Childbirth Recollections

Chapter 7: Alessandro and Dreaming

A/N: Please review. This is me down on my hands an knees, begging. I know that this is the perfect set-up for a Kel/Dom, as constantly pointed out by Mrs. Dom Masbolle. I will say this once, and once only: IT'S NOT A Kel/DOM! Re-read Chapter Two. I still need fillers. I'm open to all ideas! Danni

Disclaimer: As much as I'd love to own these characters, I don't. Most of the children are mine, Harold is mine, and at the moment, I think that's about it.

It took a very long time, or so it seemed to those waiting, and some serious magic, but under the care of Harold and several local hedge-witches and healers, Kel's reactions went down. Not only was she having a normal reaction to a King Brown bite, the healers thought that she might have something called an 'allergy'. It meant that if she was bitten again, she'd have an 'allergic' reaction, ie. that she'd have a similar reaction, but it would be faster and worse. There might be no saving her from a second attack.

The whole episode had taken only an hour and a half. Once Kel was sleeping a deep, natural sleep, Dom, Harold and the others let the tent. Kel was left alone in the tent, which was shrouded with spells to alert Harold and the healers if she woke or took a turn, for better or for worse. Dom would be staying in Kel's tent. The camp would stay as it was until the Lady Knight was well enough to travel. So the Lady Knight was left alone for several days, with healers checking on her in the morning and evening. That was how no one was able to say for certain if the Lady Knight was in the camp when Lady Risa died less than a day's ride from where she was camped.

Cleon hadn't kept his love for Kel secret, at least among groups away from his wife. This laid suspicion on Kel. She was the only suspect in a very controversial murder trial, and no one thought it appropriate to inform her or the widower of the deceased of this latest development...

Baroness Illane of Mindelan looked at her grandchildren. Most looked alike enough to be brothers and sisters, but that was not surprising. Anders, Inness and Conal had been practically identical at that age. Their children were all very close, even for cousins, and at the moment they didn't look much like their mothers at all. Only one child stood out as being different.

'Alessandro,' Illane sighed, looking at the red eyes and tear-stained face of the young boy. 'Alessandro, come to Grandmamma. It's all right, sweet-pea. That's right, you can cry.'

'But Grandmamma, I get you dress all wet!' the small boy protested.

'That's all right, precious, it's okay. Grandmamma can always wash the dress. And you know I love all of you a lot more than I love my dresses, right?'

'But what if she don't get better? Then, then, then—' the poor boy broke off in sobs.

'Sh, sh, sh,' Illane soothed, 'she'll be fine. Uncle Neal and the Lioness are looking after her. You remember how Uncle Neal made your arm all better when you fell off Lady?'

Alessandro gave a watery smile at the memory. Lady was his pony, a gift from Uncle Inness. One day, Alessandro and his uncle Inness were riding in the corral when Lady spooked at something, and threw the poor child. Alessandro had broken his arm, and Uncle Neal had 'fixedededed' it for him.

'And the Lioness has made all sorts of things better. It's alright; we know she's going to get better, yes? And then you'll have another baby to look after! Won't that be fun? Lucy's too big to be a baby anymore!' Illane continued.

Finally, when Alessandro's fears had been calmed, he wandered off, looking much calmer. Illane only wished that she could cure her own fears as easily. She wished her son-in-law were here. That would make everything seem a little less grim.

Eleni had watched the whole exchange. Whose was that child? He didn't look much like the other Mindelan children. He looked more like—no, that wasn't possible. That chid was supposedly on the other side of Tortall, with his grandmother. But still, Alessandro looked very familiar. They would both be around the same age. Surely they hadn't – but that would explain why the child was so upset over Keladry's illness…

She knew it was a dream. No, it was less than a dream. It was the comings of a hallucinating mind, so close to death. Death? Surely she wasn't going to die? She was just out of the world for a while, out of time, out of space, out of life. No, she wouldn't let herself go that far. She was just staying her, in this blackness for a while, until the pain and the hurt and the betrayal and the misery of the world had finished. And if she stayed a little longer, no one would care. She would be free of the conservatives, free of the slander, free of the unkind words of a world intent on destroying her hopes and shattering her dreams.

What was that? A baby? Crying? Here?!? She could see it, but couldn't tell if it were a boy or a girl. Some deep, inner instinct told her that this was her child, the one she was refusing to birth. She kicked out that uncomfortable thought. She didn't want to think about that, she didn't want the guilt clawing at her from within in a place that was supposed to be so peaceful. Almost as peaceful as the Peaceful Realms… She ignored that voice, and sank into the dream.

It was dark. A small speck of light appeared, growing brighter, larger, closer. It was that child. The one who called her the Protector. What was her name? Kel couldn't be bothered to remember. Irnai… a voice floated into the 'dream'. She was glowing with an unnatural, unearthly light. Figures, children appeared, one by one around her. Soon Irnai was in the centre a crowd of at least a hundred children.

Some of the faces she recognised as the refugee children from Haven and New Hope. Others were at once recognisable. There was Neal's son Gregory, and his two daughters Elena and Alyss. She couldn't spot Neal himself, but two other children standing near the three Queenscoves looked alike enough to be their cousins. Neal had a younger sister, Kel remembered. They must be her children. What were they doing here? Looking around, she spotted children who looked so much like their parents that they were easy to tell. There was Alessandro, and Lexi, and Monique, and many, many other recognisable children.

But all the children she could recognise made up only 30 of the total number of children there. For every three children she recognised, seven others were totally foreign to her. Faces jumped out at her. A ten-year-old girl, brown haired and green eyed. A boy of Bazhir ancestry, with the blue eyes of a Scanran. Tobe. A red-haired child with hazel eyes and a crooked grin. The only thing that all these children had in common was that they were all under thirteen, and they were all staring at her.

As one, all the children, even Irnai, started moving towards Kel. Closer and closer they drew, until they were right in front of her. The front children split and moved to the sides until Irnai was right in front of her. She began talking in a very deep voice, hoarse, almost raspy. The language wasn't one that Kel was familiar with. Only one sentence made sense, and it repeated itself again and again, growing louder and louder until it drowned out all other sound. Irnai and the other children disappeared, leaving Kel in total darkness. Irnai's words still rang out loud, even though the utterer was no longer in the vicinity. Totally irrationally, this scared Kel more than she would dare admit. She was not just scared. She was terrified.

'There will always be work for the Protector of the Small.'

Kel gave a shudder.

Neal and Alanna were still working on stopping the bleeding. Alanna was worried. Normal wounds would have closed by now. It was almost as if the second Lady Knight was… cursed. There was a rapping at the door. The local midwife was finally here.

Suddenly, Kel gave a massive shudder. It was so prolonged; it seemed almost as if she were having a fit. The force was lifting her feet of the bed. All at once, the shuddering stopped. Neal and Alanna let out breaths they didn't know they were holding. Then they went to check the vitals. Kel wasn't breathing. Neal was starting to feel a strong sense of déjà vu. When they had brought Kel in, she had felt cold and clammy, and her breathing was ragged, just like it had been when he found her with Anders. Dom and Harold had told him about the episode with the King Brown snake after they had gotten back. Apparently Kel had stopped breathing then, too. It seemed that every major injury Kel had had in the past eight years, she was re-living, causing her body – now far away from her mind – to go through similar processes. Unbeknownst to him, Kel's mind was going through her memories to 'get rid of unnecessary waste of space' and living through every memory to decide I it were worth keeping. Such brain functions could have serious side effects such as mental damage when she woke up. Neal wouldn't let himself believe that she mightn't wake up. And he still hadn't had the chance to finish his custard tart.