Chapter I. Om Swastiastu.

Jakarta, Thursday, January 4th 2024, 10.10am.

Inside a small private maternity clinic, two middle-aged women were sitting next to each other, waiting for their names to be called for routine pregnancy check-up. "How many months are you in?" asked Dora.

"About five. How about you?" replied Dewi.

As Dora's husband entered the room and sat on the empty plastic chair right next to her, she replied "Eight, and we're excited to welcome him next month. We will name him Prawira for we hope he will have indefinite bravery throughout his life. It's been a tough life for the past five years for our family to live in this global pandemic."

Dewi responded "Congratulations on your eight months, hope you have a safe labor and a healthy baby."

"Thank you." Replied Dora.

As they both continue chatting while rubbing their own bellies gently once in a while to calm their fetuses, the customer service staff who is sitting at the front desk right across the sitting area started to increase the volume of the television that broadcasts the morning news. As the sound

of the television increases, both women slowly wrap their conversion and focus on the news.

"Breaking news this morning, a new mutation of corona virus which is originally from outside Indonesia is now found in the livestock location in Jakarta. This virus is more contagious and deadly than the previous type of corona virus. Hundreds of farm alien workers were brought to the hospital after reporting shortness of breath and flu like symptoms. Ten of these alien workers were announced dead, a day after being hospitalized." Informed News Anchor.

He continued "The Jakarta governor encourages its citizens to remain calm and to follow the safety guidelines by wearing masked, washing their hands regularly and practice social distancing. The governor also announces tier four lockdown in Jakarta starting in two days. Citizens are ordered to remain at their homes, companies to implement work at home and only essential business remain open."

"The Indonesian president also announces this morning the idea to postpone this year's presidential election and

will discuss it further with the general election commissions." Added the news anchor.

As the news kept going, Dora with fear on her voice started talking to her husband "What are we going to do honey? It has been a stressful pregnancy for me and now this is happening. I cannot bear it anymore. I am worried about Prawira and how are we going to deliver him under these circumstances."

With a deep soothing voice her husband answered

"Remember what the obstetrician said honey, calm down, you cannot be panic, it is dangerous for Prawira if your cortisol kept increasing in your body. We will talk to him today during our visit and explore options that we can do to deliver Prawira safely."

Dividing her attention to both the news and the conversation between Dora and her husband, suddenly an incoming call appeared on Dewi's phone. As she picked up the phone, a familiar voice started talking.

"Have you seen the today's news?" asked a man's voice on

the phone.

Dewi replied with a low voice as if she knew what was

about to happen "I have".

"I just want to let you know; I am leaving Tomorrow." Informed the man.

Responding to the man's revelation, Dewi's face started changing to sorrow as if she lost half of her soul. She felt a massive energy were leaving her body. She started clenching her fists trying to keep her balance bearing from a ragging emotion circulating her body. She was silent for seconds, trying to assemble words that are appropriate to respond to this person whom she has spent time a lot of time and made memories with".

But she could not hold her emotion any longer. She could not speak. She lowered her head and a tear started coming down from her right eye as she closed both of her eyelids. She remembered the tough times it had been since the beginning of her surprise pregnancy five months ago. The struggle kept escalating month by month as she faced the pressure all by herself.

In a cold manner, the man continued "I will have someone to send your stuffs back to your place tonight."

"Take Care." he ended the phone conversation with her.

Trying to hold herself together, Dewi wiped her tears on her cheek, she slowly put her phone back to her purse as she heard her name being called.

"Miss Karno" the staff called.

With a rather shaky voice Dewi replied "Yes". Hearing the tone of her voice, the staff wondered "Is everything okay?"

Dewi comforted the staff "Yeah."

"They are ready for you in room one." Informed the staff. "Thank you." Dewi replied as she brought her purse and walked towards the mint-colored door. She opened the door and entered the room. The nurse welcomed her and helped her to get on the examination table as she began the routine checkup procedure. As time went by, the doctor started the procedure. He began by checking all the reports from the lab that monitors Dewi's blood test results. The doctor continued the examination by checking the fetus condition. Seventeen minutes passed by and the doctor had come to his conclusion.

"Miss Karno?" said the doctor to confirm her name.

"Yes." Dewi replied.

"Did anything happen to you recently?" asked the doctor.

Covering what happened to her before she entered the room, Dewi replied "No."

The doctor explained "Even though it is considered border-line normal these days for pregnant woman to be in a stressful environment during this on-going global pandemic, we really hope that you keep your cortisol level low. Comparing to your previous medical condition a month ago, this is the first time we see a spike in your blood pressure. We also notice a frequent elevated blood sugar than before. We are worried it would affect the baby."

"I will try my best to keep it under the control and remain healthy. Is there anything else you like to tell me?" answered Dewi.

The Doctor continued "Other than that, The Baby is healthy. And we think we are ready to let you know the gender, would you like to know about it?"

"Yes, please." Replied Dewi.

While moving the screening tool to the genital area of the baby showing a live four-dimensional ultrasound image on the screen to her. with a calm yet exciting voice The Doctor announced "It's a girl. A healthy baby girl."

A smile suddenly appeared on Dewi's face as she responded to the news. She felt an immediate comfort throughout her body. An energy that motivated her to keep going.

The Doctor asked "Have you thought about naming her?" Dewi was in fact not ready for that question. As she was going through her memory, reminiscing a handful of women she met in her life, she stoped and remembered her grandmother who she considered as her role model in life. And she replied "Kiranne. I will name her Kiranne!". The Doctor replied "Well in that case, Nice to meet you Kiranne Karno" while looking at the monitor.

Dewi started looking at the monitor as she began chatting on her mind, "Stay strong and healthy Kiranne! I am sorry it has been a tough journey for you. I am sorry for all the decisions I have made for having you. Mommy will try my best to protect you. Mommy loves you, Kiranne."

The Doctor continued "Alright, this is the end of today's examination. Thank you for coming. As your request, we have written a letter in a sealed envelope for your travel permit that helps you to be able to board a flight during pregnancy. We hope you and Kiranne remained healthy."

Dewi replied "Thank you".

As the nurse began to detach the examination wires from Dewi's arm, The Doctor added a final note "As you might have heard from the news earlier, the city is moving into tier four in two days, we will keep you updated with our Clinique operational hours and procedure. We might require a PCR test before your next visit as a preventive action to keep the Clinique going. We want you to follow the guidelines by staying in your house the remaining months of your pregnancy while keeping your nutrition intact for you and Kiranne's health. In addition to that, due to the temperature rising that causes heatwaved, we also want you to reduce any activities outdoors, drink more fluid frequently and avoid direct contact with sunlight for more than twenty minutes. And always remember, if you are in tough positions or things going out of control, the baby always comes first."

Dewi noded her head and said "Thank you" as she started exiting the room.

Her wistful demeanor when entering the room earlier had changed to calm and content.

Three months later.

Jakarta, April 10th 2024, 7am.

Early morning news started, "After a full three-month straight nationwide lockdown, the government had agreed to ease the protocol and lowered it to tier three for two days." Informed the news anchor.

At noon, when the sun shined and the heat rose, inside a small rented house where an eight-month-old pregnant Dewi lived, a knock on the door suddenly stoped her from packing her clothes.

"Wi, Wi, this is me." A woman's voice is heard on the

door.

Familiar with the voice, Dewi rushed to the door and opened it.

"Please come in mam." Said Dewi.

The landlord entered the room and sat on the small rusty couch right in front of a flat screen television with low- volume morning news on it.

"Are you leaving today?" asked the landlord.

"I do not have any other choices mam; I have to leave the city today. It has been three months of full lockdown here in Jakarta, I have to use these two days ease of lockdown to make a move to an area where the virus cases are low, and the lockdown is not that strict." Answered Dewi.

"I can understand your situation, but where are you going? Every corner in Jakarta and other major Indonesian cities are currently facing the same situation." Said the landlord. Dewi: "My older brother has a house at the feet of Mount Batur in Bali. He runs his own small tour business in there and I can stay with him".

"Is it safe in there?" asked the landlord.

"Yes, it's located far from the city. The virus case is low in there and it is not under lockdown." Answered Dewi.

The landlord continued "What about the baby?"

"They have a small clinic and my brother told me they have performed giving birth procedure many times. I can deliver Kiranne in there." Answered Dewi.

"I am sad to let you go, but if this is your best plan, I hope you both are safe and healthy." Said the landlord.

"Thank you, mam." Replied Dewi.

Suddenly a black-colored four-seating car pulled up in front of the house and a phone notification demanded Dewi's attention.

"I have to go now; the car is waiting for me. I am going to the airport now." Said Dewi.

The landlord slowly giving gentle hug to Dewi from the side as she whispered to Dewi's ear "Take a good care of both of you."

Dewi noded, then grabed her luggage, walked out from the room and entered the car immediately.

As the car traveled north, Dewi spent the fifty minutes ride to the airport by listening to a radio news that was tuned in the car.

The radio news anchor started "There is an increasing number of reported cases of new mutation of corona virus in Indonesia's big cities. Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung, Padang and many other cities have struggled to flatten the curve of this disease. Twenty-six people who have taken two doses of the previous corona virus vaccines have been reported to be infected with this new type of virus. The

ministry of health has tried it's best to work with The World Health Organization to understand this new virus mutation."

The radio news anchor continued "The governors which cities have growing cases of this new virus mutation have announced tier five lockdown that began at the end after of the two days of lockdown ease. The General Commission Election also has come to its conclusion to postpone this year's presidential election due to this situation. Citizens are advised to remain at home until further notice."

Fifty minutes went by, the car had arrived at the airport. Dewi kept drowning deeper in the news, until the driver who had gotten out from the car and unloaded the luggage from the back door, awakened her who was sitting on the middle seat.

"We have arrived, mam. Terminal three of Soekarno Hatta Airport" said the driver while unloading her luggage from the back of the car into a trolley for her.

"Thank you, sir." Replied Dewi. She got out of the car, grabed the trolley from the driver and walked towards the entrance gate.

Arriving at the gate, Dewi stopped right in front of the infrared thermometer pole to scan her body temperature before entering the aiport building.

"Thirty-six point five. Please see your gate number on the screen and head to the ticket counter". Informed the officer who is standing next to the pole to Dewi.

Dewi started walking and she stoped for a while in front of a large screen that showed gate numbers and continued pushing the trolley as she was slowly approaching the ticket counter.

The ticket counter officer looked at her and asked "May I see your ticket, passport and your virus test result please" Dewi opened her purse and handed in her documents to the ticket counter officer.

"How many weeks are you in?" asked the ticket counter officer with authoritative deep voice.

"Thirty-five" Dewi replied.

Ticket counter officer looked at Dewi in the eye and said "Mam, that is a high risk. I am afraid we cannot board you in."

Dewi's nerves suddenly kicked in. She began to worry about being rejected from her flight. Suddenly she

remembered her conversation with her obstetrician she had three months ago.

"Wait!" said Dewi as she began to put her right hand into her opened purse and started digging through and reached the only envelope she had inside the purse.

Dewi reassured the officer "I have a letter from my obstetrician declaring my medical condition." while handing in a sealed envelope to the officer.

As the officer began to open the envelope and read the letter, Dewi continued "It said I have a normal blood pressure, heart rate and healthy fetus. It should be fine for a two-hour flight to Bali."

While holding the medical letter with both hands right in front of his face, the ticket counter officer moved his head slightly to the right, he peeked with a side eye at Dewi's pregnant belly. He wondered. His mind started thinking. He was silent for seconds gathering his thoughts to whether or not letting her in.

Second later, "Gate four-d please" as the ticket counter officer ended the conversation and handed the documents back to her.

Dewi felt instantly relieved. She took back her documents from the officer's hand, left the ticker counter and headed to the gate four-d.

As she arrived on gate four-d she noticed other passengers has boarded the plane and only a few people left in line at the gate waiting for their tickets to be checked.

Dewi immediately stood before the last passenger and hold her documents with worried. She wondered whether this last officer will give her a hard time and decline her to get on board. Seconds felt so slow for her.

The last passenger in front of her got checked in and started walking away from her. She took two steps and stoped right in front of the last officer. She showed her ticket to the officer while holding her breathe anticipating the worst news she could think of.

As soon as the last officer took the boarding pass from

Dewi's hand, she looked at the seat number and said "Six- c" as she read her ticket and referring to her seat.

Surprisingly, it took two seconds for the last officer before letting Dewi in. Dewi was relieved.

After her ticket was checked, Dewi crosses the gate bridge and walked into the blue colored aircraft.

Greeted by the warm hospitality of the cabin crew, Dewi walked right into her seat which was located on the first row of the economy seating area.

Her seat was right on the back of the business class area. Six-c turned out to be an aisle seat. A slightly bigger space and legroom for people with certain conditions such as pregnancy like her.

Not long, the plane engine started and the cabin crew began its routine in-flight announcement as the plane started to detach and moving away from its jet bridge. Sitting comfortably and relaxed on her seat, Dewi started looking at the view on the window while the plane was approaching to the runway.

Ten minutes later, the plane had arrived on the runway ready to take off.

As the plane began to take off, she was embraced with a familiar view of the city of Jakarta. Memory after memory started appearing on her mind on top of each other, reminisce of all good memories she had earlier in life and memories she decided to forget. It had been a tough decade for her and she was looking forward to start a new chapter of her life in Bali.

The flash back memory had slowly put her to sleep throughout the entire two-hour flight. She fell asleep deeper and deeper. Until she was awakened by the high- pitched voice of one of the cabin crew.

As Dewi started to open her eyes and gained her consciousness, she asked the cabin crew "Have we arrived yet?"

The cabin crew replied "Indeed, mam. In fact, we have

landed ten minutes ago."

Dewi looked around and started to realize she was the last remaining passenger on the plane.

"We were hesitated to wake you up because you looked

very exhausted." Ended the cabin crew.

"Thank you." Dewi ended the conversation and she slowly walked out of the seating area and going out of the airplane.

It's Dewi's first time in Bali.

As she entered the airport through the jet bridge, a traditional Balinese music started playing on her ear. The loud sound of round metal instruments splashing on each other accompanied by the sound of gamelan led her steps as she walked to the terminal one.

As the music changed to a wooden instrument that is blown in melodious harmony, mix with percussion, she arrived at the security and health checkpoint. Dewi handed in her travel documents to the officer and went straight to the baggage reclaim area to pick up her luggage.

Exiting the arrival area and walking towards a group of people holding card boards filled with names, Dewi heard a rather familiar voice from afar.

"Wi… Over here!" shouteded Kris.

"To your left" Kris continued.

Dewi looked to her left and smiled as she stared at five foot ten men from a distance.

Dewi picked up her pace.

"Don't run, your pregnant!" reminded Kris. Dewi huged her brother.

"Welcome to Bali!" greeted Kris with an energizing voice through a surgical masked.

"It's been a struggle to have you come over and finally, you are here!"

As Dewi released her hug, tears started coming down from Dewi's eyes, as she could not express how happy she was to be able to meet her brother.

"Alright, no time for Debby Downer, let's go!" said Kris. "You will like your room; we have prepared it for you." Kris grabed her luggage and they both started walking to the car parked outside the building.

As the car started heading north, Dewi began her conversation with Kris.

The two-hour car drive from the Airport to Kintamani was filled with stories, laughs and tears.

Dewi did not hold back and tell the whole story.

After a two-hour car drive, they arrived at Mount Batur Pinggan village, an area located a mile from a five thousand feet volcano covered in green plants. Along the way, a few small houses made from woods with rice fields surrounding them were seen around the area, as well as green soil walked where the locals walk barefoot, a few big yet skinny trees waving as the wind blew, wooden bridges made by the locals, clean rather green color water from the moss and a hill where tourists hiked to reach the four am milky way followed by a magnificent view of sunrise.

As she opened the car's window, enjoying the breeze of

fresh air Dewi said "This is stunning".

"I am so relieved to hear that. I thought a city woman like you, would feel the other way about living in a village far away from the city. I hope you will like your room too." Kris responded.

As the car reached an uphill area closer to the destination, Dewi could not believe what she saw, her eyes were wide open, her retina was pleasured by the breathtaking view of the mount Batur from a mile away, the lake surrounding it, the clouds that were on top of it, the colorful small houses on its foot and the never-ending green plants and trees

everywhere. "I have never thought the view would be this great" Dewi continued her admiration.

"Oh, you missed out a lot." Kris chuckled.

"Alright, here we are!" said Kris as the car entered an area after passing a wooden entrance gate.

Dewi's eyes kept moving around trying to collect as many information as possible about the place where she would stay for the unknown duration. She looked at the wooden sign painted in yellow and red color on the right side of the entrance that said "Jungle Camping Area".

She reached the door handle and opened the door; her body was welcomed by the cold fresh air that bumped her

as soon as she landed her left feet on the ground that was full of round stones.

She inhaled a long deep breathe of the fresh air, and exhaled with a smile on her face feeling an instant gratitude of how simple things could make her feel happy.

"Youre good?" Kris teased with a bright and warm smile responding to his sister's impressions of the area of the house.

"Never Better!" replied the city girl while grabbing her luggage and walked slowly with her ever-growing belly into the house.

As soon as she reached the door of the house, a woman's voice comes from inside the house coming towards the door, "Deeeeewiiiiii!" with a thick southeastern-Australian accent. Suddenly a five-foot nine lean woman with long- luscious-blonde-hair and chiseled jawline came out of the door, slightly running with an open arm while screaming dewi's name.

"Katy?" with a rather unsure voice, Dewi questioned the appearance of a woman whom her brother used to date years ago.

Kate huged dewi by her right arm "Yes, honey, how are

you doing?".

As Kate released her hug then grabing Dewi's hands and holding them while looking at Dewi's face, she said "It's been a while"

"It has been…" Dewi responded shortly as a smile on her face enlighten her mood responding to Kate's enthusiasm to see her.

"Honey, would you mind showing Dewi the house and her room? I need to put these inside" Said Kris to Kate as he was entering the house with Dewi's luggage.

"Sure" Kate responded

"Why don't we start from the outer area?" suggested Kate

to Dewi while grabbing Dewi's right hand. "Ok" Dewi answered.

Kate and Dewi started heading to the left area of the house. "So, this is a camping area, your brother and I renovated this place three years ago. …." As soon as Kate began to explain, Dewi cut her with a question "How did you...?" with a slightly raising tone.

After a short pause, Kate replied "Well, back in 2020 when the first virus outbreak hit, the company I was working for

announced that we can work from home indefinitely. I was stuck in Melbourne for couple of months because of the lockdown. Your brother reached out to me to see how things were. He explained to me about his plan about moving to Bali permanently to start his own tour business that he always wanted to do. He offered me to join him and to live in Bali because they did not have the lockdown order from the local government and things pretty much were the same in Bali, of course, except the significant reduce of the number of visitors." Kate explained.

"As soon as I reached Bali, we reconnected, we have never been in a better relationship since then, we decided to move to Pinggan village away from the city to run this tour business, and yeah… three years later, here we are." Kate ended.

"I am glad to hear that. I always see you both as a great companionship to each other. I was sad when you two had to end things when you decided to go back to Melbourne for work. Now that you are here, I could not be happier for him." Dewi said.

"Oh yeah, I am due in three weeks, Kiranne is the best thing that could happen to me" Dewi continued as she gently rubs her belly.

"How are things with you and Clark?" Kate questioned with a low soft voice as she did not want to leave an impression as if she pushed Dewi to tell the story too much.

"He decided to go back home before the Jakarta lockdown, haven't heard anything since." Dewi answered with low energy voice that expressed her tiresome with the relationship.

"I am sorry that it happened to you, I hope you have a great journey here." Kate wished as she held Dewi's right hand tightly expressing her sympathy to Dewi.

"I hope so too." Dewi ended the relationship conversation and moved on to a different topic. "So far, it's been a great start, I have been enjoying the view, the wind, the air. I am glad I am here with you both." added Dewi.

As the conversation ended, they arrived at the back area of the house where a colorful plastic-made tents stood five feet away from the Edge of a cliff to an astonishing view of the mount Batur.

"So, this is the area where the tourist will sleep overnight."

Said Kate.

"We will supply them with woods, and they will set a fire at night to keep them warm and to cook their foods." Kate continued.

"On daytime, they hike uphill or they go to the mountain and hike for an hour to reach the summit." Added Kate. "You have to try once!" suggested Kate to Dewi.

"Nothing beats the four am hiking experience in here."

Excited Kate.

As Kate led Dewi to enter the house from the back door, they were heading into the first bedroom. Dewi landed her foot on the wooden floor, her eyes started pondering from corner to corner, scamming through wooden furniture and a bed with its mosquito net.

"What do you think?" Kate asked.

As Dewi sat on the bed and started rubbing her hands on the bed sheets, feeling the touch of cotton texture, she said "Not what I expected, but this is great. Its simple, minimalistic, authentic and traditional at the same time, I am up for this."

"Thank you!" expressed Dewi.

"No worries." Kate responded.

"Alright, I'm going leave you by yourself, so you can have

a proper rest and unpack your luggage. If you need me, you can always find me around. Catch you latter." Kate left.

As soon as Kate left, Dewi immediately laid flat on her back on the bed. She stared at the ceilings through the transparent looking fabric of the mosquito net.

She began rubbing her belly and said "Welcome home Kiranne! This is the place where you will be born. You will forever be a proud Balinese. I hope you have a pleasant live here. I am going to try my best to make you happy." Dewi smiled and slowly fell asleep.