Mari waved a goodbye to the boy before wandering back to her room. She found herself sat in a little chair in the corner, reading up on a baby book of all things. She'd read it a few times over by now... but she still wanted to make sure everything was all sorted. She wanted everything to go perfectly for the little lad or lass... she wanted to give them the best life the could, so that they didn't have to live a life like her or Sages, so she supposed that was where this drive had come from.
The queen looked over to the door when she heard the knock, which was followed shortly by the creek of the hinges. She hollard for him to come in and gave a bit of a smile, something that would hopefully calm him down a little bit. He seemed a bit tense, and he really had no need to be. "Come sit down," she hummed as she gestured to a seat. "Congratulations," she stated before looking up from the papers. "Mari told me the news - sounds ever so excited," she mused before shaking her head. "The doctor came to talk to me earlier... something about a job at the yard. Is that something you'd like?" She asked with a cocked head. "And there were two horses... the stallion and a filly, if I'm correct? How would you feel if I gave you the stallion and gave you the care of the filly?" She asked curiously.

Sage cocked his head slightly at the queen when she hollered for him to come in, and sat down on the edge of the chair, still rather tense even though the queen seemed to be in a good mood. "Er ...thank you," he stammered out, not used to the queen being...well...pleasant to be around, let alone congratulating him for something. He'd figured she'd just be complaining about how he shouldn't have gotten her maid pregnant because she had to work. He cocked his head, sort of staring at the woman's shoes under her desk, not willing to make eye contact as he nodded. "you don't have to pay me much," he murmured quietly. "I've been doing it anyway...I enjoy it down there...and I know I'm not much..." He trailed off, not wanting to argue but also very aware of his rank. Had the queen forgotten or just gone mad? He wasn't a rank of worth to be a maid or anything, and he was confused as to why she'd pay him at all for something he was already doing. Though, when she mentioned giving him the horses, his jaw dropped and he couldn't help but look up at the queen, staring at her for a moment before dropping his gaze and retreating again. "Of course, but I...I mean, your majesty I'm...why?" That was all he could manage to sputter out in the end...why. His mind was whirling....of course he was happy, but she hadn't bothered to like him at all, she made things difficult for him, she hadn't even thanked him or checked to see if he'd survived when he'd saved her life ....so why was she being so nice now? And to him especially. He just didn't understand.

The woman sat patiently for a little while as the boy stammered his questions to her. Normally, she'd probably be a bit annoyed by it... but she wasn't exactly as stressed out as she normally would be, and she liked Mari - she was a good little worker and to be honest, she didn't want to upset the girl by being horrible to someone she cared about. Plus, if the boy was going to work down at the yard, and had been doing so without being told to, then she supposed she needed to reward him somehow... she could recognise when someone worked hard, and he was doing just that. Besides, there was no one else looking after the horses, so she might as well have him do it. "Don't worry yourself... you're. You've been here long enough and I do trust that you'll take care of all the horses down there," she hummed quietly. She couldn't help her amused us at the boy when he seemed shocked. The main reason she was willing to let him have the horse was because they didn't use him much... and, well, to be honest, she was terrified of the doctor. But she wasn't going to tell the boy that. "I need to repay you some how for saving me, do I not? You certainly didn't have to," she told him lightly before shaking her head. "It's the least I can do," the woman then added before gesturing to the door. "Now off with you before I change me mind," the older woman warned with s slight chuckle.

Sage sort of fidgited about in his chair while the woman went on about trusting him and rewarding him and whatever else she'd said. He had stopped paying attention when she'd thanked him for saving her life, either way...he just couldn't understand why she was saying this now of all times. But he stood up and shuffled out the door, rather quickly admittedly, and cocked his head slightly in response, shrugging a shoulder as well. "You're worth quite a bit...I'm still just the tavern boy. My life isn't worth nearly as much as yours," he murmured before slipping out the door.

The woman just shook her head at the boy. To be honest she'd stopped listening once she'd said what she'd wanted to say. She didn't care what the boy thought, she just wanted to know if he wanted to work down there or not. She knew she'd been... harsh when the boy had first arrived, but tensions were high then and to be honest she didn't have time to deal with some boy that just seemed to cause trouble... but it was strange to see the boy seeming so skittish. She'd hoped he'd be relaxed after her eaten and gotten comfortable, but he seemed a bit funny still. Oh well... it didn't bother her that much. It just meant she didn't have to go out and find someone to take care of all the horses.

Admittedly, sage relaxed quite a bit once he closed the door behind him, and then even more once he was out of reach of the woman. He wandered back to their room and flopped onto the bed with a weary sigh. He hummed a greeting to Mari, but his mind was still running in circles. Eventually, he decided that he should probably just accept it and move on, but then he was still curious about how much she'd pay him and everything else.

(Short, I have a game today lol)

Mari smiled slightly to the boy when he wandered into the room. She hummed a greeting before cocking her head. "What was she wanting?" She asked lightly, her head slightly cocked. She wanted to get showered and off to bed... but she was also wanted to find out what on earth was going on with the queen... and why she wanted to talk to sage about.

(sorry this is super duper short lmao.)

Sage glanced over at Mari and grinned at her before pursing his lips and shrugging. "Well she said congratulations, for starters, which was surprising enough," he hummed, lacing his fingers together and resting them on his abdomen as he stared at the ceiling. "Then she offered me a job at the barn. And gave me chaos. And said I could train and back mystery." He was still rather surprised by it all but once he lay down he realized how tired he still was. He sat up and sighed before hauling himself to his feet and holding a hand out to the girl. "why don't we shower and get to bed," he suggested tiredly.

(I think I'll have him have a nightmare and a bad few days or something lol)

Mari hummed softly to the boy, giving a bit of a grin after a moment or two. "Well what's amazing, isn't it?" She thought so... and if he was making a little bit of money they'd be able to do more this baby of theirs. And he could do some more things for himself, too... which would certainly be good for him. "And with Chaos - I know how much you love that horse," she then added lightly. She nodded when he offered her a hand and took it, resting her other hand on her stomach lightly. "Sounds like a plan," she mused softly before wandering into the bathroom and flipping the warm water on. She quickly got unchanged and went to stand in the shower, just enjoying the warm water.

Sage hummed and smiled softly. "Yeah," he agreed. "It was just really surprising," he chuckled. He squeezed the girls hand happily as they walked into the bathroom before letting her go and then quickly undressing before slipping into the warm water and away from the cold air. He slid over next to the girl happily, though still rather tiredly. He was more than content to stay in the warm water, though after a certain point it wasn't super warm anymore, so he decided it was probably just time to go to bed.. for both of them. They both needed rest, and he was honestly going to fall asleep in his feet in a few minutes of he didn't sleep soon. But it had been a pretty good day, and he was excited to be able to make his own money and help support his family.