Chapter Forty-Three: Kahlan of Naxen
(Aly's POV)
I was spending an afternoon with Lianne. Lianne was better than I had seen her in a long time and so both of us were playing cards at a small table in the living space of the Monarch's Suite and talking about the news of the palace, like the bit (which I had Baird confirm) about the newest baby in the palace, Nealan of Queenscove. Roald was out somewhere, Jonathan was with Josiane, and Gary was probably doing some kind of paperwork. I had had what felt like contractions all morning, but I was sure they were just false alarms. I wasn't due for at least one more week.
I had just lost my fourth card game out of five games when I felt the chair underneath me get wet, and then the pain hit. My hand was on my stomach in an instant.
"Ready for another game?" Lianne asked.
"Not now, Lianne." I said as a contraction hit me.
"Oh come on, Aly," Lianne said smiling. "You've never been a sore loser, don't start now."
"Lianne, not now" I moaned.
"Are you alright? Should I send for Duke Baird?" Lianne asked.
"Yes," I said, and started panting when a contraction hit me hard. "Lianne, I think this is it. I think I am going into labor."
Lianne rushed to the front doors to her suite where two guards were standing outside.
"Duchess Alianne has gone into labor. Help her get into the bedchamber and then, unless you meet a servant along the way, one of you go to Duke Baird. Tell him to come here at once. Then go find Duke Gareth, Sir Gareth, Prince Jonathan, and Master Thom. They are her family and should be here once she has given birth.
The two guards jumped into action, helping me into the royal bedchambers and into the bed, then they left. I saw one stay by the open door to the suite, and the other un off down the hall.
"Lianne, I can't give birth here."
"And why not? This bed is where Jonathan was born."
"But this is the Monarch Suite, and yours and Roald's bed."
"Servants can put on new sheets for Roald and I tonight." Lianne said, "But you'd never make it to your room or the infirmary, so you are giving birth here."
Baird was at the suite very quickly, with a few of his helpers with him. He quickly checked the baby and myself with his magic while the helpers set the room up and closed the doors to the living area. I saw Gareth run into the suite just as the doors were closing.
"Alright, Aly, are you ready to have this child?" Baird asked.
"Do I really have a choice?" I asked, panting a little.
"Deep breaths, Aly," Lianne said, "In…hold…and out."
Lianne did the breathing exercises with me.
"Good girl." she said as I continued to breathe deeply after she stopped. She took a towel and dipped it in cold water to cool me off.
"I have some good news, Lady Alianne," Baird said, "This child is impatient to get out into the world, so you won't be in labor for long."
"That means less pain." Lianne said soothingly.
I could hear Gareth in the other room. He wanted to come in and be at my side. I also heard Roald telling him no. The father was never in the room for the delivery.
"Gareth must hate this." I moaned as another contraction hit.
"What?"
"Being stuck in the other room while I'm-ah!-in pain."
"Well, he can deal with it." Lianne said. "The only thing you need to focus on is giving birth."
I nodded, and took another deep breath.
Baird was right; it wasn't that long before it was time to push the baby out, only about an hour. With Alanna and Thom it had been almost eight hours.
"Push, Aly." Baird said as a servant helped me sit up. Lianne took my hand and told me to squeeze it.
"I'll break your hand!" I argued as I pushed.
"Baird can heal it once you've given birth." Lianne said.
"Ok, take a deep breath, and then push again, Aly." Baird said. I did as I was told, squeezing Lianne's hand.
"That's it, Aly, you are doing great." Lianne said coaxingly.
(No POV)
While Lianne was helping Aly in the royal bedchambers, Roald, Gary, Thom, Jon, and Gareth were all out in the sitting room. Gareth was pacing back and forth, wincing each time Aly yelled.
"Was he like this when I was born?" Gary asked.
"Yes," Roald said, "Gareth, relax. Alianne is in Baird's care. That is the best in all of Tortall."
"I won't relax until I see my wife and child both alive and well."
"Dad, Uncle Roald is right." Gary said, "Aly will be fine. Why are you so panicked anyway?"
"Because my…I mean, our mother's last pregnancy and delivery almost killed her." Thom said.
"Wasn't her last pregnancy-" Gareth started.
"Alanna and I?" Thom asked, "Yes."
"The fact that she had complications last time increases her chances this time." Gareth said.
"She'll be fine." Roald insisted, "Now as king, I am ordering you to sit down and take some deep breaths until you calm down."
(Back in the bedchamber)
"One more push, Aly," Baird said, "I can see a head, so give me one more good strong push, and you are done."
Aly nodded and took a deep breath in, pushing as she breathed out slowly. Then the room filled with the sounds of a baby's cry. Aly fell back onto the pillows covering Lianne and Roald's bed, as Baird took the baby over to a small basin of water and cleaned it up while the helpers in the room cleaned up what they could.
"You did it, Aly!" Lianne said, "You were fine, and your baby sounds as healthy as Jon did."
"Is it a boy or a girl, Baird?" Aly asked.
"Congratulations, Alianne," Baird said, walking over with the new baby bundled up in blankets in his arms. He placed the bundle in Aly's waiting arms. "You have a beautiful, healthy, baby girl."
"A girl!" Lianne squealed excitedly. She went over to the doors leading to the sitting room. "It's a girl!" She said excitedly, "Gareth, come meet you daughter and help your wife name her."
Gareth rushed to Aly's side in a second. He was stroking her sweaty face.
"I'll give you two some time alone." Lianne said and left the room, closing the door behind her.
"I must look horrid." Aly said. "I'm covered in sweat."
"You look like the mother of my daughter." Gareth said, kissing her. "You've never looked more beautiful to me."
"Are you happy to have a girl?" Aly asked, "Even if Lianne will be stealing her all the time?"
"I am thrilled to have a daughter. We'll work on our strategy to keep Lianne away later." Gareth said. "First thing is first, what should we name this little angel?"
"I know we talked about naming her Elspeth after your mother or Jennaya after mine," Aly asked, "But neither name seems to work, do they?"
"No. Both names are beautiful, and both of those women are beautiful, just like our daughter, but it just doesn't fit for her."
"Any other ideas?" Aly asked.
"No. What about you?"
Aly thought about it for a moment, and then remembered something Eleni had told her during a past visit. She had told her had George been a girl, she would have named him after her own mother. The name was a beautiful one.
"What about Kahlan?" she asked, "Kahlan of Naxen."
"Kahlan of Naxen." Gareth said, resting the name. "I like it. It's beautiful…where did you pick that name up?"
"From a friend." Aly said. She didn't want to mention her little trips to the city alone. There had been a few times she went with George, but then he got into a very sour mood, and she no longer stopped by the Dove on her way to Eleni's.
"Well, whichever friend gave you the name, they had a great suggestion." Gareth said, "What do you say? Should we let the rest of the family that is here meet her?"
Aly nodded. "And then I should move over into a chair so the servants can strip this bed, and I should get changed into a clean dress."
"Do you want everyone at once? Or just a few people?"
"Who is out there?" Aly asked.
"Thom, Gareth, Lianne, Jonathan, and Roald."
"That's not too many people." Aly said, "Let them all come in."
Gareth walked over to the door and opened it. "Come on in and meet the newest Naxen." he said.
Thom went over to stand next to his mother. Gary stood next to him. Lianne, Roald and Jonathan went over to the other side of the bed.
"Everyone," Aly said, "Meet Kahlan of Naxen."
"She's so small." Jonathan said.
"So is Alanna," Gary said, "Just because my newest little sister is small, that doesn't mean she won't one day be able to best all of us in sword fighting."
"Except Uncle Gareth." Jon said.
"I can already picture her walking down the Queen Staircase when she is sixteen." Lianne said and gasped. "Aly, you must let me help design her presentation dress. Let's see, it'll be made of white silk and have maybe very light pink lace over it, or a pale yellow satin ribbon around her waist. No, I got it! We'll go with the pink lace and then have pearls on the waist, neckline, and sleeves."
Aly laughed. "Lianne, slow down. She's only just been born. We have sixteen years to plan her presentation dress."
"We don't need to plan it though, because I've already figured it out." Lianne said. "I better write this down and keep it somewhere safe. Now of course, we'll pull it out closer to her presentation and get fittings taken care of and maybe change the color of something, but we have the general idea figured out."
"So is she going to the convent in ten years?" Gareth asked. "You always told me you'd never send a daughter to the convent if you had a say in the matter."
"She won't have to go to the convent, because she will be raised in court, and all the convent does it prepare you for court life…and I can teach her things like dancing and needlepoint and all the other lessons we learned at the convent."
"See what I mean about kidnapping?" Gareth whispered. Aly smiled.
"Lianne, dear," Roald said, "Kahlan is not our daughter."
"I know that, but Aly never enjoyed any of that stuff, so why not save her the hassle of having to teach her when I will willingly do it?" Lianne said.
"We'll see what happened when she is old enough for the convent." Aly said. "It might be we grow tired of you spoiling her, Lianne, so we force her to go just to get away from you, or she'll be so tired of us she'll beg us to let her leave."
"Maybe she'll follow Alanna's path and be a lady knight." Thom said, "Or mine and be a Sorceress."
"Or maybe, we'll just wait and let Kahlan decide what she wants to do with her life rather than pick it for her now." Gareth said. "Only one thing is for certain."
"What is that?" Aly asked.
Gareth chuckled, "She's going to grow old alone, because there has not and never will be a boy born that will be deserving of having Kahlan's hand in marriage."
Author's Note 1: I couldn't resist Gareth's line at the end of this chapter. It is just such a typical fatherly line.
Author's Note 2: Kahlan's name pronouncing guide: Kay-Lynne. I thought it was really simple, but I showed a few friends the name and they were like 'how do you pronounce that!' so I thought I would include this, just in case...and I don't own the name...it is a character from the awesome show, Legend of the Seeker.
Author's Note 3: And…this seems like a good spot to end the story, well, I hope you all enjoyed it!…relax, I am kidding! But I will soon be entering the time frame of Lioness Rampant, so the end isn't too far away.
Review Reply
Soraya the All Speaker: Thanks! I remember being really mad when I read that part of the story the first time, so I thought Aly would probably be mad too.
LittleMissGiggles'94': Your wish was granted! Aly and Gareth now have a little girl.
Anjalit2624: lol. That is funny. You'll have to wait to see who Alanna ends up with.
Trisana Sarrasari: Lol. That seems to be a common reaction to the last chapter!
AddiCullen: Well now give a second Epic yeah for Nealan...he has now been born so he can be around to terrorize Kel in about 15 years!
es: Maybe I did make her too forgiving...oh well, to late to change it now. Thanks for saying it was still good....and it is an answer if I say it is!
Blind Padawan: Yup. Mother always knows best. Period.
spazzysassyangel: :D Thanks!
Tigerlilyz: She will be seeing Alanna in a few chapters, don't worry....I think it is two chapters from now....
iloveredshoes: Yes, the baby lives. So does Aly....Alanna will be back soon, don't worry. I wanted to get this chapter up sooner, but a virus hit my computer and it had to spend a few days (felt like an eternity to me) with Technical Support...so I couldn't get it to my beta as soon as I wanted.
Tishica: I did keep the part of Myles adopting Alanna...that was about two chapters ago. And now that Aly has a newborn baby, she won't be traveling much....but Alanna will come back into the picture soon, don't worry!
Cry of the Wolf Child: Thanks!
DomLuver: Maybe I did make Jon a little childish...but I was doing that based on if I am pissed of at anyone, I take it out on everyone...so that is where Jon's childishness came from.
weilanna: Thanks for the encouragement! You'll have to wait to see if Thom dies or not.
xXthenextbookwormXx: I think you are right about it being Raoul who says that line....he is one of my favorites, and I love that quote, so yeah, it's possible.
a happy camper: And I mentioned Neal again! He has now been born....Corus, look out, a horrible poet (yet very funny and amusing person/very talented healer) has been born!
Nightfeather: You are probably right about the language not fitting with the time period...I really hadn't been paying any attention to that...thanks for pointing it out. And thank you for the encouragement! Your review really made my heart soar!
scarletblusssh: Thanks!
StarVamp: Lol....I got a good laugh from the end of your review, and it is interesting...you say she could have been nicer, and someone else said he was too nice....interesting how different points of views can be, isn't it?