The Village Girl

Chapter Fifteen - [Aaryan]

Hi everyone!

Another nice long chapter for you guys!! Once again, we are reaching the end of part three and part four will be the last one! So enjoy!

As always, let me know what you think by commenting and don't forget to vote!

Thank you!

-Luckycharms <3

P.S. Stay safe everyone!!! We're dealing with a strange situation and I hope all of you are okay! 

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Seetha did not wake for two weeks and for that reason, my days and nights were spent with little sleep. Aside from caring for Mayalahi and Aathavan, the constant worrying didn't help bring sleep either.

Lady Suhanya and my father suggested to let the palace nurses care for Mayalahi, but I refused. Aside from getting a nurse to feed her while Seetha was ill, I wanted Mayalahi to be close to her family, as Aathavan was.

Which meant I had to do most of the work.

I had pushed aside most of my responsibilities for those few weeks, letting Aarun take over in my absence. Though it was not ideal, it needed to be done. Conveniently, my training with Aathavan back at the villages helped me in caring for Mayalahi, but on the ninth day, Seetha's mother and father arrived. They had gotten the news that the birth proved a challenge and came as fast as they could, not resting once on that trip.

Despite their obvious exhaustion, anyone could imagine how relieved I was to see them.

With their arrival, I was able to, reluctantly, return to most of my duties. If Aayu was here, I could have trusted him to cover for me... but he wasn't, and instead I only had Aarun, who I could not trust.

So on day ten of Mayalahi's life and day ten of Seetha's sleep, I returned to working.

Seetha had lost an incredible amount of weight and looked almost like a different person. It was expected though. Though her mother or her father sat by her side nearly the whole day, dropping droplets of sugared water mixed with medicines into her mouth, it was nowhere enough to keep her well.

Seetha's parents were terribly frightened. I could tell from their eyes, though they feigned confidence when they spoke to me. Her father, however, though frightened, did seem certain that Seetha was strong enough to return to us. Of course, I couldn't blame them for being frightened. They were her parents.

Even I was frightened.

I had never been so frightened.

I did everything I could for her... I wrote to all the greatest doctors in our lands... I had all the charms and ornaments made and placed near her... I sent word to all the temples to perform prayers for her.

Yet she still slept.

Aathavan did not handle her sleep well. He needed her love and two weeks without it was too much for him, and though I loved him, I knew I could not match her. And though her parents kept him entertained as much as they could, he still wanted his mother, going as far as refusing to sleep in his crib. Instead, he would curl up into a ball on the bed next to her, resting his head on her arm.

Mayalahi, despite all the commotion, proved to be strong. She was born a little too small, according to Lady Suhanya, but within a few days, she grew into herself and was healthy.

She was... much more challenging than Aathavan had been. She cried more, fussed more, slept less, and made bigger messes. I wondered if maybe this all had to do with her not having Seetha's warmth so early on. But then again, it could just be that she was a baby... and not all babies were the same, it seemed.