Her eyes flew open and immediately her hand goes to her swollen middle and she smiles. The babies were restless this morning, and making their presence known. She lay there for a time, just enjoying the feel of life inside her. No matter how many times she is with child, it never ceases to amaze her the miracle that grows inside her. She spoke softly to them, telling them of their people, or all the joys they had to look forward to, and of how much love surrounds them, even now, while they are still in the safety of her womb.
There was a knock at the flaps and she sat up as juneau came in with her mug of tea. She still missed kasra, but this girl had stepped up to take her place well. She watched as the girl moved around the wagon, placing chips to the fire in the brazier to warm things up, then putting a pot of water on to heat so she could wash off before her day started. These were small things, but they were the things that made her happy and comfortable.
The girl had asked if she wished to wear the beautiful new dress to day, and as bad as she wanted to, she would not until Ba'atar returned to inspect the work of the young leather worker. She had found the way the young woman had constructed the dress to grow with her expanding middle ingenious, and hoped that he would recognize it as well. And the boots for the boys were well made. Comfortable but still sturdy. Her work had improved immensely under the guidance of Noya and those of the clan.
Instead of the new dress, she had juneau to take one of her older dresses out, and brush it for today. It was soft, and one that she had worn many times when she was with child. The water was put into a basin, and she began to wash her body, and told juneau to run make sure that a meal and plenty of blackwine was delivered to the wagon that Silken was staying in.
While the girl was gone, she washed and slipped into the dress. Or rather, struggled into the dress. Her brow furrowed at how snuggly it fit. She was going to have to talk to Aponi, because this dress, and most of her others were not going to make it three more moons. She knew that she had been growing a little faster than usual, but suddenly she realized just how much.
She had just sat down to start on her hair when juneau came to tell her that the Mistress and ehr morning meal had been tended to by twist. The girl then worked her magic on the unruly mass of curls that had to be tamed into a braid each day. The weight of the thing gave her headaches on some days. As she sat there patiently while the girl worked, she explained to her the tasks they were going to do to day, and what she expected of each of the slaves.
And she got her morning report on things that had already been tended to. The meal for the Ubar's guards was being served, they boys were already up, fed and the two older ones were off with Master Rook for their training, Also was playing by himself in the wagon, and Two was crawling around in there with him under the watchful eye of nithya. So far, so good.
The girl then began to fill her in on the gossip. Now, you might think this was a foolish thing, but she learned a great deal about what was going on in camp from the slaves. They were everywhere, and knew just about everything about what was going on. If you wanted word out about something, you could tell the drummers, but sometimes telling a slave was much quicker. The one thing that made her smile was hearing that Tarra had been seen at the main fires briefly last evening. This was a good thing, and gave her heart much joy.
Finally dressed, braided and armed with a little knowledge of camp, she stepped out onto her platform and inhaled the aroma's of the camp. This was the first pregnancy she had, where smells and food did not make her ill, and she was enjoying that.
Rook was there with One and Another One, preparing to take them to the practice field. Another One looked up, and that honesty that children have told her that she was getting fat. Laughing she leaned to kiss the top of that dark head.
And I love you too, my son.
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