Chapter Five #2
“No. But Aluhara was a new warrior when I was taken.”
Sorooth blinked. “I see. Are you related to her?”
“Funny you should ask. I am a cousin. Well, our mothers were cousins. We were on the poor end of the family tree.”
“Would she know you?”
“Oh, absolutely not. She was way too fancy to meet my grubby little self, and then I was sold.”
Diena said, “Keska, if you still have the Hyreno-born working for you, make sure they don’t get near Ithal. He does not care for Hyreno.”
Keska frowned. “But he has a fin.”
Alody sighed. “When he was an infant, I was with him in the palace of the Lorn emperor. Another sale from the capitol to that asshole on behalf of mineral transfer. Anyway, I got to Ithal after his mother passed, and they had already tagged the baby and were getting ready to transport him, and that baby had a need. So we worked our way through the Hyreno henchmen, and Ithal had tracked each and every one of them. It gave him a prejudice and a lot of rage.”
Sorooth blinked. “I see.”
Keska nodded. “I will notify Ekbert. He’s a teen and is our groundskeeper until he heads off for his assignment. Does he have gills?”
“He does. And a head fin.”
Diena said softly, “How will he deal with the fact that the Lorn emperor is dead?”
The others all looked at her. “What?”
Diena smiled weakly. “When I was off after implantation, I thought about my brother, and he had a need. The Lorn palace is empty. The henchmen are... missing. The breeder quarters are empty, and the torture pens are gone.”
Alody looked at her and said, “Diena.”
“I was hormonal. Sue me.”
Alody looked at her and started to laugh.
Keska asked, “Is that what happened when you said you needed a week off planning?”
“Yup. All I could think of was keeping the world safe from that bastard, so... I did.”
Sorooth cleared his throat. “May I see it?”
She grinned and said, “Yes, thank you for asking.”
Sorooth sat across from her and touched her forearm. He smiled, and then his smile faded as his eyes began to flick.
His mind felt like cool mint across her thoughts, and he saw it all. When the contraction hit, his eyes went wide.
Keska was at his side but not touching him. “What was that?”
Diena grinned. “Contraction. Gotcha.”
He chuckled weakly and ran the information to the end of her memories.
He finished and sighed. “Wow. You are thorough.”
Diena shrugged. “Well, Crimson and some of the other breeders got away.”
Keska asked, “What was he doing?”
“Trying to make an all-active population with a Hyreno genetic base to add to their being all-terrain capable. Adding genetics from colder and warmer areas with Hyreno as a base was his brilliant idea.”
Sorooth said, “And you know who he was.”
“Yup. King Juro’s uncle. Maro. He couldn’t have his underwater kingdom, so he was going to take over everything else.” She smiled. “He was very impressive as an attacking psychic and a convincer, but I don’t play that, and I certainly didn’t play that while freshly pregnant.”
Keska put a hand on her own belly. “How could you do that?”
Diena smiled as the next round of food arrived.
“It wasn’t my baby. I had a need to activate my maternal side, and she’s a bit of a psychotic bear.
I didn’t do it for this baby. I did it because the world had to be safer for any child I had in the future, and now it is.
Yes, you can tell the Sethir, and they can move into the vacuum if they can get through the barrier, but no minerals can leave that soil without me.
I have bound them all down. Technically, by right of battle, I am the Lorn empress. ”
Alody got up and hugged her. “You are my big, brave girl. How close are they?”
“They sped up.”
“Yeah, psychic interference does a number on labour.”
Sorooth backed up, his hands back. “I am so sorry. I didn’t know that.”
Keska smiled. “I suspected, but you arrived when I was nearly to the finish line, so it didn’t mess with me too much.”
Diena rubbed her back. “Right. I am gonna walk.”
Keska got up and got the food that no one had answered. The drone flew up and away.
Diena smiled and paced back and forth in her living room.
She started talking. “Keska, we have gotten some great feedback on the climbing wall, but I think we need a second for the clients who have already passed the close-together grips. Our demographic is leaning toward children who are four to six-foot tall.”
Keska started to make notes.
“The food court is going great, but we need more nugget-style foods for kids with a max of five dipping sauces. I think that Ithal and Kessie could taste test.”
Keska smiled. “I think she would love that.”
Alody nodded. “Vaken would probably be in on that. He’s fussy. His uncle is Klauz.”
The kids came thundering back in, covered with grass, and Kessie had a frog in her hands.
Sorooth grinned and took it. “No, you can’t keep it. Yes, we will negotiate a pet; it will probably not be an amphibian.”
Kessie sighed and walked back outside with Ithal watching over her. Sorooth followed them and watched his daughter return her would-be pet to the wild.
They came back in, and Sorooth supervised both of them washing their hands.
Ithal came in and saw Diena pacing with her fists in her back. “Is the baby coming?”
“It has switched into a higher gear. Now, Ithal, you were all over the playpark. What would you like?”
Ithal gushed about it being super fun, but he wanted some parts to be harder and more accuracy challenges. Skill advancement. Plus, more nugget things to eat with fingers and a hand-washing station in the food court.
Diena chuckled. “Told yah.” She blinked when another contraction squeezed. Seven minutes.
Keska frowned. “What was that?”
“Another one. They are picking up speed, and I am going to be going in a few hours sooner than I thought.”
Keska came over and gripped Diena’s hips, squeezing them slightly. Diena blinked. “Whoa. Do that again.”
Keska smiled. “Let me know when the next contraction is hitting.”
Sorooth asked, “What was that?”
“Counterpressure. It helps her body deal with the flexing of the pelvis and takes one thing off the list.” Keska smiled. “Now we eat again.”
Diena was led back to her chair and helped to sit. Keska said, “As the only person here who has been where you are right now, just ask me, and I am your hands and feet.”
Sorooth started asking questions about what he could do to make Keska more comfortable when she was heavy.
Diena smiled. “That one’s easy. Lift her. Wrap your arms around her from behind and take the weight of the baby. They are heavy. The discomfort is unavoidable, but it can be changed to hope with a little effort.”
He smiled. “Who does it for you?”
“No one. Keska offered to make me a machine, but that was too weird even for me.” She sipped at her drink. “But since I know what it is to do it alone, if I have a partner next time, I will appreciate it a bit more.”
Ithal found the desserts, and he and Kessie carefully selected one each.
Diena smiled and accepted the carefully chosen cupcake from Kessie. The kids were chattering, and Sorooth, Kessie, and Alody were having a discussion about what could be done to make pregnancy more comfortable. Diena put her head on her fist and nodded off.
Diena woke to the soft conversations around her and sat up. Her muscles flexed, and she exhaled. That was stronger.
Keska smiled. “I can’t believe you took a nap. I was wired during labour.”
“I am in the safest place for me, surrounded by friends and family.”