"Why has she asked for us?"

Uachi glanced down at Ealin, who walked at his side. "Well, she asked for me, but I don't think you'll be unwelcome," he said. It was early afternoon. They had been walking in the garden when the word had come that they were required by Empress Mhera and were now on their way to the royal wing. The sound of jubilant bells rung from every one of the temples in the Holy City had proclaimed that the empress had been safely delivered of her child; Uachi had not thought to be requested so soon on the day of the birth, but he imagined Mhera or Matei needed something, and while Mhera recovered, he was not averse to attending her.

"You said she has a baby?" Ealin slipped her hand into Uachi's.

Without even thinking, he closed his fingers around hers. "Yes. You can't have failed to notice that she was with child." Ealin had stayed at the palace ever since Matei had released her. She had slept in Uachi's room, and after the first few days of her freedom, she had sought to make herself useful working in the kitchens and laundries. Uachi knew, for Ealin had told him, that she'd seem Mhera once or twice as she went about her duties.

"I noticed, but I did not realize she was quite so close to her time."

Uachi made no response, for they had arrived at the empress's private apartments. Two guards were posted outside the door that would take them into Mhera's parlor. "Danya," Uachi said by way of greeting.

Danya nodded at Uachi, then glanced at Ealin. There was no judgment in her eyes, but there was a certain amusement. As much as Uachi tried to be unaffected by the opinions of others, it rankled him that the Arcborn whom he'd known and respected now treated him with humor or open disdain. At times, he wished he could tell them that Ealin was an Arcborn woman. He wondered if she planned to keep her secret for her entire life, and wondered what benefit she could hope to glean from pretending to be Starborn now.

The two guards opened the doors, permitting Uachi and Ealin entrance into Empress Mhera's parlor. Within was a servant girl, standing in front of the door that entered into Mhera's bedchamber. She seemed to be serving as a secondary guard. She frowned at Ealin. "Her Grace requested only you, sir," she said.

"Well, I'm here with Ealin, and I don't think Her Grace will mind," said Uachi. He waited, and when the servant girl made no move to open the door, he stepped forward to do it himself. She shrank aside, and he shouldered his way into Mhera's inner sanctum.

Inside, the empress was reclining on her pillows, looking tired, but content. On the other side of the bed lay Matei, who—although he certainly had no right to, in Uachi's opinion—looked equally exhausted. In Matei's arms was a swaddled bundle.

Uachi had not been around many babies in his time. He had no children of his own and was close to no one with babies, and he remembered his brother's infancy very dimly. As such, he was taken aback by the appearance of the creature. It looked like a tiny, grumpy old man, red in the face and sort of...crinkled.

"Uachi," Mhera said, smiling at him. She was glowing with pride, and she looked beautiful, despite her obvious weariness and her tousled hair. It was her quiet joy, radiating from her like light from the moon. "You came."

He offered her a nod of respect, not being a man given to much bowing. "You asked for me, little gray lady," he said. Glancing at Matei, he offered a smile. "Congratulations, my friend. It's...beautiful."

Ealin, quiet at his side, looped her arm through his. When he looked down at her, he caught an expression of perfect delight on her face, and his heart stirred with affection for her. She glanced up at him, smiling, and said, "What a precious child."

"Your Grace," Uachi said, aiming for the formality he had not thought to employ at first, "this is Ealin. She's..."

"His sweetheart," Matei supplied. He smiled at Ealin. "Welcome. It is a pleasure to see you again."

Taking her arm away from Uachi's, Ealin sank into a bow—uncommon, for a woman, but the respect in the gesture was clear. When she stood up straight again, her eyes were downcast. Perhaps she had not forgotten her terror of Matei. "Your Grace. Congratulations to you both."

Mhera extended a hand, and Uachi noticed with a feeling between confusion and alarm that she seemed to be reaching out to him. He approached the bed, and when he failed to take her hand, Mhera took his wrist and pulled him closer. "Don't be afraid, Uachi. Babies don't bite."

Uachi was not entirely convinced, but he didn't fight when Mhera laid his hand on the bundle in Matei's arms. Up close, the babe looked no prettier, but a slow smile crept across Uachi's face. There was a certain charm to the little thing. Its minuscule features so resembled those of a person. "Am I to call it His Grandness or Hers?" he asked, looking at Mhera with a wry smile. She gave him a look of patient disapproval he suspected—hoped—was feigned.

Mhera lay her hand over Uachi's, and he was surprised by the familiarity of the gesture. It still confused him that Mhera seemed to trust him, after the drama of how they had met; he wondered that she was willing to overlook what he had put her through. Then again, if she had enough forgiveness in her heart for Matei, perhaps it had not been too difficult for her to set aside Uachi's sins.

"She's a girl," Mhera said. "And you may call her Uarria."

Uachi gazed down at the face of the sleeping babe, convinced for a moment that he had not heard Mhera correctly. He looked up at Matei with a frown. "What did you call her?"

"Uarria," Matei said. He looked Uachi in the eye, his expression serious.

Slowly stepping back, Uachi slid his hand out from under Mhera's. He closed his fingers and drew back another step, bumping into Ealin, who had crowded close to his elbow. She lay her hand against the small of his back, murmuring, "Uachi?"

The convention in the realm of Penrua was to name children after their parents. Girls took a portion of their names from their mothers, and boys from their fathers; among the Arcborn, the practice extended into surnames, which were taken from the mother, such that Uachi, whose mother's name had been Rora, was called Uachi u Rora in full.

Matei's daughter, had they followed the practice of the Arcborn, might have been called Mhella u Mhera, or Mhassin u Mhera, or Mharina u Mhera...but she would never have been called Uarria u Mhera.

Uachi glanced from Matei to Mhera. While Matei looked serious, Mhera looked afraid. She said, "We do not seek to offend you, Uachi. I promise you that. We aimed to honor you. If we have misstepped..."

"No," he said, before he knew what he would say. He shook his head in wonder. "No. I'm not offended." In fact, what he was feeling was something very different from offense—it was a sort of humble, astonished gratitude, and he cleared his throat, uncertain how to respond to the emotion.

At his side, Ealin murmured, "It is a beautiful name." Uachi turned to look at her, unable to keep the smile from his face, and she clasped her hands, looking joyful and proud.

Uachi stepped back toward the bed. He reached out both of his large, calloused hands, and Matei, never hesitating, lifted the sleeping infant up into his reach. As Uachi slid one hand behind the babe's back and one behind her head, he marveled at how small she was. If he wanted, he could hold her resting along his forearm with her tiny head nestled in his palm. He brought her close to him and cradled her against his chest. Her eyes opened just a sliver, and she screwed up her face, wriggled in his arms, and made a squealing sound of displeasure.

Laughing, Uachi held her close. "Uarria," he murmured.

Mhera had not said it. Neither had Matei. But Uachi had not failed to notice that her name more resembled his brother Uaran's than his own.