medicalling | Open Post

"Half a dozen what now?" Had he paled at the thought of it? Slightly. He'd just found her. He was selfishly not ready to share her with anyone yet. Least of all children.

"Children," Sansa says, giving him somewhat of a blank look. "I presumed that we would have children. Is that not the way of things between mates? We don't have them in Westeros the way this has happened, I don't know how it's supposed to go."

Is she unable to have them now because she'll be a part of him? Sansa isn't sure.

"No, no, it's... well, it is, yes. Just a moment." He blinked quickly, then moved to go to the kitchen to start the kettle. This talk needed tea. "Children. I honestly hadn't thought that far ahead. Now? Do you mean to want to try for them now?" Was the room spinning? No, that was just his head.

“I imagined they would just be a natural consequence of being together. I know how children are made, Rowan. You didn’t expect me to take moon tea every month, did you?”

Sansa swallows a bit. “I did with Ramsay. It’s possibly I cannot even have children with as many times I used moon tea to keep him from fathering one on me. Tansy isn’t good for a woman.”

His mind was flitting through the words she said and the future, but it latched onto one thing. "If anything has been done to your body, it's easily undone by my hands. You're not infertile."

He pulled out the tea, putting it in the pot while waiting for the water. He was trying to sort through his feelings regarding children, since it hadn't been anything he'd ever truly sat and thought through.

"Oh," Sansa says, slightly astounded at that particular bit of news. It seems that he can heal anything, even a barren womb. Her dream of children isn't lost, then, unless Rowan doesn't want them.

"Well, we do not have to have children," she says cautiously. "If it troubles you to think of it."

The water boiled and he was quiet as he poured the water into the pot, then set the kettle down, lifting his gaze to her before he let out a soft sigh. He came over to the table, coming up behind her and carefully draping his arms around her, resting his chin on her shoulder. "I'm not against the idea of children. I have to admit I just haven't really given littles of my own any real thought. But I'm not troubled by it... not entirely."

He kissed her cheek, arms gentle around her. "Not entirely. I'm troubled by the idea of it immediately. I just found you, love. I'm a selfish, selfish man, and I want you all to myself for some time before I'm to share you with children. I want to have vacations with you, spend time in bed just talking with you, showing you the world and where you can fit into it without the responsibility of also having to take care of children. I want us to have time for ourselves. Then, aye, I'd be happy to talk about children."

"Well, I'll have to do something to prevent conception, then," Sansa says. The onus is always upon the woman to prevent such things and she isn't unused to that, considering her previous situation. She just simply has to know what is available here and use it.

"Then we won't have to worry about it at all."

"There are a variety of methods that can be used. I'm also aware of when you'll be fertile," he said, tapping his nose, "so precautions can be managed then. Or we could abstain." He had to offer, even if he didn't like it. But he wouldn't expect or demand her to go through things for his benefit when it was her body being affected. He'd get a vasectomy if that wouldn't put a whole world of issues into the mix. Not to mention that his father might just kill him if he thought he was incapable of breeding. A half breed would be acceptable. An infertile son would not.

"You can smell it?" Sansa hadn't been aware of such a thing and it makes her blush deeply. It is absolutely personal, knowing when her body is doing what, and knowing it won't be private makes her feel shy about the whole thing.

"I suppose that's rather useful," she says awkwardly. "Even if it is...a bit strange for me. I am glad my husband couldn't do that."

"Humans can pick up on it slightly, but it's usually subconscious. There's a subtle shift in your scent. I've noticed that some paired couples wind up being a bit more amorous during that time, and it's likely a subconscious reaction to the scent. And I'm also very glad your previous unworthy bastard couldn't pick up on it." What humans could discern and what they couldn't varied. They could do more than most of them realized, but that would require them willing to embrace the animal part of them, which so many were keen to leave behind.

"Well, I hope it isn't a bad scent," Sansa says primly. "Because it isn't as if I can control such things. I try to make myself smell pleasant no matter what time of the month it may be."

Smelling her is new and she'll just have to get used to it just like she's getting used to so many things.

"How do I prevent conception, then? We only had two ways back home. The man could pull away at the last moment or the woman could take tansy. I did the latter, naturally."

"It's an enticing scent. It's what it's meant to be. It changes so that you become more alluring, because the draw is to engage in mating." Straightforward biology was much easier to explain for him.

Her reply had him rolling his eyes, and he scoffed. "The 'pull out' method is not nearly as effective as anyone who practices it claims. Everyone forgets about precum. Tansy... it has lingering effects. There are a variety of ways. There's something that a doctor can insert up inside you that makes your uterus not capable of being host to a child. It's small, but the procedure is uncomfortable. I would suggest painkillers for that. Then there are hormonal medications, either pills or patches or injections. There are surgeries, but I wouldn't want to suggest those, as reversing it requires another one, and I don't think it's necessary to put you through that. There are latex sleeves that slide on over the male member. There's work on hormone pills and such for men, but the main focus has been on the bearer of the child, which, if you ask me, is ridiculous. And wouldn't work on me, so for us, it's a nonviable option."

He ticked things off on his fingers, moving to go get himself a refresh on his cup of tea.

“We should just do whatever you think is best. You’re a healer and know about these things and my knowledge is limited at best,” Sansa says.

“I just did not think we had a need to prevent a child, is all, and I have to wrap my head around that for a moment. Before everything happened to me, it was the only thing I wanted. I wanted to be married and have children. Now I have something different. No marriage, no children, and a world I do not understand. I have to trust that you give me the best advice as to what to do because medicine and healing is not what I am good at or trained in. I do trust you, of course, but it is a frightening thing to do so when I have been so misused in the past. At least with tansy, I knew what I was doing and what I was risking.”

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