Himika

I nursed the babies while the healers bustled around with their balms and potions, thinking idly that we hadn’t spoken much of names. I suppose I wanted to see them first, I thought, and here they are.

Seron’s little boy was like some magical creature brought to life. Right now, he was almost colorless, but in a luminous way. His eyes were a very pale blue and his skin was white with a slight pinkish undertone like a precious pearl. He looked, somehow, like he would be cool to touch. But of course he wasn’t. He was a warm, soft little bundle in my arms and I thought he seemed very happy to be born. This surprised me; it seemed like being born would be quite the shock. I wondered how he would look when he settled into a crystal affinity.

Then there was Ezeru’s girl, and I could already feel that she had a strong personality. I knew Ezeru worried about her because of the trauma he had been through himself, but to me, she had her own charms. She wasn’t a ‘beautiful princess’ of a baby, but she was adorable beyond words with her intent little face and grasping hands, such bright eyes and a lovely little mouth.

“My girl…you’ll get to be whatever you want to be from the start,” I whispered to her. “No one will ever make you swallow a crystal that ruins your bones or tell you to just sit still and look pretty. Still…I wish Father was here to see you both.”

She was already trying to squirm away from me and Oszin took her as I fell into a heavy sleep.

When I stirred again, it seemed much later. Seron was sleeping in a chair near my bed with his hand on the cradle that had been awaiting the twins’ arrival. Oszin was sitting by my bed, reading.

“Are you taking your Himika shift?” I asked. “You don’t have to watch over me. I can scream if I need something.”

“I like being near you,” he said.

“Well, then.”

“You made it, Moth. Whoever would have thought that you’d be the mother of twins yourself.”

“Not me. Goodness. Two dragon babies, at that. I am proud of myself. It’s not quite the battle I wanted to fight, but it felt like a battle all the same. And I bet I’ll have the scars to prove it.” I tried to sit up more, winced, and stayed put.

“Battle scars,” he said. “Of the best variety. Mine and Seron’s come from death. Yours come from life.”

He leaned over and gave me a very soft kiss.

“You can do better than that,” I said. “I feel fine. Mmm…hopefully…a human baby next. Kamiri babies are the cutest of all.”

“I won’t argue with that. If you’re ready for more.”

“Ten years from now.”

We laughed, happy just to be together, and to have made it—me and the first boy I loved, still at my side, and finally, I think, he was content to be there.

Unfortunately, when I asked him to fetch me some food, everyone realized I was up and my bedroom filled with flowers and well wishers while I was still so tired. Then the crystal dragons and the midwife said,

“We’d like to speak to just the parents.”

Fear lanced through me. “Oh? Is something wrong with the babies?”

Now, Aurek and Seron were holding the babies and laughing over some story between themselves and Ezeru insisted on feeding me soup.

“No. It’s that…we all spoke and we all feel that it is our professional opinion that you should not bear another child. This birth was very dangerous. If we had not all been present, and if the little girl hadn’t changed back… Well, these babies were quite large and you are quite small.”

“What about Oszin?”

“My queen, we strongly urge you to drink the tea that will prevent pregnancy and if you should become pregnant, we will induce a miscarriage.”

“You say this to her now when she hasn’t even recovered from the first one?” Seron walked up to them. I could barely see them around his body, especially the way they huddled nervously.

“Well—we thought we should—say something now. It seems no use to lie about it. We’re very shaken as well. Our beloved queen almost died under our watch,” the poor lady crystal dragon said.

“Seron, don’t menace them,” I said. I looked at my daughter and chewed my lip, trying to be practical about it. To not get angry at them for telling the truth.

Once again, I’m too weak. One set of battle scars is all I get. Now it’s back to teas and taking protective measures…!

“Thank you for being honest,” I said in a tight voice.

Seron crossed his arms. “I still think this could wait.”

“Yes, my lady. Very sorry.” One of them pressed a bottle into Oszin’s hand. “That’s her healing potion for this hour. Thank you. Very sorry.” They left the room.

Oszin came back over to give me the potion.

“Oszin!”

“It’s fine,” he said, with a rueful shake of his head. “Really. I’m just happy to have you.”

“Well, I’m not! Ugh, I never did want to learn to heal.”

“You told me it was such a princessy thing to do.”

“But now I get why women want to be healers. If I was a better healer, I could sense what was going on. I could reduce my risk.”

“Not only women are healers,” Seron said.

“Yes…to be a healer and to be a fighter—they’re not as different as I thought.”