Shauna had just exited the bedroom, where she put Scarlet to bed. She had been stirring and restless whenever either of them would be away, only calming down when both Vladimir and herself would be back at the temple. With Vladimir’s isolation, he was around most of the time. But Shauna still had her work to do, and frequently did just that. Only to come back in the late hours of the night.
The night before was no different. She had ventured to hunt down a target in a nearby Noxian settlement. The hunt itself was done rather quickly, the trip back and forth took longer. Upon returning she removed her bloodied clothing to let them soak overnight, and cleaned herself. Before going to lie next to Vladimir, she made sure Scarlet was calm again and sleeping.
Closing the door behind her to their bedroom she turned to Vladimir. “I know, I could feel the cold coming in last night. Walking to him she placed a kiss on his lips before nodding in response to his other question. “My work never ends, you know that.” she said, placing one hand to cup his cheek.
The last few months had been rough, for the both of them. After Dmitri Shauna had taken care of Scarlet alone for the first weeks, waiting for Vladimir to return. But their struggle would not be over with his loss of magic and following identity crisis to who he was without his hemomancy. The strain on them was rough, fights and arguments were had, but they stuck by each other nonetheless.
Although it was her intention to hunt in the night again, it was still quite a few hours until then. She usually would not leave until the night had settled in, to make use of the darkness that it provided for her to move freely. She moved away from Vladimir to get them both something to drink and eat, for lunch. Slowly setting up the table she placed plates and glasses. “Scarlet is sleeping now finally. We should have some time before she wakes up again. Did you have anything to do until I have to go?”
Something set his mind at ease and it had been for these months. Vladimir didn’t understand what it was, perhaps it was her soothing voice or the feeling of being himself again (definitely wasn’t Scarlet, the newborn drove him crazy). Being mortal was not as petty as he had imagined, as long as he had them by his side, he felt accompanied, and he wasn’t alone in this transition.
Loneliness was and always had been one of his greatest fears. He found himself clinging onto her at night when they rest and welcoming the warmth she provided, no matter what quarrels they had during the day.
He kissed her back and watched her disappear and emerge again with food and drinks. Her delicate hands wandered around the table as she fixed everything up.
“I still need to complete some practices today.” He said in a gentle voice; funny how a catastrophic event can change a man’s mannerism. “Shauna, I must ask you something.” He suddenly broke.
He stared straight into her eyes. There were uncertainty and hesitation in those emerald eyes, almost childish, but he continued on. “Are you... we... a family?”
He never truly got over the fact that he’s a father now. The absurdity of the situation only grew as days went by as they never had a formal betrothal, but Shauna never left him, she stuck by.
