There had been many visitors over the past few days. Some welcome, some expected and some surprising. Some came out of true concern for her and the babies, other came simply because they love newborn babies, the innocence of them, the beauty of that innocence. And there were many that simply came out of curiosity, to see if the rumors were true and the Ubar had two new daughters. Evidently there was quite a buzz going through camp about that. Wagers won and lost. Some paid off with a hint of humor, others with a grumble. Such was life among the Tuchuk.
One of the first questions that most asked, was........What are their names? Well bosk dung! They have no names yet. Why was it so important that they have names? They do not ask that of male children, but for some reason it seemed almost imperative that the two tiny girls be laden down by names. Now, she did have a few chasing each other around in her mind, but she needed guidance. She had hoped to get that guidance from Fonce, but they were interrupted before they could talk about it, and that was okay too, because she just did not see the immediacy of giving them their names until she could pick out the perfect ones. Or one rather. Ba'atar told her she was to name the first daughter, and he would name the second. That was almost scary. If the truth were known, she had a name that she favored, but as of yet she had not told anyone.
Birmmah had shown up that second day, just as Ba'atar had promised that she would. There is not a commander among their people that can hold a candle to that woman when it comes to being in charge. Inwardly she groans watching the woman rearrange everything. It would take her days to get it back to the way she found comfortable, but you just did not argue with the woman. It took too my energy,and it never amounted to one iota of difference. The fortunate thing about having just given birth, was that she could feign fatigue and escape to her wagon for some quiet.
Hallie had burst though the flaps during one of these interludes and wanted to know where in the name of the bosk has she come up with that harridan that was pushing everyone around? This had made her laugh and she explained that, that "harridan" was the mother of her mate. With a nod Hallie had simply said.....That explains a lot.... which brought more laughter from her. Ba'atar was definitely his mother's son.
Birmmah came stomping into the wagon and asked Hallie what she was doing in there getting kaiila dung all over the floors. With grace that was rarely found in one so young, she had apologized profusely, stifled a laugh, kissed Cana on the cheek and told her she would see her later and escaped as quickly as she could.
Birmmah had swept the rugs up off the floors and threw them out the flaps telling the slaves to beat them thoroughly then had turned her gaze on Cana asking if she had thought of names for the girls. Answering that no, not yet. The woman had huffed and stated firmly, that her son had given her daughters and she could at least give them proper names.
Her son? He had given her daughters? What about her, did she have nothing to do with it? Now remember, you are dealing with Ba'atar's mother, and in her eyes, her eldest son was the one that put the tre-moons in the sky. The woman was confidant that her message had been delivered and understood, so she turned and left, leaving the flaps, flapping in the breeze.
Laughing softly she had taken the girls up, cuddled them against her body and spoke softly to them.
"That is your grandmother, and no, she doesn't live her with us, it just seems that way at times. You have to be patient with her, for she does not always think before she speaks. Now this is a lesson that I hope to teach the two of you as you grow. Always think of the impact of your words before you spew them from your mouth. It is never good to wound someone with thoughtless words, and even worse to do it on purpose. A soft tongue, and a tender heart are not a bad thing to have."
Four drowsy little eyes watched her lips as they moved, then almost in unison fluttered close as they slept again. She had to smile, named or not, they were the most precious things she had ever seen.
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