Chapter Text
Another day in Cavalry, full of training, sweat and missions.
Nothing was much different from their normal days - complete training, go on a mission, complete it, come back, if you're not injured, continue training and go to sleep.
Of course, no one gets a mission every day (if not, they'll be likely forced to train all that time, of course- only if they have no other task or if they are not injured), because there is a need for patrolling, in which the Cavalry members take turns, and also paperwork, which is mainly the responsibility of the commander, his assistant, Kanna's division, and It is also necessary to make reports from their missions.
Not that anyone complained out loud - they were Cavalry, after all.
It was an honor for them to serve their Orr Empire, their Commander, and his highness, the Emperor.
They felt stronger with each fight.
The commander was kind, Yuder strict but definitely a good trainer and nice person, and the members got along well.
And the pay was good.
So what could they possibly complain about, apart from training?
Maybe paperwork, but about that another time.
Everything was going smoothly, that is, until a few members of the Cavalry encountered a small problem on one mission.
A QUITE LOUD, a small problem.
....
Yuder supervised the training of the other Cavalry members, having already completed his tasks and gotten the Commander's tentacle-like hands off him.
He stood amidst the chaos of shouts, attacks from various elements and weapons, playing around him as if it didn't concern him.
Watching for every hesitation, every mistake, every weakness.
It's been a while since the Cavalry was unified and a while since the first training was done.
Since then, training has only increased, but the Cavalry members have gotten used to it quickly, they no longer had that initial hesitation, they made far fewer mistakes and they DEFINITELY, at least the majority, have learned that even though Yuder never really said anything to anyone slacking off, it was clear that he noticed or knew when their training suddenly increased dramatically.
But no one complained - they knew they deserved it.
Most of them stopped after being forced to run 8 more laps after slacking off, but there were still those who hoped he wouldn't notice.
What dreamers.
Unfortunately - not all dreams come true
But one can hope.
Everything seemed normal until Yuder received an urgent letter from Devran.
Devran, Steiber, the twins, and Kurga were sent on a mission nearby this morning after receiving a report of another monster appearance.
To Yuder's relief, no mention of injury, but rather..... Of an awakened toddler?
According to the report, the child did not allow anyone to approach, making it impossible to check the child for any injuries.
For any normal person, the journey would take at least a day under the best conditions.
Yuder did it in 4,5 hours without stopping, right after he reported to the Commander where he was going.
Yuder learned the toddler's ability as soon as he arrived at the scene, without having to ask or go any closer.
Meeting a toddler with the ability to increase the power of it's voice was quite ironic in a way.
It seemed like the other members were already irritated from the sound, and several of them were already bleeding from their ears.
They should have written it in the report.
Yuder could have taken a first aid kit or even Lusan with him.
Devran tried to mouth something to him, give him a hint, but Yuder didn't understand any of it.
Trying to communicate with each other would be pointless, everyone was covering their ears with both hands, so they aren't able to hear each other anyway, and they can't even use any other hand communication techniques they learned, because their hands were busy.
And their abilities in this situation could not be used in any way without harming the child.
Yuder saw the reason they sent for him.
But before Yuder could create a barrier of wind and water around the toddler to protect them from the sound of crying and then maybe approach, a opportunity arose that made Yuder literally jump.
The toddler's crying increased for a moment before the toddler stopped for a second, finally taking a proper breath, considering it had been crying for HOURS (Probably after waking up it gained much higher stanima).
Yuder jumped after the toddler, quickly scooped it into his arms, and held it close.
Even though the original plan was to gently knock it out.
Even though it was dangerous.
Even though he himself didn't know why.
It all happened so fast that he didn't even have a chance to register what his body was actually doing.
It all happened in the blink of an eye, and when the toddler opened his mouth again, Yuder had just managed to create a barrier around his ears and around himself to protect the others.
The next cry that left the toddler's mouth was even louder, but also short.
As if it only registered that someone was holding it after a few seconds, it suddenly stopped and snuggled up to Yuder's neck, to everyone's relief and surprise.
It seemed to have fallen asleep.
A vast silence reigned
The twins were also quiet for a moment, before they caught their breath and began to rejoice, only to be quickly silenced by Steiber.
"Hah- yeah!" "We did it Hinn!"-
"Shhh!! Quiet, or do you want to wake it up?!"
Even though Steiber whisper-screamed at them, it didn't seem much quieter.
It seems that after all that crying, Steiber, and probably the others as well, have lost all sense of volume.
Yuder quietly approached Steiber, himself still internally confused about how it worked, but decided not to dwell on it much longer.
"Steiber," Yuder began quietly, "You have children, right?"
"Huh- yeah" Steiber replied a little louder before quickly realizing he might wake the baby up and repeated himself more gently, but still as loudly, "Yeah, even though they aren't even kids anymore now. Why do you ask?"
Steiber must have read Yuder's lips or something, because if talking that loudly sounded normaly to him, then Yuder's quiet voice was not heard for sure.
"I don't know anything about babies. Am I even holding her correctly?"
"Uh- wait, her?" Devran asked quietly from the side as he approached them.
All he got in response was a nod and a point to the pink embroidery on the blanket she was wrapped in.
•~EMMA~•
The twins, Steiber and Kurga quietly approached and peeked at the blanket and then at the innocent-looking face that had been making them suffer for the last few hours.
Now, as they looked at her, they noticed that in her front bangs, those light brown soft hair, she had a bow tied with a small string to her right side, so that she doesn't have it in her eyes.
She looked around 1 year old well-nourished too.
After really looking at her now that he finally got the change, Steiber began to look more at how Yuder held her, as he had asked.
"Your holding is good, but you must support her head a little more. Give her to me - I'll show you."
Yuder felt a strange feeling at being forced to hand her over but didn't give it any further thought and ignored it as he began to hand her over to Steiber.
But as soon as she was handed over to Steiber, she started to fuss a little.
The Cavalry members only flinched at this (except for Yuder), but then continued as if nothing had happened.
For a moment it looked like she was searching for something, she opened her blue-gray eyes for a moment and then-
she started crying again.
Her loudness forced those around her to cover their ears, but poor Steiber couldn't.
He was still holding her - his ears were still exposed.
Yuder quickly took it back, just as Steiber started to bleed once again from his ears.
With that, even Lusan will have trouble helping him hear normally again.
When Emma was back in Yuder's arms, her crying turned into a normal child's cry and then gradually died down as she climbed up Yuder to his scent glands.
It seemed like it was his pheromones, that calmed her down.
Wait - His PHEROMONES.
Normally, even the younger ones would awaken their second-genders when they were at least 10.
That meant-
She could be the child of two awakened ones??
Although it was hard to believe, especially since it was rare - even rarer that she survived and looked healthy, Yuder didn't have much choice at that moment..
And this theory made the most sense.
Yuder released a little more pheromones, which seemed to calm her down more as she slowly began to close her eyes.
He tried to hold her properly, carefully on her head, as Steiber had advised him, even though it didn't look like Steiber could perceives properly or hold out any longer.
It looked like it would be a long night and an even longer journey back.
Yuder just hoped that his colleagues would be okay in the end and that he wasn't holding Emma wrong as not to hurt her later.
Yuder never thought he could feel worse than after fighting dozens of monsters at once, but here he was.
And that just from trying to take care of a toddler.