Sanria had been puzzled for the entire day. She watched Colin as he doted on their new arrival, smiles, kisses, hugs, her breath catching. Why wasn't he angry? He took care of her as well, though with the residual healing energy from the child coursing through her, she didn't need much. It was as if he truly didn't care - or maybe didn't know - but how could that be?
"How are you feeling?" he asked once the day had wound to a close.
"I'm fine... but how are you?"
"Wonderful. She's beautiful isn't she?"
"Colin... I'm really sorry."
"About what?"
"Well, that she's..." Sanria paused as Colin looked at her, completely not understanding... or perhaps not really wanting to. "We'll have to have Thasmudyan around, you know, not all the time but-"
"Why?" Colin asked, his demeanor beginning to shift.
"Because she needs to have her father around, don't you think?"
"She has her father, right here. Right?" The very slow darkening of Colin's eyes sent a small chill through Sanria, but she couldn't lie to him. "Right?"
"Colin..."
"Sanria, that is our daughter. Yours and mine."
Sanria's heart went out to the little girl, sleeping soundly in the small dressing room. She knew she had to get Colin to see, and so with careful steps, she continued dropping the hints until Colin exploded. With fury he ransacked the bedroom and stormed out. With a small spell woven to keep the baby asleep, Sanria went quickly after him and out into the forest beyond.
"NO!" Colin kept repeating, slamming his fists into tree trunks and sending bits of them flying off into the darkness. "You're wrong!"
"Colin, please, stop. Listen to me..." and finally, he stopped, heaving with unspent energy. He stared down at her, his face looking on the verge of tears through the utter rage. "Okay. She is our daughter... I'm probably wrong."
"But you don't believe that," he said through clenched teeth.
"Do you?"
And the fight slowly left. His voice grew quieter as he kept himself from tears. "I shouldn't be here."
"Why would you say that?"
"Look at what I put you through. I have to lie to myself just to keep control..."
"You are needed and important. Orn needs you, Leandra adores you-"
"All I want is for us to be together, a family, for you to be happy..."
"We are a family," Sanria said, feeling the full implication of her words.
"And I'm trying. But we are all together, and we have our family." Colin looked at Sanria in the darkness, the moon casting only the faintest glow through the trees. "You came after me..."
"Why wouldn't I?"
"You want me around... you want to have me with you."
Sanria walked nearer, wrapping her arms around Colin, leaning her head against him. She couldn't have this happen again. If it meant that Thasmudyan never knew, that is what it meant. She was their daughter, hers and Colin's, and she loved Colin before, she would do it again. What he wanted was simple, and that is just how Sanria would try to keep it.
