Queen Andromeda Vela of Ilta was days away from having the child, but she was still glowing in her wedding gown. Her stomach had grown a bit more, but not so much that she couldn't fit. Odda and Sansa fussed over getting her perfect for her walk which was to happen in only minutes, while Arya spoke to Jon before the ceremony began.
The ceremony wasn't to be big or too grand, it was just two lovers being married, for the second time. Andromeda didn't have her crown on her head, because neither would Jon when she arrived at the altar. They would be crowned together, bound again. Only this time, everyone important to them would be there. All but Pandora.
"I'm not nervous, I think that's you, Sansa." She teased the red headed Queen of the North, who had once again left home to support her brother.
"Trust me, there is no other person in the world that I would rather Jon marry." Sansa smiled. "I'm just happy that you two will finally be happy. And then this little bundle of joy you have that's ready to make its appearance any day will only make you stronger."
"You'll be here to see it, Sansa." Andromeda assured. "What do you think it is?"
"No baby talk!" Odda hushed playfully. "This day is about you and Jon, let the babe's birth date be his day." She paused, looking at the two women. "It's definitely a girl."
§
"And who gives this woman away?"
"I do." Odda said, stepping forward and putting her arm into Andromeda's. She was going to shut her eyes, but a spherical shape flicked right past her and hovered by her side for a few moments, on her right side. Andromeda almost cried as she watched it leave, as she went to watch from above with the rest.
Andromeda let out a solid breath before she began her walk. Her dress, dark blue and gray, strangely complemented the bright Targaryen red pin that she had in her hair. She was to be a Targaryen and a Vela. She entered the scene, a scene of flowers and trees and sand, something not uncommon in Ilta. They could hardly be seen in the dark of the night, but she didn't care. The stars were looking down upon them, and if they approved, they would shed their light upon them all. The moon was giving enough light for now.
She could barely see Jon, but she knew where she was going. She could feel him, she could feel everything about him as she walked in his direction. She felt his excitement and his nervousness, but she couldn't feel any uncertainty. She felt the same.
She made it to the altar, where the Septon and Jon stood waiting for her. She looked out into the very small crowd and saw the some of the people she loved the most, and she looked to the sky and saw the ones she loved even more. They were all there, all there for her and him.
She barely even listened to the vows, barely even felt anything but Jon's hands and her racing heart. Before the Septon could ask for them to say the words, a sudden bright light exploded from the sky, and it was almost as if it were light already. Gasps and shouts of shock drown out the Septon, who looked about ready to die from the surprise. When Andromeda looked away from Jon and to the sky, she saw the brightness of the stars.
All of their constellations were bright. Every single one of them, lighting the sky like their own little suns. They all approved, and what was even more meaningful to her was that they were all watching. She kept looking in awe and joy, her eyes tearing up more and more as she watched them burn even brighter. She smiled and nodded slowly, thanking their acceptance. She sniffled and brought her attention back to Jon, who had been looking at her almost the whole time.
"You really are beautiful, Andromeda."
She smiled and resisted the urge to hug him so tightly that they could hardly breathe. "Not as beautiful as your curls, my love." She looked towards the Septon in the new light and nodded politely.
"Say the words," he urged carefully, watching the two.
Her voice shook only slightly as she said the emotional words, the words that bound them far less than they already were, and than they always would be. "Father, Smith, Warrior, Mother, Maiden, Crone, Stranger. I am his, and he is mine, from this day, until the end of my days."
"Father, Smith, Warrior, Mother, Maiden, Crone, Stranger. I am hers, and she is mine, from this day, until the end of my days." Jon wasted no time kissing her, slowly and passionately, lovingly. The sky lit up again, even stronger, celebrating however many miles away. There were polite claps of the crowd, sparing a few that were much louder than the others.
"My brother!" Arya shouted, clapping in a way that Sansa and Lady Stark would have scolded. Instead, Sansa looked on in pure joy, clapping just as loudly. Next to her stood Ser Davos and Gendry, who couldn't have been smiling bigger.
Andromeda grinned at Jon and kissed his cheek. She turned her head up to the sky, looking at all of them individually. "Thank you." She whispered, tearing up again before blinking them away. "Jon, we're married!"
He looked her in the eyes again, both of their eyes happy, content, in love. "In my heart, we were always married." They kissed again.
§
Andromeda could hardly feel anything but pain. She tried to think of anything else as she screamed, anything. And then she remembered the night that Jon had came to her to talk about babies.
"You think they'll have silver hair?" Jon asked Andromeda, stroking her own hair. "But our hair is dark."
"I'm sure you carry the gene," she joked. "But I'm very sure of it. All of them will have silver hair, I can feel it." She rubbed her pregnant stomach lovingly, and his hand floated over hers.
"So if they have my hair, well, Targaryen hair, and your last names, will their first names be Stark names?"
She laughed. "Maybe the girls can have names of the stars, like my mothers children, and her mothers children and all before us." She said, just thinking. "Maybe the boys can have a Targaryen name, a Stark name. And the girls will be mine."
"They'll all be yours, and mine." Jon said, knowing she was just playing. "But that sounds fair."
"I think so, too." She agreed. "The girls will have a name that suits a Vela, and the boys will be named like Rickard or Aerion."
"He will not ever be named after the one who drank wildfire. Nice name, but no."
"Push!" The midwife yelled, and Andromeda squeezed her husband's hand as she pushed.
"Oh, fuck." She gasped out breathlessly. She could barely open her eyes, but when she did, she saw Sansa, Jon, and Odda all hovering over her, and Gendry at the door. "What, Davos squeamish?"
"Lay down, My Queen." Jon said, pushing her off of her elbows gently. "He can't stand child labor."
"Huh." She sighed, feeling another contraction coming. "Neither can I."
Several hours later, she was still pushing. She was surprised she didn't defecate on the birthing table, and she was surprised she hadn't bled out.
"Your Grace, almost done!" The midwife managed to yell calmly. "The baby is crowning."
Sansa crouched by her head, dabbing the sweat off with a wet cloth. "Hey, you're almost done!" She said encouragingly. "I think it'll be a boy, what do you think?"
"I think it needs to come out," she grunted, her nails digging into Jon's hand. He didn't even wince as he looked at her face turning red, her eyes starting to water from pain.
"You're doing great." Jon assured her, stroking her hair. She wasn't even paying much attention to him, more at the feeling of her baby slipping out.
"One more push, Your Grace!" She screamed one last time, all of her energy spent on pushing it out.
"Is it healthy?" Jon asked, his words jumbled and nervous as he refused to leave Andromeda's side. The baby screamed loudly, almost as loud as his mother was. Gendry stood at the door, a mix of wonder and disgust. He had never seen a baby he brought into the world, and it was still bloody. Is that how it was supposed to look?
"It's a healthy baby boy," the midwife said, not even washing off the baby before handing it to the awaiting mother and father. "With a silver crown."
"What did I say?" Andromeda mumbled, still sweating as she and Jon tried to hold to baby together. "He's big."
"Vela women always carry with small bellies." The midwife said. She was rather old, so of course she would know.
"This one's mine." Jon said playfully. "He will be Saeron Vela, of the houses Targaryen and Vela."
"Oh, Andromeda. He's beautiful." Sansa said softly, looking upon the child that was by blood her cousin, but would be her nephew at heart.
She looked upon the child, smiling brightly. "You got the first one, Targary-" She was cut off by her own pain, stomach pain. Jon took the baby before he could fall, and watched in terror as his wife started to shake again. "What..." she trailed off, starting to scream again.
"Dear god, twins." The midwife said, kneeling by her womanhood again.
"Give Saeron to the midwife so that she can wash him," Sansa ordered, nearly pushing the midwife out of the way. She was going to see this one come out. "Okay sister, just push him out."
"Another boy?" Andromeda shouted, not as angry as she appeared. It was rare to have two boys first as a woman of her family. Usually, a girl was born first. "Oh!" She shouted, banging her head onto the table.
"Calm down, Jenny." Jon said, just as in pain as she was, so he thought. "You'll get through it, and we'll have two beautiful children."
She wanted to look up at him through the tears, but she could hardly move. All she could do was push, push, and nothing else. She only wanted it out, that was all she knew.
"Close, Andromeda. This one is crowning, too." Sansa said, wishing for her poor screams to stop. She knew that it must have been painful, for Andromeda to scream like that. She was gutted and didn't scream, there was no way she would scream if something didn't hurt. "He's coming!"
A small little head welcomed a small little body, crying loudly as the baby joined the world. "Damn!" Andromeda shouted, feeling the damp cloth touch her head again as she caught her breath back.
"She's tiny," Jon said in awe as he held her, her tiny body. She was much smaller than her brother, significantly so. "Is she healthy?"
The midwife walked over with Saeron, checking her twice, and nodded. "Just small. She looks very small compared to your big little boy, but she's alright."
"Are you sure?" Jon questioned.
"I've been doing this so long that I will swear it on my life." She said gravely. "She's healthy."
"She?" Andromeda gasped. "My daughter. Let me see my daughter." She looked at the little girl, who was red faced from crying, and she had to hold in her gasp. "She looks just like my mother."
"I don't think she looks much like anyone, she's just born." Jon joked, flinching when he received a look from her. "Okay, okay."
"My god, she's going to be queen someday." Andromeda said breathlessly, still sweaty and smiling. "I can't believe this. With your silver hair growing." She touched the silver wisps softly, like she was touching a frightened animal. "You're small, but you're going to be a strong one. Like your mother and her mother before her. You need a strong name, my daughter." She paused, thinking. This baby would grow to be a warrior. "You shall be Titania."
§§§
Titania was fifteen years old, and had grown to be exactly as her mother thought she would. She was strong and playful, and she had a wild imagination. Her silver hair always fluttered in the wind, whether she was running or pretending to be a leaf in the sky, being picked up and carried everywhere, to anywhere she wanted.
Saeron was a boy that was just as playful as his sister, but he wanted to read. He was a reader, a singer. He took traits from both Saros and Andromeda, something she loved. He was a boy who never wanted to cut his hair, for he was proud to show his Targaryen roots.
After Saeron and Titania came their daughter Phoebe, who liked to weave and dream of princes and dragons and knights. She was a hopeful girl, a lovely girl. She always had her hair braided, for she liked it out of her eyes when she was weaving. She was gentle and kind, and it was clear what side of the coin the gods had made her land on. She was how Elara once was, and how Sansa was before she went down to Kings Landing. That scared Jon.
Aemon Vela was their second boy, the boy who loved swords. Anything that was sharp, he wanted. He found his mother's spear and wished to be trained with it, he was proficient with a bow and arrow at his young age of eleven, and he was a sweet boy. He wanted to be a knight, just like Hyperion. When he uttered those words to his mother, she knew that with everything in her heart, she would not hold him back. But she would train him as she had been trained, and she would protect him from her brother's fate until she couldn't anymore.
Their last boy was named Eddard. He was only nine years old, but he was a mirror of his namesake. Not so much his physical, but his personality was as if Ned Stark has risen to reside in his great nephew, as of showing Jon that he always cared. Eddard Vela was exactly like Eddard Stark, and in turn was like his own father. That made Jon proud beyond words.
They had a stillborn, a daughter. She was born with no heartbeat and without breath, and it broke the couple for years. They were scared to try, scared fail again after her. She was the only child that had brown hair, and they named their stillborn child Soraya, a name that would forever be unused again in Ilta.
Their final child was their most difficult and nerve wracking labor, a labor lasting thirty three hours. She inspired an extraordinary name for the most extraordinarily hard labor that Andromeda had ever gone through, which sealed the deal that this child would be the last. They named their last child Cassiopeia Alula, a name not a soul could forget. She was only five, but difficult enough already that by the time they finished uttering her name, they were already scolding her for another thing.
§
Andromeda watched Jon with the children, him playing around with them as if he were their age. A smile graced his lovely face as their children ran after each other, silver hair bouncing like springs.
"Cass!" Jon shouted, the five year old girl running past all of her older siblings and nearly tripping over god knows what. "Slow down!" He finally caught up to her, twirling her in the air as her soft laughter floated, the sound lighting Andromeda's heart.
There had been many times she felt that way. When she was next to Jon in bed, she felt that way. When she walked with him or danced on the clouds, she felt like she herself was floating, like her heart was soaring. But watching him with the children they had together was something different. It was one of the many moments that Andromeda Vela knew that she would move every star in the sky for him, and all the galaxies for her children.
***
um okay, that's a whole wrap on sun and stars!! i literally can't type without starting to get emotional, but thank you all so much for this opportunity and for coming on this ride with me, even thought at times it truly was shitty. you guys are forever my ride or dies, my support system lmaooo :,))
you guys are free to continue with my less than amateur writing with other books i have out. robb stark and arya stark fics are here sweeties. i'm big sad, and signing off from sun and stars.
Lys