butchiesmom

...New star birthed under strange skies,
Search all infants for the mark of the chosen…

Brinn was doubled over on the bed and moaning when Mara and Mae entered the cottage. She managed to gasp through the pain, “Where have you been?” I’ve been waiting for hours! I thought you would be here right away!”

Mara rushed to her side, urging her to lay back on the bed so she could check the progression of the birthing. “Shhh…shh…breathe slowly…relax…it’s almost over now…good…it’s over…good!

She removed her hands from Brinn’s swollen abdomen and straightened. She looked around the cottage for the first time. Why isn’t water warming on the fire? Mara thought, Where are the cloths for cleaning and garb for the babe? Why isn’t the quilt on the floor where it belongs? She decided first things first. “Come, while the child is resting, we must ready. Let’s get water warming and the cloths gathered for cleaning. Where do you have the garb for the babe?”

“The cloths for cleaning and the garb for the babe are in the corner. The water isn’t warming and the cloths aren’t ready because I thought you did that work.”

Mara turned from looking around the room. Her voice, when she spoke, had a tone of haughtiness to it. “I’m the midwife, Femm Brinn, I’m not your servant. You should’ve had the water warming and this place in ready for birthing before we arrived.”

Brinn, no slouch at haughtiness herself, answered back. “Femm Midwife…”

“Mara is my name. You may address me as Midwife Mara, as is my due.”

“Femm Mara, it is then. You may address me as Lady Brinn, as is my due!”

The sarcasm was not lost on Mara. She straightened both her body and her mouth just a bit more.

Brinn turned to Mae. “And your name is?” Before Mae could speak, Mara spoke for her, “You may address her as Midwife Mae, as is her due.”

“Femm Mae, it is then.”

Mae looked at Mara and then at Brinn. Good King Brugher! It’s going to be a long birthing!she thought.

“Let's move the quilt to the floor while we have a chance. We don't want to soil this beautiful mattress," Mara suggested

"The quilt stays on the bed. I'm not planning to have this babe on the floor like a commoner,” Brinn insisted.

Still bristling from Brinn’s attitude and insults, Mara said, “We are not your servants. You should’ve had the water warming over the fire before we arrived and the quilt on the floor ready for the birthing. Using any bed much less a shuula bed for birthing is not done.”

“Why?”

“Why? You’ll soil it with the birthing fluids!”

“It’s a mattress, it can be replaced. I’m birthing here, not on the floor!”

Though she said, “No. It can’t easily be replaced. Do you have any idea how long it takes to make a bed like this?” Mara thought, I can’t believe she’s using a shuula bed for birthing, not the floor! If I were her mother that’s where she’d be birthing this child! Plateau femms considered soiling the precious material of a shulla mattress with birthing fluids unthinkable. It took so long to extract the fibers from the shulla and work it into a cloth.

“There’s not much difference between the floor and this bed. Given a choice, which I do have, I pick the bed. Why are we arguing about this? Shouldn’t you be busy doing something?” Another contraction started and the hostilities ceased for a while.

Mara tried reasoning with Brinn between contractions, tried helping her with pain control before they became stronger but Brinn chose to ignore her, using her screams to punctuate each contraction.

Hours of Brinn’s screaming and arguing between the two femms left an aura of tension in the room. Mae, having listened to Mara’s and Brinn’s constant arguing was glad when the birthing process reached its final stage.

“Push Brinn!” Mara commanded.

“I can’t,” Brinn whispered.

Mara looked at Brinn with a professional eye. The femm could barely hold herself up on her elbows. She wasn’t sure how much this young femm could take in her weakened condition, yet she’d had mothers, much weaker, nursing their babes not long after birthing. She’d lost only a few femm in the fifteen or so years since her mother retired and made her village midwife.

“You must push! We can only help so much! The child is in your body, not ours!” Mara’s patience had reached its limit. The relative quiet, calm atmosphere she’d grown to expect at a birthing was nothing like she and Mae were going through now. She’d tried reasoning with the femm, trying to help her with pain control. It was scandalous, the lack of control Brinn had over her pain. No Plateau femm would permit so much as a whimper even if she were dying. Where was this femm’s mother? It was rare for a femm to birth alone. Mara had more than a few unkind words for that femm. She had no doubt, after watching and wincing, while Brinn screamed, her mother taught her daughter not even the most basic pain management.

Brinn screamed again as another contraction reached it’s apex but no sound emerged. Thank the King’s grace for small favors! Mara thought. One more scream out of her and I would have stuffed that mouth for her.

Mara peered between Brinn’s open legs, then looked at Mae. “Mae, get behind Brinn,” she said. “When I tell you to push, I want you to push above the bulge. Mae nodded and mounted the bed, sighing as she sat on the mattress. “I’ve yet to finish my mattress,” she said. “This feels so soft. It will be wonderful to replace those limbs with a mattress.”

“Brinn! Look at me!” commanded Mara. “One more push. The child is almost out. One more push will birth the child. You can do this. Mae will help you.”

Mara watched as another contraction seized Brinn’s body. She was sure Brinn was so tired she no longer felt it. “Push!” she commanded Brinn and Mae.

Brinn rallied for another long, hard push with no breath or spare energy to even grunt. Just as she thought it would never end, she could feel as the child’s head slipped out. From there it was a matter of another small push and the girl child slipped into the world and took her first breaths. What a beautiful baby! Mara thought Properly quiet too, though it’s surprising, considering how much screaming her mother did, she ought to be screaming too. In her years of birthing, she’d not seen an infant so beautiful at birth.

So quiet! Brinn thought, I thought babes cried at birth because they were so disappointed at having left the others behind.

“Here, Mae! You clean the baby while I deliver the ghost child and clean her up so she can feed the babe. Thank the King’s grace the babe was small. There’s no tearing the repair.”

She didn’t see the look Mae gave her when she turned back to finishing with Brinn.

Brinn lay there, her eyes closed, body limp with exhaustion, but she looked like she would be ok now. Men don’t know anything about femm and childbirth! Mara thought. She looks tired but she’ll be fine with some rest.

Hearing a strange sigh, Mara looked up from cleaning Brinn, just as she let out her last breath. Brinn wasn’t breathing! That sigh had been the last breath she had let out. Mara had heard of this happening, not to her birthing mothers, of course, and knew there was nothing she could do for her now.

Keirn’s warning words haunted her as she took the babe from her helper. While she had the child outside, Mae would prepare Brinn’s body for her formal entry into the life hereafter. It was all they could do for her now. Once a person stopped breathing, they were gone. Mara dreaded what was yet to come.

***
Rays from the setting sun momentarily blinded Mara as she emerged from the darkness of the cottage, Brinn’s infant in her arms. She almost dropped the child when she stumbled over kindling placed near the door. She clutched the infant to her chest trying to still the pounding she felt inside as Keirn came up behind her.

She jumped as Keirn asked, “Is it femm?”

“You startled me! I didn’t hear you coming up behind me.”

“Is the child femm?” Keirn asked again.

Mara raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Femm,” she replied. “How did you know?”

“Lucky guess. It would be one or the other, would it not?”

“I suppose you’re right.” She smiled a tight, polite smile at him and started the ritual.

For your inspection,” she intoned, “One femm child, just birthed from Femm Brinn. Ten fingers, ten toes, no extra limbs or other defects. May she be free from the mark!” She held the infant out to Keirn with outstretched arms.

Keirn took the infant from Mara and answered in turn. “I thank you for birthing this child from Femm Brinn and pray for the King’s Grace she’ll be free from the mark.”

Every inch of the tiny body must be inspected for the mark. This had started many generations ago, with the appearance of the prophecy. No one knew who wrote it but they believed in it waiting for the first sign, the birth of the star child. They didn’t know what mark they were looking for, or what they were to do next should they find it, but they followed the rituals defined for them by their forbearers. No one knew what to look for. No one, that is, but Keirn. He knew what to look for and where to look for it.

Mara watched, as he slowly inspected the infant’s body, starting at her head, checking each limb and ending at her feet, looking for the mark he knew would be there. He paused slightly at her right palm but moved on with the rest of the inspection. He didn’t need to finish or even start the search but it was a ritual which must be done.

The infant’s aura, for someone so new to the world, was strong. The star in the lines of her right palm was what he’d expected to find. Fortunately, only those of the Craft could see it there.

Cradling the child in his arms again he asked Mara, “How fares Femm Brinn?”

Mara flinched inside. She hadn’t had to say these words since the plague years ago and didn’t want to this time. If she hadn’t boasted to this man how she hadn’t lost any mothers in such a long time. If she hadn’t reassured him with what she perceived to be the truth. What was she thinking, bringing Mae along? Now it would be known around the area and beyond she had lost a patient. She would have to threaten Mae somehow. Hmm!

She looked up at Keirn unsure how he would react but steeled herself for the worse. “The life hereafter has called her,” she replied and waited for what was to come. Remembering what had happened in the cottage, how Brinn looked before she passed over, she added, “It was a peaceful passage. One second she was laying there quiet, the next she’d breathed her last. I’ve never had a mother do that before.”

She hoped that would soften the blow for him but knew it didn’t matter how she phrased it the femm had still passed.

“You haven’t lost a mother since the plague, you boasted! They all believe they won’t survive, you said!” he said, “The fear is forgotten afterward, you said.” he continued.

Though the volume of his voice didn’t change, the inflection did. He’d already known she was gone. He didn’t need this Seeker in femm garb to tell him that but had hoped he was wrong, that his fears hadn’t been realized.

“The fear is forgotten,” he repeated, as if to himself, “You were right about that you Seeker!” Mara flinched at the curse. She could not look into the grief so deeply embedded in his soul.

“I warned you, did I not? I warned you of her sorrow and her thoughts, did I not? You boasted she would be fine. Said this was common, did you not? What say you for yourself now?” he asked.

His broad shoulders slumped ever so slightly. Frown lines and eyebrows relaxed. The straight line his mouth had become relaxed. His voice softened as he continued. “It does not do her fair to be blaming you for that which was preordained.”

Mara gave him a quizzical look. Preordained? she thought, That’s an odd thing to say at a time like this.

The child had quieted but had started squalling louder with each angry word from the man holding her. Her cries had grown softer now to the point of stopping all together. The infant looked up at him from the shelter of his arms. He looked down at her, then thrust her into Mara’s arms. “Here, see if you can keep her safe from harm while I do what must be done!”

Keirn turned and strode toward the cottage and the woman. He didn’t see the angry look Mara shot at him or the pinch she gave the child’s bottom. He was too far away to hear the tiny scream from the babe.

***
The grief in Keirn’s eyes and a nod of his head toward the open door was all she needed to know it was time for her to leave. She gathered her belongings and walked toward the door.

Mae stopped at the doorway, seemed to make a decision and turned toward Keirn. “Keirn?” she said. When he didn’t answer, she dropped her belongings and walked over to Keirn. She touched his shoulder and jumped back when he jumped, startled she hadn’t left yet.

“Keirn,” she repeated. “I can not leave without speaking what’s in my heart. The King knows how many birthings I’ve apprenticed with Mara. She’s not the kindest person I’ve ever met but she’s excellent at what she does. She’s always patient and kind and each birthing has been a beautiful thing to be a part of until today.”

She almost changed her mind when she saw the anger starting in Keirn’s face and but it was too late to stop now. She continued, “This birthing was different from the second we entered the cottage and Mara saw the quilt on the bed instead of the floor.”

Keirn interrupted, “I don’t understand. Why would she be upset about a bed?”

“It’s the mattress…”

“The mattress? What about the mattress? I don’t understand. It’s just a place to sleep! It was here when I arrived.”

“You really don’t know? That’s a shuula mattress…”

“So…”

“I’m surprised it was left behind. A femm takes months to make a shuula mattress. It’s a long hard process, extracting the fibers from the plant, weaving the material from those fibers and sewing it together. A mattress, such as this, took a very long time to make. No femm, in her right mind, would soil this mattress with birthing fluids. She’d use the floor as is proper.”

Mae drew a breath. “Brinn and Mara argued about it but Brinn insisted she use the bed. Mara is accustomed to birthing femms doing as she bids. Brinn did as she pleased until she was too weak to protest. She and Mara fought throughout the birthing. Her last hours were spent fighting. The babe came out silently. She took her first breath, her mother took her last. Neither made a sound.”

Keirn’s angry red face told her he understood. “So she left this world in anger?”

“Yes, she did. Please forgive me for telling you what must be said.”

“You are forgiven. I thank you for having the compassion to let me know. I will deal with Mara. You may leave now.”

Keirn turned back to the body on the bed. Mae sighed, gathered her belongings and left, closing the door behind her.

He sat on the bed beside Brinn’s still warm body. His eyes traced the lines of her cheekbones, comparing them to those of her mother’s, memorizing each feature for the time when remembering such details would be difficult.

“My daughter, your sacrifice will not be forgotten,” he said, “Guide the child as she grows, listen to the voices, they will know. She must be safe until it is time.”

“Now is the time for us to part,” he said, “I didn’t want to leave you and your mother behind. Your safety was of the utmost importance. I beg your forgiveness, even as you leave for the life hereafter. I can not stay to raise my granddaughter, your child. All would be lost should her life be forfeited. Watch her, guide her, my sweet Brinn.”

Though he’d known this would be the outcome of the birthing, still the pain overwhelmed him. “I regret not being here in your last hours to stop the struggle you endured with Mara. Had I known what she was doing it would’ve ceased immediately. That Seeker will pay for what she has wrought.” Tears welled in his eyes, threatening to spill. He blinked away all but one lone tear which solemnly slid down his cheek.

“Daughter, it was miraculous that you and I have had this chance to get to know each other again. I wanted to stay with you and your mother but it wasn’t safe. The Seekers were closing in on me again. They would’ve taken all of us. I couldn’t risk it.”

He could still see her sad green eyes and hear her sweet voice as she explained to him what happened between her and Tomas. How he had promised the dissolution of his marriage and the pain she felt when she discovered, from his wife, no dissolution had been proposed.

Tenderly taking her delicate hand into his large rough ones, he bowed his head toward her. “Your sacrifice will not be forgotten,” he repeated.

“It’s your daughter who will bring about the needed changes for life to continue here. The Craft is strong in her. I can feel her drawing from the source already. I must leave her now to save her life. Even now, I can feel the Seekers’ probe. If I stay they will take us both. She’s the hope of Buring Gerk. The one prophesized.”

He’d learned the prophecy as a child, and had been reminded of it every day thereafter by his parents. They were killed by those who, also, knew the prophecy. He’d been in hiding since then. Only one more person. One more person to join him and this child and the prophecy would become fact. He had time to find that other person. Eilia, yes, that’s what he’d call her, had years ahead of her before her part in it would begin, so he had time to search for the last piece of the puzzle.

Keirn moved quickly around the room, grabbing clothing, food and other items he would need on the journey ahead. He allowed sobs to escape as he went through Brinn’s few belongings, looking for that which she had bade him to safeguard. He discovered a note for him, written in Brinn’s handwriting. Glancing around the room one more time looking for anything he might’ve forgotten, he turned back toward the door and the child that waited without.

Jeez

Now the baby makes
her appearance...

Now what will her
life be from now
on??

Enjoyed this read,
very interesting
story.

Thanks for the
read.

butchiesmom

I have another chapter to explain some background stuff and then will go on with Eilia at 10.
Gail

PaintedDiary

Ummmmmm.....ok Gail........you left me hanging.....I WANT MORE! lololol Awesome, awesome story Gail......please hurry with Chapter 3. lol Love Ya!

Kim

butchiesmom

Do you want it fast or do you want it good? I'm working on it, and a bunch of things but find if I do something else, I can come back to it and get more written.
Honestly, Sis, I'll have it as soon as I can, lol.
Gail

butchiesmom

We've been editing this chapter and hope to get some feedback on it.
hugs,
Gail