Chapter Fifty: Worry
Gareth sat in a chair next to a bed in the palace infirmary. Aly's still unconscious body was on the bed. It had been nine days since the coronation, and Aly wasn't showing any signs of waking up anytime soon. Gareth had Aly's hand in his and was gently rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb.
"Wake up, Aly…please wake up." Gareth whispered softly to his wife, pleading with his love for her. "I need you by my side…I have already lost you once; don't make me give you up again." Gareth rested his forehead on top of his and Aly's joined hands, and prayed to the Black God.
"Please don't take her away from me…I am just starting my family with her….please don't take her away. I need her, Kahlan needs her…Alanna and Thom need her, Gareth and Jonathan need her….we all love her too much to lose her….please don't take her away from us….please don't take her away from me."
Gareth lifted his head off of their joined heads and bent over Aly's body, kissing her lips passionately. "I love you, Alianne…don't leave me."
Gary and Jon were in Jon's office, attempting to get some much needed paperwork done. Neither of them could focus on the work in front of them though…they were too worried about their step-mother and aunt.
"I don't think I have ever seen dad so worried." Gary was saying.
"Well, he loves Aunt Aly, and right now it's completely impossible to tell if she will live or die."
"They haven't been married that long…only a little over 2 and a half years."
"And poor Kahlan is only 10 months old…that is too young to lose a mother."
"Let's not think about that." Gary said. "There is more than enough work to be done in here to distract us, so let's get focused on it."
Jon nodded, and the two turned back to the work in front of them.
Five minutes later, Gary threw down his quill, getting ink on the highly polished desk. He grabbed a rag that was left in the corner of the room for small spills and cleaned up the stain. "I give up. I can't focus on this now."
Jon sighed. "I know what you mean."
"Alianne has always been motherly to everyone who would allow her…especially if they helped defend Alanna." Gary said. "She may not have given birth to me, but as far as I see it, she is as much my mother as she is Alanna and Thom's."
Jon nodded. "She is my godsmother, but I think even if she wasn't, she would have been there for me every time she has been…I depend on her guidance, and she is one of the last threads I have of my parents."
"I can't even imagine how Alanna and Thom are handling this." Gary said.
"I talked to Alanna recently…she is worried, naturally, but she is stubbornly sticking to her belief that Aunt Aly will overcome this and recover fully…she said Thom is a wreck…he won't even talk to her, let alone anyone else."
Gary nodded. "I probably would be a wreck too if it was my dad…gods know I was scared when I saw him having a heart-attack in the middle of the fight.
Jon stood up with a sigh. "Come on, let's go for a walk….get some fresh air and sunlight."
Gary nodded and got up to follow his cousin out of the office to the Palace Gardens.
Thom paced around in the hall outside of the palace infirmary. He had been kicked out by Baird because he was disrupting the peace of the infirmary. Alanna had decided to come out and join him, and she was currently sitting down, watching him pace.
"Thom!" Alanna snapped at him.
"What?"
"Your pacing is making me anxious. Knock it off."
"Well, excuse me, Alanna!" Thom yelled back, "Maybe being a bloodied knight and all, this doesn't bother you, but our mother is in there, dying right now! And do you know who is responsible for that? Me! So excuse me if I am a little upset at the moment!"
Alanna looked at Thom in shock. "You think I don't care that our mother is dying right now, Thom?" she asked in a deadly whisper.
Thom sighed. "I'm sorry Alanna…I know you care…I haven't slept in days, I am not thinking clearly. Of course, you care."
"Well, I knew you weren't thinking clearly the second you said this was your fault." Alanna said.
"Don't even try to free me from blame, Alanna."
"Thom, it isn't your fault. You told mother not to use her Gift while the leeching spells were in place."
Thom looked at the ground and spoke softly. "I shouldn't have had to tell her…she shouldn't have had to save me because there shouldn't have been any Roger to put the spells on me…It's my own fault Roger was around."
"Yes, I meant to speak to you about that….when I kill someone, it would be very nice if you wouldn't bring them back from the dead."
"No worries. I am done with resurrecting….although if mother dies, I might reconsider that." Thom sighed. "I can't believe I was so stupid."
"I think we were all in agreement you were stupid to bring back Roger, Thom, but mother's condition is not your fault."
"Yes, it is." Thom said quietly.
Alanna sighed, realizing her brother was not going to see reason, at least not until their mother was alright. Alanna pushed away the negative thoughts of her mother not making it through this….she had to make it through! She just had to!
Alanna stood up. "Come on."
"Why?" Thom asked, "Where are we going?"
"To the Royal Nursery," Alanna said, "Jon has servants watching Kahlan so Duke Gareth can stay by mother's side….worrying out here isn't going to do any good for anyone….let's go see our half-sister."
Thom sighed. "She's going to grow up without a mother, because of me."
Alanna rounded on Thom. "If you say one more thing that even hints towards you blaming yourself for mother's condition, I will take you to the practice courts and beat you until you are in the infirmary with her, as another one of Duke Baird's patients."
Thom looked at Alanna for a minute and nodded. "Alright, I'll drop it for now."
Alanna and Thom walked in to the Royal Nursery, and both of them smiled for the first time in the nine days since the coronation. Kahlan was in the middle of the nursery floor playing with Nealan of Queenscove. The two of them were playing with a few toys in the nursery and occasionally swapping toys with each other.
"Isn't it cute, Master Thom, Lioness?" a servant asked, curtsying to both of them. "The Duchess of Queensove felt that Kahlan might be getting bored in here alone, so she dropped off Nealan this morning. They play along with each other very well."
"It is cute." Thom said.
"Yes, it is." Alanna said.
"How is the Duchess of Naxen?" the servant asked.
Thom sighed. "There has been no change."
"I am sorry."
The adults looked up as Kahlan began throwing a fuss, and they saw Kahlan snatch a toy from Nealan. The servant quickly walked over and gently took the toy from Kahlan.
"Lady Kahlan, you have to share with Nealan." she said gently, yet firmly. Kahlan looked at the servant for a minute and then grabbed the toy back from her.
"No, Lady Kahlan," the servant said firmly again, "Nealan was playing with it." The servant turned and gave the toy to Nealan. Kahlan started to cry, and Nealan looked down at the toy before holding it out for Kahlan to take.
"Very good, Nealan," the servant praised, "That is how you share toys with someone else. That was a very good example."
"Are they old enough to know what you are saying?" Alanna asked, bewildered.
"Not the words themselves, but they are old enough to understand the general concept of something, and they help figure that out by the tone I use, Lioness." the servant said. "When Kahlan took the toy from Nealan, I used a slightly firm tone. When Nealan held the toy for Kahlan, I used a softer, gentler tone."
The adults watched the two children for a few minutes and saw Kahlan hold out a toy to Thom. The servant praised Kahlan when she did that, and Kahlan smiled.
Just then, the nursery door opened behind them, and Liam Ironarm walked in.
"Liam, how are you feeling?" Alanna asked.
"The same as when you asked me yesterday, kitten. I feel fine." Liam said.
Thom smirked, "Yeah, kitten."
Alanna scowled at Thom. "Twin brother or not, I will thrash you."
Liam grinned at the exchange between the twins, "Come on, kitten. You need to work more on your Shang Fighting Technique."
Alanna made a face, and Liam pointed out, "You wanted to learn. You know from your knight training that you have to keep practicing in order to really learn something."
Alanna sighed, silently admitting defeat.
"Besides," Liam said, "It will give you something to worry about besides your mother."
"That is why we came here. To look after Kahlan."
Liam looked at Kahlan playing on the floor with Nealan. "Kahlan appears to be fine. Let's go practice."
Alanna gave a reluctant nod and followed Liam out. Before the door to the nursery closed, Thom heard Liam talking to Alanna.
"If you work on your wrestling and hand-to-hand combat for a little while, I'll let you pull at a sword and we can have a duel. Do we have a deal, kitten?"
"You have a deal, Dragon." Alanna's voice echoed down the hall.
Thom looked back at Kahlan and Nealan in time to see Kahlan lean forward and give Nealan a hug. Nealan blinked and then hugged her back. Thom smiled again.
"With my sister occupied by the Shang Dragon, and my half-sister in safe hands here, I think I am going back to the infirmary." Thom said.
The servant nodded, "I will send a prayer to the Great Mother to help your mother, Master Thom."
"Thank you." Thom said with a courteous nod. He then left the room.
Author's Note:Before any of you mention it in your reviews, I know Liam died in the books. I know he took eight arrows and, according to Jonathan in Lioness Rampant, he didn't even falter until the last…you will hear more about that in the next chapter.
Review Reply
sokker-rox: Thanks! I am glad you loved the last chapter, and I hope you loved this chapter too...even if I am still holding you in suspense about Aly.
Trisana Sarrasari: Well, you have to wait to know if Aly makes it or not...sorry, but I like building suspension.
xXthenextbookwormXx: Well, you might have to look into getting that Sword of Heaven...I am not telling you if Aly makes it or not until the next chapter.
SeekDreamsAndFindHope: Hopefully it's a good kind of epic, and not an epic fail.
XD: Here, you got your update...sorry, fresh out of fries and ketchup, and no promises of not killing anyone.
25kait25: Yeah, it is a cliffie, and I am making you wait even longer...I know, it's evil of me, and I hate when writers do this where they end a chapter in a cliffhanger and then the next chapter just builds the suspense, but I just couldn't resist...this chapter sort of wrote itself.
silver cat 777: I hate cliffies if I am reading, but they are so much fun to write!
Soraya the All Speaker: Thank you for your review.
sonotalady: I am glad you like this story, and yeah, it will be sad when I am done...only two more updates to the end! I am thinking I will end up doing the sequel, though, so don't you fear!
Tishica: Thanks for the review! Yes, Aly is a wonderful mom indeed.
StarVamp: Sorry, I didn't mean to leave you hanging this long...my beta was swamped with real life and work, so she didn't get a chance to work on it for a while.
LittleMissGiggles'94': Kahlan is 10 months old...so we'll just say she is a prodigy and started speaking younger than most children do :) You will find out if Aly lives or dies in the next chapter.
thegypsy: Well, as you can see, Thom lived, thanks to Aly. Thanks for the review.
AnjaliT2624: LOL. I bet the scary dramatic music would make an intense chapter like the last one even more intense...I don't actually have any scary dramatic music on my itunes...mostly country music and classic disney songs, with a little bit of the oldies thrown in for good measure.
weilanna: Well as you can see, Thom didn't die, and you have to wait to see if Aly lives or dies...I promise to cut the suspense and tell you in the next chapter.
Mistyrious One: Thank you for pointing out my mistake, I had completely overlooked it. And Coram has just sort of fallen into the background...so I am not entirely sure where he is...he is probably hanging out with George's cousin.
ILOVEREDSHOES: Hmm...I hadn't thought about the fact that Kahlan could give her mom her Gift while I was writing...but at the same time, Kahlan was fighting too much to get free to really focus on giving her gift to anyone.
Cry of the Wolf Child: Answer to your question: They will still name their first child Thom. Just because Thom lives, doesn't mean that he can't have a nephew named after him...I mean look at Duke Gareth and Gary! And you have to wait to see what happens to Aly.
dreaming-twilight: I am glad you have liked this story. Hope you like this chapter and the two chapters that will be coming after it.