Even after the successful birth, the room was abuzz with people running around attending to their post delivery tasks. Tabitha, though exhausted, smiled as she nuzzled against her newborn baby boy. Seated in a chair to the immediate right of the bed and holding a very similar smile, was King Ronald. For the two of them, having a child that took characteristics from them both was even more joyous than just having a child. Despite the assurances given by Foyund, the royal healer, during the pregnancy, there was always the horrible thought between the two of them that this child would not be the legitimate heir to the throne.
Alas, the time for thinking of such an unfortunate occurrence had passed, and now they could focus on grooming their newborn as a prince should be. As the two parents shared similar thoughts, Foyund approached the bed and bowed with a flourish.
“My Liege. My Queen. The royal nursery has been prepared. Whenever you are ready, we can change locations.”
The two gave one another a glance before nodding at Foyund. Rising from his bow, Foyund placed a hand on Queen Tabitha’s shoulder. A Crimson haze began to surround the two of them.
“Sixth, empower me. Restore!”
As he spoke these four words, Tabitha’s exhausted appearance began to drain away. Rather than the haggard but tranquil look of a woman after her pregnancy, she looked hale and hearty once more. The spell worked its magic, and once the crimson glow faded, she stood up from the bed while holding young Ronald.
“Let us go.”
---
Darnell, the champion for gender equality and women’s rights he was in his previous life, was beginning to rethink everything he knew. In no way did he wish to diminish the struggle that was giving birth, but being conscious of his birth was a horrible, horrible experience. Not only did he now understand why babies emerged from their mothers crying and screaming, but he also was convinced that there was nothing more disappointing than having to leave the perfectly temperature controlled and entirely comfortable environment that was the womb. In his knowledge of his past life, he was never as comfortable as he was in the womb Darnell fully expected that he never would be that comfortable again.
Other than the birth itself, though, almost everything else was exactly what he had prepared himself for. The spanking. The cleaning. The swaddling. Even the cuddling. He had been there when his younger sister had her first and was accustomed to how things worked. There were a couple of things he hadn’t expected, however.
For one, he didn’t expect not being able to see a thing. Opening his eyes was almost impossible, and the one time that he managed to crack his eyelids open, he immediately closed it back out of pain. Not only was his body weak down to his eyelids, but he had a pair of eyes loaded with receptors that had never seen a single photon. While unexpected, it made complete sense. He also didn’t expect to have crystal clear hearing. While he couldn’t understand a word anyone was saying, he already noticed that there seemed to be two distinct languages. The most frequently spoken language reminded him of German, due to how guttural it sounded. The other sounded terribly similar to French, due to a few nasally inflections. Of course, Darnell never studied linguistics nor did he find discovering new languages something particularly interesting, so he was more than likely wrong in both assumptions.
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There was something special about the French-sounding language. When Darnell heard it being spoken, the atmosphere seemed to change. He began to smell a slight hint of blood. Despite his closed eyes, he began perceiving a slight haze of crimson. He also felt his heart start pumping almost imperceptibly faster. While the feeling began once he heard this language, it lasted a few seconds after he finished speaking before slowly ebbing away.
‘I really hope that killing intent isn’t a thing in this world, because if it is, and that was it, I may not make it a week in this world.’
Experiencing this intent as well as having already cried himself to exhaustion drained his baby body of all energy, and he promptly fell asleep.
---
“Ronald look, he’s finally fallen asleep. Your heir sure is a strong boy isn’t he?”
The couple, accompanied now by Foyund and a fourth person, were walking away from Foyund’s house and across a lush garden. Filled with herbs and flora of many shapes and sizes, this garden of regents was the prized possession of every royal healer. Not only because they could create salves and potions from it, but also because if anything untoward happened to the garden, they would surely be tried with treason.
“He’s my heir. Of course he’s strong.”
A brief look of hesitation flashed on Tabitha’s face as she knew what went unspoken. If it weren’t his heir, the baby would never have lasted long enough to have its strength determined. Deciding to stop while she was still on Ronald’s good graces, she went back to cooing at the sleeping baby.
“My little Ronald, I can’t wait until you’re all grown up. I’ll take you on adventures and show you off to all of our subjects and oh! I will find you some friends and a nice wife and your life will be absolutely perfect! Your father and I will get you some younger siblings so you’ll never be lonely and I am positive they will idolize you. My crown prince, I can’t wait for your Celebrations to come. But I am getting ahead of myself, first comes your Day of Birth Ceremony. Oh, darling, I love you so so so so much already, and I know I will love you, even more, when you start running around and creating mischief. My darling Ronald.”
Tabitha couldn’t help herself. Having been restored to full health by Foyund and still bursting in the afterglow of birth, she nestled in close and spoke sweet nothings to her sleeping child. Ronald, as he walked beside them, smiled as he imagined how great of a man his son would be. Not only did he name baby Ronald after himself, but for the middle name of the child, he bestowed the first name of the most significant member of the Fisk bloodline: Adiman Ravana Fisk. Known as the greatest military commander of the Fisk bloodline, and the one who’s military achievements took the Fisk line from Baron to Count. Though custom for those of the Fisk line to choose the name of a mythological creature for one’s middle name, such as the Leviathan or the Phoenix, to Ronald there was no greater mythological figure than Adiman Ravana Fisk, and his firstborn would surely inherit that belief.
The couple, musing on the future of their firstborn, slowly made their way into the castle proper and the nursery. Standing in wait was a collection of maids and wetnurses who would do most of the raising of young Ronald as the King and Queen attended to their daily duties.