The Children // ASSASSINS CREED ODYSSEY // DEIMOS

C49: The Warmth

It was dark by the time Alexios came in to the small house they shared.

He never stayed away for too long but, like most nights, he'd been having thoughts he wanted to keep away from Eos... she had enough to worry about with the baby... although, it didn't stop her from being suspicious.

He had hoped that she would be asleep but, instead, she was sat next to the baby in her little make-shift crib.

"I think she wants you" Eos said, glancing up at him as he shut the door over. He looked behind him, that small little hesitation still in his step as he turned to them. It had been a few weeks since she had been born but, Alexios was still that little bit nervous when it came to her...

Eos watched as he picked her up, the babies eyes going wide and her little arms reaching up to him.

"I was thinking..." he said quietly, staring in to the babes hazelly coloured eyes, seemingly getting lost in them and losing his trail of thought.

"About what" Eos asked after a little moment. Alexios glanced up at her for a second, remembering,

"She needs a name" Alexios said. Eos smiled,

"I know" she sat back. Kassandra had mentioned the same thing just the day before. Except, naming her, it would make her even more real than she already was - if the sleepless nights and all the worry hadn't made it real enough...

But then, if Alexios was ready, Eos supposed she had to be too.

"What were you thinking" Eos asked him. It looked as if he already had an idea.

"I like Iris" Alexios admitted, tilting his head at his little girl as she tilted hers, her eyes already starting to get heavy.

"That's a pretty name" Eos agreed, her whole body aching as she took a deep breath - Hippokrates had told her that it would start to hurt less soon but, soon couldn't come quick enough.

The name though... Alexios had been thinking about it all day - a welcome distraction between the bouts of self doubt.

It was something he'd never had to think about it before, never wanted to but, it was a name he'd overheard, in a story a grandmother had told her grandson... Iris was one of Zeus' messengers and, it had made him think of Laelaps, of how - even though him and Zeus hadn't ever been on the greatest of terms - it was almost as if Zeus had sent Laelaps to her... and, now he was gone, he'd sent something else.

"Do you like it" he asked the baby, trying his best to ignore the pain in Eos' face as she tried to get a little more comfortable - he knew she'd rather it that way, the baby even made it easier to do just that but, it still made him feel terrible. The small babe blew a bubble then, as if she liked the name too, "Iris" he said again.

"Iris" Eos tilted her head, he looked so sweet holding her, so big but, so vulnerable, like he was actually happy...

"Then we're agreed" Alexios said, looking from one to the other. Eos sat up a little more.

"You know, that's the name their gonna cry about when they talk about the legendary Greek mercenary" - Eos said it with as much triumpth as her voice could muster - if only to tease him.

"Are they now" Alexios asked, not as fond of the idea. The baby looked to him, her confused little face not knowing what either of them were going on about. Eos smiled,

"Seems like it runs in the fam-." the door knocked, making Alexios flinch ever so slightly. Iris was wide awake then, her bottom lip starting to quiver as Alexios passed Iris to her, his eyes darting between the bundled babe and the door. Eos reached out to him, the tingle in his arm that she gave him, made him flinch again.