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By all the gods, he was one of the most powerful wizards in the realm, yet here he was, rendered helpless in agony by a baby. Curse his impulsiveness. Curse his gods-be-damned curiosity. And curse the many, many (many) glasses of wine that convinced him to allow that handsome little shit at the tavern to come inside him.
"Gale. You must breath, for yourself and your babe. They are relying on you for their oxygen."
Gale groaned and tried his best, squeezing Halsin's hands as tightly as he dared. His womb was like a ball of iron in his midsection as his body contracted, and it was hard to draw breath around it. A great invisible fist seemed to grab him inside, twisting muscle, sinew, and bone until he thought he might truly combust. Pressure pushed at his spine and ground on his hips.
The orb seemed meek compared to the power of this child trying to emerge. He would be relieved to explode into bits at this point.
The contraction finally released and he leaned back against the bed where he knelt on the floor.
"There you are, Mr. Dekarios. That one's over now. You're another step closer to meeting the little one."
"Tara," Gale whimpered, reaching for her. She rolled up under his hand, her feathers and fur a soft comfort to his thrumming nerves. Her forehead pressed to his belly as she lent him her purr.
"I'm here. Right beside you as I always have been."
"You make a fine midwife, Tara," Halsin told her, lifting a cup of water to Gale's lips and encouraging him to drink.
"Hmph. Only for Mr. Dekarios, I assure you. I'll not be assisting with any bear cub deliveries, Druid."
Halsin's hand glowed with magic, hovering above Gale's pelvis. It was only a spell for assessment because of course, one couldn't expect any pain relief. Halsin's abilities were in service to nature and thus could not interfere with the process. Among wizards, it was considered dangerous to ply an unborn child with potions or spells. Gale had considered going into the weave, creating a world for himself, but he was frankly terrified of exposing his baby to Mystra's influence this early.
He would never say it aloud, but part of him hoped his child had no proficiency for magic at all. He wanted, desperately, to pass on his knowledge, but he was so deeply afraid of Mystra's all seeing gaze directed their way.
"Gale," Halsin called to him, regaining his attention by cupping his neck, "I believe you're about to enter transition. Do you remember what that entails?"
Gale swallowed, leaning into the cooling touch.
"The surges are stronger and more frequent, yes?"
Halsin tucked his hair behind his ears tenderly. He and Gale were never lovers, but their friendship had become intimate as Halsin guided him through pregnancy with a gentleness that sometimes brought him to tears. They were very different people, but they respected and cared for each other. Learned from one another.
Gale offered ingenuity and encouragement as Halsin built his community of orphans and refugees. Lent books, useful spells, and some teaching to the kids of a wizarding inclination. Even sent home big batches of soup and fresh bread.
Halsin answered every question in exacting detail, allowing Gale to interrogate him about the process for hours. Made salves for aching muscles and massaged his swollen legs. Encouraged him to abandon shame and overcome his body shyness. To seek inner peace and quietude through meditation.
So he trusted this man, perhaps more than any other save for Tara and his mother. That's why Halsin was here, welcomed into his tower and his bedroom, seeing Gale at his most vulnerable. Why he was allowed to lay healing hands on the most intimate parts of his body. It did not come naturally to Gale, setting aside his pride this way. For over a year when he was beset by the orb, he slowly wasted away so that no one would see his failure. He had grown since then, thanks to his friends. Had learned to trust and seek help.
But it was still hard. So very hard.
"That's right. The opening of your womb will widen to it's full capacity until the head has moved into the birthing passage. It will likely be very intense, but it's also the shortest part of your labors. I'll be with you the entire time."
It was strange how much he wanted to hear that despite knowing Halsin would never abandon him. In the throws of labor, Gale had begged he and Tara not to leave him, taken by an anxiety that made no sense. A primal need to ensure their presence.
Halsin leaned in and met Gale's eyes.
"Listen to me, Gale. You must follow your body and relinquish the control you're so good at wielding in your magic. Allow nature to guide the way. The instincts are there for you to rely on, and I will not let you falter. So if you must walk or lie down or bend low on your knees, do that. If your clothes feel restrictive, none will be phased by your nakedness. If you yell, no one outside this room will hear. Not even your mother."
Halsin gave him a knowing look. Gale was protective over Morena and could not imagine being able to express pain in front of her. He had already put her through so much. He knew she wanted to be there, but both he and Halsin agreed it might hinder him. She waited in her home, ready to rush over at the first call from her son.
"Most of all, you have nothing to be embarrassed about. I am awed by your courage and strength."
Gale blushed a bit at that, looking away.
"Surely you've seen plenty of people do this before. Babies are born every day."
"Yes. And every time, I am humbled by it."
He pulled him in for a hug, pressing Gale into his soft and sturdy chest.
"But it means more when it's happening to my dear friend."
After that, things picked up as Halsin said they would. He quickly dispensed with his clothes, dripping with sweat and feeling as if each brush of fabric was embedded with needles. Gravity seemed to collect inside him and drop like a meteor, pulling him down into squats or bending him over the bed. He hung off Halsin's shoulders as the druid squeezed his hips with tremendous force. Still, it wasn't enough. The pain was unrelenting, impossible.
"Gale, let your jaw relax. Let the sounds come out as they will. I promise you, it will help."
He did, and at first, low moans emerged. At the peak of contractions, they would escalate into harsh screams that Tara and Halsin would try to coax into lower registers. He hummed to himself, and Halsin joined him, creating a drone of buzzing noise to drown out the pain.
After what felt like hours, he was curled up on his side on the bed, Tara nestled in the small of his back to try and alleviate the pressure there. He panted, twisting the sheets in his hands, desperate to escape something that was inescapable. Halsin bathed his face with a cool, wet cloth.
"There you are. It's alright, Gale. You're almost through it."
"I can't do it," he gasped, pleading.
"You can. You're doing it right now. Just endure it for a bit longer and nature will give you some rest."
"Hold on, Mr. Dekarios. I know you can."
Finally, the storm passed and the contractions eased off. Gale felt wrung out and weak, breathless with exhaustion.
Halsin sat on the bed beside him, rubbing his shoulders in broad strokes.
"I don't know how I could possibly push out a baby after all of that. I feel as if I could sleep for a year," he said, his words slurring a bit.
"As always, nature provides. Once your body readies itself, you'll feel a surge of energy that no spell could replicate. For now, just rest. Sleep if you can, it will do you some good."
His last thought before slipping under was that there was no way he could sleep during labor.
...but he soon awoke with a sense that the bottom was falling out of his entire existence.
"Gale? Are you awake?" Halsin shifted quickly away from washing his hands in the basin, moving to Gale's side.
"I... I think I need to push." At least, he though he did. Was that what this feeling was? It was so odd.
"Alright," Halsin replied calmly. "How would you like to do it? You can stand or squat or even stay lying on the bed."
He didn't know. Was he supposed to know?
"I... the bed, I suppose." He felt panicky, uncertain.
"That's fine," Halsin said warmly, "Whatever you want is just right. You can always move if you need to."
Halsin helped position him so that he was sitting up on the pillows. Tara settled next to him, her head pressed into the crook of his neck. She groomed his beard with her little kitten licks, making him chuckle.
"I do love you, Tara."
"And I you, my precious Gale."
It was a rare thing indeed for her to use his first name, and he treasured it.
He tried not to feel humiliated when Halsin tucked his feet up and coaxed his thighs open until he was posed a bit like a frog. Beside him was a little bowl of oil, likely to ease the passage in an unbearably intimate way.
"May I check your progress?" Halsin asked him politely. Mystra save him, he would never be over how strange this entire experience was.
Gale said nothing, just nodded, and startled a bit when Halsin inserted his oiled fingers deep inside. His flesh felt tender and inflamed as he was examined, but it didn't last long. Halsin finished, wiping his hand with a cloth, then smiled at him. It steadied him. If Halsin was smiling, it meant things were going well, surely.
"I can feel them, Gale, the very tip of their head."
"Truly?" Gale asked, tearing up a bit.
"Yes. You're having your baby. Isn't it exciting?"
Gale laughed wetly, holding his belly.
"It is," he said, feeling true joy for the first time during this miserable labor.
The urge came again, his muscles tightening.
"Alright, my friend. Focus your energy and push where you can feel my fingers." Halsin was stretching his entrance with the oil, pressing down. Gale concentrated and put as much force into it as he could.
At first, it felt like nothing at all was happening. Pushing felt like trying shove Karlach up a mountain, his own strength laughably ineffective. But Halsin kept insisting it was working.
"It's your first baby, so it will be slow, but you're making progress. I can feel them come down with your effort."
After a time, he could sense it, the startling presence of something foreign shifting downwards inside him. It felt overwhelming and entirely surreal. His mind couldn't decide if it wanted to experience it all in harsh, vivid detail or float away like a balloon.
"Halsin, I can feel it," he panted, needing urgently to express it out loud, "I can feel everything."
Halsin rubbed his thigh, "They're right there, just inside. You're doing so well."
"Oh hells, another one."
"That's it. Focus your strength and push again."
He did and a sharp burning started to spike in his opening, turning his heart to ice in sudden fear. He let go of the push, fighting the urge of his body.
"Keep going, Gale. I know it hurts."
"I'm tearing apart!" he shouted, unable to fight pushing with the force.
"I promise you you're not. I won't let any harm come to you," Halsin said, pressing a compress to the fire of his flesh. The cooling sensation of the herbal water was soothing even against the terror of it all. Gale heard whimpering and realized it was him, a song of his own suffering and Tara's loud purring in his ear. The baby retracted back inside a bit, easing the pressure only slightly.
"Breathe, Gale. Just take a breath, let it calm you. It is nearly over."
He took Gale's hand, bringing it down to his entrance, and pressed his fingers just inside. Gale felt the shape of a warm, wet skull.
"Is that..?"
"That's your child you're feeling. They'll be in your arms as soon as you bring them forth."
He felt the next peak approaching.
"Can I keep my hands here?" he begged, holding himself as he felt the head start to stretch him again.
"Of course you can. It's your body and your birth. You have the control here." Halsin pressed lower, cupping the head as it began to emerge. It struck Gale even through the pain that his child would be born into the hands of those who loved them.
The burning was incandescent, but Gale felt renewed strength and an eagerness to finish it.
"Easy. Easy, now. Pant a bit and let it come gently."
He followed instructions, his teeth gritting as he stretched excruciatingly slowly. Nothing gentle about it.
Finally, he shouted as the head fully emerged, exquisite relief rushing through him. He began to tremble wildly, teeth nearly chattering.
"Is he alright?" Tara asked Halsin in alarm.
"He's just fine. It's the adrenaline in his system. It's all normal. But come and see."
Gale's fingers felt the shape of eyelashes and nose and lips, but he still couldn't see over his belly.
"Tara, how do they look?" he asked as she hopped down the bed to get a better angle.
"They're beautiful, Mr. Dekarios. They have your lovely dark hair."
Gale smiled, exultant.
After a few minutes of oddly reverent peace, another contraction came over him. The weight of the baby once again shifted and Halsin helped them turn, pulling slightly. The pain spiked again, quick and sharp, then receded entirely as the baby came out.
"Unless we learn otherwise later, you've borne a boy," Halsin said, moving him immediately to Gale's chest, draping a baby blanket over his little body to conserve warmth.
Gale felt his entire world shift as he looked down. Perfect, round cheeks, pink and fat. Bow like lips. Startlingly thick hair curled over the slight cone shape of his head.
"Oh just look at him!" Tara exclaimed, pressing her forehead to the baby's face. "He's perfect. I'm so proud of you, Mr. Dekarios."
"As am I, my friend," Halsin said, wiping the baby's nose and mouth off to clear then. "He's beautiful. A precious gift of creation."
"Shouldn't he be crying?" Gale asked, suddenly all too aware that this fragile life would be his to guide and protect forever.
"They don't all cry. He's quite content to cuddle with his papa."
The rest of it was a bit of a blur. Pushing out the afterbirth while Halsin palpated his abdomen. Sitting on towels as Tara magically changed his sheets. Trembling on his feet in the shower while Halsin helped him wash. And of course, finally, mercifully, a pain potion. Gale had never tasted a sweeter nectar. No wine would ever compare.
Tara used mage hand to spoon feed him soup while Halsin cradled and examined the baby. Something melted within him as a he watched Halsin whisper the Oak Father's blessing with a kiss to the forehead.
Then he was back in his arms, small and heartbreakingly lovely.
"He's a fair bit quieter than his father so far," Halsin said, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. He sat next to Gale, gazing down at the little bundle. The blanket was an unexpected gift from Astarion, hand stitched with stars and moons. Gale felt full to bursting, knowing how many would come to care for this child. He would never be alone, never lonely. He ached for all that he wanted to give him. The entire world if he asked for it.
For now, he seemed to want his dinner, rooting around and smacking his lips. Soon, Gale would ask Halsin to help him learn to feed and call his mother over.
But now? Now was for the two of them.
His son opened his eyes, a beautiful blue, and Gale was utterly and completely in love.