by Audra Hart
Morna nods and comes to him and grabs his hand, she looks at Kyle and Kylor and says, “Come meet your brothers and sisters.” Kyle and Kylor look at each other in shock but follow their mother.
The eight siblings are standing in a row and Morna goes to the first and says, “This is Rebecca, she is the oldest, fifty-seven. She looks a great deal like Morna’s original incarnation, except that she is almost six feet tall.
The next jumper is smiling happily when Morna strokes his cheek and says, “This is Michael, he’s fifty-five years old.” Michael is about 6’3”, and has the body of ballet dancer. Very powerful, long and lean. Michael kisses Morna and says, “Ma, we have missed you.” Morna smiles and pats his cheek. “I have missed you too, baby boy.”
Morna moves on to the third person in the line and pats his cheek, “This is Robert, and he’s fifty-two years old.” Robert is about six feet tall and built like a body builder. He picks Morna up and hugs her fiercely. “Love you, Ma!” Morna pats his cheek too.
Morna moves to the fourth person in the line and wraps her arm around her waist and says, “This is Cirona, she’s fifty years old.” Cirona wraps her arms around Morna, “God, Ma, we feared we’d never get to come to you.” Morna pats the woman’s cheek and smiles. “We are all together now. And we will make damned sure it stays that way.”
Morna walks over to her youngest children and laughs happily when the two teenagers throw themselves at her. She’s hugging and kisses their faces and giggles when she looks at Luca, Kylor and Kyle; “This is Kevin, he is the same age as Kyle. And this little monkey is Anson, he is the same age as Aiden.” She gives Aiden a good squeeze and moves on to the little ones. “The twin girls are, Nalla and Nerri. They are the same age as Nora.” Morna spends a few more moments hugging the children and then says wearily, “I need to sit.”
At that moment Aideen speaks from the doorway, “Mother, what is going on? How is it that we have eight more siblings?” She had come in at the beginning of the introductions. Aiden had called her from the Healer’s Hall and told her there was a wonderful surprise waiting for her at home.
Right now Aideen is feeling very confused and angry. Agnar comes up behind her and wraps his arms around her and says, “Watch it love. Don’t judge. I am sure it’s not what you are thinking.”
Rebecca steps forward and says, “Ma, may I explain? You look like you need to rest some more.” Morna nods and Rebecca smiles at Aideen and says, “Sister, our mother made a great sacrifice in an attempt to save the race of dimension jumpers. During her last limbo Valgullveig temporarily escaped the hold of the Dark One and found Mother. She brought Ma to Tarvish and the three of them came up with a plan to save our kind. Ma basically consented to acting like a brood mare for our clan. I and my seven siblings are the products of that charitable act. We have seven different Fathers and one Mother. We have the ability to jump dimensions like our Fathers, and we all have Mother’s magic. We all have the magic of the talismans, just like Kylor, Aideen, Kyle, Aiden and Nora. We all have varying talents, just as you do.”
Aideen looks at her mother in shocked disbelief, “You screwed seven other men? Knowingly? Because if you were in your ascended form you knew who Daddy was… Mother how could you do that?” Aideen demands angrily.
“Ladybug, I didn’t ‘screw’ anybody,” Morna says tiredly. “I conceived your brothers and sisters of Highland descent through artificial insemination. There are no other men for me when I remember your Father. Why can you not get that through your head? Why do you have so damned little faith in me?”
Aideen looks shocked and then embarrassed, and finally very, very sad and ashamed. Morna watches the emotions flick across her daughter’s face and holds her open arms out to her oldest daughter. Aideen hesitates for a second and then runs to her mother. “I am sorry, Mama. I don’t know what makes me believe the worst of you.”
“It’s okay, Ladybug. Unfortunately, you have seen me cause your Daddy a great deal of pain over the centuries. While it wasn‘t deliberate, I did hurt him. Naturally you have been angry with me for doing it. I understand, I just hope someday that we can well and truly put it all behind us.” Morna says tiredly.
She looks up and Kyle is standing before her with another glass of blood. “Thank you sweetheart,” she says as she accepts the blood. She sighs and drinks half of the blood and then looks at Luca. He has been silent through all of this and his face is totally unreadable.
“Luca?” She whispers uncertainly.
Luca shakes his head as though to clear it and then smiles at his mate; “Sorry, Love, I was just trying to wrap my head around the idea that you have thirteen children, soon to be fourteen.” Morna stands and he comes to her and wraps her in his arms. He kisses her gently and searches her face. “Feeling stronger?” She nods but he knows that she is still exhausted from the healings and from remembering her other family. He urges her to sit back down and he sits beside her.
Morna finishes her blood and looks at Luca, “Madigan has shown me that you and I will have two more children after him. I will have a total of sixteen children before too long. Wow! I am the one the prophesies speak about.” Morna whispers in an awed voice, she then laughs. “Your grandfather is right, you are married to a brood sow.”
“Hardly,” Luca snaps irritably.
Everyone in the room turns when they hear deep rumbling laughter from the doorway. Odin and Thor are standing there looking incredibly happy. “Heimdall filled us in.” Odin says as he strides over to his granddaughter. “Baby Girl, you are even more amazing than I ever dreamed.” He kisses her cheek and walks over to Tarvish. “Heimdall says you contacted him asking permission to use the Bi-frost to come to our realm. I appreciate the courtesy Tarvish. I know that you all could have easily jumped into our realm without our permission.”
“Nay, Lordship! I would never do that to you.” Tarvish says with a smile. “It’s just bad manners. I would only do that to an enemy, and Asgard is not our enemy. I hope to count you and yours as allies. We still have a huge battle ahead of us. We must destroy the Dark One, soon!”
“Tarvish, you know that we can’t until after Madigan is born. The prophesy says he is three years old when he strikes the Dark One down,” Rebecca says quietly.
“But we can free my sister before then,” Morna says quietly.
Morna, Tarvish and her highland offspring spend the next hour telling about the plan to strengthen the Highland Jumpers to escape the control of the Dark One. Morna had borne four children during her last limbo period between Audrey and Deidra. And then she bore the other four concurrently with Kyle, Aiden and Nora.
“Ma can exist on two planes at once, but only when she is sleeping here can she be awake with us the Neophasic dimension. That is where we have lived since our birth,” Rebecca explains. “This morning, her two bodies merged into one. We knew it was time to join her.”
“What is the Neophasic dimension? Morna was talking about it in her sleep. I have never heard of it before now,” Luca asks.
“It’s a dimension that exists between this one and the other eleven planes of existence. It’s very similar to the Spiritual Plane on which I fought the first Stone Cannibal. It is the one dimension where Valgullveig is free from the control of the Dark One. It is the one dimension where the Dark One has absolutely no power. I am afraid my Highland Jumper babies are in danger by just being here in Asgard.” Morna says quietly.
“Ma, we are fine,” Rebecca assures Morna.
Morna nods, but she really doesn‘t look convinced, but continues with her explanations; “It’s not exactly a place, it’s more an existence. My babies have been with me all this time. Just outside of my range of sensing them, until now. The Spiritual Plane is an existence too, not really a place. That is why the Dark One has been able to monitor me so closely over the years, she has followed me by visiting that existence to keep an eye on me. But Cirona was working on a way to buffer this dimension from her sight. She will have to actually come t
o this dimension or send spies to know what we are doing now. Am I right?” Morna looks at her older Highland children for confirmation.
“We are safe Ma. We learned our magic well from you. Cirona developed a protective spell that keeps us all safe in this dimension, at least while we are here in Asgard. And, yes, she has woven a buffer firmly in place between Asgard and the Spiritual Plane dimension. The natural protection of this realm combines with the spell to keep us safe. Cirona put the spell on our siblings here in Asgard as soon as we heard about the attack by the other dimension jumpers. They won‘t be able to touch any of us now,” Robert says with a smile. “Ma, you have kept us well informed. The only time that you did not come to us when you are sleeping, was after the accident, before Lucian helped you get your memories back. It was a long, sad eleven months.”
Morna nods and smiles as she strokes Robert’s handsome face. She turns her attention to Luca, “Darling, how are you taking all of this?”
“Morna, I am, as ever, amazed by you. One only has to look at these young ones to know they are your babies. “Luca looks again at them, they all have her exact coloring, red hair and brilliant emerald green eyes. The four older ones have facial features and darker red hair that resemble her original incarnation and the four younger ones favor the current incarnation. “I am not surprised. I am surprised by the facts of the situation, but I am not surprised that you have been working to free your sister and help the Highland Jumpers, that is just what you do, who you are. But I do have some specific questions that I need answered. Where are the seven fathers?”
Rebecca chuckles when Morna looks uncomfortable. “We don’t know who they are. It was decided before our birth that we would be born using random sperm from all the healthy Highland Jumper males. Years ago they all contributed for a study to try to save our race. Our women are becoming infertile and we don’t know why. When Ma learned of the stock of samples, she thought it would be best to not know who the Fathers were.”
Luca looks at Morna in confusion and asks, “Why Morna? These children needed Fathers.”
Taranis who had been silent until now steps forward and says, “Lucian, they have all been under my protection. I have been acting as their foster Father until we could come to you and you could assume your rightful role as their father.”
Luca gasps at that bit of information and looks at Morna questioningly, “Love, I don’t understand.”
Michael laughs and says, “Lucian, mother was confident from the very beginning that when she was able to bring both families together that you would willingly step up and assume the role as our Patriarch, our Father.” Luca’s face is totally unreadable as he digests that information. “But if you have no desire to do so, do not feel compelled to do so. Taranis has been truly dedicated to us all… We will be fine without a real, I mean an official Father.” Michael finishes sounding somewhat lost.
Luca looks at Michael and the other seven Highland Jumper children and says, “Any who my Morna treasures, I treasure. I would be honored to be your Father.”
Morna reaches out and strokes his face and kisses him soundly. “I knew it. I told you that you have never let down me since I first met you. I knew you would willingly do this, no eagerly do this.”
“I have always wanted a huge family and spent many centuries thinking I was lucky to have my Aideen. Now I find I have many, many children. I am truly a blessed man. I look forward getting to know all of our children and doing my best to be a good Father to them,” Luca says quietly. He is looking into Morna’s face searchingly and says, “I hate to break this up, but your mother is tired. She has performed strenuous healing rituals lately. She must rest before the Paternal Bond hearing at 5:00 this evening. It is after eight now, she really needs to sleep.” Luca scoops her up into his arms and looks around at all of his children with a huge smile on his face. “Tena can get you all settled in rooms if you need to rest. I am certain Auggie almost has breakfast ready. Nothing surprises the woman, so she must have prepared enough food for all. Go eat breakfast and get to know each other. I will try to get your Mother to rest until 2:00 or 3:00.”
Hector steps forward and says, “Lucian, may I remain? I am enjoying myself immensely.”
Luca laughs and says, “Of course, Old Friend. We will be back in four hours.” With that he takes off so fast no one sees him leave.
Kyle whistles and says, “Dad’s even faster than ever. How is that possible?”
Aideen laughs and say, “Mama has truly changed him. Physiologically speaking, he is much like her, but stronger. It’s amazing. I can’t wait for things to calm down and really get a chance to study him, and Mama for that matter. This family is a medical marvel.”
Aideen looks at her new siblings and says, “You guys hungry? I know we can’t wait to get to know all of you.” The siblings and their guests make their way to the grand dining hall and enjoy a huge breakfast together. They spend a couple of hours just going from sibling to sibling, talking about their lives, their mother and the all the changes they have been through lately. The atmosphere in the dining hall is bright and happy, very much a joyous family reunion.
Odin, Thor, Valliant, Vali, Bellona, Collingwood, Taranis, Tarvish and Hector remain off to the side, listening to the conversations and enjoying the interactions. After a couple of hours Heimdall and Gullveig join them.
Soon Breena, Damian and Rinda join them. Breena is nearly over come with joy at meeting so many new nieces and nephews. Soon she looks at Damian and whispers, “I need to feed again.” Damian disappears and comes back with a glass of blood for her.
Rebecca is looking at her Aunt Breena with a smile on her face, “You are almost as strong as Ma now.”
“Not quite. She was much, much stronger than I was before she was changed by Luca’s venom. But I am certainly strong enough now to carry my child to full term and to defend him and myself.” Breena says happily.
“Ah, you know you carry a boy child?” Rebecca says softly.
“We do,” Damian says with a smile. “Surth, an Asgardian healer told us today. We are very excited.”
“Nora and I have known the baby was a boy for a week now. Haven’t we, Pumpkin?” Rebecca says with a smile. Nora nods and smiles at Rebecca.
Aideen was pleased to learn that Rebecca, Michael, Cirona and Robert are all training to be healers. “Our people will need us to be skilled healers when the battle on the Assylian Plain takes place. The Dark One has many minions. Ma will be able to rescue Valgullveig and Cirona can protect her from the Dark One’s power, but the other Highland Jumpers will have no choice but to do her bidding. And the Gregory Clan will continue to willingly align themselves with Nyx. We will try not to kill any of our jumper brothers and sisters on the Plain, but many will be seriously injured. We hope to be strong enough by then to help the Spell Weavers save them. We are grateful that we will have three years for Father to train us in the ways of Spell Weavers before that confrontation. But it will not be a time of peace. The Dark One will send many attacks our way.”
Nora nods, “I have seen the same thing.” She looks over at Taranis and smiles at him. Taranis gets up and comes to join them.
“What would you like to ask me, little one?” Taranis asks Nora with an open smile on his face.
“Taranis, do you think that you could persuade Belenus and Lenus to help train my siblings as healers?” Nora asks quietly.
Taranis looks surprised and then smiles hugely. “Nora that is an excellent idea. You will soon be as wise as your mother. I will speak to them today after the Paternal Bond hearing. Many from the magical realms will attend to witness today. There will be six of us from the Celtic realm there today, and the presiding entities will be Athena, the Greek goddess of Wisdom and Arete, the Greek spirit of Virtue. It will be a fair hearing.”
Gullveig comes up to Rebecca and says, “Morna saves my Val?”
Michael joins his sister and they both reach out and take a hand of the Vanir. “Madam, Ma remembered rece
ntly that Val has not been acting on her own accord. But it has been her plan ever since the Dark One recaptured Val to rescue her. She has just had to wait until the right time. Tomorrow is the night.” Rebecca assures Gullveig. “Ma didn’t retain her knowledge of us when awake after she was born as Deidra. She has been living a dual existence for a very long time. I don’t know how she has the strength, but she has.”
“How did this Dark One recapture Val? I thought she was safe in the Neophasic dimension.” Gullveig asks.
“She was, but your daughter is stubborn. She left the dimension when I was ten years old to try to find you and tell you that she was alive and safe. She missed you very much, Lady Gullveig. Unfortunately, the Dark One recaptured her and has held her ever since. I hate to think of the hell that Val has been through being under the Beast’s control.” Rebecca says softly.
“How will Morna rescue her sister?” Valliant, who had joined them asks.
“She will weave a finding spell that takes her to Valgullveig, and then I will bring the three of us back to this dimension.” Robert says quietly. “I am the strongest Jumper among us. I am the only one who can jump with two passengers. And Ma is the only Spell Weaver who is strong enough to weave a finding spell that will carry another with her and still get through the Dark One’s defenses.”
Valliant frowns and says, “It sounds very risky.”
“It is Grandfather, Ma will be injured. But she and the baby will both be fine in four days. Nora has had the due date mixed up. Madigan isn’t born on the 29th of March, he is born 29 days after conception, on April 14th. She’s young, she didn’t understand the 29 that she kept seeing. Ma will be in a deep sleep for several days to heal.” Michael says.
Nora looks at Rebecca, “Becky, did I get other visions wrong too?”
“Not that I know of, Pumpkin. Ma shares with us what you share with her when she comes to us when she is asleep. But you are very young sweetheart and sometimes you might interpret things just slightly off. But your gift is strong and as you mature it gets even stronger. Your visions of Rodrigo are correct, never fear that future is certain,” Rebecca says with a smile.
