The cry of an infant sounded through the still night, a wail
that started out small and then increased in both volume and strength.
It echoed off the walls and down the castle's empty corridors and stairs,
all the way down to the royal kitchens where Lord Quinn, who had been
banished here by the midwife hours earlier, was venting his frustration
to his oldest and most trusted friend, Connor.
"I have fought battles, Connor! I have seen blood before! I've even
shed it! I think I can handle the birth of my child," he raged on, pacing
back and forth, just as he'd been doing ever since his banishment. Connor,
sitting quietly at the long table where the cooks prepared vegetables,
merely smiled and said nothing. It was true; though quite young, Lord
Quinn was a battle-hardened warrior and there was very little that could
shock him now.
"I should be there! This is our first child's birth!," Quinn took a
deep calming breath and let it out slowly, "But, no, you're right," he
grinned ruefully at Connor, who still hadn't uttered a single word, "I
suppose I was a little too... enthusiastic. I mean, even Khalia told me
to leave."
They both laughed and then froze as the baby's cry reached their ears.
Connor turned to Quinn; there was a stunned look on his lord's face. For
the first time tonight, Connor spoke. "Well, what're you waiting for, an
engraved invitation?" Laughing, Connor gave his friend a gentle push towards
the door. Quinn shook his head and then, with a giant grin on his handsome
face, literally ran out the kitchen doors and up the corridor.
Lady Khalia closed her eyes and heaved a deep sigh of relief.
The midwife, an old woman by the name of Nadira, placed a wetted
cloth on Khalia's sweat-covered forehead. Startled at the sudden
coolness, the young woman's eyes flew open.
"It's just for your comfort. You must rest now, my Lady. Aneemi,
my young apprentice, is checking your son now and he appears to be
fine." Aneemi, carefully swaddling the baby boy in a blanket, looked
up for a second and nodded in agreement.
Khalia gave a weak smile. "A son?" She'd been too busy giving birth
to notice nor ask for that information.
"Of course, my Lady. I am never wrong in these matters. Remember
my prediction 8 months ago? It was at the grand banquet marking the
beginning of the Wolf Moon." Khalia, normally polite and attentive
to everything, tuned the old woman out. It was known, among the
women of the castle, that Nadira liked to make predictions of the
sex of the child, sometimes (as in Khalia's case) 8 months before
the expected due date and liked to remind anyone who would listen.
This was her only fault, however, for it was also known that her
predictions were never wrong... and that she was an exceptionally
skilled midwife.
A quiet voice spoke from somewhere above her. "My Lady?" Khalia
opened her eyes and realized she'd dozed off. Nadira was gone and
her apprentice, Aneemi, was offering her a small cooing bundle. She
stretched her arms out and took the bundle, extremely aware of the
tiny life inside. At first, all she could see was his eyes, a deep
green like his father's... then her vision went blurry, due to the
sudden tears pouring down her face.
"Mistress! Come quickly!" Aneemi paled and bent to peer at Khalia.
Despite being a midwife's apprentice for nearly a whole year now, she
was still very young and had never come across this reaction before.
Three seconds later, Nadira burst into the room, followed closely by
Lord Quinn. The old woman took one look at Khalia and sighed in apparent
relief. Placing a hand over her heart and trying to catch her breath,
she moved out of Quinn's way.
"Khalia, what's wrong?" Quinn kneeled next to Khalia and gently
wiped her tears away with his thumb.
Khalia gave him a slightly embarrassed grin. "Absolutely nothing, my
love. Our son is perfect."
"Our son?" Quinn seemed to notice, for the first time, the tiny
form in his wife's arms. He let out a shuddering breath. "I... we...
we have a son?" His eyes lit up. "A son! Khalia! We have a son!"
More tears rolled down Khalia's cheeks. "I know, Quinn!" She laughed
joyously." I know!" For the next few minutes, the Lord and Lady of
Summer simply gazed at their newborn son.
Quinn finally tore his gaze away and stroked Khalia's long black
hair and kissed her tear-streaked cheeks. "My beautiful wife... my
love... when can we have more?" There was a teasing glint in his
normally serious eyes.
Nadira spoke up. "Not for awhile, my Lord. My Lady must heal before
she can--"
Quinn threw her a cheerful grin. "I was joking, Mistress."
"Oh." Nadira actually blushed and began to gather her birthing
equipment. Aneemi, hiding a smile, started a quick clean-up. Quinn
turned back to Khalia who, having been instructed how months ago,
was now attempting to feed her baby. She gave a small yelp of pain.
"Position him this way, my Lady." Aneemi pantomimed the correct
way. Finally, Khalia heard his tiny swallows.
"Thank you, Aneemi."
Aneemi smiled. "You're welcome." Nadira motioned her towards the
open doors. The young apprentice bowed her head in a respectful "My
Lord. My Lady." and followed her teacher out of the royal bedchambers.
Quinn didn't notice their leaving; he was proudly watching Khalia and
his son. He'd never felt so happy in his life. Leaning closer, he softly
kissed his wife's lips. "I love you, Khalia."
"And I you." she replied, gazing lovingly into his emerald-colored
eyes.
Nadira quietly closed the bedchamber door and turned to face her
apprentice. But Aneemi spoke before she could say anything.
"I apologize, Mistress, I thought something was wrong... the suddeness
of the tears... I should've --"
Nadira cut her off. "Hush, child. You're still very young and have not
experienced the full emotions of a new mother. Not yet anyway." Aneemi
blinked in surprise. "So you had no way of knowing if that was a normal
reaction. Which it is. You did well tonight, Aneemi." She yawned widely.
"They will call us if they need us... sleep well, my apprentice." She
left Aneemi standing there, silently wondering if the old woman knew of
her secret.
Aneemi slowly wandered down the corridor to her room, thinking. No, she
decided. Nadira couldn't possibly know. Not even her best friend, Ceri,
knew and she, being Connor's sister, would've been the one to notice the
attraction Aneemi had to Connor, but she hadn't. No, her secret was still
secret. Aneemi smiled and undressed for bed.
Dawn always came early in Summer, heralded by the vibrant songs
of Nchala birds. The brightly-feathered ones were singing a slightly
different melody than their pastel kin; changing in pitch, both songs
complemented each other so that despite the obvious differences, they
made the listener's heart warm and light. Most of them, anyway. There
was one person in residence that found their 'incessant noise' mildly
annoying, but he put up with them for one very simple reason: they always
made Lady Khalia very happy and seeing her radiant smile made it that
much easier to overlook the daily annoyance.
On this bright morning, however, it wasn't the Nchala's ever-changing
melodies floating through the open window of the Guard's quarters that
annoyed him; they didn't even awaken him. No, it was the soft footsteps
nearing his bed that did it. Breathing as if he were still asleep, the
young man carefully gripped the dagger he always kept hidden under his
pillow and waited.
The footsteps continued for a moment, then stopped. "Connor?"
Surprise made his brown eyes widen slightly at his littlesister's excited
voice. "Are you awake? Is it true?" Conner sat up and placed the
dagger back under the pillow. "Geeze, sis, you shouldn't sneak up
on people like that. I could've hurt you." He rubbed his face tiredly
and glared at her in mock irritation. "Is what true?"
Ceri's tone was indignant. "I was not sneaking! I never sneak..."
She crossed her arms and, tilting her chin upwards in teenage defiance,
glared right back at him, then shrugged her shoulders. "Well, not much,
anyway." The barest hint of a grin tugged at the corners of her mouth.
He couldn't help himself; he laughed out loud at her spunky attitude.
It felt good to laugh and he knew that that had been her only reason
for acting that way. It was one of the many small things she did to
keep the people she loved in good spirits. And sane.
After he, Ceri, and Quinn had come to this world, Connor discovered
that a part of himself had died along with his planet; that terrible
experience had changed him. Ceri, not long after they'd arrived here,
had given him two Falla orchids, one in full bloom and the other dead
and withered. She'd said that the flowers represented him; the living
one before the invasion and the dead one immediately afterwards. He'd
said nothing. She wasn't being mean, just incredibly insightful for a
child. And he knew she was right.
Then-9-year-old Ceri's own reaction to the total destruction of their
people and home had been a depression that had very nearly swallowed her
whole. It was only after a shy orphan girl named Aneemi, herself 9 years
old, befriended Ceri and helped her to grieve that she had regained most of
her former self. She now laughed, joked, and had made a friend out of nearly
every living being they'd met. She was like the sun once again, bright and
full of life.
Quinn had reacted differently, becoming so surly and bad tempered that
Ceri once called him 'The Walking Frown' during a heated argument about
nothing. It had made him laugh out loud (for the first time in months)
and the name had stuck, becoming from that moment on her personal teasing
nickname for Quinn when she thought he was being overwhelmed and needed
a little humor. Quinn had always pretended to be extra angry whenever
she called him that but, as Connor noticed, he'd always had a tiny smile
on his face afterwards. Obviously, Quinn's sense of humor wasn't gone,
it was just buried somewhere deep inside him. It was almost as if he'd
thought that by laughing or being happy in any way, he were somehow
betraying the memory of everyone that had died on their world. He had
stayed in that frame of mind for quite some time. Until he met Khalia;
it had been she who'd succeeded in healing Quinn's spirit. Anyone with
eyes could see that Khalia's warm, gentle influence on him good; she'd
made him remember that it was okay, even necessary to smile and laugh,
to enjoy good food and good friends, to enjoy every waking moment. She
had reminded him that life wasn't always full of pain and sadness. And
now, 7 years later, he was no longer the 'Walking Frown', much to Ceri's
and Connor's relief.
Connor, as he watched his little sister lose the battle with the grin,
thought, No, I haven't lost my whole world... I still have my sister
and my best friend. They've found a way to heal and I will, too. I just
need more time, that's all.
"So... is it true or not?" Ceri raised a slender eyebrow. "Has she
given birth yet?"
Connor, wide awake now and in a slightly better mood, decided to tease
her. He raised his own eyebrows in apparent shock. "Who? Rima? I didn't
even realize she was pregnant... how could I have missed that? My own
dragon. I wonder who the father could be? Incidentally, little sister,
dragons don't give birth, they lay eggs. Surely, in all the years that
we've been here, you must have noticed--"
She snorted and rolled her dark eyes in disgust. "Oh, you know very
well who I'm talking about! Why won't you tell me?" But there was some
amusement in her young voice now; she knew that he was only teasing her.
"Oh, alright. Yes, Khalia gave birth to a little boy almost..." He
cocked an ear towards the open window; the irritating Nchala song had
ended moments before. He smiled inwardly and then finished his sentence.
"... almost 5 hours ago."
Ceri immmediately began a happy little dance in front of his bed. She
had been waiting "Forever!", as she'd put it so many times these last
few months. "I'm an Aunt! I'm an Aunt! Aunt Ceri!"
Upon catching sight of the bemused expression on his face, she tried
to regain some of her 15-year-old dignity. She stopped dancing, folded
her arms behind her back, and coughed lightly. "So... have they chosen
a name yet?"
Suddenly, without warning, she jumped up and slashed downwards to her
left, quickly executing a one-handed series of cuts and jabs. With a
supple flick of her wrist, she brought the weapon into her other hand.
Swinging the blade up and around in a high defensive guard, she then
snapped it back down and under for one final blow, exactly where an
enemy's belly should be.
As she moved, she thought back to all the strange things she'd heard,
all the dark whispered rumors about the monsters who had invaded and
destroyed the Star People's distant home. She wasn't sure she believed
every detail in the stories she'd heard, but she knew, and had known
from the first moment she had ever seen them, that the 3 who'd fallen
out of the sky were being at least halfway truthful; that they had been
through something terrible. Pelu had a gut feeling that if all the stories
and warnings that Lord Quinn kept giving the Guard were completely true,
then perhaps one day she just might have to battle whatever terrible
creatures had left the haunted looks in their young eyes.
And so she trained, utterly determined that she would uphold her Guard
oath, that no harm would befall her people. Parry, thrust, block, thrust,
lunge, parry, twist, block, block, ect...
She was deep into her exercises, trying out a couple of new moves they'd
been taught earlier that week, when 3 hard knocks sounded on her door. After
a moment, the wooden door opened and 2nd-in-war Manaiawa walked in
and stopped, staring. Curious, and realizing which way the sword was pointing,
she quickly lowered her blade and saluted him.
Manaiawa, formal as always, waited 3 full seconds and then returned the
salute. After assuming an inscrutable expression on his dark face, he spoke.
"As you know, the Lord and Lady have been expecting their first child. This
morning, he arrived."
He? A brief smile flickered across her features. "Have they chosen a name
yet?"
The 2nd blinked. He hadn't anticipated that particular question. "They have
not." He cleared his throat softly. "They have, however, decided that they
need more... security. Protection."
At his carefully spoken words, Pelu felt a slight unease but hid it well.
Need more security from what? she wondered. The rumors came back to her
instantly, but she dismissed them.
"What kind of protection?" she asked instead, knowing full well that he
would not even be talking to her about this if she wouldn't be involved in
it. She just hoped she would be up to the task.
"Lord Quinn came to me, not more than 20 minutes ago. He has reviewed
your record and has decided that you are well suited to act as Bodyguard
to the Lady and newborn Prince. You are to report at midday to Lady Khalia.
No doubt, she will explain your duties fully."
There was a short pause. A dark shadow of an emotion passed through his
eyes, one which she couldn't read. "You have a question?"
"Yes." She shifted slightly. "Why me? There are other, more experienced
soldiers."
"He insisted." There was a definite flash of anger in his eyes this time,
but it had disappeared just as quickly as it had come. Pelu wondered about
that. She'd seen it a few times before in his brown eyes; always directed at
her, always when she was selected for something important. Her fellows had
whispered their explanations for his anger, but she'd dismissed them as she'd
done the rumors a minute earlier. She had her own theory... one that made her
tremble inside. She started to wonder what she would do if her's should prove
right, but stopped immediately, remembering that her focus was now required
elsewhere.
"I see," she replied calmly, saluting once more. "Thank you, sir. I will
report as ordered." Manaiawa nodded, returned salute, and left.
Pelu, newly-appointed Bodyguard to Lady Khalia, raised her pale blonde
eyebrows thoughtfully and then returned to her morning exercises.
