THE FARAWAY LANDS OF OZ - Book One

Part Three, Chapter Thirteen: Noa

EVANORA

Days became weeks and weeks became months, before any of us could do a single thing about it. I remember the day of our arrival in Cattle Valley as if it was yesterday. Strangers in a foreign land and seemingly everyone they met wanted them gone.
The day that Glinda and Zion returned with the groceries and the clothes and guns – we still had a little money left from the Marshall –we felt one step closer to being accepted. We had hoped for only this to happen during our "short" stay here. But as the days went on and we were looking almost like them now, Cattle Valley turned into a second home.
The people were nicer, and we could even build some neighborhood friendships with a very nice old lady called Miss Abigail Gillespie and the doctor who had sold us the apartment, a Brit called James Worthington. He was the one who delivered my beautiful baby boy. That had been an exciting night.
On the 5th of December 1846 – several months later than expected but I blamed the absence of magic – did Noa Basil Fawkes first see the light of day. Named after mine and Zion's fathers; two warriors that left us too soon. With him, they lived on, and I knew that our Noa would be the exact same: A fighter!
Although the summer weather around here equaled the temperature inside an active volcano, the winters were at least as cold as the Siberian tundra. Giving birth in a bathtub with 30°F the most outside was not at all funny. But in the end, we were gifted with the most beautiful boy that I had ever set eyes upon.
This child would be loved and protected with everything we had and I wanted to make sure that he would know that from the very beginning. And I had never thought that giving birth would have be so agonizing and beautiful at the same time. At first, I had wanted it to stop because of the pain.
Yet this pain was easily forgotten once I saw my baby. He had been perfect and still was. I laughed and cried all day, and everyone was happy with me. Fell in love with Noa immediately.
In these months, this was not the only thing that we achieved though. Zion had found himself a job as the Marshall's deputy, Glinda had gone off to work at the stables, Theodora was waitering in the Saloon and Aliyah was helping out Doctor Worthington downstairs.
All the while Marcy and I were stuck in Homeschooling and later, taking care of Noa. But I wasn't complaining. This had been the time of my life and now, the three of us are inseparable.
Marcy enjoyed having a little baby near her and I enjoyed her maturity and knowledge, regarding the child. She was the only one whom I really trusted besides Zion, to watch him while I was away. As for Noa... He just enjoyed all the affection that he got from his momma and cousin.
Although, I must say, we got some work done while the others were out all day. For Marcy and I had managed to get hold of some withered crop field just outside the city during our daily walks around the area. And that was also the day that we found out that her powers didn't only include the perfect connection to animals but also to plants.
Whatever she touched, it immediately began to grow and to bear rich yield. At first, we earned only little for our "backyard manufacturing" of cotton and wheat but as our yields grew, so did our income and like that we collected a little fortune in no time.
Enough money to buy ourselves a house that grew into an estate and therefore not to have to worry about who is going to sleep in the armchair today.
This estate was located just outside the city, right in front of our 25 acres of cotton and wheat plantations. It was a two-winged manor that was sectioned into two floors and a basement.
On the first floor, we had the dining hall and kitchen combination, the living area and my study from where I organized the fields and our workers, the trading contracts and transport of our yield across the state.
The second floor held our beds and bathrooms and was our private area where the workers and our business partners were not allowed to go.
Through the large entrée, one could walk a straight line into our garden and reach our private greenhouse and the worker's houses from there. In the basement, we had our provisions, wines and weapons storage that we rarely used. Fortunately.
All this was partially because I wanted Noa to have a peaceful life that was close to the standards of the Emerald City. I didn't want him to feel bad about his family's living conditions and just wanted him to worry about playing with other kids and on his own. Let being a child be his biggest concern.