“Just a few frozen toes,” he says, touching the baby’s face with a wondering finger. “She will tell my khui to work harder and it will be fine. It was a long, cold walk back.”
I open my mouth to protest when the baby screams loudly. My breasts leak again in response. Oh, right. I need to feed my poor baby. I open the laces on the front of my tunic and push the leather aside, then fit the baby against my breast. I feel awkward - I’ve never breastfed before - but his little head nuzzles against my breast and then he begins to suck.
It’s the most beautiful thing ever.
I touch his downy head, the thick black hair already springy against my fingers as it dries. “We need to decide on a name.”
“Mmm.” He touches the baby’s cheek, as if unable to pull away for a moment. I know how he feels. Already I feel an intense, smothering amount of love for the little life in my arms.
“What, no suggestions?” I tease my unusually quiet mate. “You’ve had tons of them up until now.”
His mouth crooks in a half-smile. “I am terrible with names, as you have said many times. I want him to have the right one. You should name him, my mate.”
Aw. I smile and contemplate the names we’ve tossed around as the baby nurses. None of them seem to fit just right when we squish our names together in the custom that’s been created. Nor do I think a human name seems proper for our little boy who is so clearly sa-khui. “Why don’t we name him after your father?”
A slow grin spreads across my mate’s face. “My father?”
I nod. He’s told me many times about his father and how he misses him. He grew up with just his father - his mother having died in childbirth - and was left without family when the khui-sickness hit. “Why not?”
“You…would not mind the name? Holvek is not a very human name.” He touches the baby’s hand and the three little fingers and thumb close around his finger, holding it tightly.
It’s not the most musical name but it’s clear that it means a lot to my mate. “I think it’s perfect.”
His expression of pleasure tells me that it’s the right choice.
Little Holvek it is.
Maylak returns a short time later and works on healing my mate of his minor aches and pains. The toes are not as bad as originally thought, and he is proclaimed healthy enough to go and finish the birthing ceremony. He takes the bundle of furs and disappears with it, though he’s clearly reluctant to leave me and the baby. I do my best to stay awake, but when Holvek nods off, I put him in his basket beside my bed and then take a nap myself.
I wake several hours later, and roll over to see Cashol seated next to the bed, cross-legged. He’s got Holvek in his arms again, gazing down with a look of such pleasure that I’m filled with intense joy at the sight of them. “Hi,” I whisper. “Is he hungry?”
“He is asleep,” Cashol admits, but doesn’t hand the baby over just yet. “I could not resist holding him again.”
I chuckle and struggle to sit up. Everything aches and is sore, but I don’t mind. Life feels pretty perfect at the moment. “I’m so glad you got back in time.”
He nods slowly and reaches out with one hand - the baby tucked against his chest - to twine his fingers with mine again. “I knew you needed me.”
“Like Rokan’s sixth sense?”
He shakes his head. “Just a gut feeling. Plus, I was tired of sharing furs with Haeden.”
I giggle quietly. “Sharing furs?”
He nods and begins to tell me about the last few weeks he spent out on the trail. Apparently he and Haeden worked together, both of them eager to return home. “Unfortunately most of the time was spent in the cave snarling at each other while the wind blew.” He squeezes my fingers and gazes down at Holvek. “I wanted to be here with you. Every day it was a struggle, knowing you were both waiting for me.”
“It was all right,” I say, surprising myself with the realization that it was, in fact, not as painful as I’d worried. “I kept busy. I made you a hammock.”
“A hah-mawk? What is this?”
“It’s a sling that keeps you off the ground for sleeping. It’s comfy. I’ll show you later.”
“Another human custom?” He looks amused. “What next? Shall I bathe standing up?”
Actually…
The baby wakes up and I automatically reach for him. Cashol hands him over and snuggles against my side as I begin to nurse Holvek again. I rest my head on Cashol’s shoulder and a wave of utter contentment moves through me. “I forgot to thank you,” I murmur. “For the treasure hunt. That was so thoughtful of you.”
He chuckles and nuzzles against my neck. “I wanted to give you something to look forward to while I was not there to brighten your day.”
I smile. “You did. I’m not good with the treasure hunt, though. I never found the last one.”
“No? It is here.” He leans over the side of the bed.
Puzzled, I watch as he fishes something out from underneath the bundles of leather padding and thick furs that make up the nest of our bed. “What’s here?”