Part 5
Serena sat next to Liz's bed and told her, "Look up at the ceiling."
"Why?" Liz wasn't quite so groggy anymore, but her voice was still weak from lack of use.
"I have to adjust your eyes. We see slightly different wavelengths than humans. Otherwise, everything here will just look drab, and you need to be able to look at everyone here without being blinded."
"Blinded? What does that have to do with wavelengths?"
"I'm changing a little more than that. Don't worry," Serena said, seeing the look of concern on Liz's face. "I'll change it back before you go home."
"Trust me, Liz," Maria reassured her friend. "You can't tell anyone apart when they're all just pillars of white light."
"Okay," Liz said cautiously. Then she looked at Serena. "Go ahead."
Serena waved her hand over Liz's eyes, and Liz blinked, looking around. Suddenly the walls of the cave were sparkling with colors she had never seen before, instead of the dull brown they had been. "Wow."
Maria smiled. "Isn't it beautiful?"
Serena called out into the archway a few words in a language Maria later told Liz was called Upper Antaran.
"What are you saying?" Liz asked.
"I just told Kaia she could come in now."
A small person with sparkling silver skin and some sort of fuzzy, angora-like fabric wrapped around her walked in. She was not quite 5 feet tall, and she had large, beautiful gray eyes. Her head was wrapped with a smaller piece of the same fabric of her gown.
Kaia smiled softly at Liz and began to converse with Serena in the language Serena had just used.
Liz lay on her side and listened to their smooth voices wash over her. The language wasn't hard or harsh but flowing like French or Italian.
Maria sat on the edge of Liz's bed and told her in an undertone, "They're talking about you. Whenever they say 'Marua Leese,' that means 'Queen Liz.'"
"You can understand them?" Liz asked in surprise.
"Well, when no one speaks English, you learn pretty fast. Serena taught me the basics, and I've been building from there."
"You learned all that in two weeks?"
"They still have to talk pretty slow, but everyone's been really nice. They think my name's funny because it sounds so much like 'marua,' their word for 'queen.'" Maria smiled thoughtfully.
"Who's Kaia?"
"She's kind of like the doctor or head nurse. She's been helping us take care of you. She was one of the ones who caught you when you fainted."
Liz looked at Maria blankly.
"When we came out of the granilith."
"Oh," Liz said as realization dawned.
Kaia walked over to the bed, and Maria moved out of the way. "I," Kaia put her hand on her chest, "Kaia." Her words were slow and careful. "Help you." She pointed at Liz.
Liz nodded before realizing that Kaia probably didn't understand what nodding meant. "Okay. Yes." Liz paused. "Do you understand English?"
Kaia looked to Serena and said something quickly. Serena explained and then looked to Liz. "She doesn't really understand much beyond what she just told you. However, Maria and Jarret have been trying to teach each other." Serena smiled wistfully. "Jarret is Rath's great-nephew."
Liz hadn't considered the fact that she might be among the royal four's relatives, that her baby might be born near other family members.
Kaia patted Liz's shoulder, and Liz turned her attention back toward her nurse.
* * *
Max sat silently at Christmas dinner with his parents, Isabel, Alex, the Parkers, and the Whitmans. Tess sat next to Max, mind warping the six parents to think she was Liz.
Alex was prattling on about how wonderful his internship was when Mrs. Evans looked happily around the table and asked, "So who's ready for some of my famous peach cobbler?"
"Oh, Mom." Isabel put her hand on her stomach. "I am so stuffed."
"Yeah, that was delicious, Mrs. Evans. And Mrs. Parker, your apple raisin stuffing was just amazing." Alex had always been one to schmooze the parents.
Isabel glanced over at Tess, who had beads of sweat forming on her forehead from the effort, and said, "You know, Liz, I think I have something of yours in my car."
"What's that?" Tess hadn't been talking much out of concentration.
"Here, you can come with me. We still haven't discussed Max's present." Isabel winked and smiled mischievously for the benefit of her parents and in-laws as Tess finally took the hint and stood up.
She smiled, saying, "We'll only be a minute."
"Don't forget your jacket, Lizzie," Nancy Parker called after the girl she thought was her daughter.
As Tess and Isabel were leaving, they could hear Nancy say, somewhat tearfully, "I can't believe I'm going to be a grandmother already."
As soon as they got outside, Tess let out a deep breath. "Thank you so much, Isabel." She looked gratefully at her friend. "You are a goddess."
"No problem. You looked like you needed a break."
"We have to carry out this charade for another six months."
"I know. I hate lying to them, but we have to. What did you do about Maria?"
"It was a little hard, but we convinced Amy to have dinner early, in the afternoon. That's why Max and I were late."
"You looked drained."
"I feel drained. I am so exhausted; I can't do the midnight service. We need to say that Maria and Liz are going to bed early." Tess stood for a few moments with eyes closed, just resting.
"We'd better go back in now. Are you okay?"
"Yes." She paused. "I'm ready."
Isabel walked in with her arm around Tess, saying, "Liz isn't feeling well. She's going to—"
Mrs. Evans looked at the pair of them oddly. "Tess? What are you doing here? Are you alright, hon?"
Her composure finally lost, Tess collapsed in Isabel's arms.
* * *
Maria held Liz's arm as they walked down the hallway with Serena and Jarret to the main dining area. It was going to be Liz's first meal with everyone around, and she was a bit apprehensive. Liz ducked as they came to a low spot in the corridor; she had learned from Serena that the rebel base was in the caves so that nothing could be seen on the moon's surface. It was an added protection.
"It's right around the corner," Maria told her friend, and Liz grabbed more tightly to Maria's arm in response.
Maria stopped and looked at Liz. "Look at me. Liz, you are their queen. You need to act like one. Stand tall. Smile. Be confident."
Liz touched the amber heart at her throat that Max had given her, and she let go of Maria's arm. "Poised and confident," Liz whispered, straightening her shoulders and smoothing out the gown she had been given.
Serena, in her true silver-skinned form, said, "They love you already because Max chose you, Liz. All you have to do is smile."
Jarret smiled at her reassuringly. "Marua Leese." He gestured for her to lead the way.
"But where do I go?"
"It will be very obvious. It is the only space where no one is standing."
Liz nodded, smoothed her hair, and, without looking back, led the way.
* * *
Max took Tess and left his parents' house quickly, not wanting to have to answer too many odd questions. Isabel told the three sets of parents that Tess had been bringing Isabel's present and that it looked like Tess and Liz had come down with the same thing. "Since they've been spending so much time together recently," Isabel had lied nervously.
As Max left with Tess, Isabel walked her brother outside, carefully avoiding everyone's questions and leaving Alex to try and keep them from coming outside. "You can't come tomorrow morning. 'Liz' is too sick." Isabel kept her voice low.
Max took Tess home to a worried Kyle and then went home himself, exhausted. Max got ready for bed quickly and then lay back for a few minutes, thinking restlessly. Liz had always loved Christmas and made more out of it than he ever had. It would be so empty without her. This would be the first Christmas in almost nine years that he wasn't spending with Liz.
* * *
After several weeks at the rebel base, Liz was feeling much better, and she had befriended most of the rebels (who called themselves Gueyere, a word that translated roughly to "Liberators"). She had picked up quite a bit of the Upper Antaran language and joined Maria, Jarret, Gueyere leader Salle, and several other younger Gueyere for language lessons. It was amazing how much they could pick up from each other. The only minor problem Liz was having was getting along with Felee, Salle's second in command. He didn't seem to want to accept that she was queen instead of Tess, or Marua Ava, as he put it.
Lying in bed one night in the room she now shared with Maria, Liz touched her amber heart and said a quick prayer for her husband, that he was safe. She stared out the skylight at the unfamiliar stars and thought that Max might be staring at those same stars.
Liz gasped at a sudden realization, sitting straight up.
Maria rolled over and asked sleepily, "What's wrong?"
"I forgot Christmas." Liz's voice faltered, and her words caught in her throat.
Maria, more alert this time, looked at her friend sympathetically. "Oh, Liz." Her words were soft. "I forgot, too."
"What's wrong with me?"
Maria got out of her bed and went over to sit next to Liz. "Nothing's wrong with you. We just got caught up; that's all. At least you have an excuse," Maria said, half jokingly and half not. "I wasn't even that sick."
Liz sat up and leaned her head on Maria's shoulder. "What if my baby never has Christmas?"
"Of course your baby will have Christmas. Our babies will have many, many Christmases, Liz. They're going to grow up with normal kids and have, well, relatively normal lives."
"Normal?"
"Okay, maybe not normal, but our kids will be very loved."
Liz stared at the opposite wall. "I miss him, Maria. And everyone."
"I know. I miss my spaceboy, too." Maria leaned her head on Liz's. "We're strong. We will survive and thrive." She took a deep breath. "Right?"
"Right."
* * *
The next three months passed relatively uneventfully, and the Gueyere continued to conduct their operations from Antar's moon. Liz and Maria's language skills continued to improve as the size of their respective bellies grew. By Liz's count, she had only a couple more weeks, give or take a few days, and Maria had a little over two months. Liz constantly had someone with her as an extra security precaution because of the importance of her baby, and she was beginning to feel a bit smothered. However, it had been part of the reason they let her share a room with Maria in the first place.
Liz had not been sleeping well lately—she just couldn't get comfortable—and she had gotten in the habit of taking late night strolls through the base.
On that particular night, Liz wrapped her shawl tightly around her—she loved the feel of the Antaran fabric—and she set off on the circular route she usually took. She noticed that one of the guards she usually ran into wasn't in his usual spot, but he was probably on a different part of his rounds. She always felt like the guards were staring after her for much too long anyway.
Liz continued walking calmly down her regular route; everything in the base was quiet, and she could hear her soft-soled shoes tapping lightly on the stone floor. She thought she heard something and stopped, turning her head towards the slight noise behind her, but it was too late. Little hands covered her mouth—she wasn't much taller than the Gueyere—and she felt something prick her neck. Though she tried to scream and struggle, the tranquilizer was already taking effect. Her vision blurred, and the world seemed to melt away.
* * *