AN: Surprise and Happy Holidays! Here's a little gift for anyone who's still reading this story. Sorry it's been so long.
Daughter of Three Suns
Chapter 34
Life went on. Daughter Sun ruled the sky, then Mother Sun had her turn. Hope and Ward grew—slowly but steadily. We taught them everything they needed to know in order to survive in our world. Soon they could catch, clean, and prepare fish, gather berries, and grind fanio seeds into meal. They learned to weave baskets, dry gourds to make water carriers, and sew their own clothing.
Alice taught them to read and write, to know numbers, and to recite. She told them stories of our foremothers and the histories of our world. They learned the Three Prayers, the Three Blessings, and the Three Stages of Womanhood.
Edward taught them about his world, its history and its science. They asked endless questions about mountains, trees, buildings, and oceans.
Their physical development wasn't neglected. With Mother Sun in the sky, I took them out to the sands and showed them how to use their staffs to protect themselves. I trained them just as Rosalie had trained me—twisting, dodging, blocking, but always in defense and never with the intent to harm.
Sometimes as a family, we'd take long journeys into the desert. We explored the area around our home, even visiting the shattered remains of the portal to Edward's world. We visited Rosalie and Emmett.
It was on one of those visits that Emma finally returned home. Her journey had taken her far into the deep desert where she found an unconscious man lying on the sand. He appeared to have been injured mid-shift—one arm was still a broken wing. Wrapping him in a blanket she'd made for herself, she dragged him to the nearest bare-rock island and slowly nursed him back to health.
His name was Nathan, but that was one of the few things he could remember. He thought he had a sister. He remembered flying with a group of other shifters, but he had no idea how he came to be injured in the middle of the desert. He loved Emma and was her soulmate, so we accepted him as one of our own. When she gave birth to twins—a boy and a girl—Nathan's origins became an even bigger mystery, one that wouldn't be solved for a long time.
…..
Mother Sun went to her rest, and we celebrated another Anamnesis. Daughter had her turn, then Mother again. Cycle after cycle, turn after turn, life continued. Gradually, a few people from the other islands came to live with us as their homes became too crowded. We were happy, contented, and busy. Our only worry was the decision we had to make about Hope and Ward.
We had long discussions about whether to start giving them small doses of the herbs. Rosalie and Emmett had given Elise the herbs and her Metanora had been even easier than Emma's. Eryn was currently taking them. Edward thought we should wait. He was convinced our children just needed more time, that they would mature on their own without the herbs and the Metanora. He pointed out that they were growing at a different rate than most of the other children, and he was correct, they were. I knew he secretly hoped they would shift when they reached adulthood and was concerned that the herbs and the Metanora would force them to mature too soon and prevent them from shifting. Eventually, we settled on waiting until after they had celebrated their fourth Anamnesis, then, if their growth had slowed, we would begin small amounts of the herbs.
In the end, Edward was right. Our children continued growing and gradually began to look more like adults than children. They were moody and restless though, switching from giggling silliness to angry tenseness almost in the same breath. Edward assured me that this was normal behavior for shifters, but I still worried.
Our fourth Anamnesis came and went, and a much weaker Daughter rose in the sky. One wake cycle, Edward announced that it was time. We followed him to the shaded entrance of the island. Ward and Hope had never been allowed to leave while Daughter Sun was in the sky, so they hesitated when their father told them to follow him out into her heat.
"Ward. Take off your clothes, son, and come here."
Our son slipped off his clothing, then stepped out into the sunshine. I heard him gasp and watched his skin begin to redden. "You'll be fine," Edward assured him. "Tell me what you feel."
"I … There's pain, Father. My bones are melting. My skin is cracking. I'm … Inside me, I'm changing inside me. Help me!"
Hope grabbed my hand, squeezing tightly as we listened to Ward's pleas. I had to tell myself that Edward knew what he was doing.
"You're shifting, Ward. What you're feeling is normal and natural. Don't fight it. Accept the change and let it come. Open yourself to it. You're going to be all right, son."
Edward's words were soothing and encouraging. We heard Ward take a deep breath, and then his form began to waver. Head, arms, legs melted away, and in their place was a magnificent, golden basherter. He threw back his head and shrieked a challenge to the sky, then with a giant leap, launched himself into the air. Powerful wings swept the sand as he rose and circled above us. Hope and I both gasped as we watched him.
"Hope. You're next," Edward called.
"Daddy?"
"Come out into the sun, daughter. Either you'll shift like your brother, or your Metanora will start and your mother will take you out into the desert. Either way, it's time to become an adult."
Hope slipped off her shift, then walked to stand in front of her father. I followed her slowly. Immediately, her skin began to glow with heat. Edward smiled down at his daughter. "Tell me what you feel inside."
"It's … Oh!" Hope blinked in surprise, and then she shifted. One moment she was the daughter I knew, and the next she was a graceful, long-necked bird. Her feathers were almost a pure white, shot through with golden ribs and tips. I stared in wonder at the stunning female basherter before me.
She cocked her head, looking at me and then Edward. With a trilling chirp, she launched herself into the air, unfurling long graceful wings. Rising, she joined her brother circling in the sky.
"Bella?"
Only after Edward said my name did I realize I was sobbing and laughing at the same time as I watched my children. "They shifted, Edward. Our children shifted."
He smiled and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, pulling me against him. "Yes, they did."
I looked up at his proud face. "You knew! You knew all along that they would shift. But how?"
For a moment, he frowned, then shrugged. "Long ago when I was in that other place and wrapped in that red light, I heard voices. I don't remember everything, just bits and pieces, but I knew my children would shift." He lifted my hand and examined what was left of my worn claws. "I think everyone on this planet used to shift, but somehow that was lost when the rogue sun you call Daughter passed by."
Before I could question him further, he urged me to lie down. "What?"
"Fly with me, Bella. Let's join our children in the sky for their first flying lesson." He laughed and helped me settle on the sand. Edward shifted, and I felt that tugging. Then we were in the sky, teaching our son and daughter to fly.
It was amazing to see them through Edward's eyes. Their feathers glinted and glistened in the sunlight. Ward's huge golden eyes blinked at us when we rose beside them. Hope's eyes were golden, too, but a thin line of red circled her pupils. She was unlike any shifter I had ever seen before. The mother in me swelled with pride at my beautiful daughter.
Edward led them through a series of banking turns and dives. Father and son would tuck their wings against their bodies and plummet toward the ground, pulling up only moments before striking the sand. I shared the exhilaration Edward felt as he played with his son. Hope's different shape prevented her from diving in the same manner as her twin, but her longer wings enabled her to hover with very little effort. She hung suspended in the air as if the sky were her home.
When Edward was satisfied they could manage their new forms, we settled between them and let an updraft take us higher into the sky. Then, as if sensing that our time together was over, our children turned toward us, chirped a goodbye, and with a wide banking turn, began flying toward Grandmother's face on the horizon.
"Edward?"
"They're adults now, Bella, and it's time for them to leave. Just like your Metanora, they feel the pull to their mates. They've gone to find them."
He must have felt my sorrow because he chuckled softly. "They'll come back." We watched them until they could no longer be seen. Then we made our way home.
Mother, Esme, Jasper, and Alice were waiting at the island's entrance. "They've gone?" Mother asked. My sad face must have told her all she needed to know because she hugged me to her. "Now you understand a mother's joy and sorrow to see her children grown. I sent three daughters to their Metanora, and they all returned. Hope and Ward will, too."
"But I'll still worry."
"Yes." She smiled sadly. "We never stop worrying."
…..
I missed my children and worried about them almost constantly. But soon, there were other things to worry about. With the weaker sunlight came slower growth. We carefully harvested our plants and fish and stored as much of the dried food as possible. It became very evident that our water supply was drying up. The water level in the central pond was lower, and the underground springs didn't flow as freely as they once did.
I found Edward staring at those springs one work cycle. A pile of water gourds lay nearby. "Edward?"
His face was grim when he turned toward me. "The pond is getting too low for the fish and plants to grow. We're going to have to carry water from these springs to the pond. It's our only food source, and we can't let it dry up." I nodded, picked up a pair of gourds, and we began hauling water from the springs to the central pond.
Refilling the pond soon became one of our regular chores. After first meal, everyone would gather and carry enough water to ensure the fish and plants had enough. We cultivated, harvested, and carefully stored the dried food. Our world was changing, and we had to adapt if we wanted to survive.
It was at the end of one long work cycle while we rested in the shaded coolness near the entrance to our island that Jasper rose with a low rumbling growl and faced the opening. Alice whispered a question to him. His answer was a bristling of his ruff and a teeth-baring snarl.
"Someone comes," she said. "But there are more—many more—hidden just beyond the dunes." I grabbed my staff and throwing knives and went to meet our visitor.
It was a young woman who waited there. Her skin was burned brown by the sun, and she had the yellow eyes and claws of someone who had survived her Metanora. Her clothing was strange, more like a long strip of cloth wrapped around her. It ended in a folded, padded pile on one shoulder. I wondered how large her basherter must be.
We studied each other. Her eyes widened when she saw the glowing red circle on my chest. "You are Bella," she said. "Chosen by Grandmother Spirit to unite the people and set the world to right again." Her words made me uncomfortable. Before I could answer, she continued. "My basherter greets you."
A shrill cry pulled my eyes to the sky above us where a large, golden basherter soared in the air. As I watched, it folded its wings and plummeted toward the ground only to pull up at the last minute and land gracefully on the young woman's shoulder. My mother's heart and mind recognized him even as I screamed his name.
Our son, Ward, had finally come home.
.
.
AN: Thank you so much for reading and sticking with me. I WILL finish this story! For an old retired lady, my life has been amazingly busy. Speaking of which, if you were a fan of The Protector I still have the PDF available for the fanfiction version. If you requested a copy and didn't get it, please check your FFN messages. Email addresses need to be written, or spaced out because FFN will delete them.
I also have a favor to ask those fans of The Protector. The story is being posted as The Protector Chronicles: Ezander's Story on Kindle Vella. You can find it by searching for my name, Janet Ake. My book, Her Beautiful Mind, and my other Vella story, True Love: A Fairy Tale, are also there. The first three episodes are free and Amazon will give you 200 tokens to keep reading. After that you'll have to buy tokens to continue. So, why am I asking for a favor? Well, at the end of each episode you can give a thumbs up to the story and Amazon pays attention to those thumbs up. At this time, they're still paying launch bonuses based on those likes, unlocked episodes, and faves (crowns). If you have the time and are so inclined, please click on the free episodes for both stories and leave some thumbs up. It will help my stories get noticed.
Thank you, again. More soon.
Janet
