Choices

Chapter 75
"Wow...," Seraphina huffed out. "I've been in battles, I've felt pain, but shit this is a different kind of hurt." She growled as another wave of contractions hit her. She hadn't known what to expect. They hadn't really been around any pregnant humans.
She'd done research, but it really didn't compare to the real thing. "You're doing good." Fandral told her, dabbing her forehead with a cool cloth.
"How would you know?" She hissed panting.
"You are doing very good," Dai said. "Your mother had to give birth to two, be happy it's only one, now push." Dai had been the one to deliver them at birth and now she was about to deliver hers. Seraphina always liked Dia. She was a no bullshit kind of girl. She'd once told their father to shut up and lie down back when he'd been injured. He didn't dare cross her.
Seraphina did as she was told. She bared down, squeezing tightly, pushing as hard as she could and gritting her teeth in the process. The pressure on her insides made her feel as though she had to go to the bathroom and it wasn't comfortable one bit.
***
Hours of sweating, pushing, and uncomfortable aches and pains later, Seraphina was holding her baby boy. A small wisp of brown hair stuck to his forehead, his eyes closed. It didn't surprise Seraphina that when she'd first saw her sons eyes they were violet. It was on their mothers side of the family. Apparently their whole family had the same color eyes, a genetic thing they supposed.
"Rorik," Fandral whispered the name they'd chosen, careful not to wake the sleeping child.
"My fathers been gone a while," Seraphina said. Cephera and their father had been outside waiting for news of the baby. When she finally delivered he'd came inside, took one look, was overjoyed it was a boy and took off to tell everyone.
"I'm sure he's having a few drinks..., him and the entire palace." Cephera grinned. She was sitting on the edge of the bed looking down at Rorik. Loki had stayed behind in Asgard, much to his annoyance. He'd been invited to go hunting with Thor and Loki had agreed in hopes of helping Thor adjust his attitude. Seraphina had thought it would be best that the brothers try to get along.
Fandral had promised to keep Cephera safe while they were there, this might have been the only reason Loki didn't bail on Thor.
Seraphina had been in Asgard when she'd felt the pains of labour begin and then when her water broke they all knew what to do. She desperately wanted to deliver in her home with Dai, not in Asgard. They had already had bags ready to go at a moments notice full of stuff for Fandral's lengthy stay. Even though Seraphina insisted they'd provide him with anything he needed.
"Probably," Seraphina agreed. "When do you go back to Asgard?"
"Later tonight." Cephera half smiled.
"It's for the best. The less time you spend here the better, at least until it's safer for you to be here." Seraphina had glanced around the room to see who might be listening, but aside from Dai there was no one else.
"I wish you'd come to Asgard too." Cephera frowned.
"No. Our lands have more freedom from stereotypes, titles, and is just over all freedom of expression. I want Rorik to grow up here until he's old enough to understand that every culture is different, but I want him to know this freedom first before he experiences how harsh other worlds can be." Seraphina had explained this to Fandral and thankfully he didn't mind.
"I know." Cephera leaned forward and kissed Seraphina on the forehead and then her baby boy. "You'll be a good mother." She assured her. Seraphina smiled and looked down at her boy again. She'd doubted her ability to be a mother, but just something about this moment gave her more confidence than she'd had prior.
(Cephera)
"So are you going with Thor or not?" Cephera asked Loki. Loki had been suppose to join Thor on another hunt, but then Fenrir had begged and begged to go with them. Fenrir now lived among the catacomb systems below the palace. He couldn't fit properly through single doorways, he'd grown too big, but the open archways and double doors he could.
Though he'd become large he was still so very much like a child. "Please, papa. Please, please pleeeeeeasseeee." He'd begged over and over until Loki had agreed that he'd take Fenrir on the hunt, but Thor hadn't been pleased and called off the excursion. Thor didn't like to acknowledge the children. He was still being stubborn.
"I have convinced Thor that Fenrir could be an asset to us. His nose is unlike any mere palace hound and that he would lead us to a plentiful bounty to present at the feast." Loki replied pulling a brush through his hair. It was getting long. Cephera wasn't fond of it long, but if he liked it so she would not complain. It touched his shoulders now and would soon pass those.
"Be careful with him." Cephera urged. She feared Fenrir would get hurt, even though his hide seemed to be thick. The larger he became the more the Asgardian's made whispers of his impending ferocity. Some parents had forbidden their children from playing with him in the yards.
Cephera had warned Fenrir to not knock down any of the children and to play gently. His head reached her shoulders now and he was the width of Cephera and Loki stood side by side and still he continued to grow.
Jör was enjoying his home in the caverns that lay just below the catacombs. His long body fitting through the old canals with ease. He was a good 20 feet long now. Fenrir took to chasing his brother on shore while Jör raced him through the waters. It was good seeing them getting along.
Hela was..., well she was Hela. She had her own room where she sat in solitude making potions. Loki was the only one she seemed to enjoy seeing and that was only because he brought her knowledge for new potions. She didn't socialize with anyone if she didn't have too. Cephera visited her every night and Hela tended to ignore her unless she had something negative to say. Cephera might have felt bad if she didn't treat Frigga the same way.
Seraphina hadn't been in Mechanova since her child's birth. Fandral was with her in Mechanova still. Cephera received weekly letters telling her in detail of the child's progression. 'He's going to be a strong warrior, he's a brute.' One letter said. The child was a year and 3 months old. Motherhood had changed Seraphina only a little. Cephera didn't expect much of a change anyhow.
When he'd began to walk and fell down and began to cry, Fandral would rush to help him up and Seraphina would frown. "He'll never learn that way. He's gonna have more falls than that and besides he's not hurt." She'd say. That being said, Seraphina instantly came to his side when he would really get hurt and that's when the motherly side of her jumped out. Barking orders left and right to make sure he got the best care possible.
"Fenrir will be fine." Loki assured Cephera kissing her forehead. It was early morning and her hair was a mess of knots from the fucking they'd had before falling asleep the night before. A solid knock, or rather a body slam, had Cephera on her feet and pulling on a robe. Loki did the same though not as quickly.
He opened the double doors that's separated the sitting room from the main bedroom and in trotted Fenrir. He looked proud and excited all bunched into one. "When do we leave?" He asked his tail swatting Loki on the legs making Loki cringed. His tail was strong.
"After breakfast." Loki replied patting his son on the head and scratching his ear. Fenrir leaned into the rub.
"Jör said that I'll enjoy hunting and I think Hela's jealous." Fenrir jumped around in an excited circle.
"Remember what I told you. Don't run too far or other hunters might mistaken you for prey. Keep your eyes open and stay alert." Cephera reminded Fenrir just barely stopping him from his twirling.
"Yes mama." He agreed. He still called her mama where Jör usually said mother, and Hela usually said 'oh, you'.
Satisfied, Cephera went and got dressed in the bathroom.
***
It was almost sundown and still Thor, Loki, and Fenrir had not returned. Cephera found herself pacing the connected balconies throughout the palace anxiously awaiting for their return. "It was frightening," a woman was saying before spying Cephera and quickly moving out of the way.
"Covered. Disgusting," Another commented halfway along a different terrace.
"I knew it would happen one day," the man next to her said.
"Excuse me," Cephera interrupted causing them both to jump. "What do you mean?" She had a sinking feeling in her belly.
At first they were quiet, but then the man straightened his shoulder back, puffing out his ridiculously hairy chest. "That mongrel of yours was spotted only a few moments ago at the beach, caked in blood I heard." He glared at Cephera.
"And did you ever stop to think it's his own." Cephera snapped, instantly becoming defensive. She took off at a run, down through the terraces and cutting through the palace. She came out near the beachside of the palace and ran down its sand.
She stopped when she spotted them. Thor stood near the tree line, Loki at the waters edge and Fenrir in the water, a line of stain floating along the water behind him. He didn't seem hurt.
"Loki!" Cephera cried running to them. "Loki what happened? Are you hurt?" He didn't looked hurt.
"Cephera?" He was surprised to see her. "I was hoping, I...," he paused, his face having lost all its color.
"Better she knows brother," Thor said behind them. His tone didn't sound concerned, it sounded justified.
Loki glanced out to the water at Fenrir who was wading along merrily and then back to Cephera. "We are all okay, but Fenrir. Cephera you should have seen him. We were chasing a large boar. Fenrir sought him out with his keen smell. Largest I've seen in a while. Deep inside the forest too. When we caught up with it Fenrir pounced on him. The boar didn't stand a chance, which would have been great but the first taste of blood and Fenrir tore it to pieces." Loki swallowed.
"He ran rampart, rabbits, deer, birds. Anything and everything that moved that wasn't myself or Thor he tore to apart." Cephera felt her stomach churn.
"Just as a wolf would." Thor remarked. "Just as I knew he was capable of." He added.
"Thor," Loki warned.
"Brother I am telling you right now, when he grows older he'll be a killer. What happens when we become prey size to him? What of the children who play with him now? If he gets the taste of Asgardian blood he'll do the same to us as he did to the animals." Thor scowled and lifted his hammer. "Better to put him out of his misery now." He threatened.
"Thor, he can be controlled." Loki stepped between his brother and the water. Cephera was staring at Fenrir who was dunking himself and shaking clean his fur. With the sun going down the water looked muddy instead of blood soaked.
"Pft." Thor spat. "Father will decide." Thor stomped off.
"Loki, your father already sees all the children as a threat. He'll side with Thor!" Cephera exclaimed her hands shaking.
"I won't allow them to kill them. I'll figure something out." He promised her, kissed her hands and took off after Thor.
"Fenrir, come here!" Cephera called to him. She was not afraid of her son. He came ashore tail wagging and tongue hanging out. His fur was clean if not smelly. "Fenrir do you know what you did today?" She asked kneeling in the sand and stroking his wet snout.
"I hunted for father. I caught a lot of things." His tail wagged more.
"You slaughtered a bunch of things. Fenrir you're young and you have yet to learn self control. You are part Asgardian like your father, but your wolf side is also very much present in you. I want you to come with me, it time we embrace your wolf side and teach you the ways of the animal." For too long they treated him as though he were like the rest of them and Cephera felt she knew the perfect person to help.

Notes