for, and I would be even further indebted to you for the rest of my life, yet I desire it so strongly, I am still asking it. If I thought it would do any good to ask another instead, I would, but it seems you are the only practical hope for me to have another child."

"Give us a minute to think about it?" Mark asked.

"Of course." Alilia replied with a little nod.

"What do you think, my love?" Talia inquired after she and Mark had deepened their Link to speed their communication.

"In this matter, my thoughts are of no importance, and I have no real preference for one side of the question or the other at any rate." Mark told her. "This is your decision, and I will gladly abide by whatever you decide. You're the one who would have another woman intruding in our marriage, and you're more likely to have to deal with competitiveness and jealousy from Alilia, and in yourself."

"Thank you." Talia responded, and considered a minute.

Sᴇarch the FindNovel.net website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.