Standing on the bank of the river, she seemed mesmerized once again by the waves, the sound, the simple power of it. It was almost as if she were gaining strength from the waters. She pushed everything from her mind, but the task before her, for there was nothing as important as bringing this new life into the world.
A pain stabbed through her, that made her bend almost double with the intensity. Her hand went out, and it was taken by Rook who had been standing nearby. In a pained, breathless whisper she told him it was time. Sweeping her up into his arms, the elder warrior carried her back to her wagon, and up inside to lay her to the furs. He would send for a healer. Her head shook. No, there was no need, she had done this before without the aid of one, and she would do it again. She bid him to send kasra and juneau in, and to have Gabriel take Tug to her family's wagons for the night.
As he stepped out onto the platform, he began to give orders, even the old standby one to boil water. It was going to be a long evening, and he began to pace, his own memories going back to settle on the night his beloved had given birth to their daughter. He has sought to stay with her, but he could not bear to see her in such pain, and was more in the way than he was of aid, so he was sent away to wait. And that is what he would do this night. He would wait, as men have for generations. Giving birth was a thing of women.
The afternoon drifted into early evening. This was a stubborn one. The baby made it known that it would enter into this world upon its' own time and its' own terms. Ahn after ahn, she lay there trying to will herself through the pain, until she was near the brink of exhaustion. But from somewhere, she drew upon a reserve of strength as all women do, and persevered.
Never have two slaves felt so helpless. Juneau was the one that took the lead, with keeping water to a simmer over the brazier, laying out the things that would needed as instructed. All efficiency, as she usually was. And it was kasra that held her hand and mopped the perspiration from her brow, offering words of encouragement, trying not to show her own fears. It was kasra that supported her as juneau held the cup of cool water for her to sip from.
Never had a day seemed so long, or so painful. She drifted in and out of consciousness between contractions, her dreams haunting her. Far away voices calling to her, telling her they offered peace and relief from the pain. Visions of her mother drifted in and out, and not visions of how she came to her in her dreams, but flashes of images of that night her brother Gabriel was born. The night his birth took her mothers life.
No one had ever known that she had been there, hiding in the darkness listening to the screams of her mother become weaker and weaker. She had heard the weak cry come from the baby, then shortly thereafter, the heart-rending bellow of her father as his only love passed within his arms. There would be no one to hold her in their arms if she passed. She was alone.
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