Daughter of Three Suns
Chapter 26
My family was waiting for me in the shade of the overhang when I approached my home. Mother, Esme, and Rosalie stood together. My sister held a small wrapped bundle; Emma and Elise stood beside her. In the farthest, darkest corner of the entrance was a white-robed figure. Alice had braved the heat of Daughter Sun to welcome me home.
It was Charles and Emmett who greeted me first however. They flew toward me, calling and trilling. Emmett circled above my head, but Charles landed on my shoulder. I remembered the weight of him at my first Anamnesis when I needed Mother's help to hold him in my hands. Now he fit easily on my shoulder. I could see my reflection in his expressive eyes. "Hello, my father," I whispered. Joy seemed to flow from him as he hopped happily from one foot to another. His great wings fluttered about my head, and he rubbed my cheek with his.
Emmett landed on my other shoulder. His was a heavier weight, but I bore it easily. He, too, seemed happy to see me. I had once dreamed of entering my home island proudly bearing my basherter on my shoulder. Instead, I stepped under the overhang carrying my father and my mate's best friend. Inside me was a lingering sadness that I knew would never go away, but the love of my family made me feel almost happy again.
My mother was the first to move forward. When she hugged me, I was surprised to find her head only came to my shoulder. My Metanora had changed me more than I realized. "Finally, you've come home, my daughter. We've missed you." I nodded, hugging her back.
I was nervous when I turned to Esme, worried about her reaction to me. "Esme, I …"
She shook her head. "We'll talk later, Bella." Then, she laid her hand on my belly. "Is this my grandchild?" We both grinned when I nodded.
"And this is my new niece?" I asked, peeking into the bundle Rosalie held.
"Her name is Eryn." Rosalie pulled back the blankets holding her sleeping baby, and I gazed down at the beautiful child she held. Eryn had the same shiny curls that Emma and Emmett had.
"She looks like Emmett," I said, glancing up at the big basherter, who was now perched on Rosalie's shoulder. "You must be a very proud father."
Emmett nodded his head, shifted from foot to foot, then twittered happily. I laughed at his enthusiasm. From the corner of my eye, I noticed both my mother and Esme frown slightly. Changing our language might be harder than I had once thought.
I felt a tug on the side of my shift and looked down to see Emma grinning up at me. "I missed you, Auntie Bella," she said when I crouched down to hug her.
"And I missed you, Emma." I wrapped my arms around her, then peeked at Elise who was hiding behind her mother's legs. "What about you, Elise? Did you miss your auntie, too?"
Elise stared at me, eyes wide in bewilderment. "You got too big," she whispered. Suddenly, I was a little girl again, hiding behind a rock because the sister I had missed so much had come back a tall woman with glowing golden eyes and long claws on her hands and feet. The sister I had been so angry with since I had become a woman, but whom I still missed.
"I know." I smiled at Elise. "But I'm still your Auntie Bella, and I've missed you so much!" I opened my arms, and she jumped into them. After hugging them both, I rose and faced my sister. "I missed you, too, sister mine." Rosalie's lips quivered. Before she could say anything, I nodded, then turned and walked to the corner whereAlice waited.
I was shocked at how small and fragile Alice seemed. She was scarcely taller than Emma, and I found myself crouching down in front of her as if she were still a child. She raised a hand and ran it over my nose, cheeks, and lips, then over the top of my smooth skull. "No longer a girl." She whispered the same words she had used so long ago.
"A woman now," I nodded.
Her fingers continued their journey across my shoulder, down my arm, and over my claws. "A tall, strong woman who brought our people home." Her fingers returned to my neck and found the metal embedded there. "And bears Grandmother Spirit's mark."
"She has forsaken me, Alice."
My sister's hand stilled. "Does it glow red?"
"No longer."
Alice pursed her lips, then frowned. Her white eyes blinked rapidly as if she were looking at something, then she placed her hand over the child in my belly. "Grandmother knows the yearnings of your heart, and hope lives here."
"Alice." I sighed, taking her hand. "Did you always speak so cryptically when we were children, or did they teach you this when you became a seer?"
Although Alice clenched her lips, she couldn't contain the snicker that escaped at my words. Soon, we were both giggling, then laughing so hard I finally had to sit on the ground in front of her. "I've missed this, sister," I said when I could speak again.
"I know, but things will be better now." The sadness in her face disappeared quickly when she added, "We've prepared a home for you."
"And Elise and I helped." Emma pulled on my hand, willing me to stand. "Come on, Auntie. I want to show you how nice it looks."
Elise grabbed my other hand, and everyone followed while my two nieces led me to my new home.
I was surprised to find my cave dwelling was beside my mother's home. "Did Auntie Carmen move?"
Mother nodded. "Victoria is living with her now, and she … Well, we thought it best if you were close by, just in case you needed help or were lonely without …" She didn't need to finish her sentence. I knew it was because Victoria probably hated me, and because I had no basherter.
"Thank you."
Before we could speak again, Emma was tugging me through the entrance, chattering about all the things they had done. In the gathering room, large stuffed seating pillows circled a round table. They were very pretty. When I bent to study them more closely, I found they had been woven with different colored strips of fabric, which created a wonderful pattern.
"Who made these?" I asked. "They're beautiful."
"Emma did," Rosalie answered.
My niece grinned when I turned to her. "Thank you, Emma. How did you make the colors?"
She glanced at her sister, and they both began giggling. "Elise left some rubus berries on the mat she was making. They got squished, and when we tried to wash it, the mat was red. Then we played around with other plants and found how to make more colors."
Elise had been listening patiently to her sister explain. As soon as Emma was finished, she added excitedly, "And then Daddy showed us how to weave them together to make the patterns."
Everyone stilled at Elise's words. Emma gasped and turned to her sister. "Elise! You're not supposed to say that. It's a secret."
Elise's eyes filled with tears, and her lips trembled. "I'm sorry, Mother," she sobbed. "I forgot."
Rosalie knelt to comfort her distraught child. "It's okay, Elise. Auntie Bella is family, and she knows about men, and shifters, and fathers."
"She does?" Elise turned her still-stricken face to me.
"Yes, but I don't know the word 'daddy'." I settled to the floor beside them. "Tell me what it means."
"It's a word from Emmett's world that means 'a male parent' just like the word 'father'," Rosalie answered. "We thought if they slipped and used it, no one would understand and think it was just little girls playing."
"We?"
"Rosalie and I." I turned at the sound of the deep male voice. Emmett was standing in the doorway of one of the bedrooms, well away from any direct sunlight and out of sight from anyone passing by.
"Daddy!" Emma and Elise ran to their father. Emmett picked them up, balancing them easily in his arms.
"Emmett," I whispered. The beautiful man I remembered regarded me with such sadness in his eyes.
"I miss him, too, Bella." He nodded, then turned and carried his children into the bedroom. I could hear him soothing Elise.
"Rosalie?"
"He's been shifting in front of them for some time now. He's happier, and so are they. As soon as Daughter Sun is gone, we're moving to Irina's island. We're tired of hiding, and it'll be easier there."
"What about the other people from Emmett's world? Are they shifting and hiding, too?"
"They stayed for a while but finally decided to leave," Mother answered. She, Auntie Esme, and Alice had settled around the table with Rosalie and me. "This island isn't really big enough to support that many people, and their shifting made many of the women uncomfortable."
"There's another island close to Irina's. Most of them went there, but some of Laurent's friends moved to his home," Rosalie explained. "Before they left, Siobhan explained how she and her mate Liam had been working with, ah …" There was an awkward pause when Rosalie realized she was about to say my mate's name.
"Edward," I finished her sentence. Saying his name didn't seem to hurt as much as before. "They were working with Edward to trick Aro and get everyone through the opening. Liam was flying overhead, watching, and alerted Siobhan as soon as the drudges showed up. I think they knew Aro wouldn't give up without some kind of fight, and they were prepared."
Everyone was quiet for a moment or two, lost in our own thoughts. "Alice." I turned to my sister. "I thought the prophecy said balance would be restored to our world. But it sounds like all I've done is cause problems."
Her white eyes stared back at me. "Change is inevitable, but it isn't always easy."
…..
Mother had prepared food. While we ate, I learned more of what had happened while I was gone. Once I had returned through the doorway and the opening to Edward's world was no longer a threat, Jessica, Lauren, Rachel, and Angela had been allowed to leave for their Metanora.
Rachel and Angela had both traveled to another world and returned with a basherter, but Jessica and Lauren had seen no beckoning doorway nor felt a compulsion to journey anywhere but back to our home island. They had finally returned, confused because they'd felt no urge, only to bond with two shifters from Edward's world. They were living with their soulmates on the new island. Senna and Tia had moved there as well.
The tour of my new home continued after we'd eaten. Emma and Elise held my hands as they proudly showed me my room. The bed was piled high with more colorful blankets and pillows, and the wall niches were filled with new storage baskets. Emma pulled one from its place and handed it to her sister. "Show Auntie Bella what we made for her baby." With a shy grin, Elise pulled out blanket after blanket and baby shift after baby shift. All of them were beautifully made from the softest of fabrics.
"These are wonderful," I told my nieces. "I've never seen baby clothes so pretty before. Thank you."
"There's something else for the baby, but we didn't make it," Emma explained.
"Oh? Who did?"
"Auntie Esme," Emma whispered with a smile. She pulled another basket from a wall niche and handed it to me. Inside was a baby sling, but this was no ordinary sling. Made from soft, colorful braided fabric, the interlocking cords were decorated with tassels and interlaced with cloth flowers and vines. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
"Esme, it's … It's wonderful," I finally managed to say as I ran my fingers over the sling that I would use to rock Edward's child. She was smiling as she watched me, and I knew this was her way of showing me I was forgiven for taking the life of her other son.
"Now my beautiful granddaughter will have an equally beautiful place to sleep. Bella," she continued, "have you thought about a name for her?"
"No. I hadn't, but I think …" I looked at Alice, who was listening with a knowing smile on her face, and suddenly I understood what she had been telling me all along. "Hope." I answered. "Her name is Hope."
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AN: Thank you for reading and reviewing.