"A little cramping," Zelda admitted. It was terrible to discuss medical matters with Ari, of all people, but she knew that she had very much dug her own grave here. She simply had no other options - it was not as if one could just roll up to the hospital with matters like this! "And I've been tired. But I thought that was just because I was nervous."

Tiredness was a pregnancy symptom? Everything was terrible, and Zelda's grip around herself tightened. She couldn't be pregnant. She knew what happened to girls who got pregnant - and it was not as if Mr. Darrow was around to be forced to marry her.

With a tone that she forced to be upbeat, Zelda professed: "No nausea, though!"

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   Ophelia Devine

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AMAZING set by MJ

"It could well just be nervousness," Ari agreed, hoping that it was a mere side-effect of Zelda tossing and turning about owning up to this than the penalty it might be. So: some cramping, tiredness, no nausea (yet). That was fairly inconclusive, and if she was pregnant it was admittedly still early days; but from all he knew of pregnancy, women seemed almost able to sense it - or at least could tell when they did not feel entirely like themselves.

(Concern was doing an exceptional job of wreaking havoc on him right now, too, Ari considered, feeling his stomach twisted in knots.)

"It might be a bit early for sickness," he murmured. But she would know when it hit her, undoubtedly. "And it might be a bit early to tell at all for sure," Ari confessed, hating that he had to be saying any of this, "but, any pain or discomfort, anything that feels unusual to you - if it persists - could be your body trying to tell you." Starting to change. Beckoning forth calamity. However you wanted to phrase it.

"Ordinarily," Ari began, after a fraught pause, trying to look at her in reassurance and finding it near impossible, "I suppose I'd say be patient -" see if your monthlies come, or the nausea hits... However. Zelda was not a married woman, she was a nineteen year old girl with a job and no formal attachments and a father who would be thunderous about this, so patience would only push the potential problem a short distance down the road: preparedness was a better bet. "But we should work out what we're going to do, just - in case. If you... are."

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Zelda had thought about this.

J. Alfred Darrow was not the marrying type - or, rather, he was not in a position to get married. He lived on a boat, which suggested he had no money. He was also on the ocean, away on the expedition, and if he came back then it would not be for at least another two months, when this situation would be even more in crisis mode, and her father would know.

Zelda didn't want to have a wedding at wandpoint; her husband would resent her for the rest of their lives.

And if she had a baby without a husband - that wasn't even an option. She would lose her job, her siblings, and any limited esteem her father had ever had for her.

"I can't have a baby," Zelda said, looking down and away from him again. Her voice cracked. "I know what happens to girls who have babies without... And he's not even here anymore, he's on the expedition, I can't have his baby."

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   Aldous Crouch, Edric Umbridge

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AMAZING set by MJ

Ari stood up, as if standing up would help him to think. He felt a little better for doing so, strangely; perhaps it was the false sense that movement instilled, that there was some possibility of outrunning the future if one started early enough.

There was no outrunning this - for either of them (Ari had said we and we he meant: Zelda had told him, after all, and what sort of a brother would he be to refuse the responsibility when it was so sorely required?) - but Ari paced away from the chair anyway, turning restlessly to his bookshelves as if this would allow him room for a newfound revelation.

No, she couldn't have a baby. She couldn't. His gaze raked across the rows of books, not seeing any of them until the healing and herbology titles came into focus, the knowledge he'd collected since he had started training in the field. Childbirth was not his field of expertise, and... nor was the opposite. It would necessarily involve some sort of toxin, poison, and that in itself violated every ethical oath about doing no harm unto patients, never mind the legal ramifications -

"The expedition?" Ari asked belatedly, turning about and drawn out of his head into sudden bewilderment. What with the more pressing element of her news, it had slipped his mind to even inquire. "Not the one to Avalon? Who is he?" The news that had crossed the Prophet about the explorers hadn't registered on his radar far beyond that - that it seemed an impossible adventure, setting out on a ship to somewhere that may not exist.

Ah.

Zelda had been thinking about marriage, then. Or its impossibility. Well, it saved him from suggesting it himself, although it severely crippled the short list of options that she had. He could feel the wave of panic rolling off her, rippling out and through him like he was immaterial. Ari dropped down onto his knees in front of where she was sitting, putting himself squarely in her gaze and grasping her hands together into his. "Hey," he soothed, unsure of whether she was even really ready for this conversation.

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The following 1 user Likes Ari Fisk's post:1 user Likes Ari Fisk's post
   Edric Umbridge

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Ari's hands on hers were enough to send Zelda crumpling forward, burying her face in her brother's shoulder. She didn't cry, but she did breathe heavily, tightening her grip on his hands. This was the sort of thing that happened to other girls, stupider girls, not to her. Zelda was supposed to be smart, and clever, and here in the course of the year she had found herself in love with her sister's ex and, when that faded, possibly knocked up by J. Alfred Darrow.

"J. Alfred Darrow," Zelda said into Ari's shirt, voice muffled by the cloth. "He was leaving and I think he's going to die and I just..." The timing had been terrible. The timing had been terrible, and so Zelda had been sad and wanted to talk to him and somehow being sad and wanting to talk to him had turned into not wanting him to leave.

"And he left and I'm still here and I don't want to have a baby, Ari," she said, really almost crying now.

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   Ari Fisk

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AMAZING set by MJ

J. Alfred Darrow, she said.

He could hear her distress as it spilled out in her words, as she squeezed his hands, nestled into his shoulder. He knew how worry felt well enough - could tell that she cared, really cared about the man.

Her helplessness hurt him. "Shh," Ari said, saying whatever he could to settle her worries despite the fact the utter last thing he wanted right now was for his sister to end up in Darrow's company again, "he's not going to die, of course he's not going to die. From what I've heard, he's rather good at not dying." He extricated one of his hands from her grasp to enfold his arm around her properly, resting a hand there in reassurance, in case the words didn't do. "Whether he gets to Avalon or not, I'm sure he'll be back right on time."

He had almost managed a huff of laughter at the thought of the lunacy of that adventure, but it sank down again at the thought of Zelda having a baby. His tone grew quieter as he reached up to stroke her hair, his eyes flickering up to the ceiling again before he said, "And you don't have to have a baby. There are ways to stop it, I promise. You don't have to."

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   Ophelia Devine

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Ari's words were really the first time that Zel thought of Mr. Darrow coming back - while the thought was a relief, she also knew it might bring more trouble. She had faith that he would not tell anyone, but - well, she'd lost her virtue to him. She really rather liked him. Even if she wasn't pregnant, there were still problems to be had. What if he came back all famous and fashionable and no longer wanted anything to do with an over-earnest girl with too many siblings and a lack of tact?

She sighed against Ari. That made relief blossom in her chest, although surely such methods were dangerous, and possibly - plausibly! - illegal. But she wouldn't have to have a baby. She wouldn't have to parent, or - hopefully! - tell their father, or deal with the shame and the fury. She would not have to have a wandpoint marriage.

"I love you," she said quietly.

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   Ari Fisk

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AMAZING set by MJ

Ari only wished having a plan invoked any relief in him at all. Zelda might not realise it - he did not expect her to - but something like that... she’d be putting her life in his hands, would be risking more than she knew, and Ari could not pretend to feel at ease with it.

But he would have to. “Love you too,” he replied, closing his eyes for a moment and letting out a quiet breath. He loved her, and the last thing he wanted was to cause her any more anxiety than this situation had already demanded, but - oughtn’t he tell their father? If it came to her taken ill and having to recover at home in bed, the only alternative would be lying outright, and Ari had always been uncomfortable with lies.

On the other hand, there was still a scrap of a chance that it wouldn’t come to that, and though he knew he really should enlighten Brannon about this, let their father do as he saw fit... well, Zelda had learnt her lesson from this already, hadn’t she? So perhaps he could justify saying nothing, not yet.

He hoped she had, and that the sting of her error would not be washed away with the evidence of it. But if she did care about the man - was clearly awaiting his return - there was still potential for alarm. Ari would be more careful, from here on out: he would have to have words with Julian; keep a better eye on Zelda himself; perhaps even enlist Ros or another of the more diligent Fisk siblings to do so as well... “Promise me, though,” Ari said, pulling back to show how serious he was, “you have to promise me this will never happen again.”

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   Elsie Kirke, Ophelia Devine

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Zelda laughed into Ari's shoulder, a hysterical sort of giggle. "Never," she said, "Never never never. Never again." She didn't care if she had to be celibate for the rest of her life, if she was never married, if everyone thought her unlovable and boring. She never wanted to experience this again - the fear, the confession, any of it. Whether it had felt good or not - and it had felt good, in the throes - she never wanted to experience any of this aftermath again. Even if she actually was pregnant it was not worth it, because she was going to see the look on Ari's face every time she so much as thought about it. And the thing was - what would she have done, were he not a healer? Confess to Ros? To Brannon? Hope that her family shielded her from the consequences as she quit her job and invented an aunt to help?

She could never do this again. And she wasn't going to. Not even if Mr. Darrow came back, and not even if he begged her. (Seeing as she had partially instigated, this outcome did not seem particularly likely.)

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   Ophelia Devine

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AMAZING set by MJ

Whatever her answer had been going to be, Ari had not entirely expected to believe it - he would not put it past Zelda not to simply tell him what he wanted to hear - but there was a little too much truth in her manic giggle to doubt it. The lesson of this, memory of the fears and emotions wrecking her right now, would stand for long enough to make her second guess the risk again.

He thought, perhaps, that he should make her promise not to see the man again at all - the demand was on the tip of his tongue - but he supposed it didn't need saying, not now. Zelda was smart about things, usually. Perhaps the potential pregnancy was scare enough to kill whatever interest she still had in him, and the warning would only be unnecessary. Mostly, Ari was tired, and he imagined - if her giggle had not been enough proof - that his sister was far more overwrought than he, and the last thing he wanted to do right now was steer them back to her fears about Darrow leaving and dying and not coming back at all. Making her promise not to see him again - it'd feel a little like jinxing it, now.

"Good," he just murmured instead, letting out a sigh of relief and almost a smile. He might not be able to - oh, who was he fooling? he worried when there was nothing to worry about, of course he wasn't going to feel relaxed about any of this - but he hoped he'd convinced Zelda that she didn't need to panic, after all. That he would always be here to help, no matter what. "Then I'll promise you that you'll be okay. It'll all be okay."

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