---------------------------------
CHAPTER TWELVE
---------------------------------
Caliko sat in the morning sun, holding her newborn daughter.
"What are you going to call her?" Lynx asked, smoothing the infant's dark brown hair.
Caliko smiled. "Well, since her daddy is a Gaian, we should call her Oriel."
Lynx grinned. "You were coming back for me."
"I realized how wrong I was about you. How much I need you. I'm sorry, and if you'll have me, uh, I mean, us, yes, I'll marry you." Caliko looked down at her new daughter and kissed her tiny hand.
"Why did you tell me no?" Lynx stared at Caliko.
Caliko looked up and met Lynx's eyes. "I was scared," she whispered.
Lynx placed his arms around Caliko and the baby and kissed Caliko's forehead. "I know you were." he said into her hair. They sat there, in their silence and closeness, watching Oriel sleep. "Can I see her?" Caliko carefully handed Oriel to Lynx. "Well, well, little one." Lynx kissed her dark hair. "Everyone's waited a long time to see you. We just didn't expect you to come in the middle the forest. I suppose you really are a Gaian." He shifted the baby and grabbed Caliko's hand. "Your Mommy wants to know if I'll still marry her. What do you think?" He sqeezed Caliko's hand."Do you think you'd like to have me as your Daddy?"
-------
Caliko and Lynx were married a few days later in front of the tribe, making Caliko a wife again and a member of the Gaians. It was nothing like her first wedding and Lynx was nothing like her first husband. He worshipped both Caliko and Oriel. Eagle gave Lynx permission to stay with his new family and settle into married life.
The conflict with the Chosen was over and most of the Gaians who had helped the Rebels returned home. Eagle, though, returned to the city, pregnant, to Bray. The Gaians went about their lives although there was already another war playing itself out in the city. But to Caliko and Lynx, the world outside the forest didn't exist. For the first time since the virus, Caliko felt happy and free. She had a family again. Lynx and she grew to love each other more and more as the days past and Oriel grew and thrived in the fresh enviroment and love that surrounded her. Their world finally seemed at peace.
