Berthas Wildheart

[moonshadows]

“Berthas Wildheart, thank you for coming.” Dad’s voice was slightly muffled by the door, but I could hear rustling. “And this is…?”

“Illaria Starwhisper, my wife,” a new voice said. Berthas sounded hopeful but nervous.

“An honor, Archdruid.” That would be Illaria, no doubt. I squeezed Illidan’s hand.

“Do the two of you know why we have asked you to come here?” Mom said.

“I can only hope it has something to do with the interviews I’ve had with Shan’do Stormrage,” Berthas answered.

“And the ones I’ve had with you, High Priestess,” Illaria added.

“It does indeed. I know that the two of you are unable to have a child of your own, and have been searching for a surrogate mother willing to share her family with yours.” Dad paused, and I couldn’t help but grin through my nervousness, imagining their faces. “We have found one for you.”

That was my cue. I pushed the door open and stepped into the room, shoulders thrown back confidently, Illidan trailing behind me. Berthas was thinner than I expected, but just as shaggy, his hair a mane of purple streaking to green. Illaria was slender with light blue hair. Both of their eyes widened when they saw me.

“Ellekayne!” Berthas gasped. “I…you honor my family.” He bowed low.

“You’re doing mine an equal favor,” I said gently.

Berthas tilted his head, confused, but his wife gasped. “High Priestess…?”

Mom wrinkled her nose in a look half amusement and half exasperation. “Yes, you will be raising our grandchildren. Ellekayne is our daughter.”

“That’s why we were interviewed so thoroughly,” Berthas said, taking his wife’s hand and squeezing reassuringly. “Truly, Shan’do, you honor us with this.”

“Illaria, I will be in your debt,” I said. “My lifestyle doesn’t give me much opportunity to have children, and you will be a mother to them the way I cannot.”

“Illidan,” Berthas said quietly, noticing him for the first time. “You know what I will have to do with your…”

My brother-buck waved dismissively. “The choice was hers to make.”

I sidled over to Illaria. “I think it would be best if Illidan and I lived with you for a year or two – I’m sure your husband would be more comfortable with me there under his eye, and I’ve promised my parents a grandson and a granddaughter.”

She nodded. “Of course, Ellekayne. We have plenty of room.”

I held her eyes. “You will be their mother, Illaria.”

“But-”

“No. You will love them as if they were your own, I know. You will be the one to raise them, praise them, dote on them, hold them when they have bad dreams. You will be their mother.”

Tears filled the younger woman’s eyes and she embraced me suddenly, shoulders shaking. “Thank you,” she sobbed. “Thank you so much. I can never repay you for this.”

“Shhh.” I rubbed her back, returning the hug. “Of course you can. My repayment will be seeing our beautiful children grow up happy and loved.”

“They will know the whole story, of course,” Mom cut in. “It would be hard to explain why we will be giving them gifts, otherwise.”

Illaria moved from my arms to her husband’s. He looked at me, grateful and abashed at the same time. “How should we…?”

Dad blushed. “Ah…I’ll leave that to you. Tyrande, I believe our work here is done.”

“Indeed.” Mom took Dad’s hand and smiled impartially at us. “Elune adore.”

The door closed behind them, and Berthas looked guiltily at me again.

“It’s going to be awkward no matter what,” I assured him.

“Nonsense.” Illidan draped one arm over my shoulders, and the other over Berthas’s. “Mint for you, wine for her, and Illaria leads me off on a tour of your lovely home.”

The other druid chuckled at my expression. “Well, I guess that could work. Are you free today? I’ve just come out of a shift in the Dream.”

And he would be itching for some physical relief. “Completely. Why don’t I send my brother-buck out for refreshments and groceries, and he can show off his culinary skills and make it a party.”

Illaria looked pleasantly surprised by that. “That sounds lovely. Oh, I’m going to like having you around, Illidan.”

My brother-buck laughed. “Illaria, I’m going to enjoy having more than just my sister-doe to cook for. Now, what do you like?”

We chatted about food and wine for a while, then Illidan left for supplies and Berthas and I ran as deer, with Illaria on his back, to their home. I got the tour, and we picked out a room that Illidan and I would share. When he returned, I set about getting drunk while Berthas got fuzzed and my brother-buck charmed the mother of my future children by preparing the fancy finger-foods he so rarely got to make.

I think it’s time Illaria and I took a tour, he said silently after an hour or two had passed.

Am I that drunk already? I asked in surprise.

Coat. On my cock.

“Illaria,” I called, noticing that the world was distinctly giggly around the edges, “Illidan never got the tour of your lovely house.”

She looked at me, then her husband, then back at me and flushed lightly. “Of course. Illidan, let me show you the room Ellekayne picked for you…”

I plopped down next to Berthas on the couch as soon as they were out of earshot. “So, how do you like to do it?”

The mint haze he was floating in made him giggle. “I’ve always wanted to try from behind, like a nightsaber, but Laria doesn’t like the idea.”

“Well,” I said, shucking my tunic off, “I happen to like it from behind, like a nightsaber. Want to try it with me?”

The front of his pants visibly swelled as he blinked. “Oh, yes. Yes, I would.”

Foreplay was ignored; neither of us had that kind of patience. His hands on my shoulders felt odd, the shape of his member unfamiliar, but it was good and I was enjoying it even if it didn’t have the oomph I was used to. Then suddenly Illidan’s presence was there in the back of my mind, and his hand was stroking his cock, and the oomph was there and it was wonderful.

 

I awoke some hours past dusk, clad in a loose sleeping gown, in the room I’d picked out, with Illidan tenderly stroking my hair. Hazy memories indicated that after the nightsaber position, we’d tried a few others – against the wall, in the chair, astride him – before he’d passed out and my not-brother had come down to restore our dignity and deliver us to our proper beds. A quick check showed life glowing inside me where there was usually an acorn to absorb the gift of life-energy present in a man’s seed.

“You’re going to be a mother, sister-doe,” he said softly.

“I’m going to bear a child,” I corrected, stretching. “Illaria’s going to be a mother. Berthas is going to be a father. You’re going to be Uncle Buck. What’s for breakfast?”

“You slept through it,” he teased. “But it was delicious. What would you like for lunch?”

I opened my eyes and grinned at him. “Breakfast.”

When I walked into the living room, Illaria burst into tears and hugged me tightly, Berthas standing a few steps away with equally wet eyes. By the time the hugging and crying was done, Illidan was standing smugly next to me with a plate of hot berry-cakes.

“I’m going to get doted on, aren’t I?” I asked as I settled in to eat.

“Shamelessly,” he said.

“Absolutely shamelessly,” Illaria added cheerfully as she sat at the table next to me. “I expect a visit from High Priestess Tyrande later tonight.”

“And Shan’do Stormrage tomorrow,” Berthas added as he joined his wife.

I chewed my bite and swallowed. “Okay, this formality will never do. You’re family now. I’m Kayne, he’s Illidan, and my parents are Tyrande and Malfurion.” I got another two bites in while they thought about that. “And when the babies come, I’m Aunt Kayne, he’s Uncle Buck, and my parents are their grandparents.” I thought about that for a minute. I was actually going to have babies. “Berthas, can you do me a favor?”

“Anything, Kayne.”

“I think it would make everyone more comfortable if I stayed in the house for a few days, but I want to talk to a female druid who’s had children and get her advice. Can you find me one?”

He practically leaped to his feet. “Of course. I’ll go ask around now.” He leaned over to kiss his wife, then scurried for the door.

“You’ve never had children before, Kayne?”

I sopped up some berry juice with a bit of cake. “Nope.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, why not?”

Illidan sat next to me, arm over my shoulders, and grinned. “I’m too high-maintenance. Between me and the things she does for Elune and Cenarius, she barely has any time to herself.”

“No,” she protested, coloring slightly. “Illidan, you’re nearly as much a living legend as she is. You’re amazing, even if only half the stories are true. I can’t believe you would somehow demand so much of her time.”

“I’m only as amazing as she made me,” he insisted. “What you see is the result of thousands of years of me being a needy, clingy damage case, and my sister-doe putting up with me until I managed to scrape myself together.” He regarded me fondly as I rolled my eyes and chewed. “Now I’m just clingy.”

“Hardly fair, brother-buck. I’m just as clingy as you are.”

Illaria looked back and forth between us. “And you two never…?”

“It would be like having a child with my father,” I said calmly while Illidan made the most amazing expressions encompassing horror, disgust, amusement, and affront. I could see the priestess thinking furiously, trying to fit that comment into the inevitable attempt to figure out my relationship to him. “Just think of us as extensions of each other,” I said kindly.

She flashed me a rueful smile. “I guess you get that a lot. In any case, I know I said it before, but thank you for breakfast, Illidan. When Berthas is in the Dream, I have to fend for myself and my cooking skills aren’t the greatest.”

“A pleasure,” he half-purred. “Consider cooking my contribution to your household while you allow us to live with you.”

“Or consider it compensation for the fact that we’re going to shatter your lovely illusions about us,” I added, pushing my now-empty plate aside. Thank you, brother-buck.

Only the best for my sister-doe and her unborn fawn.

I groaned. “You’re going to spoil me horribly.”

“Think of those first three months in Winterspring before you try to deny me that,” he retorted.

“Cheater.”

“I learned from you.”

In a moment of sublime maturity, I stuck my tongue out at him. He laughed while Illaria just gaped. After a minute, she chuckled.

“I see what you mean,” she said. “I never would have expected H- Tyrande’s daughter to be so…irreverent. Still, it’s clear that you care about each other, and that’s what counts. Surely the baby will grow strong, surrounded by love.”

I put a hand on my flat belly, still in awe that there was a tiny life inside me. “This baby is going to be smothered with love, between the four of us.”

“And that’s not taking your parents into account.” He grinned, just shy of smirking. “I am going to lavish you with care. If possible, I’ll see to your lightest wish before you can ask it. There’s nothing you can do about it without hurting the baby, so just sit back and enjoy it.”

Illidan stood, hands on his hips, and glared fiercely at me. After a moment, I started laughing. “You win, brother-buck.”

“Naturally.”

Illaria laughed.