Settling into a new home.

"I suspect we'd do better making good use of the shadows," Radu agreed, so quiet as to be inaudible to any but one with a vampire's acute hearing. "Clearly whoever did this was stealthy enough to get to the wiring without being noted as a person of concern on the cameras in the first place."

Naitachel nodded, a bit reassured by Soraya's answer and the fact that she had just seen a medical professional. Surely the news from the check-up could not be so terrible if she was allowed to wander and Vlad wasn't here hovering over her in worry? So maybe it was something minor, or just stress...

Soraya wrote:"Hello, Mrs. Pr..." the girl in question trailed off. Her response had started out friendly, though her eyes now grew wide and she stopped to stare a moment at the company Soraya kept, most notably Naitachel. "Oh, um... hello," she said, almost apprehensively before looking downward, tucking some hair behind her ear in a nervous gesture, and bustling off.
The redhead looked after Brandy with a frown. "What was that all about?" she wondered.

"Hello..." Naitachel had offered cheerfully to the girl, but his smile faltered as she gave him an odd look and quickly departed. The discomfort and suspicion she radiated was in itself a bit disappointing and saddening. Still, he couldn't blame her, or the other colonists--he was new, and strange, both disrupting their previously content lives and threatening the safety of routine and heirarchy. Watching her go, he shrugged and cheered himself up. "I suppose many are simply trying to adjust to my arrival. Perhaps I should take up chores of some kind, and associate more with the colonists to help set them at ease?" he suggested brightly.

"Or perhaps they should grow up and stop such foollishness," Mircea growled, his eyes narrowing at the girl.

Vlad smiled at Soraya's question from deep within the caverns where he worked alongside some of the humans to complete the building of a fresh water well. <Not so busy I cannot spare a moment,> he assured her. <Do you need me?>

Soraya looked at both Naitachel and Mircea questioningly. "Brandy is generally a sweet girl," she defended, still rather confused by her behavior. "Something must have happened to make her react this way." She realized how that sounded, and quickly added, "Not something you did, I mean. Just likely something unrelated to us. We are all entitled to our bad days, no?"

Still, even as she spoke the words, she knew they hardly stood up, and she silently vowed to find the girl later and gently prod her further on it.

"You may join chores if you wish, Naitachel, though it is not strictly required of you," she answered, then smiled wryly. "Simply, promise me you will not try to join the kitchen staff. That would be a disaster and is likely to bring outright fear from the colonists," she teased, knowing the disasters that Naitachel tended to manage when involved in any form of culinary exploits.

She had, after all, taken the brunt of those consequences in the form of burn or being doused in unimaginable concoctions on more than one occasion. Some had even left a smell for several days afterwards.

"Perhaps you could help teach the children their lessons?" she suggested thoughtfully. "Or help with the animals. I know you tend to enjoy their company."

Silently, she returned to Vlad, not wanting to alarm him, <It is not urgent, really, but I would like to have some time to speak with you about... something.>

Prince wrote:"I suspect we'd do better making good use of the shadows," Radu agreed, so quiet as to be inaudible to any but one with a vampire's acute hearing. "Clearly whoever did this was stealthy enough to get to the wiring without being noted as a person of concern on the cameras in the first place."

Tommen frowned contemplatively. "Just stealth would hardly account for someone getting by doing this completely unnoticed. Not with the lot of us." The vampire shook his head and found himself forced to utter words he desperately wished he didn't have to. "If it was someone from out there, we would have caught on to it, we would have been on top if him or her in a matter of moments. Whoever did this..." He growled, fangs threatening to show at the anger he was feeling. "Whoever did this is someone unremarkable enough that even we would not take notice. Whoever did this is one of our own colonists."

The subtext was that they had a traitor in their midst.

Naitachel considered those options as they walked, and chuckled quietly at the memories of his past attempts in a kitchen. Every few hundred years, he somehow ended up giving it another try, but it never quite turned out as he intended. You'd think recepies were easy enough to follow, yet for some reason the Seraph was doomed to fail no matter how simple they were... and often also almost ended up destroying the kitchen in question beyond repair, no matter how careful he tried to be. Not to mention that Soraya often ended up trying to help him and somehow salvaging something from the chaos, though they ended up looking like they'd been through a battle afterwards. It had been simply an odd and almost frustrating experience then, for all it was amusing to think on now.

"No, no, I shall endeavor to stay clear of the kitchens, I promise," Naitachel agreed with a smile. "I am uncertain what the children may be learning at this time, so perhaps the animals shall be best for now. Still... I may need a guide finding my way there? I am uncertain which way to turn as every crossing looks the same to me."

Radu nodded in response to Tommen's comment. Indeed. Unfortunately, he'd come to the same conclusion.


<I can join you shortly, beloved,> Vlad answered with a smile. <We're almost done here.>

Mircea looked at Soraya and shook his head. He'd never understand those who would defend foolishness.

<Fantastic!> Soraya sent back, clearly pleased. <I will wait for you in our room.> After all, that was the best place to ensure privacy in a home full of telepaths and individuals with supersensitive hearing.

"Brianna can take you, if you like," she offered Naitachel, pointedly ignoring Mircea's shake of the head; she felt it only fair to give the girl the benefit of the doubt, given how she had made herself helpful during her time here. Soraya knew her youngest would love to have a chance to show the seraph around. She always basked in uninterrupted attention, and she had missed her uncle terribly, which would make her twice as enthusiastic about being a tour guide. "Actually, I think she would quite like that."

"As would I," Naitachel returned cheerfully, quite happy with the idea. He had missed Brianna as well--all the family, really, but the child-vampire's enthusiasm was timeless and her empathy boundless, always refreshing to his own soul. "Does she see the animals often, herself?" he asked Soraya curiously.

They had not had much time nor attention for pets when he had last been with the family. The strays they had taken in were usually more the human kind, seeking to help those grow and regain their feet in some measure of nurturing environment and safety. But the Seraph had always enjoyed animals--they instinctively recognized what he was and knew to trust him, even being protective of him at times, as he would never allow harm to them any more than he did of people around himself.

Prince wrote:Radu nodded in response to Tommen's comment. Indeed. Unfortunately, he'd come to the same conclusion.

Tom sighed. "Is there really anything more we can do right now, other than be extra vigilant, let the others know, and hope we catch whoever it was in the act if they try to do it again?" he asked Radu with a defeated shrug. "That or silently hope that whoever did it was just being a prankster and won't do it again."

Maybe that was it. Just one of the teenagers they'd collected along the way trying to be funny or rebellious.

Soraya couldn't help but smile at Naitachel's sudden interest in helping with the animals. Really, it was a wonder she hadn't thought of it earlier, knowing the seraph's penchant for all creatures great and small and his enjoyment of all things zoological. She would have to chalk it up to being scatter-brained and fatigued.

"On her own, she goes once every few days," Soraya answered the seraph's question, "But with you as an incentive to go more frequently, I am sure she would be glad to oblige. Just tell her when you would like to go. She knows these tunnels and has, thankfully, been spared my sense of direction. She can find you easily enough," the redhead said with obvious pride in her youngest.

She looked at both Mircea and Naitachel once more as they reached the family's common area. "If you would excuse me, I am rather exhausted," she admitted. "I think I am going to retire to my room for awhile." It was true, she was tired, but this also thankfully gave her the excuse she needed to make herself scarce and meet Vlad to share the good news.

"I shall, and thank you." Naitachel nodded to Soraya, though he eyed her with a bit of concern. Surely she must be doing a great deal with the colonists, then, if she was so tired? The idea made him feel a twinge of guilt and resolve to set to helping out somehow in a more physical manner soon. Singing surely wasn't enough. Not if she was pushing herself so very hard...

He could feel that Radu was not in the family's quarters, likely away at some duty, and he decided to sit and wait for him to return in the main room. They had been apart for some years now, and the need to see him again was still fresh and strong, if just to reassure that their separation was over. Naitachel just felt the urge to hug his mate... simply because he could... and just being in Radu's presence was a wonderfully uplifting thing by itself for his spirit, even if the man was busy with other things at the time.

Turning to Mircea, the Seraph smiled at his brother-in-law. "What brought you our way, Mircea? It was fortunate for us you came when you did..." he asked, curious, as he settled on a stool.

"Radu asked that I come when he sensed the approach of the vile one. He dislikes that one's method toward the fair ones. As do I," Mircea confessed with a shrug.

***

Radu nodded to Tommen, but didn't say anything. Somehow he doubted he had only wayward teens on his hands.

***

Vlad hurried home the moment their digging was done, still wearing a good bit of the dirt upon himself.

Soraya had to laugh when she saw Vlad. "You look like Pig-Pen," she commented, a reference to an old Peanuts cartoon character from the twentieth century. She lovingly patted his shirt, sending dust flying, which coaxed a sneeze. "I suppose there is something to be said for the rugged charm," she teased.

The redhead then took his hands and sat on the bed, indicating he should do the same. "I... have news," she shared quietly, not sure how else to open.

Vlad hesistated. He felt no distress from her, and yet...

"What is it, beloved?" Vlad asked, sitting beside her and taking her hands in his own. "What kind of news?"

Soraya struggled for a moment to find the words. She knew these were difficult days, uncertain days, and that frightened her, but here, in her sanctuary with Vlad next to her, she could actually let herself feel the joy and the promise of what this could bring.

After taking a deep, steadying breath, she took Vlad's hands as he held hers and placed them against her stomach. She met his eyes, and found herself grinning widely.

"We are going to have a baby."

Vlad grinned broadly then leaned down and placed his ear against her stomach. Sitting back then, he drew her to him, hugging her tightly. "So we are," he exclaimed joyfully. "I'll see to a nursery right away."

No matter how the world was around them, being a father again would always be joyful news to him.

Soraya laughed and hugged Vlad in return, savoring this moment of pure, unadulterated joy between the two of them. "Well, then, I suppose it will hardly stay secret long if you begin working on a nursery."

She pulled back and looked at Vlad his with a deep, contented sigh. "A baby," she breathed, imagining all of the good things that came with that - the warmth, and giggles, and tiny feet and hands, and tummies. She kissed her husband, then, and hugged him again.

"Maybe this time I will even concede to the name Vlad, if it is a boy," she teased.

Prince wrote:
Radu nodded to Tommen, but didn't say anything. Somehow he doubted he had only wayward teens on his hands.

Tommen spent a few more moments in contemplation, watching as Badger set to work on fixing the problem, before sniffing in frustration. "Well, nothing more here we can find, it seems. I can patrol the hallways for awhile, if you'd like to go find Naitachel," the vampire suggested, knowing Radu and the seraph had not had nearly enough time together since Naitachel's return.

Radu smiled and nodded. "Thank you," he said quietly to his nephew. "Let me know if you see anything."

He took one last look around, to be certain he hadn't missed anything, then headed back to his quarters, and his mate.

As Soraya awaited Vlad's response to her suggested concession of his name, another wave of nausea suddenly hit.

"Then again, perhaps my incessant trips to the restrooms will give it away before the nursery can," she choked out. "Excuse me," she managed, before dashing off to purge whatever meager contents may have remained in her stomach, if any.