Akira used his muscular arms to carry Mileena up the many stairs and into her old room that was next to the one they now shared as husband and wife.
Her old room had been modified and everything inside was new, such as the reclining couch near the window, a thick carpet to cover the entire cold stone floor, and the large wooden crib that was large enough for the twin newborns.
The room had also received a mixture of white and light blue paint to cover the stone walls to help soften and light up the stone room. The room’s single window had been torn out and rebuilt to allow more sunlight to enter the room while still being able to keep out the cold during the long winter months. The window was currently open letting in the cool fresh air along with the rare warm sunlight.
Maya hurried forward and positioned several pillows on the reclining couch before Akira set Mileena down on the couch and allowed her to get comfortable.
Azura and Yuki entered the room taking slow and careful steps as they each held a basket with one of the newborn twins. Fluffball followed beside them making sure nothing happened.
When they reached Mileena the midwife helped bundle the two newborns up in a light blanket and transferred them into Mileena’s arms, her son in her right arm and her daughter in her left arm.
With her tasks finished the midwife retreated and sat down on a small wooden cot that had been placed in one of the corners of the room. The midwife would be staying in this room with Mileena for the next several months to help her take care of the newborns and get comfortable with her role as a mother.
A large smile was plastered all over Mileena’s face as she stared at the two bundles of joy. All thoughts about the pain from earlier were washed away as she stared at them. Akira stood next to her with his hand resting on her shoulder as he also watched the two resting in their mother’s arms.
“Maya, aren’t our new nephew and niece so cute!?” asked Azura.
Maya nodded her head and pushed her glasses up her nose, “You are correct. It already looks like they are showing off their personalities.”
Azura looked back and forth between the two newborns and also had to agree.
Yuki chimed in with her observations, “The Snow Prince seems like he will grow up to have a calm personality, while his sister the Silver Princess will probably be a wild child.”
Akira could see how she came to that conclusion, apart from the first few minutes after his birth his son did not cry or fuss much and had already gone to sleep as he lay on his mother’s chest.
His sister on the other hand had cried far longer than him and continued to fuss and squirm about forcing Mileena to rock side to side and mummer soft words to get her to calm down. Currently, she required more attention than her brother as she would start to fuss every so often until Mileena calmed her down.
“That may be true now but who can tell how they will end up,” said Akira. He thought about two childhood friends that made complete 180* changes when they became adults.
“Yap!” said Fluffball as he sat next to Akira and stared at the two newborns.
“Yeah they will be your new friends who can play with you when they grow bigger,” said Akira.
“Although calling these two the Snow prince and the Silver princess is not bad they still need a name. Have you two thought of what to name them?” asked Maya.
“We have thought of a few names,” Mileena.
“We haven’t picked anything yet. It is a serious thing to give them a name and I have a feeling we should base it on their traits,” said Akira as he looked at the twins with their white and silver fur.
The sunlight coming through the window dimmed as an upside-down scaly head appeared in front of the window.
“Piiii?” asked Pii’per as she looked at Mileena and then turned her head to the smaller furry bundles in her arms. Her body was far too large to enter through the window so she had to settle with hanging upside down from the castle’s stone wall and sticking her head through the window to join in on the fun.
“Pii’per and Fluffball, I’ll be counting on both of you to help protect and play with our children as they grow up. What do you tow think?” asked Mileena.
“Piiii~.” “Yap!” both Pii’per and Fluffball nodded their scaly and furry head agreeing to help.
Akira and Mileena spent the rest of the day greeting several trusted personnel as well as their strongest allies that lived in Kodria allowing them to see the newborns and offer congratulations. Zundar, Varbu, Prince Gobbers, Princess Gobalina, and the grand elders were some of the few people that were allowed to see them.
To not wear out Mileena who was still recovering and to not distress the newborns, the vast majority of meet and greets had been put on hold to allow her and the children to have some quiet time. This free time was largely taken up by feeding the twins and changing their cloth diapers.
Those unable to see the newborns now had to wait for the birth celebration that was being planned to take place in a week or two. That would also be when many of the major projects would have already gotten over many of the starting hurdles that they faced.
This would also help the workers relax and blow off steam in between the large workload that everyone living in Kodria faced.
***
The next day was just as busy as the day before if not even busier now with the news of Kodria’s Duke having a daughter and son born to secure the future and carry on his bloodline.
Along with the many projects already in motion the bakers and hunters were given notice of the upcoming festival and had to change their plans to prepare for the strain that they would feel.
Although the warm months had arrived, Kodria’s food supply was still dangerously low due to the massive expansion in its population and all the other factors that had to do with the molten onyx plague and the constant dangers from demigods.
There was a little surplus in the north that Kodria could trade for due to the many small farming villages and towns being wiped out or abandoned. Those that had already been resettled still had a while until they could bring in the first harvest. Even then they would be selling the majority of their produce to the larger northern towns, including Froit, before even thinking of selling it to Jerora or any of the southern demon race towns and settlements because most of the smaller farm towns were now mostly funded by the larger towns to have an easier time to rebuild and reclaim the lost town’s.
Some of the rumors that Akira heard was that many of those new settlements were being funded by various groups of demigods.
Akira now stood on the walls of the East river fort as it was being revamped and upgraded. He looked at the large gathering of volunteer Orc and Goblin warriors.
“Although I would love to stay here and celebrate the birth of your children, we are fighting against time to complete all the tasks we need to finish before the winter months arrive,” said Varbu as he leaned on his large metal club looking at the warriors gathering below.
“Giii gii gi,” said Prince Gobbers, agreeing wholeheartedly.
“I understand. Both of your settlement expeditions are vital to Kodria’s future. The more we can expand and gain control over the local territory and its resources, the stronger we will be. If everything goes as planned we will not have to be reliant on Jerora for trading things that we are lacking,” said Akira.
“I don’t expect everything to go our way, that is why we decided to gather so many warriors to make up the first wave of settlers,” said Varbu.
“I hope the supplies we have gathered will be enough for you,” said Akira. He looked at the many boxes of dried meat along with the several cages of domestic animals as well as the larger variants that were tied to the many sleds that now had removable wooden wheels attached to the metal sliders which were useless without snow.
The settlement expeditions were one of the main reasons that Kodria was now hurting for supplies as they needed to hand over a large amount of food to keep them alive as they set up or took over abandoned villages. This was only temporary in the near future the settlements would be drawing away many of the more adventurous Orcs and Goblins allowing the strain on Kodria to lessen to a more manageable level.
“We should be fine as long as we ration it and supplement the rest with hunting and foraging. With me and Prince Gobbers leading the settlement forces we will be unable to oversee the remaining clan and tribe members. That being so I have promoted Chop as my second in command who will oversee everything while I am gone,” said Varbu.
“Gii gi giii giiiiii giii,” said Prince Gobbers pointing to Gnob who stood near Chop next to the gates of the fort.
Varbu and Prince Gobbers were not the only people that would be heading out and leaving Kodria on this day. Several merchants who had been waiting for the warm months had gathered their wares and were ready to travel from one town and village to another in the nearby deep south while the mild weather lasted.
Along with their wares they each would be carrying letters that had been hastily written up by the Grand elders filled with the latest news of the northern demigods, news of the birth of Kodria’s new royal twins, and information on the coming celebration for those that were near enough to attend it.
It was unfortunate that many would be unable to attend and many of the replies sent would only arrive in Kodria several months after it ended due to the long distances that separated the many Demon races. Some of the replies might only arrive when the winter months had once again covered the land in snow and the sky turned a cold gray once again.
