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Freminet carefully pushes a stick through a leaf and then the stick into his sand castle. It’s a little small and a little crooked but it’s his and he likes it.
“D’you wanna dig a moat together?”someone asks behind him.“Your castle is cool.”
He doesn’t startle but takes a moment to collect himself before he turns around. The mission ran long and he’s still not quite over the surprise of Father taking him to the playground after, so words are a little hard right now.
He looks at the girl, her wide, toothy grin and excitedly clutched hands, and smiles at her cautiously.
“Was that your mum pushing you on the swing earlier?”she asks.“She’s really pretty!”
He’d been staring at the swing as they approached. Maybe that’s why Father had decided on the detour. She pushed him higher and faster than all the other parents pushed their kids, and after one odd look from them too many, told him to play as she got ice cream. He came over to build a sand castle instead when he’d seen more children waiting their turn on the swings.
“She’s my father,”Freminet corrects.
“Oh, okay! She’s really pretty!” The little girl points over at a woman on a nearby bench.“That’s my mum! She’s gonna have the baby soon so she can’t play really good right now but I’ll be a big sister and then when it's bigger the baby can play with us, too. So do you wanna dig a moat?”
“She’s really pretty,”Freminet says, because that is apparently the done thing and it’s also true. She looks nice, smiling at them brightly. Her hand is resting on her round stomach, petting absently the way Lady Signora pets his hair sometimes.“What did you say about a baby?”
“It’s in Mama’s tummy right now but it’ll get born soon,”the girl says.“I don’t mind if it’s a brother or a sister. Do you have siblings?”
Freminet nods.“But they’re not babies.”
“So they can play, that’s cool,”she says and sits down.“Aren’t they here today? I’m Charlotte, by the way. Do you want to dig a moat?”
“Father and I had an appointment earlier,”Freminet says.“So it’s just us.”
The ‘appointment’ had been messy. He shakes his head to banish the thought.
“I’m Freminet.” He looks from his castle to her expectant smile and makes a decision.“Let’s dig.”
They’re done with the moat and have added a bunch of little lumps that Charlotte insists are the nearby villages when Father returns, promised ice cream cone in hand. She looks like she belongs anywhere but in a playground, Freminet thinks, as he dutifully wipes his hands clean before accepting the treat.
The seller made a little face out of chocolate drops and syrup on the scoop. Freminet smiles as Charlotte oohs and aahs and then says goodbye so she can run off to beg her mother for a cone of her own.
“Maybe we can play again some time,”she shouts over her shoulder as she sprints off.
“Thank you, Father,”Freminet says quietly.
“Of course.” She hesitates briefly before tousling his hair.“You did a good job today.”
He smiles up at her timidly and then digs into his treat. It’s just the right amount of sweet and he sighs dreamily. He does not catch the smile flitting across Father’s face.
They walk towards the House in silence until Freminet breaks it.
“Father?” He nibbles on what is left of the cone pensively.“How does the baby get in a lady’s belly?”
Her head whips around so fast he wonders if it hurt her neck.
“Charlotte’s mother has a baby in her belly,”he adds.
“Oh.” Father’s face is unreadable and he waits patiently for her to decide if he’s allowed a response.“Babies happen when two people sleep together.”
He waits for more but Father doesn’t break her stride, doesn’t look at him anymore, and doesn’t elaborate.
Freminet shrugs and keeps walking along. There certainly is more to it than that. His siblings have sleepovers and when he has a very bad nightmare he sometimes has a sleepover in Father’s bed, even. And Lady Signora sleeps with Father, too. He knows because he came in because of a nightmare before and she had beat him to arriving. They’d had a sleepover all three of them. It had been very nice.
He doesn’t see how that would put a baby in anyone’s belly. Maybe they have to make a wish about it before they fall asleep?
The train of thought is lost to his utter delight at finding that the bottom of the ice cream cone is filled with chocolate.
Freminet forgets about the topic until a few weeks later when he is at the market with Zlata.
He’s happily carrying the sweet treats that he helped pick out, chest puffed out with pride both at being chosen to help and at the shopkeeper who’d called him a strong, good boy for helping out his mother as he picked up the two big bags she filled up.
“I’m his sister,”Zlata corrected gently.“But he is a very, very good boy indeed.”
And she tousled his hair and bought an extra lollipop for him to have on the way home.
“Zlata?”he asks around the rest of the lollipop now, as they cross paths with a heavily pregnant lady. Charlotte probably has her little sibling by now, he thinks.
She smiles at him over the bag she is carrying.“Yes, Freminet?”
“How does a baby get in a lady’s belly?”he asks.
Zlata’s smile goes a little frozen.“Pardon?”
He thinks she heard him just fine and is buying time to think of an answer. Father lets that slide. Mother never had. Freminet doesn’t point it out but rather indulges it.
“There was a pregnant lady just then,”he elaborates, graciously offering her more time than by just repeating the question.“And I know that babies come from pregnant ladies’ bellies but I don’t really know how the babies get in there in the first place.”
He considers adding the bit about sleeping together that he does know but doesn’t have to decide because Zlata has found her stride again and starts speaking.
“So when a father and a mother -” She breaks off, chuckling at herself.“When a father and - no, okay. So when two people love each other very, very much, they will kiss and, uhm, hug really close, and that’s how the baby gets in the lady’s belly.”
That, too, sounds like there is a bit missing, but probably Zlata assumes he already knows the bit about sleeping together. Father made it sound like it is the most important part, anyway.
Freminet nods thoughtfully. So they have to love each other, kiss, hug really close, and sleep together. That is quite a few steps. That wouldn’t happen to just anyone.
“That makes sense,”he says.
Zlata looks oddly relieved. Maybe she was scared of not explaining it well enough.
Freminet tiptoes down the stairs, intend on making it to the kitchen without waking anyone. He went by Father’s room first but it was empty.
The nightmare that woke him wasn’t so bad that he needs a sleepover but he would like the warm milk with honey she makes him on these occasions. He’s going to try and make it himself, since he doesn’t know where Father is.
He finds that answer before he makes it to the kitchen. There’s light shining out of the sitting room and a soft melody is playing. He sidles up to the doorway and peeks through. The music is slow and gentle, and Father and Lady Signora are swaying to it.
Lady Signora’s arms are around Father’s neck, Father’s are around Lady Signora’s waist. They’re holding each other close, much closer than you do to dance. Freminet knows about ballroom dancing. This is not it.
Father has a serene smile on her face, one he has never seen before. Lady Signora is saying something, too low for him to make out what, exactly. Father laughs.
He considers stepping into the room and letting them know he is here but he doesn’t. He doesn’t want them to stop dancing - even if this isn’t really what dancing is.
He considers just leaving next but he doesn’t do that either. There is a strange warmth in his heart from the scene before him, almost as warm as holding a cup of honeyed milk in his hands. He doesn’t know why but it makes him happy, seeing two of the only people in this world who make him feel safe in each others’ arms like this.
Maybe because if they are this relaxed, so very at ease, it means there must be no worries in the world at all?
Freminet leans against the doorway and greedily drinks in the sight. The music remains soft and if anything, Father and Lady Signora only move closer.
He didn’t know Father let anyone so close. He’s glad for her when Lady Signora’s fingers leave the nape of her neck and slide into her hair instead. He knows how nice it is to have your hair played with by the Fair Lady.
Freminet stifles a gasp against his hand, caught off guard when Father leans in - or maybe Lady Signora leans in? - or maybe they both lean in at the same time? Whichever it is, their lips meet and Freminet slips away and back to bed.
His nightmare is forgotten as he instead wonders if Father and Lady Signora know that they have completed almost all of the steps for making a baby.
They hugged really close and then they kissed… and he knows Lady Signora sleeps over with Father. He’s seen it before and he’s almost sure she will do it again tonight.
That suspicion is all but confirmed when Lady Signora is still there for breakfast the next morning. There is a chance she slept in the guest room but Freminet doubts it, though he knows better than to ask.
He also knows better than to ask if they love each other very, very much. He has an inkling that would not be appreciated.
If they want to do all of the steps to make a baby, that’s up to them. Freminet just hopes Lady Signora won’t like the baby better than him, if one does happen.
Freminet is pleasantly drowsy, spread out on the chaise longue with his head in Lady Signora’s lap, hearing her and the Lady Marionette chatter on above him across the chess board.
The House is a bustle of excitement today. The Fair Lady’s visits always come with excitement anyway but the Marionette visits less frequently and is much harder to read.
Freminet loves when she visits because she always brings little projects to tinker with and her presents are gadgets. He loves her presents a little better than he loves Lady Signora’s presents, but he loves Lady Signora best of all.
Father and the other two Harbingers had matters to discuss so Zlata and some other of their sisters, who were now working under Lady Signora, took them out to the playground.
Freminet met Charlotte, and shared some of the sliced fruit their older sisters had packed in their bags.
“Wow,”Charlotte said.“You have so many sisters! I only have the one!”
“But none of mine are babies,”Freminet said.
He felt he had to offer up something because he didn’t want his new friend to feel bad.
“And I’m her favourite person ever, too,”Charlotte said happily. She dug a chocolate bar from her pocket, broke it in half, and handed it to Freminet.“It’s because I talked to her and sang to her when she was still in Mama’s tummy.”
He munched on the half-melted chocolate and mulled that over. He hadn’t known babies could already hear inside the belly but Charlotte knew a lot more about babies than he did, anyway, so she was probably right.
He’d asked no more questions because she had challenged him to a race to the swings.
Back at the House, there had been dinner, and both visiting Harbingers had joined.
Now it is past bedtime but no one seems to really care, so Freminet lets himself not care, either.
It’s much too nice to be in Lady Signora’s lap to want to disturb that peace. Her fingers are gentle in his hair and her legs are warm under him.
He is almost entirely asleep when he realises the topic of discussion is Father and he perks up a little. The Lady Marionette is recounting some verbal spar between Father and the Balladeer and while Freminet does not understand the barbs exchanged, he clearly understands the Marionette’s and Lady Signora’s amusement. Lady Marionette repeats Father’s parting remark and Lady Signora laughs, bright and truly entertained.
“Archons, I love that woman,”she says amid chuckles.“What was Scara’s face like?”
The Marionette’s story goes on but Freminet has heard all he needs to hear. Lady Signora loves Father. That answers the question of whether they’ve completed all the steps for putting a baby in her belly. He doesn’t need to wonder if Father loves Lady Signora because there is, as far as he is concerned, no knowing Lady Signora and not loving her. And he’s never seen Father smile at anyone else like that…
He shifts around to face Lady Signora’s belly, carefully reaching out a hand. She doesn’t push it away so he lets it rest against her stomach.
If he becomes the baby’s very favourite brother, then surely Lady Signora will like them both the same, right?
“Hello,”he says, quietly but not too quietly. He wishes he had asked Charlotte for clearer instructions, now.“My name’s Freminet. I like penguins a lot.”
He doesn’t realise the Harbingers have fallen silent above him until Lady Signora gently pinches his cheek and he looks up into her bewildered face.
“Who are you talking to, sweetness?”she asks.
“The baby,”he says.
Her face only gets more bewildered at that.
“The baby?”she repeats.
“Oh.” He flushes, pulling his hand off her belly.“Is it still a secret?”
The Marionette’s rook slips from her fingers and clatters across the chess board.“Are you pregnant?”
“Yes,”Freminet says at the same time as Lady Signora says, horrified,“No!”
Freminet scrambles up onto his knees to stare at her better. She doesn’t look like she is lying. Is there a chance she doesn’t know yet?
“What are you talking about, sweetness?”she asks.
“The baby in your belly.” He gestures to her midsection rather unnecessarily.“The one Father put there.”
Lady Signora’s mouth drops open but no sound comes out. The Lady Marionette makes a sound that is somewhere between a shriek and a guffaw.
“What - what are - I don’t - huh?”Lady Signora stutters out at last.
Freminet blinks at her, perplexed. He has never seen her anything but perfectly poised.
“I asked Father how babies happen,”he says.“She said when people sleep together. And you sleep with Father.”
Lady Signora splutters, face flushing, shaking her head.
Freminet doubles down.“You do! I’ve seen!”
“Seen?! Rosalyne, what the-”
“He means sleeping. Actual sleeping!”
Zlata pops her head around the door at the commotion, sees that no one is injured, clearly decides she wants no part of this, and leaves.
Freminet kindly waits a few seconds before dragging her name into the matter.“And Zlata said to make a baby happen you have to love each other, hug real close, and kiss.”
He ticks the points off on his fingers, waving his hand at Lady Signora accusingly. He doesn’t actually know where he is finding the courage to do so or why it is important she admit it, but he’s in too deep now.
“You do those,”he says.“I’ve seen. I’ve seen you kiss Father.”
“Fremi, that’s not - wait, when?”
Lady Signora has gone from flushed to pale and the Lady Marionette is badly stifling giggles against her palm.
Ah. So that time with the music wasn’t the only time they kissed. They are definitely going to have a baby. Maybe even two.
“What’s going on?”Father asks, appearing in the doorway.
The Marionette seems positively delighted as she says,“I think Rosalyne was just about to explain to your boy that you have not, in fact, put a baby in her belly.” She lilts a little on that last part as she quotes him. Then, slyly, she adds,“Though certainly not for lack of trying.”
“Not helping, Sandrone,”Lady Signora grinds out.
“Good, because I was not trying to.”
Father stares at them all in turn, wide-eyed and redder than Lady Signora had turned earlier. She eventually fixes her gaze on Freminet.“What are you talking about?”
“You said babies happen from sleeping together,”Freminet says quietly, suddenly feeling very silly and very shy.“And Zlata said they happen when you love each other and hug real close and kiss.”
He shrugs, then leaves his shoulders up and curls in on himself a little. Lady Signora will not like him as much as the baby at all if he is a bad kid and Father isn’t looking at him like he’s being very good.
“Huh?”Father says, eyes flicking to Lady Signora.
“Apparently, Freminet saw us kiss and it has caused some confusion,”Lady Signora says, very diplomatically. She strokes along Freminet’s back and he relaxes a little.
“Oh.” Father blinks and mulls this over.“When?”
The Lady Marionette bursts out in delighted hysterics and Father glares daggers at her.
“It’s all a misunderstanding,”Lady Signora says, lifting Freminet into her lap and brushing his fringe to the side.“I’m not having a baby, sweetness, alright?”
He nods slowly.“So that’s not how babies happen?”
“I - sort of.” She shoots the Marionette a look and her hilarity dies down a little.“You can also do those things and not have a baby but we’ll explain everything much better when you’re older, okay?”
“Okay,”he says. He is relieved, really. The baby would have probably gotten to be in Lady Signora’s lap more than him and just all around demanded too much of her attention.“Can you tuck me into bed today?”
“Of course, sweetness,”she says.
She does, too. And if she goes to sleep with Father after that, that’s okay, because it seems there is no need to worry about any stupid baby stealing her away.