Darlea
***

She'd been scared with the procession of men had come towards them and
Almiron stepped in front of her, but her fears began to fade as one man
stepped toward Almiron and hugged him, calling him 'brother'. Darlea knew
few words of Almiron's native tongue, but she didn't need to know many to
know that things would be okay. She could see it in the face of the man who
could only be Almiron's brother, Azyil.

She grinned happily .. glad for Almiron's return to family. She allowed
herself to relax a bit as Azyil pulled Almiron along with him, chattering
happily .. most of which Darlea did not understand.

She moved to follow but was stopped by group of chattering women who pulled
her in the opposite direction. She tried to break free, to follow her mate,
but the motioned for her to follow. She looked toward Almiron who turned
and looked assuringly at her. "I will return soon."

She frowned, but nodded and allowed herself to be led by the other women.
They pulled her a short distance away to a tent with several women and a
horde of children. The women were chattering conversationally as they sewed
or stood over hot pots. The children played happily watched by the older
girls ..

Darlea's appearance caused quite a bit of a stir and one of the women who
had led her here took charge and smiling told them who she was, "Darlea
bahtna D'nar .." That Darlea recognized. She also heard the woman mention
Almiron's name and the word 'dragon'. When they looked at her questioningly
she shrugged slightly, then nodded.

That seemed to please them, so she smiled. The woman who had taken charge
of her introduction to the rest was clearly the leader among them. Perhaps
the wife? Darlea tried hard to remember all the Almiron had told her of his
people, but it became jumbled. It was so different from what she knew.

The woman was handed a crying infant and Darlea thought she'd heard them
call her Isha. The woman motioned Darlea down to a spot on a leather chair.
It was the only chair in the room and she gladly accepted it, as her feet
were killing her! She noticed several of the women staring at her in
surprise as she moved toward it.

Darlea sat as gracefully as she could. She'd been surviving her pregnancy
fairly tolerably until just recently, when her stomach had suddenly grown
to tremendous proportions .. well perhaps not tremendous .. she was not
anywhere as large as some of the pregnant women she'd seen. Still to her it
felt huge!

She found the leather seat to be amazingly comfortable, despite how flimsy
it had looked, and she smiled gratefully. The woman sat across from her and
opened her dress, exposing a large breast which the baby hungrily grabbed
on to.

The woman cooed at the infant for a moment then looked up at Darlea. She
put her hand on her chest, "Isha .."

Darlea nodded, "You are Isha?" She pointed back at the woman and Isha grinned.

She gently touched the babe's head, "Qamra .."

Darlea nodded, and laid a hand on her own chest, "Darlea .."

The woman began to speak, and Darlea tried to follow with the few words she
recognized, and soon realized the woman was asking about her baby. The
question had taken her a bit by surprise, because most of the time she
didn't think about the fact that she was going to actually *have* a baby.
Well .. she knew she was going to have one .. but to actually *have* one ..
to be a mother .. it all seemed so unbelievable to her.

She shrugged, "A little more then a month to go .."

The women looked confused and Darlea held up 7 fingers .. then changed her
mind and held up one more, "Close enough .."

The woman nodded in understand and looked down at the babe on her breast,
speaking gently. Darlea heard the words for 'son' and 'daughter' and soon
it became clear that the woman had given Azyil two beautiful daughters but
her hope was the next would be a boy.

Darlea looked at the baby she was nursing and knew she couldn't be very old
.. surely the woman wasn't pregnant already! Well if she wasn't it was
certainly clear that she didn't intend to wait too much longer ..  That
Darlea did NOT understand. She'd had enough of this being pregnant stuff..
she was ready for it to be over and she certainly wasn't planning another
anytime soon!

The woman asked her if her baby was going to be a boy. Darlea shook her
head, indicating that she didn't know. She was pretty sure Almiron knew.
She'd known he'd known the sex of Salinda's baby, so he probably knew the
sex of theirs, but he never told her .. never even gave any hints.  And she
didn't ask. Even though she knew she would never do what Salinda had done
to him, she knew it was something Almiron feared.

 She shifted uncomfortably as suddenly her back and stomach ached. Her
stomach grew hard on one side and she grimaced waiting for it to subside.
Kyven had called them 'practice' contractions, when she'd run to him,
terrified that she was going into labor already.  He said they would happen
periodically and not to worry. He'd been right, but now they were starting
to get annoying!

She'd already had several while walking from their campsite.

Isha looked at her in concern and spoke questioningly.

Darlea nodded, "It's okay .. it'll pass .." and in seconds in did and she
relaxed. She shook her hands at Isha, "It's over .. I'm fine."

The woman nodded, but continued to watch her.

A short while later, when the infant was sated and had fallen asleep, Isha
recovered her breast and stood moving toward Darlea. Soon it was clear that
she was offering the baby for Darlea to hold. Darlea's eyes widened and she
shook her head, "No .. no .. it's all right really."

The woman was insistent, speaking encouragingly at her. Before long the
infant was in Darlea's arms and Darlea struggled to make it look like she
knew what she was doing. Isha smiled encouragingly at her. Darlea sighed
and tried to relax, but soon the tension in her body woke the sleeping
infant who began to wail unhappily.

Darlea looked pleadingly at the woman who finally took the baby and cooed
her back to sleep.

Darlea breathed easier, but that didn't last long as she felt that now way
too familiar aching come back. Her stomach tightened again. This was really
beginning to hurt! Her breathing came faster as she fought against the
growing pain.

Before she knew it, Isha had handed the baby off and moved to rest her
hands on Darlea's stomach. She was chattering orders to those around her
and soon as the contraction was over and Darlea was beginning to feel
better again, she found herself being pulled to the floor and her loose
pants being pulled off.

"Stop." She said, "What are you doing? Stop it!"

Isha moved to her and spoke gently. As understanding began to dawn on her,
Darlea shook her head, "No .. it's not that time .. It's just practice!
Kyven said! It's just practice."

Darlea pressed her knees together as she felt some try to slip a hand
between her thighs, "NO!" she screamed.

Isha spoke calmingly, but Darlea wasn't listen, "No .. leave me alone!
Leave me alone!"

"Darlea .." she heard his voice before she saw him, but turned toward him
instant and pushed the others away to throw her arms around him.

"Almiron .. make them stop .." she sobbed.

"Shhh, she only wants to check on the baby. She thinks it is time."

"No .. no .. it's not time .. I'm not ready .." she cried.

"Darlea, she is dain Hehran .. like me .."

She looked up at him with tear-filled blue eyes, "They'll make it stop?"
she asked, adding quickly, "It's just practice .. remember like Kyven said
.. practice .."

He nodded, "They will do what needs to be done to keep you and our baby
safe." He smoothed her hair and wiped her cheeks of tears and she nodded.
She'd always trusted him. She wouldn't stop now. He helped her back down
onto the mat they'd proved and she allowed the woman to examine her. She
assumed the woman was the Head Healer here, though for all Darlea could
tell she might have just been a midwife. Almiron held her hand tightly and
kept her eyes locked on his.

He listened to the healer's words and translated for Darlea. "You are
dialating. There is nothing to stop it now."

".. no .. " she whimpered but he smiled at her.

"It will be fine."

"I'm not ready .." she told him.

"You will not be alone .. I am with you .."

She nodded and then grimaced in pain when another contraction grabbed her
without warning. She groaned in pain and Almiron spoke gently to her,
"Don't push yet .. wait .. breath out the pain .. slowly .."

She tried to listen but it hurt! Soon she felt his lips on hers and pain
seemed not as great.

***

It had grown dark while Darlea struggled to give birth to their child. Her
hair was wet with sweat and her face flushed with exertion. "I'm so tired
.." she moaned.

"You are doing good." Almiron told her. Had she had her eyes open she would
have seen he was nearly as tired as she, using his own strength to help her
ease the pain.

She gasped as yet another contraction hit, ".. nonononononono .." she  mumbled

"Darlea you have to push now .." Almiron's voice broke through.

".. nononononononono .." she tired to drown both him and the contraction out.

"Push, Darlea push!" he called to her.

She opened her eyes to see his, "Count with me .. 1 .. 2 .. 3 .."

She didn't want to count .. she didn't want to push .. she just wanted this
to be over. But something in his eyes stopped her and she bore down ..
taking a deep breath when he reached ten.

"Again!" he ordered, "1 .. 2 .. 3 .."

She grunted as she pushed and suddenly something gave and the pain
diminished. There were cheers, but Darlea saw only Almiron as he grinned,
"That's the head .. one more push .. just one more .."

"Promise?" she whispered.

He nodded, "Promise .."

With his promise she gave one more push and felt the baby slip easily from
inside her. Soon there were the loud squalls of a newborn.

"It's over?" she asked tiredly.

He nodded, "It's over .. do you want to see him .."

"Who?" she asked, slightly confused. For right now she was just glad the
pain had stopped ..

"Our son, Darlea .. our son."

Regards,
Darlea & Makayla
------------------------------------
Kristen & Scott Gant
http://homepage.interaccess.com/~sgant/gant.htm