Lady of the Veiled Vale

Strength

The Goddess next approached Raiden, while his Lady slept. He did not always sleep with her. He needed to keep his senses sharp, and being wrapped in her embrace would prevent him from doing his duty, should danger arise. Though evil was not allowed within the borders of Sanctuary, accidents still happened. He was the only being strong enough to deal with such occurrences.
   Or I used to be. I'd wager my Lady wife could handle her fair share, as well.
   :She will have to be strong, Raijin.:
   He opened his eyes and looked up at the Goddess. He'd been meditating on the floor mat; otherwise, he would look down at her relatively diminutive owl form.
   :I do not require reminding that she carries my offspring,: he said with uncharacteristic ice.
   She gazed down at him, seemingly dispassionately. :You do, however, require a reminder of your duty to Me, youngling.:
   He immediately bowed where he was, forehead to wood. :Apologies, Ra'Hukumen. I fear for her safety, or I would never speak thus.:
   She appeared mollified. Her words startled him, however. :That was not what I deigned to grace your quarters to discuss.:
   He sat up, rolled to his knees in front of her. :May I ask what brings You here?:
   She let him squirm for a few seconds, though his discomfort did not show. :My child will be tested, as will you. I would apologize, but it is necessary. Events are unfolding that you have no knowledge of, nor need you know. I require many offspring from you and your Lady, and quickly.:
   He chuckled wryly. :I am certain you've noticed that we've begun the process.:
   :Not quickly enough. You will need assistance raising as many Healers and Guardians as I require.:
   He sat abruptly straighter. He didn't like the sound of that! :She is not a brood mare, to be used by a stud! I have not the strength to be the aforementioned stud. Find another,: he begged.
   The owl doubled in size, feathers fluffed out in anger. :I will have what I require, whether you are willing or not! Whether she is willing or not! I would prefer your cooperation.
   :To that end, I will give you the aid you require.:
   He knew better than to thank Her yet.
   :Your firstborns shall be taken to the mortal world, to age more rapidly.:
   "No!" he exclaimed without thinking.
   The Goddess grew to thrice Her original size. :It was not a request, it was a warning.: She vanished in a swirl of feathers.
   He burst into tears. How was he going to tell his wife that they would not be able to keep their children? Wait... children? As in more than one? And that's still not fast enough for Her?!
   Gwinn woke, her mind foggy with sleep. She almost asked herself what time it was, except that time moved differently in Sanctuary. I wonder how old Mother is, now. For that matter, how old am I? How has the world cha--
   Her thoughts fell away as a familiar spasm gripped her. He said I'd have six months! She wailed in her mind. She'd forgotten every scrap of midwifery, and held her breath.
   When she could think clearly, she "poked" her husband. He tried to hide the anguish on his end of the link, but she Felt it, nevertheless.
   :I keep telling you, it's fine. I'll survive. You might want to grab Kitta, though. Apparently, your children couldn't wait the six months Papa promised.:
   Raiden wiped his tears as best he could before materializing in her room. "Unless you think it can wait 'til morning, you're stuck with me, Gwinna."
   She couldn't answer, and she was forgetting to breathe, again.
   "If your patients could see you, they would shake their heads. You forget everything that you know, sheyla. Breathe," he implored. He held her hand, smoothing the back of it with his much larger palm.
   Her mouth opened, and little puffs of breath stirred the hair that drifted about her face in disarray. She didn't moan, or scream, as the night wore on. She accepted the pain stoically, though he constantly had to remind her to breathe.
   Samantha came to help in the morning, though she couldn't stomach the sight of the soiled linens when her sister's water broke. Kevin removed them while her husband held her. She passed her brother the clean ones after he chucked the wet ones in the hall. She was mildly surprised to see that he knew how to make a bed.
   Once the water broke, as before, things accelerated. Now, she did make sounds, and they tore at her husband's heart. It was doubly painful this time, because those were his children struggling to be born. It should have instilled pride, but instead, he felt terror. Despite the fact that she was a demigoddess, he couldn't get the image of his mother out of his head. His brain knew she would heal any damage his progeny could do, but his heart was trapped in the past.
   He knew when it was time for her to push when two vines snaked around her knees. The Tree put two more near her head, in case she needed something to hold onto. She gratefully hung on with grim determination, a low growl building in her throat.
   Kitta hadn't arrived, and neither of her siblings were up to the task of delivering the babies, so it was up to him. He reluctantly dropped to the mattress with his sleeves rolled to the elbow. The trickle of dark pink that stained the pad below her hips made saliva pool under his tongue, but she'd warned him that it was going to happen. It wrenched his gut to see the crown of sparse hair change the shape of his Lady-love.
   His presence was all she was waiting for. As soon as he was ready, she curled nose to tail, making sounds he'd only ever heard from a dragon. He abstractly thought that it was fitting, considering her heritage. The baby's head barely budged. It seemed impossibly large for such a small opening. More pink oozed out, and he had to keep telling himself that it was normal. With every push, he had to chant in his mind normal, normal, normal.
   Is it supposed to turn sideways like that?
   Before he had a chance to ask, the tiny thing squirted the rest of the way out in one slippery shot. Now that it was out, it looked impossibly tiny. And... and...
   "It's not breathing!"
   "Have to clear... mouth... mucus..." She was tired, and he worried if she would be able to deliver the other baby, or babies.
   He carefully turned the infant sideways and stuck his smallest finger in its mouth. He scooped the gooey stuff out in one clean sweep, and it let out a choked wail. More ooze dribbled onto his palm.
   Gwinn smiled when she heard the wavery cry. "Now, tie string about this far from the belly and cut the cord." She measured it with thumb and forefinger. He nodded.
   Not knowing where to put the baby, he set it--her! "It's a girl," he murmured--on her mother's stomach. Kevin handed him the string, then the scissors, and the job was neatly done.
   Samantha tiptoed closer, touched the baby's head, then her sister's hand. "Do you mind if I give her a bath? There's a crowd gathering downstairs, and she needs to look her best for them." She couldn't help the smile that tilted her lips, though she experienced a brief flash of envy that their daughter looked human.
   Ironic, considering she's not...
   Gwinn nodded. "Have to deliver afterbirth anyway..."
   Sam turned green. She wrapped the newborn in a towel and gently carried her away, into the nursery the Tree had grown for her. She would've been jealous of that too, except the Tree had been equally kind to her. Jessica had a nursery just off her bedroom, the same as this little girl did. She was grateful for the little room. She didn't fancy watching the unpalatable task ahead of the demigod.
   She shut out the sounds of her sister's pain, focusing on the tiny infant. She kept up a steady stream of soothing words as she wiped the goo (she tried not to think about what it was) out of all the baby's nooks and crannies.
   "I've got a baby at home, did you know that? She's your cousin. You're about as small as she was when she was born, but you were both born early, so that's no surprise."
   A thud behind her startled girl and babe. It was that blasted owl again!
   "Darn it! I just got her settled! Must you do that?"
   :Step away from the child,: She said.
   "N-no! You never said what you were going to do, but I'll not let you harm a hair on her head!"
   It cocked its head at her. :We need her alive. She has been pledged to My service. Quickly now, before the other is born. Hand her to Me!:
   The owl hopped closer. Samantha stepped back. "You can't have her! My sister would never pledge her baby to anyone!"
   The owl seemed to straighten up, then stretch until it resembled a stunning, ethereal woman with an owl's head. "I did not say 'twas she who pledged the babe. 'Twas the mother of the Scion who so pledged."
   "The mother of--I don't even know a 'Psion'! Look, can't you find some other baby?"
   Even before she stopped speaking, the sad-eyed owl woman was shaking Her head. "It must be of the Scion's bloodline."
   It began to dawn on Samantha that this "Psion" must be an ancestor of Gwinn's--which meant...
   "Take me! I'm this child's aunt. Unless this ancestor was one of Gwinn's father's kin, I'm a descendant of this Psion person, too!"
   The woman paused in Her advance. She tilted Her head, in the manner of a listening dog. "Acceptable. You will accompany the children, once in every sevenday. You will spend a full mooncycle in the Other Realms, teaching and learning."
   Samantha asked about her own daughter, and the owl said that Jessica was welcome to travel with her. "But You leave her here with us, yes?"
   The woman's eyes grew sadder. "You have a fortnight with the girls. Use it well." She shrank back into an owl, and launched through the window without a sound. Sam had the unsettling feeling that the owl woman simply made noise to announce Her presence.
   When the Otherworldly Personage left, she had time to process the experience. The first thing she noticed was that her niece had taken advantage of the hidden flap she used to nurse her daughter.
   The second was that nothing the owl woman said made sense. What children was she supposed to escort? How many others had been pledged to Her service? How was she supposed to spend a month away, once a week? Would she be leaving in two weeks? What would she tell Gwinn?
   Raiden wasn't surprised when her water broke again. Gwinneth, on the other hand, was.
   "It'd better not be triplets this time," she panted after the contraction released its iron grip. She looked to her husband for commiseration, but he wouldn't look her in the eye.
   "You knew, didn't youuuuu?" She curled toward her tail, forgetting to breathe.
   Raiden knew he'd catch hell later, and for more than this, but he soothed her brow and got her to breathe, in the meantime. He didn't care if she yelled at him, as long as she lived to do so!
   She had little time to argue with him, because the second, smaller twin all but shot out of her mother's body. When she was born, mere minutes after her birth sac burst, Raiden chuckled.
   "Your daughter was anxious to meet you."
   He gently placed the baby at her mother's breast, and deftly dealt with the cord. He gritted his teeth throughout the delivery of the afterbirth. If men knew what they did to their wives, they would never put them through this torture!
   Samantha brought the elder twin in to them, took her sister for her first bath. She was subdued, but neither parent was in any shape to notice. Gwinn was too exhausted, and Raiden was just relieved to find her none the worse for wear after bringing not one, but two demigoddesses into the worlds.
   Then he remembered that She was going to take them away.

   :You realize You're going to be continuing that "Scion" nonsense forever, yes?:
   She snuggled into His ethereal embrace. :Perhaps Ares won't mind if We hint that 'tis him. He always had a flair for the dramatic.:
   :Yes, War is dramatic.: