TITLE: The Long and Winding Road (Note: work in progress)
RATING: PG-13
CHAPTER: ELEVEN
AUTHOR: L. C. Brotherton
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any portion of Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda. I just like to bring some of these characters out to visit my playground and promise to put them back when we've finished our game. No money has been made as a result of this fan's creation.
REVIEWS/FEEDBACK: Yes, please!
ARCHIVING? Fine by me. Just email me and let me know where my work will be stored.
SPOILERS: At this point, anything from Season One, Episode One is fair game as a spoiler.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: There is little canonical information regarding the past of Telemachus Rhade. If you find inconsistencies, and have a canonical source to which you can refer me, please do it so that I might refine this work and bring it a little closer into alignment with "Andromedaverse."
The Long and Winding Road: Chapter Eleven
A hideous scream echoed down the long marble hallway. Telemachus Rhade's eyes flew open and he looked wildly about the bedroom. The other children, his four brothers and a cousin, remained undisturbed and still sleeping, which he considered a miracle in light of the loud screaming.
He hopped out of his bed, small feet making no sound until they padded quickly down the tiled hallway. He bumped into his sister, Saphrona, as he ran around a corner, headed out of the children's wing. She was eighteen, and he thought she was wise and beautiful, plus lucky enough to have her own suite because she was a grown-up. She was also one of Telemachus' favorite siblings, the third daughter of his father's second wife, Marketa. She was a restless sleeper, and Telemachus knew she often wandered the hallways or could be found in the library when everyone else was asleep.
"Telemachus!" she exclaimed, clutching at her chest, pulling her night robe a little closer around her neck. "You gave me a fright, young man! It's very late--what are you doing out of bed?" she demanded.
"Something's wrong! I heard a lady screaming—listen, there it is again!" Instinctively, his stubby, newly- emerging little bone blades flared, prepared to protect his sister and the entire household from whatever imminent danger awaited down the corridor.
She covered her mouth to suppress a quick laugh, amused by his reaction. "Oh, that's only Maria Theros. Remember? The first wife of father's friend Nikolaus Theros?"
"What's wrong with her? Is the lady dying?" Telemachus asked his sister, his eyes growing wide as another howling shriek echoed down the long hallway.
"Of course not! Her baby is coming, you silly little man!"
He frowned and considered this information. Two years ago, when his sister Wynetta was born, his own mother had barely made a sound that could be heard anywhere in the house, and certainly not all the way to the children's wing.. In fact, he couldn't remember any of his other-mothers making a commotion like this, either. Lady Theros sounded desperate, and she kept pleading for someone to "make it stop!" He eyed his sister in consternation.
Saphrona smiled down at her little brother and wrapped her arm around his shoulders. "Telemachus, the lady is not dying," she reassured him with a kind smile. "The birth pains are worse for some women than for others. They cry out when the pains come. The harder the pains come, the sooner the baby will be born."
"The lady is really loud, Saphie. I'll be glad when that baby is finally here so the lady will be quiet and I can go back to sleep."
"I'm sure General Theros will be glad when the lady has her baby, too. This will be the very first daughter any of his wives has had, so she will be a very special baby in his household," Saphrona explained patiently.
Telemachus nodded and yawned. His sister took him by the hand and guided him back to the large bedroom where the other children still slept, unaware of the drama unfolding in the next wing. Saphrona couldn't help feeling a special measure of pride over her little brother's keen senses and instincts that had awoken him while the others stayed sound asleep—excellent survival traits. Her parents said he was special, and this was another testament to that fact. She tucked him in, planting a kiss on his forehead.
"Go to sleep, little brother," she encouraged. "In the morning, I'll come get you and we can welcome our newest guest together, and you can see for yourself that all is well."
"How am I supposed to sleep with all that noise?" he protested.
"Think about something else and just concentrate on that, and eventually you won't even notice the sounds and you'll fall asleep," she suggested, recognizing a ploy to stay up later that he should. "Track your direct ancestors backward."
"How far?" he asked.
"Tell me in the morning how far you got," she challenged.
He agreed, trusting implicitly that everything she told him would come to pass. . Saphrona quietly closed the bedroom door behind her. With another yawn, he rolled over and began counting on his fingers, whispering the names of the Rhades who had come before him. "Galahad, out of Marina by Damon; Damon, out of Felicity by Alexandros; Alexandros, out of Kristobel by Josef; Josef, out of Sif by Ramos; Ramos, out of Velina by Andrew; Andrew, out of Eula by Zavery; Zavery…out of Zola by…..Nathaniel….."
It seemed only minutes later that she was gently shaking him awake.
"Telemachus, wake up, sleepyhead," she whispered in his ear, not wanting to wake the others. "Lady Maria's baby is here. Do you still want to go see?"
Wiping sleep from his brown eyes, he nodded and slid out of bed. His sister raised a finger to her lips, indicating that they should be quiet, and they slipped out of the room without disturbing any of the other sleeping children.
"I got all the way to Zavery, out of Zola by Nathaniel before I fell asleep," he announced proudly.
She squeezed his hand. "You're learning your lineage very well. Father will be very impressed with you, and all the many things you've learned while he's been away this time."
Telemachus hoped so. There was nothing he wanted so badly as to please his father, because Galahad Rhade always seemed to hold him to a higher standard of achievement than that of his brothers. Telemachus had some vague idea that it had something to do with a special connection his genes held with that of his ancestor, Gaheris Rhade, but he was sketchy on the specifics. It only meant to him that sometimes adults watched him closely, seemed to expect great things from him in the future, and whispered the words "genetic reincarnation" when they thought he couldn't hear them.
None of that mattered now, and he focused his attention on the all-important matter of proving his worth and competing. It would personally be a moment of personal victory for him to beat his brothers and cousin in the race to accurately recite their family line—paternal and maternal—at least as far back as Gaheris Rhade. To complete the recitation by the celebration of one's sixth birthday was a mark of achievement in his family, and Telemachus knew his brother's had been gently prompted from the sidelines by their mother's as they presented the genealogy to their father. He stubbornly intended to be the one to do it without anyone reminding him of this one or that.
Finally the journey ended in the guest wing. Saphrona stopped and gently rapped on the closed double-doors outside one of the guest suites. The doors slid open and Telemachus took in a breath of surprise, the scene not being at all what he had expected, despite his sister's assurances to the contrary. He fully expected to see the aftermath of some attempted murder. Lady Maria Theros sat up in the large bed, satin pillows propping her up. For all the horrified screaming she'd done the night before, she certainly looked happy enough this morning.
His own mother sat near Lady Theros' bedside, smiling brightly when she saw Telemachus and Saphrona in the doorway. The Matriarch sat on the other side of the bed, her regal bearing making the chair in which she sat more a throne than a simple piece of furniture. She nodded approvingly at the young people, and motioned them forward with a gnarled hand.
"Come, children, and greet our tiny guest," she instructed. To the new mother, she nodded to the approaching children, whispering proudly. "These are two of Galahad's proudest achievements--Telemachus out of Brianna and Saphrona out of Marketa; their genes are simply marvelous. Saphrona is eighteen and Telemachus will soon turn six."
Maria Theros had a brilliant and proud smile for her visitors as they approached her bedside.
"Telemachus was particularly concerned about your well being last night, Maria," the Matriarch announced proudly. "Saphrona intercepted him rushing down the hallway to come to your aid, bone blades at the ready; he was certain some ill fate was befalling you."
Brianna's pride was evident, resting her hands on her young son's shoulders, planting a kiss in his dark hair. "Your father will be very pleased when he learns how well you were attending to the security of the household in his absence."
Telemachus' chest puffed out, his ego swelling with the praise given to him. "It's a man's job to provide for the safety of the ladies within his household," he said with solemn formality.
"And so it is," the Matriarch agreed, sharing a secret smile with the two other women, all three having the decency to not make light of the boy's perceived duty. "I see you've heeded your lessons well, my boy, and I'm pleasd."
"I offer my thanks, young man," Maria acknowledged him with a nod. "I've heard much of you from your mother and grandmother. Come then and meet my daughter, seeing as you've assigned yourself our protector."
Maria gently shoved him forward, seeing that he was fixed to the spot where he stood, but beginning to lean toward the bedside to peer at the bundle in Lady Theros' arms. Maria tenderly peeled away the light swaddling blankets, and Telemachus rested his hands on his hips as he stood on tiptoe. "This is Anastasia Theros, by Nikolaus out of Maria," she announced, pressing a kiss to her newborn child's head.
With that fascination all small children have for things smaller than themselves, Telemachus reached out to touch a tiny hand. He'd seen and touched other babies, of course, but he'd never one that had been the source of such commotion as to disturb his sleep. She was wrinkly and bald, and had that sweet smell that all babies had. Tiny fingers curled around his thumb as tiny eyes opened, seemingly transfixed on his face.
"She's looking at me," he whispered in awe, laying his head down on his outstretched arm. He gazed back deeply into her dark eyes, wondering what she was thinking.
"She likes you, 'Lemachus," Saphrona whispered encouragingly, crouching beside her brother, enjoying his mesmerized fascination with the newborn.
He nodded and smiled, but when the baby tried to suck on his thumb, he promptly pulled it back to wipe the slobber onto his pajama bottom's leg. "Yuck, baby goo."
The women chuckled and his mother announced that it was probably time for Anastasia to be fed by her mother. Lady Maria invited him to come back again later for a visit, and then Saphrona guided her brother toward the door. He paused in the doorway, thoughtfully watching mother and child for a moment. With a formal bow, he stepped out of the room with his sister and the doors slid shut.
"You're the very first man that Anastasia has beheld, and that's highly significant," Saphrona said, ruffling her brother's hair. "The very old women say that means you'll play an important part in her life, and that she'll marry someone in your bloodline now—maybe even you. What do you think about that, little brother?"
He shrugged noncommittally. "I guess that'd be all right, Saphie, but I'm really hungry now. Can we go to the kitchens and something to eat?"
She laughed in delight. "Just like a man to use a search for food to divert a serious discussion regarding matter matters of the heart! Fine, fine! Let's get you some food and discuss your romantic future later, little man!" Still shaking her head in amusement, she took her sibling toward the kitchens. "Ancestors forbid that you should starve before you have a chance to fulfill your destiny."