The winter months were always harsh. Minera sighed, hugging her skins closer to keep her body warm and gazed out of the tent that she shared with her husband, Kaylin, chief of the Puma clan. Soon he would be the proud father of a son or daughter, thought Minera as she lovingly caressed her swollen belly. The babe would be born soon, Minera could feel it. This was her first child and sadly she would not live to see her child grow. As the baby had slowly grown inside her, she had had the same recurring nightmare that she dared not tell her husband about for fear of frightening him. She knew that she must face this alone. With a weary sigh, Minera went back to her husband's side and kissed him tenderly on the forehead. "I will always love you, but you must go on without me, my love." and with that she settled down beside him and fell into an uneasy sleep.
She suddenly awoke with a start as sharp stabbing pains came from her abdomen, making her scream out. Kaylin was already at her side and was speaking to her, but she could not hear his words because of the pain. She clutched her belly and gasped, trying to breathe like the midwife had told her to do, find a steady rhythm, but she couldn't. The pain was unbearable.
"Get the midwife!" instructed Kaylin to a young man who had been on watch and had come running when he heard Minera's screams. He nodded and ran as fast as he could to her tent.
The midwife soon came with her bag full of her healing herbs and other remedies that she had made for the sole purpose of using when Minera was having the child. As soon as she saw Minera, her face visibly paled. Something was very wrong here, but the midwife could not quite place what it was. Kaylin tried to yell to the midwife over the screams of his wife, but he could not. He was forced to place one of his large bear-like hands over Minera's mouth, and struggled to keep her still so that the midwife could do her work. Tears streamed from Minera's eyes as she tried to control the shaking of her limbs from the assault of the stabbing pains.
The feeling of dread was quickly replaced by the midwife's training and she knelt down and positioned Minera's legs ready for the birth. She took a cutting of some healing leaves and placed them on top of Minera's swollen belly.
"Kaylin, go behind Minera and prop her into a sitting position so that she can lean back on you," she instructed him. Kaylin did so and pulled Minera close to his chest. "You will be fine, my love." he whispered to her soothingly. But that did not make her any less scared. She let out a quiet whimper and muffled a scream with the back of her hand as the contractions started. "Push Minera, push!" said the midwife.
Minera pushed as hard as she could and by the end of the second hour, she was finally rewarded with the scream of a new born baby. That was when she felt a quick sharp pain in her belly that spread all the way up to her heart. She pursed her lips and kept quiet. In her dream she had slowly and painfully bled from the inside – and now it would happen.
"It's a girl!" announced the midwife happily, making Minera forget about her fate if only for a moment. She handed the baby to Minera and she cradled the baby to her chest. Tears of joy mixed with sadness sprang to her eyes as her child stopped crying and opened up its huge green eyes and looked at her mother for the first and last time. "Hello there, little one," she cooed at the child. She heard Kaylin behind her and squeezed his hand.
"She's beautiful." he breathed. Minera nodded and slumped into Kaylin's chest. The midwife saw this and took the child away from Minera, wrapping the babe in a soft blanket and cradling her in her arms.
"Kaylin, Minera needs rest now to recover her strength." He nodded and left the tent only to be awoken the next day by a scream coming from the tent Minera was in. He pounded his way towards it and ripped away the hanging fur that covered the entrance and saw the midwife lying next to Minera, tears streaming down her face. She looked up at him.
"She won't wake up! She won't wake up, Kaylin!" the midwife wailed. The baby too cried from its crib and mixed with the distressed voice of the midwife. Kaylin went to Minera's side and touched her cheek. She was so cold. No…no…not his wife! How could the gods give him his soul mate and then rip her out from under him! He shook violently.
"There was nothing to be done, Kaylin. She knew she was going to die, Kaylin. There was nothing to be done…" sobbed the midwife. A lump formed in Kaylin's throat and he shook his head. "No, Minera would have told me. She would have told me." he repeated over and over, but the midwife was not convinced. He too soon started to doubt what he said.
"Kaylin," the midwife whispered after a few minutes that seemed like an eternity. He looked up at her with pain, grief and loss all over his face and in his eyes. "Let her go. You need to think about the baby and give her a name."
He looked back at Minera, at her perfect face and her blue lips that had once tasted so sweet. He would miss her so. He stood up and walked over to the crib and took the baby out of her blankets. Kaylin looked at the tiny babe in his arms. "I promise that I will never let anything happen to you, Kali." he whispered.