Honor of the Dragonborn

Introductions

Farkas had finished cleaning up at the manor, and then walked with the three older children and Jergen up to Jorrvaskr to wait.
Blaise and Sofie were excited and antsy all day, but they remembered how long Jergen had taken, so they were content to play in the yard while they waited for updates. Lydia came by around mid afternoon to tell them labor had picked up.
"How're they doing?" Farkas asked quietly.
"Krinna's tough, I feel like she's handling better than I did, but Frailia said she's about the same," Lydia replied at the same volume.
"And Vilkas?"
"I can tell he got advice from you," she smirked and leaned up to give him a quick kiss.
"Good," Farkas grinned as Lydia turned to hurry back to Breezehome. Farkas turned back to the kids in the yard.
They had dinner and Farkas let the kids stay up a bit later than normal to wait for updates. Then, finally, Lydia came back to tell them that Krinna was ready to push. The kids could go to bed and hopefully come see the babies in the morning.

***

Sudia and Fralia cleaned up the room and mopped up all the blood while Vilkas went down stairs to get a drink.
Krinna lay in bed, finally resting. Both babies were sleeping for now. She was exhausted, but she couldn't sleep. Her entire lower half still hurt, and bled periodically when she moved.
"Everything alright love?"
Krinna jumped a little at the sound of Vilkas's voice. She was so tired she hadn't heard him coming back up the stairs. He stood beside the bed with two mugs and a questioning smirk.
"Yeah," she smiled, "just tired and a little sore."
Vilkas nodded tiredly. "Here love," he smiled, holding one of the mugs out to her. Krinna sat up gingerly and took it with a grateful smile.
"Mead," Krinna commented excitedly taking a sip.
"Aye," Vilkas chuckled. "Your first good drink in nine months, I was hoping it might ease the pain."
"Thank you," Krinna said into her mug.

As she enjoyed her mead, Krinna watched as Vilkas stepped softly over to peer into the two bassinets beside their bed. She couldn't help but smile at the tender expression on his face. She leaned over to look at the babies as well.
"Have you thought any more about names?" She asked quietly.
"I have," he nodded, "I talked to Blaise and Sofie about them yesterday morning too."
"And?" Krinna prompted, looking up at her husband with a tired smile.
"We like Hakon and Gormlaith," he answered with a warm smile. "Legendary brother and sister who helped you defeat Alduin... seems fitting for the children of the Dragonborn..."
Krinna just smiled a little more, the idea had been growing on her since Vilkas mentioned those names the night before, but...
"Blaise, Sofie, Hakon... and Gormlaith..." she said, looking at her daughter with a raised eyebrow, "Gormlaith might need a nickname until she grows into that name... but... I like it."
"Gorma... Laith... Laithy..." Vilkas rattled off, and Krinna just responded with a doubtful look. "Alright, we can sleep on it," Vilkas chuckled.
"The nickname at least," Krinna nodded.
Vilkas chuckled again and settled into the bed beside her.
Once she finished her mead, Krinna was finally able to doze off... for a little while.
***
Vilkas was woken several times in the night by one of the babies crying, and he got up to help Krinna nurse.
Hakon was a little bigger than Gormlaith, but Gormlaith seemed to be trying to catch up with how much she ate. Not that Hakon was slacking; he still woke up every two hours to eat as well, so he and Krinna had both only slept in one hour intervals. When the sun rose Vilkas didn't feel like he'd gotten any sleep at all, and he could see from her groggy expression that Krinna felt the same.
Danica stopped back by to check on the babies again, and then checked to make sure Krinna wasn't bleeding too much. To Vilkas's relief, Danica said they were all doing fine. She was impressed by how well both babies were eating, and with Krinna's healing. She cast another healing spell on Krinna but then told them Krinna had recovered enough to use some of her own magic for healing spells too now. Krinna was relieved to hear that, Vilkas could tell she was tired of bleeding and being sore.

As Danica was finishing up her visit, Lydia came back with Farkas and all the children.
Vilkas had just taken Hakon from Krinna so she could pick up Gormlaith to feed her again, when there was a gentle knock on their door.
"Come in," Krinna said quietly. The door creaked slowly opening to reveal Blaise and Sofie's wide-eyed, excited faces. Farkas was close behind them with Jergen in one arm, and Lucia beside him.
Vilkas grinned up at his children and motioned them to come closer.
"Here's your sister, Gormlaith," Krinna said quietly as Blaise and Sofie approached the bed.
"And your brother, Hakon," Vilkas added, sitting carefully on the side of the bed, slowly and carefully leaning so they could see the sleeping boy in his arms. Gormlaith, who clearly thought she was about to be fed, stared back at Sofie and Blaise in confusion before she started to cry. Blaise and Sofie both looked worriedly back at them.
"Don't worry," Krinna smiled reassuringly, "it's not you, she's just hungry. I was about to feed her." Krinna began to situate Gormlaith to nurse and Blaise and Sofie huddled closer.
"So we are picking Hakon and Gormlaith," Sofie whispered excitedly, "from the story you told us?"
"The one about you saving the world from dragons?" Blaise added quietly.
"Aye," Vilkas nodded. He set Hakon gently down in his bassinet and turned to scoop Sofie and Blaise into a hug. They were both getting a little too big for Vilkas to easily hold them each in one arm, but sitting on the bed he could still manage it.
"Your mother and I are tired, and we're going to be very busy with the babies for a while, but we still love you both just the same," Vilkas told them warmly. "As soon as the babies are old enough to sleep through the night, I will be back to playing with you helping you learn to use those swords," he promised with a smile.
"We understand Papa," Sofie replied.
"Yeah, Jergen's still a lot of work, and there's only one if him," Blaise added with a quiet chuckle.
"Thank you, my loves," Vilkas chuckled quietly as well before standing back up slowly. Farkas and Lucia approached slowly with Jergen.
"Congratulations brother," Farkas grinned, clapping Vilkas gently on the shoulder.
"Conhap-a-apias," Jergen tried to repeat gleefully... and not quietly. Hakon startled awake and began to cry, and Gormlaith startled and let go from her feeding and began to cry as well.
"Sorry," Lydia grimaced from the doorway.
"'Owry!" Jergen added as Farkas tried to shush him.
"It's alright," Vilkas just had to chuckle as he picked Hakon back up and began trying to gently rock him.
"We'll get out if your hair," Farkas said sheepishly.
Sofie and Blaise each gave Krinna a quick hug, and then Lydia, Farkas, and the kids all filed out of the room as quietly as they could. Sudia came back in to help show Vilkas the best ways to calm the baby. Much to Vilkas's relief, with Sudia's advice, he got Hakon settled back to sleep.
Once Gormlaith was finished eating and also asleep again, Sudia helped them get her resettled in the bassinet as well.
"Now, it's always best to sleep when the babies sleep," Sudia said quietly. "You two take a nap, and I'll have breakfast ready for you when they wake up again."
"Thank you Sudia," Krinna said, laying back down in relief. Vilkas lay down beside her and in spite of the sunlight that was now streaming in, neither of them had much trouble falling back to sleep.
***