OMG It's done! I've been working on this for weeks. I love them so much. Drawing consistency? I don't know her. LOL. What matters is that I had fun, but this took a lot out of me. Happy to go back to portraits and silly memes for now.
Jedi Master Emmrich Volkarin, along with his trusted droid, MN-FR3D, finds himself swept away on an adventure with Tessora Laidir, a smuggler on the run from the Pike crime syndicate. Along the way he begins to question his order's rule of no attachments. 😊
This is the fan fic continuation of the comic I made of Manfred finding a baby in the Necropolis.
(I don't know if Thedas has a baby formula equivalent but let's just pretend they do!)
Emmrich had just finished making notations on his students' research papers when he heard what sounded like a baby crying in the distance outside of his apartment in the Necropolis.
He shook his head at the the preposterous thought. He glanced up at the portrait of him and Tessora on their wedding day and smiled. He always missed her while she was off at sea, but knew she was due to be back in a few days time. Emmrich still sometimes couldn't believe that he had found such love.
He heard the crying sound again as he made his way to the kitchen to make some tea. Where was Manfred? The sound seemed closer now. Emmrich stepped outside just as Manfred was hurrying up to him. He was carrying something wrapped in brown in his bony arms.
"Manfred! What have you got there?"
"Dunno!"
Before he could, once again, import the proper manner of speaking, Emmrich looked down at the bundle and gasped.
"Oh my word, look at you." He whispered, voice soft and full of wonder. A baby with cherub cheeks and blue eyes peered up at him. "Where did you come from?" He asked as he took the child from Manfred.
"Found in box." Said Manfred, pointing in the direction he had come from.
"Found? Oh dear."
Emmrich took the baby inside and set it down to inspect for any injuries. The baby boy seemed slightly underweight but otherwise looked healthy. He wrapped him back up in the blanket.
"Manfred? Show me where you found him."
After finding nothing of note inside the box, Emmrich took the baby to Myrna and Vorgoth.
"A child? Abandoned in the tombs? We must contact one of the orphanages in the city. It may take a few days to place the child." Mryna said. She noticed how Emmrich unconsciously clutched the baby closer. "Unless you think the baby should remain with us?"
"ANOTHER VOLKARIN" boomed Vorgoth.
Emmrich gazed down at his little face and realized the baby had fallen asleep in his arms. The mention of an orphanage brought Tess to mind. Granted the ones here in Nevarra City were much better than the one she grew up in.
Could they adopt this child? He had always thought about becoming a father but he knew Tessora had reservations. They had briefly discussed the possibility of children after they got engaged but nothing was ever set in stone.
"I will look after him while you contact the orphanages. I cannot make such a decision without Tessora though."
"Very well."
Emmrich left them and immediately set out to procure the needed supplies to care for an infant, Manfred in tow. He knew of one Mourn Watcher couple that had a child in the last year and made his way to their quarters to see if they could assist with anything.
"Professor Volkarin! What a surprise!" The woman tried to compose herself at finding her former teacher and much respected Senior Necromancer on her doorstep. And with a baby at that.
"Watcher Reinmenkortz, I apologize for calling unannounced. Might I enquire if you have any baby items that your own little one has outgrown? I will happily compensate you for anything you are willing to part with."
"I might have a few things. Please come in. I had heard you were recently married, Professor, but I didn't know you'd welcomed a baby as well! Congratulations!"
Emmrich couldn't help but smile. "Well, this one was found abandoned in the tombs. Manfred here found him. I'm going to be taking care of him until we can settle on what to do with him."
"Abandoned? The poor dear. I'm sure you and your wife will take excellent care of him, Professor." She excused herself to gather some things for him.
Emmrich looked down at his charge and saw that he was still asleep. What is your story, little one? Watcher Reinmenkortz returned with a box of things for him.
"Manfred, if you please! Thank you, again."
Once back at home, the baby woke up and required feeding and changing. Emmrich had never actually changed a diaper before but he was a quick study. He spent the rest of the evening reading to him until he fell asleep again. Emmrich put him in a makeshift crib he made from a box and settled into his own bed and he found himself once again missing Tessora.
Three days had past and he, Manfred, and the baby had developed a routine of sorts. Manfred was so curious about him and eager to help.
"Baby!" He now shouted every time he saw him.
Emmrich had taken the baby on walks about the gardens, introducing him to his parents even. They visited Myrna and Vorgoth as well.
"You have taken quite a shine to him, Professor." Myrna said.
"I admit I have."
"How will Rook react?" She asked.
"Im not sure, truthfully. But she's due back today so we shall know soon enough."
~~~~
Emmrich was more nervous than he was when he proposed to Tess. The baby was napping in their room and he was trying to write a report on spirit activity in the Necropolis, but all he could think of was what her reaction was going to be. An hour later he gave up entirely on the report and made some tea instead. Emmrich heard the turn of a key in the door and Tessora walked in smelling like sea air and sunshine.
"Darling, you're home!" He said making his way to her.
"I missed you, Emmrich. " Tess replied, wrapping her arms around his neck and greeting him with her lips on his.
He couldn't help but wrap his own around her, deepening the kiss. He missed her too.
She had just started to thread her fingers into his hair when the cry of a baby in the next room stopped her in her tracks.
Tessora looked at him with wide eyes. "What was that?"
"Darling, I…"
The baby let out another cry and she went to the door of their room and opened it, pausing in the doorway. "Emmrich? Why is there a baby in our room??"
"Well, you see, Manfred found him." He started to explain.
"Found him?"
"In the tombs, " He continued. "He appears to have been abandoned."
Tessora's attention snapped to his face the moment he said the word.
"Abandoned?" She said much softer.
"Yes." Emmrich moved past her to pick up the baby. "I've been taking care of him for the past few days while we wait for someone from one of the orphanages in the city comes to collect him."
He had come to know enough of her face that he knew she was tensing her jaw at the mention of the orphanage. He knew she wouldn't be keen.
"I promise you that our orphanages are nothing like the one you grew up in, dearest."
Her eyes followed him as he took the baby into the kitchen to make him a bottle. Manfred walked in and clapped when he saw Tessora.
"Tess!!! Baby!!"
"Manfred, could you hold him while I make up a bottle, please?"
~~~~~~
Whatever homecoming Tessora was expecting nothing could have prepared her for this. She was a bundle of emotions. It was plain to see that Emmrich was already attached to this child.
They had discussed children when they got engaged but while she had never said no exactly, she also didn't say yes. Tess had no reservation that Emmrich would make, and already is, a wonderful father. She sees it with Manfred. She's seen it with Taash, Bellara, and Jacobus. She sees it in the domestic scene before her.
The problem was her. What did she know about being a mother? Absolutely nothing. Her own mother didn't want her. The woman who ran the orphanage certainly didn't act like a mother, at least Tess didn't think that was what mothers were supposed to be like.
She watched Manfred hold the baby while Emmrich moved about the kitchen with efficiency. "Baby!" Manfred shouted proudly.
Tess couldn't help but smile. "Was there a note or anything found with him?" She asked.
"Nothing at all. We searched the area immediately and found no trace of who left him. No reports of an abduction either. He was simply…left." Emmrich took the baby and sat down at the table to give him his bottle.
"Where did you get all these baby things?"
"Oh, I know a former student who recently had a baby and she was very helpful in getting me started."
Watching Emmrich with this baby was making her feel things that she didn't know what to do with. She didn't know she'd find him just as attractive with a baby as she does when he's casting spells or teaching a class.
"You said the orphanage was coming to get him? When exactly?"
"I believe someone should be here tomorrow. So he will only be our guest for one more night it seems." Tessora could hear the sadness in his voice. Yeah, he was definitely attached.
"Oh." Somehow that revelation made her sad.
"Darling, I…"
"You want us to keep him. To raise him as our child, don't you?"
Emmrich looked at her and then back down at the baby. "The thought has crossed my mind…several times. I know you have said that you didn't want to be a mother and I respect your wishes."
"Emmrich, it's because I'm afraid." She confessed. "I've always been afraid that whatever caused my mother to take one look at me and throw me away, made it's way into me. I never felt that, what do they call it, maternal instinct. So I just assumed that since my mother didn't feel it, that I didn't either."
"But Darling, you don't know if your mother was forced to leave you or if something happened to her. She may not have wanted to give you up."
"I know but these feelings have always been there. Then I met Taash and just started feeling protective of them. Same thing with Bellara and with Jacobus. Then I fell in love with a necromancer and started feeling protective of his skeleton son. Isabela told me it was because I was feeling maternal. I told her she was crazy but turns out maybe she was right?"
"Tessora, when Taash calls us the "mom and dad of the group" they aren't fully joking, you know. They have come to look to you as a mother figure." He reached over to squeeze her hand.
"I am no replacement for Shathann." Tess countered.
"No, but you have been mothering Taash more than you realize. And Manfred here."
Manfred clapped upon hearing his name. "Tess!!" He said enthusiastically. "Baby!"
"I see you are not the only one already attached." Tess couldn't help but chuckle as Manfred started a game of peekaboo with the baby.
"Manfred has taken quite an interest in him. Only natural for a spirit of curiosity."
Tess was starting to feel overwhelmed and anxious. "I know I just got home, but I need to think. I'm going to go for a walk." She kissed Emmrich on her way out and touched the baby's hair. He really was an adorable baby and he looked perfectly content in Emmrich's arms. Tessora knew that feeling.
She left their apartment and made her way to the memorial gardens. She was sitting on one of the benches near Emmrich's parents when she noticed Vorgoth making his way up the path towards her. Tess didn't usual see him in the garden and the last time she did, he was scolding her and Emmrich for doing something they probably shouldn't have been doing in the gardens.
"YOU HAVE RETURNED."
"Just got back today actually." She explained.
"YET YOU SEEM TROUBLED." How Vorgoth managed to convey concern with such a deep booming voice and no face, she wasn't sure.
"I, um, didn't expect to come home to such a surprise. I like the gardens so I came here to think."
"YOU SPEAK OF THE CHILD. IT WOULD THRIVE UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF THE VOLKARINS."
It took Tessora a moment to realize that he was including her when he spoke of "The Volkarins". They had been married only a short time and she was still getting used to it.
"You really think so?" She asked genuinely.
"THE PROFESSOR IS ONE OF OUR BEST AND YOU LED THE FIGHT AGAINST GODS AND WON. ANY YOU TAKE UNDER YOUR WING WOULD BE MADE BETTER FOR IT."
Tess stared at the shadowy spirit for several unblinking seconds. "Vorgoth that is one of the nicest compliments I've ever heard. I could hug you."
"PLEASE RESTRAIN YOURSELF."
Tessora burst out laughing. "Thank you for making me feel better and giving me food for thought."
"THERE IS ANOTHER HAUNTING IN THE NECROPOLIS I MUST SEE TO. GOOD DAY, ROOK."
Before returning home, Tess, stopped by the graves of Emmrich's parents to say hello. She wonders if Emmrich knows that she talks to them when he isn't with her. Tess ran her fingers over the names engraved on the headstones. "I suppose a few more Volkarins in the world isn't a bad thing?"
Emmrich had dinner laid out for them when she got back to their apartment. Or rather the Necropolis chefs had delivered it. Neither of them were good cooks, as Lucanis will never let them forget.
"Dearest, I really am sorry to have blindsided you with this. I did not have a way of reaching you at sea. It was not my intent - "
Tessora held up her hand. "Emmrich, it's okay. I know you didn't do this on purpose. We should see if Archon Pavus can make us sending crystals like he and the Inquisitor have. Honestly, I would have told you to take care of the baby while you waited for the orphanage anyway."
Manfred was keeping the baby entertained while they ate. Tessora kept looking over at them and couldn't keep herself from smiling. That warm feeling she always gets around Emmrich and her found family was intensifying.
"Dorian is keeping their creation rather close to his chest. Let us talk of your latest adventure though. How fared your voyage?" Emmrich asked with interest.
She spent the rest of dinner telling him about her latest job for the Lords and he filled her in on his classes and the gossip around the Necropolis. The baby was content in Emmrich's arms and seemed to listen to him just as intently as she was. Tessora hadn't asked to hold him herself and Emmrich hadn't asked her either. Things were getting clearer in her mind but Tess was still a little afraid. She loved Domneth's kids and never had any issues beind around them, so why was this different? She ignored her inner voice, that always sounded like Isabela, saying "You know why."
__
Tess woke up just as the baby started to fuss. She glanced over at Emmrich who was fast asleep. She got out of bed and went over to the makeshift crib. Tessora reached down and picked him up taking him into their sitting room. He was a light and squirmy thing.
She changed him and wrapped him a blanket. Tessora sat down with him in Emmrich's favorite chair and he stared up at her with his brilliant blue eyes.
"I was abandoned too, you know." She spoke softly. "I grew up in a horrible place. Wondering why my mother left me there. Why she didn't want me. After a while, I stopped thinking about her and just hoped a new family would come and adopt me. They never came though."
The baby reached up a hand to her face and she tilted her chin down so he could touch it. She felt a tear roll down her cheek.
"I know that the orphanages here are different…better. But will you also grow up waiting for a family that might not come? I found a family with Emmrich and Manfred, maybe you can too, little one? Emmrich already is a wonderful father, but I don't know if I'd be a good mother. I had no good example. But…I'd make sure you had the things I didn't. You wouldn't have to fight for more food. You'd have clothes that are clean and fit you. You wouldn't have to sleep on a dirty floor."
He cooed and she couldn't help but melt at his sweet face. "And you'd learn how to sail a ship." She whispered conspiratorially. He yawned and she bundled him a little tighter in the blanket and quietly starting singing a shanty.
~~~~
Emmrich woke up to find his wife missing and the baby not in his crib. He immediately got up to search for them but was not prepared for the sight that greeted him in the sitting room: Tessora holding the baby in her arms and singing softly to him.
It made his heart swell to see it. He recognized the tune she was singing, it was the same one she sang for him when he had woken in the middle of the night seized by his dreadful fear while they still lived at the Lighthouse. They had only just started to explore their feelings at that point. She had heard him shouting and burst into his room, holding him until his shaking subsided and sat with him in front the fireplace with his head in her lap, softly stroking his hair. Then she sang to him. Soft and low, but beautiful. It calmed him so much that he thought perhaps she did have magic in her. But it was just Tessora.
She looked up as he entered the room and gave a crooked smile. The baby was asleep in her arms. "Darling, you should have woken me." He said quietly.
"You looked so peaceful. Besides I do know how to change a nappy." He must have looked surprised because she added, "Domneth has 5 kids. No one sets foot in their house without pitching in. His wife, Illia, showed me how."
Emmrich moved to kneel in front of her. "You know, Tess, for someone who thinks they aren't maternal, you certainly look like a natural right now."
Even in the low light, he could tell a blush was forming.
"When I was a kid, I waited and waited for a family to come take me away. To be wanted…to belong. No one ever came. We could keep him from all that. Be his family, I mean. Maybe?"
"What are you saying, darling?"
"We should adopt him." She said softly.
Emmrich couldn't help the tears that were forming in his eyes as he looked at her and the baby. "Darling, are you sure?"
She glanced down at the sleeping bundle in her arms. "Yeah, I am. Are you ready for a new kind of adventure, Professor?"
"Dearest, with you by my side, I am always ready."
