Closed Surprises! (Squire's Dormitories)

[Garland]

Winter 30

The night was cold, the snow started falling this day, slowly covering the already thickening blanket of snow. The winds were calm and the stars were twinkling all across the sky.

Garland was walking back to the dorms, he had already left his armor back at the armory, only having his sword and jacket with him. It was getting rather late in the night, many of the other squires were most likely asleep by now.

He opened the door into the dormitory, seeing a few other squires walk around the hallways, they all seemed tired and heading to bed or talking to each other. Garland was only thinking about his bed and a fire to warm himself on.

He walked slowly down the hall, popping a few joints and such as he walked by. It seemed the smell of burning wood was all around, he saw a few squires seated around a fire, drinking some sort of beverage of a kind. Garland didn't want any of it, though he was quite tempted, but he was just dead tired at this point.

As he neared his suite, he could see one of his suitemates standing by the door, he seemed to be waiting for someone. As soon as he spotted Garland, he walked away from the wall and towards the tired squire.

"Hey, there's a basket for you by the door, someone delivered it here, say's it's important, anyway how have you been? Seen much action lately?"

Garland sighed, he was too tired for this, but he didn't want to come off as rude. "Not much, a few pickpockets trying their luck in the bazaar, didn't get far though. Listen, I'm really tired, I'm gonna head off to bed. Talk to you in the morning." He said and walked into the suite, there was a basket covered with a thick blanket on the top right by his door. He grabbed the basket and walked into his room.

He placed the basket down on the floor and went back outside to grab a torch to light his own fireplace with. As he set fire to his hearth and was about to place the torch he got back outside, he heard a faint shuffle from the basket.

He didn't think much about it, probably just the wind or something. He went back inside and paused. He heard crying, coming from the basket.

It couldn't be...

He walked closer to the basket, trepidation clear on his face, his hands were shaking, and he was sweating cold beads of sweat on his forehead. He pulled back the blanket.

There were two babies inside the basket, one of them was awake and crying while the other was just stirring herself awake.

"Oh shyke..."

[Garland]

He couldn't believe what he was seeing right now. He had almost given up on them, subconsciously he had been very lethargic as of late. His usual pep was diminishing while he was out on patrols. It just seemed like his friends were just too busy for him or had left at some point.

He didn't even know that Sayana left until the end of Fall. Even when he heard about her child. He was relieved to know that wasn't the same fate his own children had suffered but he still felt rather saddened that he couldn't have helped Sayana when she needed him the most.

Now though he was facing a brand new challenge, a challenge usually taken up with two people, and usually with one child at a time. He took a deep breath and looked around inside the basket.

He found a bottle of milk and what seemed to be a drinking horn with a soft cloth tip. "Where the heck are you, April?" He muttered to himself, taking the bottle and the horn. A tiny hand held Garland's sleeve, a dim light casts softly on one of the babies' face, they were identical, but it seemed the girl giggled softly while the boy just cried.

It seems he was hungry. Garland gently pulled away, he needed his hands to feed the boy. The horn itself was short, it could only fill a gill of water, the tip of the horn was covered in a soft cloth. A steel cap with a hole wouldn't make for a good baby bottle any how.

He put the tip of the horn near the boy's mouth. The baby boy took the tip and started suckling on it. Garland took the bottle of milk and started pouring it from the top. He didn't pour much into it, in case he put too much and made the horn too heavy for the baby or if he gets full and just drops the horn and the contents on the floor.

Garland took the girl into his arms, he couldn't believe how soft her skin was. The baby just giggles and gurgled. Garland simply smiled when she smiled, like his worries from before were just melting away. "Now that I think about it, I don't know your names..." He wiggled his finger above her and she gripped it tightly with her tiny hands, smiling at her success.

Garland looked into the blanket once more. Under where the girl's head was a note, it looked as if it was torn and faded, he couldn't make out the words at all. As he looked further into the basket, he found another note, under the boy's head this time. It was still torn and faded, but he could barely make out the letters.

"Ph-Phi- Phobos? A name?" He said to himself, it seemed like that case.

The girl pressed waved her arms around, trying to find something to hold, she seemed to like to hold and grip things. Garland gave her his finger again, and sat down by the wall. "I need a name for you... Maybe Aneeka? It has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" The girl, Aneeka, simply just gurgled and tried to bite Garland's finger. "I'll take that as a yes."

[Garland]

The night goes on slowly, Garland had been alternating the horn feeding between the two every few chimes. Phobos had fallen asleep now after being fed.

Aneeka on the other hand was rolling around on Garland's bed, getting tangled up in his sheets. She was trying to crawl over to Garland, while he had Phobos in his arms. He was going to need a day off tomorrow, mostly to get supplies like milk, maybe toys, some cloth diapers as well.

Aneeka had gotten stuck under Garland's blanket, it was a cold night and it looked like Aneeka had the right idea. Garland scooped up the baby girl with his free hand.

Garland then lied down on the bed. It looked like the Aneeka getting sleepy. "Hey, sleepyhead." Aneek gripped Garland's nose and put her tiny fingers in his nostrils. "Hey. Don't do that, that tickles." Aneeka ignored her father and just yawned.

Garland just stared at her and her sleeping brother next to her. "Huh, Aneeka. You should get some sleep." Garland pulled the little girl's fingers from his nose and pat her head.

There were no windows in Garland's room, it would have been nice to look at the stars tonight, but the warm fire and a blanket wrapped around him and his kids. Garland wanted to sing a lullaby or something to help Aneeka fall asleep, but he can't remember any songs.

Instead he pushed his head up a bit and kissed Phobos and Aneeka's head. "I promise I'll be a good father." He muttered and lied back down on his bed. Aneeka yawned again and closed her eyes, she had gone to sleep by the looks of it. Phobos was breathing softly and sleeping soundly.

"Right... I should get some sleep too." He closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around the twins into a soft snuggle. He slowly started drifting off to sleep. That night his dreams were filled with joy, though deep within his subconscious he was still afraid, but his determination keeps his anxiety and fear away.