Overdue
Cris stood on the dock of the Aerodrome in Lion’s Arch, black coat swirling about his legs as he watched the former Aetherblade airship Spectral Current lift away, Nastya and her son Crysian, his son, standing ont he deck watching him recede from view. He felt a pain over the recent conflict between him and Crysti over what had happened between them during his training for becoming Shining Blade and taking his father’s place one day. The scarred man hoped they could mend the divide and that Crysian would eventually understand why training to become a Shining Blade was as hard as it was. As the red airship began to shrink on the horizon, Cris finally turned away and started back across the city. Yuki would be at the Lu estate in Gendarren with their daughter Xia, who was just over a year old now. That brought a smile to his face, if one still tinted with a sort of bitterness. He’d made a point to not miss anything in Xia’s life, trying to somehow make up for missing the first fifteen years of Crysian’s life. Again he found himself wishing he’d known about the boy when he’d been born. Much would have been different if he and Nastya had not lost contact after that first mission during which they’d met. Ruminating about his questionable ability as a parent reminded him that Crysian and his baby sister Xia were not the only children in the world that could claim him as their sire. Cris winced to himself at not having yet visited MIrex and his sister Alex and their three little girls. The final promise and debt he’d owed Mirex, granting her the family she’d always wanted. Upon leaving the Arch he made for Ascalon Settlement instead, and the Jardin-Valdis estate where Mirex and Alex and their wife Adriwyn lived. Mirex hadn’t even informed him the girls had been born until several weeks after the event itself, but that was as it should be. His former intended had made it clear that while he was their sire, the girls belonged to her and her wives, not him. They could call him father but there was no expectation of discharging paternal duties. Mirex had made it clear that he was to do the exact opposite and be only a passing presence in the triplet’s young lives. They’d know who he was, but their first and strongest family bond would be to their mothers. All the same, he’d set up accounts for each of hem when Mirex had confirmed she was pregnant and how many children she’d be having. He’d also left contingencies that should something happen or Crysian and Xia decided to forfeit their claims to his title, one or all of the girls could claim House Eskara as their own. Cris had always had a certain reservation about going in through the front door, even when making social calls. Old habits from a nervous life hunting White Mantle.He steeled himself a bit and approached Derek James, the Seraph Sergeant who spent his off hours serving as a guard for the Jardin-Valdis estate. An Elonian woman Cris didn’t recognize was also with him, armed and wearing the livery of House Jardin. A new addition, Cris surmised. While the Elonian didn’t know him, Derek greeted him with a familiar salute, “Welcome, my Lord. Easy Jeri” Derek cautioned the weary woman, “This is Exemplar Cristian Eskara, and Lady Alex’s brother. He’s alright.” Jeri nodded and relaxed a bit, and Derek smiled apologetically, “She’s still learning the faces, sir, but she’s capable. I’ll buzz you in” Cris chuckled softly, “Not a problem, thank you Sergeant” He eyed the magi-tech contraption Derek spoke into, part of the elaborate security measures Adriwyn had applied tot he house after taking over as Countess Jardin. After a moment, the door would open, and Cris would find himself facing a brunette woman of perhaps mid forties, who offered a pleasant smilee and a deep, practiced curtsy, “My Lord Eskara. I am Eirene Adlair, head maid and seneschal to the Ladies Jardin and Valis. I’m afraid Countess Adriwyn and Lady Alex are not at home, but Lady Mirex has agreed to receive you. If you will come with me please” Cris offered a bow of his head, “Lead the way Mistress Adlair” Through the halls of the estate they went, signs that the disrepair under the previous Baron Valdis was being corrected now that a proper staff was being added to the compound again. The head maid led him to a bedroom on the second floor, poking her head in, and Cris was reminded of Liza, the severe blonde woman who served the same capacity at his home in Ebonhawke. “She will see you my Lord” Eirene dipped a curtsy and waited for Cris to enter the room before closing the door and leaving him alone with Mirex. He stopped short, wonder touching his features as he took in Mirex seated on a comfortable couch, and three tiny infants in her arms and lap. Her fiery hair was still the same, close cut, but the woman he’d once intended to marry lacked the vitality he remembered. Pale and freckled, her pallor was a bit more drawn, and she seemed a bit thinner then he recalled despite having recently been pregnant. “I was wondering when you’d finally come to visit” Mirex teased gently with a warm, dimpled smile that lit her face.
“Sorry. Even with the war against the Mantle finally over, things have been busy as Her Majesty and Minister Wi reestablish the Ministry as a loyal part of the government and not a divisive faction like they were when they were controlled by the enemy. Making sure we don’t have any traitors or disloyal persons still in office and all that”
“Always the job” Mirex teased, “Come. You came to see the girls, not bore me with work” she flashed a smile to take the sting out, and he chuckled wryly as he moved slowly to join her on the couch, perching and peering at the three tiny faces. “This is Adalyn...” Mirex smiled fondly as she introduced her brood, indicating the little one with a wispy crop of snowy hair, “And this is Katrina” the little girl with almost pinkish colored hair was next, the halfway point between her sisters, “And this is Irain. I named her for your mother.” Mirex watched his reaction as she introduced the little red head nestled in her lap. All three babies had the violet eyes of an Eskara, and coupled with the white hair on Adalyn and the half way mix on Katrina, there was no doubt he was indeed the father. “Thank you Mir...” Cris murmured, voice cracking a bit at the sudden well of emotion at that, as he gently reached to pick Irain up. Her tiny face was serious a moment as she studied the face of her sire, before a tiny  little smile quirked the baby’s mouth and she reached out to touch Cris’s bold Ascalonian nose. They spoke quietly of simple things, Mirex’s health, how Yuki and the triplet’s older sister Xia were doing. Cris only half remembered those things, mesmerized by the three little girls. Even though he would not be a prominent part of their lives as their father, he loved them as he did all his children. Five children by three different women. Such was the life of a man who served the Shining Blade and the kingdom first before his own heart. Despite the ups and downs that had led him to this point in his life, he found a sort of contentment and hope in his family and all it’s convoluted branches. A much overdue peace.
