Steele Hammerwulf
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On the thirty-sixth day of the tenth month of the 299th year, the final day of the year, I found out I was going to be a father. And that my wife was going to be a mother. To our first ever child.
We had just gotten married only a couple of months ago, and moved into a quaint village on the frontier. As high-ranking adventurers, we were able to secure a secluded cabin in the woods, overlooking a small lake. The trees hid our cabin from the main road, and we had a large front yard for our child to play in.
As I was coming back from chopping firewood, it started to snow again.
Shit. I have to get back quickly, or this walk is going to be hell!
I picked up the pace while trying not to drop any firewood. It would soon get cold, and we were running low on firewood back at home. As I rounded the bend near our house, I saw my wife running towards me, yelling my name.
"Steele! Steele!" she yelled with a massive grin stretching from ear to ear. "Guess what, honey!"
"What?" I replied, confused. I wasn't sure if she was up to her typical antics, or if she had something important to tell me.
"I'm pregnant!"
What?! She's pregnant? No way…
"Did you hear me?" she asked. "You look like you've seen a lich king!"
At that moment, I dropped all the firewood I was carrying. She wasn't joking around. I knew that when she asked if I had heard her properly.
"What?" I replied.
I couldn't believe my ears. But the pain of having five kilos of firewood dropped on your feet really snaps you back to reality.
"You're…pregnant?" I slowly started. "So…"
"That means I'm a mom, dummy!" she replied ecstatically.
"I'm a…father?"
"Yes. You are our child's father."
"I'M A FATHER?!?!" I roared. "I'M A FATHER!"
"Shhhh! Not so loud. Nobody knows yet! And you'll wake our baby!" Freya sternly said.
Already have the concerned mother expression down to a T, huh?
"Sorry. I was…just so surprised. And happy!"
I still can't entirely believe it. Our bedroom antics had led us familyhood. A fully-fledged family? It's not that long from now, too!
"Have you told anyone yet?" I had asked Freya, quite concerned.
"The only people who know are the doctor and Lilith."
Lilith was our maid, though we treated her more like family. She was a quiet, caring woman who excelled at her job. With Freya and I being absent from home fairly often due to our jobs, she kept our house in order. Speaking of that, I had remembered that we needed to write temporary leave-of-absence letters. If we were going to be parents, we needed to be around to take care of our son, not adventuring for the guild!
I was contemplating the typical things a normal new father would contemplate after finding out he was, in fact, a father. And, for some reason, I had already decided that he would be a son. I don't know why, it just felt right.
"What if she's a daughter then?" Freya piped up.
"I don't know, we need to take care of our daughter then!"
My life was good. I could finally pass on my swordsmanship. I needed an apprentice, and one had just fallen into my lap!
"But I want our child to be a sorceress!" Freya interjected, making a pouting face.
Apparently, like me, she had decided our child would be a girl. I don't know why, we just did.
"Fine. I have a proposition." I raised my index finger. "If our child is a boy, he learns the way of the blade. If our child is a girl, she learns the way of the magicae."
Freya seemed to be okay with this compromise, so that ended up being the unspoken deal between us.
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As the days went on, Freya and I flirted, and finished out our remaining jobs before our temporary leave from the guild. We slew multiple high-leveled monsters, such as dire-wolves and cave-bats. Just your typical monster hunt.
With this being our last day for a while, the guild threw a baby shower for us. Our long time companions gave us gifts and wished us the best for our child. Word had quickly spread that the Steele Aegis and Freya of the Flashing Strikes had produced an heir.
Somewhat embarrassed, we thanked everyone and bid them farewell. We would be secluded for a little while, as our child was born. And until he grew old enough to venture on outside our property.
Our little homely cabin had enough room to raise a couple of children, though we wouldn't know whether or not we would actually have more. I'd just have to wait and see.
As the days started to grow longer, Freya's belly started to enlarge. Our little child was growing up nice and healthy in Freya's womb. Being the father, I was forced to buy whatever Freya fancied, on her whim. Apparently, pregnancy causes some cravings for specific types of food. And it really depends on the woman, too.
As the winter snow turned into the spring melt, Freya said she could feel little kicks from her belly. It had become thrice as big in half the time. Eventually, I could even see her belly jiggle and wobble when our little child started kicking. A sign that he was doing well.
With each passing day, we would become closer to being parents. Real, bona-fide parents. I wasn't even sure if I was ready for that. I was getting nervous. And so was Freya. But we were assured by Lilith that nothing bad was likely to happen. Lilith had helped birth multiple children in the past, so we were confident and trusting in her words.
And then came the day…
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A couple months later, as I was coming back from drawing water from the lake, the thunder started to roll. Clouds filled the sky, and I thought to myself that I should start hurrying back, or else I would be soaked by the time I got home. And then Lilith would totally murder me. I definitely didn't want that fate.
As I rounded the bend, it started to drizzle slightly. Normally, Freya would be waiting to greet me at this point, so I was somewhat worried. Being a somewhat overzealous couple, we had already finished with our baby shopping. And creating. Some things were better off hand-crafted. By me of course! And Lilith and Freya. Only a parent's love would keep these things from not breaking!
In reality, however, Steele wasn't the best at wood carving. So, Freya and Lilith secretly hired a craftsman to imitate the one that Steele had made to be safe. They didn't want their new child to be killed by shoddy craftsmanship.
I put the jugs of water down outside the house, under the awning, and unlocked the door to my relatively new house. Freya, Lilith, and I had broken it in in the past few months we had lived in here.
As I opened the door, I heard the strained, muffled, pained scream of my wife in the other room. Out of fear, I grabbed my sword and burst into the bedroom.
"Are you okay Freya?" I yelled, anxiety welling up inside my gut.
"Quiet, Steele," Lilith said to me, coldly.
She didn't even bat an eye when I burst in the room. And when she just used my first name in that tone, I knew something was up.
"Freya went into labor while you were gone. Now be quiet, and do exactly as I say. Or I'll never let you hear the end of it."
Even though technically she was our maid, I felt that sometimes it was the other way around. That I was her maid, and she was the master. I made my way over to the bed, in which Freya was biting down on a root to try and stifle some of the pain.
I knelt down and held Freya's hand. I was about to become a true father. With a child in my hands. As I cupped Freya's small hands, she started to relax a little bit, her convulsions not as powerful as some of the previous ones.
"It's going to be okay, Frey…" I whispered into her ear, trying to comfort her a little bit. "You're about to be the best mother Aznaria has ever seen."
With a pained look and bags under her eyes, Freya forced a small grin.
"And you'll be the best father."
I clutched her hands slightly tighter, and she convulsed again, her grip almost ripping my fingers off of my hand. Though she was a slender woman, she had the grip of a gorilla.
Then, just as my fingers were actually about to be ripped off, she relaxed.
"The head has popped out!" Lilith had said seriously.
Freya smiled, and after one last convulsion, the rest of my son's body had slid out of her womb. I cut the umbilical cord, and went to hold my son. But Lilith looked at me coldly and shook her head.
"Mother's first. You should know that."
Somewhat put down by that rebuke, I watched Lilith wrap my little bundle of joy in a towel and hand her to my worn out Freya.
Freya took our son, and started rocking him slightly. He was quiet, seemingly already asleep. He didn't cry. Freya looked at me and smiled.
"Look at our little Phoenix!"
We had decided to name our child, if he turned out to be a boy, Phoenix, after the mythical creature with a fiery rebirth after death. I hadn't noticed it, but the sun started shining through the clouds. A warm gold flooded our room. Almost as if the Gods had given their approval.
I took our child from Freya, and she immediately passed out from the exhaustion. Lilith covered her with our blankets, and went to clean the room. Birthing was clearly messy.
I held our child for a while, rocking him back and forth, singing lullabies. I wanted him to stay asleep, so Freya could rest.
I was a father.
And Freya was a mother.
And Phoenix was our little boy.