Chapter Eight

Ivy closed the door to the infirmary as carefully as she could, not wanting to wake any of the injured that might be resting. Nylek was sitting up in his bed, one hand holding Mina’s hand while the other grasped a piece of fruit. He smiled at her as she approached.

“Hi,” she said, resting her hand on Mina’s shoulder. “How are you feeling today, Nylek?”

“Much better,” he admitted. “I wish that one of the healers was here so that they could do a full healing and I could be done with this, but I’m just grateful for the supplies that Ciyrs left with us and the efforts of the doctor here. I really didn’t think that I was going to survive that.”

Ivy smiled at him.

“You did fine,” she said. “You’re strong. There’s nothing that a little hybrid army can do to you.”

Nylek laughed.

“I’m so glad that you have so much faith in me,” he said. “But it seems like those hybrids were fairly good at doing something to me when we were on Penthos.”

“Not anymore,” Ivy said. “We’ll be ready when we get back.”

“We?”

Ivy turned around at the sound of the familiar voice and saw Ellora standing in the doorway. Maxim’s mother looked concerned and curious, and Ivy took a step toward her.

“Ellora,” she started.

“Is it safe to assume that by ‘we’ you mean that you intend on going back to Penthos with the rest of us?”

As she had largely since they met, the Mikana woman sounded suspicious of Ivy, as if she thought that now that they were back on Uoria, she would take the opportunity to rush back to the Denynso compound and call for a shuttle from Earth. Ivy knew that the time had come to tell Ellora about the baby. Though she still felt hesitant to talk about it, and would have hesitated longer if she thought that she could, she knew that things weren’t exactly what she thought that they were and that there was even more to what was going on than she thought. Now was the time when she needed to be honest with Ellora and tell her what was happening so that the older woman could finally understand her thoughts and believe that she was fully and utterly committed to Maxim and didn’t want to return to Earth without him. Telling Ellora about the impending birth of her first grandchild would be a way for her to connect more closely with her and to give them, all of them, more motivation in the fight.

“Could I speak to you, Ellora?” Ivy asked. “I know that you’re busy, but I need just a moment of privacy with you. There’s something that I need to talk with you about.”

Ellora nodded and Ivy looked down at Nylek with an apologetic, encouraging smile before starting out of the room. They exited the infirmary and made their way across the village toward Ellora’s house. They walked along in silence, Ivy trying to bring to mind what she was going to say and how Ellora might react to the news.

Finally they arrived at Ellora’s house and they settled onto a couch in the front room.

“Can I make you a cup of coffee?” Ellora asked.

The offer made Ivy remember the first time that she met Ellora. She had been so surprised to find out that this section of Uoria had a beverage that had come from coffee beans from Earth. The fact that they were able to grow the beans and create them into a hot, strong, bitter beverage was truly impressive to her, but it also just made her grateful for the deep swallows of a beverage that she often couldn’t do without for more than half an hour when she was at home in the laboratory. Her mouth watered at the thought of the coffee, but she knew that she shouldn’t drink it. She drew in a breath and shook her head.

“No, thank you,” she said.

Ellora looked at her strangely and settled onto the couch beside her.

“Is something wrong?”

“Um,” Ivy said, looking away as she tried to gather her words. She looked back up at her and shook her head. “No. Nothing’s wrong. I just don’t think that drinking coffee would be good for the baby.”

It was blatant and rushed, no buildup, no preparation. It was the only way that she could bring herself to get the words out. She saw them pass through Ellora as if they didn’t make any impact on her at all, and then her face started to change. The muscles tightened and her eyes widened slightly, not as though she were surprised, but almost as though she were trying to take in more of Ivy as she spoke. Her breath trembled in her throat as she drew it in.

“Baby?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Ivy nodded.

“Yes,” she said.

“You are carrying my first grandchild?”

Ivy nodded again.

“I am,” she said. “That’s why I came back here to Uoria rather than staying on Penthos with Maxim. He wanted to make sure that I was safe and he wanted me to come see the midwives so I could find out about the pregnancy.”

“What did you find out?” Ellora asked.

“I left the midwife before I was able to find out much. I didn’t feel right being there by myself. This is all so new to me and I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to find out everything alone.”

“Does anyone else know about the baby?”

“Only Rain,” Ivy said. “Maxim didn’t think that we should tell anybody while we were on Penthos. It would be too much of a distraction when they were facing the hybrids the first time. He thought that everybody would be too worried about me and the baby to concentrate on the fight there. I honestly think that that is a big part of why he sent me back here. He didn’t want to think about me when he should be focusing on the fight.”

Ivy felt an unexpected rush of emotion tighten in her throat and wished that she had allowed Ellora to make the coffee for her just so that she could have the comfort of holding the warm mug in her hands.

“My son is far too stubborn for his own good,” Ellora said. “He should know that a baby would be a source of motivation. Everyone would want to know that they are fighting for the safety and the happiness of the future generation.” She gave a soft laugh. “It reminds me of Aegeus when I first told him that I was carrying Maxim.”

“He was worried about you?”

“There were days when I thought that he was never going to let me leave our bedroom. He was convinced that being pregnant somehow made me fragile and completely vulnerable to everything. I think that’s just the way of men. They don’t understand that it takes far more strength to carry and deliver a child than anything that many of them will do with their lives. Do you think that most of the men in Rey’s court would be able to go through a pregnancy and bringing a baby into this world?”

Ivy couldn’t help but laugh. From what little she knew about the court, they were not men who could even begin to be compared to the Mikana army or to the Denynso warriors. The King himself led the army, but the men in his court were there primarily to advise him when he needed it and to perform ambassador duties when Rey was not available. They were rarely seen and even more rarely in action.

“I wish that Maxim could see me as strong.”

“He will,” Ellora said. “He loves you. He just hasn’t figured out that he can love you and want to protect you, and appreciate that you are able to take care of yourself and the baby within you at the same time.” She looked out the window and then back at Ivy. “If you’d like, I can go back to the midwife with you. They might be able to tell you more about the baby. I know that you would rather have Maxim with you, but…”

“I would love for you to be there with me.”

Ivy felt her heart swelling. Though she and Maxim’s mother hadn’t been close since they met, she felt some of the tension between them easing. She knew that it had been troublesome for Ellora to see her come back to Uoria rather than staying on Penthos to support Maxim, and now that she knew the reason behind it, she seemed far more willing to start to build a connection with her.

The midwife seemed surprised to see her when she opened the door and saw Ivy standing in front of the office again. Ellora was standing close behind her and when the midwife saw her, she smiled.

“You’ve told Ellora the wonderful news?”

“She has.”

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you, Opaline. Ivy says that she left before she was able to get a full examination.”

“She did,” Opaline said. “I just assumed that she decided that she couldn’t trust me since I’m not a doctor like they have on Earth.”

Ivy shook her head.

“That’s not it,” she said. “Please believe me. I trust you. If Maxim and Ellora both say that you will be able to help me through this, then I am willing to trust you completely. I just didn’t want to do this on my own.”

“I understand,” Opaline said, her face brightening slightly at the statement. “If you’d like, I’m still happy to examine you. I will still not be able to tell you everything, but I can tell you some.”

“I’d like that.”

Several minutes later Ivy was laying in the examination room, her hand grasping Ellora’s as the midwife examined her. Finally Opaline stepped back and invited her to sit up. Ivy complied and pulled a blanket up around her, suddenly chilled and nervous about what the midwife was going to tell her. Until that moment she hadn’t worried about the baby’s health or anything that could go wrong in any pregnancy, but especially a pregnancy that was unprecedented among all of those who were available to help her.

“You are looking very healthy,” Opaline said. “Your body is responding beautifully to the pregnancy and is beginning to prepare to bring this little baby into the world to meet all of us.”

Ivy felt nervousness bubble into her chest.

“Already?” she asked. “I’ve only known a few weeks.”

“It isn’t imminent,” Opaline said. “You still have time. But remember that a Mikana pregnancy is far faster than a human pregnancy. Our kind, most of the species on Uoria, come from ancestors who have had too much risk and danger around us to have the luxury of long pregnancies.”

“I feel like my baby is far safer inside of me than out,” Ivy said.

“I know,” Opaline said. “I know that you feel that way. All mothers do. But a baby that has been born can be protected even when the mother can’t. Your little one can be brought wherever it would be safest once it has been born, but if it is still within you, it can only be protected where you are. I know that you want to hold onto this little one for as long as you can. Every mother wants for the only thing that her baby hears is to be her voice and her heartbeat, but you must trust that the way that it is is the way that is best.”

Ivy took another breath, trying to calm herself. She felt so much more protective toward her baby now that she had told Ellora about the pregnancy and taken the step of being examined by the midwife. Though she felt a strong link to it and already loved it, this had made it so much more real for her and the instincts within her had surged forward.

“When do you think the baby will come?” Ellora asked, the tone of her voice soft and soothing as though she were trying to gloss over the tension and keep the conversation moving forward on a more positive note. “Will it be soon?”

“I can’t be sure,” Opaline said. “There are still things about this pregnancy that are controlled by Ivy being human. From the signs that I see, though, this little one should come within the next two months.” She reached out and brushed a lock of Ivy’s hair away from her shoulder. “I am here to take care of you, Ivy. We’re going to help you through this and will be here for you when the baby is born. Just relax now. Take care of yourself and your little one, and start preparing to hold it in your arms.”

The midwife walked out of the room and Ivy brought her hands to her belly. All of the activity seemed to have woken the baby up and she ran her hands along the swell, feeling the little shifts and bumps of it moving within her.

“I wish I knew if it was a boy or girl,” she said.

“You’ll know soon enough,” Ellora said.

Ivy smiled bigger than she had in as long as she could remember.

“I think that Maxim would probably want to have a son, but I would love to see him holding a little girl. I think that he would be an amazing father to a daughter.”

“Why do you think that he would want a son?”

“He has a brother and he has admired his father so much. I think that he would be proud to have a son who could follow his legacy.”

“I know that Maxim will be happy with whatever child is being given to him. He will be a wonderful father.”

“I know.” Ivy sighed and cradled her belly a little tighter. “I miss him so much. I’m so excited about the baby and I wish that he was here to be excited with me. Or that I was there with him.”

“Would you want to go back to Penthos?” Ellora asked. “Even knowing the danger that is there now?”

Ivy nodded.

“Yes,” she said. “I know that what is going on there is difficult and dangerous, but if Maxim is there, that is where I want to be. I promised him that I was going to stand beside him and that I was with him no matter what. I could have left Uoria whenever I wanted to, but I didn’t. I stayed here because I know that what Maxim is facing is incredibly important to him, and what matters to him is what matters to me. I want to be wherever he is and helping him in any way that I can. I don’t want to go through this pregnancy without him and I don’t want him to go through this battle without me.”

She expected Ellora to argue with her, to try to convince her that she should stay on Uoria under the care of Opaline. Instead, she gave a slow nod.

“Then I think that when the ship goes back to Penthos, you should come.”

“What?” Ivy asked.

“I think that you should do whatever you think is right, Ivy. If you think that you should be on Penthos with Maxim, then that is what you should do.”

“I thought that you would be really resistant to me doing anything that dangerous while I was pregnant. I assumed that you would tell me that I should stay here and just wait for him to come back.”

“I have spent far too much of my life being too cautious,” Ellora told her. “Especially after Aegeus left. I have resisted so many things that I thought of doing because I thought that they would be just too dangerous for me. Maybe if I hadn’t, maybe if I followed my heart before now, I wouldn’t have had to spend so much of my life without Aegeus.”

Ellora smiled at her and then left the room to allow her to get dressed again. Ivy felt a wave of relief and excitement rush over her. Soon the army would be trained, they would have gathered all of the supplies that they would need for the journey and when they arrived on Penthos, they would be back on the ship, and she would be on her way back to Maxim.