Ranvir was alone in the meeting room holding the baby, his baby, his daughter. Fuck. He had a little wooden toy his mother had given him in his right hand and was waving it above the child. She didn’t have a name yet, Shiri hadn’t had it in her to give their baby a name. Somehow, Ranvir was happy, disappointed, and daunted at the prospect of naming his daughter.

He would have to come up with something good, something worthy of her. He let out a slow breath, spinning the toy around, causing the pellets inside to rustle together making a low noise.

The child reached awkwardly up for it, letting out a choked giggle. For a moment, Ranvir’s heart spiked into his chest, before he realized that she wasn’t choking on anything, it was just a regular baby noise.

He let out another breath trying to calm himself down. It wasn’t working. Though he couldn’t get a specific sense from the creature in his mind, he got the sense of a prowling predator coming from it. Whether it was related to his daughter or not, he didn’t yet know. However, it did make him even more uncomfortable.

The baby giggled again at the rattle in his hand, this time she blew a big bubble of spit that fell over her cheek and into the cloth bundling her up. She stilled, her eyes going wide. Ranvir could see her developing brain putting things together. She made another similar noise, though she didn’t spit anything this time.

The door to the room opened up behind them, as he put down the toy and reached for a cloth to wipe at her mouth. He carefully dabbed the cloth around her mouth, before wiping her cheek dry. Her skin was so soft, as of yet untouched by the world.

She had beautifully chubby cheeks that almost folded around her lips when she smiled. Her hair was thin, delicate, like the most finely woven silk, in an almost startling red color, she had his brown eyes though. His brown eyes. His were paler now, of course. But he still recognized those eyes.

Ranvir had barely known her for an hour, but he already loved her more than anything in the entire world.

“She’s so small,” he whispered afraid of startling her. He felt his parents stir in surprise as he spoke, though Pashar who’d come with them hadn’t reacted. He carefully dabbed at the corner of her mouth where he’d accidentally left some saliva. She giggled again as the cloth touched her.

“Now you’ll finally be able to understand why you’ll always be my little boy,” his dad said kneeling down next to them.

The baby reached in his direction though she was still so very young and frail, she couldn’t even reach for him properly. The cloth stopped her arms despite it being a minor restriction. However, her other hand came into contact with Ranvir’s finger as she reached and she reflexively tightened around his digit.

Her tiny fingers couldn’t even wrap around his properly, but they held on so tight. He looked up at his parents, trying to stop himself from crying again. He’d done a lot of crying over the last hour.

“So strong,” he muttered.

His mother, lean and fit, leaned on his father’s shoulder and gave him a brilliant smile, “It’s unexpected, isn’t it?”

His father too was smiling with nearly his entire body. He’d always been more jubilant and outwardly expressive than Ranvir and his mother, but with the time apart it was odd how much Gunnor reminded Ranvir of Esmund. He’d never seen that connection before, but now he couldn’t help but wonder what the odds were that his father and best friend had so similar personalities.

“Have you thought of a name for her, yet?” Asked the final person in the room. Pashar stood a ways back from the small family, observing them as they all gathered around their newest member.

“I’ve had some ideas, but I’m still not sure what to go with,” Ranvir explained. “I was thinking of maybe calling her Frija,” he turned to his mother, “after her grandmother.”

Frey smiled gently, “You don’t have to name her after any of us, it’s all up to you,” though she spoke evenly, Ranvir could see tears of joy in her eyes as she spoke.

“You only say that because he chose you,” Gunnor said with a good hearted chuckle.

“Frija’s a fine name, Ranvir,” Pashar said walking in front of the family, “There are, however, a few other things that we need to address as well.”

“Oh?” Ranvir asked gently wiggling his finger, still grabbed by Frija’s tiny hand.

“You can’t stay in the first-year dormitories, for one,” Pashar explained. “It wouldn’t be fair to the other students if they had to deal with… Frija waking them up all throughout the night.”

Ranvir looked up, “She’s gonna do that?”

“Without a doubt.”

“I’d bet a golden prophet on it.” Ranvir doubted his father had ever even seen a golden prophet before. The highest denomination of coin was rarely used anywhere else than in noble estates and the richest of merchant trades.

“Oh, I didn’t realize,” he looked back down at the angel made manifest in his arms.

“There are probably lots of things you don’t know about taking care of a baby. Luckily, you have been granted a suite in the family dormitory, and your parents have rooms just down the hall.”

Ranvir’d heard of the family dorms, though they were commonly just called the ‘parentage.’ It wasn’t too uncommon that academy students started families before they left for the front lines, as such they were housed separately from the rest of the students. That gave them more space for their families and removed the nuisance of babies from their dormmates.

“I’ve been ‘granted?’” Ranvir asked looking with surprise to Pashar, “Isn’t it usually pretty costly?”

“Well, you are one of our highest performing students, so don’t be so surprised.”

“I—“

“You just barely made it as the tenth student from the first-years to advance, among those you’re the only one to do it without any help and reportedly you already have more control over your power than a good third of these students.”

“Fair enough,” Ranvir replied his cheeks reddening as bright pink embarrassment curled into the air of his mind.

“Now, you’ll also need a wet nurse to take care of baby related duties that you aren’t equipped to handle,” Pashar said smoothly moving forwards, “I’ve had a talk with our receptionist and it seems his aunt is currently up for the task. It will take a fair bit of money from your current payments, but examining your expenses over the last nine months you should be fine.”

“That’s good, thank you,” Ranvir blinked then cocked his head, “How did you feed her on the way here.”

“I think it’s better if you don’t think about it,” Pashar said before either of his parents could open their mouths. “Now, Gunnor and Frey can stay in the rooms for free for as long as Lord Isgerd has business in the capital but once she finishes up, you will either have to pay for their stay, or they’ll have to go back with their town lord.”

“How long will that take?” Ranvir asked looking at his parents.

“Isgerd said a couple weeks, maybe.” Frey said. This time she was sitting next to Gunnor, who sat Ranvir and his mother, she held her husband’s hand as she examined her son.

“A couple weeks…” Ranvir looked down at the sleepy bundle in his arms, “How am I going to learn to take care of a baby in two weeks?”

“You probably aren’t, but you will have the help of your wet nurse by then, and there’s probably a few others you could call in to help as well,” Pashar said with a smile. “You have some good friends.”

Ranvir returned her smile, though, he still felt nervous beyond belief, “You’re right.”

“So do you wanna go see your new apartments?” Pashar asked smiling broadly now.

“Apartments?” Ranvir asked as he slowly started to get up, careful that he didn’t jostle the baby or unnecessarily disturb her.

“I know she’s a baby, Hearthfire, but she’s not that fragile,” his mother said.

“She’s not going to break if you look at her wrong,” his father laughed moving to clap Ranvir on the back. Instead, his hand met an invisible wall a hands length from his son’s body.

Both father and mother gasped stepping away as it happened. Ranvir blinked, he’d only barely been aware of himself interweaving the space into a hardened wall, his focus so intent on not disturbing his child. She seemed just about to fall asleep.

Ranvir looked up at his parents. They’d backed a few steps away from him, he noticed his mother’s gaze lingering on his crying eye.

“That’s part of the package,” Pashar said stepping around the table. “An overprotective parent isn’t unusual, though this one’s ability to protect might be.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” his father sounded more than a little startled, “It’s just hard to get used to. Our son’s a true tethered, not just someone with a little bit of power.”

“I’m sorry, dad,” Ranvir said, “I didn’t really think about it, just kind of reflexive.”

He noticed a flicker of a worried frown from Pashar before her features smoothed out. “Your son is very talented. And I’m sure you’ll be happy to note that what his powers lack in offensive ability, they more than make up in defensively,” then she gestured for them to head towards the door.