11 years after the death of Himmel the Hero, in the Great Sanft Forest, located in the northern lands
Their little home was rather crowded.
Two handmaidens and a priest moved with practiced speed, setting out all they would need for the delivery. Keeping their daughter busy was his brother, which left him with time to be at his wife's side.
His hand clasped hers as the contractions continued mercilessly, face strained as her breath came in gasps. She had her water break hours ago, when they had been coming back from the market. The night had come shortly after, a moonless night making the unseasonably warm winter more correct, the ground holding just enough snow that it would wet your shoes and soak your socks.
She was crying, this birth more complicated than her previous, or so the priest said.
"SCHÖN, YOU FUCKER!" She screamed as the handmaidens helped elevate her hips. "WHEN THIS BABY IS OUT OF ME I'M GONNA RIP YOUR BALLS OFF WITH MY TEETH!"
Schön blinked at her threat, having never heard her say something like that before. Her rich, red hair fanned across the floor as her head stretched back, a particularly strong contraction causing her spine to arch. One of the handmaidens came over and pried her hand from his, gesturing him out of the room with the explanation that the delivery would be starting soon, and that they would need all the room they could get.
He entered their living room, coated in the warm light of their hearth, and accented with many lit candles. Schön's brother must have lit all these, and from outside he could hear his daughter making the delightful little noises children made when they played.
Stepping further, and exiting his modest home, he saw his older brother sat on the stoop, watching his niece as she tried to gather enough snow to make some semblance of a snowman.
"How's she holding up?" Sicher asked, turning to look at him. Being brothers, they shared a multitude of features. Their strong jaws, lopsided grins, and brown eyes. Their skin was different, being this far south in the northern lands meant that Schön had a deeper tan from farmwork, while Sicher was paler from staying inside as a printer's apprentice. The only other difference was their hair, both blonde, but while Schön kept his short to the scalp, his brother let his grow past the ears in curled ringlets.
"Feurig is spirited." Schön decided on, taking a seat beside his brother. "The delivery is gonna be done any minute now, the midwife said."
"You hear that, Heben?" Sicher called out. "You're gonna get a little sibling soon!"
"I hope it's a girl, I want a little sister to dress up!" Heben said, smiling from her labored attempt at making a snowman. The lack of snow made it a light brown, and she had only just finished with the lowest section. Even still, she stooped down to grab more of the slush, packing it onto the ball, her pink hair kept out of her face with a braid her mother had done that morning.
Lost in thought, he jumped slightly as Sicher pulled out a small flask, offering it to him.
"Figured we should celebrate your baby." He said, and Schön scoffed, taking the flask.
"The baby hasn't even been born yet." He answered, taking a swig and tasting the honeyed booze within. He felt a warmth grow in his stomach as he handed it back.
"Don't act like you aren't nervous." Sicher said, taking his own swig. "You're my baby brother, I know you better than you do."
Before he could speak, they both heard Feurig scream out again. Loud enough that even Heben stopped making her dirty snowman to look back at the house. Despite that, Schön didn't hear the sound of a baby crying, so he presumed it was another contraction. They were getting closer together.
"...I am." He admitted, sighing. "Heben's was a quick thing, like an hour or two from start to end. Feurig jokes with me all the time that she's farted harder than delivering her."
"Your wife is kinda crude." Sicher said, putting the flask away. "Always talking like that."
"Hey, that's my wife." Schön shoved his brother playfully. "I can handle her. Maybe once you can as well you'll find your own girl to marry."
"As if. I'm not settling for anything less than an elf, a wife that will always look beautiful will always beat Feurig and her 'I speak my mind' attitude."
"Have fun living in your delusions, Sicher."
"Not delusions, Schön, dreams! Men can dream!"
Another scream from Feurig. Followed almost immediately by a high pitched wail.
Then cold.
Schön saw his brother's eyes widen, mirroring his, as this wave of cold pushed out from the closed door of the house. It was a phantom wind, more bitter than any blizzard he had been in. It had been only a moment and then was gone.
Heben must have felt it too, as she dropped to the ground, suddenly crying. The brothers moved. Sicher going to comfort Heben as Schön moved and opened his front door.
The living room was dark. The hearth, the candles, had all gone out, what light there was outside in the dark let him see the smoke drift off the wicks. He barged in, shouldering the door to their room open to see the handmaiden wrapping the crying baby in a towel as his wife took deep breaths, looking pale in the low light.
The priest looked up at him, face serious. "Please, light some candles. I need to make sure she is okay."
Schön moved fast, a pack of matches out and struck to help light candles. With one, he could see she really was quite pale, and with three he could see why.
The towels under her were red with blood, so thick and plentiful that it no longer soaked into the fabric and instead dripped off the sides of their bed. His heart dropped down to his ankles as he stood in shock. The priest was saying prayers, a green light drifting from his hand as he set it on Feurig's forehead.
Trusting the priest to save his wife, Schön finished lighting the candles, not bothering with the hearth and candles in the living room. Once finished, he approached the handmaiden fussing over his newest child, wiping at their face with a wet rag.
"The baby," He said, moving closer, and he could see her jump slightly. "Is the baby okay?"
"Oh, sir, I…" She started, looking up at him with worry. "I don't think so."
Schön took the baby from her and opened the towel, seeing what she meant.
The baby was malformed. Across its body were these black markings. Its arms, its face, its chest. Its torso was longer, accounting for the two extra arms it had grown under his regular ones. His face was still and slack, but still it screamed in the high pitched cry of a fresh born baby.
From the second mouth it had, lips splitting along his abdomen. The midwife had been trying to wipe the marking from his skin, but they wouldn't go away, like dry ink on parchment.
The immediate feeling Schön felt was sadness. His newest baby, his first son, was going to suffer through their whole life. He didn't know what all would happen, but he hadn't heard of any baby living with any deformity like these. His breath stilled, however, as the baby cracked its eyes open.
All four of them. Two where they were expected to be, and two more set beneath them, offset towards the corners.
"The baby…" Feurig called out, the priest's labors bringing her back from whatever abyss she may have fallen into. "Give me my…my baby."
Schön didn't deny his wife. This was their baby, and he loved her, and him, regardless. He handed the baby to her, and she shifted him gently in her grip. She visibly noticed the deformities, before cradling the babe to her breast, his cries muffled for a moment before she chuckled.
"He's feeding already." Feurig said, running a hand through his wet hair. Just as pink as his older sisters. She smiled down at him, Schön moving next to her.
"Welcome to the world, Senken."