Although at the moment, Zoe couldn't be happier, the same could not be said for her parents. It had been 2 years since she had run away from her simple life in Tortall. Nathaniel and Irena didn't know what to do. The public was getting incredibly anxious, wanting some closure in the case of the missing princess. There was only one plausible option left for the monarchs of Tortall to take. A royal decree was released. It read,
"Citizens of Tortall. For the past two years, a intense search has been conducted for the Fifth Princess of our realm, Zoe Annette of Conte. Although our best efforts were put forth, they were not fruitful. We are afraid we have no other choice than to come to the conclusion that sometime over the past two years, our daughter, the royal Fifth Princess of the Tortallan Realm, has passed away. A memorial service will be held in the Palace Chapel, for those who wish to attend." While the city wept for the supposed loss of a princess, she slept peacefully in Cria, her newborn baby in a bassinet by her bed.
~*~
For Zoe, the first few weeks of motherhood were the hardest. She was forced to adjust to Salem's schedule, which included feedings almost every 3 hours. Until she got the hang of things, Karana and Ashlar allowed her to stay in the guest bedroom in their house. When Zoe thought she would collapse if she didn't get a break, Esperanza would come and entertain Salem for a couple hours, allowing Zoe to get some much needed sleep. Shortly after Salem turned one month old, Zoe and she moved back to the apartment she and Karana had fixed up.
Zoe and Salem's first year together flew by. Salem was a generally happy baby, most likely because now whever Zoe went, Salem did too. Mr.Kedar was more than happy to allow Salem at work. When Zoe was busy, Mr.Kedar played games like Peak-a-boo and "Got Your Nose!" with her. Salem's black, fluffed hair began to even out and thicken, her pale eyes darkening strangely to a deep brown. They were often as wide as saucers, trying to examine as much of the still-strange world she was now a part of.
Salem screamed at the top of her tiny lungs. Her mouth hurt. Being barely 10 months old, the infant had no idea why, but assumed that like everything else, her mother would fix it if she screamed. For the third time that night, Zoe drug herself out of a warm bed and a sound sleep, and began to rock her teething daughter gently.
"Shh..it's okay Saylee.. I know it hurts, baby." She kissed her screaming child's reddening forehead. Heading into another room, she grabbed one of bits of cloth she kept frozen for when her teething became unbearable for both mother and child. The cold, dripping rag in her hands and her mouth, Salem began to quiet as the cold dulled the ache in her gums. Zoe smiled and sat back down on the bed, watching her dark featured daughter continue to suck on the frozen cloth as her eyelids started to droop. Karana, who had taught her about freezing the clothes, always told her to add a few drops of certain herbs to the water that would aid with a peaceful and quick sleep. Zoe herself used them on a regular basis while she was pregnant was Salem, so she knew they were safe. During the last trimester, Salem had become fidgety, almost seeming eager to be born, and she had taken up a habit of kicking practically around the clock. It was then that Zoe helped sleep overcome her with the herbs, and it was now that she used the same herbs to help her daughter. Aiding by a gentle rocking, Salem was soon fast asleep, the now dull ache in her mouth forgotten about for hopefully the remainder of the night. Zoe placed Salem in a bassinet she had set up next to her bed for rougher nights like these, and curled back up in her own bed, falling asleep quickly.
Karana was just as fascinated with her first grandchild as Salem was with the large new world she was only beginning to experience. Karana insisted Zoe dined with the Kedar family almost every night, eager to play with a small baby again.
"Come on, Saylee, walk over to Karana..you can do it!" Zoe urged her 11 month old daughter. Salem stood a few feet in front of her, wobbling slightly on her small, unsure legs. She tilted back, looking as though she was about to take a step towards Karana, who was kneeling a few feet in front of her grandaughter. Salem continued to tilt backwards, and Zoe held out her arms, and her daughter toppled backwards into them. Laughing, she scooped up the growing infant and kissed Salem on her nose. Salem giggled and reached for her mother, balling and releasing her fists rapidly. Zoe smiled, knowing what that meant, and gave her a tight hug.
"I love you too, Salem." She said with a smile. Patting her behind, she placed her back on the floor gently. Salem stood up slowly, her movements full of purpose. As she began to tilt back, she remembered her previous experiment, and stopped sooner this time. Jutting one leg out into the air slightly, Salem let herself fall foward, and found herself still standing. Proud of her feat, Salem repeated it, propelling herself further foward. Although her feet were unsure and her legs wobbled and bowed, Salem found she throughly enjoyed what she was doing, and continued to do it until she was taken into her grandmother's arms and showered with kisses and words of praises.
"She did it, Karana! Salem is walking!" Zoe exclaimed, and went to kneel next to her daughter and Karana. Salem was alternated between her mother and her grandmother's hugs, kisses, and positive words for many minutes until both women had calmed down. Salem squealed and giggled, clapping her hands and returning the hugs one by one. She knew she had done something very good.
After that day, Salem wanted to walk absolutely everywhere. There were hours when Zoe just followed her daughter around the apartment, watching her begin to assure her movements and investigate objects that were originally too much of a hassle to inspect. But now Salem had gained some sort of magical power. She could do as the adults did, propelling herself on her very own two legs. The great boost of pride gave the normally shy and quiet child a flamboyant, almost actress-like streak in her personality. The following month was Salem's first birthday.
"Surprise!" The Kedars yelled as Zoe and Salem walked into the living room. Salem shrieked and jumped up and down, babbling quickly in her own secret language. Zoe gasped and broke out into laughter.
"Karana, Ashlar, thank you!" She exclaimed, looking around. The entire house was throughly decorated in Salem's favourite colours, purple and silver. A large feast sat steaming on the dining room table, and Zoe thought she could smell a cake just starting to brown in the oven. She grinned broadly, her happiness growing even more as she watched Salem play a game with Esperanza, giggling and obviously having a wonderful time. She hugged Karana and Ashlar tightly.
"Thank you so much. This means so much so me.." She said, sniffling slightly. Karana smiled warmly and patted her cheek.
"You are like my very own daughter. I would not have wanted any less for you. Now come. Dinner is waiting." The family headed into the dining room for a birthday feast grand enough for a 10 year old. After dinner and desert, which including a large, purple-iced cake and vanilla ice cream, Salem recieved her presents. From Ashlar, there was a large set of hand made, hand painted blocks. Karana had bought and sewn several beautiful and practical outfits, and Esperanza had bought Salem a doll, which she held protectively. Zoe herself gone all out, lavishing clothing, toys and other various presents upon her daughter. To Salem, it was better than Midwinter, where she had only recieved a bunch of blankets and a few stuffed things. They went home with their arms full of the loot, both smiling brightly.
Later that night, many hours after Salem had fallen asleep, still clutching her new doll, Zoe found herself laying wide awake in bed, sobbing. It was the times of the most joy in her life that she found herself missing Dante the most. It had been 21 months, almost two full years, since the love of her life had ridden off to Carthak to avenge his mother's past, something Zoe still knew nothing about, other than it had not been pleasant. For the longest time, Zoe held fast to the hope that he would come back, or send for her, although neither had happened. Over the two years, her grip had slowly begun to slip, her fingers being pried off by reality. Now, hope was only a small twinkle in the very back of her subconcious. The only thing she could think was that Dante had been killed. The only hope she knew of was that he had died an honorable death. There will no prince on a white horse for me. She thought bitterly. Her prince had rode away on a black one, promising things he could have never possibly have kept. That night, while she watched the full moon shine into her room and across the floorboards, Zoe made a silent vow to forget Dante. She had Salem to raise, her life to live. Dante was the past, and she needed only to look to the future. With that, her mental image of Dante's dark handsome face, surrounding in an almost tangible air of mystery drifted from her mind, was turned to ash by the moonlight and swept away by the bitter January air.
