DAY 10 – Insight
Chapter 13 – Belka's Babies
She did not know how many banquets she had attended on Athos in her long years, but each gave Charin a deep sense of pleasure and pride.
Each represented the strength, friendly trade, and success of her people. Athos had always been a strong trading world, even in the dark days of the cullings, but the last two decades had seen Athos truly flourish. Torren had helped lead their people as a fully active member of the Alliance, trading far and wide across the allied worlds now free of the Wraith, and also setting himself up as a third party mediator between other worlds and systems. Athos had become synonymous with fair and equal trade and honest communication.
So Torren's most recent political act to exclude the Genii from all trade had been a very profound and unique act for their people, and one that Charin entirely supported. However, she had been able to rather accurately predict the reactions of the High Council. Though she had retired as Athos' High Councillor, she still had many close contacts and friends within the halls of power, so she knew the whispered words being exchanged between Councillors and their staff that never reached official records.
Though many of the Councillors were angry at Torren's decisive action, there was almost unanimous agreement off-the-record that Kolya had indeed been involved in Cowen's removal from power. Few of them believed his statements of innocence and his story of being a prisoner of Cowen's until recently. However, Cowen had been far from an innocent himself and had been regarded as highly unstable and unpredictable by the High Council, and most believed that Kolya would now bring order and stability to the Genii Confederation. Therefore, most were choosing to turn a blind eye to what had happened, instead focusing their condemnation on Torren's decision on what they believed should be unrestricted free trade within the Alliance. For them, Torren now presented the more unstable party, not because he was wrong, but because they preferred that the matter simply blow over. The recent incident of the rogue Hive attacking within Alliance space provided a far more preferable focus for the Council.
It was, unfortunately, typical politics.
As far as the hallways of power were concerned, as long as Kolya now behaved himself in the political arena, then matters would soon return to normal. It was a theory that Charin shared. As dangerous as Kolya could be, he was no fool. He would be well aware that exceedingly powerful eyes would be watching him carefully going forward. Not only would Enforcement and Division keep careful watch, the Elite would no doubt do the same. At least that meant that Kolya would be unlikely to ever again attempt to harm John. Doing so would not only bring Enforcement to his door, but the Elite would no doubt bring down their own form of justice upon him.
Charin had seen it happen before.
However, her own belief in Kolya's decision to leave John alone now was clearly not shared by those from Atlantis or the Honour Guard. All of John's protectors were very tense today, all obviously highly alert and watchful. Charin knew nothing would happen here, not simply because of the politics involved, but because there were three Pelydrians at the banquet, who all looked very relaxed. There would be no violence here today.
Not for the first time did Charin feel a wash of relief to know that her days of politics were behind her. Now she was retired she filled her elderly days visiting old friends, meeting their new grandchildren or partners, sipping tea in warm tea rooms, and sharing travels with her kind and attentive cousin. However, the fullness of winter had now arrived, so she would remain here in Tjaru, living in her lovely quarters provided for her by Torren. Some days she easily forgot that his family were not her blood, but, to her, they were her family nonetheless. It was a fact that Torren repeated to her often, and she knew her cousin was grateful she had somewhere so secure and supportive to live.
Looking around the banquet hall, Charin watched the faces of the Athosian attendants moving around the room, serving food, providing drinks, and answering any questions of the guests. Charin knew every face, every name, of the attendants. Some of them she had known most of their lives, such as with Hakon. She spotted him stood to the side of the hall, discussing something with an attendant. As always, he was overseeing the running of the event, whilst simultaneously helping run the governing side of Torren's work. Though Hakon had a team working for him, Charin suspected he alone could run an entire planet. Hakon noticed her attention and smiled widely at her across the room and she smiled back at him before he returned his attention to his work. She remembered him as a small quiet boy and now look at him – helping run Athos!
She turned her gaze to her own table, looking down the long length at which sat her honorary family. Sat on only one side of the table so to look out across the banquet hall, Torren's family and guests were all engaged in comfortable conversations with each other. Torren was, as always, sat in the central position, his daughters on either side of him. Zabetha sat on his left, talking with Mr Woolsey, who was sat between her and Charin. On Torren's right, Teyla looked very comfortable as she talked with her father, gesturing in the air as if she were describing something to Torren. Charin wondered if it was a description of Atlantis, for Torren would soon finally be visiting the fabled City at the invitation of the City's Lead, Colonel Carter. He was very excited about the visit.
On Teyla's far side sat John, who looked in the middle of a very engaged conversation with Rhakshar. The two men seemed to be forging a friendship. Charin supposed the two had a great deal in common now, both married to the powerful daughters of Athos while being from different and vital allied worlds. It was also pleasing to see Rhakshar have some company, for though he was devoted to Zabetha, he had no specific working role when he lived on Athos. With John now to stay far more frequently, he had some male company who was not working on running the planet.
To her left, Elkaska gently leaned his shoulder against hers. "Assessing the room?" He asked.
Charin smiled round at him. "Just enjoying it all."
"Your assessment?" Elkaska pushed.
She smiled at Elkaska, remembering all too well how he was as a sweet little boy always staring off into the skies as he was forced to follow his elder sister around the camp. Of course Torren had nearly always joined the pair, eagerly helping Tagan with her camp chores. However, when any traders arrived in the camp, young Elkaska had attached himself to them like a limpet, full of eager questions and hoping to sell some of his Mother's soaps. He was a born trader, the compulsion and skill there from such a young age.
Having been part of the High Council, she knew far more than most about the vital role Elkaska and other traders had played in the early days of the Alliance, fighting in his own way through obtaining and providing essentials and information for the troops. Though he often lamented that Teyla had not become a trader like him, Charin suspected Elkaska had no idea how much of a warrior's heart he had himself. Tagan had always been the strong dominant one of the two siblings, but Elkaska still shared her strength and determination, which Charin also saw so clearly in Tagan's beautiful daughters.
"I was simply considering how John's presence will benefit Rhakshar," she shared.
Elkaska nodded as he leant forward a little in his chair to peer down the table towards the two men. Elkaska's hair was peppered with grey now, telling of his maturity and growing wisdom. Where had all the years gone that had turned the small boy into this mature man of such strength of character? How lucky they were to now live such good years free of the Wraith. She had no doubt that her own advanced years would have been impossible under the old days of the cullings.
"I've been involving Rhakshar in some of the meet and greets," Elkaska informed her as he settled back in his chair again. "He's very good with people, makes them feel at ease when they arrive."
"He and Zabetha make a fine pairing," Charin noted and not for the first time.
"As do Teyla and John," Elkaska added with a smile.
Charin nodded. "Both Emmagan daughters happily married," she smiled to him. "I know that makes you very pleased."
Elkaska nodded. "We just need to find someone for Hakon."
"I have been trying," Charin assured him. "But his work is his life. Both you and I can understand that life choice."
Elkaska pulled a face as he turned and offered the last pieces of his sweetgrain bread to Umo who was sat beside his chair. Charin reached down and scratched around the pet's large fluffy warm ears.
"What are your plans for the winter?" Elkaska asked, neither of them having had any time alone since she had arrived back from her trip.
"Visit old friends in the city, but I plan to winter here in the Complex," she replied.
Elkaska nodded firmly. "Good. It's warmer and more comfortable for you here."
She ignored the kind comment that felt too much like an order. "And what of you, Elkaska? I do not recall ever seeing you stay so long on Athos before. Are your trader's toes not itching to leave?"
He straightened up from scratching along Umo's large back. "There are plenty of good trading opportunities here," he told her, his gaze shifting to Mr Woolsey on her other side.
Mr Woolsey remained in deep conversation with Zabetha, so Charin leaned a little closer to Elkaska. "Anything of particular interest?" She enquired, sensing his excitement.
Elkaska leaned his shoulder right against hers conspiratorially. "They have this drink made from roasted beans. It is apparently a vast and wealthy market on their homeworld."
"I have tried it. You plan to trade it within the Alliance?" she smiled.
"Apparently, it is easy to grow in the right temperature zone, so I am in discussion with Atlantis to purchase some of the plants rather than just bags of the roasted beans."
He had that sparkly brightness in his eyes that had in no way dimmed in the years of his life. From his first sales of his mother's handmade soaps to the large planetary wide trades he had helped Torren negotiate, Elkaska loved any type of trade. Elkaska's latest success in trading directly with Atlantis was in a non-permanent writing implement called a pencil. The items had sold ridiculously fast on Athos, taking the place of the traditional chalk implements. Charin had seen the Earth pencils almost everywhere now on Athos, from the security station by the Portal to the market stalls in the city. Her cousin had even had several in her home. Leave it to Elkaska to find something so simple and profitable.
"However," Elkaska lowered his voice, glancing towards Mr Woolsey and back, "I managed to obtain a small rumour that the planet Earth is going through some temperature changes that may reduce the growth of the bean, so perhaps, in time, if we can establish good yields..." He lifted his eyebrows eagerly.
"You'll end up exporting to Earth?" She smiled. "Where did you hear such a rumour?"
Elkaska smiled as he sat back in his chair. "I can never disclose my sources," he repeated his lifelong vow. She suspected that it was Elkaska's ability to obtain such rumours that had been one of the reasons why he had become such an excellent trader, but how he had gained such informative information about a planet in another galaxy was impressive.
She reached to his closest arm and squeezed his forearm. "Do not ever change, sweet Elkaska," she told him lovingly.
00000
Seeal watched the Elite warrior Si leave the canteen, his attention forward and his head held high in that way that was very Athosian. He was very big for an Athosian though, actually he was big for most planets.
He kind of reminded her of the massive sentry trees that had been dotted throughout the Glisi forest. They had towered over the rest of the forest, their trunks metres wide and their branches big enough to lie on, and their high canopies had provided her the best hiding places.
Elite Si was as solid as one of those sentry trees, being both very tall and amazingly wide throughout his entire body. He wasn't overweight - no Elite were - he was just plain bigger than any non-Glisi male she'd seen before. However, she knew from seeing him fight that he could move ridiculously fast. It really shouldn't be possible for a man that big to move that fast, but then again he was Athosian. It was a rather clichéd belief that Athosians were more agile and able to run faster than most people, though Seeal had met several exceedingly lazy and slow Athosians in her time, but Si appeared to fulfil the cliché. Along with his Seeker ability, there was no question why the Elite had picked him to become a Recruit.
His dark bald head and the twisting darker tattoos spiralling around his bare forearms, along with the mass of weaponry he always seemed to wear, created a very formidable presence. He was not a male that you wanted to fight against, and though she'd been on the receiving end of his interrogation back when she had been a prisoner on the Sythus, she'd not had to fight him properly outside of the training game on the Sythus.
Yet, despite all of those characteristics, he had a very handsome and kind face, and his presence was almost...soothing. It was a strange sensation to sit with him and be on the receiving end of his dark watchful eyes. He didn't glare like Oneakka or stare angrily like Elite Seifer, but instead he just looked. She could respect a steady direct nature like that.
Except, it was very clear that the subject of Saoka was not so soothing for Si. It wasn't the first time they'd talked about Saoka, but it was the first time that Si had approached her and asked directly about what was presumably a close friendship with Saoka.
Or possibly a sexual relationship, Seeal hadn't been able to tell from their conversation. She wondered if Oneakka would tell her the story behind Si and Saoka's 'friendship' if she asked him. Or maybe Massa would be more likely to tell her.
Either way, Si had appeared pretty disturbed by his reluctant acceptance that Saoka wasn't the clean preened businessman who had long given up his less civil days. Si had clearly avoided actually finding out for himself.
In her former days, she would simply have hacked into a computer database to investigate questions she had about people, but obviously Si wouldn't need to do that.
And she'd promised not to hack into anything again...even if the compulsion had been rather overwhelming lately.
The urge to find out about the woman Pampata had itched at her since she'd met the female. The woman had mentioned that she lived somewhere called 'Mil Hub', which Seeal had identified through a simple database search to be a large military run space-station deep in Alliance territory. Seeal was almost certain that Pampata wasn't military, so she was probably a civilian employed there. Perhaps an engineer or manager. Seeal certainly imagined that males fell over themselves to follow through Pampata's orders if that was the case.
Mil Hub was apparently available for civilians to visit if they were associated military staff or family... And as Seeal was an employee of the Elite, she could easily visit the station if she wanted... Maybe use a station terminal to hack into the station's database and find out everything she could about Pampata. She'd done it plenty of times in the past on various Alliance worlds and stations without getting caught.
But that would be wrong.
It was wrong.
She repeated the mantra in her head several times.
She wasn't like that anymore.
Besides, she didn't need to know anything about the woman.
It was just because she was curious, that was all. So Oneakka had a female and hadn't told her about it; that was his own personal business.
None of her business.
It had certainly made things easier around Oneakka. She was free to just relax around him again. He had a female, so she could just speak her mind freely and stamp down those silly little feelings. It didn't mean anything anymore.
He'd been pretty chatty of late actually, probably because he was off the stronger drugs and was no doubt bored stuck in his sickbed. Occasionally she caught sight of hints of 'the grump' that Halling kept warning her about, but so far Oneakka had been perfectly pleasant to be around. The occasional little grumpy frowns were usually only when he couldn't reach something for himself or after winces of pain at moving around too much on his bed, but that was understandable. She just ignored the frowns and kept telling him about the pit fights.
He seemed very interested in the whole set up of the fights. He'd also less than subtly dropped the fact that he knew some of her fight statistics, which he'd presumably gotten from that crab-of-a-dirt-weasel Robiah.
She wasn't all that proud of having been part of the violence of pit fighting, but it had been a changing point in her life, providing her with the first currency she'd been able to earn herself in her youth. That said, she was a little bit proud about her fight record. She had rarely lost and her trainer had been one of the best in the business, so she'd learnt a lot. Sure she hadn't seen any of the real wealth that the gamblers and fight runners had won from her victories, but she'd gotten enough currency or prizes to trade for food and decent clothes for her and Ulfur. Well, except for what Ulfur had stolen for his gambling debts and drugs.
Those years had taught her more than she could possibly measure and had refined the skills she had needed to eventually run Dreamstation security. Perhaps those weren't the most pleasant of skills to have to learn, but they had kept her alive a hell of a lot longer than most other street kids. Though they had been useful years, ultimately the pit fights had been a series of brutal life lessons, which, unfortunately, some fighters never survived.
Still, it had been kind of nostalgic to relive the memories with the distance of time, describing the layouts of the places, describing the few rules and how the fighters had been selected. Oneakka certainly had plenty of questions, picking up on the weirdest things like asking how they lit the underground locations, who had cleaned up the blood afterwards, and how the lists of fights had been drawn up.
It was good that they could talk about things now that didn't have anything to do with her keeping out of trouble or him ordering her around. Instead, the tables had turned a little and she was the one telling him not to overdo the reaching for things, and before she left each evening she reminded him firmly that he had to do what the Healers told him or he wouldn't recover properly. It was a statement that both Halling and Massa also repeated to him daily, and each time Oneakka rolled his eyes dramatically but always nodded silently.
For now.
She blinked out at the canteen, realising she had let her thoughts wander into the cloud that was the subject of Oneakka. She was thinking about him a lot lately. That and finding out about Pampata.
It was just that she had thought they were good friends now and that he would have told her that he had a female. It was odd to think that he might have that side to him, and what kind of female he was interested in.
She was drifting into the Oneakka cloud again, so she dropped her attention back down to the project work she'd been running through before Si had arrived. What had she been doing again?
She tapped awake her main pad and several messages jumped up marked as urgent.
They were from Neligan, the Hydroponics Bay Gardener, and the animal specialist!
Belka was in labour!
Seeal scrabbled up her things, roughly stacking the pads up on her arm, threw her jacket over her shoulder, and picked up her long emptied food tray with her free hand. Scurrying across the canteen as quickly as she could risk, she got the tray to the disposal area and just left it there. Someone would clean it away for her today, because she needed to go.
As she quickly rushed out of the canteen, she rearranged the sliding stack of pads so her main one was on top. She quickly typed a rough text link through to the 'vigil team', as Halling had labelled the group. Oneakka hated the name. She explained that she was headed to Belka and had no idea how long she'd be there and might not make it to her shift this evening.
As she rounded corners quickly, Recruits wisely getting out of her way, she reached her quarters and had to rearrange the pile of pads onto her other arm so she could wave her left wrist over the door's sensor. Rushing inside, she dumped the pile of pads and jacket and quickly changed into an outfit she had designated for this event: clothes that she didn't mind getting baby goat crap on. She tugged on a thicker jacket in case she was going to end up in the Hydroponics Bay through the night, and saw her pad light up.
Halling had replied that he was free to sit with Oneakka this evening.
In response, Oneakka had sent a message stating that he didn't need someone to sit with him all the time.
Seeal ignored that and replied to Halling that she would cover one of his shifts another day in return.
She shutdown the larger work pad and picked up a smaller, more portable one that would still talk to the Facility's system and woke it up. Another message had already come through from Neligan – the first baby goat had been born already.
Seeal shoved the pad into a jacket pocket and raced out.
It took her the shortest time ever to reach the entrance to the Facility's Hydroponics Bay, and the large glass doors opened far slower than usual today. She ran the route through the waving stacks of flowers and grasses, through a small tree forest and the small field of growing vegetables, and through to the open grass fields. Belka's little hut was off to the left, now with a small enclosure built around it, which the animal specialist had suggested to help contain the new babies.
As the hut came into view, she could already see a collection of gardeners lined up along one side of the enclosure, all leaning on the outer fence and watching what was going on inside. She hurried around behind their backs, heading for the gate in the fence that led into the enclosure around Belka's hut. As she pulled open the gate, she could already see that Neligan and the animal specialist's backsides were sticking out of the hut's entrance.
"What's happening?" She asked hurried as she dropped to her knees on the thick soft straw and crawled in to join them, squeezing in between the shoulders of the two males.
To find two tiny baby goats immediately in front of her lying on the straw.
"Number three is already on the way," Neligan reported with a bright grin on her left as he worked a towel gently over one of the tiny little goatlings.
Seeal stared down at the little babies, the two pairs of yellow eyes looking rather confused and dazed, and their coats were all damp and gooey. Both were mottled black and white, had tiny little ears that were at funny little confused angles, and had little round flat stumps where their horns would eventually grow.
They were so ridiculously cute that they stole Seeal's breath for a few seconds, only for her to realise what Nelgian had just said.
"Number three already?" She asked him as she lifted her attention up towards Belka who was stood in the centre of the hut and was letting out a low grunting sound.
"She's having them remarkably fast," the animal specialist reported as he crawled forward, moving with Belka so he could keep close to her back end.
"That's okay right?" Seeal checked as she reached towards the large stack of clean towels she had supplied for this very event.
"The details of her hybrid species are unknown," the specialist replied as he crawled around the turning Belka. "As I have previously mentioned."
Seeal frowned at the annoying man, but turned her attention to wiping her towel gently over the second little baby in front of her.
"Both these little males are very healthy," Neligan supplied far more helpfully as he scratched the ears of the little goatling under his care. The little male goat looked like he was trying to get his legs working, probably instinctively driven to stand up and start walking as soon as it could.
"They're so cute," Seeal found herself saying and Neligan grinned at her.
Belka let out another grunt, which became a long low groan. Seeal frowned up from the babies in time to see a very visible ripple pass along Belka's wide belly. That did not look comfortable.
"Number three is here," the specialist announced from the back corner of the hut and Seeal craned her neck around Belka to see a tiny wet bundle in the specialist's hands as he laid it on the straw. He pulled a thin membrane away from the clearly wiggling mass of fur and legs, and Belka turned and dropped her nose immediately to her latest baby.
Seeal reached for a fresh towel and crawled further into the hut, watching as the specialist ran through various checks of the new goatling, working around Belka's licking it clean.
"Another male and healthy," the specialist reported, lifting the new baby up and round. Seeal reached forward with the towel to take the baby and its gentle little weight settled into the towel.
Crawling back a fraction, Seeal sat back on her heels and settled the little baby on her lap. Like its brothers, it was small, but it was already wiggling with clear strength, and its little dazed eyes lifted up to her. The urge to cry was instant and stupid, so Seeal quickly crushed the impulse and focused on wiping down the little one. This one was also mottled black and white, but had a few splodges of ginger scattered through its damp coat. As Belka's nose arrived to help with the clean up, Seeal reached up to stroke the new mother's neck.
"You're doing so well, Belka," Seeal assured her, aware that Belka felt far warmer than usual and slightly damp, presumably from the sweat produced in having to push out all these babies.
Happy the baby was mostly clean, Seeal laid him down on the straw under Belka's care and looked round to the other two. All three were letting out sweet little calls and Belka replied back around her cleaning of her latest boy.
"We're halfway there already," Neligan grinned at her. One of the first boys had managed to stand, only to tumble down into the straw. With a gentle chuckle and soft words, Neligan encouraged the little boy back up to his feet. Neligan had taken on his new duties in caring for Belka with cheerful excitement, clearly caring for Belka, which was certainly far more than the animal specialist had done.
"The latest boy looks the closest of Belka's colouring," Neligan noted.
"He's so cute," Seeal found herself replying, which she was pretty sure she'd said already. They were just so adorable.
In front of Neligan, the first little boy was once again up on his legs and started stumbling forward. "You can do it little one," Neligan uttered as he carefully adjusted the boy's direction. The second baby was now wobbling up to a stand too, looking like it was real hard work.
Belka's mouth was abruptly on Seeal's hair, licking at her now. Seeal assumed it was a sign of affection and reached out to stroke Belka's warm coat again, while definitely not thinking about the goat saliva and birth products Belka might be leaving in her hair.
"Your boys are so cute, Belka," Seeal told her. "Yes, they are."
She just wished Oneakka could have been here. She had no doubt he was the kind of man who would have been in here helping, Belka being his after all. But Seeal was suddenly very grateful that she had gotten to be here instead, that she'd gotten to witness this.
Belka abruptly removed her nose from Seeal's hair and let out a new long deep groan and started moving away.
"She's having them very fast," the animal specialist muttered again as he crawled around in the hut, trying to keep level with Belka's backside.
Seeal watched as Belka's belly rippled again and the poor mother goat let out another low grunt of pain, visibly straining with her entire body.
"Might be the wild ancestry," one of the watching gardeners suggested from outside the entrance. "Any way to know if the father was another hybrid or a wild goat?"
"They have the mother's soft toes," the specialist replied, "so I suspect the father wasn't a fully domesticated Belkan goat."
Belka let out a loud part bleat/part groan and Seeal watched in sympathy as Belka strained hard. After another push, Seeal saw the latest baby abruptly emerge from below Belka's tail, the latest bundle dropping into the specialist's waiting gloved hands.
Seeal twisted round to reach for a new clean towel, but it was a little too far to reach with two baby goats now stumbling around and one wobbling to its feet at Seeal's knees. Neligan was ahead of her though and reached for a towel for her and handed it across to her.
"Thank you, Neligan," Seeal smiled at the equally smiling man as she turned back towards Belka, only the third little boy briefly fell against her knees. Seeal paused to assist the little boy back to the straw, taking a moment to gently scratch across the soft fluffy top of his little head. He was so sweet!
"This one is a female and healthy," the specialist announced and Seeal rose up on her knees and reached towards him with the towel. He placed the little girl quickly into the towel and turned back to Belka.
The little girl was wiggling harder than the last one, working her little legs like she was running from something, but as Seeal set her in the straw next to her brother, the little girl settled. She was a mottled mix of all Belka's colours; black, white and ginger all together, making her the closest copy to Belka so far.
Belka groaned again, loudly panting now as she turned in the centre of the hut. Was she having number five already?
"I've never known a creature to have multiples so quickly," the specialist muttered as he crawled around behind Belka again, constantly moving to keep up with her.
Seeal had planned to likely have to spend all afternoon and night in here to be with Belka through the birth, but it looked like everyone was going to be born within the hour!
Belka grunted loudly, but it sounded weaker this time and Seeal frowned worriedly towards poor Belka's lowered head.
"Number five," the specialist reported though and Seeal let out a sigh of relief.
"So fast," Neligan commented as he reached for a new towel. With Belka's head turned directly towards Seeal again, the specialist now lowered the latest baby into the straw closer to Neligan. Leaving him to see to the latest baby, Seeal quickly set about finishing cleaning up the sole little girl.
"Another male," the specialist announced, "and healthy."
"That's four males to one female," someone said from the viewing group outside. "Males are winning," he announced happily.
"Shut up," a female voice told him and they all laughed.
Seeal lifted her attention from the baby girl to see Neligan being handed the latest boy, who appeared to be almost entirely ginger. Neligan laid him in the straw near his now fully walking brothers, and started cleaning him down.
"I think you should call this one 'Red'," Neligan told her with a grin as he worked.
"Sounds a good name," Seeal agreed. Boy number three was now on his feet in front of her and stumbling forward, aiming for his brothers. None of them appeared to know where they were going, presumably they were searching for milk, but they clearly hadn't zeroed in on Belka yet.
Belka called to the babies as she settled down to the straw, her calls low and sounding weaker now. She was definitely looking tired and was still panting.
"Is Belka okay?" Seeal asked the specialist.
"It's a normal response," he replied offhandedly.
If there were anymore goats to be born in the future, Seeal was going to recommend to Oneakka that this man not be involved. He was clearly very good at his job, but he was not reassuring and in anyway informative.
"To be panting like this?" Seeal pushed.
"Yes," he replied. "She's working hard."
Well that was certainly true, but Seeal frowned worriedly at Belka. The first little boy had managed to locate Belka and was now touching his tiny nose to hers.
Neligan crawled closer, settling little Red down in front of Belka and she turned her attention to licking the latest little baby and the little girl. Leaning forward, Seeal got her first proper look at Red, who was indeed mostly orange, but had some little black splodges doted sporadically across his coat. She reached in and scratched around his little ears.
The urge to cry again rushed up in her throat. She'd seen animals being born in the busy trading towns when she lived on the streets, some animal mothers even birthing in the market pens, but she'd never been this close or felt so attached to newborn animals before.
Neligan stroked Belka's neck and closest shoulder. "You are a very strong girl," he told her.
"She looks really tired," Seeal worried to Neligan.
"We would be too," he replied with a close lipped smile. The smile told Seeal that he was being reassuring for her, but that he was worried too.
"She'll be okay," Seeal told him firmly.
He nodded and then reached down to help steady the lone little girl who had now gotten her little legs working.
"This last one is later than the rest," the specialist announced from across the hut, his tone catching Seeal's instant attention far more than his words. He was worried now. "Can someone pass me my scanner?" He called towards the hut's entrance.
Neligan crawled backwards and a hand from outside passed him the piece of tech, which Neligan passed over Belka's back to the specialist.
A bump against Seeal's knee drew her attention down to Red who was trying to stand up, but he hadn't quite gotten his coordination working yet. Belka was still licking at his back, which seemed to be throwing him off balance, but she seemed determined to clean him thoroughly.
The hut was filled with the baby goat calls and Belka's tired sounding responses, but it was the specialist's silence that worried Seeal. She watched as he ran the scanner along Belka's belly. That Belka didn't object, which she had done every single time previously, told Seeal how tired the goat was.
"Anything?" Seeal prompted the man to share his findings.
"Number six is still in there, but hasn't moved along the birth canal properly yet. It's probably the runt of the mix, been in the worst position for nutrients and to be pushed out."
Seeal frowned at him. "But it's still alive, right?"
The man nodded but didn't look up from his scanner.
"Will it stay alive to come out?" Seeal clarified her question and made her tone firmer.
"Maybe," the specialist finally looked at her from inside the dim hut.
Seeal carefully worked to climb around the babies and crawl around Belka's side so she could see the screen of the specialist's scanner and make sure he paid her enough attention.
"What can we do to make sure the babe makes it?" Seeal asked.
The specialist set his scanner down. "I think we should let the others nurse, it may help the contractions," he suggested.
"Right," Seeal nodded and reached around Belka to start moving Red and the little girl round to Belka's udders. Neligan brought the other boys, though it took a little longer, as they had worked out how to move faster already. Soon enough though, all five of the baby goats were at Belka's udders and had started to drink.
And drink with gusto. Seeal couldn't imagine that was comfortable for Belka, but Belka didn't seem to mind. Actually she looked more settled and had stopped panting.
Seeal crawled up by Belka's head and stroked her ears, while Neligan stroked her back. There wasn't much else they could do to help right now.
"What time do we have since the last birth?" The specialist asked Neligan.
"Seven minute count," Neligan frowned.
"How fast were the others born apart?" Seeal asked.
"Barely a three count," Neligan replied with an openly worried grimace.
Seeal frowned worriedly down at the drinking babies. Five out of six was probably a good survival rate for wild animals, but all six was far better.
The specialist suddenly started moving, crawling across the hut to retrieve his medical bag. "I may need to pull it out," he announced, "or if it comes, resus it." He stripped off his gloves and drew on new ones from the bag and then started pulling out several tools.
"As in reach in and pull it out?" Seeal asked, feeling for Belka already.
"Maybe," he replied as he crawled back towards Belka's back end, laying his tools to one side, his bag behind them, and then picked up the scanner again.
Seeal shifted back towards him so she could see the screen.
"It's moved," he announced though. "It's almost there. The nursing is working."
"Do we need to take the babies off her to have it?" Seeal checked.
"No," he replied simply as he frowned down at the screen. "I think it's almost here, but I'm getting reduced life readings from it now."
Seeal realised she was gripping tight fistfuls of the straw in her hands and forced herself to relax.
Belka started shifting and the familiar groan came out of her, but she didn't get up this time. Some of the babies detached from her as a long and very obvious contraction played through Belka's belly.
"I've got it," the specialist announced and Seeal watched as he pulled a noticeably smaller baby goat out of Belka. "It's breathing, but not well."
Seeal watched him quickly lower the little membrane coated goat to the straw, tear the membrane away and then start clearing out the tiny little nose and mouth with a suction tool. Seeal turned to Neligan across Belka, indicating the stack of towels and, without comment, he passed her one.
Looking back to the specialist, Seeal watched as he rubbed the little runt's side, pushing hard, presumably some sort of lung clearing technique.
The baby wasn't moving.
The specialist picked it up, holding it almost upside down and shook it slightly.
Seeal watched a drop of goo drip out of the little still mouth.
And then it wiggled and a tiny little bleat cried out.
Seeal let out a gasp of relief.
"It's breathing," Neligan announced to those outside and there was applause from the gardeners.
Seeal kept her eyes on the runt though as the specialist laid it back on the straw and rubbed its side again, but it was clearly moving. In fact it seemed as if it was trying to fight him off now.
"It's a female," the specialist announced as he reached for the scanner and ran it over the wiggling little goat. Belka was watching, her head practically lying along her own back to watch. The other babies were back to nursing with gusto, oblivious to the adrenaline-filled moment.
"It's small," the specialist reported from the screen. "But its cardiovascular system is working. Breathing is fine now."
The runt let out a long and surprisingly loud cry, to which Belka instantly replied.
"It's okay then?" Seeal asked him.
"It seems fine otherwise," the specialist as he picked up the runt.
Seeal stretched the towel out to receive the goatling, and its smaller weight was obvious as the specialist handed it to her.
Seeal wrapped the runt up in the towel, holding it close to her body as she crawled up to Belka's head and settled the little wriggling bundle on her lap so Belka could reach it.
"We've got the afterbirth arriving last," the specialist reported, but Seeal didn't listen.
They were all here and, as she helped Belka clean off the tiny little runt, she let the tears gather in her eyes.
They were all here, all alive. All safe.
Seeal wiped the corner of the towel over the little runt's face and it lifted its little yellow eyes to her. Its coat was a mottled mix of black, white and ginger, but, right on the very top of its tiny head, there was one massive ginger splodge.
"Hello Splodge," Seeal named her, blinking the tears from her eyes before anyone saw them.
0000
TBC