It can't be avoided any longer, not with the 'Goddesses' coming to visit and apparently competing over which one wins Envoy's alliance. Of course, it's not like Envoy plans to ally with any of them but it is best not to tell them that. So with Born-In-War gone, preparations for Envoy to drink the vial in hopeful safety are made. In other words, they commandeer one of the vacant quarters and convert it into a padded cell, more or less.

Envoy was escorted to this chamber by her two closest friends; Icarus and Walter. They promised they would wait outside till the whole matter was over with before they closed the door and locked the Aeolun inside with nothing more that her crystal rose and that vial of unknown liquid. They didn't go anywhere, at least, as Envoy can hear them talking right outside her door. It's all about work that still needs to be done on the gravity-powered ship. A good topic to discuss to avoid thinking too much on Envoy drinking a gift from a rather devious Goddess of pleasure, after all.

Setting the rose in place behind her ear, Envoy asks, "Can you hear me, Morpheus?"

"No. Not one bit!" Morpheus replies cheerfully.

Envoy blinks at this, and says, "Your sense of humor is still better than mine! But you said that you and Cypher would be able to monitor my mind somehow… what do I need to do for that to work?"

"Mail us your brain, postage paid. Don't forget the insurance," Morpheus answers. Envoy can actually feel that the odd crystalline Khatta-Eeee-thing is quite amused, and possibly trying to help keep her calm as well. "Or if you want to be cheap, put the rose stem against your horn so it can coil around. The direct link it has into your brain should allow us to monitor it reasonably well."

After taking a deep breath, Envoy shifts the rose around so the stem is against her horn, where there's already some crystal inlaid from before. "Okay… " she says, unsure if Morpheus can hear her through this form of contact.

The stem does curl around Envoy's horn with the result of making her look like she has a corsage stuck to her forehead. "What an amazing frontal lobe you have," she can somehow hear Morpheus say. Well, it;'s more like it's a thought that just pops into her head more than simple hearing.

"Flatterer," Envoy says. "Although the squishy parts are probably rather shallow. But I assume it's where this potion will be doing its magic."

"The potion will be enhancing your squishy parts? Are you sure about that? Dear me, I hope it doesn't make them too big," Morpheus remarks rather dryly. "So … are you nervous?"

"I think so," Envoy admits. "These feelings are still a bit of a gray area for me, you understand. I'm curious and anxious at the same time. But I know that putting it off will just cause more stress. Are you and Cypher ready?"

"If emotions are that concerning, it might be possible to burn out that center of your brain. I wouldn't recommend it, though," Morpheus notes.

Envoy blinks. "I didn't know I had something dedicated to them. I'm pretty sure I need emotions… at least, once I understand which ones are which."

"Anyway, we are ready here. In theory we should be able to tell if anything tries to reprogram your brain. Mostly. Cypher claims that by checksumming your brain waves using discrete Fourier analysis, we should be able to identify any foreign signals and counter them," Morpheus notes.

"Well… it's a good thing my brain is simple to work with," Envoy notes with a brief grin, before she unstoppers the vial of… experience. "Okay, here I go," she whispers, and then drinks down the contents.

And down the liquid goes! It tastes like … nothing at all. In fact, nothing seems to happen. She's still quite aware of herself and the rather ridiculously padded room.

Envoy waits, then says out loud, "Inala? I drank it. I don't feel any different… "

Another minute passes with no reply. It's about then that her stomach gurgles ominously. A few seconds later a wave of dizziness rolls through her body. Everything around her seems to twist and bend as her vision centers seemingly go berserk. "We're seeing some odd activity … but it doesn't look foreign," she can just barely 'hear' Morpheus say.

"Kinesthesia," Envoy mutters, and closes her eyes to try and ride it out.

Maybe it wasn't a good idea to close her eyes. She somehow feels the floor rushing up to meet her (or she just fell forward), and everything fades to nothingness. She finds her mind floating in place lacking anything of substance. She can't even judge the passage of time.

I may be getting used to these events, she thinks. It would be very relaxing if not for the context. Or… lack of context. Faced with a void, Envoy tries to fill it by attempted to sing.

Envoy quickly discovers her voice won't work here. No sound comes, no matter how hard she tries.

The Aeolun isn't so alien that her mind doesn't need input. She also knows it's only a matter of time before she starts hallucinating as a result – so she tries to decide if she should just let it happen, or to try provide her own stimulation. It's hard to not think about something, though, and for whatever reason she thinks of her first dormitory room when she joined the College Esoterica, which was in a giant, multi-tree mansion of sorts, with a balcony… and a branch outside that grew several types of fruit. This gets her thinking about fruit next.

The more Envoy thinks of the tree and the balcony, the odder things seem to get. She could swear she hears the chirping of Creens now. Wait, what was that? It sounded like the rustle of wind through curtains. The wet smell of dew then seems to tickle Envoy's nostrils. A tickle? That's the first sensation she had of her body since arriving here. Little pinpricks of sensation seem to be returning; she can roughly feel her arms and legs now, but everything seems … sluggish. Her stomach provides some input now too: she feels nauseous.

Nausea elicits many other memories, including her rescue from the traveling circus and a fancy party at Avi Kromo the Kujaku's house in Rephidim. But she tries to focus on the rest of her body, figuring that having a body is important, even if it's feeling sick.

It's hard to find it all but when she does, everything seems to feel tired and oddly heavy. The sound of Creensong grows louder too. The darkness around her starts taking on a gray hue to it just as her face starts feeling warmer.

Envoy blinks her eyes, trying to get things to resolve faster, and also tries to lift her heavy-feeling hand up in front of her face – just to be sure she really has one.

The blinking seems to trigger something; the grayness seems to part each time she blinks, giving her glimpses of what looks like a sunlit room. It's then she has the sensation that she's lying on a rather soft and comfortable bed. A gentle breeze blows through and she can feel it caress her cheek. She also has this feeling she's holding her eyes closed.

After realizing this, Envoy tries to open them of course, and see just what's going on.

Envoy finds herself staring up a a lovingly painted plaster ceiling. A fantastic mural of all sorts of fantasy creatures; elves, dragons, hippogryphs and even odder things prance across in static beauty. She's laying on a soft bed, probably feather-filled. To her right is an open window from which sunlight is streaming in onto her (which explains the sensation of warmth). She can now hear the Creens quite clearly … and see them. They're just outside the window, perched on a tree branch. The sensation of heaviness is still there, but the reason is apparent; her stomach curves up a significant amount, making her own delicate scaling stand out rather prominently with its fur flanking. She then realizes her stomach is large enough she can't see her feet. Her breasts are also looking larger; maybe it was the dreaming of fruit… ?

"I'm pregnant?" she gasps, blinking rapidly.

Next comes the struggle to sit up.

The sudden squirming Envoy feels seems to confirm that she is, indeed, pregnant. This makes sitting up a lot more difficult. It ends up that she has to roll to her side, then push herself up sideways. Trying to do a sit-up to well, sit up, just won't work. "Love, are you awake?" comes the very familiar voice of Morpheus from somewhere inside … well, what she can only guess is a home.

"Ummm… yes," Envoy answers. "I'm having some difficulty… sitting up."

That's when another wave of nausea hits Envoy. Such is the joy of morning sickness. "Just take it slow. I'll be in, in a minute. Do you want any breakfast?" Morpheus calls back to Envoy.

"Uggh, I don't think food is a good idea now," she replies with a moan. "But… if we have a bucket that might be nice… "

"Trashcan is beside the bed!" Morpheus calls out cheerfully. And indeed, it is! Envoy also spots a full-length mirror in the corner, should she desire to get a better look at her … state.

Deciding to use the can before startling herself further, Envoy deals with her nausea (and wonders just what she ate the night before) first, then dares to look at her reflection.

It's hard to tell what she ate the night before, it's all sort of a green-gray mush by now. It doesn't smell particularly appealing, either. Getting over to the mirror also presents itself with an interesting challenge, her center of gravity is completely different and the weight of her stomach makes it hard to walk normally. But … a good two minutes later she's in front of the mirror! The Aeolun for the most part looks like she always has, white furred, gold scaling, and the curving horn. The massively distended stomach, though, is new, and she guestimates her chest size has gone up by at least a cup size. Again she can feel something squirming inside her as she realizes that the pregnancy is far along. The squirming was almost enough to distract her from noticing that there is one difference to her body; she has actual female genitalia now; which is good given she's pregnant. The odd thing about it is, it looks modeled more after an Eeee, than a dragon or the like.

Having no relative experience to compare too, Envoy isn't sure if the squirming is normal or a signal. "Morpheus?" she calls. "I'm… it's moving… "

"Well, you are due any time now. The doctor said some movement was to be expected," Morpheus calls back. Soon he's peeking through the door frame looking, well, pretty much like Morpheus does, a black-furred Khatta-Eeee. "Don't you remember?"

"My… no, I don't!" Envoy says. "I don't remember anything since Abaddon! When did I… When did this even become possible? Do you know what to do when the time comes?"

"Abaddon? That … was years ago," Morpheus remarks as he enters the room. He's dressed in … sweat-pants and a tee-shirt, with an apron over most of it that reads 'Kiss the Cook'. He comes up behind Envoy and wraps his arms around her, his hands resting on her large stomach and pets lightly (which feels … weird). "You don't remember any of it? Not even our wedding? The honeymoon? The night we … started our family?" he asks with a ripple of hurt and worry in his voice.

"I guess maybe I'm a little distracted is all," Envoy notes with a bit of bite. "How do I know when the baby is going to come out? And… what will it be?" she asks with worry.

"Be? It is our child. It will be parts of both of us," Morpheus says in a soft tone as he tries to calm Envoy down. "Your father made all this possible. It was his dying gift to you, the chance to have a real family. Not that we haven't been one with Icarus, but this one will be our legacy."

"Barabbas… " Envoy whispers, and starts crying. "He's dead… and I don't remember. Is my brain broken again?" She tries to turn and hug Morpheus.

Morpheus hugs Envoy and strokes his hands gently along her folded wings. "It's … probably just the hormones. There was a risk the hormones might cause memory issues, but it should only be temporary," he whispers to her, "And yes, he passed away. You were at his side when his heart finally stopped. He had no regrets; he had a long life and couldn't have asked for a better daughter. He was buried in the garden estate, just as you wanted, beneath the willow."

"Do my clothes still fit?" Envoy finds herself asking, but can't imagine why. "Do we have a bassinet ready? When… when did you get a real body? Have we picked out names already?"

"Your new clothes fit, yes," Morpheus says and laughs, "And Icarus and I finished painting the nursery yesterday. As for my body, well … I guess you don't remember the Confederacy allowing you access to their bio-incubators? You grew it there using the crystal fragment from Theseus as the core of the body's brain. A little Khatta, a little Eeee, some Sifras crystal, and well, here I am! As for names, no, haven't decided yet. Icarus claims we won't decide until after your water breaks."

"After my water breaks?" Envoy asks in horror. "Something's going to break on me? What does that mean?!"

"Well, the child grows inside a fleshy sac of fluid called the placenta. When you're ready to birth, it tears open and all the water flows out of you," Morpheus explains. "You also usually start dilating about that time. It won't be unpleasant until the cramping begins when your uterus starts contracting and trying to push the child out… "

Envoy's face is a mask of terror at that point. "Do we have a Life Mage handy too?" she asks. "And… uh… mops?"

"The mages are within a few minutes travel, hon. I guess you don't remember that they paid you to examine you giving birth? It isn't every day that it happens. Well, with creatures like us, that is," Morpheus notes. "And yes, we have mops. "

And of course Envoy's stomach chooses this time to squirm again.

"I don't feel well," Envoy says, holding her distended stomach. "And it's not fair that I don't remember if it was fun or not getting to this point."

"It was three months of trying," Morpheus admits as he gets this happy, wistful, look on his face as he thinks back. "You even commented you understood the obsession mortals have with copulation by the end of it."

"And you don't feel well? What is wrong? Is it just morning sickness? That's common, according to the pamphlets," Morpheus notes. "And I hope you at least remember all the breathing classes you and I went to?"

"We had to learn how to breath?" Envoy asks. "Why? Are you saying normal breathing isn't enough?" She sounds more panicked now, and mentions, "There's a lot of squirming, like the baby is trying find a better position or something!"

"Because it is! Babies are inverted in the womb, meaning head down. It has to get uncomfortable after a while," Morpheus explains while trying not to laugh. "And yes, you have to learn the right breathing technique otherwise the labor pains tend to encourage mothers to stop breathing and just push. That's not healthy for either them or the child."

"Oh… well… I don't always handle pain well you know," Envoy realizes. "What happens if I pass out? There's something that keeps women from doing that during childbirth isn't there? Or is it the special breathing?"

"The breathing. We can't use any drugs on you since your metabolism is so … different," Morpheus notes. "There's always the surgical option … but that means you're cut wide open and the child is lifted out… "

"What's wrong with that?" Envoy has to ask. "I've been cut open lots of times! I heal fast!" she babbles.

"It's risky to the child, though. And the nurses claim it lessens the experience of being a mother," Morpheus tries to explain. Envoy only hears half of it due to a twinge of heavy, squeezing, pain. It passes quickly, thankfully … but then the Aeolun's thighs, and soon, feet feel … damp.

"I'm afraid to look down," Envoy notes. "But I'm wet!"

Morpheus looks down. "Well … do you want the good news or the bad news?" the Khatta-Eeee asks.

"Both!" Envoy says. "Good being that this is all going to be over with soon?"

"Well, you are about to be a mother soon. Time to go to the clinic," Morpheus says, "That's the good news. The bad news is … we're going to need new carpet."

"Everything will go back to normal after the baby is born, right?" Envoy asks hopefully, as she tries to waddle towards the door. "Will anyone I know be there? Now that I have a reason to not be seen naked… I don't like the idea of friends seeing me naked like this!" Still… a mother! Just like a real person, she thinks, and that little light is enough to cling to for now! But she still doesn't remember how to breath!

The trip over to the clinic is a blur in Envoy's memory as the periodic extreme pain from muscle contractions in her abdomen keeps her attention squarely focused on her stomach. The experience so far is so unpleasant that one has to wonder why mortals go through this And go through it often.

"Just a few more steps and you'll be able to lie down, I promise," Envoy's husband, Morpheus, tells her as he half-carries her into the room. Journeyman Life-Mages follow the pair in and scurry about as they prep things; from getting clean towels, to getting out some rather scary-looking bladed instruments and really, really large looking tongs; something that looks like it's intended to toss a salad, admittedly.

The dizziness Envoy feels actually helps, since it makes the pain useful by giving the focus of a laser beam. "Are those… stirrups?" she gasps out. Pain isn't supposed to come like this – over and over and over again, for something that isn't even a wound! She has a hard time fighting the urge to take Morpheus's hand and squeeze it when the contractions hit as well. "How do women ever live down the embarrassment of this?" she grumbles.

"Oh, it isn't even to the part that can be embarrassing!" one of the life mages helpfully explains. Meanwhile, Morpheus is helping Envoy up onto the bed. "Feet in the stirrups," he explains, "And don't forget to breathe!"

"I will not forget to breath!" Envoy snaps, as her feet are strapped in and she finds herself in the most embarrassing position possible. She then takes several deep, rapid breaths as if to prove her point.

"Good!" Morpheus declares. A large mirror rolls into the room and is positioned just so … Envoy can see her herself from a rather odd angle. Huh, maybe it's a trick of the mirror, but Envoy could swear she looks larger somehow. "Dilation is progressing as expected!" one of the life mages calls out after he comes by and measures Envoy in an area she has never been measured before that she can recall.

It's a good thing the stirrups hold her feet, because otherwise Envoy would have tried to crawl backwards along the bed to escape the view and the probings. She grabs Morpheus' hand, and hisses, "How am I supposed to breath?"

"Just like you were, quickly," Morpheus explains as he places his currently free hand on her forehead and tries squeezing her hand reassuringly. Of course that's right when a massive cramping surge of pain flares up in Envoy's lower abdomen.

"AAAAAUGH!" Envoy screams, in full operatic volume, and clenches down on Morpheus's hand. She'd be clenching things with her toes if something was next to them. She's pretty much clenching everything at that point! "WHY ISN'T THERE ANY SOOTHING MUSIC!" she demands.

"Oh good, you aren't wasting my time this time," an unfortunately familiar voice says from somewhere behind Envoy just after her screaming subsides. Her suspicions are quickly confirmed when a Cervani doe walks around the table, dressed in white and wearing a muzzle-mask. Even with the mask Envoy could recognize Latania anywhere. The doe wastes no time in probing Envoy here and there and then nodding with approval. "Ten centimeters. Good. Your physiology is coping fine so far and it doesn't look like a false alarm," she remarks dryly.

Poor Morpheus's face is contorted with lips drawn back as Envoy nearly crushed his hand when she squeezed! "There wasn't time," he says as he resumes petting Envoy's fore head. "You'll be fine, though. Just … breathe? Try to relax?"

"Nurse," Latania calls out, "Get the golem a cold compress. It may help calm her down."

"Yes, Mage Latania," another voice answers from somewhere out of view.

"Relax??" Envoy asks, staring incredulously at Morpheus. She does another bout of locomotive breathing, and tries to think of anything relaxing. But all she can imagine is committing violent acts against her own husband! "This is all ridiculous," she gasps. "There has to be a better way! And… someone PLEASE move my tail to the side!"

"This is the way everyone sires children," Latania notes and moves Envoy's tail. She's not that gentle about it, either. Envoy feels something cold and wet drape over her forehead and it does seem a little relaxing. "It will all be over in a few hours," the feminine voice says as her nurse steps around into view; a very familiar-looking, blond-haired and extremely attractive Eeee. Even with the mask, Envoy can tell the nurse is smiling down at Envoy.

"HOURS?" Envoy demands, and glares at the nurse. "Why does it have to be so hard?" she asks Inala.

"This is the easy part," the nurse says sweetly, "Wait until they reach their teenage years and adulthood; that's when children become rebellious against their mothers, who only have their best interests at heart." The nurse pats Envoy's stomach gently … and another round of painful contractions begin!

Envoy can't say anything in reply, as she's busy breathing to avoid pushing… or at least that's what she thinks she's supposed to do. The view in the mirror doesn't help much.

"Dilation is complete," Latania declares and should Envoy look at the mirror … she has, indeed, dilated considerably! If she didn't know better, it would look like she had some sort of demonic jaws positioned between her legs!

"Ooauuugh," she moans, and asks, "Can I start pushing now?" She also realizes she doesn't know if she should push with the contractions, or between them!

"When the next contraction comes, you need to push, Envoy. Think of it like … laying an egg. Your reptilian parts understand what that means, correct?" Latania asks as she crouches down between Envoy's ungracefully spread legs. The doe looks like she's ready to catch a ball or … something.

"You're doing great," Morpheus encourages Envoy. "Just focus on breathing and pushing. Don't think about anything else."

"Especially not how to get revenge on your husband," the nurse quips. Morpheus glares at her.

"I can't reach his -" Envoy starts to reply to the nurse, then has to start breathing and pushing! She understands the point about breathing now, as her urge is to try and push out everything below her ribcage!

Good Gods, this is harder than books make it out to be! To Envoy it feels like she's trying to push something the size o a watermelon through a hole the size of a lemon! The mirror doesn't help, either as things stretch open. the top of a black and white-furred head appears … followed by a surge of pain! The child has a horn, Envoy suddenly realizes!

How is that even possible? While a part of her brain screams this, the rest is involved with real screaming. Followed by breathing, then pushing! Best to focus on just those, and get it over with sooner!

Oh, if only it were sooner. The next hour and a half is nothing but pressure, pain and pushing as the child slowly leaves Envoy's body. Morpheus remains at her side, coaching and trying to console Envoy … while enduring several death threats as well as a few close calls with having his fingers broken when she squeezes his hand! Finally there is one last push and Envoy feels the child's legs slip free … followed by a rush of goo and flesh – the afterbirth – a few seconds later. "Knife," Latania calls out. The nurse hands her something that looks disturbingly ritualistic …

"What's that for?!" Envoy gasps when she sees the knife!

"Severing the cord," Latania notes and cuts a long, fleshy, cord in two that was connecting the small … child? … to the pile of afterbirth. The knife is then returned to the nurse as Latania sets the child down on a small table and begins examining it. "Something is wrong," Morpheus whispers, "Why isn't the child crying?"

"Uh… mucous!" Envoy yelps, struggling to sit up and get a better view. "Clear the lungs!"

Sitting up is unfortunately very difficult with her feet still in the stirrups. Latania doesn't reply to Envoy's suggestion. Envoy can tell she's working some sort of magic and that whatever is going on may be serious given the tenseness of the doe's forehead as she works.

"Why is… " Envoy starts to ask, then looks up at Morpheus with a fearful expression. "It has a horn! It… must be like me, enough… enough to recover from anything bad, right?" she asks him.

"I … don't know," Morpheus admits as he shifts his weight from one foot to the other. His eyes are fixed on Latania while she works. The doe curses something under her breath and then hits the wall. "Don't you die on me," she growls at the motionless child.

"No!" Envoy says, and tries to pull her feet out of the stirrups. "It can't die!" she cries.

"Envoy, let them work, there isn't anything you can do," Morpheus tells her as she yanks her feet free of the stirrups. The nurse, meanwhile, has managed to vanish.

"Of course there's something I can do!" Envoy retorts, and tries to synchronize with her crystals to amplify the local magic field!

And … nothing happens. Envoy cannot get her own crystal fragments to respond at all. Latania, meanwhile continues to work. Her voice shifts pitch as the mage tries numerous varies of spells and even minor rituals in rapid succession to try and get a response from the motionless child.

"Why won't they work?" Envoy frets, crying now. "Why can't I do anything?"

As Morpheus hugs Envoy's shoulders, the mages continue for several more minutes. Finally, Latania signs and pulls her mask down. "Note the time, journeyman. It will be needed for the death certificate. Envoy … I am sorry, there was nothing we could do. Its body just wasn't … viable once it was no longer connected to you," the doe says.

"I want to hold it," Envoy says, still sobbing.

"I'm not sure that is a good idea," Latania says.

"That doesn't matter," Morpheus snaps at the mage. "Our child. Our choice."

"You only bring yourself more pain," Latania says as she lifts the motionless body wrapped in a blanket and brings it over to Envoy. She holds it out for the Aeolun to take.

Taking the bundle carefully, Envoy cradles it in one arm and folds back the blanket so she can see what her child would have been.

Cradled int he blanket is a tiny person, a creature mixed from many heritages. Its face is similar to Envoy's, though the muzzle is blunter and a bit broader due to Morpheus' own feline aspects. A small curved horn curls up from its forehead, an almost exact miniature of Envoy's own. Its ears are longer and broader than Envoy's, perhaps the Eeee aspects of her husband … and its hair is an odd striping of white and black. Its wings … are leather, but the outer ridges are lined in delicate, tiny feathers. And just like Envoy, from chin all the way down its chest are golden scute-like scales, surrounded by fur. Its hands and feet look … normal, though it has 'fur socks' of black on otherwise white-furred limbs.

Morpheus reaches down and runs the tip of one of his fingers along the child's cheek. "It isn't fair," he says, his voice cracking a bit, "We worked so hard to bring you into this world. You were to be our legacy."

Rocking the body, Envoy kisses it and… waits. "It will wake up, you'll see," she whispers. "I always woke up eventually… "

"Envoy," Morpheus says gently, "It was a risk when all this began; we are different and it was uncertain if we could create a life that was part of both of us. Maybe it just isn't possible for creatures like us to have a family. You have to be able to accept that… "

"No, no I don't have to accept anything," Envoy declares. "I'll find another way. Inala must have done something to the child! I just have to get rid of the gods first, so they can't interfere anymore!"

"Envoy … what could Inala have done?" Morpheus asks gently.

"I did nothing," the nurse from earlier says from where she stands next to the bed. How did she get back into the room without anyone seeing her? For that matter, where did everyone else go?

"Nothing?" Envoy yells. "You're the goddess of childbirth, aren't you? Why didn't you help?" she accuses, still clutching her dead child.

"You took my daughters from me," Inala points out, "And denied me. Rejected me. How could I help?"

"So all this is just… revenge?" Envoy asks, glaring angrily.

"No," Inala notes, "I am not that cruel. This is one thing I cannot directly help you with. This is something only you can do."

"I don't understand then!" Envoy cries. "What… what does any of this have to do with Barada?"

"Why were you trying to answer Barada's riddles?" Inala asks and waves one of her hands.

"I didn't think she had an ulterior motive," Envoy replies. "I thought they were really to help me… "

"Envoy… " Morpheus says softly to try and get her attention. Inala merely smiles at Envoy's comment. "Nothing is ever free," the Eeee-Goddess notes.

Risking having Inala vanish when she does so, Envoy turns her gaze back to Morpheus, wondering how horrible she must look now.

"Look down," Morpheus tells her gently.

Envoy does as asked, looking down at the child she holds.

Two little blue eyes are looking back up at Envoy in rapt wonder. They blink slowly and then the small child yawns.

Envoy actually laughs, almost uncontrollably! "Just needed to … to warm up!" she finally says, still a bit hysterical.

"Well, it has been damaged and offline for a long time," Inala comments. "I suppose if you're done blaming me for everything, I will leave you now."

So giddy is Envoy, that she almost misses what Inala says. "What do you mean, damaged and offline for… " she starts to ask, then stares more closely into her child's eyes. "Leviathan?"

The child reaches up with its tiny hand and touches the center of Envoy's own forehead. It's like a tiny electrical shock ripples through Envoy's head. In the back of her mind it feels like long forgotten pathways open up and something long dormant within her begins to awaken. There's a feeling of innocence and wonder, happiness at simple things, and the desire to explore, to trust, and to have fun. It's funny how easy it is to forget what it was like when her own aspect, the Child, was still part of her. Now that it returns, she realizes how much she had lost when she had cut them all away to drive out Inala.

"Finding your child would not come at the awakening of the Leviathan, Envoy. Not directly. You had to want to find it again, to know how much you had lost. To want it back with all of your heart and soul," Inala remarks and twirls one of the long strands of her hair. "It was you that had to restore the connection. And what better way than to teach you the importance a child is to its mother. Consider this my lesson for you. Think of me as you will, but I loved my children too and it hurt no less when you took them from me. But … I have never been able to deny the love of a mother and child so … " The Eeee-Goddess smiles wryly as she adds, "So maybe we can heal the rift between us, no? Do I seem so terrible to Worship now?"

Her tears forgotten, Envoy blinks and smiles. "I'll think about it, Inala. You know I'm not the sort to… worship."

"Oh … that I can work on. I'm sure my dear Sisters will be as well. All of them desire you," Inala notes and shrugs a bit. "Well, except for perhaps dear, sweet, grim, Sunala. She has her own familial concerns."

"I'd imagine Sunala and Rephath have gotten whatever they wanted from me already," Envoy says, seeing if the baby will grab her fingers.

Inala just giggles. "Oh, Rephath still has her wants. Do not worry; the Sisters have not forgotten you," the Eeee-Goddess notes as she waggles her fingers and begins to fade.

The child's grip is weak, but it does grab onto one of Envoy's fingers.

"I'll worry about them later," Envoy says, before cooing to the baby.

"And should you ever wish to sire a real child, well … I can help you with that," Inala notes right before she pops complete out of existence.

Envoy suddenly feels very tired. It becomes a struggle to keep her eyes open. In fact, the whole room around her is indistinct and hazy. Even her husband, who is also trying to tickle and talk to the child in her arms, sounds like he's far away…

It was all a dream, Envoy realizes, but doesn't feel disappointed. She still feels giddy!

The world around her turns upside down, then blinks out of existence. There's a few minutes in that void of nothingness … and then after a blink of her eyes, Envoy finds herself on her back and staring up at the ceiling of her cell. Was it a dream? Her mind still somehow feels different. "Oh, there you are!" she hears Morpheus' voice, "Your brain completely shut down for two hours! We were terrified you were dead. Then it came back at once … and well, a part that had been dormant for a long time woke back up with you! I can't find anything foreign or any external changes. It's just like something forced open a pathway that had been closed."

Envoy giggles, and flicks the crystal rose with her tail-tip. "Yes. Yes it opened something back up again," she says. Then tries to get back to her feet, having no reason to stay in the padded room now.

Getting up feels … strange. She just learned to compensate for having a distended stomach … and now everything is back to normal. Nothing like changing centers of gravity. "What exactly happened?" Morpheus asks.

"I remembered how to see the world with new eyes," Envoy claims, staggering a little as she regains her balance.

As Envoy staggers around, the space between her legs feels funny for a few seconds. Probably just after-effects of the odd dream.

The Aeolun pauses, then turns her back to the door and adjusts her clothing to check on things, just to be certain…

Maybe it's a trick of the light, but Envoy could swear she sees a crease in her flesh there and the outline of the organ she saw in her dream. After a blink, though, it is gone and she is once more smooth. "Remember, if you want a real child, I can help with that… " she hears Inala's voice as if she were whispering in the room. "Seek out the Confederacy bio-labs… " And with that, the voice is gone.

Envoy puts her clothing back into place, and feels a twinge of suspicion about Inala's advice, thinking: Everything has a price. She turns back to the door and goes to knock on it.

After the knock, Envoy hears Walter say, "Go fish!" Icarus' own grumble follows right before he says, "Oh! I think Mom is awake now!"

Envoy bounces on the balls of her feet while waiting for the door to open, with her hands clasped behind her back and a grin on her face.

The lock is thrown and the door swings open! Both Walter and Icarus are standing there. They look at Envoy's grin, then at each other, then back to Envoy. Walter is the first to speak when he asks, "Why does that grin worry me… ?"

"You're just being silly, Walter!" Envoy says, then reaches out to grab the hand of Icarus. "I want to go outside for a bit and stretch my wings. C'mon, Icarus, it's time you learned how to fly too, before you get too old to enjoy it!"