New Life

Things were quiet in the Dandridge manor for a number of months, at least, they were until Kyrie woke up to the sound of the service bell. Dessi was the one to get up and go assist the lady, and when she failed to come back, Kyrie knew what had happened.

Mae Dandridge was having her baby.

Kyrie's mind was buzzing so much with thoughts on this matter that she had a hard time falling back asleep, and she couldn't even speak to Vivian about it because as usual the other girl was spending the night in a guest room with Renard!

In the end, Kyrie didn't get any more sleep, and she was rather dead on her feet as she worked in the menagerie the next day. This whole thing just felt so strange though... if she didn't know that Dessi had left last night, then everything seemed perfectly normal: the animals were going about their business without a care in the world and the house was quiet as it usually was in the morning. For some reason Kyrie had expected there to be more noise, more activity, but there was absolutely no indication at all that Mae Dandridge was giving birth at this very moment.

She was supposed to be working, namely feeding the animals in the menagerie, but her mind just kept flitting to what was going on above her. Enough focus was being kept on the animals so that Kyrie made absolutely no mistakes, but still... Mae Dandridge was giving birth! She couldn't help it when she started talking quietly to the various animals about how strange it was that their lady was giving birth. They hardly paid Kyrie any mind as she mused out loud to them, but Kyrie suddenly paused in her duties when a more sobering thought came unbidden into her brain.

What if Lady Dandridge died in the birthing bed?

Paling at the mere thought of it, the idea only cemented itself more and more in Kyrie's brain now that it had made its way there in the first place. The odds weren't exactly in Mae's favor just because she was a noble; childbirth ravaged the bodies of nobles and peasants alike. There were just so many people she knew whose mother had died in childbirth... Many of the slaves she'd formerly worked with had mothers that died giving birth: her own mother had been one of those unfortunates! What were the odds, exactly? Would Mae really be able to survive?

No... No she had to survive! Mae was an incredibly tough woman, she had to be in order to get to where she was today! Still, Kyrie trembled at the mere thought of being sold to someone else. To lose Mae... That would be awful! What could she do? Was there anything she could do to make sure Mae would stay healthy? Should she go upstairs to Mae's bedroom to see if she could assist somehow?

The door to the menagerie slamming open caused Kyrie to jump, and only due to her months of training did she immediately move over to the door and swiftly close it back up. Once she'd taken her measure to ensure that the animals wouldn't escape, she turned her gaze towards who had entered.

It was Vivian, and the paleness of her friend's face caused Kyrie's own face to scrunch up in concern. Vivian gave Kyrie a tired smile though, and since it didn't seem forced, Kyrie felt her own features relaxing a bit. Mae had begun her labor late the previous night, and by now the sun was pretty close to being its highest in the sky. Vivian must have been grabbed by Dessi at some point during the process and Kyrie felt a bit of a pang to be left out, but at the same time, three helpers might've been a little too much. She was so eager for any type of news that she moved closer to Vivian just in time for the other girl to blurt out some words.

"It's a girl."

For a moment, Kyrie didn't know what to say in response, and the two of them stared at each other; one with a haggard but happy expression and the other with an equally tired but more shocked expression.

Finally though, Kyrie's face melted into a delighted smile and the two girls let out a breath practically as one while they came together for a hug.

"A girl! Has the lady named her yet? Are they both alright?"

"Of course! She's doing amazingly well for what she just went through, and little baby Raine seems no worse for wear than her mother!"

Raine! What a lovely name... The two continued to squeal in an excited manner to one another as Vivian described the baby and how amazingly the lady dealt with the labor: she hadn't done any real screaming, she'd just stayed focused on her breathing and the contractions. It felt like it hadn't been so much a desperation on Mae's part to get the baby out, but a determination.

Soon though, Vivian remembered what it was that she had come down here for, and she cleared her throat a little before straightening back up. This was Kyrie's signal to let her fellow slave go, and as she did so Vivian was smoothing out her dress to try and regain a more adult-like composure before continuing on.

"Anyway, I came down here to let you know that the lady has given us the day off. Dessi's tending to her right now but she said that as long as you're finished feeding the animals then you can relax for the rest of today."

"R-really?"

"Are you doubting our lady? Yes really!"

Vivian laughed a little bit at that, and she waited while Kyrie bustled about the menagerie to finish up a couple things before she was positive that everything would be done to the lady's satisfaction.

As the excitement and anxiety began to fade though, Vivian and Kyrie were hit by a wave of exhaustion. So when Kyrie looked back at Vivian, the feeling that passed between them was one of sympathy for how tired the other was. Moving forward so that Kyrie could link an arm with Vivian, the two smiled briefly at one another before their feet took them off towards their room. They were both silent now, but it wasn't an uncomfortable silence.

Once the two of them entered into their room, Kyrie disentangled herself from Vivian to collapse on her bed with a heavy sigh. Vivian simply laughed at the display, but she also sat down on her own bed, albeit not quite as enthusiastically as Kyrie.

"It's almost as if you were one of the ones up all night with her!"

"I was though! Maybe I wasn't up there with her, but I was so worried that I couldn't sleep! I felt a little left out too... I wish I had been in that room with you two."

"I'm not so sure about that, it's not exactly a pretty sight."

Hearing the sad note that entered into Vivian's words, Kyrie turned her head to look over at her friend. Vivian was pointedly looking out their window, which opened their room up to a very small section of the gardens. She wasn't really looking at the gardens though, it was as if she was trying to look beyond them even though there really wasn't a beyond they could see from their window.

"Are you alright?"

Kyrie's voice was laced with enough concern that Vivian startled out of her thoughts. Looking at Kyrie for a moment in silence as she debated whether to say what was on her mind, in the end Vivian let out a soft sigh as she brought a hand down to her own stomach.

"Do you ever think about what Dessi and I are doing when we take that draught every week? We're taking away the chance to have another person in our arms. We're extinguishing a tiny fragile life before it's even really able to be alive."

Sensing that this might be a bit more serious of a thing, Kyrie moved to sit up now, but Vivian was almost embarrassed to have brought it up at all and turned to stare out the window once more. Kyrie hadn't actually needed to take the draught yet, but she knew very well what it was supposed to do. The gravity of it had never really affected Kyrie, mostly because she had a hard time really comprehending it fully. How could a baby really be alive if it hadn't even been formed yet? Yet here Vivian was, seeming to have some regrets.

Getting up from her own bed to sit next to Vivian, Kyrie put a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Vivian... Do you want a child of your own?"

There was a mixture of shock and awe in Kyrie's question, and to hear that desire finally said aloud caused Vivian to recoil as if she'd just touched a hot iron.

"I... I don't know. I just... With the lady expecting her baby Renard's been talking a lot about... Babies... How much he wants one. I guess he hasn't said it in any clear terms like that but he's excited to watch Mae's baby grow and it seems to be of endless fascination to him. I guess his interest just made me think a bit about whether I would want one myself. I really don't know if I do..."

Seeing her friend's inner turmoil, Kyrie couldn't really think of any words that might help ease her mind. So instead, she simply fell on Vivian in an encompassing hug. This succeeded in coaxing a smile out of Vivian, and she returned the hug, closing her eyes and just resting against Kyrie.

This peace didn't last for too long though, because Vivian soon decided that she was done trying to ponder this question. Moving away from Kyrie now, she stood up with more of a spark to her tired features.

"Speaking of Renard, I think I'm going to go and tell him the good news. Would you like to join me?"

It was sweet of Vivian to invite her, because Kyrie knew that she would much rather spend time alone with Renard rather than spend time with the both of them together. Knowing this, Kyrie shook her head.

"I'm exhausted, I think I'd rather just stay in here and nap for a bit."

"Suit yourself. I bet if Isaac was here though you'd be more willing to come out of our room."

Kyrie blushed at that, and Vivian left the room with a soft laugh and a friendly 'sleep well.'

Moving back over to her own bed, Kyrie laid down in it so that she was staring up at the ceiling. She really did find herself wishing that Isaac was here instead of in the Dominion of the Sea, the Terra Kingdom's neighbor. It was perfectly reasonable that he'd been sent there: Mae had exactly one friend as far as the slaves knew and that person was Jiera Deveris, wife to a council member in the Dominion. In a continued effort to hide her pregnancy, Mae had practically announced to the world that she was headed over there for an extended visit: this would give her time to both have her baby and recover from it before she came under fire for having it. As sound as the plan was, it did mean that Kyrie hadn't been able to see Isaac for at least a month, and she had to admit that she was rather sad about that fact. It felt like a bit of a waste to spend part of her day off just sleeping, but considering Isaac wasn't here there wasn't a whole lot she felt like she could take advantage of. Well, aside from drawing when it was still light outside, but she had plenty of time for that ambition.

Her mind slowly began wandering to what it was that Vivian said about children. Letting one of her hands rest on her own stomach, she wondered just what it would feel like to have another human inside of her. It couldn't be wholly pleasant, but at the same time, there had to be something appealing and life changing about it considering so many people did it. All mothers risked their lives to have children of their own, and while Kyrie could hardly comprehend the mindset for that, she was certainly curious about it. If only she could ask the lady about her own motivations.

In regards to how it all applied to her though, she was getting very ahead of herself: the only thing she and Isaac had done so far was kissing. Each time after the first, she found herself enjoying the act more and more, and she couldn't help the rising desire to partake in those sweet traps more often. Their kisses had become increasingly passionate, but still she felt like she wasn't satisfied. What would it feel like for his lips to touch other parts of her body? What would it be like to see him without any clothes on? To have him see her without any clothes? The mere thought of these things sent a shudder through her as she curled up onto her side.

Her face burned from both embarrassment and want, and she brought her hands up to cover her face. This was hardly the time to be thinking of any of this; not when Isaac was gone and certainly not after Mae had just given birth! It felt somehow disrespectful to be thinking of these acts after just witnessing the results of the sexual acts of someone else.

Trying to still her pounding heart, Kyrie pulled the blankets up over herself and cocooned up. Despite her best efforts not to think of Isaac, he kept bubbling up in her mind. Her exhaustion made it easy to succumb to sleep, but the thought of Isaac whispered to the still working fires of her brain so as to keep her company throughout her slumber.