by S. E. Smith
Jessica nodded. “I guess all that’s true, but I had been so looking forward to seeing her in person.”
“I know, sweetheart. I know. Perhaps you still will. Icela tends to be surprising in her visits.” Stark glanced at the sled he pulled behind him. “How are you doing back there, Kevin?”
Kevin growled low before speaking. “It’s bloody freezing here. And it’s all I can do to stay awake for more than fifteen minutes. Your desert sounds like heaven at the moment. I’m under four stinky furs—and no, I don’t want you to explain to me who got sacrificed so I could stay warm on this ice world. These coverings don’t smell like any creature I’ve ever smelled before.”
Stark chuckled. He found Jessica’s talking teddy bear entertaining. “I took the skins from those creatures who challenged me for my life and lost. I never hunted or attacked for gain, but I defended my life. You are wearing my proof.”
Kevin sniffed the furs and made a face. “I can get behind that. I would have been wearing a giant werewolf fur right now if you hadn’t stopped me from taking out Bruce. Pride would have kept me warmer than another four furs piled on top of these.”
“You’re so blood-thirsty,” Jessica complained. “I don’t know why I got such a violent familiar. I am not a violent witch.”
Kevin held up two talons. “First, I’m not really a familiar, so you got gypped,” he said, folding down one talon. “Second, since I’m here and have to do the job, I will wisely say that you’ll understand why one day, Little Miss Witch. You’ve got a lot to learn about life.”
Stark grunted. “We’re lucky we didn’t run into any unfriendlies on our walk today or both of you might have gotten a demonstration about fighting for your life.”
Kevin scratched his head with one talon. “These unfriendlies you mentioned—just how unfriendly are they?”
“Are you familiar with the dinosaurs of Earth’s history?” Stark asked.
“Yes,” Kevin said, fighting not to shiver under the blankets. Fear made you colder, not warmer. “Are you saying Glacier has freaking dinosaurs?”
Stark lifted a shoulder. “We have certain animals that are large and aggressive, especially during mating season. Dinosaurs are the closest comparison I can think of.”
“Stone the flaming crows,” Kevin whispered as he imagined it. “When are we heading back to Earth, Mr. Stark?”
“Sooner than I intended,” Stark said. “Topper is about to give birth and she wants to do it at home.”
“Ha! I knew the little Skippy was up to something in making her miserable on Earth. He probably wanted to come here so he could hurry and be born. I noticed he’d settled down once we arrived. Is Topper okay?”
“Topper is fine,” Stark said. “She was fussing at me for hovering before I left.”
Kevin nodded and burrowed down into the furs. “She’s a tough one, your witch.”
“She is indeed.”
“Just for safety’s sake,” Kevin began. “How does someone from your planet fight something like a dinosaur?”
“Yell loudly, run fast, and then stun it with your laser weapon when it’s not looking.”
Jessica giggled. “I’d have to shrink it. Kevin can’t run. He sinks on the ice fields.”
Kevin held up his two front arms. “These beauties are meant for tree climbing and holding down my victims while I drink their…”
Stark cleared his throat to interrupt. “Let’s spare Jessica the gory details just a little longer.”
“Sure,” Kevin said, tucking his arms back under the furs.
Chapter Seven
Two days later…
Stark was quite pleased with his arrangements. “Polar said he’d be happy to have us sooner.”
Topper eased her bulk down into the chair. It strained under her weight and made a squeaking sound. “I’m so big now I feel like I’m going to break your man-sized furniture. Isn’t your home the Glacieran equivalent of a bachelor pad?”
“If you’re trying to ask if I bought the furniture to fit myself, the answer is yes. However, I had the occasional houseguest who used it.”
“Like all the women who waited in line?” Topper asked, rubbing her mid-section.
“Like Polar and his mate. Rime. My parents.”
“Your parents?”
“This was before they died and joined the stars.”
“Oh,” Topper said closing her eyes. “I'm sorry, Stark. I didn’t mean to be testy.”
Stark rushed to her side and knelt. “We were just talking. Why are you apologizing? You know it worries me when you start being nice.”
Topper giggled at his alarm. “Stop making me laugh, Stark. It hurts to laugh. Your son is doubling in size inside me and I’ve not been warm a single moment I’ve been here. Yet despite all that, this is the happiest I’ve been in a long time. I feel so weird. I probably should rest now.”
When Topper turned her head and dropped instantly to sleep, Stark turned to Nia. “What’s wrong with her?”
Nia laughed. “Nothing that can be stopped now, I’m afraid. She’s definitely in the first stage of childbirth and is experiencing Glacieran euphoria. I don’t understand how that’s possible for your mate, but I have seen this in Glacieran females many times.”
She lifted Topper’s feet and rubbed the insoles. “I will deepen her rest this first hour. You have about two before true labor begins, Stark. I suggest you drive to town and fetch a priestess and a birthing coach. We can no longer move your mate, unless you want to risk your son being born out in the ice fields.”
“No,” Stark said, kissing Topper’s closed eyelids. His mate was sleeping deeply. “My dual sibling is a priestess. I just need to return to Earth and bring Rime back with me. Topper will want her Earth sister, who is a healer, to be here as well,” he said, rising. “Will you be okay for the time I need to leave? The portal travel is instant, but tracking down my sister and Topper’s sister may take me a while.”
Nia smiled as bravely as she could. “This first hour will carry no surprises for me. I have a delivered a child or two in my time, but professional help will be needed once the real work begins. When I last checked your mate’s condition, I discovered the babe was pointed in the wrong direction. The birth will require more knowledge than I possess.”
“I’m leaving right now and will return as quickly as I can,” Stark said as he stood. Before he left though, he went explain what was happening to his daughter. “Your mother is having the baby… Jessica? What are you reading?”
Pulling her attention from her book, Jessica lifted her head and held it up for her father to see.
“Advanced Astrophysics?” Stark asked, a bit in shock. What thirteen-year-old read that? None on either of their planets, he suspected.
Jessica grinned at her father’s surprise. “Dr. Verglas said I could help her with an experiment in the dome once I was up to speed on the subject. This is my third book, Dad. I think I’m understanding much better now.”
“Little Miss is a tried-and-true brainiac. Studying is her favorite thing,” Kevin said, scratching his leg. “Your child is strange, Mr. Stark.”
Stark grinned. “Stranger than an Australian Drop Bear?”
“Guess not,” Kevin admitted with a chuckle. “You’re a real corker in your thinking. I see where Little Miss gets it from.”
Stark looked back at his daughter. “Did you hear what I said about your mother?”
“Yes. Bro-bro is coming,” Jessica repeated, putting her book away.
Stark nodded. “Yes, I’m returning to Earth and bringing back Nonny and Rime so they can be here to help. Will you watch over everyone until I return? It takes a long time to have a baby. I should be back within the hour and long before the big event.”
“Sure, Dad.” Jessica scooted off her bed. “Can I see Mom?”
“Yes, but…” Stark looked for words but could find none to soften the truth. “Childbirth is hard, Jessica. Labor hurts the woman going through it. It will be hard f
or you to see your mother in that much pain and to hear her expressing it. Can you be brave?”
Jessica nodded. “I’ll do my best.”
Stark walked over and bent to hug Jessica tight. “Within you is a warrior. Remember that. You come from a long line of strong people on both sides of your family. This will be tough, but I trust you will do what you need to do. And now you’ve got Kevin to help you.”
Kevin nodded. “You can count on me, sir. I’ve watched many a babe come into this world. I’ll hold Jessica’s hand through it.”
“Good. Okay then. I’m headed to Earth. Wait…” He took off his necklace and looped it over his daughter’s head. “This is only to be used in a true emergency. It’s a way for you to contact the goddess directly. If I don’t return in an hour, wrap your hand around the charm and call to Icela. You may have to repeat the call several times. You must do it outside because it’s the ice that will carry your words to her. Make sure Kevin is with you. Soon I will teach you how to fire a blaster so you’ll have something more than magic to protect yourself.”
Jessica bit her lip and watched her father go running off. Laser weapon? Using a weapon never crossed her mind.
She turned to Kevin with a snort. “When my bro-bro gets here, he’s going to get a long lecture about ruining our first family vacation with his ‘hurry up and get born’ plan. He could have waited until we got back to Earth.”
Kevin chuckled. “Want me to show him my fangs and growl? That will teach him.”
“Eeewww… no. I don’t want to scar him for life. He’s only a one-day old baby. Maybe we do that when he’s older and gets into my stuff. Nobody messes with my stuff.”
Jessica walked over and patted herself in front of him, which was the sign for Kevin to climb onboard. He wrapped himself around her and put his head on her shoulder as they went down the hall. She hugged him and felt comforted by his presence. Kevin smelled a little wild like her werewolf friend, but he also smelled like eucalyptus.
She was so very, very grateful that her mother hadn’t gotten the chance to get her a cat.
Jessica’s mouth lifted at one corner as she watched her mother sleeping. What was so scary about being in labor? Her mother wasn’t even snoring. She looked like a sleeping princess in a fairytale.
“Do you have to do this often? Help women have babies, I mean.”
Nia turned to Jessica and smiled. “Rarely, but I’ve helped deliver four babies in the seventy-five years I’ve been old enough to fulfill myself with work.”
Jessica made a face. It was rude, but Nia never seemed to mind her being herself. “Seventy-five? That’s really old. Mom is sixty-ish. On Earth, that’s too old to be starting a family, but not when you’re one of Gaia’s witches. My Uncle Theo—well, he’s not really my uncle, but I call him that. He’s actually a dragon, which is a giant animal that flies. Anyway, Uncle Theo tells Mom she looks like she’s twenty.”
Nia laughed. She wished Resig could have been present to hear this conversation. Jessica was as blunt-spoken as her military father. Stark was renown for speaking his mind. “Is being considered youthful a female compliment on Earth?”
Jessica tilted her head as she considered the question. “I think so. My Aunt Nonny is almost Mom’s age and she looks a lot older. No one would ever say that to her. She looks like Auntie Rime—Dad’s sister. I think they’re both beautiful exactly like they are. You don’t have to tell me your real age, but I’m curious. I confess I eavesdropped when you were talking to Mom and I heard you say General Resig considers you a child.”
“Yes, he does, but I am far from being a child. And I don’t mind telling you. Let me see how old I am,” Nia said, tilting her face to the ceiling.
Jessica laughed. “Are you making something up?”
Nia snickered but didn’t lower her gaze. “No, I’m counting my age in Earth years.” Finally, she lowered her head and smiled at the girl. “I am approximately eighty-seven.”
“Wow. I can’t believe Resig thinks you’re a child. How old is he?”
“Resig is two centuries less than your father’s age, but he acts like someone many centuries older. I believe age is as much a state of mind as it is a physical manifestation of growth.”
“Dad tells people he’s forty so they don’t ask him about his hair color. Silver hair is definitely for old people only on Earth. Except that I have silver hair too, but then I can have any hair color I want. Mom usually keeps her hair purple. Sometimes she and Dad have purple hair together.”
Nia chuckled. “Your father lets your mother change his hair color?”
Jessica shrugged. “It’s not that strange where we come from. We all changed our hair back to natural before we came to Glacier. Dad asked us to. He said it was more respectful to show up in front of his Goddess in our true forms.”
Nia laughed and laughed. “I would like to see your father with purple hair. More, I would like Resig to see how a man much older than him adapts to a youthful mate and family.”
Jessica smiled because Nia laughed at nearly all her stories. “If you’re eighty-seven, you’re older than anyone I know, Nia. Well, except for Moonie. Moonie’s ancient—or that’s what everyone says.”
“How old is ‘ancient’ on Earth?” Nia asked.
Jessica’s brow furrowed as she thought. “I asked Moonie once. She said she was older than dirt, but that can’t be true. All of Earth is dirt and Moonie can’t be older than that.”
“That’s very logical of you to figure out,” Nia said with a grin.
“I don’t know for certain, but I think ancient is probably something like a hundred. My brain has a hard time with age. I’m supposed to be like three or four-years-old, but I’m more like thirteen on Earth. My best friend is only six. I’m like her babysitter.”
Nia smiled. “Here you’re perfectly normal. You’re simply growing like a Glacieran. The first twenty years can be sporadic. Some do them all in two years which is shocking for all involved. Or aging to adulthood might stretch out over a decade or longer. No one takes twenty years to reach twenty-years-old. The goal is to make sure your inside parts keep up with your outside parts as you experience each change. It would not be nearly as pleasant for you to have a thirteen-year-old body and a six-year-old mind like your friend. It would be difficult for your family as well.”
“That wouldn’t work at all,” Jessica said. “I wouldn’t be able to learn Astrophysics and help Dr. Verglas with her experiments.”
“When you say doctor, do you mean a healer? Resig showed me some of your father’s notes about Earth. General Stark is apparently writing adaptation guides for future Glacierans who might go to Earth.”
Jessica laughed and shook her head. “Dr. Verglas is a scientist. They’re called doctor too. I guess it’s confusing but most of Earth is confusing like that. Auntie Rime says she’s still sorting it out. Alfred helps her. He’s a fish shifter who’s mated to a cat shifter.”
“Your home on Earth sounds very interesting. Perhaps I might visit one day.”
Jessica clapped softly. “THAT would be awesome. Did I mention Dr. Verglas is also a dragon now? She’s new at it though so every month she has to be locked into a cage because when she turns into her creature she tries to fly away.”
“What was that expression you used? Wow—I think it was. That is definitely a Wow story.”
They smiled at each other and sat in silence for a while.
“Can I ask you something else? I know I ask a lot of questions, but I have so many, and it’s really hard not to ask them.”
Nia bowed her head. “Ask whatever you wish, Jessica. If I can answer you, I will. I am honored that your family treats me with so much respect. I am also honored that you think I have answers that might help you.”
“Okay. Well. Before he left, Dad told me having babies hurts. All I see is Mom sleeping. When does it hurt?”
“Sleeping is only the first stage. The rest your mother gets now is preparing her body for the birt
hing work later. The harder parts will come within the next few hours. There is pain, but all females find a way to bear it.”
“I didn’t tell Dad this—because I could tell he was freaking out about Mom—but I’m never having babies. Even thinking about having babies is creepy. I suppose some women need to make babies or all life would die out, and I’m glad I’m here. Have you ever thought about having children?”
Nia nodded. “Yes. Despite the prospect of pain during delivery, I think about having children nearly every day. There is no greater miracle on any planet than the act of creating new life. Females are key to the survival of any species.”
“Do you think it would help if the woman was a warrior? Warriors kick butt and ignore pain. Right?”
Chuckling, Nia nodded. “I consider being a warrior an absolute necessity. But then—I also consider all females to be warriors of one kind or another. This is not even a question in my head.”
Jessica sighed. “Maybe by the time I’m as old as you are having babies won’t seem so bad.”
Nia did not reply. She just smiled.
Then Topper’s eyes popped open in panic. She looked at Nia sitting at her feet.
“What’s going on? I’m hurting all over. Am I in labor? I can’t be,” Topper said firmly.
Nia reached out and took her hand. “Your son has decided to be born on Glacier. I’m sorry Topper. We couldn’t get you home. Stark is bringing your priestess and your sister here. He should return shortly.
Topper moaned as the familiar constricting pain radiated around her middle like a band someone was tightening. “What was Stark thinking? Nonny is not coming through the portal. She might help create them, but no way is she going to leave Earth. Rime might come. Thor better come with her or that crazy guy that…” She stopped and swallowed. Nia’s eyes had gone wide over her outburst. “Never mind. I rant when I’m in pain. It will be fine. I’m sure he’ll get them both here.”
