A SON IS BORN

This chapter is dedicated to my Uncle Steve who had his 3rd Christmas interrupted by the arrival of his little sister. And to my Momma who has had to share her birthday with the whole world every year since. ~ DK

…

The salt and light gifts had all been opened and not one of them had contained a ring. Shara was managing to contain her disappointment, but only just barely. In the month since they had been reunited, Jamos had been perfectly supportive. They'd had long conversations, trying to be honest with each other about their separate pasts and about their present joys and struggles. Their future and in particular the topic of marriage remained on the back burner.

Shara tried to be patient and she tried even harder to drop hints that she was ready whenever he was. He had been ready before their argument. Marlon had seemed to think that his brother had meant to make an official proposal when they'd gone away together. But now…

Jamos stood. "I've got one more present I'd like to give."

This was it, Shara thought.

Lana gave her a wink and Marlon teased, "Oh! For me? You shouldn't have."

"No, not for you, Chirn head." Jamos grinned. "It's for Shara. But you've got to close your eyes. It's not exactly wrapped."

"Alright." She closed her eyes and so sure that the gift was going to be a ring, she extended her left hand, palm facing down so that he could slip it on her finger.

"No peeking?"

She heard his voice come closer and she shook her head. "I'm not."

He took her hand and then rather than slip a ring onto her finger he flipped it palm up and placed within it a sheet of flimsy.

"Alright, you can open them."

She did so with a confused frown. "What is it?"

"See for yourself." He grinned proudly. "Didn't think I'd let you have all the fun, did you? Before she went home for the holidays, I asked Niamh if there were any tests I should have run and well, she said there was this one. Just if we wanted to make sure, for when you're ready!" He qualified to assure her.

Shara looked again at the document. "Oh!"

Dalla crawled up into her lap. "Uncle Jamos test?" She asked innocently.

"Aye." Shara smiled. She was still a little disappointed but she saw the humor in the gift. "Uncle Jamos took a test to see … how many fish he could catch."

Marlon burst out in a laugh and Lana shook her head smiling.

Dalla looked around at her parents and then back at her godmother curiously. "Did he catch a lot?"

"Plenty." Shara couldn't help laughing as well.

Dalla jumped down and went to her uncle, lifting her arms to be picked up. "Good job, Uncle Jamos!" She told him.

…

"I'm sorry, Dalla. It's just not letting up." Shara held her goddaughter up to the window to show her the snow falling outside.

The little girl whimpered. They'd been hoping all day to take her out to the hot springs to try out her new fishing leathers for the third night of salt and light. But now it was almost her bedtime and visibility was less than a meter in through the gale.

"I don't ever remember there being this much snow during salt and light." Jamos observed still gazing outside.

"There was one but you might have been to little to remember it." Marlon sighed. "Come on, little one." He reached out for Dalla and she went to him. "Maybe it'll clear up tomorrow if you go to bed nicely tonight."

She refused until she could give Uncle Jamos a goodnight kiss.

"Aunt Shara needs one, too, Chirn Bait." He winked after obliging with a whiskery smooch.

"Goodnight, love." Shara kissed her goddaughter's cheek as well.

But the little girl was still stalling, not wanting to go to bed. "What's the matter?" Marlon asked. "Didn't you get everything you wanted for salt and light?"

"No, I want my baby sister," Dalla cried.

"Awe, sweetheart." Shara crooned and pushed a lock of Dalla's hair behind her ear. "There are some gifts that you really, really want for salt and light that you just have to wait on. They depend on the people you want to give them to you." She looked back at Jamos wondering if he knew how much she wanted a particular gift from him.

"And for the gift you want, we really need to wait 'til Ms Niamh gets home." Marlon added.

"Ms Niamh has my present?" Dalla asked.

Jamos grinned at his brother who seemed to be struggling for an answer. "Ms Niamh needs to be here when your present is delivered."

This was enough to satisfy the little girl for the moment and she laid her head on her father's shoulder, sleepily.

…

"Are you sure you're feeling alright?" Shara asked Lana as they cleaned up the dishes by Brylk oil lantern. It had been another long day of keeping Dalla occupied indoors while the storm continued to swirl. The men put the little girl to bed with the promise, once again, that surely it would be over by the time she woke up on New year's morn.

"Fine." Lana smiled, rubbing her back. "I've had a contraction or two but not close together. Don't tell Marlon though. He'll have a fit. I'm sure there's still plenty of time."

Shara lifted a tray of caff things. "If you say so." She still promised herself to keep a close eye on her friend for any signs of progressing labor.

Lana was humming as they walked back towards the sitting room.

"Now which song is that? I've heard it before but I can't remember?" Shara asked.

Marlon and Jamos reached the room at the same time. Jamos took the tray from Shara to set on the table and Marlon went to his wife's side to help her down into a chair. It was he who answered the question. "It's something like our family victory song."

"Though it's not a pretty story," Lana said. "If Dalla were awake I would save it for another day, but I suppose it's okay to tell it now." She nodded her silent blessing to Marlon.

He nodded back. "Shara, do you remember the northernmost Flint holdfast on the mainland from your journey north? It would be right on the mouth of the river."

"Aye," she nodded slowly in recognition and seated herself comfortably on the couch for the telling of the tale. Jamos sat next to her on one side and Portia, too big now to curl up on her lap rested her head and front paws there instead.

"Well, it didn't always belong to House Flint. Originally it was the seat of House Shechel, a family of traders," Marlon explained.

"Shechel?" Shara repeated. "I've never heard that name before. Where are they now?"

Lana looked out the window. "Gone."

"Gone is a light way of putting it," Jamos elucidated. "Most say wiped out. Slaughtered."

Marlon picked up the story before Shara could utter any exclamations of shock. "A long time ago, House Kira and House Blackwell tried to mend their feud with a marriage alliance. Lord Kira's heir, Modon, was betrothed to Lord Blackwell's daughter, Dina."

"The negotiations were tense, but they turned out alright," Lana continued. "Dina was a beast master and she and Modon found common ground over their shared love of animals. They got along quite well and seemed fond of each other. When the time came for the wedding, Dina was excited to go south and be with the beasts and Modon was waiting for her at Kira Fortress."

"With a dalgos of her own for her bridal gift," Shara remembered. To the Blackwells' confused looks, she explained: "There's a beast rider's song about a man waiting at the river by Kira Fortress holding a dalgos' reins for his bride who never comes. But if she was so excited, and the families agreed…?"

"The families were happy and so were Modon and Dina," Marlon explained. "But House Shechel wasn't. They made their living off being the liaison between the north and the south, and when they thought of the credits they would lose if the two great families had an alliance, they decided it couldn't happen.

"The Shechels waited until the Blackwells reached the mouth of the river and then they set upon them, boarded the ship and murdered everyone aboard, including Dina and her father."

Shara and Lana both gasped and Portia barked. Shara was so engrossed in the story that she had almost forgotten she was supposed to be observing her friend.

Lana's hands were on her belly and she was now breathing out slowly but when she noticed Shara staring at her, she shook her head ever so slightly and glanced at Marlon sitting next to her. She obviously still didn't want to worry her husband.

Neither Marlon nor his brother seemed to have noticed anything was amiss, so Shara kept up the deception and determined to keep the attention on herself rather than Lana at least for now. "They killed the bride and her father and the whole crew just to prevent the alliance?"

"Well the plan supposedly was to place the blame on the Kiras." Jamos explained. "But the bride's brothers had stayed back at the Hold planning to sail down later, and they weren't fooled."

"They realized who was responsible for their father's and sister's deaths and took the entire navy to the Shechels' home," Marlon continued. "In the dead of night they stormed the holdfast and captured the entire clan."

Shara snuck another glance to Lana, who appeared to be relaxing after her last contraction.

"The ringleaders were beheaded on the spot," Marlon continued. "Once they'd been executed, the brothers loaded everyone else onto their ship and took them back to Blackhold. There they sat in the dungeon for quite a while and must have thought the brothers planned to keep them there forever…"

"Though that wasn't the case," Jamos interrupted.

"No it wasn't. While they were in the dungeon, the Shechels managed to contact House Kira and begged them to make the Blackwells show mercy. The Kiras weren't pleased, especially Modon who was so enraged that his betrothed's killers had commed him for mercy that he commed the Blackwells to tell them that if they didn't want the Shechels, he'd happily feed them to dalgos."

Shara shuddered. She had seen dalgos rend living flesh. Portia whimpered and Shara petted the cog's head comfortingly. "So House Kira and House Blackwell were still sort of allied," she glanced over at Lana and saw her face contorting into a grimace once again. She worried but she looked away so as not to draw unwanted attention. "Though with a much darker purpose." She almost hated to ask. "What did they do with the captives in the dungeon?"

"Shortly after the comm to the Kiras, the Shechels found out why the Blackwells had kept them captive for so long." Marlon glanced out the window, to something invisible through the current storm. "They were waiting for the Flint stonemasons to finish a project."

"They'd commissioned the Flints to carve the sea stairs," Jamos said. "The stairs faced the Shechels' lands, and on either side of the steps were the heads of the ringleaders on pikes."

Shara's hand flew to cover her mouth.

Marlon continued. "The eldest Blackwell brother addressed the traitorous clan. 'You killed our father and our sister who did nothing to you, but we'll show you the mercy you didn't show to them. You want to go home? Well, go ahead and take a walk.'"

"Salt gods." Shara whispered and made the sign.

Jamos took the opportunity to wrap an arm around her shoulders and pull her close to comfort her from the horror.

Marlon smirked at them.

Shara blushed and looked up at the man she loved. She snuggled against him before she asked, "And so the Kiras and Blackwells never tried again for a marriage alliance?"

"Never had the chance." Marlon shrugged. "In all those years that was the one time that heirs from both houses were of marriageable age at the same time."

"That and Dalla is the first Blackwell girl in a dozen generations." Jamos added stroking her hair.

Shara laid her head on his shoulder comfortably. "If Brem's baby had been a boy he would have been just Dalla's age. Mel was sure she was having a girl though." She was feeling a little sleepy and would have been content to doze off right there, in Jamos's arms with Portia's head resting on her lap.

That is until Lana finally spoke up clutching her belly and panting through what must have been a very painful contraction. "Speaking of Blackwell babies, I think this one is just about ready to make an appearance."

…

The giant cognine whined. Jamos laid his hand on the big beast's head. He no longer had to bend down to pet the creature who had once been so small and cuddly, curled up on Shara's lap. "It's alright, girl. She'll be out soon. She didn't mean anything by it."

Shara had shooed both Jamos and Marlon and the big beast out of the room. It wasn't because there was any sort of stigma for men of the North not to be in the room when a child was born. It was just the fact that this was the first human birth that Shara had ever attended and she was rather nervous to have father and uncle looking over her shoulder.

Lana, lying on the modified birthing couch, breathing through ever strengthening contractions, didn't even seem as anxious as Shara was about being the nearest thing to a midwife available during the current blizzard. "You've done this with dalgos," Lana panted. "And you've learned so much from Niamh. I trust you."

Marlon had gone quiet. No doubt he was praying to the salt gods to allow his wife and second child to both come through the experience healthy and whole.

It was the stillness and quiet that were driving Jamos crazy. The thick walls kept out the howl of the wind and the stones of the floor didn't rock like the comforting motion of his ship. He almost thought of taking Portia out for a walk, but even the cognine, bred for the harsh winter in the North, could have been lost in the maelstrom that roared outside.

And then they heard the sound that they had all been waiting for, the wailing of a healthy newborn. Portia gave a loud bark and Marlon ran for the birthing room without waiting for an invitation.

Jamos had his work cut out for him holding back the beast who also wanted to get a look at the new baby. "Nope, not you, girl. They don't need you slobbering all over everything." He was smiling, proud of Shara already for the part she had played.

"I have a son!" Marlon's voice rang out. He rushed back into the hall and crushed his brother in an excited hug.

Jamos laughed. "That's wonderful! Congratulations!"

Shara made sure that mother and son were cleaned up and resting peacefully before she finally, exhausted, made her way back out of the room to Jamos and their pet. She gave Portia a tired pat on the head and then practically fell into Jamos's waiting arms.

"He's beautiful, everything went smoothly, and they are both as well as can be," she sighed against his chest.

Jamos kissed her hair. "You saved the day."

"Oh, I don't know about that. Lana did all the work." She grinned.

"Marlon said they're calling him Thias."

"Mmmhmm…" she agreed sleepily.

She sounded as if she might doze off at any moment and Jamos just held her. Until she whispered, "kind of makes you think about having one of our own?"

"Does it?" He asked, hardly daring to hope.

"Well maybe not right away but, you'd have to do something first."

"What's that?" He would do anything for her she only had to say the word.

She looked up at him smiling and fully awake. "Marry me?"

He just gazed at her thinking of all of the times he had asked her over the last couple of years and she had put him off, said she wasn't ready. And now she was asking him. He thought his heart would burst.

"Well?" She prompted with that not-to-be-disobeyed northern woman glint in her eyes.

"Aye!" He kissed her. "Aye today…" he kissed her again. "And tomorrow…" another kiss "and everyday till eternity!" He picked her up and swung her around.

Shara cried out with laughter and Portia started barking wildly along with her.

Just then Dalla came padding out of her bedroom in her slippered feet, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Is my sister here yet?" She asked.

Shara extricated herself from her husband-to-be and knelt before the little girl. "You have a baby brother."

"And you're going to have an Aunt, officially!" Jamos added dropping down beside them.

Shara shoved him playfully. "Would you like to go and meet your brother, Dalla?"

She nodded, "aye," and her uncle scooped her up into his arms.

"What was all the noise about?" Marlon asked as the three of them entered the room where mother and son were resting.

Lana smiled at her daughter and patted the bed next to her, an invitation for the little girl to climb up and see the baby.

Jamos grinning, whispered loudly to answer his brother, "She finally said, aye."

"Well, technically, he said, aye," Shara corrected.

"It's about time," Lana said, not looking up from her children.

Marlon put an arm around each of them and squeezed. "No need to wait any longer. I don't think Thias would mind sharing his birthday with a wedding anniversary. Do you, Dear?"

"You'll excuse me if I don't rise for the occasion." Lana smiled.

"No, please," Shara said. "Stay where you are."

"You're okay with this?" Jamos asked taking both her hands in his. "Right here and now? No fancy clothes or flowers or guests?"

She grinned up at him. "This is exactly what I want. Right here, with our family."

…

They're finally getting married! Yay! Here's hoping the same isn't true for Dalla in LS's next chapter. Thank you again for reading and please leave us a comment!