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Snow falls in flakes that dance in the icy winter wind. Tiny crystals of solidified water cover the ground and every surface, trees and rocks, as far as the eye can see.
The forest remains silent all around.
The branches arch with the white accumulated from the sky, the trunks with bark encased in ice.
No animals in sight.
Life is dormant.
In such a desolate scene, a single point moving among the trees might seem like a visual hallucination.
But it isn't.
It's Tei Woodvan.
Former lord of Ovium, a border region of Leracal.
And former empress of the warm lands of Arnata.
For Tei, who was born and raised in the eternal winter of Leracal, the snowy environment is something he is already accustomed to.
However, his natural resistance to the cold seems to have weakened in recent times.
The man with black hair and ruby eyes shivers slightly when a snowflake falls on his eyelid. It's the only patch of skin not heavily covered by thick, protective fabrics, and this small contact is enough to make him tremble.
The situation is almost comical.
In the past, Tei would go hunting monsters for weeks at a time, using only his battle armor as a barrier against the intense cold of Leracal's glacial lands.
Now, even in a region not so cold, the several thick layers of clothing he wears are not enough to keep him warm.
Tei's steps are slow, and the man's boots sink into the snow until they cover his ankles.
He keeps following the trail even though it's not visible.
His senses have already memorized the direction.
When the cutting wind is already making Tei's eyes hurt, he finally spots the small structure in the middle of the forest that has been his refuge for more than five moons.
Seeing the wooden and stone cabin with its sloping roof covered by a thick layer of snow and a thin smoke escaping from the chimney made him sigh. It means the embers were still alive. He wouldn't have so much trouble heating the cabin.
Upon reaching the cabin's entrance, Tei stepped firmly on the first step of the stairs to make sure it wasn't slippery from the ice. As he climbed, he repeated the same process on every step.
Upon reaching the door, he pushed it open with his shoulder, his arms occupied with a large bag, and entered silently.
It was dark in the room, and the heat from the embers in the fireplace was weak, but enough to ward off the cold outside. Tei walked to the small table and placed the bag on it. He went to the pile of firewood and selected the smaller, thinner pieces of wood, which were placed on the embers. With the poker, the man rekindled the flames, which illuminated the room with a reddish-orange light. The flames seemed hesitant at first, then more vivid, hotter.
Leaning towards the fireplace, as he stood up, the man's body tensed.
Tei remained motionless for a moment, only listening to his own breathing before beginning to remove layer by layer of his clothing.
First came the hat on his head, then the mask on his face, the scarf around his neck, gloves, the thick, heavy coat, the long-sleeved woolen shirt.
As the layers of clothing were removed, the rounded shape clinging to the middle of the man's body became more visible.
Leaving only a shirt suitable for the cold, Tei placed the clothes on the armchair near the fireplace for the fire to melt and dry the snow he had brought in from outside.
When he bought the garment he was wearing, it was loose on his body. Now, Tei's voluminous belly made it seem extremely tight.
The man's distended stomach jutted forward like a solitary mountain, large and firm beneath the stretched skin.
Tei placed both hands on his belly.
A slow sliding motion inside, followed by more intense pressure on the man's pelvis and back, made him take a deep breath.
Tei was in labor.
The contractions started early and have remained steady so far.
Everything is going well.
Just a little longer and it will all be over.
When the contraction passed, he turned to the bag on the table. Tei began to store all the provisions in the small cupboard near the stone stove. Bread, roots, dried meat, dried herbs, cheese, and a bag of flour.
After the child is born, Tei will be unable to go to the nearby village in the forest for some time. It's more than an hour's journey there and another hour back on foot. With a newborn and this constant winter weather, it will be impossible to make the journey safely. Therefore, he had to make the trip in search of more supplies when the contractions began to get closer together.
The red-eyed man took the cauldron from the stove with the soup he had prepared the night before and hung it on the hook in the fireplace so that the fire could heat the food.
He'll need all the energy he can get for what comes next.
Tei supported himself with a hand on his back as another contraction paralyzed him. This one was different from the previous ones. It started in his lower back, intense, and moved forward, making the man's abdomen tighten and rigid.
He breathed.
He waited.
The pain slowly subsided, like the tide receding after reaching the beach.
It won't be long now.
After almost ten months, Tei's son will finally arrive in this world.
The son of Tei Woodvan and Shuraka Loram.
By gestational age, the child is the result of the night of consummation of their marriage.
The first time Shuraka entered Tei's body and made it his own.
The first time they were together not as a young prince and his betrothed, but as the padisha and his shahbanou after twelve years of distance and silence.
The night that was supposed to be merely a formality to seal the marriage agreement and treat the emperor's illness.
No one could have imagined that Shuraka's seed, defying all logic, would end up germinating and taking root within Tei after that first night.
But that must have been a good thing, right?
Shuraka strongly refused to take concubines and form a harem.
Tei was the only one who attended the padishah in bed.
He was the only one with whom the sovereign lay.
This was dangerous.
If Shuraka did not acquire secondary wives, concubines, or mistresses to produce offspring and form political alliances, his reign and his health would be in danger.
Others might demand the right to rule to continue the lineage, and the people of Arnata would lose faith in the padishah who failed in his duties to spread his seed and generate life, imposed by the god Natam himself.
But Shuraka, by lying with Tei, wasted his seeds on land unfit for cultivation.
At least that's what Tei thought until he fell ill and for days awaited a correct diagnosis for his illness.
Shuraka grew increasingly impatient whenever Tei vomited.
The palace doctors were nervous.
The servants always cried when the smell of food made the man nauseous, dizzy, and headache.
Those were two complicated months for everyone.
The uncertainty about the situation seemed to be the worst thing of all.
Not knowing is always worse.
But then, a young medical apprentice entered the royal chambers with a bow and said he had a hypothesis about the possible cause of the sultana's illness, but that he needed the sovereign's permission to perform a specific examination.
Shuraka, sitting on the bed next to Tei, didn't even question it before granting permission to perform the examination.
Tei's finger was pricked with a silver needle, and three drops of blood were collected into a small container filled with a black liquid.
The young doctor gently shook the container in his hands for a few moments before his breath caught, and he slowly revealed the contents to Tei and Shuraka.
The black liquid had reacted with Tei's blood and become transparent like spring water.
Tei was pregnant.
The other doctors confirmed the diagnosis with astonishment.
Tei Woodvan, a man, was pregnant.
It must be a gift.
The solution to great problems.
A miracle.
A blessing.
But not everyone shared this opinion.
Tei sat at the table with a bowl of soup in his hand. The steam from the bowl rose in gentle spirals that warmed the man's face. Tei picked up the spoonful of soup and brought it to his mouth, slowly chewing the pieces of vegetables and meat. He wasn't hungry, but he hadn't eaten anything all day.
Another contraction made him frown.
They're getting more and more intense.
Even for Tei, a warrior accustomed to having his flesh torn by the claws and teeth of monsters, the pain was beginning to make him sweat.
He dropped the spoon with a metallic thud.
Tei's belly tightened beneath the fabric of his shirt, becoming as hard as stone. The child moved beneath the skin, pressing down.
Doing as the village women had taught him, so that he could assist his pregnant and ill "wife" in the hut, Tei took a deep, slow breath, then released the air trapped in his lungs.
Tei's back felt like it was on fire, his hips uncomfortable, and his belly so heavy and painful.
He tried to stand, but another contraction bent him slightly forward.
Tei took another deep breath, clutching his belly tightly.
A burning pressure between his legs came with a warm, moist crack.
The man's red eyes darted down, avoiding the curve of his stomach where he saw the puddle of liquid that had formed down his legs.
The water receded.
Tei froze for a moment before going to the door and sliding the latch into place. He grabbed a cloth and threw it into the puddle near the table. His footsteps echoed in the silence of the cabin as he walked down the short hallway to the other room.
The room was small. A bed near the fireplace wall in the other room, a tightly closed window, a chest at the foot of the bed, a small table beside it, and a crib that Tei himself had built next to the bed. The candles scattered around the small room continued to illuminate the place with their ghostly glow.
The man went to the bed, grabbed a towel, and removed his wet trousers along with his underwear, leaving only his shirt. He used the cloth to wipe the moisture from his thighs. When he wiped the cloth between his legs, the light-colored fabric returned stained with blood.
Tei stared at the almost identical red of his eyes for a moment, but then put the cloth aside.
His attention went to the table. On it were clean cloths, a bucket of water, dried herbs, a roll of thread, and a new pair of scissors. He had prepared everything in advance since morning. Tei has to do this alone; he needs to be more careful if he wants everything to go well. A mistake could cost the child's life, Tei's life, or both.
Another contraction made the former duke grip the edge of the table tightly.
Long and painful.
When the pain finally subsided, drops of sweat slid down Tei's back.
He picked up the iron bucket from the table and took it to the other room. Tei placed it on the fireplace to heat the water.
Returning to the room, the man knelt beside the edge of the bed. Tei lifted his shirt, looking at his belly marked by bluish veins that made a stark contrast with the whiteness of his skin. In the dim candlelight, his stomach seemed even larger. He pressed his face against the sheet, closing his eyes to focus on his breathing when another contraction made him clench his teeth.
No matter how hard he tried to breathe calmly, the contraction took Tei's breath away.
Feeling an uncomfortable pressure in his hip and sweat sticking to his hair on his forehead and nape, Tei moved one hand to the middle of his legs. Just below his testicles, where a constant burning sensation persisted, the man's fingers touched something. A moist circumference.
The head is already crowning.
Tei has to start pushing.
He grabbed one of the cloths on the table and placed it on the floor between his legs. Firmly planting his feet on the ground, Tei gripped the bedsheets tightly, closing his eyes when another contraction made him feel like vomiting.
Inside, Tei feels as if all his organs and everything in his path are being moved to make way for the other human being he is trying to expel from his body.
Pushing the baby out made Tei feel disoriented. His breathing was irregular and labored.
It's difficult.
This is really painful.
The burning sensation makes him want to close his legs, but the action is simply impossible. His legs instinctively remain open during the contraction.
Beads of sweat slide down Tei's face as he inhales as deeply as possible and pushes again.
Tei breathes in and out.
Clenching his teeth tightly, he continues pushing.
Taking a few deep breaths, he brought his hand back to the middle of his legs.
This time, Tei realized that the baby's head had come out completely.
Carefully, he slipped his fingers into the edges between the opening and the baby's neck. Once he was sure there was nothing around the baby's neck, Tei held the baby's head. His ruby eyes were fixed on his belly. Gasping for air, the man mustered all the strength he could muster and pushed with all his might.
It was an extremely long and painful push.
He felt the child's body slide inch by inch out.
A jet of fluid came along as the small body fell into Tei's hands.
A sudden feeling of relief washed over the man, and the contractions ceased.
For a couple of moments, the only sound Tei heard was the beating of his own heart.
But after a second, a wet cry broke the silence of the cabin.
With both hands, Tei lifted a small human being from between his legs, crying at the top of his lungs.
The baby was wrinkled, his entire small body covered in amniotic fluid and a little blood, round on all sides, pink gums completely devoid of teeth, tiny hands and feet, dark skin, a head full of blond hair.
It was a boy.
A prince.
With trembling hands, he brought the baby closer to his chest.
His fingers nervously brushed away the blond strands of hair in front of the boy's forehead. When he saw that Natan's eye was absent from the baby's brow, Tei released the breath he didn't remember holding.
With trembling legs, Tei lay down on the bed.
The baby whimpering against the fabric of his shirt.
With a heavy heart, Tei gently rubs the child's back as tears silently fall from her eyes.
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
After cutting off the thick umbilical cord that still connected their bodies, Tei cleaned the baby with warm water and dressed him so the cold air wouldn't harm him. He delivered the placenta without major problems, and the baby latched on easily.
At that moment, he holds the little one in his arms and watches as the tiny mouth lazily works on the nipple to suckle the milk.
The child was almost asleep.
Tei watched his son attentively.
When he saw his abdomen slowly growing week after week until it transformed into that round shape, Tei knew the moment would come when he would have to hold in his arms another human being that had been created inside him.
But knowing this and witnessing it are two different things.
He touched the little human he had brought into the world, caressed his tiny fingers, touched the soft skin of the child's cheeks, and ran his fingers through the blond hair on the boy's head.
Tei thought he was ready to receive the child.
He really thought he was prepared.
But now, with the real thing breathing in his arms, it still seems surreal.
For ten months, he carried this child.
Tei gave birth to a son.
Something he never would have dreamed of even in his wildest dreams.
What should he be feeling now?
Relief at having given birth to a live, healthy baby?
Happiness at having become a father?
Love?
That's what normal mothers feel, isn't it?
Tei just feels strangely empty.
His stomach has been so heavy for so long, and now it feels like there's an empty, endless hole inside him.
With a satisfied sigh, the baby finally releases Tei's breast.
The little one yawns, slowly blinking the same red eyes that are on the dark-haired man's face.
Carefully, he wipes the boy's mouth and places him against his shoulder. It only takes a few pats on the baby's back for him to burp.
Tei places the baby in the crib beside the bed and watches him aimlessly move his small, clenched fists for a moment. The boy makes a low baby sound and then falls silent.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Tei stares at the baby.
He's only a few hours old and already looks so much like Shuraka.
Tei's chest tightens.
He lies down on the bed and stares at the ceiling.
The baby is sleeping peacefully beside him.
The child has already been fed, is clean and dry.
Tei can sleep a little too, right?
He is so tired.
It will only be a moment.
Perhaps when he wakes up, this tightness around his heart will have disappeared.