"Okay," she says, very quietly.

"I guess we're hoping he's suited. But he can't be less suited than me."

"Probably could be."

"If he's chaotic we get him to evil, and then -" He gestures at his helmet.

"I guess that would work."

"I'm sorry. For - doing this to your child -"

Nod. Poor baby.

"We'll - see what we can do for him."

"Yeah. He can be happy now while he's little, at least."

"Yeah. Hopefully."

"It's not hard to make babies happy. They just want to be loved and to explore. And the palace isn't going to be too small for them yet."

"Makes sense."

She doesn't know how to say that she thinks that having two extremely sad parents might be bad for babies. Or that she thought she'd be able to be good to him and that now that he's here she's not very sure anymore.

"I think talking is too hard. Is it okay if I just - stay here with you -"

Nodnod.

So he does that.

She holds her baby until he falls asleep, and watches him, and ponders the emptiness inside herself.

She does not remind Hagan that he was going to help her become more like she used to be. If he still wants that then he will presumably bring it up on his own at some point.

She gets a little better at feeding the baby, and the baby gets a little better at eating; he's abysmal at sleeping but the ring means that she doesn't mind this very much. It isn't as though she has anything else to do with herself. She spends a considerable amount of time pacing around her room - it hurts much less than it did, now, though she still has to be mindful of how many steps she's taking and how she's carrying her weight. She sings the same three verses of a lullaby over and over to him when he cries. Sometimes she talks to him, but not as much as she'd like, because she isn't always sure that she has anything to say.

The baby eats and sleeps and poops and gets a little bigger every day.

He comes in to coo over the baby and bring the baby presents. The presents are never age appropriate, they're things like expensive oil paintings and books and a dog and a bow and arrow set. 

After a month he asks Korva "do you think you're recovering?"

(...he probably doesn't really need any presents anyway, at this age, so that's fine.)

"I don't know. What's recovering like?"

"Uh, you think of things you want. And sometimes you get mad at me and say so. And you're happy."

"Oh. Then no, I haven't been trying any of that."

"Why not?"

"You hadn't said to."

"I definitely did!"

"I'm sorry. I must have been confused."

"I can remind you every time if that will help."

"I just didn't know if I was supposed to be trying yet."