Disclaimer: If I owned PoTS, then I wouldn't be writing this.
Ilane looked at her new born. She took in the soft clump of light brown hair on her new daughter's head, her eyes that were closed but held long raven black lashes, her delicate nose that twitched when she let out a huge yawn that followed a small burp. She wasn't like her siblings when they were born.
Her brothers and sisters were born as pink, wrinkly, screaming maniacs who were greedy to suckle their mother's breast. But not this one; she was born covered in the liquids that came with birth, but she wasn't pink. Nope, she was a pale skinned baby. When she was born, she didn't scream.
Ilane was on the verge of crying hysterically because her baby wasn't crying. The midwife and her nurses tried to get the baby to scream, to cry, to wail, to make some sort of noise. When they were about to wrap her up in a blanket, they saw her small chest heave up and down. Her baby was alive; she just didn't want to make a sound.
Ilane of Mindelan shifted in her bed as she continued to observe this oddball. Yes that was what her baby was, an oddball. Someone who just didn't fit the mold of normalcy.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The little girl twirled a lock of hair around her finger absently as she rocked on the heels of her bare feet. Her hair reached about mid-back and was slightly curly. The girl turned large hazel eyes on her mother as she pinned her hair up.
Ilane looked at her daughter. She was still an oddball. She played out in the courtyards alone, enjoying the peace that solitude brought her. She played with the worms in the dirt and not once did she get her clothes dirty.
She loved to wear breeches and a tunic compared to a dress, like her older sisters loved to wear.
She was quiet, not at all like anyone else in the family. She was never one to ask questions; if she had a question, she wouldn't ask it. She sat there patiently and wait for the answer to come naturally. That was what she was doing now. She was asking questions in her own way.
What are doing?
Why are you doing it?
Where are you going?
Ilane could see these questions in her child's eyes.
"We have to go see the King, he wants us to do something for him." Ilane said, her daughter, Keladry, was satisfied with the reply and nodded wordlessly. Ilane got up and walked over into a small room than the main chambers in their suite and got a pair of small blue slippers and put them on her daughter's feet before leading her to the study of King Jonathon.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Kel stared out into the vast space that was ocean outside of the imperial palace in the Yamani Isles. Her face betrayed nothing, as it did when they were still in Tortall.
And still, she was an oddball. The kids said that she was a frozen girl. She was cold to the world, or maybe it was just her shyness?
Ilane knew that her daughter had a big heart. And because of the heart, Kel was able to forgive anything that was thrown to her because she saw the good inside of people.
Kel may have been only six, but she acted so much more mature. She didn't partake in anything frivolous, such as learning how to arrange flowers. She only did things that benefited her.
She learned how to make teas, for she could fix it for herself. She learned about which kimono to wear on a certain occasion, for it would be more comfortable for her to wear the right type at the right time. Most importantly, she learned how to wield different Yamani style weapons because with them she could protect those who couldn't protect themselves.
Most girls were playing with baby dolls and playing 'house' with each other, but not her Kel. Oddball here wanted to come to some meeting concerning the alliance between the Isles and Tortall.
But that was Kel for you.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Ilane looked flabbergasted at what she had just heard. Her daughter wanted to become a page? She wanted to be a knight? She didn't want to follow all of the women in her family and go to the convent to learn how to become a proper lady and find a husband?
No, wait! This was Kel the Oddball. She had come to a fork on the road. She could choose between a well manicured road with lush green grass, pretty flowers, a bright and cheery sun with blue birds flying around over head singing light tunes; or she could choose a bumpy dirt road with gnarled trees with black bark and brown grass, the clouds would be gray and crows would caw at what came by.
Of course, Kel would choose the most horrid one.
Piers gave his blessing and so would Ilane.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Ilane watched as Kel emerged from the dark room called the Chamber of the Ordeal. She was pale and shaking. There were no red or puffy eyes, no scars or wounds or blood. Kel was the oddball, she was stronger than any man and more compassionate than any woman.
That's what got her so far. Ilane was so proud. Her baby girl was the first official Lady Knight. She was always knew that her baby wasn't normal, she wasn't what society called 'normal'. But she was proud nevertheless.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Maybe she was wrong. Maybe her baby girl was normal. Getting married seemed pretty normal.
Ilane watched as Kel walked up to the alter, one step after another, on her father's arm. She was clad in a beautiful glittering white gown that fanned out and had a train that was ten feet long. Her shoulder length hair was curled and was pinned to her hair among glittering diamonds.
Nope, her daughter wasn't normal. Not even the Goddess could ever look so beautiful.
She watched as her baby danced with her father. She remembered a time when Kel would be standing on her Piers' feet and he would move as if he was dancing, holding her small, chubby hands in his own large ones.
Kel's husband spun Ilane around before steeping back and bowing as Piers took his place.
It was amazing, how could Oddball Kel snag a pretty normal husband? Oh wait, 'pretty' normal, not exactly normal. Ilane sighed.
Kel seems to know where all of the odd ones lay.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Tears of joy ran down Ilane's face as she looked at her daughter and son-in-law. Her daughter's stomach was blocking the view of the babies' actual birthing, but she didn't mind.
Now remember, she said babies. How many? Try four.
Kel was pregnant with quads. Go figure, oddball pregnancies for Oddball Kel. Kel groaned as baby number three was born. Ilane was so happy, first was baby boy, followed by another boy. This one was a girl. The boys had tufts of brown hair but the girl had a head full of black onyx hair.
"AAAARRRRGGGHHH!!" Kel screamed as she pushed for what must have been the thousandth time. Another scream filled the air as a black head emerged in Neal's head.
"Congrats! Two boys and two girls," Neal said as he passed the now cleaned babies to both parent and grandparents.
"Kel, what are you going to name them?" Ilane asked softly to her daughter. She was still amazed at how her baby was having babies already.
"We decided to name them Damien, Ashton, Annalyne, and Nicolette," Kel whispered as waves of exhausted pummeled her.
"Sleep baby girl," Ilane whispered back as she took little Nicolette from Kel's arms.
Ilane turned toward her son-in-law who was rocking Ashton. Piers held Damien and she held the two girls. She sighed in pure bliss before laying the girls in the crib.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Oddball daughter, Oddball son-in-law, now, Oddball grandchildren. Good grief! All four of them wanted to be knights!
Ilane looked into the blue eyes of nine year olds Ashton and Damien and the hazel eyes of Annalyne and Nicolette.
"You can be knights. I won't stop you, but you will be hard pressed."
"We know, mama said so too." They all chorused, grandchildren and grandmother laughed out loud and finished eating lunch in Mindelan.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Nine years later, Nicolette appeared out of the chamber. As the youngest, she was the last one to take her Ordeal. Ilane let out a sigh of relief.
There were now five Lady Knights in Tortall. Alanna, Kel, Anna, Nicky, and Sabel- Neal's daughter were those knights, and Ilane was proud to say that three of them were hers.
All of Nicky's family gathered around her, Ilane too, and hugged her. Ashton, Damien, Neal and Dom hoisted the newly knighted girls up into the air as cheers erupted from the chapel and courtyards.
When they were put down, Nicky and Anna kissed Dom and Kel and hugged them ferociously before glomping Ilane and Piers in hugs.
Kel was crying, which was rare, and continued hugging her oldest children as three younger one, two boys and a girl, age ten, five and three hugged their legs.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Ilane leaned back into her chair as she examined her old and withered hands. She was about seventy eight now. Her husband had passed and her grandkids had lives of their own.
She got up, much to the pain of her old joints, and hobbled over to a large chest. The latch on it was opened and she slowly lifted it up. Inside were papers among other things. She took out one paper and smiled as she saw it.
It was drawn by Piers so many, many years ago. It was of her, sitting upright in bed. Her long white locks were cascading down her back and over her shoulders as she looked into her arms.
Ilane smiled once more as tears came to her eyes. The picture was colored so it made it come to life even more. In her arms was a pink bundle. And in that pink bundle was a tuft of light brown hair.
Keladry.
Tears spilled forth from her brown eyes. They were tears of happiness, nostalgia, love, sadness, and pain.
She remembered everything so vividly. From the birth of Kel, to when they went to the Isles, to her page years, to her Ordeal. From her marriage and births to her own children's Ordeal, all the way to her death.
Kel had died in a battle on the Scanran border. An enemy was about to cut down Alanna from her blind side, but Kel tackled her and took the killing blow. She died a hero. And Ilane was happy to know that her baby died doing what she loved to do, protecting those who couldn't protect themselves.
Ilane reached down into the chest and pulled out the pink blanket that held her baby girl when she was born and sobbed into it. When she pulled away from it, she looked at the picture again. On one piece of paper, there was something that represented two people in her life. Her husband who drew it and her daughter who was in it.
Ilane got up and walked over to her bed. The picture laid beside her as she looked up towards the ceiling. She laid back and closed her eyes.
She didn't know how long she was going to live or how many people she loved were going to die before then. She sighed, she wanted to die. She wanted to escape the pain.
She sucked in a deep breath and held it.
And held it.
And held it.
And she held it until she began to turn purple. And she held it even though her lungs were bursting. Her body began to feel numb. Her eyes rolled to back of her head from behind close eyelids. Her body became limp and the paper in her grasp fluttered to the ground.
There was a caption on it, a one word caption.
Oddball
I don't think that an author should cry when they're writing something. But then, I guess I'm not an author then, eh?
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