The Fire and the Storm - Metric Pro Edition: Fiction, Dragons, Elves, Unicorns, Magic (9 page)

They slept late and had a leisurely brunch.

As they were cleaning up the dishes, Alilia announced; “I’d like to go visit Yazadril for a few minutes.  He’s still my best friend.  Though he’s your father, I’d like to be the one to tell him and Nemia of our new arrangement.  That is, if Hilsith hasn’t told them already.”

“Sure.” Talia smiled.  “We’ve got a few chores to do, but we haven’t seen them for a couple of days.  Shall we join you there in an hour or so?”

“That would be nice.” Alilia said as she returned the smile.  She gave them both a quick kiss, and was gone.

“This is going to be very interesting.” Mark chuckled as he cast a Preserve on the leftovers and put them in the cupboard.

“True, but if last night was any indication, we can at least be sure that Alilia will be a very pleasurable playmate!” Talia laughed.  “I’ve never seen anyone so determined to pleasure two others to the point of complete exhaustion!”

“That’s for certain!  And she seems determined to make sure that it doesn’t look like she’s trying to come between us.  She always kisses you first, whether it’s for good morning or goodbye or any other reason.   I’m still pretty nervous about the whole thing, but this just might work out okay.”

Meanwhile, Alilia had been greeted by Yazadril and Nemia, and they’d exchanged a few pleasantries before she got around to telling them what had occurred.  Hilsith was out at Yzell’s, and had not spoken a word of it, which was not surprising since she was Alilia’s Healer, and the matter was a patient confidentiality.

To Alilia’s surprise, Yazadril and Nemia waited patiently while she told her tale, then burst out laughing.

“I’m sorry Alilia, we mean no disrespect!” Nemia managed to get out after a moment.  “But Yazadril predicted everything you’ve just told us almost word for word weeks ago, based on nothing more than your behavior!  And while you were telling us that, you seemed like you were afraid we were about to flay you with our disapproval!”

“My behavior?!” Alilia asked in consternation.  “Have I really been that transparent?”

“Oh, not to anyone else perhaps, but to us, certainly.” Yazadril chuckled as he controlled his laughter.  “You’ve hardly visited them for fear your feelings would burst out of you and they’d reject you.  But whenever we speak you ask about them, and whenever they are spoken of by others, your expression lights up like the dawn!  And whenever children are spoken of, your face wears such a look of longing that it tugs at my heart.

“You needn’t fear we’ll disapprove, since I considered the whole thing to be rather inevitable.  I only hope they won’t break your heart.  I know with certainty that you won’t break theirs, since theirs is one of the strongest loves I’ve seen in all my long years of life.”

“Ah.  Well, thank you.  Thank you both.” Alilia told them as she re-gathered her composure.  “There’s a favor I would like to ask of you, as well.  I’d like two spells cast into an object, the largest pearl in this necklace specifically.  I don’t want to raise the subject of my conception with them again until I’m certain that they both genuinely love me.”

“I see.” Yazadril smiled.  “You’re perfectly capable of casting such a specified Love Detection into the necklace yourself, but you want there to be no doubt as to the objectivity of the spell.”

“Just so.” Alilia nodded.

“All right, I’ll have the pearl turn red as their love for you grows…”

“No, I couldn’t bear the suspense of a gradual transition.” Alilia interrupted with a shake of her head.  “Just have it turn red suddenly, once they both truly love me.”

“Ah.  All right, it’s done.” Yazadril stated as he handed the necklace back.

“Thank you.” Alilia said as she put the necklace back on and tucked it under the neckline of her dress.  “And if I may say, it would be awkward if they know of this before it turns red…”

“We understand.” Nemia chuckled.  “It’s a harmless thing, and we’ll keep your confidence about it.”

“Thank you.  Now about our next military exercise; I have a few ideas…”

At the end of her fourth month of pregnancy, Talia was examined by Hilsith, and then by Yzell, who both saved a Reading of their diagnostics.  Hilsith pronounced that Talia and her unborn children were completely healthy, but Yzell lingered over her examination far longer than she usually did, her eyes closed as she concentrated on her spells.

Finally she sat back and wiped her brow with a puzzled air.  “They are developing significantly more quickly than is normal for human or elven babes.”

“Oh?  I saw no sign of that.” Hilsith pointed out.

“You were judging by their size.” Yzell explained.  “And by that measure, the boy is a bit bigger than normal for a human, or very big for an elf, while the girl is very small for a human, or on the small side of normal for an elf.  Both are within what I would have to consider to be the normal size range for half-human babes at four months of pregnancy.

“But I tell you, aside from that, they’re developing very quickly.  Already, it’s like they were conceived at least a month earlier than they actually were, perhaps two.  If they continue like this and they are carried to full-term I expect them to be born with full heads of hair and their eyes open and focused.  And perhaps with a tooth or two.  I expect they’ll be born in the ninth month, like human babies, rather than in the eleventh.  They may seem like they’re six months old but small for their age on the day they’re born. 

“I’m going to start conducting a thorough examination every week.  This is too strange to ignore.”

Ten weeks and two days later, Talia woke suddenly from a sound sleep, and sat up with a jerk and a yelp.

Alilia was awake a moment later, and in an instant she psionicly checked with Stripe and Scout for external threats and conducted her own scan of the region.  She found nothing untoward, but cast a Battle Shield around the entire home anyway.

Mark was slower to come awake.  “Huh?  What?” he stammered as he blearily looked around, then rubbed his eyes and shook his head to clear it.

“Shh.  Calm.  Loving.” Talia softly said in response with her eyes closed and her hands held before her like she was about to conduct an orchestra.  A warm smile slowly grew on her face.

“All right, I’m calm and loving.” Mark softly chuckled as he sat up and hugged her. “What is it?”

Alilia hugged Talia from the other side, and caressed her swollen belly in concern, but detected no signs of distress.

Talia’s hands slowly descended, and she slid them beneath those of her lovers to caress her swollen belly.  “I’ve been psionicly contacted by our children.” she proudly announced.  “They’re very deeply Linked with each other, so much so that they’re almost one mind.  That’s given them the ability to begin to explore their psionic neighborhood a little, even at this early stage of their development.  As far as I know, the youngest that any child has been able to psionicly contact someone else of their own accord was six years of age, so this is very special, and unprecedented.  I don’t want them to be overwhelmed, and I’m unsure of the repercussions of this on their development, so for now I’m blocking you both.  Sorry.”

“Wow.” Mark commented as his eyebrows rose.  “What are they saying?”

“Well they’re not really
saying
anything, love!” Talia softly giggled, her eyes still closed.  “It’s all just emotions for now; mostly curiosity.  This is the psionic equivalent of feeling them kicking in the womb for exercise.  They’re aware of me now, and aware of my emotions, but they don’t realize that the mind they’ve contacted has anything to do with the physical environment they live in.  I’m not sure that they’re even capable of forming memories yet.  They’re sure enjoying the love I’m sending them though, that’s plain and certain.”

“I’d sure love to join you in that, my love.”

“Well, all right.  I can’t see any harm in it, so long as we all keep our thoughts pleasant and calm and loving.  They might be very vulnerable to the slightest emotional unpleasantness, so we must be careful.  And I don’t want them in contact with any of us unless we’re sitting or lying down, and relaxed.  If they share our thoughts while we’re running, they might decide to try it, and that could be unpleasant for them and for me.”

“That’s good thinking.” Alilia murmured.  “We should call Yzell.  She’ll definitely want to know of this for her research.”

“True.  But I don’t want us to be disturbed right now.  I’ll give her my Reading of the experience in the morning.”

“I can cast the diagnostics she uses, I’ve watched it done enough to be sure of them.” Alilia volunteered.  “I can’t interpret the results, but I can give them to her.”

“All right.  Mark can go first with the babies while you do that.” Talia decided, and lowered her psionic shields to Mark.

“Wow.  That’s just amazing.” Mark quietly declared a moment later.  “We have to name them now, so I can talk to them by their names.”

“Well, in elven tradition, we usually try to think of a new name for each child, or use one that hasn’t been used for many centuries; sometimes a revered ancestor.” Talia mused.  “While humans usually name their children after a family member or a close friend, or a famous person they admire.  So I propose that we name our daughter Helemia, which would be the elven pronunciation of your mother’s name.  That gives our daughter a new name while also naming her after your mother.  And I expect that we’ll follow your family’s tradition for naming firstborn sons, so our son will be Markhan Reginus Longstrider The Sixth.  And with you and your grandfather both here with the same name, our son will need a nickname, so I propose we call him Reggie.

“Helemia and Reggie.  I like that!” he laughed.  “Hello Helemia.  Hello Reggie.  I’m your father.  I love you both very much.”

“I have them now.” Alilia softly announced, her eyes closed in concentration.  Her face slowly gained an expression of wonder, and she snuggled down a bit so she could touch the side of her face to Talia’s tummy.

“Ahhh, by all the gods, this is the most beautiful experience I have ever had.” she murmured.  “They are so pure and new; the essence of innocence and youth.  And the love in this link is breath-taking.”

“Hey.” Mark softly commented a moment later.  “I just felt something sudden, and I couldn’t help looking at it.  Alilia, one of the pearls in your necklace just turned red.”

Alilia giggled without moving or opening her eyes.  “It’s nothing to worry about.  I’ll tell you about it tomorrow.  I don’t want to interrupt this now.”

A few minutes later Mark slowly shifted so he was lying on his side, and Talia and Alilia curled up together against his front, sheltered in his huge and gentle embrace.  They spent hours silently communing with the two unborn children, and gradually fell asleep again without quite realizing it, all five of them still lightly psionicly joined.

The next day they slept till almost noon before enjoying a slow awakening and some gentle morning lovemaking.

They made a hearty brunch together, all three laughing and giggling like children, or like those newly in love.

They took their tables and chairs outside to eat, though that meant casting a Weather Shield against the drizzle that had been falling for a few days.  Then they invited a few over to visit, including Yzell, Hilsith, Yazadril, Nemia, and Quewanak.  A minute later they all arrived within seconds of each other.  They found Mark and Alilia sitting with their chairs close on either side of Talia’s so the three could snuggle while they ate.

“Good day!  Please, make yourselves comfortable, and serve up if you’re hungry.” Talia told them as she indicated the available chairs and the open mossy ground beside the table.

Mark and Alilia continued eating with their eyes closed, which was a little uncanny, and their faces were aglow with loving smiles.

“We’ve invited you by to share and discuss the latest development,” Talia continued, “Which is this;  For most of the last ten hours, all three of us have been Linked with our unborn twins.  They contacted me first, which they were capable of doing because they were already deeply Linked with each other before that, and were able to combine their meager psionic strength to reach me.  I brought Mark and Alilia in shortly after that.  Right now Mark’s trying to teach them to understand Trade Common.  I think it’s too early for his efforts to be productive in the short term, but I think he’ll succeed before they’re born.”

“By all the missing gods!” Yzell gasped.

“I began casting the diagnostics you use right after we began.” Alilia told her with a smile, then closed her eyes again.  “And  we’ve all saved a Reading of the experience, which is wonderful beyond words.  I’ll pass them to you now.”

“May we share in that?  The Readings and diagnostics that is?” Yazadril asked, his eager curiosity plain in his voice.  “I don’t know if it’s wise to allow any more to have psionic contact with the babes at this stage of their development, but other than that I want to know all I can of this!  You do realize how incredibly unprecedented this is, I’m sure!”

“We do.” Talia assured him.  “And of course, we share your trepidations.  There’s no way to know how this will affect them, and perhaps it wasn’t that wise for all three of us to share in the Link with the children.  But they contacted me first, and it’s so beautiful that I couldn’t exclude Mark and Alilia, so here we are.”

She gave the visitors a few minutes to digest the Readings and diagnostics up to that point, then brought them up to the moment in her ongoing Reading.  For over an hour they all silently shared in the experience; the visitors getting it second-hand from Talia via the ongoing Reading, so that the babes were kept unaware of them.

Finally Yzell broke the silence.  “You’re right about Mark’s teaching efforts.” she told Talia.  “The babies’ brains are still changing and growing so fast, and are still so unformed, that they’re incapable of retaining any long term memories.  Anything they learn is almost completely lost a few moments later.”

“Almost completely lost, but not quite.” Mark quietly rumbled.  “Besides, it’s fun, so I don’t mind repeating the lessons as many times as it takes.”