Raising Umah
This story takes place two years after "Plush Kain: The Convention Adventure".
Prologue
"Push! Push NOW, honey!" the young man in fatigues was careful to aim the camera at his wife's anguished face and not her va JJ. A nurse wiped the younger woman's forhead while the midwife knelt between outstretched legs.
"Shut the hell up you (Y(&! It was you and your ()(&$&$ that got me into this! Touch me ever again and I'll break your ass in half and shove it down your throat!"
The young officer felt dizzy. All those birthing videos seemed well choreographed. There was not much mention of the horrid screams or sickening smells of childbirth. A tour of duty overseas now seemed like heaven.
The midwife asked for one more push and Alice screamed, bearing down hard until a tiny head appeared.
"She's crowning," the midwife announced to no one in particular.
David put down the camera and made his way to his wife's side. "I love you so much, honey. You're so brave."
One more small push and the infant was out. The midwife expertly cleaned the child and removed the mucus from the child's nose and throat. A lusty squall let the couple know their little girl was awake and hungry.
The midwife cautiously brought the little girl to meet her parents. Alice noticed the woman didn't quite meet her eyes. "I...I think you folks should take a look at this."
The baby had a beautiful rosy complexion and flayed her tiny fists in anger as she cried to be fed. Her tiny head was crowing with soft ebony hair. David looked her over and noticed how his daughter had inherited his ears and his wife's nose. Then he noticed her arms.
The baby's upper limbs with covered with what looked birthmarks, the dark brown a strange contrast with the pale skin. Upon closer inspection they resembled tribal tattoos. David's eyes met Alice's and the new mother went deathly still as she stared into her daughter's face.
This was fate, it had to be. This was nothing like seeing Jesus on a tortilla or the Virgin Mary in the watermark of a building. These were deliberate and unmistakable markings. They had to mean one thing; Umah had been reborn in her daughter. Her blood hummed with this knowledge and she felt warm all over, humbled to have been chosen to mother someone reincarnated.
It's nothing, honey. It doesn't matter. She's our beautiful little girl."
David nodded and watched as his baby daughter latched onto his wife's breast, her tiny fist wrapping around his finger. His heart melted. So what if his daughter's birthmarks were a little strange. Alice had tried to explain what had happened at the convention two years ago but he hadn't bought it. It didn't matter anyway. His daughter would be loved. He knew in that moment he'd move mountains and slay dragons for her.
"Are you still okay with naming her Kella, after my grandmother?" he finally asked.
Alice smiled up at him sleepily. "Yeah. Kella. Kella Umay. Kella meaning 'warrior' and Umay, 'hope' ."
"Warrior Hope? Eh, it'll do." Tenderly, David kissed his wife's forhead and watched quietly as his two women dozed.
The news of the baby girl born with the unusual tattoos soon reached the local paper and they ran a story and pictures without parental consent. They sued the paper but a cult website picked it up and soon it was all over the Net.
The strange tattoos drew attention from a myriad of people. In Indiana, Jennifer pointed it the strange tattoos she found on a website and received confirmation from Janos about who they belonged to. They wisely refrained from showing Kain; the "U" word was all but verboten around him. Clark-sensei's dojo sent the new mother a lovely gift basket and a few hundred to start a savings account for the little girl, along with an enrollment application.
In Boston, Jareth nearly cried with relief. He took this "rebirth" as a sign that he had been forgiven and could be redeemed.
Unfortunately, the birth also caught the eye of a far less benevolent party.
