3 Goddess or Midwife

Riya was standing in the middle of the temple hall, when another knock on her door jolted her awake from her memory of those almost comical first hours in this strange place.

"I'm not sure why you shun us, Goddess Riya, but we are only lowly mortals. My mother here is having a very difficult birth. If not for your blessings, she may not make--"

As the voice continued on, a shrill scream interrupted her words. "Senthia...I-t's here...H-Help." The shouts of an older woman reverberated from a further distance away, followed by the sounds of rushing footsteps leading away from the door.

Riya stood quietly for an instant, her mind racing on what to do with this maternity ward opening right in her front lawn. But she paced towards the door much to the dismay of her brain, and to the joy of her conscious.

She knew she was now a Goddess, in a world and time where Gods walked amongst men tangibly. A reincarnation of some sort that she couldn't wrap her mind around yet. But she didn't feel any special. After thoroughly exploring her new female body in the first few days, with a lot of "Ooo's" and blushing, she decided she was just a normal female.

She then attempted to somehow control things around her, or create things from nothing like Gods in stories always do. She even tried to will a gun into existence to end her misery, but it was very clear soon enough, that she couldn't do much other than lazing around like she did all her previous life. All that was godly about her was that her body grew in an abnormally fast way, as she had already grown to a mature form within a staggering three weeks.

When she questioned her mother, (The only person who actually still talked with her after she created a scene within her first few weeks of being here.), about her so-called status as a fertility goddess, her mother simply told her, "One does not learn to become a god, you are simply born one. All that being a god is, will naturally come to you. In your case though, I won't be surprised if you spend a few hundred years groveling like a mortal farmer." She remembered the disappointed words in defeat.

As Riya opened her front door to the windy elements of the night resigned to her fate, two faces looked up towards her. She appeared like a saint opening the door to a long-awaited sanctuary to the two mortals. "Come in." Riya summoned her most authoritative voice and spoke to the two. She then walking back into her Temple leaving the door open behind her, in what she imagined would be a cool way for a Goddess to act.

The click of the door signaled the entrance of the young girl and the pregnant woman, who leaned instantly on the nearest pillar, panting heavily " Oh benevolent Goddess, we thank you for your kindness. My baby should be here by now, my water ran when I was outside, but nothing is coming out. I feel it moving less inside me. Please goddess, save my unborn child." The woman cried in pain, her tears and sweat mingling on her face in cascades, as she reached out to Riya in desperation.

"Please help mom and the little baby," the young girl joined her mother in her plea.

Riya stood on the other side of the temple hall, studying them from the shadow of another pillar, appearing like a composed figure to the two, while in fact, she had never felt more horrified in her life. Does she have to pull the baby manually out? Does her power manifest only when she touches vagnias and uteruses? Is she supposed to be a midwife or a goddess? She was as oblivious to everything women related as she was back in her life as Abdo.

But she had to act, and do it fast. "You girl, what is your name?" She spoke with a deep voice to the girl, making her perk up in attention, "Senthia, your radiance." The girl muttered, keeping her eyes down in respect. "Go to your house and fetch a bucket of warm water and clean towels," Riya ordered her in a confident manner. Everyone knew you needed warm water and towels to deliver a baby, that was like "Baby delivery 101", at least she remembered that much from her previous life. She wasn't that stupi--

"We live an hour away from here, your radiance, is there a washing room here I can get what you ask for?" The young girl interrupted her train of thoughts, shattering it into a trainwreck. "Uh. No. There isn't....Of course there isn't, Gods don't shit and don't take showers. There is only that crappy bathtub my so-called mom kept popping out of that I filled with sand. I'm so stupid."

"It's fine, just move your mother towards the middle of the altar here." She said in a less confident tone, while they obeyed and moved to the center of the altar.

Riya finally walked up to them closely and began to pace around them trying to remember anything she took in school, read in novels or seen in movies about women giving birth. They go to the hospital and the doctors handle it, that's all she knew from the experience of a whole previous lifetime.

Why is being a Goddess suddenly a more useless occupation than a doctor? She barely even knew much about the female genital system as a lonely young man before. She tried to fix that obviously, by inspecting her own new body down there earlier on, but she just couldn't get herself to get more than a quick peek. She felt like she was invading the privacy of a body she did not really own.

And of course, the woman continued moaning and grunting on the ground of the altar, as Riya brainstormed useless information into her mind. While Senthia took occasional expecting looks at the goddess very discreetly.

Riya then suddenly stopped in place, shifting all the attention to her patient, as a brilliant idea blossomed in her mind. " PUSH!" she exclaimed, remembering the words doctors used in movies all the time. "PUSH!" she exclaimed again.

And that was when the awe and respect in the face of the mother and daughter started to slowly drain out. The mother looked up at the goddess, who stood there telling her to do what she has been doing all night. "I-I am pushing, your radiance...but it won't come out." She spoke under her breath, while she clenched her teeth in pain. "Maybe you could use your ability, your radiance, and bless my womb?"

The blood drained from Riya's face, as she nodded meekly and stooped down gently to lay a hand on the swollen womb."Maybe I am a womb-bender." she thought to herself "Maybe it will listen to my will with a touch." She whispered, laying her hand over the woman.

"Womb! Listen to thy call and release thee child." She whispered.

But nothing happened.