Folly & Agendas & Talulah

-[Chapter 40]- "Happily Ever - Before"

"Aaa... aaa!"

Her tiny little hands reached for my face, and I lifted her up closer to my chest. I caressed her hair as she giggled with a wide smile. Her golden eyes sparkled with the last vestiges of sunlight above. My heart felt all warm and fuzzy as I embraced with all the love I can give. I was enjoying my quiet time with my daughter, brushing her face with my hand until-

CRUNCH!*

"Ow!" I shouted.

Blood trickled down an opening in my finger; bones looked mangled. A forced smile appeared on my face as I looked at my grinning daughter.

"Marzanna? Did you just bite mommy?" I asked softly.

"Aaa... agoo..." She leaned her head against my bosom as I examined my chewed finger.

"Rye? Would you be so kind and heal my finger for me?" I called in a sweet voice.

Kaiser Rye was just about done healing his wounds. Haley patted his forehead twice before he finally sat up. He stretched his arms and legs before he sent his reply.

"I don't think that I want to help you."

"But I am your loving wife, and I'm wounded," I teased with a coy smile as I held Marzanna close to my face, coaxing him into helping me.

"Can I hold her if I help you?"

"Sure. But you have to heal me first."

He walked over to me, sank to one knee, and held my fingers delicately. He pressed his hand over mine and emitted a warm light; I felt my skin reconnecting, my blood drying, until my hand fully healed. Then, when he was done, he snatched Marzanna from my arms, jumped up and started cradling her his arms.

"Does Marzanna like being with Daddy?" He asked playfully. "Does she? Does she?"

Haley giggled at the sight of my husband's bizarre behavior. Even I let out a grin as he seemingly danced from side to side. And then there was Marzanna's adorable, little smile. I couldn't help but feel excessively happy seeing Marzanna's beaming face. My heart keeps on melting and gushing with excitement –I fear my body will be unable to contain my elation and love for her.

And then, Marzanna sank her teeth into Kaiser Rye's bare shoulder.

"Ow!" He exclaimed as he lifted her off of him.

"Rye, she's teething, she needs something to bite," I replied.

"Why does it have to be me?"

"Because you're her father." I twisted my tongue on my last word as he writhed in silent pain.

Marzanna nibbled on his shoulder, splotches of blood leaked from her bites. Kaiser Rye, being a loving father, allowed her to gnaw on him, but his pain was reflected in his eyes; a few tears escaped as well, forcing me to stifle a laugh. My husband took a rag and wiped my daughter's mouth, now drenched with saliva with a hint of blood.

Haley took a seat next to me after she taking a swig of vodka obtained from the Yetis. She offered me her bottle, but I declined it, and delivered a glare piercing her eyes. She quickly –and noisily– put it away before asking in a hurried fashion:

"I wonder how you two met. I'm just curious."

"We go back many years," I said, hesitating if I should be proud or ashamed of our past.

I turned my head and looked at my husband's golden eyes. Marzanna stopped biting him for a quick second and looked at me with curious eyes. Then she resumed gnawing on his tail, at this point Kaiser Rye must have been numb. "You want me to tell her or...?"

"I will..."

Perhaps it was a chance of fate that we met. Inside a city of deceit, with officials craving wealth and power, warmongers stretching their hands past their boundaries, inciting conflict without a notice. Corruption ran deep inside their veins, and their descendants' veins. Yet amidst our tumultuous environment, our vile city, we stayed true to our hearts.

Our chat lasted for a mere five minutes, until it droned off into an hour. Kaiser Rye was pulled in and gave his perspective, but his words only aggravated me, until he knew when to silence himself. Now the night drifted above us...

"You two sure have a lot to tell your daughter," Haley remarked.

"Yes we do..."

I looked at my arms and saw my sleeping daughter, resting on my bosom and kissed her goodnight. Kaiser Rye wrapped a large coat around us, along with a scarf of his. A serene breeze flew around us. Marzanna's breaths were warm, with a few inconspicuous snores sprinkled into it. She sucked on her thumb while she murmured in her sleep, twisting her body until she slept in a comfortable position. With our playtime now gone, we decided to focus on more important matters regarding our next journey.

"So, we have everything we need to move," She said. "We have food, weapons, people. Now we can actually move south like you always said."

"We can," I acknowledged. "But we have many new members now, many of them don't share the same conviction as those who started with us. Sure they have assimilated into our various groups, but it takes one misstep for things to take a turn in the wrong direction."

"We have the Guerrillas and the Yetis help keep them in line if they start to act up."

"But we can only extend our hand so far until they begin to question us. I wasn't born poor and starving unlike everyone else. The last thing they want to know is that a former Ursus noble is leading them-"

"Then we will try our best to maintain our relations with everyone."

We turned our heads and saw Kaiser Rye striking a match. He threw it into a fire, and watched it rise. Then he kicked dirt over it, snuffing it out.

"We'll keep it safe. No one will know about it," He remarked.

A messenger came to my husband's side; a few Guerrilla Shield-guards accompanied them as well, towering over us in their bulky armor. They whispered something into my husband's ear before informing us of our status quo –I can rely on Kaiser Rye to deliver me their words. When they spoke to us, we discussed about our future plans, warned about possible army attacks, until they finally asked:

"Talulah, what will we do now?"

Kaiser Rye tapped my back before I rose to my feet. Marzanna was undeterred by our conversation, still held in my arms and I lightly cradled her. After a few seconds of thought, I answered:

"We will go south. More specifically, southwest. We will unite the Infected there, along with any other oppressed people and grow our numbers. A future is getting brighter by the day. Notify Patriot and Yelena, we will start moving when the harvest is ready. A future is right in our grasp."

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(A/N): Thank you for reading this chapter!

- I released this chapter later because I didn't have this ready before 41...

Note: I rewrote much of the second half of this chapter, as I felt that I was not being very descriptive and I was very lazy while writing this...

Godspeed to you all!