Elysia looked exactly like Lith as a newborn, aside from the glare, the cynism, and the murderous impulses. That and the genitalia, of course.
Solus acted on instinct as well, flooding her long hair with mana and using it to wrap around Elysia in a multi-colored warm blanket.
“By my Mom, look at her, guys. She’s the picture of her parents.” The phrase was devoid of malice, stating how much the baby resembled Lith and Kamila.
Yet between Solus’ hair blanket and Elysia’s head filled with short hair streaked by the six elements, it sounded like Solus had somehow played a part in the conception as well.
The room fell into an awkward silence, broken only by Elysia’s baby noises and Solus’ cooing since she was completely oblivious to the effect of her words.
“I’d say that’s enough.” Raaz cleared his throat. “The grandparents have rights too and since Elina and I took care of Lith for over sixteen years before you guys butted in, we come first.”
Zoreth said nothing. She whimpered, but said no intelligible word.
Solus too had a hard time letting go of the baby, but less than Lith. Raaz quickly wrapped Elysa in a warm cloth and said a few words to avoid further misunderstandings.
“You did an amazing job, Kamila. Thank the gods Elysia takes most of her looks from you and Elina. I was terrified she might look like me.”
Elina and Kamila laughed, raising the temperature in the room by several degrees.
“Thanks, Raaz.”
“Don’t be unfair to yourself, dear.” Elina took Elysia next. “Lith, Trion, and Aran have taken from you and they look great.”
Everyone avoided mentioning that Lith was Awakened, Trion was dead and far from good-looking, and that Aran had received Lith’s treatments since a tender age.
“Guys, I know I’m asking a lot, but if anyone else steps in front of her in the line, my daughter is going to cry.” Leegaain said, waiting for permission from the other two Guardians to hand the baby to Zoreth.
“That’s not true!” She blushed up to her ears but her teary eyes and her broken voice didn’t sound much convincing. “Hello, little one. I’m your godmother. You can call me Zor.”
Elysia started to cry, but a quick shift of Zoreth’s hands brought out her scales and more than enough reassurance for the baby to feel safe.
The Shadow Dragon showed the baby girl to Bytra who also introduced herself as if Elysia had any understanding of what was happening.
“It’s a gorgeous baby.” The Fourth Ruler of the Flames said. “I don’t want to be that girl but Elysia holds quite some Chaos energy for someone at the deep orange. You guys have to be careful.”
“Deep orange?” Kamila was flabbergasted.
“Well, yeah, babe.” Lith scratched his head now that he had gone back into his human body. “She had a breakthrough with me, remember? It must have happened because the merging of her life forces has increased the efficiency of her mana flow.”
Kamila took a deep breath, pinching her nose in annoyance.
‘I’m barely a yellow mana core and Elysia is already at my heel. Now that she’s born, I have to train my body and practice the breathing techniques on top of working, being a mother, and preserving my relationship with Lith. I feel tired already.’
Between all those emotions, Kamila felt the need to go back to bed while the Guardians took turns holding and cooing to Elysia. Only once they were done did they allow the other family members to touch her.
Rena and the kids had no problem with that since they were still quite shocked by their own transformation.
“It lasted just a few seconds but I felt so powerful.” Rena tried to feel the mana and trigger the shapeshifting again, but her blood had become inert again.
“That was so cool and I was so tall! Can we do that again, big brother?” Aran asked, handling the baby like a priceless crystal vase.
“I have no clue how I did that.” Lith shrugged. “Back then, I was overloaded with world energy thanks to Mogar’s help and I was also resonating with Elysia. I don’t think I can do it again by myself.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Aran shrugged. “Finally, a nice to take care of and who will respect me.”
“Dream on.” Leria said with a snort. “If she’s half as smart as Uncle Lith, Elysia is going to run circles around you by the time she learns how to speak.”
Leria was already used to handling babies due to the triplets so she showed more confidence and less hesitation than Aran.
Elysia started to cry, but this time nothing managed to calm her down, not even Dragon scales.
“She’s hungry.” They still allowed Lith to understand what the baby felt. “Let’s give her back to Kamila. Only women and I can stay in the room.”
“Why? It’s not fair!” Aran pouted.
“You’ll thank me when you are older.” Leegaain lifted him and started to drag the boy away when Lith took the baby Tiamat in his arms and she said:
“Dya.”
“You’ve heard it! You all are my witnesses. Her first word was Dad!” Leegaain gloated while Zoreth facepalmed and Salaark and Tyris fumed.
“Gods, Dad! Was it really necessary?” The Shadow Dragon stood between Kamila and the Guardian, to protect him.
“Don’t be silly. That was just baby babble.” Kamila wanted to believe her own words but plenty of grimaces in the room said otherwise.
“You would be right, if this farming Dragon didn’t create Dragontongue in general and the word ‘dad’ in particular to be the easiest one to pronounce by a baby in Dragon form!”
“How can she speak-” Only then did Kamila remember about all the time Leegaain had spent talking to her belly, using that particular word over and over in all the stories he read. “Farming Father of All Farming Dragons!
“I’m going to kill you!”
“Calm down. You need to rest and the baby needs to eat.”
Zoreth passed Elysia who was crying harder since now she was scared on top of hungry.
“Fine!” Kamila snorted. “Grandma, why didn’t thishappen with Shargein?”
“Because I knew he would do it and I kept him at an arm’s length the whole time!” The Overlord snarled in reply. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. One time was plenty enough. Now I’m very careful about what he says to my belly!”
“I don’t get why you are so angry. As you women say, it’s just a word.” Leegaain shrugged with a smirk on his face. “She has to start somewhere.”
“Get out!” Kamila said with a soft hiss to not scare Elysia more and Salaark was ready to help the Dragon out with a powerful kick in his butt.
‘First, I lost my strength. Then I lost my connection with my daughter. And now that jackass of a Dragon took Elysia’s first word away from me. This day couldn’t get any worse.’ Kamila actually thought, her hands trembling as she sniffled.
“I’m so sorry, babe.” Lith knelt beside her, his wings wrapping themselves around both mother and daughter on their own.
