I rather think that it took a very special woman to remind me of that skill. [ Perhaps any woman could have done so, but he likes to believe that it was Alkaid herself who showed him how to be more open and caring and to trust people more as well. ] But you made it easy for me to learn what you like and how you want to be cared for.

[ He smiles at her, as he does so often when she is near. He does not marvel as to why, as he knows full well that she makes him so very happy, the happiest he can ever recall being. And now they are to have a baby, a thing that he had not thought possible. Perhaps they both did something good either in this life or another to have deserved this particular blessing. ]

Truthfully? I had not given thought to that. [ Perhaps it was far too doom and gloom on his part, or perhaps it was merely being pragmatic, but until it became a possibility that the Dragonsong War might end, he had not thought of such things as starting a family. It is all too easy for a soldier to fall in battle, after all. But he and many Ishgardians had resigned themselves to their lot: retaining hope, of course, but continuing their lives being mindful of their somewhat fragile situation. ]

Have you thought of what you might name your children?