Birth of a Little Warrior
Fandom: Sungkyunkwan Scandal
Title: Birth of A Little Warrior
Pairings: see Taming the Crazy Horse
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: The SKKS-verse belongs to the creators of Sungkyunkwan Scandal.
Author's Notes: And here's a little something to bridge the gap between Chapter 16 and the Epilogue of Taming the Crazy Horse :) I had once toyed with the idea of making this the epilogue, but decided it merited its own fic. Thanks to min7girl, Anonymous 1, 2 and 3, naddyamal, Dorothy, akaironoyoru, blacknoraxe, xx_mads_xx, knweaye and blissfreak for reviewing the last installment of TTCH!
EDIT 02-07-2016: Parts of this fic were rewritten to account for the practice of giving infants "milk names," and then proper names when they were old enough. Jin-young's milk name, "Hwa-sal," means "arrow."
BIRTH OF A LITTLE WARRIOR
The room was full.
Besides Moon Jae-shin and his father, Minister of Justice Moon Geun-soo, Jae-shin's father- and brothers-in-law, and his good friends Gu Yong-ha and Lee Sun-joon were there. They had all rushed right over to the Moon residence after receiving word that Jae-shin's wife, Cha Ka-hai, had gone into labor. (Sun-joon's wife, Kim Yoon-hee, was still recovering from childbirth herself, but she insisted that her husband attend.) This child was Jae-shin and Ka-hai's firstborn, as well as the first grandchild of both the Moon and Cha families, and no one wanted to miss the chance to welcome it into the world.
The expectant father jumped when he heard another strangled noise coming from their bedroom. He tried to get up and go to his wife; but Yong-ha and Sun-joon, seated on either side of him, held him down. "No, no, no," Yong-ha told him. "That's not how the game goes at all. The rules are, every time you hear her make a noise, you do a shot, remember?"
Jae-shin smiled wryly as his friend placed a small cup of makgeolli in his hand. "This has to be the first time that you're actually allowing me to have a drink," he observed. He would have preferred something stronger, but knew that Ka-hai would kill him if he ended the evening completely soused.
"This is a special case. Now, drink up."
He downed the liquor and suppressed the urge to fight his way past his friends and make a mad dash to Ka-hai's side. He wanted to be there to welcome their child into the world, but the midwife had told him that delivering babies was women's work and shooed him out of the room. Even though she was a small, skinny bird of a woman, she spoke with the unmistakable ring of authority and, like any good soldier, he had obeyed without question.
At least his wife wasn't alone, he consoled himself. Besides the midwife, Ka-hai's mother and a couple of maids were attending her. All women had experience with childbirth; surely they would be able to get Ka-hai and their baby safely through this travail.
The next time they heard a choked noise, it was accompanied by the babble of female voices. The women didn't sound alarmed, but a number of hands nevertheless held out cups for Yong-ha to fill.
“Hwa-sal seems to be taking his time,” Minister Moon remarked, referring to the baby by the nickname that its parents had agreed upon.
“I've heard that first babies often do,” said Cha Bo-dae, Ka-hai's father. “Although it always seemed to take forever when you're sitting out here.”
“It probably seems even longer than that when you're in there,” Ka-sar, the older of Jae-shin's two brothers-in-law, pointed out. “Have you thought of names, Ma-hyung?”
“Somewhat.” Jae-shin nodded, only too happy to be distracted. They had a year to decide, but as early as now he and Ka-hai had agreed that any children born to them would have “young” in their names, in honor of Jae-shin's late brother. Some might think it unlucky for the children to share the name with a dead person, but they preferred to believe that it would call on Young-shin's spirit to protect the children from harm.
“But, of course, I can't say anything right now,” he went on. “After all, anything can happen between now and....” He swallowed hard, not wanting to contemplate the dangers that his wife and child were facing.
“But it won't,” Yong-ha declared.
“That's right.” Ka-chun, his other brother-in-law, managed an encouraging smile. “This is my noonim we're talking about. Everything will be fine.”
They were interrupted by what was undoubtedly Ka-hai yelling in pain. "From the sound of things, the real work is about to begin," Jae-shin's father said as the women all started talking again.
"You mean all the commotion over the past hour was just practice?!" Yong-ha asked, going pale.
"I suppose you could say that." The older man nodded and gave his son a small smile. "If we're lucky, it won't be long now."
"And if we're not lucky...?" Ka-chun couldn't help asking.
"If we're not lucky, it might take all night, maybe even longer," Lord Cha replied. "As I remember it, my wife labored for an entire day to deliver Ka-sar."
"She still brings that up whenever she's angry with me," his elder son muttered.
Even though they all hoped that it wouldn't come to that, Ka-sar's remark lightened the mood somewhat, and he and his brother entertained the rest for a while with stories of their and their sister's childhood escapades. They gamely kept talking even through the times when she could be heard biting back her cries of pain, until an inhuman snarling coming from the bedroom cut one story short.
"Are you sure that's my sister in there, Ma-hyung?" Ka-sar asked, looking startled. "I've never heard her sound quite like that."
"Neither have I," Jae-shin replied, downing another shot of makgeolli and shaking his cup at Yong-ha for a refill.
"I have," Ka-chun told them. "One time, I put her best skirt on one of the ponies. I thought she was going to kill me."
Everyone laughed at that, but eventually, the brothers ran out of stories and they all settled down for an interminable wait. For Jae-shin, the minutes stretched into long periods of tedium, interrupted here and there by panic over the alarming noises coming from the bedroom.
His companions redoubled their efforts in trying to reassure and distract him. "My daughter is a strong girl," Lord Cha said as another scream, quickly muffled, rent the night. "And her pregnancy has been free of complications, hasn't it? I am sure that she and the child will get through this safe and sound."
"I hope so," Jae-shin answered fervently, forgetting to take a shot of liquor in the face of the terrifying possibility that he might lose one or both of them that night if things went wrong.
"At least this will mean an end to the tears and the silly cravings, right?" Sun-joon chuckled.
He managed a laugh. "Once again, I hope so," he said. Knowing that Sun-joon and Yoon-hee were going through the same thing right alongside him and Ka-hai had helped him deal with his wife's pregnancy more easily than he might have otherwise. He was glad to have had Sun-joon to discuss symptoms with, and the fathers-to-be had enjoyed watching the women tease each other about whose belly was bigger. "I must have been cried on at least once a day ever since Ka-hai told me she was pregnant, and if there's ever a shortage of radish kimchi in Joseon, she's probably the cause."
"Well, if there is a shortage, you can make a killing selling what you have," Yong-ha advised as he poured more drinks.
Yong-ha tried to keep the drinking game going, but soon everyone in the room grew too nervous to drink, especially when Ka-hai began raining threats and curses down on her husband's head. Ka-chun blanched at a particularly harsh one. "Is that even physically possible?"
"I am not solely responsible for this situation!" Jae-shin exclaimed, bristling.
"She's in labor," Lord Cha reminded him. "You don't have to take this seriously."
"Dae-mul was saying some pretty harsh things about her husband, too, remember?" Yong-ha added.
Sun-joon nodded wisely. "If she had truly meant them, then I wouldn't be sitting here with you tonight."
Jae-shin did remember, but he thought Ka-hai was made of stronger stuff and hadn't expected her to sink to Yoon-hee's level. "Still," he grumbled, "she doesn't have to get so dramatic."
Ka-hai didn't stop there. Bent on stretching her long-suffering husband's nerves to the breaking point, she abandoned screaming and cursing in favor of crying.
Naturally, this compelled Jae-shin try to go to her again, only to be foiled once more by Yong-ha and Sun-joon. "Sit down," Yong-ha ordered, shoving a wine cup at him.
He ignored the offering. "But she's in pain," he protested, wild-eyed.
"She has people to take care of her, sa-hyung," Sun-joon soothed. As if on cue, they heard her mother's voice speaking in reassuring tones. "They know what they're doing."
"And you'll probably just get in the way if you go blundering in there now," Yong-ha added.
"Besides," Ka-sar interjected, shuddering, "do you really want to see everything that's going on in there? Trust me, if it's anything like the way horses give birth, you're better off staying away."
Jae-shin sat back down, seething. Part of him wanted to walk out anyway, strongly tempted to take refuge in the farthest corner of the house and get away from the chaos and frustration. However, he knew that he couldn't abandon his wife that way. If he couldn't be at her side, helping her through this ordeal, then he would wait until it was over.
So Jae-shin waited.
He waited, glowering at his friends, who eyed him warily whenever Ka-hai made a sound. He waited, resisting the temptation to call out to his wife during the times that she was actually silent, just to make sure that she was still alive. He waited, now stubbornly refusing the drinks Yong-ha still poured (but it appeared that the strain was getting to the other man, too, because when demand for the drinks disappeared, he downed them himself).
Jae-shin was seriously regretting his decision to stay put as Ka-hai let out her loudest, longest yell yet, but just as he began to contemplate fighting his way out of that room, the yell turned into a cry of relief. The other females exclaimed excitedly, and then a new sound joined the cacophony: the wail of an infant. It was faint at first, then grew stronger and stronger with every breath.
Stunned at hearing his child's voice for the first time, it took the new father a while to realize that he was receiving congratulations from all sides. "The baby has good lungs," Ka-chun observed approvingly.
"Takes after the mother, then," his brother laughed. "Congratulations, Ma-hyung."
Minister Moon beamed. "I am very happy for you, my son."
"But we don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet," his son remarked.
"The child will be special regardless of whether it's a boy or a girl, simply because it's the first."
Jae-shin's friends pounded his back happily. "Congratulations, sa-hyung," Sun-joon said. "At least I won't be the only first-time father around."
"That would depend on whether we both get out of it alive," Jae-shin replied with a crooked smile, then realized that his wife's travail was finally over. "I should go to her-I mean, them, shouldn't I?"
He started to rise, but to his surprise, Lord Cha shook his head. "You should give them some time to clean up," he advised. "And Ka-hai might want to brush her hair."
"I don't care what her hair looks like."
"She does."
Jae-shin wanted to protest, but he didn't dare contradict his father-in-law, who probably knew what he was talking about; and thus he waited again, more impatiently now that the birthing was all over. He supposed that it was prudent to give the women time to clean up, especially if childbirth was as gruesome as Ka-sar was making it sound; but waiting for Ka-hai to finish brushing her hair, of all things, did not make any sense.
Fortunately, this wait wasn't as long as the previous one; eventually, Ka-hai's mother, Kang Min-ah, came bustling into the room. "It's a boy!" she announced, her face wreathed in smiles. "The midwife says that mother and child are doing just fine."
That sparked another round of congratulations, more joyful than the last because now they weren't just welcoming a baby, but an heir.
Jae-shin was pleased that the baby was a boy, but he could not enjoy it as much as he would like because he couldn't go and see this alleged son for himself. He suffered through more of his friends' and relatives' well-wishes for a while, then glowered at the room at large. "May I finally see them now?"
His father chuckled and exchanged amused glances with his in-laws. "Yes, you may," he said, and gestured towards the door. "Go, go."
He ran.
Upon entering the bedroom, Jae-shin had to contend with more effusive congratulations from the maids who had assisted at the birthing. Only the midwife didn't bother to fawn all over him; instead, she looked up from putting her tools and medicines away to give him a piercing stare. "Don't touch her for at least two months!" she warned.
He was too startled to do anything other than turn red and stammer, "Uh... yes, ma'am." The maids giggled-whether at him or the instructions, he couldn't say-as they returned to their respective tasks.
"Two months," the midwife repeated emphatically and turned back to her packing, leaving Jae-shin finally free to address his wife.
She was sitting up in bed, her hair loose and apparently freshly brushed. A maddeningly mysterious bundle was cradled in her arms and he wanted to inspect it right away, but knew that it would be considerate to ask after her first. "How do you feel?" he asked, sitting down at her side.
Ka-hai smiled at him. "Like I got trampled by a herd of horses," she replied frankly, "but despite that, I'm fine." She glanced at the baby at her breast, the prize that had made her suffering more than worthwhile, and then back at her husband. "My lord, may I introduce to you your son?"
Proudly, she held him out to his father. Unfortunately, Hwa-sal-who would one day be called Lord Moon Jin-young-did not appreciate having his dinner interrupted and roared with outrage, loudly and continuously.
"I think he looks just like you," the new mother continued, smiling beatifically at the squalling infant. His features were more than a little distorted, but the midwife had assured her that that was only from childbirth and his bones would regain their proper shape soon.
Jae-shin peered at his son. "His face is red and he's screaming."
"Exactly," she answered with an impish grin.
"I'll take it as a good sign that you're feeling well enough to tease me."
"I'll feel much better once I've had some rest." Hwa-sal was allowed to resume nursing, giving his parents' ears some sorely-needed respite, and Ka-hai gave her husband a sympathetic look. "Were you worried?"
"It was a good thing I wasn't armed or I would have arrived here sooner. Of course," he amended, arching an eyebrow, "with the way you were carrying on, maybe I should have grabbed a weapon before coming in here."
She blushed. "You know I wasn't myself when I said those things, don't you? Besides, I barely remember half of them; and I think that what I do remember saying is physically impossible, anyway.
"At any rate," she added audaciously, "you have no choice but to forgive me. Not only did I carry the baby for nine months and suffer the pain of childbirth, but I've helped you fulfill your ultimate duty to your father on the first try. Aren't you glad that we're done?"
Jae-shin supposed that the next generation of the Moon family was indeed secure with the birth of a healthy son, but he wasn't going to let her off the hook so easily. "Oh, but we're not 'done' yet," he told her, feigning surprise. "Now that we've got the hang of this thing, we're going to need at least another son for backup. Haven't you heard of the saying, 'an heir and a spare?'
"And you know that we should have a girl, too," he went on, stroking a finger over Hwa-sal's velvety cheek. The baby, busily nursing, didn't seem to notice. "Our sons will need a sister to help them learn how to treat a woman right."
He was enjoying his (admittedly petty) revenge when the midwife had to go and ruin everything. "I said no touching for two months!" she snapped, clearly eavesdropping. "Do you want me to make it longer?"
Ka-hai laughed at her husband's chagrined expression and leaned over to give him a consoling kiss. "Let's make sure we can handle this one first, all right?"
Title: Birth of A Little Warrior
Pairings: see Taming the Crazy Horse
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: The SKKS-verse belongs to the creators of Sungkyunkwan Scandal.
Author's Notes: And here's a little something to bridge the gap between Chapter 16 and the Epilogue of Taming the Crazy Horse :) I had once toyed with the idea of making this the epilogue, but decided it merited its own fic. Thanks to min7girl, Anonymous 1, 2 and 3, naddyamal, Dorothy, akaironoyoru, blacknoraxe, xx_mads_xx, knweaye and blissfreak for reviewing the last installment of TTCH!
EDIT 02-07-2016: Parts of this fic were rewritten to account for the practice of giving infants "milk names," and then proper names when they were old enough. Jin-young's milk name, "Hwa-sal," means "arrow."
BIRTH OF A LITTLE WARRIOR
The room was full.
Besides Moon Jae-shin and his father, Minister of Justice Moon Geun-soo, Jae-shin's father- and brothers-in-law, and his good friends Gu Yong-ha and Lee Sun-joon were there. They had all rushed right over to the Moon residence after receiving word that Jae-shin's wife, Cha Ka-hai, had gone into labor. (Sun-joon's wife, Kim Yoon-hee, was still recovering from childbirth herself, but she insisted that her husband attend.) This child was Jae-shin and Ka-hai's firstborn, as well as the first grandchild of both the Moon and Cha families, and no one wanted to miss the chance to welcome it into the world.
The expectant father jumped when he heard another strangled noise coming from their bedroom. He tried to get up and go to his wife; but Yong-ha and Sun-joon, seated on either side of him, held him down. "No, no, no," Yong-ha told him. "That's not how the game goes at all. The rules are, every time you hear her make a noise, you do a shot, remember?"
Jae-shin smiled wryly as his friend placed a small cup of makgeolli in his hand. "This has to be the first time that you're actually allowing me to have a drink," he observed. He would have preferred something stronger, but knew that Ka-hai would kill him if he ended the evening completely soused.
"This is a special case. Now, drink up."
He downed the liquor and suppressed the urge to fight his way past his friends and make a mad dash to Ka-hai's side. He wanted to be there to welcome their child into the world, but the midwife had told him that delivering babies was women's work and shooed him out of the room. Even though she was a small, skinny bird of a woman, she spoke with the unmistakable ring of authority and, like any good soldier, he had obeyed without question.
At least his wife wasn't alone, he consoled himself. Besides the midwife, Ka-hai's mother and a couple of maids were attending her. All women had experience with childbirth; surely they would be able to get Ka-hai and their baby safely through this travail.
The next time they heard a choked noise, it was accompanied by the babble of female voices. The women didn't sound alarmed, but a number of hands nevertheless held out cups for Yong-ha to fill.
“Hwa-sal seems to be taking his time,” Minister Moon remarked, referring to the baby by the nickname that its parents had agreed upon.
“I've heard that first babies often do,” said Cha Bo-dae, Ka-hai's father. “Although it always seemed to take forever when you're sitting out here.”
“It probably seems even longer than that when you're in there,” Ka-sar, the older of Jae-shin's two brothers-in-law, pointed out. “Have you thought of names, Ma-hyung?”
“Somewhat.” Jae-shin nodded, only too happy to be distracted. They had a year to decide, but as early as now he and Ka-hai had agreed that any children born to them would have “young” in their names, in honor of Jae-shin's late brother. Some might think it unlucky for the children to share the name with a dead person, but they preferred to believe that it would call on Young-shin's spirit to protect the children from harm.
“But, of course, I can't say anything right now,” he went on. “After all, anything can happen between now and....” He swallowed hard, not wanting to contemplate the dangers that his wife and child were facing.
“But it won't,” Yong-ha declared.
“That's right.” Ka-chun, his other brother-in-law, managed an encouraging smile. “This is my noonim we're talking about. Everything will be fine.”
They were interrupted by what was undoubtedly Ka-hai yelling in pain. "From the sound of things, the real work is about to begin," Jae-shin's father said as the women all started talking again.
"You mean all the commotion over the past hour was just practice?!" Yong-ha asked, going pale.
"I suppose you could say that." The older man nodded and gave his son a small smile. "If we're lucky, it won't be long now."
"And if we're not lucky...?" Ka-chun couldn't help asking.
"If we're not lucky, it might take all night, maybe even longer," Lord Cha replied. "As I remember it, my wife labored for an entire day to deliver Ka-sar."
"She still brings that up whenever she's angry with me," his elder son muttered.
Even though they all hoped that it wouldn't come to that, Ka-sar's remark lightened the mood somewhat, and he and his brother entertained the rest for a while with stories of their and their sister's childhood escapades. They gamely kept talking even through the times when she could be heard biting back her cries of pain, until an inhuman snarling coming from the bedroom cut one story short.
"Are you sure that's my sister in there, Ma-hyung?" Ka-sar asked, looking startled. "I've never heard her sound quite like that."
"Neither have I," Jae-shin replied, downing another shot of makgeolli and shaking his cup at Yong-ha for a refill.
"I have," Ka-chun told them. "One time, I put her best skirt on one of the ponies. I thought she was going to kill me."
Everyone laughed at that, but eventually, the brothers ran out of stories and they all settled down for an interminable wait. For Jae-shin, the minutes stretched into long periods of tedium, interrupted here and there by panic over the alarming noises coming from the bedroom.
His companions redoubled their efforts in trying to reassure and distract him. "My daughter is a strong girl," Lord Cha said as another scream, quickly muffled, rent the night. "And her pregnancy has been free of complications, hasn't it? I am sure that she and the child will get through this safe and sound."
"I hope so," Jae-shin answered fervently, forgetting to take a shot of liquor in the face of the terrifying possibility that he might lose one or both of them that night if things went wrong.
"At least this will mean an end to the tears and the silly cravings, right?" Sun-joon chuckled.
He managed a laugh. "Once again, I hope so," he said. Knowing that Sun-joon and Yoon-hee were going through the same thing right alongside him and Ka-hai had helped him deal with his wife's pregnancy more easily than he might have otherwise. He was glad to have had Sun-joon to discuss symptoms with, and the fathers-to-be had enjoyed watching the women tease each other about whose belly was bigger. "I must have been cried on at least once a day ever since Ka-hai told me she was pregnant, and if there's ever a shortage of radish kimchi in Joseon, she's probably the cause."
"Well, if there is a shortage, you can make a killing selling what you have," Yong-ha advised as he poured more drinks.
Yong-ha tried to keep the drinking game going, but soon everyone in the room grew too nervous to drink, especially when Ka-hai began raining threats and curses down on her husband's head. Ka-chun blanched at a particularly harsh one. "Is that even physically possible?"
"I am not solely responsible for this situation!" Jae-shin exclaimed, bristling.
"She's in labor," Lord Cha reminded him. "You don't have to take this seriously."
"Dae-mul was saying some pretty harsh things about her husband, too, remember?" Yong-ha added.
Sun-joon nodded wisely. "If she had truly meant them, then I wouldn't be sitting here with you tonight."
Jae-shin did remember, but he thought Ka-hai was made of stronger stuff and hadn't expected her to sink to Yoon-hee's level. "Still," he grumbled, "she doesn't have to get so dramatic."
Ka-hai didn't stop there. Bent on stretching her long-suffering husband's nerves to the breaking point, she abandoned screaming and cursing in favor of crying.
Naturally, this compelled Jae-shin try to go to her again, only to be foiled once more by Yong-ha and Sun-joon. "Sit down," Yong-ha ordered, shoving a wine cup at him.
He ignored the offering. "But she's in pain," he protested, wild-eyed.
"She has people to take care of her, sa-hyung," Sun-joon soothed. As if on cue, they heard her mother's voice speaking in reassuring tones. "They know what they're doing."
"And you'll probably just get in the way if you go blundering in there now," Yong-ha added.
"Besides," Ka-sar interjected, shuddering, "do you really want to see everything that's going on in there? Trust me, if it's anything like the way horses give birth, you're better off staying away."
Jae-shin sat back down, seething. Part of him wanted to walk out anyway, strongly tempted to take refuge in the farthest corner of the house and get away from the chaos and frustration. However, he knew that he couldn't abandon his wife that way. If he couldn't be at her side, helping her through this ordeal, then he would wait until it was over.
So Jae-shin waited.
He waited, glowering at his friends, who eyed him warily whenever Ka-hai made a sound. He waited, resisting the temptation to call out to his wife during the times that she was actually silent, just to make sure that she was still alive. He waited, now stubbornly refusing the drinks Yong-ha still poured (but it appeared that the strain was getting to the other man, too, because when demand for the drinks disappeared, he downed them himself).
Jae-shin was seriously regretting his decision to stay put as Ka-hai let out her loudest, longest yell yet, but just as he began to contemplate fighting his way out of that room, the yell turned into a cry of relief. The other females exclaimed excitedly, and then a new sound joined the cacophony: the wail of an infant. It was faint at first, then grew stronger and stronger with every breath.
Stunned at hearing his child's voice for the first time, it took the new father a while to realize that he was receiving congratulations from all sides. "The baby has good lungs," Ka-chun observed approvingly.
"Takes after the mother, then," his brother laughed. "Congratulations, Ma-hyung."
Minister Moon beamed. "I am very happy for you, my son."
"But we don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet," his son remarked.
"The child will be special regardless of whether it's a boy or a girl, simply because it's the first."
Jae-shin's friends pounded his back happily. "Congratulations, sa-hyung," Sun-joon said. "At least I won't be the only first-time father around."
"That would depend on whether we both get out of it alive," Jae-shin replied with a crooked smile, then realized that his wife's travail was finally over. "I should go to her-I mean, them, shouldn't I?"
He started to rise, but to his surprise, Lord Cha shook his head. "You should give them some time to clean up," he advised. "And Ka-hai might want to brush her hair."
"I don't care what her hair looks like."
"She does."
Jae-shin wanted to protest, but he didn't dare contradict his father-in-law, who probably knew what he was talking about; and thus he waited again, more impatiently now that the birthing was all over. He supposed that it was prudent to give the women time to clean up, especially if childbirth was as gruesome as Ka-sar was making it sound; but waiting for Ka-hai to finish brushing her hair, of all things, did not make any sense.
Fortunately, this wait wasn't as long as the previous one; eventually, Ka-hai's mother, Kang Min-ah, came bustling into the room. "It's a boy!" she announced, her face wreathed in smiles. "The midwife says that mother and child are doing just fine."
That sparked another round of congratulations, more joyful than the last because now they weren't just welcoming a baby, but an heir.
Jae-shin was pleased that the baby was a boy, but he could not enjoy it as much as he would like because he couldn't go and see this alleged son for himself. He suffered through more of his friends' and relatives' well-wishes for a while, then glowered at the room at large. "May I finally see them now?"
His father chuckled and exchanged amused glances with his in-laws. "Yes, you may," he said, and gestured towards the door. "Go, go."
He ran.
Upon entering the bedroom, Jae-shin had to contend with more effusive congratulations from the maids who had assisted at the birthing. Only the midwife didn't bother to fawn all over him; instead, she looked up from putting her tools and medicines away to give him a piercing stare. "Don't touch her for at least two months!" she warned.
He was too startled to do anything other than turn red and stammer, "Uh... yes, ma'am." The maids giggled-whether at him or the instructions, he couldn't say-as they returned to their respective tasks.
"Two months," the midwife repeated emphatically and turned back to her packing, leaving Jae-shin finally free to address his wife.
She was sitting up in bed, her hair loose and apparently freshly brushed. A maddeningly mysterious bundle was cradled in her arms and he wanted to inspect it right away, but knew that it would be considerate to ask after her first. "How do you feel?" he asked, sitting down at her side.
Ka-hai smiled at him. "Like I got trampled by a herd of horses," she replied frankly, "but despite that, I'm fine." She glanced at the baby at her breast, the prize that had made her suffering more than worthwhile, and then back at her husband. "My lord, may I introduce to you your son?"
Proudly, she held him out to his father. Unfortunately, Hwa-sal-who would one day be called Lord Moon Jin-young-did not appreciate having his dinner interrupted and roared with outrage, loudly and continuously.
"I think he looks just like you," the new mother continued, smiling beatifically at the squalling infant. His features were more than a little distorted, but the midwife had assured her that that was only from childbirth and his bones would regain their proper shape soon.
Jae-shin peered at his son. "His face is red and he's screaming."
"Exactly," she answered with an impish grin.
"I'll take it as a good sign that you're feeling well enough to tease me."
"I'll feel much better once I've had some rest." Hwa-sal was allowed to resume nursing, giving his parents' ears some sorely-needed respite, and Ka-hai gave her husband a sympathetic look. "Were you worried?"
"It was a good thing I wasn't armed or I would have arrived here sooner. Of course," he amended, arching an eyebrow, "with the way you were carrying on, maybe I should have grabbed a weapon before coming in here."
She blushed. "You know I wasn't myself when I said those things, don't you? Besides, I barely remember half of them; and I think that what I do remember saying is physically impossible, anyway.
"At any rate," she added audaciously, "you have no choice but to forgive me. Not only did I carry the baby for nine months and suffer the pain of childbirth, but I've helped you fulfill your ultimate duty to your father on the first try. Aren't you glad that we're done?"
Jae-shin supposed that the next generation of the Moon family was indeed secure with the birth of a healthy son, but he wasn't going to let her off the hook so easily. "Oh, but we're not 'done' yet," he told her, feigning surprise. "Now that we've got the hang of this thing, we're going to need at least another son for backup. Haven't you heard of the saying, 'an heir and a spare?'
"And you know that we should have a girl, too," he went on, stroking a finger over Hwa-sal's velvety cheek. The baby, busily nursing, didn't seem to notice. "Our sons will need a sister to help them learn how to treat a woman right."
He was enjoying his (admittedly petty) revenge when the midwife had to go and ruin everything. "I said no touching for two months!" she snapped, clearly eavesdropping. "Do you want me to make it longer?"
Ka-hai laughed at her husband's chagrined expression and leaned over to give him a consoling kiss. "Let's make sure we can handle this one first, all right?"