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Eden listened, nodding as Callie presented her opinions between the two. ”You’re right. I’d like to be able to bring her around my grandparents too. Sir and Ma’am wouldn’t freak over a floating stroller, but a cushioning charm is definitely easier to hide than temperature control and water-repelling charms.” He grinned at her mention of being able to go over grass and rocks would be very useful around his family. ”Sand and mud is probably a bigger concern. And it’s not like we’re going to dump the stroller in the pool.”

The one thing Eden was actually confident about when it came to this parenting thing was teaching his kids to swim. He had taught Mattie and Callie how to swim, and he still enjoyed the occasional hour of laps.

He patted the grey one, scooting it around and checking the other features. ”It doesn’t fold, but it does say shrink-safe so we can shrink it away at home and enlarge it when we need to and nothing will fall out of place or whack or anything. And it looks like there are places we can attach additional things, like a tray or cup holder.”

He glanced up and noticed a few carriers and pulled one down that matched the gray of the stroller but had little white stars and circles. It had quite a few straps, but what Eden was looking at was the tag, which boasted that would let it comfortably conform to parent and baby’s body shapes without inserts. ”If we’re decided on the stroller, how about this for a carrier? Suitable for 3 to 23 kg, so quite adaptable and we could both wear it. There’s an extra pocket here we could fit a heating or cooling pad or some bluebell flames. Price wise…that’s not too bad. We could pick up a few of the stretchy wrap things with pretty designs for wearing at home, but this could be something for going out somewhere we don’t want to be dealing with a stroller.”

Eden smooched his wife’s head with agreement as they decided on the grey strolled. Callie also seemed to like the carrier, although she mentioned she might not be able to pick up their baby once she was 23 kilograms. ”Hopefully our little star would be scurrying around on her own once she’s that big anyways.”

He put the carrier in the basket still floating near them and pointed to the shelf on the other side. ”Looks like more of the wraps over there. We can check them out for nice patterns on our way back with the baby clothes. Maybe even find a matching set?”

Eden squatted next to Callie as they went over what they needed. ”Car seat is definitely more of a muggle store thing. I don’t think of it as particularly high priority, but it would definitely be a good thing to have for trips to the city and the like. You know, when we can’t just apparate.”

He helped Callie up gently. Part of him wanted to insist she rest, but he would also prefer they finish the shopping and get her home where she could relax than have her falling asleep on the rocking chair in the middle of the store. Although…maybe having a rocking chair at home would be nice too, if it was comfy enough for that. He made a mental note what it looked like so he could come back another time. A rocking chair in the child’s room where Callie could rest while rocking their daughter to sleep would be a lovely treat.

There was one particular swing prominently on display in the shop: it hung from the ceiling, had a chair that could be swapped out for a bench-seat as the child grew, and came in a variety of wood and seat colors. ”Plus there’s a deal,” Eden noted, indicating a few of the swing-cushion options. ”Buy a swing and patterned cushion set before June and get a free plain-color cushion.” There were a few options for patterns, but nothing that would fit a planetarium theme, at least at first glance. Oh well. If they had the swing in the living room it wouldn’t have to fit a theme. Pity though.

”Her daddy apparently took forever to learn to walk and then wouldn’t stop running around,” Eden quipped, returning his wife’s gentle smile. Sometimes, moments like these struck him– were his own parents ever so lovey-dovey like this? Did they look forward to his and Mattie’s births like this? He knew the stories–Ma’am had been in a check up with another fellow army medic when her labor contractions started and the patient had had to call for another doctor.

Eden had seen plenty of painful things in his training as a hit wizard and then a mediwizard, but he didn’t want to imagine his Callie going through anything like that. He didn’t want her to suffer or be uncomfortable at all. But at the same time, it wasn’t like he could grow the babe for her. ”Not at all,” he replied, pulling Callie closer with a mischievous grin of his own. ”And if you need anything, you don’t hesitate to ask, okay? You don’t even need to stand if you don’t feel up to it.”

”Wingardium Leviosa.” he instructed, lifting the indicated swing slightly off the ground so Callie could examine it without crouching down or bending. He examined the bouncing swing as well, keeping one arm firmly supporting Callie. ”It seems to have a different play function,” he agreed. Did he and Mattie use these kind of toys when they were little?

”I’m okay with either,” he admitted, leaving the decision up to Calliope. ”If you’d like both we could even come back in a few months and keep an eye out for discounts.”

Eden had shrugged when Callie mentioned it surely wouldn’t be too difficult to make a slip cover in a way that matched their color scheme. He didn’t know much about making things like that, but if his starflower thought it was a simple task then he trusted her judgement on the matter. But he was turning the idea over in his head and now thought that perhaps having everything related to their daughter be of one cohesive theme might make it easier for the kid to learn what was hers after all. It was like…having a set of materials requisitioned to her.

Hey, if she was going to have such a starry room, what about a starry name?

“Hey. I was just thinking. Do you have anything in particular you want our little girls’s name to mean or anything? Like…a favourite constellation or something?”

Swing picked out, the couple wandered towards the bath area nearby as he asked about names. Callie pulled out her wand, tapping the air as she spoke. The constellation of Virgo…that was the Virgin, he remembered.

Eden just stopped and stared as Callie continued, an adoring smile softening his features. He knew she was an astronomy and astrology and all things starry night sky nerd of the upmost degree–hell, Callie had tutored him when it came to Astronomy. He knew she was aces at Mythology. But his cheeks still flushed when beheld his star chaser so passionately thinking through their daughter’s name.

”Persephone.” he repeated, trying the word out. ”Persephone Harper.”

The golden lights twinkled out as Calliope sighed softly and remarked she wanted his input as well. Eden hadn’t really thought about baby names as a young man. ”To be honest…I don’t really. I guess…I like shorter names? But not really?”

He knew his own parents had named him Eden and his sister Matilda simply because they thought the names sounded nice. They didn’t mind the Christian mythological meanings of Eden. Captain John Rhys happened to be a captain and mutual friend of his parents when they were dating, but it was a surname. Rose wasn’t even Ma’am’s favourite flower. Eden… It was just..his name. There was nothing to like or dislike about it. He didn’t exactly have a nickname–beside Knight, but that was exclusively for his Starflower.

“I mean, what am I supposed to offer, rifle names? Springfield, Ruger, Mauser, Remington are hardly cute names for a baby girl.” He made a face. “I guess we could abbreviate it to like…’Spring’ or ‘Remy’. Remy Harper?”

He shrugged. ”Colt? Zastava? Hehe.” Zastava Harper sounded kind of cool, but it also didn’t really sound like something either of their families would come up with. He mused a bit more, reaching back for something from History of Magic that he might remember. ”Narcissa? I always thought Narcissa Malfoy was maligned in historical texts. But I’m not so attached as to name our child after her. If there was anyone…what was Kuiper’s given name? The astronomer. I liked him. G-something…Gerald? Geraldine? Geraldine Harper…But I still don’t know what any of these names mean.”

”I still think I like Persephone best. We could nickname her Percy. Or…what was the other name Persephone went by?”

Callie was bursting with ideas and name meanings, offering names and their meanings. We should definitely both agree, and hopefully she agrees too,” Eden mused. Although Fate may speak her word. Sometimes his beloved starflower said things that Eden only partially understood, but after so long together he knew that some of the things Callie said he wasn’t supposed to hear, but feel. This was one of those times. They would continue to mull over names of course, and maybe one of them Fate would cast a red dot on. Or whatever name they chose, maybe their child would prefer another. Unconsciously, Eden held Callie affectionately closer.

”One shorter then and another longer? Spring Persephone’? No no.” He mused on, throwing out historical thoughts, and smiled amusedly when Callie perked up when he mentioned the astronomer. ”Gerard, hm? Maybe we just use Kuiper as a name? No, no. Perhaps if she were a boy. ” Callie tugged him over to a shelf of books and soon started flipping through a hefty book on names and name meanings–that seemed the kind of thing that ought to be in a library rather than a store! Who would buy a whole book on names only to use it–”Ah. Mrs. Knapp must have such a book,” he mused quietly. That explained how she picked out all of her childrens’ names and middle names. He wondered if two of them accidentally shared a middle name.

He decided he liked Persephone the best anyways and picked up a book about the seasons. Callie, the mythology expert between them, came up with a bunch of names that Persephone the goddess also had gone by, but nothing really stood out to him–Fate was quiet still.

Instead Callie offered switching mythologies. Brigid, the Celtic Goddess of the poetry. Eden flipped the page to the book’s explanation and read aloud. ”Brigid, meaning “exalted one”... Irish Mythology…associated with poetry, healing, and blacksmithing.”

Next to him, Callie gasped with excitement and Eden looked up as she drew a chart, connecting Calliope, Persephone, Brigid. ”Persephone Brigid Harper,” he murmured, tasting the words in his mouth. ”Persephone Bree Harper.”

“And she shall be a poet who shall write amongst the stars.”

Eden gazed into the endless skies of his wife’s eyes. ”I think Fate has spoken her name.”