Heir of Avalor
Twenty-four-year-old Queen Elena of Avalor stood on the bow of her brand-new ship, "The Lucia." The ravishing young sovereign was returning from a month-long diplomatic mission with an old ally of Avalor.
Its been over half a century since Avalor and Antillia. The kingdoms used to have a strong alliance, furthermore, being excellent trading partners. For no-one else but the realm of Antillia made such eye-catching glassware.
However, when Shuriki invaded and overthrown Avalor, the two kingdoms had lost touch. What did Shuriki care about impressive glassware? The only beauty she cared about was her own.
Elena had asked her cousin Esteban to join her on the mission. They're still working out a few rough parts of their relationship. Also, Esteban was doing all he could to make up for past mistakes.
So cousins agreed between their magic and diplomatic accomplishments, they'd be able to handle the month-long mission. Elena had been greatly impressed with Esteban's skills during negotiations with Queen Catalina and her daughter Princess Angeline.
They couldn't have had this much success without her cousin's experiences. Elena was eternally grateful for her cousin's help with this mission. She knew his own parents, her Aunt Margarita and Uncle Javier would be so proud of him.
Though Esteban had agreed to come for another reason, Elena was currently eight-months pregnant. In the past four years, Elena had countless young men seeking to win her heart and hand in marriage.
After countless courtships from neighboring princes and even some of her friends, Elena had finally chosen Mateo as the one she'd wished to spend her life with.
Gabe had accepted defeat gracefully. It helped that Naomi had always had a soft spot for him. Now the two of them were engaged, and Elena wanted her friend's wedding to be as lavish as hers had been to Mateo.
"You are doing alright, prima?" inquired a voice behind her. Whirling around, she saw her cousin looking at her with concern in his brown eyes.
"I'm fine, cousin. Thank you for your concern," she replied, which didn't ease him. "What is it, cousin? What's got, you worked up?"
"It may be nothing, but I have a bad feeling. I feel something is coming, and I do not want anything to happen to you."
Elena felt a bit uneasy. Her cousin did have a knack when it came to his intuition when something was wrong. It's partly the reason for him siding with Shuriki all those years again because no one had listened to him about these feelings.
"I do trust your intuition, primo. But right now, I think we should hope for the best. So let's pray nothing bad happens," as she swayed it a bit.
"You should be resting, Elena. You've been on your feet more then you should've been. You really shouldn't have come on this mission given how far along you are."
"Esteban, I can handle my queenly duties just fine. Even being pregnant, I'm not helpless," she countered, annoyed. Why did everyone insist on treating her like a fragile flower?
"Elena, you really should be thinking more about your baby. It's not such a big deal to take it easy."
"Fine, I'll go to my cabin to rest. I'll stay there until we reach Avalor's shores," as she kissed his cheek and waddled away. He watched her closely as she left his sight.
Esteban's bad feelings never went away, which was a good thing since he was again right about their future danger. One day before they're to arrive home, a bad storm came rolling in.
They did their best to endure it but were forced to abandon the ship when lightning hit the sails, setting fire to the rest of the ship. He'd to carry his cousin to one of the lifeboats to escape the sinking ship.
Only their luck got worse as a rouge wave separated them from the rest of the crew. The storm was so bad they couldn't even tell all that was going on. It got to the point they blacked out.
When they came too, they're stranded on a lone island. But that wasn't the worst thing. The worst thing was the stress of the situation was getting to Elena.
"Are you alright, Elena?" Esteban asked in a panic voice. She looked terrible and like she was in a lot of pain.
"I don't feel so well, cousin. I hurt all over, and I don't know about the baby."
"Let's find you some shelter. I dare not risk teleporting you in this condition. I've no idea how that would affect your child," to which Elena nodded while she grimaced.
She'd been meticulous the whole pregnancy, not to get emotional or use her scepter. Since no one knew how magic could affect a developing fetus. A strict no magic policy was in place since she was expecting to be on the safe side.
Finding a small cave, Esteban used his magic to get a fire going. He could do that, at least. Tearing some of his clothes, he tried using them as a washcloth to wipe the sweat off Elena's forehead.
Getting more nervous, "Elena, can you feel the baby at all?" to which she replied nervously, "The baby is not moving enough. I'm worried due to the storm they've become injured in some way."
"Elena, do you trust me?" Esteban asked her as she eyed him carefully, "Yes, I do, cousin. But why are you looking at me like that?"
"I have a strong feeling we need to deliver the baby now. You do remember my mother was a midwife and nurse, correct? I learned a great deal about babies from her.
I fear if we don't deliver immediately, the baby won't make it. You're badly injured and losing blood. We don't have a choice in the matter if we want to save the child!"
"Deliver?! I'm still a month away from my due date! How do you plan to get the baby out? And are you sure it's necessary?" as she let out a shriek. Quickly realizing her cousin was right, she looked at him with fear in her eyes.
"Do you know how to do it? Deliver a baby?" with so much fear in her voice. Out of all the things that had happened to her since being freed from the amulet, this was the scariest thing that had ever happened to her.
"We don't have time to deliver the baby normally. We are going to have to do a C-section if we want to get them out. My mother told me how to do it. I think I can do it."
"Well, we don't have a choice in the matter. You're the only one who can do it. Please, cousin, don't let me or my baby die," she pleaded with him, and he nodded.
"Nothing is going to happen to either of you, I promise," as he steeled himself for having to do something he'd never done before. Drawing on memory of his mother and praying, he got ready.
He used some of his magic to conjure all they'd need for the procedure and a newborn baby. Taking a deep breath, he started to make the incision in the correct place slowly.
Elena couldn't help but scream since they didn't have anything to numb her with. Still, she didn't move and risk her cousin hurting the child. She forced herself to focus on the image of her parents. Since it wasn't the day of the dead, they couldn't be there. But she felt them all the same.
Carefully, Esteban slowly made his way to her uterus. He didn't get queasy or unsteady. He did was needed to be done. Finally, he reached the child and got them out.
He cut the cord and quickly wrapped up the baby before handing the crying infant to their mother. Elena didn't even ask what sex it was at first. Needing to stay still as her cousin stitched her up.
He then threw a heavy blanket over her to keep her warm too. "You did it, Esteban! You saved my child!" Elena wept tears of job.
"This is true," he said as he'd said so many times before. He gazed at his little second-cousin and smiled. From what he could see, the child resembled Elena more then Mateo.
"What are you going to name him?" revealing she'd a boy. "I think we can hold off on the name. Please use my scepter to contact everyone back at the palace.
We need to get me home for proper medical attention and get him home so he can be examined," she explained while wincing in pain.
"Yes, I'll get right on it," grabbing her scepter and using it to send a message back to the palace. In the hour they'd arrived and taken the new mother and her baby home.
Three days went by before Elena was medically cleared, and they're sure her baby would survive. The whole family rejoiced at the news. But they're still wondering about what his name was going to be.
At the christening, the whole kingdom got to see their new heir for the first time they found out. Elena had chosen to name her son after her father and Mateo's grandfather. But she named Esteban has the new prince's godfather. Everything looked bright for Avalor's future as the royal family had grown, and family was more important then anything else!