by Octavia Kore
The little one in my belly must not have enjoyed the bumpy ride because I feel a sharp kick where I’m pressed against my mom. “Oh my goodness! Xia, baby, look at you!”
“I’m huge, huh?”
“Well, I’m not gonna be the one to say that, but I certainly wasn’t expecting it.” The sound of my dad’s laughter is musical. It’s something I never thought I’d hear again. “We missed you, baby.”
“We were so relieved to hear you were safe. You left the May Day celebration and we couldn’t find you anywhere. Police searched for you, Mina, and Kareen for weeks.” My mom gets choked up, but her hand runs over the wiggling baby inside me and she smiles. “I’m so glad you found where you belonged.”
“We almost didn’t believe that Venium when he showed up saying you were out here mated to two aliens.” Dad laughs.
“Where’s my little Kareen?” My mom asks, looking over my shoulder.
“I’m here! Hi grandma! Hi grandpa!” My girl scrambles down from her papa’s shoulders and bounds toward us.
“Oh, we missed you so much! The greenhouse wasn’t the same without our helper.”
As I watch my parents hug Kareen and tell her all about the things we’ve been missing back on Earth I’m taken by surprise when I feel warm liquid begin to dribble down my leg. “Oh, crap.” My cheeks heat in embarrassment as I shuffle backward. “I had to pee so bad on the way here and I guess I couldn’t hold it anymore.” As I turn to tell Aquilian and Ettrian I need to head inside, a sharp pain nearly brings me to my knees. Luckily my mom is there to catch me as I stumble forward, sucking in a breath as the pain hits me again.
“Oh, my goodness.” She gasps when more of the fluid splashes on the ground at my feet. “Hunny, this isn’t you peeing yourself. I think your water broke.”
Panic rolls through me, even as I’m bombarded with feelings of calm from my mates. I know the Dauur have shorter pregnancies, but I hadn’t thought that would affect me too much. A month early? Sure, but I’m only 4 months along. I surpassed the ‘bump’ stage relatively quickly, but I’d chalked that up to the massive size difference between the Dauur and humans, the fact that I’m a bigger girl anyway, or even the possibility of twins.
“What if something’s wrong?” I ask Ettrian as he comes up beside me, but he says nothing, just looks over me to Aquilian.
“Mama?” Kareen calls and I feel her little hand run over my stomach as it tightens again.
“It’s okay, baby.”
“We need to bring her inside to the birthing room. There is no time to take her back to our tree.” Ettrian tells my parents.
“Don’t you worry about Kareen, hun, your dad will keep her busy.” My mom squeezes my hand as Aquilian scoops me up into his arms.
Tears prickle my eyes as my daughter waves at me excitedly. It isn’t like I don’t trust my dad to look after her, but she’s been with me through so much these last few months that it’s strange doing this without her on the sidelines to make me laugh. My mom is right behind us, asking Ettrian a million questions he probably has no answers to.
“Is this normal for your species? How big were the two of you as infants? Where are the doctors? Are there no hospitals here?”
“We need to retrieve the Taenov’s.” Aquilian tells Ettrian as we enter the birthing room.
“Both of them? I thought Safia only handled the darker side? You know, deaths?” I look between their serious faces and I make out a hint of blue in their eyes. “You think something is wrong?”
“It is only a precaution. I will be back as soon as I can.” With a soft rattle of quills, Ettrian drops a kiss on my forehead before darting from the room.
“Why is it a precaution-” Another contraction hits me and I can feel all of my muscles tense. It’s so bad that darkness seeps into the edges of my vision and everything around me blurs. Oh gods, this was nothing like they show you in those labor and delivery shows. My baby is going to be born on an alien planet, in a plant sling within a goddamn tree. Hysterical laughter bursts from my trembling lips and I try to tell myself to remain calm, that this will all be over soon. Labor doesn’t last forever. “What if he doesn’t make it? What if whatever Safia meant when she said he’d be different means he can’t make it once he’s outside of my body?”
“Stop, Inoxia. Let me help you.” He sets me down in a sling just like the one he sat me in the first time he thought I was giving birth. The memory brings a little calm back and I recline against the smoothness of the plant.
On Dimosia there is no tech, so we have no idea whether we are having a boy or a girl, but something deep inside me says I’m going to meet my son today. Worry over Safia’s cryptic message has been nagging at me for months and now that the day is here, I’m terrified of what will happen. I moan when Aquilian’s impossibly large hands caress my body, his calloused fingers massaging my joints to help ease the pain feel heavenly. Another contraction tinges my vision red with pain and I pant as I curl in on myself.
“You’re doing so well, baby! Really. I’m so proud of you.” Mom caresses my face and arms comfortingly, murmuring encouragement.
Just when I think I’ll have a chance to breathe, another contraction slams into me and I scream until my throat is raw. Warmth flows through me as the freckles across my skin begin to pulse with a soft glow and I feel a renewed strength. I can do this. I’m not alone. The next contraction is easier to breathe through.
“You are so beautiful, my light, so strong. Almost there Inoxia.” Aquilian whispers along the bond, his voice full of admiration. He slides my skirt over my hips and rubs my legs. “Let me see how close you are.” I scoot forward some and let my legs fall open as he crouches down to take a look. Whatever he sees clearly has him in a panic because he jumps back up and looks toward the door.
“What is it? Can you see the baby?” Poor Aquilian looks terrified and if I wasn’t in so much pain, I’d probably be laughing.
We both breathe a sigh of relief when Ettrian bursts in with Lirseas and Safia hot on his heels. “Inoxia!” The Darkborn female says cheerfully.
Lirseas is all business as she waves Aquilian out of the way, taking up the position between my legs. “Oh, you are so close. You are doing a wonderful job. A couple strong pushes and we will have him.”
Fortified by the strength and support of those around me, I focus everything I have into my labor. Aquilian and Ettrian are on one side of me, holding my hand and stroking my hair as they whisper how much they love me, how much I mean to them. My mom is on the other, watching everything with wide eyes. Safia stands near Lirseas, chanting softly as she looks on. With the next contraction I push with all my might. Pain rips through me and I completely understand the term “ring of fire” used to describe natural birth. The entire room is silent for a moment before I hear one of the most beautiful sounds in the world. My baby cries.
“You have a son.” Lirseas whispers before I feel her lay him on my chest.
His skin is a pale grey and he waves around a tiny balled up fist as we stare at one another. Just like his papas’, my little boy has black eyes that I know will change with his emotions, but that little nose in the middle of his face is all mine and I run my finger down it before brushing his plump cheeks. As I move my hand to the back of his head past the shells of his ears, I feel the tiny nubs where quills will one day sprout and it makes me smile.
“Oh, look at that. He’s got little wings.” My mom whispers. “Well, I didn’t know the Dauur had wings.”
“We do not.” Ettrian frowns as he runs a hand along our son’s back before meeting my gaze.
“How? He wasn’t even conceived until after the lab was destroyed. There was no way for them to-” But something from that terrible day comes back to me. When I was being worked on, the leader mentioned something about direct injection. Maybe the wings are a result of this? Is it possible that every child we bring into the world together will bear the evidence of the Tachin’s meddling? I trace the fingers of one hand over
the tiny wings and my baby squirms against my chest. When I look up I see Safia watching me carefully and I know this must be what the warning was about. My mates and I had engaged in long conversations over the last couple months about what Safia has said to me, but I hadn’t ever considered that what the Tachin did that day would affect us this way.
“Well, I think he’s one of the most beautiful babies I’ve ever seen and I’m not just saying that because he’s my grandson.” My mom winks playful at me and I’m so very thankful to have her here.
“He absolutely is, mom.” This is a little life I’ve created with the two males I love most in this world and nothing, not even the Tachin, can destroy the love we feel for him.
“Mama?” I look and see Kareen standing in the doorway to my room. Her big blue eyes are locked on the bundle in my arms who is happily nursing for the second time since his birth.
“Hey, baby. Come here. I have someone for you to meet.” Ettrian and Aquilian give her a gentle nudge and she hesitantly steps up onto the flower where I’m sitting. Her little hand is warm in mine and I draw her closer until she is sitting up against my side. “This is Immir, your little brother.” My normally confident, loud, outgoing daughter says nothing as she watches the baby nurse.
“What do you think of him?” Aquilian asks as he crouches down next to her, but she only shrugs.
“Do you want to hold him?” Ettrian offers, but again Kareen only shrugs her shoulders as she looks on.
“What’s the matter, baby?” Handing the baby over to Ettrian, I pull Kareen into my arms and drop a kiss on her temple. “You were so excited to meet him earlier. Do you want to tell me what’s bothering you now?”
“I don’t want you to stop loving me.” She whispers sadly against my chest. “I don’t want to leave you guys.”
“Kareen, we could never stop loving you.” Her long curly hair has been twisted into a french braid, no doubt by my mom, and I run my hand over it before tilting her chin up. “You might not have come from us the same way Immir did, but you’ve been my baby since the day I met you. No matter how many more babies come into our lives, you are always going to be the one who made me a mama.”
Beside us, Aquilian is running his hands through his quills. The nervous habit is something he still fights and he’s been doing so well lately that it surprises me to see. “Your brother joining us does not mean he replaces you in our hearts. It only means our hearts grow to make room for both of you.” The sound of a quill snapping startles Immir who begins to cry.
“Oh no!” Kareen snatches the quill from her papa’s hand and rushes over to her brother as he fusses in Ettrian’s arms. “Look Immir, it’s like a glow stick. Snap it and shake it.” She says in a sing-song voice, waving the glowing quill in front of his scrunched up face.
The glow stick reference has me laughing out loud and I pull her into my lap for a quick hug. “Want to hold him now?” With a little nod, she snuggles into me and holds her arms out for the wiggly bundle.
Two sets of big hands support her as she cradles Immir against her chest and drops a kiss onto his crest. “Don’t worry, Immir, I have lots of room in my heart.”
“I can’t wait for you to meet him, Mina. Ettrian and Aquilian have been insanely supportive and wonderful and having my parents here has made this all so much easier.” Immir squirms against me as he nurses quietly. I rest my head on the seed pod at my back and sigh. “Wake up, Mina. Please.”
Something vibrates beneath me and I sit forward quickly. I can’t tell if it’s coming from the floor or the walls. When it happens again the seed pod behind me cracks just a hair and I can hear Mina scream. Oh gods, what’s happening? “Mina?” I scramble to my feet, slamming my hand against the hard surface, trying to ask it to open along the bond, but nothing works and she continues to cry out like she’s in pain. “Doxal! Yssig!” Someone is already running toward the room. “Stay calm. Don’t fight the pod, Mina. Hang on!”
Yssig is the first to enter the room and I stumble out of his way, clutching Immir to my chest as I watch him frantically try to coax the pod open. Doxal is next, followed closely by my mates. Everyone is shouting along the bond and the room is filled with the sounds out of them beating at the pod. Doxal calls her name and Mina lets out a scream that chills my blood.
“Come outside, Xia.” Aquilian is saying, but I barely hear him over the shouting. “Immir is frightened, Inoxia. Bring him to our room.”
Right, Immir. My poor boy is wide-eyed and his little face is scrunched up as he screams. As I let myself be ushered out, I hear a loud crack and the room goes silent except for Immir’s whimpering.
“This isn’t possible.” Doxal says as he takes a step backward.
“What? What is it?”
Ettrian looks inside as Mina moans and turns back with a frown. “I think your friend is in labor.”
OTHER WORKS BY OCTAVIA KORE
Venora Mates:
Ecstasy from the Deep (short story) in From the Depths Anthology
Dauur Mates:
Queen Of Twilight
Seyton Mates
Breaths of Desire (Short Story) April 1st, 2020 in Blooming Desire Anthology
WORKS COMING SOON BY OCTAVIA KORE
Venora Mates:
Ecstasy from the Deep (extended edition)
Kept from the Deep
Kidnapped from the Deep
Seyton Mates:
Breaths of Desire (extended edition)
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Born in the Sunshine State, Hayley Benitez and Amanda Crawford are cousins who have come together to write under the name Octavia Kore. Both women share a love for reading, a passion for writing, and the inclination toward word vomiting when meeting new people. Ecstasy from the Deep (From the Depths Anthology version) was their very first published work. Hayley and Amanda are both stay-at-home-moms who squeeze in time to write when they aren’t being used as jungle gyms or snack dispensers. They are both inspired by their love for mythology, science fiction, and all things extraordinary. Amanda has an unhealthy obsession with house plants and Hayley can often be found gaming in her downtime.
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