A Walk (Private RP, PM for invite)

[Akunosh Inarus]

*An autumn sunrise. This was arguably the most beautiful time of the year in Cha'arduun aside from an autumn sunset. The northern winds were crisp and cool, fueled by the harsh arctic mountains further north. All across the Inarus Estate was a large multitude of peasants and farmers harvesting their crops as fast as they could possibly work. This winter was predicted to be stronger than any recent winters according to several prominent sages and prophets, and thus it was imperative to harvest the crops whilst they were still fresh*

*Akunosh stood on the balcony of his north-facing room watching the peasants and farmers as they harvested. The peasants and farmers worked happily, knowing that they had yielded thrice as many crops as they had the year before. Despite the fact this meant thrice as much work, it amounted to more food for all. And a peasant with a warm home and plentiful food was a peasant that did not complain*

*Finally, the paladin turned his gaze to the forests. They were many miles away and on the other side of the wall, but even from where he stood he could see their majesty and beauty. Beyond the forests to the north were the mountains. The lake, rivers, and ocean were to the west, and to the south and east were grasslands as far as the eye could see. A two day ride to the east would bring one to Is'uldul itself, the grand capital of Cha'arduun*

*Akunosh sighed softly. He missed these lands dearly, and he missed his wife, zipcat, even more. Constant warfare had called him away from his lands to fulfill his oath to his Emperor and King. Originally, he had thought little of it. He was a knighted paladin, pledged to serve at his Emperor's and King's whim. He fought ferociously in every battle, heedless of any form of caution, and often threw himself into the thickest of the enemy's lines. Sometimes, the paladin hacked and slashed his way so far into the enemy's formations that he couldn't even see his own army. He belived that he had been born for war, and thus he never shunned away from it*

*But all of that had changed the moment he met zipcat. Suddenly, he became more aware of his actions and more cautious. Instead of immediately throwing himself into the forray, he would wait until the calvary began their charge before entering battle. Akunosh might've secured his position in the heavens as an Archangel or even a Seraph, but his love for zipcat made him want to stay alive all the more*

*He had apologized constantly to her for being away for so often, and he tried to make her undestand. She tried, of course, but he could see the pain in her eyes everytime he left. Perhaps once his kingdom was safe from external threats, mainly the vampyres of Mount Vernin, the paladin would retire from active duty and stay at his lands with zipcat. His retirement stippends would be more than enough for an entire army to live off of*

*Finally, Akunosh turned away and entered his room, closing the door behind him. He wore gray pants, a gray and forest green shirt, and gray Elvish boots, hardly the clothes that a noble would be seen wearing. The paladin searched for his gray cloak and, upon finding it, donned it and fastened it by a golden sword pin. Akunosh walked out of his room and down the long corridors to his father's room. However, his father was busy with several other nobles disputing over some matter that he couldn't catch, so he went to find the Seneschal of the Inarus Estate. Upon finding him, Akunosh informed the noble that he'd be gone for the rest of the day*

*The paladin walked back down the hallway, descended several flights of stairs, and walked into the gardens. This was the last place that he and everyone else had seen zipcat today. She always liked the gardens, and that made him smile to himself. After walking around aimlessly for a minute or two, he found her studying several flowers and shrubs. She had her back to him, so he silently walked behind her. When he was close enough, Akunosh wrapped his arms around her waist and placed a soft kiss on her neck. He was always fond of doing this since it alway caught her by surprise*

"Hey love. Want to go out on a walk in the forests?"

[zipcat]

*zips fingers trailed as lightly as she could over the flower before her. It was only a common blossom, but it was still beautiful. She always loved the gardens, there were always so many things to look at, and so many that always made her happy. There wasn't much for her to learn from just looking at them, but she was always finding people to teach her more or things to look into in other ways.*

*One of the things that she always put her mind to when she was out alone were what plants grew where, around what, and how often. It may not have seamed important to other people, but she always found interests, and hope in what she would find. There were times she found flowers that only let the night see their beauty, these always washed her with emotions. Just the thought made her smile, but there was so much more than happiness.*

*She used to be out so much, but after the wedding she had moved into the Estate. No matter what, she knew she would always think of her place in the mountains as home, with another home wherever Aku was. So that she could be at the Estate without having to check on it every week, she had to put all the plants in her home into hibernation. Having never done it before, she hadn't known how dismal it turned out to be.*

*Now though, she smiled. The little grin wasn't as so many had been before, all of the times she had gone searching in distant lands where few people were as nice to her as everyone in Titan always were. She was so happy to be back, and to see even the small blossom have strength to show its beauty just added to that.*

*Though she always looked forward to seeing her husband again, she was always surprised when he snuck up on her. She relaxed back on him just a little bit. It felt like forever since she had been able to spend time with him, but she knew that wasn't true.*

"I would love to, Aku."

[Akunosh Inarus]

*Akunosh smiled softly and led zipcat out of the Estate's grounds. His gray cloak was wrapped around both of them, and his right around was around her waist. The walk north led them across vast fields of crops and orchids, which, after several miles, gave way to the wall that encompassed the Inarus lands. The guards recognized the paladin immediately from a distance, and by the time the two arrived the gates were open. He led zip deep inside the dense forests for several miles before they ran across a stream loaded with trout. Finally, he stopped at the bank and watched the fish for a while, holding zipcat close to him*

"Feel like eating lunch?"

[zipcat]

*zip loved all the sights, and had watched every thing as they traveled out of the Estate. She had always thought it was pretty. She had held her hands together in front of herself throughout the walk, smiling at what she saw and over to Aku whenever she saw something she found very pretty.*

*When they got to the forest, she slipped from his arm and took his hand so they could have their balance better. Every forest had things to step over, or holes you might sink a foot in, so she wanted to be careful. At the bank, she smiled at the idea of eating with him in the forest.*

"That would be nice."

[Akunosh Inarus]

"If you gathered some berries, fruits, and vegetables, I will get the firewood and meat."

*The paladin went about, finding dry wood to use for the fire at their makeshift camp. When he had found enough pieces of firewood, he set them up in a position to allow the maximum airflow into the fire, thus making it more efficient at cooking their food. With a single fireball spell, he ignited the wood and watched with a pleased grin as it burned. Akunosh then walked down to the stream and knelt, looking at the scores of trout that were swimming against the current. With practiced ease and unbelievable speed, Akunosh caught three trout as they jumped out of the stream to try and get further ahead. He returned with the three trout and set them on a relatively flat rock that he had cleared off. With his dagger, he cut off the fins, tails, and heads of the trout, then removed the scales. He cut them into smaller pieces, removing as many bones as he could possibly could before cooking them in the now burning fire*

[zipcat]

*zip smiled and nodded, quickly going off to find some fruits. She always loved looking for them, and making them even more. She only found a few handfuls of all sorts of fruits, and knew that wouldn't be enough. They were all safely wrapped in a folded pouch, she found in a darker spot in the forest. Here, she grew a Sugalet plant and collected the two melons on that before burning all traces of the plant away. It didn't take her long to be back with Aku. *

*She smiled at Aku before holding one of the melons between her knees to keep it clean, the other was held between her hands. With a bit of magic, she heated the melon. She knew that if she didn't, then it would be very virulent. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt Aku. She was careful so that she didn't burn her hands. Then she shook it well. As gently as she could, she pushed her thumbs through the weaker spot on the melon, steam coming out of the fruit.*

*In the end, it was a soup in a way; just it would be very sweet. Touching a nearby oak, two new leaves grew where she touched. She used one of these fresh clean leaves to plug the hole in the melon, and got to work on heating the other. Normally, she would eat it cold. She knew that that would poison her, but she had never told anyone other than Blythe. For now she knew better than to take poisons. *

* She set her treat next to her husband's; along with the now open leaf of what she collected. "I hope you like them, Aku."*

[Akunosh Inarus]

*When zip had brought back the melons and heated them, the fish was thoroughly cooked. He placed them on the cleaned off rock and set his melon onto it. He motioned for zip to sit with him, and, when she was seated, he began to eat the fish and drink from the melon. It was times like these that he wished that he could relive for all eternity*

[zipcat]

* zip sat and ate her meal, listening to the sounds of the forest. She wished that they could talk about something. Her mind was still on one thing, and that being a reason she couldn't take poisons. It wouldn't be a good idea to bring up as they ate. Instead, she just ate quietly like Aku did. After she had eaten her portion of the fish, she indulged in the melon. It was like a yogurt, but heated up it was so much sweeter. She hadn't had them like this in a long time. *

* Seeds never survived cooking, but she burnt the left over case of the fruit into nothing so that no one would find it. She licked the last of it off of her lips before just deciding to tell him. Never had she thought that he would be upset, but she didn't want to say something that meant so much randomly into silence. She did anyways, looking up at him as she spoke, "I'm with child." *

[Akunosh Inarus]

*Akunosh loved every moment that he got with zip and lamented everytime he had to leave for the call of duty. However, nothing could've prepared him for what zip had just told him. The paladin choked slightly on his soup before it finally went down the right tube. Taking several seconds to clear his throat and regain his voice, he stared at her in a mix of excitement and surprise. He stumbled over finding the words to describe how he felt, but, finding none, he hugged his zipcat tightly and kissed her*

"That's wonderful news! Do you know when you're due?"

[zipcat]

*zip eyes widened while her husband choked, hoping that he would be alright. Just the excitement in his voice made her smile, but she held her hand to her tummy with other thoughts. When he hugged her, the surprise of that delayed the return of her own hug and kisses by just a short amount of time. When the kisses ended, she tucked a bit of hair behind her ear as she answered.*

"Not for quite a while," She wasn't even showing yet, "but I shouldn't leave the Estate unless you're with me."

*She was so glad that he was happy, even more than she thought he would be. Yet underneath all of her joy other emotions clawed at her, and ones she had been learning for so long. Even in this, she was afraid. *

[Akunosh Inarus]

*Akunosh wrapped his arms and cloak around zip, still grinning ear to ear from the revelation that his wife had told him. It was so unexpected and sudden that nothing could've prepared him for it. When she mentioned that she shouldn't leave the Estate without him, Akunosh nodded softly, finally finding his words*

"Yes, I believe that is a smart decision. I would hate to have something happen to you whilst you're away. In the mean time, have you any clue as to the gender of our child?"

[zipcat]

*She wondered how she would see all of her friends if she had to always be at the Estate or with Aku. He was always out so much, but she hoped that he wouldn't be too much now. She really hoped that he wouldn't, so that she wouldn't be confined. Keeping the child alive would be so hard, so long as she was pregnant. Aku wanted her to be safe, and at least she would be while in the Estate.*

*Unless her heart stopped, which happened so often now. Even if she was alive and every one of her muscles could breathe while she didn't, she worried that the child wouldn't be able to. That it would die just because some random spook would stop her heart. She remembered enough from her mother to know how to give the child the plant, but zip couldn't do that until after the birth.*

*She had never talked to Aku about her body; how strange it was. It made her feel bad sometimes to know all the secrets she kept from him, but it never felt right to think about telling him. She kept secrets for her friends, because they were friends. She would never tell Aku about Rajst, because he never seamed like the person who wanted everyone to know his name or about him. She never told anyone about her personal secrets either because that's what they were; secrets.*

*At least seeing her husband smile and being wrapped up kept the smile on her face, too. She thought that it was silly of him to ask what the gender would be, but how anyone could know before birth switched her expression to both confusion to curiosity.*

"No... how could anyone know a child's gender before birth?"

[Akunosh Inarus]

*Akunosh chuckled softly to himself before placing another kiss on zip's forehead. He looked deeply and lovingly into her eyes, knowing that someday soon he would spend his entire life with his true love and their child. When zip mentioned that there was no possible way that one could know the gender of a child before it was born, Akunosh couldn't help but chuckle again*

"My love, there are ways to tell the gender of a child before birth. I have seen it done before. There are prophets and eunochs in our kingdom and empire, sages and wise women in the Dothraki tribes, and seers and seeresses with the psions that walk among us. You just have to find the right people, my love, and they can reveal what it is you wish to know."

[zipcat]

*zip thought it was odd that people would do something to find out the gender of a child, but she had learned a bit about magic recently and knew that it should be alright if Aku suggested it. She did have one thought on what the gender would be, but she didn't really think it was a good idea to talk about that. Still, she wanted to add something rather than say she wasn't sure. Seeing as her husband wanted to know, she wanted to help him find out. Hopefully it was a long ways away so that she could travel more.*

"Oh, I've never heard of that before. Want to go to one of these people with me?"

*Resting her hand on her tummy, she smiled, only giving a bit of a secret. It wouldn't do any harm.*

"I think it might be a girl, but it would be better to know for sure."

[Akunosh Inarus]

*Akunosh smiled and nodded, standing up and offering his hand to help zip up. When she was standing next to him, he took her hand and lead her further north, deeper into the forests and towards the source of the cold. After a while, Aku removed his cloak and handed it to zip to help her and the child keep warm. He was already used to the coldness of the northern lands and ignored the chill that crept up his spine. After an hour, the forests began to weed out into woods, which became flat grasslands as far as the eye could see, the blades of golden grass up to their chests. Before them, off in the horizon and even closer than before, were the gargantuan mountains that marked the border between Cha'arduun and Zafibel. To their left was a lake off in the distance, which was where Akunosh led zipcat*

*They reached the lake, which was comparably as large as a bay, but was made completely out of fresh water. Five rivers fed into it from the mountains to the north, and dozens more fed out to the south. The plants around the lake were more manifold than elsewhere in the realm. The flowers and their petals ranged from crimsons to golds to pinks to azures to lilacs to whites. Akunosh led zip to the shores of the lake, kneeling and scooping up a handful of cold, crisp water. He drank it almost greedily for it was the best water in these lands*

"Here, try some. You'll love it. Its completely pure, made from the glaciers to the north."