Chapter 4
Fatima
CW: talk of babies and pregnancy
The next month went by in a blur. Sarah, Talia, Hai, and myself all lived together in one of the larger abandoned cabins in the valley. It was cozy.
I was settling into life here. The vibes were a bit different, but not in a bad way.
In the mountain we stayed connected to one another because of the shared space, here we stayed connected through shared meals, and group activities like sewing, weaving, and harvesting fruit from the trees that produced well into the winter.
All of the mated couples had their own little houses along the main path and we’d often gather at the large house Dameron used to live in. Drondia told me it was never meant to house just one family. It was build to be used by the entire community.
Life was good. There were a few people from the old dekes who bristled at all of us newcomers, but for the most part, everything was very calm here.
Zander left on a long hunting trip the dayafter he rescued me.
It was harder to find wild game in the winter so all the hunters had to go further out to find food, but none of them had stayed away as long as Zander had.
It made me wonder if he was avoiding me.
He had looked at me with such longing before I luminessed for Drelic.
Maybe he felt differently now that I had mated with another male.
Either way my dream of having a luminescence mate, or any mate at all for that matter, was long dead.
Why would anyone want me now? I couldn’t glow for anyone.
I hated to admit it, but I wasn’t sad that Drelic had died. I believe, over time, we could have made things work, but things had started off so badly for us, it left little room for grief.
I felt far more heartbreak over the loss of ever having a luminescence mate than losing Drelic. I wanted to have one baby. Just one little one to take care of, but even that dream had begun to fade with each passing day.
The other women had shown signs of pregnancy as early as three weeks. I was in my fourth week, and still nothing. The one good thing that could have come out of my night with Drelic would have been a baby, but it seemed even that was too much to ask.
“Good morning, everyone,” Gabby announced as she walked in with Tabby on her hip.
She’d been checking in with me most mornings.
None of us humans had experienced the death of a mate but me.
Unfortunately, that meant they were treating me as if I were made of glass.Now, four weeks later, people were finally checking in on me less and treating me more like they did before, which was really all I wanted.
“Good morning,” I smiled at her and Tabby, who was arguably the happiest baby in the world. She was so cute with her brown skin, curly black hair, and little horn nubs on top of her head.
“A group of us were going to knit together in the meeting house after lunch, we’d love to have you join us.”
“I’d love that,” Sarah chimed in.
“Sure I’m down,” Talia added.
“I’ll be there too,” I nodded with a smile.
“I’m spinning yarn with Drondia today, but I’ll catch you next time,” Hai informed us.
“What are we doing?” Julie asked as she walked through the door. She was holding Marcelo in her arms. He looked like a mini Orsu and was nothing but smiles.
“We’re going to knit together after lunch,” Gabby informed her. I’m running low on winter clothes and it feels like it goes faster when we’re all together.
“I should ask Kayla if she wants to join us,” Julie suggested. “She’s been so miserable lately.”
“Thankfully, she’s just got a few more weeks left to go,” Hai sighed. “But I have a feeling her baby might come early. There’s only so much her body can take.”
“How’s Taylor holding up?” I asked. With so many women pregnant at once, it was easy to see how pregnancy effected everyone differently. Kayla was always tired and spent most of her time at home. Taylor on the other hand, seemed to have the same amount of energy as she did before.
“She looked fine to me this morning,” Gabby commented. “I saw her and Brexl walking together to get breakfast.”
All this talk of babies was a stark reminder that I might be the only woman in our group who won’t have one.
“I’ll see you this afternoon,” I bid everyone goodbye as I made my way to the door. I needed to get away, and take a moment for myself.
Once outside, I stopped and inhaled a deep breath of the crisp winter air. I had hoped it would clear the sadness from my heart, but instead I got a whiff of someone cooking fish and immediately felt ill.
“Oh god,” I moaned as I put a hand over my mouth. A wave of nausea hit me like nothing I’d ever experienced before and I found myself running to a nearby bush.
I retched into the pine-tree-like needles.
Gentle hands scooped up my hair and started to rub my back.
I looked behind me to find Zander’s sister Vianna shooting me a look of concern.
I hadn’t had very many interactions with her, but I could tell she was a kind soul.
Vianna was a brand new adult at just eighteen years old, but I’d seen her argue with Zander as if she were eighteen going on thirty.
To her credit, Zander did seem to be a bit overbearing as far as older brothers go.
I couldn’t blame him though. I’d been overbearing to my siblings too before I got abducted.
Zander was Vianna’s sole caretaker, since their parents had died.
“You don’t look so good,” she commented.
“I don’t feel very good,” I moaned.
“Let’s get you back inside,” Vianna ushered me back into my cabin home where the rest of the women were still gathered. Taylor, who I considered to be my closest friend here on Valo Prime, had joined the group now too.
“What’s wrong?” Gabby asked.
“I found her throwing up into the bushes outside,” Vianna spoke up for me.
She helped me into bed, and then something caught her eye as she glanced up through the window.
Her gaze softened and an expression of longing crossed her face.
I looked up and saw Favalor standing there giving Vianna the same longing look she was giving him.
They were like too love sick teenagers desperate to be together but destined to be kept apart by a brother who would never approve of their union.
“I’ll get Sozu,” Talia volunteered.
Her voice seemed to snap Vianna back into reality and the young sirret woman turned her attention back to me.
“I’ll make you some tea,” she rushed to the hearth and poured water into the cauldron-shaped pot we had over the fireplace.
A few minutes later Talia reappeared with Sozu in tow.
“How long have you been feeling sick?” Sozu asked with the practiced ease of a doctor twice his age. He was good at this. His healing abilities weren’t just a super power for him, it was a part of his identity. He took his responsibility as the dekes healer very seriously.
“Not long, I haven’t been feeling sick at all actually. I just stepped outside and smelled someone cooking fish and it made me nauseous.”
Gabby and Julie exchanged a knowing look.
Was I sick? Up to this point Kayla had been the only one to deal with severe health issues.
Her heart condition made it hard for her to be as active as the rest of us.
Drovo had been busy building accommodations for her in the village.
Every cabin that had steps leading to the front door, now had a railing.
He’d made a smooth path lined with wood planks that led to every building.
His latest project was creating a floating chair connected to a pulley system that resembled a ski lift so Kayla wouldn’t wear herself out walk around valley was was arguably much bigger than our mountain home had been.
You could tell by the look in his eyes that the dryad shifter lived to make Kayla as happy as possible. If he wasn’t working on a project or spending time with Kayla, he was tending to Jelly her alien bison who had become a fan favorite for everyone in the village.
“May I touch your arm?” Sozu asked, breaking me away from my thoughts.
“Yes, of course.” I knew that was how Sozu’s healing abilities worked. He needed to touch the person in order to see what their body needed.
His touch was light upon my skin as he placed his hand on my forearm.
“Yep, that’s what I expected,” he nodded to himself.
“What? What is it?”
Did I have some kind of alien flu? Had the stiffness returned?
“You’re pregnant,” he explained. “You’re about four weeks along, just four more months to go.”
“I’m pregnant? But I thought I’d have symptoms before now.” I could hardly believe it. I was going to have the baby I’d dreamed of after all.
“Everyone’s different,” Sozu shrugged. “Some people show symptoms earlier than others.”
“Girl, count your blessings, I started throwing up just two weeks into my pregnancy,” Gabby teased.
Taylor, on the other hand, shot me a concerned look as she slowly got to her knees so she could sit next to me on my pallet bed.
“Is this...something you want?” she asked in a low tone. “I’ve heard Neelu mention an herb you can take if you want to end the pregnancy.”
Taylor’s concern for me and my desires warmed my heart. I opened my arms and she met me half way in a firm embrace.
“It’s entirely up to you,” she assured me. “This is your body and your life. If you want to keep the baby, I’ll be right there with you giving you all the help you need, but if not, then I’ll be there with you for that too.”
“Same here,” Gabby said.
“We’ll all help,” Julie chimed in.
The determined look on their faces along with the help they were offering, made my heart swell to the point of bursting.
I wouldn’t have chosen to be abducted and end up here, but there was no better group of women to be abducted with.
I was certain of that. We were a family, we weren’t perfect, but we always had each other’s backs.
Just then little Marcelo started to cry.
“I think he’s hungry,” Julie sighed. “I’ll be right back.”
I could see Orsu walking up to the cabin through the window. He knew Marcelo’s cry and he was there and ready to assist Julie if she needed it.
Tabby started to cry too. “I think it’s her nap time,” Gabby commented as she too left the house.
From the window I could see Tarak, hold up a hand to stop the conversation he was having with Brexl’s dad Trivix. He met Gabby half way, and asked if he could put Tabby to bed for her.
Gabby gave him a warm smile and handed off little Tabby. Their baby girl happily rested her head on Tarak’s shoulder, comfortable in her father’s arms.
It was in this moment that I realized that my friends meantwhat they said, they would help me as best as they could, but all but three of us were pregnant or already had babies.
The reality was, they simply didn’t have time to help me.
Even with their attentive partners, a baby was a time-consuming burden.
If I decided to have this child, I also had to accept the reality that I’d largely be on my own. That was fine, I determined. I’d been on my own for many things in my life, including helping to raise my siblings. I could do this. One baby was easier than three. We would be alright.
“I want to keep the baby, and I’d be grateful for any help you can give me,” I smiled up at Taylor and the rest of the women in the room.
The space was suddenly filled with whoops and cheers.
“Come see me if anything feels off,” Sozu instructed. “I’ll check on you every other week to make sure things are progressing as they should.”
“Thank you,” I replied, hoping my face expressed the deep gratitude I was feeling in this moment.
“Let’s go tell Drondia and Neelu,” Taylor suggested. “They gave me a lot of advice and herbal teas when I told them.”
“I like that plan,” I agreed and allowed Talia to help me back onto my feet.
I linked arms with Taylor and together we headed for the elder women we all saw as our adoptive moms.