A Weird Birth
"Ahhhhhhh!!!" The screams of my mother echos through the wooden halls of our home. I follow my elder sister hastily as we go to where our mother is giving birth to our new sibling. I am honestly quite scared at the moment, I never heard mother scream like this.
In fact I can't remember one time where our mother yelled. She usually speaks in a calm and controlled manner. Depending on her mood her voice could carry a since of comfort that makes me feel warm. A sense of neutrality that unsettles strangers and sometimes unnerves me. And a since of warning when enemies over step their bounds. During those times I always feel a cold shiver go down my spine.
But, as I hear her screams grow louder from either the pain of birth or our closeness, I'm not sure. I don't feel the warmth of her comfort, or the the numbness of her neutrality, or even the cold shill of danger when she's angry. What I feel is the deep clench of my stomach as my mind spiral towards despair.
"There is no need to worry Talia" my elder sister, Hana Yume spoke up snapping me out of my thoughts. "Mother is The Matriarch of the Yume Clan" she turns to me and looks me in the eye while putting a comforting hand on my shoulder. "She'll pull through" the confidence in her voice brought some measure of reassurance in me.
I nod in silent agreement as we walk the rest of the way to the room. My sister slides open the door and lets me go in first before coming in and closing it behind us. Inside the room their are four other people besides my wailing mother.
The two healers are the first to gain my attention and they look neutral and focused. One of them is a member from our clan her name is Kurai Yume. She is our best magic healer and one of the few that actually studied mundane science.
The other healer is Obaa-San a yokai that has been part of our clan for as long as I can remember. Using something called Ki to monitor the life force of both Mother and the baby. I believe she is also here for the healing of either of them if something goes wrong.
Seeing the both of them work so diligently to make sure both my mother and sibling make it out of this furthers relaxes me. I let my eyes scan the room so I can get a read on the other two in the room.
My eldest sister Amai Yume, is standing in the corner trying to remain composed but, fails spectacularly. Even though she is the oldest and should be the most composed out of all of us she isn't. She's the most emotional person here and without her self-control training it would be easy to make her lash out.
My eyes travel to my father and I have to hold back a sneer at his blatant show of weakness. While everyone else in the room is trying to be strong for mother. He stands there like puppy that has lost his favorite toy. I don't know why mother didn't get a stronger more, capable husband.
If I had to guess I think she got caught up in marriage contract when she was younger. And due to her inexperience she couldn't get out of it. I snap out of my thoughts as I hear my mother scream particularly louder.
"Come on Lady Yume, Push!" Kurai encourages
"I am pushing! You bitch!!! Ahhhhhh!!!" Mother screeches out a remark before yelling again.
"Just one more push Lady Yume, just one more" Baa-San soothes as she holds mother's hand.
Mother yells again in exertion for a couple of minutes before letting out a groan of relief.
…
…
…
It is now silent, which is weird. I have seen a couple of births already and all of the newborns cry after their birth unless… I gasp and my breath hitches, unless the baby is dead. I scan the faces of the healers anxiously before I become confused. Looking at their faces I can tell that they aren't sad or bear a sense of guilt.
Instead they look incredibly confused until Amai made her way towards them. When she peered at the child herself she gained a look of confusion herself. This caused a chain reaction where everyone huddled around mother who held the baby after Baa-San handed her over.
The baby is adorable, but weird. Instead of wailing like a normal baby she is scanning all of us. Her crimson red eyes shine with intelligence, curiosity, and scrutiny. Everything remains silent for a few moment as we just watch the baby. Until she yawns before snuggling into mother's breast and falling asleep.
We all remains silent as we try and compute what just happened.
Of corse the silence was broken by Amai "okay, what the fuck?!?"