Under the Light of the Earth

Chapter 5- The Forest of the Full Moon

Morphea Jarhas-Wim felt very well protected by the Rusino Guards and her husband, and by Captain Christ-is-king, as dangerous a man as he was, she knew he'd never let her come to harm, not only because his love for her was great, but because his wife, her sister, would murder him.

All the same, it was difficult to get used to these orphaned children from another part of the moon. They might as well have been from earth they seemed so foreign to her in every respect.

They just acted as though there were nothing else in the entire world except where they were at the moment.

Sometimes she would ask them what their lives had been like before Sunfish had led them away, but they refused to say anything about what was in the past. At first she had assumed that it was trauma of some kind but she was not sure that was what it was.

Captain Christ-is-king, he had child trauma, so she knew what it looked like. No, these children were absent minded in some way other.

A great many of them were curious about her pregnancy, and would wordlessly reach out for her stomach as though they could see through her skin and look at the baby itself. They were obviously not well educated on biology, because it seemed to completely mystify them that this was how children came into the world.

When Sunfish was present, they were always deferential, and copied her every motion behind her back, not in a mocking sense, more like they were doing it in reverence.

She spoke far more than they did, and seemed to be able to read their minds through a subtle language of body movement and demeanour. She was a good mother to them, she knew their wants well.

But there was a general sense of dread that crept slowly upon them as the Tapeworm began to approach the shore of the Polar Continent.

When the captain called them up to the deck, in a moment of calm, she could see the coast.

It was a thick line of jungle, white albino-looking trees with pocked trunks and massive light green crescent shaped leaves that dropped in great clusters and seemingly blocked out most of the sun.

"Morphea, you will not be able to negotiate that." Her husband said, concerned.

"We will carry her." Sunfish said.

"She is not as heavy as you."

At a certain point, when the children were in a particularly playful mood, they had fixated on Mitchell as an anomaly, so dense and heavy set he was to them, like a man made out of stone, they were delighted by his ability to pick them up with one arm and throw them in the air, though it tired him. They also enjoyed a game where he would lie on the ground and they would attempt to lift him. They never did.

"Oh, I'm not sure about that." She said.

"I don't want to trouble the children."

"I must protect my baby." Sunfish said, pointing at the pregnancy.

"We will carry you."

It seemed there was to be no more discussion. The stubbornness of Sunfish beggared disbelief for someone who looked so fragile, albeit fierce. She seemed to carry the attitude that she would refuse to acquiesce to anyone's demands so long as she lived since she had escaped slavery and had, in her view, bested the terrible force of nature to find herself here.

Thus it was resolved that Morphea would be carried. She knew she would be hard pressed to complain once it started, though.

She did feel terribly sick these days.