No Matter How Dark the Night
Chapter 10: Til Death Us Do Part
It's been nearly a year since I updated- I look back and see how this mimics my own life. Thank you all for staying with me- enjoy the next chapter!
Isthia took a deep, shuddering breath, cupping her hands and drinking from the fountain in her bathroom, attempting to quell the nausea that had been making a daily visit for the past two weeks. She rubbed her belly gently, as if by her touch she could soothe the tiny life within her, her child. Hers and….her eyes filled with tears at the memory of the father….dark hair and eyes that had burned with so much passion in those nights spent together. As nausea once again claimed her, a light rap on the door made Isthia's heart nearly claw itself out of her chest.
"Isthia? Are you all right?"
Kirin's gentle patronizing tone caused a shudder to run through Isthia as she slowly straightened and opened the door. His face was a mask of gentle concern as he brushed a strand of her hair away from her face, the black strand even more sharply contrasted against the ghostly pallor of her complexion.
"I'm fine Kirin- the gala food was just a bit too rich for me last night, that's all."
Kirin stepped closer, embracing his wife. "Darling, for the past few weeks everything you've eaten has been 'too rich' for you. I know what's happening, even if you don't. You're pregnant. And I am the happiest man in the world!"
Isthia stiffened in his embrace. If only he knew, she thought sadly. Oh Auron- you'll never see your child, and I'll never see you. WHY Yevon? Why do you make us suffer so? I wish I could see him just ONE more time…I'd die for that….I'd die for love.
At that moment, Auron sat for a few moments in quiet meditation, remembering the past few months of hell he'd had to endure. Watching Gaia tumble into the harbor, seeing the wide-eyed shock on Isthia's face….their last fateful kiss, saying goodbye to Kinoc, following Jyscal out of Bevelle, then taking up with a band of mercenaries trying to make some extra gil by protecting the odd traveler here and there. It had kept his mind off the memories of the heaven he'd left in Isthia's arms.
Months later, Isthia sat quietly in the garden adjoining the house she shared with Kirin. She sighed wearily at the pain in her back. It hurt constantly now, with the weight of the child she carried. The midwife who had come to stay with them in the last week of Isthia's pregnancy was worried. The baby was very big in comparison to Isthia's tiny frame. It was going to be a very difficult birth. These thoughts raced through Isthia's mind as she slowly rose- and gasped in pain. The first contraction hit her with sudden and sharp deliberateness, gripping her like a vise. She inhaled slowly, almost fainting with relief as her midwife, Lusena, appeared.
"Lusena….help me…." She begged, holding her hand out. Lusena was at her side in a second, her arm around the frightened young girl.
"It's all right milady, breathe, women have babies all the time….hang on, it'll all be over soon." As the waves of pain swept over Isthia, she became delirious, calling Auron's name over and over again, her strength fading with every contraction. It was afternoon when the birth began, and the first fingers of dawn were showing over the horizon as Lusena wrapped a tiny bundle in a soft cream-colored blanket. A tiny wail brought Isthia back to present- the wail of her new baby daughter.
There was no denying who this baby belonged to. She had Isthia's jet-black hair, her skin, and a perfect rosebud mouth that would mimic her mother's perfectly. But instead of silver-blue eyes, the little girl had large golden eyes that focused solemnly on her nurse. Auron had left his mark. His beautiful russet eyes, lightened by Isthia's blue ones, endowed his daughter with eyes as hypnotizing as the sun that rose. Lusena knew then that this was not Kirin's child. She was simply too beautiful. Seeing Isthia watching her dully, Lusena laid the baby in her mother's arms, knowing that this time with her child would be the only time Yevon would afford the young mother. She was bound for the Farplane- the stress of giving birth was slowly letting her life drain away. Kirin was away from Bevelle at the present time…yet another thing to take Isthia's respect away from him. Supposedly she was giving birth to his child and he LEAVES!
As Isthia gazed at her daughter through a film of tears, she saw just how much the baby looked like Auron. And then she made up her mind.
"Lusena," she whispered, "I'm dying, and I don't want my daughter raised by that…that MAN who forced me to marry him. She's not even his- she belongs to my love, my Auron. Give her to the temple, as I was given when I was orphaned. Don't let her EVER forget who she is, but Kirin must never know she lived. Tell her she died, as I did. Tell the priests you found her abandoned, tell them ANYthing. And when she's old enough, you must tell her the truth of who she is. Tell her she's the product of the most beautiful thing in all Spira- love. Tell her to stay true to herself, no matter what. Tell her her parents were willing to give anything so that she could be. Tell her…."
And thus did Isthia Ravenhart leave Spira for the Farplane…finally free of the pain that life had imposed on her.
