“You don’t need to decide right now,” Elion says, his voice soft as sunlight filtering through leaves, the tv fading into the background as you focus on him.

He’s good with the kids, always has been. They cluster around him like saplings around a venerable oak, eager for his knowledge, his kindness. The sight warms your heart, but it also stings. He wants this—children of his own.

Elion has been asking for a while. And he’s made it clear before you two even married that he desired a family.

Maybe it’s time for you to stop pushing it off.

It’s been a century since you two met together in matrimony beneath the ancient twilight skies of your homeland. Even you know his patience, as vast as the ocean, will start to wane. You don’t want to risk losing him to someone else who’d be more than willing to give him what he’s always wanted—children.

His crimson eyes meet yours, shining with a hope that's both bright and fragile. “Take your time, but just know that I’m more than ready.”

You’ve seen him with his young students at the Royal Academy he teaches at. How they flock to him, how his patience never wanes, how his laughter fills the air. Elion would be a great father, no doubt about it. So why is it that you keep avoiding the topic?