How time had flown! It felt like yesterday when he lifted the veil off of her face in the pale light of the Chapel, and the usually sparse rows were adorned with garlands of cloth flowers. In hindsight, he could understand a fraction of the deity's design for the Machinarium's wings. That Chapel had been placed intentionally, and she perhaps expected to hold weddings in it. In time he was given more freedom to move about, and was no longer confined to the walls of Antikythera. Less than half of his time was spent here, the rest in his estate in Kurayo. When the hour of their child's delivery was near, he found himself the last to know. Rushing to the medical ward, he found the doors barred and sealed. He could hear Nerine on the other side, and sounds of many others running about.
"Nerine? Nerine! Someone open this door!" Pounding on the stone and metal, the Steward's voice responded back. "You need to wait outside Sylvain." "Open the door! What's happening in there? Let me see her!" He shouted. She replied back coolly, "No, I'm not letting you in. She needs to go through the stages of natural delivery, you know that. This all normal, so take a seat outside and wait." A chair materialized from the floor, taking shape into a cushioned armchair beside the medical ward's doors. Still anxious, he tried to force the doors open, only for the hinges and handles to disappear and the doors to merge into a single slab. Pounding his fist one last time, he relented and took the seat provided to him with his head in his hands.
Childbirth was commonly described as a time when a woman had one foot in the grave. Mothers passing away due to childbirth were not uncommon, and though his wife was a Rosenite there was always that possibility. What he feared the most was if she did survive, but the child did not. She would be heartbroken, for a lack of better word to use. Losing a child was more painful to a Rosenite than what other races would experience. Human mothers who suffered a miscarriage often fell into a downward spiral of depression and illness. If such a thing happened to Nerine, her spirit might never recover.
He closed his eyes and dug his nails into his hands as he heard his wife scream, then that scream was followed by silence. The silence was the worst of all. But then…there was a tiny cry. A flurry of commotion began, and he ran to hear. Pushing against it, he almost fell when the slab turned back into a set of doors and unlocked. Rushing in he saw his wife on the bed with Coppelia dabbing her face, while the others were holding something bundled up. "Congratulations Miss Nerine, you have a healthy son." No words could describe how he felt at that moment. As she held their newborn child, he went to her side. She looked up at him, tired but with happiness. "He has your eyes." Looking down at the infant, he saw their boy drift off to sleep. "I think they're more like yours." He said with a smile. Behind them the rest of the staff was cheering, only for someone to tell them to quiet down. Galatea sternly placed a finger to her lips. "No loud noises, you'll wake the child." There were murmurs of disappointment which didn't last long, and soon new living quarters were prepared for them both.
"You have three months off from work, use them well. If I catch you trying to do work on your paternity leave, I'll be breathing down your neck." Shiloh said, pushing him out towards the new wing she had designed for them. She always had an odd way of expressing her sentiments, and by now he had learned to decipher some of her intentions. As Auron would describe, she said nice things in a way that sounded terrible. Entering, he saw Nerine was resting with their son in her arms. Seeing him she smiled, and when he pulled up a chair to take the infant from her she asked him: "What should we name him?" In all that excitement and frenzy, he hadn't given it much thought. "What did you have in mind?" He asked her. Folding her arms, she looked thoughtful. "I've a few ideas, but I'm not sure. Adrian, Marten, or Griffin? I'd like to hear your thoughts as well." Sylvain began going down a list of a few he thought might sound good. "Alright then. Efrain, Marcus, Karel, or Lysandre?"
Nerine reached and gently caressed their son's cheek. "…Lysandre. It's a beautiful name." The child opened his pale blue eyes and cooed, blinking slowly. "Lysandre it is. Do you like your name, little one?" He said to the infant, handing him back to his mother.