Pitter Patter - Is There A More Feared Sound?

[Kender Bard]

Mina had excused herself from the temple early. She couldn't really concentrate; all her prayers kept straying to the same thing, the same plead.

Please, not now. Not this.

Variation, that was the key. She'd told Azrael that she couldn't focus her thoughts. He told her she was making good progress then. She clarified and he patiently advised her to go home and get some rest; she wasn't entertaining Soahc by giving a mantra all day in her head. So she'd taken the outing and gone home.

Lying on the couch she worried herself needlessly, running scenarios through her head, all of them with the worst possible outcome. She tried to reassure herself but those thoughts were drowned under the wave of rising panic until she'd worked herself up into a tizzy by the evening. She couldn't even do chores. Curling up in a chair, she sobbed quietly.

Was she going to ruin her life again now?

[Darastrix]

Nathan made his way home, humming softly to himself. Things at the guild had finally started to go back to normal, though the curfew for their younger students remained in force. Earlier, he and a couple of the guild's senior advisers had put in a performance for a private party at a high-end tavern. Aside from their regular fees, the group had been tipped quite well and were allowed to partake of the rather lavish table. Normally the dancer didn't care to eat much at performances, but the host had arranged for some out of season fruits to be kept frozen until the party, and fruit that wasn't dried was not something to pass up in Nox. He just hoped Mina wouldn't be too disappointed if he didn't eat much supper.

Opening the front door, he called out, "Mina, I'm home!" Nathan stepped into the living room and stopped short when he saw Mina. "Mina?" Quickly, he moved to her side and put his arms around her. "Mina, what's wrong? Did something happen?"

[Kender Bard]

She must have lost track of time; Mina had hoped to have calmed down, been cleaned up, presentable, when Nathan came home. She wanted to be able to face him calmly and talk things out like rational adults.

But really, her time with her new flock of priests had done much to loosen the 'rational' in her and help her give in to her emotions more. Usually it was therapeutic but tonight it was annoying. She choked down her sobs and clung to Nathan tightly.

"We have to talk," she finally managed after a few false starts. "I have some... news." She almost said 'bad' but she wasn't sure how Nathan would feel about the whole thing and she didn't want to color his reaction with her own thoughts and feelings.

[Darastrix]

Nathan pulled her tighter to him and rubbed her back soothingly, unable to fathom what could have upset Mina so badly. He hoped that her sister wasn't up to her old tricks again, but he didn't think Mina would be that shaken up even if Belle had done something.

"What is it?" he murmured. "What's wrong?"

[Kender Bard]

Mina took comfort in his embrace. She took a few deep breaths until she could speak more evenly, and wondered how best to phrase this.

"I'm... late," she said, and bit her lip. Remembering she might need to clarify, she added, "for the one thing that is very bad to be late for once a month...?"

[Darastrix]

Nathan blinked and looked at Mina in some confusion. "Is...this some Soahc priesthood thing that I don't know about?"

[Kender Bard]

Mina shook her head at that. "N-no." I guess I'll have to be plain spoken. She took his hands into her own and looked him straight in the eyes as she said, "I might be pregnant."

There. That wasn't so bad. Was it?

[Darastrix]

Nathan's eyes widened as realisation dawned. Pregnant. Mina might be pregnant. He might be about to become a father. Though he knew many men younger than him had become fathers, he really didn't feel ready for something like that at all.

"A-are you sure?" he asked, his expression somewhat dazed.

[Kender Bard]

Mina was desperately trying to read him for some clue to how he was feeling, but she was having a hard time of it. "Pretty sure," she murmured. "I mean... there's still a chance that something will prove otherwise but... right now..."

She gulped, trying not to cry all over again. "Oh, Nathan, I'm so sorry."

[Darastrix]

"Shhh...." Nathan put a finger to Mina's lips and gently rested his forehead against hers. "There's not a thing for you to apologize for. If you are, I'm at least partly responsible." He smiled weakly.

[Kender Bard]

Mina's too broken up to take amusement at his poor joke. "How do you feel?" she asks meekly, still unable to read anything from him. Can't think straight... Perhaps just asking would help. Communication, she always needed to work on it.

[Darastrix]

He sighed softly. "Surprised. A bit scared," Nathan admitted. "Unprepared. I'm not used to kids, and I really hadn't thought about having any of my own. But still...it doesn't have to be a bad thing. I mean, a year ago, if someone had told me that I would let go of trying for the Maestro's position, I would never have believed them. And yet here I am."

He kissed her cheek gently. "I guess what I'm saying is that I don't feel ready for this now, but a few months down the road, that could very well change."

[Kender Bard]

His words calmed her considerably, chased away the panic that had been haunting her mind since she had come to admit the problem to herself. She snuggled closer to him, sighed and spent a few moments just letting his admission sink in while she breathed in the familiar scent of him. Soon, she felt almost normal again.

"Me too," she murmured. "I think I was afraid most of all that you wouldn't want me anymore."

[Darastrix]

"That I wouldn't--what? Mina, I love you. I'm not going to just abandon you if things get a little difficult." Nathan's voice was soothing, though he couldn't completely keep the hurt tone out of it.

Why would she think something like that? He knew Mina wasn't the most self-confident person in the world, though she'd come a long way from the first time they met, but surely he'd never given her any reason to think he'd just cast her aside.

[Kender Bard]

Mina glanced away nervously. "Well, you know, it happens a lot with unwed couples. One could be of a higher station but very much in love with someone of a lower station, but when things become complicated by, say, a baby, so many things can change... It's happened plenty of times I'm sure. But you're right, I worried needlessly."