Reyna shot up in bed as Kait's wails filled her eardrums. Diaz groaned and covered his ears with his pillow. "Your turn," he grumbled, turning away from his wife.
Reyna groaned as she got out of bed for the third time that night to soothe her daughter. She went into the nursery and saw Kait crying in her crib. They had switched her from a cradle to a crib that night and the infant wasn't too happy about it.
Reyna picked Kait up and held her close, shushing and gently bouncing her arms. When Kait continued crying, Reyna realized she would have to switch tactics.
She sat down in the rocking chair and started rocking it slowly. Little did she know that these exact scene had carried out so many years ago.
Reyna continued crying and Myrrah thought about all the things her daughter could want. She had just been fed and she didn't need a diaper change, so those two things were clearly out. Myrrah had an idea and asked her daughter, "Do you want me to sing you a lullaby?"
Reyna's crying turned to whimpers and Myrrah stared at her daughter. Normally Myrrah would never sing, but Reyna had been crying for hours and the Queen was getting desperate. She thought about the songs she knew and remembered one Niles had taught her. She began to sing in an eerie tune:
"Wandering child of the earth
Do you know just how much you're worth?
You have walked this path since your birth
You were destined for more."
Reyna had stopped crying and was mesmerized by her mother's eerie lullaby.
"There are those who'll tell you you're wrong
They will try to silence your song
But right here is where you belong
So don't search anymore
You are the dawn of a new day that's waking
A masterpiece still in the making
The blue in an ocean of grey
You are right where you need to be
Poised to inspire and to succeed
You'll look back and you'll realize one day."
Reyna was so engrossed in singing the lullaby that she didn't even hear when Diaz walked to the nursery and was standing in the doorway.
"In your eyes there is doubt
As you try to figure it out
But that's not what life is about
So have faith there's a way
Though the world may try to define you
It can't take the light that's inside you
So don't you dare try to hide
Let your fears fade away.
"
Diaz then walked up to his wife and Reyna jumped. He smiled at her and gestured for her to continue on.
"You are the dawn of a new day that's waking
A masterpiece still in the making
The blue in an ocean of grey
You are right where you need to be
Poised to inspire and to succeed
You'll look back and you'll realize one day
You are the dawn of a new day that's waking
A masterpiece still in the making
The blue in an ocean of grey
You are right where you need to be
Poised to inspire and to succeed
Soon you'll finally find your own way
."
Kait let out a small yawn and fell asleep in her mother's arms, and both Reyna and Diaz smiled at this. Reyna gently set Kait down in the crib so as to not wake her and softly closed the door to the nursery.
"Where did you learn that song?" Diaz asked. "I've never heard it before."
"My mother sang it to me when I was younger," Reyna said, sighing as she remembered her life in the Hollows. That had been so long ago it felt like a lifetime had already passed between then and now.
Diaz kissed his wife on the forehead and Reyna smiled at him. She was glad she was in this lifetime now.
"Come on Kaitie you can do it!" Reyna exclaimed in encouragement to her daughter who was standing just a few feet away from her parents.
Kait clumsily toddled towards her parents, who were smiling with joy. "Her first steps!" Diaz exclaimed. "Who do you think she'll walk to?"
"Well, Kaitie is a mommy's girl," Reyna said. "So I think the decision should be easy for her."
"I don't know, she can be quite a daddy's girl," Diaz said. "I think she's coming to me."
"Oh, you're on."
They both jokingly glared at each other and started shouting encouragements at Kait. "Come on Kaitie!" Reyna exclaimed. "Walk to Mommy! You can do it Sweetie!"
"Don't listen to Mommy, Kitty Kat," Diaz said sweetly. "Come to Daddy Honey!"
Kait continued to clumsily walk over to them but surprised them both by walking completely past them. She walked just next to Reyna and picked up her teddy bear.
Kait fell onto her bottom and hugged her teddy bear, gurgling with happiness. "She ignored us both," Reyna said in shock.
"For her bear," Diaz said, also surprised. They both looked at each other and started laughing. Diaz picked up Kait, who joined in on the laughter, and Reyna hugged them both.
"Mama."
Reyna gasped and looked at her daughter, not believing what she heard. "What did you say Kaitie?" she asked.
"Mama," Kait said, laughing. She had said a few words before, with her first one being 'teddy,' but this was entirely new.
"Diaz! Get in here!" Diaz then ran into the room, nervous.
"What happened?!" he exclaimed, holding a pistol in his hand.
"Please tell me the safety is on on that thing," Reyna said, concerned.
"Of course it is. Now what happened?"
Reyna then turned her attention back to Kait and said, "Say it again Honey."
"Mama!" Kait gurgled, laughing.
Reyna looked at Diaz with a smug look and he stood there, shocked. "Kitty Kat, can you say 'Dada?'" Diaz asked.
Kait stared at her father and gurgled, "Dada!"
"What a big girl!" Reyna exclaimed, picking her daughter up.
"Our little Kitty Kat is really growing up!" Diaz exclaimed, kissing his daughter on the cheek.
Reyna chucked to herself and sighed. "Yeah, really growing up."
"Despite her mother's warning, and the calls of her friends, Romily left the safe company of her friends and walked into the perils of the forest," Diaz read from his book. Kait was hiding under her bed sheets, scared of the story.
Diaz smiled at his daughter and continued, "She thought they would admire her independence, and respect her brave willingness to break ranks with the others. But she did not walk alone. The six-legged demon that had waited patiently beneath her house since birth followed her, unseen, and joined the rest of his kind who rose from the depths to embrace her."
Kait unburrowed herself from the blanket and said, "That story is scary Daddy."
"I know Kitty Kat, but it's a great one. Romily teaches us to not be disobedient or else something bad will happen."
Reyna chuckled as she walked up behind her husband and planted a kiss on his cheek, making Kait squeal in protest. "But now we don't have to worry about scary creatures under us," Reyna said, kissing her daughter on the forehead. "The Locust are gone, and we don't have to worry about them anymore. Don't be disobedient Kaitie, but always be adventurous. Okay Honey?"
"Okay Mommy," Kait said as she yawned and closed her eyes.
Diaz and Reyna left the room quietly and Diaz asked, "Why did you tell her that Romily isn't a good story anymore?"
"Because it really isn't," Reyna responded. "That story doesn't work anymore since the Locust are gone."
"Yeah, but you don't tell a kid that."
"Sorry. Besides, I was never the biggest fan of that story."
"Why not?"
Reyna realized what she had said and realized she had backed herself into a corner. "Uhh…" Reyna said, scrambling for an excuse. "I just never liked it that much. I think the message is kind of muddled. The story is essentially teaching that we should always obey our elders and never think independently for ourselves. You don't think that's a bad message?"
"Huh, never thought about it that way," Diaz said, chuckling awkwardly. "When did you get so smart? Must have been from your parents."
Reyna laughed and said quietly so he couldn't hear her, "If only you knew."
This chapter was mainly written to be a passage of time kind of thing. To show how Kait was raised as a smaller child, away from the technology and advantages of growing up in the COG.
And just as an FYI, the story that Diaz reads to his daughter is an old Tyran folk tale mentioned in a few of the novels. I thought it would be cool to be used as a story Diaz grew up with, but Myrrah taught Reyna to despise it.
And for some age references, Kait is around 6 months during the lullaby scene, 14 months during the second cutscene, around 2 years old in the third cutscene, and around 6 in the last cutscene.
And as a last note, the song I used was The Wanderer's Lullaby by Adriana Figueroa. Thank you to one of my friends for showing me the song about a year ago. Once I thought that Reyna would sing a song to Kait that Myrrah had sung to her, I realized that this was the perfect song to use.