Short and random. If you haven't read The Wise Man's Fear, you won't get this.

He Who Laughs Last Laughs Best

It had been three days since Penthe had given birth. It hadn't been an easy delivery, and as they weren't family, Vashet hadn't yet visited her. Now, she arrived to Penthe's room and found her up, sitting by a table, deep in thought.

"May I?" she asked, fingers forming a polite inquiry.

"Come in," Penthe replied, still looking somewhat absentminded.

"I hope you're better," Vashet said, sitting down too.

"I am." Thank you, her hand added. "It was... hard, but nothing to beat me."

"First delivery can be difficult, I've heard," Vashet said with sympathy.

A wry smile. "Not in your case."

"I was lucky," Vashet admitted. "But so were you. A girl." Congratulations.

Penthe said nothing, neither with her mouth or her hand. Vashet made a tiny, hesitant gesture. "Is something...?" Wrong, she finished with her hand. Respectful inquiry.

"No..." Penthe glanced at her, then looked away at a small figure lying in a cradle. "Not... wrong. Beautiful. But..."

She stood up and gingerly picked up the tiny baby. "Yes," Vashet started to agree, seeing the delicate face. "Very bea..." She fell silent. Stared at the fine, soft baby hair. Glanced at Penthe. For a short moment their eyes locked, before they both looked away, vaguely embarrassed.

"A funny... coincidence," she muttered, fingers twitching as if not knowing what to say.

"Yes," Penthe agreed quietly. "Funny. Coincidence."

They sat a long while there, in silence, watching the little sleeping baby, thinking of a young man with his ridiculous, barbaric notions of man-mothers, a young man whose hair was of the same blazing red as Penthe's daughter's, as Vashet's barely three-week-old son's.

As I said, just something silly. xD Heh, what kind of a civilized person would believe in man-mothers? In... what was the word barbarians had for them... fathers?

I wonder if there's anyone who didn't think about this... :p