Jeanne G'Fellers - Sisters Flight (20 page)

"Not
that I know. Why?"

"That
gut isn't from overeating." Norlynn tossed Tessa's boots to the side and
reached unceremoniously under her skirts to remove her stockings, which, to my
disgust, were knitted in Taelach fashion, more than likely by one of her
slaves. Kaelan spied the weave as well and came to sit beside me.

"Tessa's
an Aut woman," she reminded me. "She wears what she's told,
remember?"

"I
know," I said. "I'm just tired."

We
all are, but you're in pain too.
Kaelan
extended her mind to mine.
I'm not Evangeline, but I've phased away your
pain before.
She wrapped her arm around me and pulled my head to her
shoulder, where she held me for a moment as she prodded my stubborn defenses.
"The pain will worsen as you warm."

"I'll
be fine," I began, but Evangeline cut me off.

"I
have been blocking some of what you are actually feeling. You have no idea what
the pain will be like should I quit." She looked up from her preparations
as her mind consumed mine, shoving aside all my resistance, my doubts, my
worries until the world began to blur.

"Let
me be your raiser one more time," Kaelan said somewhere in the background,
and the storm, Tessa and the burn in my hands and feet faded into nothingness.

"Wake
up, Rankil." Olitti shook me hard. I shifted in response, and my arms and
legs complained—loudly. I groaned, and a presence, Norlynn's by its
unfamiliarity and bluntness, numbed away the very worst.

"Leave
me alone, 'Litti!" I groaned again and straightened to roll toward her,
away from the fireplace, which burned cheerily with what looked to be the bench
Tessa and I had sat on earlier. "Where are Kaelan and Evangeline?"

"Here,"
called Kaelan from just behind Olitti. "I asked her to wake you."

"We
need your assistance," added Evangeline. I couldn't see her, but the tone
of her voice edged on anger, so I struggled to sit up without using my hands
and scooted to where I could see what was going on.

Norlynn's
knees were on Tessa's shoulders, pinning her to the floor while my sibling
tried to wriggle loose. Tessa wasn't quite awake but neither was she asleep,
and she was calling out—for me.

"She
won't hush up." Olitti plugged her ears with her fingers. "I don't
know how you slept through it."

"Norlynn
and I are too tired to continue fighting her, and I don't have any of the
sedatives I would generally resort to." Evangeline brushed the hair from
her face. "We let you both sleep for several hours and would have let you
continue to do so if your sibling's labor hadn't progressed so rapidly."

"Nothing
about Tessa has ever been simple." I scrubbed the sleep from my eyes and
looked to Tessa, who had partially opened her eyes at the sound of my voice.

"Please,"
she whispered, "Don't let them take my baby. It's not Taelach. It can't
be. I can't have a Taelach baby!"

"Taelach?"
I glanced at Kaelan. "She's birthing a sister?"

"One
babe is," said Kaelan in a weary tone. "The other is Aut."

"Sense
for yourself," said Evangeline as she motioned me closer.

I
held my hand over Tessa's belly, reveling at the emotional wave the Taelach
fetus responded with. I looked back at Evangeline who nodded. The Taelach babe
rolled back and forth in Tessa's belly, pushing hard against her confines in
readiness. Her Autlach brother joined in the kicking, but with none of his
twin's force. Tessa squealed with pain, which the sister babe responded to with
a sharp phase cry. I jumped back and glanced up at Evangeline, who smiled.
Kaelan laughed aloud.

"Strong
sister babes are known for announcing their presence that way." She
extended a hand to Tessa, who had begun bawling from the pressure in her
stomach.

"Would
you tell her to shut up?" Norlynn glowered down at Tessa.

Outside,
the storm had strengthened. It blew solid against the cabin, rattling cobwebs
from the ceiling. One fell across Olitti's face, and she sneezed. "Can we
build a bigger fire?" she asked through her sniffles.

"She's
right." Evangeline increased her phase, and Tessa temporarily halted her
sobbing. "A larger fire is in order, as is more light." She draped
her cloak across Tessa's abdomen, pushed up her skirts, then dipped her hands
into melted snow and shook them dry. "Your birth sister is almost as
stubborn as you are." She dropped to her knees at Tessa's feet. "Help
Norlynn hold her still while I have a look." I placed my elbows on Tessa's
arms while Evangeline checked the labor's progress. Tessa's mouth gaped and she
wiggled in response to the touch, but she didn't fight, even when Evangeline
repeated the exam a moment later. Evangeline said nothing, but wiped her hand
on her cloak then joined Kaelan by the fireside. "Have you ever seen a
multiple birth where one's Taelach and the other Autlach?" she asked.

"My
Jewel came across a few in her time." Kaelan's expression grew concerned.
"They tend to be hard births. Is there a problem?"

Evangeline
nodded. "The Autlach child is breech. It's blocking the birth canal."

"Oh,
Mother." Kaelan drew a protection symbol across herself. "Have you
ever done it before?"

"Done
what before?" I struggled to stand beside them.

"Stay
off your feet." Evangeline pulled the blade she had taken from one of the
guards and examined its edge. "I must cut the babies from Tessa."

"But
won't that—"

Kaelan
gripped my shoulder hard and pushed me back to my knees. "Tessa won't
survive no matter what we do. We have to think of the babes."

I
turned to view my sibling. Tessa's eyes closed against the writhing inside her.
She drew her knees to her chest and breathed out hard. I suppose I should have
cared about what was going on, even sympathize, but I found it hard. Tessa had
caused me so much pain, so much grief when we were young.

If
you can find no place in your heart for her strife then focus on the children
she carries.
Evangeline removed
Tessa's skirts and laid them to the side.
They've done nothing to deserve
your loathing.

I
don't loathe Tessa.

Don't
you?
Evangeline settled at Tessa's
feet again and pulled her tunic to her chin, exposing every bit of her tight
belly. Tessa, who was wide awake, gasped but didn't move, thanks to a phase
which seemed to take all of Norlynn's energy.
Pay attention to the signals
your body sends even though your mind denies them. She is part of your past you
have not come to terms with.

"What
gives you the right to judge?" The words blared from my mouth before I
could limit them to mental form.

"I'm
not judging you." Evangeline pressed hard on Tessa's abdomen to determine
how the babies lay. Norlynn responded as much as Tessa, both crying out.

"Not
so hard! I'm linked to her, remember?" Norlynn regained her balance and
centered her knees back onto Tessa's shoulders. Tessa bucked against her hold
and reached up to dig her fingers into Norlynn's thigh. "Dammit!"
Norlynn knocked Tessa's hand away as Evangeline pushed phase enough to close
Tessa's eyes. "You've got to talk to your sister," Norlynn said to
me. "Get in her head and calm her down."

"No."
I turned to Evangeline. "I don't I think can."

"You
must," she said. "I, too, would find this situation difficult if I
were thrust into it. I am, however, asking you to suspend any ill feelings you
have toward your sibling and focus on your niece and nephew."

"Niece
and nephew?" What a strange concept that was.

"Your
niece and nephew," Evangeline
added with emphasis. "And you're not making it any easier on their
mother."

I
looked down at Tessa. I'd soon have something few Taelachs could claim, a blood
relation who was Taelach as well. I rubbed my face and jaw as I grappled with
the knowledge. A blood relation. A niece, but at a cost. I bent over, venturing
a stroke to my sibling's face. Tessa's eyes fluttered open.

"What's
happening?"

"Shhh,
Tessie." I motioned Norlynn to move and drew Tessa's head into my lap.
"I'm going help you."

When
Norlynn no longer had to battle Tessa on multiple levels, she could focus more
on her phase, and Tessa relaxed into my hold. "You are?"

"Yes,
Tessa, with your babe, with both your babes. They're in a hurry, so my friends
are going to help them along."

"Oh."
Tessa gulped. She closed her eyes for a moment then tried to look down at her
abdomen. I pulled her head back up.

"Talk
to me."

"About
what?"

Evangeline
let me know she was inside Tessa's head as well.
She feels no pain.

I
nodded. "Just talk to me about whatever comes to mind."

"Why
can't I move or feel what they're doing to me?"

"It's
called a phase. Our healers use it when they help others."

"Women
can't be healers."

"They
can in my world."

"Oh."
Tessa tilted her head back to her belly again, craning her neck to see.

"Talk
to me," I repeated, drawing her face up again.

"They're
ruining my second best winter gown." Tessa frowned when she heard cloth
tear. "Do they have to be so rough?"

"You're
just the same as always." Silence fell between us as I struggled for
something worth saying. I still remembered the sting of Tessa's slap, the
pleasure she took in my suffering at our father's hands.

Evangeline,
mind weary, drifted back into my consciousness.
And Tessa recalls the
strides your family took to keep your blood ties a secret. She hated the lies,
the secrets it created. But at least she now holds a twinge of remorse.

I
creased my brow but said nothing, watching in silence as Kaelan formed scrap
wood into a crude frame and draped Evangeline's cloak across it, blocking
Tessa's view.

Talk
to her.
Kaelan's phase whispered in
the back of my mind.
You 're all she has right now.

Some
help I am.

Ask
her about other children.
Kaelan
turned to Olitti and gently nudged her mind toward sleep. Olitti yawned and
curled near the hearth, her cloak tucked under her chin.

After
another suggestion from Kaelan, I finally found my voice. "How many other
children do you have?"

"None."
Tessa touched my hand. I knew Evangeline had caused Tessa to reach for me, but
it mattered little. My sibling, my sister, had to be kept calm. "Mustin's
too old to make babies. It took Jin to—" Her expression turned bitter.
"I thought he loved me. He said we would run away together. This was our
chance. We were going to be so happy."

"I'm
sure you would have been." I glanced over the drape. Kaelan was tearing
the lower half of Tessa's second best winter gown into swaddling.

"Rankil?"
I looked down as fear returned to Tessa's large brown eyes.

"Yes?"

"I,
uh, I never treated Mustin's slaves as bad as I treated you."

The
nerve! I stiffened and glared down. "Is that supposed to make me feel
better?"

"No?
Yes?" Tessa's voice shook. "I just wanted you to know."

"Well,
now I do." I had to look away.

You
must do better than that.
Evangeline
peeped over the drape.
She's tensing, which makes it harder to avoid cutting
the infants.

I'm
trying.

Try
harder.

I
breathed deep and tried again. "Are the others well?"

"You
mean M'ma and Dah?"

"Yes."

"They
were fine last I saw them. Dah was on his way to Railings to sell some extra
grain. Crops were good last summer."

"They
were for my people as well."

Tessa
shivered when air invaded her belly. Evangeline had opened her from groin to
mid-stomach. Blood rolled across her brown skin and onto the floor. I had to
keep talking.

"I'm
married, Tessa."

"You
are?"

"Sure
am. She's a pass or so younger than me."

"Is
she pretty?"

"I
think so."

"Is
her hair long?" Heat rose in waves from Tessa's abdomen. "I was
always jealous of your pale hair."

Jealous
of me? "Yes, her hair is long, but not as long as mine or yours."
Despite the pain in my hands, I pulled the ornate combs from my sister's hair
and smoothed her tresses with my fingers. Myrla's hair was finer but thicker
than Tessa's, and it lacked the fuzzy curl common to the women of my Autlach
family. It was different but yet the same, both soothing in their own way. I
ached for Myrla and her comfort.