Chapter 488 – Greedy Baby
"Now, are you sure you want to give birth?" I ask.
"YES! Empress Alzi, please," Annoris says. "Yes, please, I'm begging you. Please. I was about to run out into the forest myself. Shyla had to hold me back when you ran out yesterday with Azula of all people. Sorry, Lady Azula. I'm not made for this pregnancy, or Nature fucked with me. I'm willing to blame Nature and give this another chance if you, for some reason, want to get me pregnant. Just please let me get this kid out."
"I guess," I say. "And we'll see what happens in the future. Things happen, and you've already been in my bed. But it's time to go to the forest. I've made you both wait too long."
"Thank you, Empress Alzi," the dryad says.
"I did put you through a lot," I say. I don't know if we can really call this a forest, but it's more than a few trees, so they'll have to live with it.
"Ready?" Nanoka asks.
"Yes," I say. Before the dryads can say anything, Nanoka moves us to the small group of trees. All of the trees are younger than Nanoka, so I hope they aren't insulted. The baby shouldn't know the difference, but the dryad lived in a forest with some pretty ancient trees.
"Small," the dryad says. "But plenty of room to grow, and the trees are happy. May I search them?"
"Yes," I say. "Do as you want to. It's yours. Annoris, does our kid feel ready? Having her here may ruin the dryad's plan to own the forest."
"She can be here," the dryad's voice floats over from somewhere behind the trees. "We can make different groves. I can feel how the forest wants to grow. They're ready to expand and become the old and ancient. Just do what the baby asks. I'm happy."
Well, that's good. We'll just have to teach our kid how to share. All of our kids will need to know how to share.
"Are you feeling anything?" I ask.
"No, Empress Alzi," Annoris says. "Am I ever going to give birth?"
"I'll cut the kid out in a week or two," I say. "Come on, let's go on a walk. This little group of trees is nice, though I feel a little bad calling it a forest. Hopefully, she and our kid can build it into something special and a true forest."
"Two heavily pregnant women strolling in a random forest," Annoris says.
"This is not a random forest," Nanoka says. "It isn't some famous group of trees or anything, but it was picked out by someone important with a few white tails. And it's three pregnant women, two of whom are heavily pregnant."
Said white tails swoops in and sweeps us all away together as we go off in another direction from the lone dryad. Listening to the sounds of the forest, we hear birds, insects, the wind through the leaves, and whatever other animals are hiding from us here.
Hopefully, whatever sign the baby gives will be obvious. Maybe it'll be Annoris's water breaking or something? If she's ignoring the contractions right now, it'll have to be something else.
"Is the kid going to be stuck here?" I ask. "How far are we from the manor?"
"We aren't far," Nanoka says. "You can see the forest from the manor. I just teleported us because you two are pregnant."
"The baby won't be stuck in the forest, Empress Alzi," Annoris says. "But I will have to visit often with her to help her tree grow."
"Maybe we need to find a younger tree?" I ask. "Where is the newest growth? The baby is probably struggling to feel a connection with a tree that has already become a giant." But then, how were the old dryads born? There couldn't have been that many new trees when they started to be created, or is that why they stopped having to be born with a tree? We can't exactly ask anyone. Maybe that old Champion knows, but I would have to wake Yzzorres to figure out where the dryad is and then find her and hope she actually answers me. Well, Eterna may know, or Ryze, but if I'm going to see Ryze, I might as well bother Yzzorres instead. Not that I care enough to check on them.
"We'll get to them," Nanoka says. "There's no need to go guessing when we have a wonderful day to walk through the trees."
Someone is forgetting that the heavily pregnant two doesn't include herself. Yet. I'm sure she'll have a different opinion about this walk in a few months. I think she'll be teleporting herself out of bed every morning.
"You're thinking about something, Alzi," Nanoka says.
"Yes, about how you aren't going to appreciate this walk in a few months," I say. "And you've already decided that we're going to walk, and we have a wonderful date planned for the future. But it's too late to change it now, this Empress has decided."
"You're forgetting I don't have any classes to help me with my burden," Annoris says.
"I am helping you, at least a bit," I say.
"It's not like teleporting is the worst idea," Nanoka says. "I just thought we were having a peaceful walk and enjoying the early morning air, but if we want to move things along..."
"Walking is fine," I say. That little ritual to make this pregnancy easier was a great idea. Making Annoris pay for Nanoka's mistake is a bit petty, but she has her dream job now, despite not really earning it, so she'll live. And maybe Nanoka is right, and one of these trees will catch our kid's fancy, somehow.
Why couldn't that weird Champion have explained things better? Is the ancient generation only alive to annoy me?
Well, the only thing we can do is walk slowly and enjoy the beautiful morning.
...
"Still nothing?" I ask. We can see the newer trees coming up. Why they aren't all around the forest, I don't know, but we have a patch of them coming up here.
"No, Empress Alzi," Annoris says. "Maybe we need to go deeper into the forest to find the right tree."
"We'll take a break in the new growth, and then we can venture farther in," I say. "I may have snuck away from Kou, but I can't skip lunch. I'll have too many women giving me a lecture about that if I do."
"I've brought plenty for lunch," Nanoka says. "Maybe the baby just needs to sit down and rest with the forest a bit to understand which tree is right for her."
"I hope so," Annoris says.
It would be a strange hell to never give birth. Has the baby been growing this entire time? I haven't gotten a good idea of her growth with how little I saw of her during her pregnancy. I should've dragged Kelly out here to help us, but I'll just have Nanoka go back and grab her.
"May I join you all, Empress?" the dryad asks.
"I have plenty," Nanoka says.
"Sure," I say. "Will you have everything you need here, or will you need supplies? We can help if you do."
"No, with my tree, I should be fine," the dryad says. "I've picked it out and started bonding with it, I'm just feeling a bit hungry and tired. It shouldn't take long before I'm complete and able to live as the ancient ones did."
"Oh, shit!" Annoris screams.
"I think lunch may be delayed," I say. "Annoris, you'll need to direct us about what needs to happen. You pick the positions, and listen to me when I tell you to push. That's the deal."
"I've- I've got a bit," Annoris says. "I think the baby just found something interesting."
"I see," I say. Was the baby letting the dryad pick first? "How about we have a light lunch right here then, and keep watch on your progress?"
"Thank you, Empress," Annoris says. "Some rest would be wonderful."
"If there is anything I can help with, just let me know, Empress Alzi," the dryad says.
"Thank you."
...
"Are you sure this is the right tree?" I ask again.
"YES! Please, Empress Alzi. I can't take the teasing right now. Oh, fuck. Please," Annoris screams out.
"Well, we've been through ten trees so far. I'm just trying to make sure," I say. This tree has to be one of the oldest in the forest! How is our little kid going to bond with it? What a greedy little thing. "You're doing well. The real pain is about to start. Just let us know if you want to move around, or just move."
"Try not to move if it would take you off the blanket," Kelly says. "But besides that, do what you need to. You've just about dilated, so the fun is about to begin. You're in good hands."
"I know, I know," Annoris says. She's chosen to sit right against the tree that she claims the baby wants, which is crazy to me. The bark has to be scraping into her back, but she is refusing to use even a small blanket to try to soften the hard bark. And the angle of her back is so that the baby has room to come out. I don't get it, but we told her to do what felt right, so here we are. At least she didn't throw the blanket under her away.
The other dryad had to leave to complete whatever ritual she was doing to combine with her newfound tree somewhere in the middle of the woods. Yes, I've finally decided what I'll call this patch of trees.
It's time for another birth. Kelly says the baby is the same size as a normal baby, so I probably didn't need her here, but it's nice to be working with her.
...
"There, just one more push," I say. "She's almost out, and there you go, beautiful. Oh, look at her. Little red highlights in her tuff of green hair. Ready to hold her?" A bit of magic cleans the baby off well enough, and Annoris opens her tired arms immediately for the newborn.
"She's so cute," Annoris says. "Thank you, Empress Alzi. Thank you."
"I'm happy about the kid," I say. "Just don't do anything stupid like Lotus did. Now, the cleanup and helping a little girl bond with a massive tree." Victoria almost slipped in right there. How did she pick this massive fucking tree?! I have to wonder about it, at least. The size just doesn't fit.
"She's started, Empress Alzi," Annoris says. "She knows what to do, and the tree has accepted her."
"The tree had better," I say. "I don't mind burning down a few trees if they bully her. Can they do that?"
"No, Empress Alzi," Annoris says. "No, our kid will be fine. But I'm tired."
"I'm sure you are," I say. Well, it looks like Mana is going to have to handle the cleanup.
...
"Hey, little giggling girl," I say. "Are you all done? The tree seems happy, waving without any wind in the air. I was thinking we might have a crowd of animals coming to visit us soon."
Annoris has officially passed out, but the birth is complete. I think our child has bonded with the tree, but who knows. I'll just wait for the baby to go to sleep, and then we can slowly walk out of the forest and see if she wakes up to complain. Annoris can make the trip out here with Lotus to confirm everything in the morning.
This forest will be a fun place to visit.