The Fire and the Storm - Metric Pro Edition: Fiction, Dragons, Elves, Unicorns, Magic (20 page)

“Well look; this is our psionic sense of her.”
Helemia explained as she deepened the Link. 
“See this part?  This is her psionic senses.  It’s still sleeping, kind of, and it doesn’t have enough… energy, I guess you’d say, to wake up.  So we’d put a little energy in there; it’d look like this, see?  You see how that part of her would then be like everyone else who uses psionics?  It’s pretty safe, it’d only take a little bit of energy, and we’ve thought about it a lot.  We didn’t think you’d let us mess with her mind, so we didn’t ask.  But we can do it.”

“Hmm.  Show that to me again from beginning to end, and slow it down to about a quarter, and give me more detail.” Alilia asked.

The twins complied. 
“It wouldn’t be a permanent change.”
Reggie explained as Alilia experienced their simulation. 
“As soon as we stop putting the energy in, she won’t be able to do it anymore.  Until she grows enough to be able to do it on her own, anyway.  But if we do this for her a lot, I bet she’ll be able to do it by herself a lot sooner.”

“That’s amazing.  And brilliant.” Alilia quietly marveled, her eyes closed as she concentrated on what they were showing her.  “The precision of it is… chilling, actually.  However did you think of this?”

“The technique of it is a psionic attack that Quewanak showed us.”
Helemia casually informed her. 
“When you’re doing it to attack someone, you put a whole lot of energy in there, and it burns our their psionic senses.  But we’re only gonna put such a little bit there, it would take ten times as much to hurt her at all.  She just needs a little spark in the right place, so this connection here can work, see?”

“Amazing.” Alilia breathed, and found herself torn between caution and yearning.

“We promise we won’t hurt her, Aunt Alilia.”
the twins told her.

Alilia heaved a sigh, and nodded.  “All right.  Do it as slowly and as carefully as you can, and we’ll monitor her well-being as carefully as we can while you do it.”

“Okay.  Here we go.”
Helemia nodded.

A few moments later, Reggie reported;
“Okay, it worked, we have her.  Wow!  Hello Valentia, you’re gonna be…”

Suddenly he cracked up laughing so thoroughly that he could no longer form words, not even psionicly.

“What is it?!” Alilia asked in worried confusion.

“We’ll tell you later.”
Helemia told her with a snicker. 
“Get ready, we’re gonna Link her with you.  Got it?”

“I have her!” Alilia marveled, smiling with wondrous joy and closed eyes as she caressed her tummy.  “Oh, my sweet darling, it’s so beautiful to meet you!  I love you
so much
, my beautiful baby!”

“She likes it, but she’s getting confused.”
Helemia reported. 
“There’s too many of us for her.  Take a firm but gentle grip on the Link, and we’ll back out of it.  We’ll just keep giving her the energy.

“There.  Do you still have her?”

“I do!  Oh thank you, thank you so much!” Alilia smiled.

“You’re welcome, Aunt Alilia.”
Reggie giggled.
  “We love you a lot.  Valentia too.”

“And I love you!” Alilia laughed, so full of joy and love that tears filled her eyes.

For more than half an hour they continued relaxing on the couch; Alilia in wordless emotional communion with her unborn daughter, the twins still sending the careful trickle of psionic power.

That’s how Mark and Talia found them when they returned home.

“Hello my loves, how are you doing ?” Mark asked as he and Talia picked up Reggie and Helemia, and snuggled in beside Alilia.

“Just take a Reading of me, lovers.” Alilia smiled. “It’ll be easier than explaining it.”

“Oh!  Oh wow!” Talia exclaimed as she cast the Reading.

“Exactly!” Alilia giggled.  “These wondrous children have exceeded our expectations yet again.  And now that you’re here, maybe Reggie can tell me what he found so funny earlier?  And how did you know I would name her Valentia?  I hadn’t even decided yet.”

“It’s a prophecy.”
Reggie giggled.

“Oh?  And what if I decide to name her something else?” Alilia teased.

“You won’t.”
Reggie confidently declared.

Alilia opened her mouth to reply, then reconsidered it.  “You’re right.  I won’t.” she chuckled.  “Valentia.  It fits her too well to choose another name.  But I’m sure it wasn’t her name that had you laughing like that.  You said she was going to be something.  What?”

“I’d rather not say.  It’s embarrassing.”
Reggie admitted as he blushed a bright pink.

“Oh?  Well if you don’t tell me, I’ll tickle you until you do!” Alilia declared, and did so with vigor, eliciting peals of helpless laughter from the squirming baby.

“All right, enough!  I’ll tell you!”
he called.

“Ha!  You’re lucky you can surrender by psionics!”
Helemia teased with a giggle. 
“She was getting you too good for you to talk otherwise, if you could talk that is!”

“Tell me now, or I’ll get you again!” Alilia warned with a grin, her fingers poised over his ribs.

“Okay, okay!  She’s my destined love!  She’s going to be my wife!”
Reggie giggled. 
“I
told
you it was embarrassing!”

The three adults were thunderstruck into speechlessness for a very long moment.

“But… But, she’s your half-sister!” Talia protested.

“Hey, it’s a prophecy, I didn’t choose it!”
Reggie laughed. 
“You can pretend it’s not true if you want, but it won’t matter.  Whether it’s in twenty years or twenty thousand, sooner or later she
will
be my wife.  It’s our destiny.  She’s my destined love, and I’m hers.”

“Well that’s good news, I guess.” Mark chuckled a moment later.  “It means we know you’ll both be fine at least until you’re old enough to get married.  With the demons coming, that’s a good thing to know.”

“And who’s
my
destined love going to be, prophecy boy?”
Helemia asked as she reached over to tickle Reggie.

“How should I know?!”
he laughed, pushing her hand aside and trying to tickle her back. 
“I don’t just get a prophecy whenever I want to, you know!”

“Tell me tell me tell me tell me tell me!”
Helemia demanded as the tickle contest turned into a wrestling match and spilled off the adults’ laps onto the couch beside them. 
“I’m gonna keep asking until you tell me tell me tell me tell me!”

“I can’t!”
he laughed as they struggled. 
“I don’t know so I can’t…”

Suddenly they both froze.  Then Helemia gave a squeal of anguish that was almost a scream as she climbed off the sofa as fast as she could and ran to the twins’ shared bedroom.

“Helemia?!” Talia inquired with sudden worry as she set off after her daughter.

Mark and Alilia looked to Reggie with concerned eyes.

“It’s her secret and I won’t tell it.”
Reggie declared with determination, then his expression became more introspective.

“Well how about that.  I’m an oracle.”
he softly declared.

“So you did get a prophesy about her destined love?  You know who it is?” Mark asked.  “And there’s nothing else wrong with her?”

“She’s just upset, she’ll be okay in a while.  But yah, I saw who it is.  And as I said, I won’t tell.  If you tickle me about this one, I’ll just get mad.”

“Huh.” Mark grunted, having no other response.

“The answer you got to her question,” Alilia inquired, “Was it cryptic and hard to figure out?”

“No.  I just suddenly knew exactly who it was, and then Helemia did too.”

Alilia’s brows furrowed as she considered his answer.

“Why?  Why does that matter?”
he asked.

“There’s never been an oracle who could give a plain and easily-understood answer to any question about the future.  And there’s been very few who could reliably give an answer of any kind on demand.  Often they’ll take days or weeks to get an answer, if they get one at all.

“When we get out of this time-bubble, Tithian and the other precognitives in The Just Alliance’s Intelligence Brigade will definitely want to spend some time with you.  The information you could give us might be decisive in the coming struggle.”

“Oh.”
Reggie said, for want of any other reply.  A few moments later he had a big yawn, and climbed off the sofa.

“We’ll have to stop giving Valentia the energy pretty soon.  We’re getting pretty tired.” 
he told Alilia.

“I understand.  And again, thank you, thank you both so very much.”

“You’re welcome.  We’ll do it as much as we can, until she can do it herself.

“Goodnight.”

Mark reached out and picked him up, and hugged him with all his love.  “Goodnight, my son.  I’ll come in with you and say goodnight to your sister.”

Alilia joined their hug, and gave Reggie a kiss on the cheek.

Mark stood and carried him to the bedroom, where they found Talia sitting on the low bed with Helemia in her arms.  The girl had stopped crying, but still had tear tracks down her plump baby cheeks.

“Don’t ever have a prophesy about me ever again.”
she told her brother without looking.

“I’ll try not to.  I’m sorry.”
he replied as Mark sat with him beside the girls, and put an arm around Talia.

“Okay.”
Helemia nodded. 
“Goodnight then.”

“You sure you’re all right?” Mark asked her as he gently caressed her cheek with a fingertip.  “You know you can always talk to us about anything, and we’ll always do anything we can to help you.”

“I know.  I’ll be fine.”
Helemia replied. 
“There’s nothing anyone can do to help, and I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay.  Sleep well then.  We love you both with all our hearts.”

“We love you too.”

Mark and Talia tucked their children into bed, and left them with kisses on their cheeks.

Before they fell asleep, Reggie and Helemia shared a few private thoughts.

“We should start trying to act more normal.”
Reggie decided. 
“They’re really getting very worried about us.”

“Yes.  You’re right.”
Helemia agreed. 
“But do you really think we can?”

“I don’t know.”

“Reggie didn’t say who it was?” Talia asked as they paused in the living room and Mark gently lifted Alilia’s heavily pregnant form from the couch.

“No, and he said he’d never tell, that it was her secret.” Mark told her as they went to their bedroom.

“Helemia said she’ll never tell too.” Talia said, a bit of worry apparent in her voice as she closed their door behind them.

“I admit I’m burning with curiosity to know who it is!” Alilia said as they climbed into bed.  “And I don’t know
what
to think about my daughter being destined to marry her half-brother!”

“I think we should ask them to keep that information private.” Mark mused as they cuddled up to him.  “There’s still a big taboo about that sort of thing amongst most of the races.  But according to the laws that’ve been put in place, at
my suggestion
no less, it’s not illegal unless someone can show that there’s been harm caused by it.  If it’s really their destiny and there’s nothing we can do about it, it’ll be up to them to decide when the time comes whether they want to keep their relationship secret, or face the disapproval of most of the world.

“Personally, I’m not going to go out of my way to either encourage it or discourage it.  If it happens, I suppose I’ll do my best to support their decision.”

“Yes, I suppose that’s the best we can do.” Alilia nodded.

“Sweet source above!” Talia quietly cursed.  “Reggie was no more than
embarrassed
to admit that he was destined to marry his half-sister!  I can’t
imagine
who Helemia could be destined to love, that would produce such a reaction from them about it!”

There was silence for a minute as they considered that.

“Bah!” Mark said with a shake of his head.  “It’s useless and worrisome to even speculate about it.  We’ll know eventually.  In the meantime, here, have a distraction…”

In less than ten seconds, all three of them were quite distracted indeed.

Three weeks later, after a pregnancy that would have been of about average duration for a human but was short for an elf, Alilia went into labor.

She had felt heavy and lethargic that day, and had slept through most of it.  The third hour past midnight found her in the living room, slowly rocking in a rocking chair, sipping tea and lightly drowsing occasionally, unable to truly sleep as the rest of the household slumbered.

She felt her first contraction and smiled, knowing it for what it was.  She knew that there was no real use in waking anyone at this stage, and waited for it to pass.

Her next three contractions came about ten minutes apart and lasted about a minute each, and seemed normal.

Her fifth contraction, however, struck her suddenly, and with a power that took her breath away as her entire torso clenched.  She knew it shouldn’t be so sudden or so strong, but she wasn’t very concerned yet, initially.  But the contraction only got stronger and stronger, long past when it should have ended.  By the third minute she was in absolute agony, and would have called for help if she’d had any attention left for it.  As the fifth minute approached she felt a bolt of panic as she realized that she was in serious trouble.  She hadn’t been able to take a breath for almost two minutes.

Within her, unborn Valentia struggled against the crushing feeling of the abnormal contraction.  First it had frustrated her, then angered her, then filled her with a fear that grew constantly along with the increasing pressure.  As the baby began feeling serious pain, her sense of magic awoke in her with a rush like an explosion.