Harlan rushed back home, his actual home, not the barely standing half-built home he had been given.

A series of arrays had been set up so everyone could sit outside without freezing, since his kitchen was just too small and he hadn’t built a proper dining room.

It was odd being home again, and despite his dodging his family, it seemed everyone else had more or less returned to their normal lives.

Redmond’s passing was still a wound on their hearts, but they understood they couldn’t hold onto it forever.

It made him feel less than great that he had stayed away when he might not have needed to.

“I’m sure you are all wondering what announcement I have, we, have.”

His mother spoke.

“Did you set a date for the wedding?”

“4th month, 23rd day, but that isn’t the news.”

Harlan stepped back and let Adina speak.

“I’m pregnant.”

As one might’ve expected, there were tears of joy and hugs and questions.

When everyone had calmed down and were ready to start eating, Sepul arrived with Dawn and Elise in tow.

“I didn’t think you’d make it.”

“That kind of panic in your voice was born from excitement and fear, not sorrow and fear, so I assume it was good news.”

Harlan couldn’t help but have a huge grin on his face.

“I’m going to be a dad.”

“Then congratulations are in order. And I apologize for being late. When Dawn met with Elise, things were…”

“I understand.”

“That and I decided to officially revoke her death, which took some doing. Dawn is a citizen of Ragne and is a reserve unit in the army now. Things are a little confusing, but I prevented them from asking certain questions. Have you told your family about her?”

“I’ll save that for another time, I don't want to dilute it or cause trouble.”

Elise walked up to Adina.

“I’m sorry for what I did before.”

“You should be.”

“I don’t often apologize, accept it with grace.”

“What you did was wrong, and I don’t want you to think that it is something to just move past.”

“I’m trying here.”

“I-”

Harlan stepped in.

“Calm down, I know at least some of this is hormones. But I don’t disagree with you, and she will remember, but you don’t need to hold her feet to the fire. Isn’t that right?”

“I know I was wrong. Don’t drag this out.”

“You should remember this.”

“Just let her prove that she learned, don’t browbeat her for what happened.”

Amber had been picked up by him, and Sam came along as a result, but they hadn’t gotten the chance to get any two on one time with him just yet.

Amber decided the perfect time was to break up the fight brewing between Adina and Elise by having a loud conversation with Sam next to them.

“Who is she to your brother and what did she do?”

“That’s his half-sister on his mothers side, Archmage Dust is their twice great grandfather, and she tried to get magical secrets from him when he was still very upset over Haldren.”

“Your familly is fucked up.”

“All of his real sisters are great.”

“Real sisters meaning you? Or does he have some others running around?”

“Just me and Ava and Autumn.”

“Right. Does he have any brothers that are actually related?”

“Maybe, we aren’t sure if they died or not, and if they are probably going to have to die.

Fomorians are shit people.”

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“Just tell me not to worry about it next time I ask. This is all weird and confusing and I really don’t care that much.”

“Deal.”

It had taken some convincing to get the Blackstones here, and Harlan had explained to Cimmeria the reason for the dinner beforehand.

She sat with Harlow, whom she was friendly with, and had been a great help to her while she grieved.

“I’m glad she will have a cousin.”

“Too bad they won’t see each other often.”

“Why not?”

“Do you think Harlan is going to let him out of his sight?”

She chuckled.

“He is protective. But that isn’t such a bad thing. Did he mention that he tried to have Redmond pulled from service?”

“He never mentioned it to me.”

“I think that he is going to have a very rude awakening when he realizes that he can’t control his daughter’s life.”

“Hoping for a girl then?”

“Are you hoping for a boy? Don’t think I didn’t hear you saying ‘him’ just a moment ago.”

Harlow just shrugged, it wasn’t that he cared or was hoping for one or the other, he just thought ‘him’ sounded better than ‘them’ while he spoke.

Brig only came out when most of the party was over, Harlan disliked social events with people he didn’t know, Brig just hated parties and most people in general.

“So what was important?”

“Adina is pregnant.”

“Hmm… want some advice?”

“Of course.”

“Don’t let ‘em go for a second, live every moment like you know you won’t be seein’ ‘em again, because ya don’t know if you will. It’s better that they remember ya as overly protective and without a life of your own than rememberin’ all of the time you didn’t spend with ‘em because you were workin’.”

Brig drank a large cup of ale and slammed it on the table.

“I don’t think I’ve been this scared in years.”

“Wait until you hold them for the first time, feel how fragile they are, then the fear can really grip you.”

Brig smacked Harlan on the back, grabbed a plate full of food along with what was left of the barrel of ale and walked back to his workshop.

When everyone was gone Harlan was helping Stella and the Unseen maid whose name he hadn’t known yet.

“Does it feel wrong to be answering to a 14 year old?”

“It is just part of the job. Spies and assassins require doing work which might not be seen as directly related. But, if you would permit me a question.”

“I would.”

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Why not use golems?”

“I suppose I just enjoy having someone around. When I first moved here, even if I was so close to my parents farm, it would’ve been lonely to not have anyone around.”

She just nodded and went back to stacking up the dirty dishes.

Adina was sleeping on the couch and Halran couldn’t take his eyes off of her.

Again and again, reality sunk in and he flew from fear to bursting with joy, both having the bite of anxiety eating away at him.

When morning came he made a trip to the farm while Adina went to see Hellon before starting her classes to see if there was an answer for why she was showing certain signs of pregnancy so quickly.

“Harlan, glad that you could make it.”

Harlow answered the door and pulled him in by his shoulder.

“I know you’re probably worried, because you’re going to be a father, and you have all of that other mess with pacts and enhanced bodies and what happened with your mother, but you’ll do just fine.

Adina will keep you centered, cutting out the worst cases where you hover over your child ever second of every day to protect her from any harm at all.”

“Could she really stop me?”

“If you intend to stay married, yes, because you’ll just stop yourself. The first time Autumn walked, she fell down, because that’s what babies do when they are learning, but she hit her head on a chair leg pretty bad. I was terrified of letting her try to walk again and your mother had to calm me, because there is no way we could hold her back if she was learning to walk.”

They made their way over to the table where James was feeding himself some vegetables and fruit while his mother was finishing up the rest of breakfast.

“He’s so big.”

“That’s what happens when they start growing.”

“Hey, mom?”

“Hey, son.”

“Should I feel bad that I barely know anything about James? Have I missed his life because I just haven’t had time or do I just not care.”

“You’ve missed his early life because you’ve gotten yourself wrapped up with gods and nobles and magic and you barely have time for anything else. But he won’t remember this part of his life anyway. By the time he really remembers things I’m sure you can be around more.”

“I’m I going to miss my daughter’s life? Am I going to have time for her?”

“What is Adina planning for the future? Is she going to be a housewife?”

“I guess I didn’t really ask. Gods, now I’m going to take away her chance to do what-”

“Stop spiraling at the breakfast table.”

Aida spooned scrambled eggs onto his plate along with sausages and toast.

“Adina loves you and we could all see how happy she was yesterday to be pregnant with your child. If you’re worried, just wait and then ask her what she wants to do once the child is born.”

“What did you want to do?”

“Help run the farm and raise my children. I didn’t have any higher aspirations. Though I suppose by the results, that was the greatest thing I could ever do. Honey, you’re going to be just fine, panic when the child is born, or if something actually happens, but if you keep panicking now, you’ll just stress her out, and that isn’t good for either her or the baby.”

As Harlan took deep breaths to calm himself he was struck with a piece of apple.

“Hawen.”

“Huh?”

“Hawen.”

“Yes, that’s me.”

“Hawen.”

James just kept pointing at him and repeating his name for no real reason, but it did make Harlan calm down.

“Thank you, James.”

“Hawen.”

He seemed happier with his final call to his brother.

When breakfast passed Harlan decided to visit the orphans.

“Mister Harlan?”

One of the Fomorian children that had their memories changed by The Darkness approached him immediately.

“Can you show me how to make the feeling stop?”

He was young, younger than Harlan was at least when he learned about his empathy, but he was also full blooded instead of a halfbreed like himself.

Harlan started to panic again about what his child would be as ¼ Fomorian and born from parents with enhanced bodies. Would they come out right? Would they come out enhanced? What other issues would arise? What about-

He saw the panic that was on the young boy’s face.

“I’m sorry, I’ll keep my mind clear.”

“Did I do something wrong?”

“No no no, I was just thinking about something else. Now, are the other children also having problems with their empathy?”

The boy shook his head and Harlan took him by the hand, letting himself be led to the others so he could teach them how to discover their empathy and control it instead of it controlling them.

He also made a visit to the lovers and their own child, but he felt like meeting the Fomorians was what he really needed to come here for.

When Adina was back home, Harlan led her to the basement, that was clear of all signs that he had gone on a madstreak of preparation for their child.

“Please, sit.”

He moved over to a couch he had put in the basement.

“So, what mood are you in today? Second guessing being a father? Everything down here is so… clean.”

“Not in the slightest. I talked with my parents, and I went to see the Fomorian orphans. I think I need to slow down, talk this out.”

“So you aren’t going to go manic anymore?”

“I didn’t say that. I’m an unstable person, and I try to control everything because I keep being controlled and I hate that, but I’m not going to go completely insane, not yet, not right now, I can’t let that happen.”

She laid her head on his chest and he put his arm around her.

“You know that it already sounds like you're going to go crazy again, you can’t let or not let something happen, you already admitted that you can’t control yourself.”

“Yeah, I know. Remember what happened when you told me you were pregnant?”

“You passed out.”

“After that.”

“I punched you.”

“You forced me to stop instead of spiraling like I often do. So whenever I get crazy, tell me, and if I don’t stop, force me to stop.”

“I can do that.”

“And how about Fina? That sounds good, right?”

“It does, but what if we have a boy?”

“Why don’t you pick the name for a boy, and I’ll find a name for a girl.”

“I’m still going to argue against you picking something I don’t like.”

“And I’ll do the same.”

“It doesn’t sound like anything changed.”

“No, but we made a rule for it, we aren’t just stumbling in the dark so much.”

“Let’s say we stumble through the dark a little more then.”

“Alright.”

They moved to the bed and did what Adina wanted, and once she was asleep, Harlan went to work fixing up the house more.

Xol arrived in the early hours of the morning.

“Here to congratulate me?”

“You stuck your meat in a hole and thrusted, good job.”

His tone was harsh.

“Sorry.”

“Something has changed, plans need to be moved up, take these blueprints and don’t tell anyone that I gave them to you, stagger their releases to make it seem realistic that you invented them all.”

Xol tossed a journal to Harlan.

“What plans.”

“That isn’t for you to know yet. And when I say anyone, I mean it, Marigold, Adina, The Darkness, not one of them can know what I’ve given you. While I’m here, memorize the designs and then recreate them on your own, then I will destroy the book.”

Harlan watched the sawdust which fell as he moved hang in the air of the nearly stopped time.

“Alright then.”

He read for an hour or so, going over every invention multiple times to ensure he had committed every detail to memory.

“Done.”

“Good.”

“Am I going to hear an explanation as to why at some point?”

“Maybe.”

And then Xol left and Harlan went back to his work like nothing had happened.

Adina woke in the morning to food already prepared for her along with a supplemental tonic and an herbal tea.

“Well, this is nice.”

“I’ve been reading quite a bit. The tea should soothe some of your symptoms, the morning sickness, mood swings, and give you a little more energy to get through the day.”

“I was going to just use spells for that stuff.”

“No, magic can have unpredictable results on a forming child. None of what I’ve given you is alchemically enhanced for flavor or effect, I’ve made it all this morning.”

“Do you plan to do that every morning?”

“We are partners here, I got you pregnant, you wanted to be pregnant, I’m responsible for you and you for them. So I’ll prepare you a breakfast, and if you’d like, I’ll try to have lunch and dinner ready as well though the use of another me or a golem.”

“No, I’m sure the academy food is good enough for two meals of the day. Where you up all night building the house up?”

“Yeah, tomorrow we could probably move to the first floor, unless you like the unground ambiance.”

“We should probably wait until the master bedroom is finished.”

“We could. But once you get bigger you’ll not want to be going up and down the steps, and we’ll have a room right next to a bathroom and just across the hall could be the nursery and a playroom.”

“I can lift an ox over my head and kick through a brick wall, I don’t think going up a few steps is going to be an issue.”

She drank her small cup of tonic and then washed it down with some tea.

“But it would be nice to not have to do it anyway, we could get in and out of the house faster without going up the stairs.”

“You’re just saying that because I suggested it.”

“So?”

When she went off to the academy, she carried with her a series of weapons he had made the night before and he wouldn’t let her go without the golem armor.

She could lift an ox and break stone, but that didn’t make him worry any less if one bad spell could end the life in her without causing her too much harm.

So while he fixed the house, he also thought of the weapons and machines that Xol had told him needed to be made.

Flight unaided by magic, metal boxes by which he could mount cannons onto and drive over or through most anything, explosives that exploded with dozens of times more force than any cannon ball.

Then would be how to improve them with magic, hover and interia canceling spells that would let them take off or land anywhere.

Gravity magic and shifting plates that would allow those metal machines to actually drive through anything without flipping and intelligently intercept enemy attacks and repair themselves.

Amplification spells that would allow those self propelled rockets to cause more damage than their specifications would suggest.

Harlan found himself incensed by these creations from Xol’s world, a place where magic faded away into myth and legend, causing man to replace mana with energy, to mix chemicals without alchemy to cast fire and control the weather.