Warnings: Child cruelty and offscreen child death.

Chapter 2: Arrival

When Kallamar made the announcement, the temple rejoiced, and both were showered with praise and congratulations. While he thrived on the attention – and devotion – Mala almost found it to be too much. But she was grateful to be so well-received.

She was afforded a new title and new robes befitting her status. From that day forward she was Mother Mala. "It's uh… not the most original title," Kallamar confessed. "But, well… I couldn't really think of anything else…"

She smiled. "It's fine. I don't have anything else to suggest either."

"Yes… Anyway. There are some preparations to be made ahead of their arrival. Foremost of which is where you are going to be laying your eggs."

"I had assumed I would making use of one of the brooding pools."

"A reasonable assumption, Mala. But you must think ahead. The brooding pools would not be a suitable location to hold the Rite of Sickness, unless we were to transport them somewhere else, once they were old enough to complete the Rite."

"Oh," she replied. "Of course…" She hadn't thought about that. "Did you have somewhere in mind?"

"The only other bodies of water in the temple that meet the same requirements are the swimming pools, so I have had them closed for the day to allow you to determine their suitability."

"I see." She smiled. "One would think you have done this before, Lord Kallamar."

He blinked. "What… what makes you say that…? They were the only other choice, so I…" he trailed off and stared at her. "You are teasing me."

"Forgive me, I-"

"Mala." She looked up sharply and with mild alarm. He had narrowed his eyes, and his expression was not amused. "Do not mistake this arrangement as an invitation to familiarity."

She swallowed and bowed her head in chastisement. "Y-yes of course, Lord Kallamar, my apologies. It will not happen again."

"See that it doesn't." Then he sighed and shook his head. "Now, then as I was saying. Come with me, and select the pool that is most suitable."

"As you command, my Lord." She fell in behind him and mentally kicked herself. What had she been thinking?

The swimming pools were pools of water of varying salinity and warmth. For her eggs, Mala would require a body of saltwater. She stripped off her robes and waded into the first of the saltwater pools. "This one is too warm," she said. The next was still too warm but cooler than the first. The one after that was almost right. She waded into the forth. "This one," she said. "This one is right."

"Then I will have this one prepared."

Next she wrote to her parents informing them of the development. The journey to Flotsam Village was ten day's travel, so her mother would not be present to assist her with the laying, as it would take at least that length of time for the letter to make it to the village. So she had made arrangements for her mother's role to be substituted by a close friend she had made in the healer's wing when she had first started working there.

The close friend in question was Anthalyn, a plump, middle-aged, red-brown otter, who served as the temple's head midwife for the mammalian followers. As her services in this capacity were not required all year around, she was also an experienced healer, one of the senior healers in the temple in fact. A warm and nurturing individual, she took in every new healer under her wing until they had settled in, and had taken a particular shine to Mala, as Mala had to her, thus their friendship had lasted beyond Mala's first year.

Anthalyn hugged her gently, forgoing her usual squeeze. "Oh, Mala. When I heard the announcement this morning I was so happy for you."

"Thank you, Anthalyn. And thank you for agreeing to be a stand in for Mother."

"Of course, of course. What exactly do you need me to do?"

"I just need the company. And someone to sing to me while I am laying my eggs."

"Is that all?"

She smiled. "Yes. It's not like delivering a baby, it doesn't hurt. And there are very rarely complications."

Anthalyn nodded. "I'll do my best."

Over the next week, Mala returned to the swimming pool everyday to bathe in its waters so that she would return there again when the time came. She could not go anywhere in the temple without receiving well-wishes and congratulations and on occasion gifts for her future children. It was during such an exchange that she zoned out, her gaze becoming unfocused as she stared off into the distance.

"Mala?" Anthalyn asked, turning to face her.

"… Water…" She replied distantly.

"Pardon?"

"… I need… to get to water…" She began to walk away towards the swimming area is if in a trance. Anthalyn's eyes widened as she realised that this was it. It was time.

"Is… is everything all right?" Asked the follower.

Anthalyn turned away, automatically slipping into midwife mode. "You there," she instructed. "Inform Lord Kallamar that Mala is in… that Mala is laying her eggs."

Their eyes widened. "Y-yes… of course. At once." They hurried away, and Anthalyn hurried to catch up with Mala.

Anthalyn helped her slip out of her robes and waded into the water with her. Mala had talked her through what was going to happen ahead of time, so she wasn't left floundering and wondering what she was supposed to do. She laid back, with Anthalyn supporting her upper body, so that she was floating in the water. Her breathing began to accelerate. "Breathe, Mala. Breathe," she soothed automatically, before quickly recalling that Mala had asked her to sing. So she started to sing and some of the tension was eased from Mala's body. Anthalyn would later remark that this was one of, if not the easiest delivery she had attended in her entire career, as all she had really had to do was sing for about an hour or two and that was it.

A bed had been set up next to the pool, so Anthalyn scooped up Mala's exhausted body into her arms, carried her over to the bed to set her down gently on it. "Rest now, poppet," she told her huskily, her throat aching from all the singing she had done. Mala's eyes slid closed and she drifted off to sleep as Anthalyn pulled the covers up to her chin, and smiled down at her fondly. Kallamar arrived shortly afterwards. Anthalyn's eyes widened and she bowed. "Lord Kallamar," she rasped. She moved to wake Mala from her slumber but he stopped her with a raised hand.

"No… Let her rest. I do not require her assistance for this."

She cleared her throat as she inclined her head. "As you wish, Lord Kallamar."

He waded into the pool and stooped to examine the eggs. At the shallow end of the pool were ten translucent egg capsules containing ten eggs and an eleventh that held just six. So one hundred and six in total. This certainly paled in comparison to the impressive clutches of his sister, Heket. But one hundred and six demigod offspring was still far too great a number to leave uncorrected. The Rite of Sickness would proceed after all. He took his measurements, jotted them down in his notebook and turned to leave. His gaze fell on Mala's sleeping form and his expression softened. "… Anthalyn, tell me. Did… did everything go smoothly?"

"Yes, my Lord," she replied. "Though I have no prior experience with this type of delivery, everything proceeded as expected. That is to say, she did not need me to assist her in a way she had not asked for already."

He nodded. "Good. Should she desire to eat when she awakens, the kitchen is at her disposal."

"I'll let her know."

"I will be returning tomorrow to take more measurements. Should… should my presence be required sooner for whatever reason…"

"Of course, Lord Kallamar, you will be notified at once." He inclined his head and took his leave, sweeping out of the nursery.

Over the next few weeks, the eggs swelled to a size far larger than normal as the embryos developed within. Kallamar was fascinated by this; So already the size difference between his children and their mortal peers was readily apparent.

As he took their measurements again, a thought occurred to him. "Mala…"

"Yes, my Lord?"

"… At some point in their development, my niblings become able to see and hear my sister… I was… wondering… if the same was true of ours."

"Yes," she replied easily. "They can see us about a week before hatching. And they can hear us at two."

He blinked and stared at her. "How… do you know this?"

"This is knowledge that is passed down from parent to child either on request, or when younger siblings come into the picture," she replied.

"But how do they know? How did they determine this?"

She smiled. "It's quite simple. I will show you." She gently took one of the egg capsules into one of her hands and wiggled the other in front of one of the eggs, close enough to almost be touching it and moved it about this way and that. The embryo did not respond. "If they could see that, they would've followed my movements, so they are not yet a week away from hatching." When she snapped her fingers next to it the reaction was quite different. The embryo twitched and turned to face where the sound had come from, as did the embryos in the eggs above and below, and she smiled as a warmth bloomed in her chest at the sight. "So you see… with this we can determine that they are two weeks from hatching."

Kallamar stared at the eggs with wide eyes. "Of course," he uttered, slapping a hand to his forehead. It was such a simple test. And so obvious too. "I was vastly overthinking things… I will be certain to pass this onto my sister, I'm sure she'll be delighted to try this on her own eggs when the time comes."

A week later, after Kallamar had taken their measurements, he wiggled his fingers in front of the eggs to test their response. Just as Mala had said they shifted to follow the movement. He swallowed as he felt something stir within his chest at the sight, a feeling that was completely new to him. Was this how his sister felt when interacting with her children for the first time? Was this how a parent felt?

Over the next week their colours began to solidify. Most were turquoise like him, some were blue like Mala, but one, curiously was white. Kallamar stared at the embryo in fascination. This was either a leucistic variation, or albinism, but he would have to wait until they had hatched before he would find out which. How exciting!

At the end of the week, as the day of their arrival grew imminent Mala moved out of her room to watch over them full time. She checked on them before turning in for the night to discover that they had all begun actively moving within their eggs, and her heart quickened in anticipation. Tomorrow they would hatch! She slept fitfully that night due to the excitement and when she awoke the next morning, checking on them was the first thing she did. As she waded into the pool she stopped dead in her tracks and sucked in a breath. A paralarva – the first in fact – was squirming out of their egg, their little face scrunched up in effort and concentration. They popped free and she caught them as they started to sink to the pool floor, their energy completely spent. They would've been the size of her thumb if they were a normal child but this one was the size of her hand. They had Kallamar's ears and multiple tentacles, and a single pair of stubs that would grow out to become horns that they inherited from her. Mala's vision blurred as tears filled her eyes and streamed down her face. She hugged the paralarva to her chest and kissed their forehead, choking back sobs of happiness. "Hello, my little one." They were asleep, and thus unresponsive, so she gently laid them on the pool floor to rest. She waded out of the water, as her thoughts turned to Kallamar. He would want to be informed of the development at once of course, and so she grabbed her robes and dressed as she ran. At this hour he would be in his throne room taking followers' requests, so that was where she headed. All eyes turned to her when she burst in. Kallamar went wide eyed at the tears drying on her face and rose in alarm. "Mala, what-?"

"They're hatching!"

He blinked. "… What?"

"They're hatching!"

"They're hatching?" He repeated as his court buzzed in excitement and delight.

"Yes!"

He expelled a sigh. For a brief but intense moment he had thought her tears were a herald of disaster and panic had erupted in his chest. "Then-then requests are on hold. I must attend to this immediately and will return momentarily."

Two more had hatched and were resting on the pool floor and a third was squirming free of their egg by the time they arrived. Mala caught them as they sank and gently placed them in Kallamar's waiting hand. He raised the hand to his face and his eyes widened. Oh no. No, no, they were Too Small. Even smaller than Heket's tadpoles. And even though he had known this objectively from taking their measurements on a daily basis and up to this point, somehow the fact had only now become a reality now that he was holding them in his hand. His vision blurred as his eyes watered fiercely and then tears were streaming down his face. "Mala… they're so small…"

She stifled her laughter, lest he thought she was laughing at him. "I know," she replied. "But they'd be even smaller if they were regular children."

"Oh?" He wiped the tears from his eyes with his free hand. "How much so?"

"They should be about the size of my thumb."

He gently tipped the sleeping paralarva out of his hand and onto the pool floor next to their siblings, and then used that hand to make an estimation. "I see," he uttered. "So they're just less than three times larger than normal." His eyes widened. "Oh. That reminds me. I must… I must take their measurements." He looked around for his tools and notebook in confusion. "Where… where are my tools?"

"You came straight here, Lord Kallamar," she told him.

He blinked. "Oh. Yes… So I did. I will… I will be right back." He sank into a pool of darkness, then re-emerged from another moments later with his notebook and measuring tools in hand. Once their measurements were taken and recorded he turned to Mala. "I will return again tomorrow morning to assist you with feeding them breakfast." He turned his gaze on them. "I will also need to begin preparing them for what's ahead. Preparing them for the Rite of Sickness."

"What exactly will be happening during the Rite of Sickness, Lord Kallamar?" She asked.

"You are to treat it as though it were a mass sickness, only I will be its cause."

Mala's expression became one of understanding. "I see. Then I know what I must do. Although, I will need some assistance with caring for them all."

"But of course, Mala, I had not planned for you to tend to them alone. My senior healers will be assisting."

"Thank you, Lord Kallamar."

"If there is nothing else, then I will take my leave."

Mala waded into the pool the next morning to check on them as she always did. "Mama!" The cry went up, and she was soon swarmed by the paralarvae, now all hatched and up and about. "Mama! Mama!"

Mala's eyes watered all over again, and she took into her arms as many as she was physically able to. "Hello, my little ones."

They gazed back with adoring faces. "Mama." Kallamar appeared shortly after, leading a procession of followers pushing trolleys laden with trays of steam-cooked fish, enough to feed one hundred and six hungry little mouths. He dismissed them and then joined Mala at the pool. Before he could say anything the paralarvae cried out. "Papa!" And swarmed the water before him. "Papa! Papa!"

He blinked and stared down at them. "Ah… so you do recognise me." He smiled. "Hello my… my children." It felt so weird to say 'children' instead of 'niblings'. "Are you ready for breakfast?"

"Foood!" They chorused.

"I will take that as a yes." So he and Mala worked together to feed them. Each paralarva was given a whole fish which they took with their tiny little hands and swam away to eat.

He kept an eye out for the white one as they were being fed and eventually spotted them amongst the paralarvae waiting to be fed. They giggled as he scooped them up into his hand and brought the hand to his face to examine them. Their eyes were normal, which meant they were leucistic. How curious. "Mala, do you have leucism in your family by any chance?"

"Leucism?" She repeated, puzzled.

He showed her the paralarva. "Mama," they said and smiled up at her.

She blinked. "Oh…" She took them into her arms and smiled back. "Why, yes… I believe one of my great uncles was this colour, though I never met him."

"I see. Well. Now you have a leucistic child."

She kissed the paralarva on their forehead and they giggled. "Then you are my little snowflake." She gave them a fish and let them swim away to eat. A couple of fish were left over, at which they exchanged looks. "I was expecting this," she said before Kallamar could say anything. "It would seem a couple of them have perished overnight."

He nodded. "Yes. It is the same with my niblings. If you could retrieve their bodies for me…"

"Of course."

He smiled when she brought them over and gently placed the bodies on his outstretched hand. "Excellent. My first autopsies. As I said, I will not force you to attend, but I will ask… So… Do you wish to attend?"

Mala swallowed. "Thank you for the offer, Lord Kallamar, but I… I must decline. I'm not exactly squeamish but I… I just patch people up. And I'd prefer people's insides to stay on their inside."

He chuckled. "Very well. Then I will ask Grelison to assist me." He turned to leave.

"Lord Kallamar?"

He turned back, blinking in surprise. "Yes?"

"I understand that you will be compiling a report on their development once you have finished. May I… may I read it? When you're done?"

Kallamar blinked and then smiled as he was pleased by her interest. "Yes of course. I will have a suitable copy made for you and any other interested parties to read."

She inclined her head in gratitude. "Thank you."

He looked at the bodies in his hand, the bodies of their children and then to her. "Mala, I am curious to know… Why do you not object to this particular field of study? I have found it can be quite a contentious subject, even amongst my followers."

She nodded absently. "Yes, I'm sure it is. But it's quite simple. Injuries can affect someone's insides, and so it is important to understand these insides in order to be able to heal them. It simply cannot be done without opening someone up, so of course you would only do this on the dead. But in our case, our children are unique, so I would say that this understanding is even more important, and so I have no objections to you performing your autopsies on them."

Kallamar's smiled widened as she spoke. "Yes, yes, exactly! Well said." He placed a hand on her head and his expression and tone both softened as he said. "I knew I chose right when I chose you, Mala." She got the impression that he wasn't just taking about their arrangement, and she dipped her head as her face flushed a brilliant tomato red. "Th-thank you, Lord Kallamar," she mumbled in reply. "It was… it was my honour…"

He returned to help her with feeding them lunch and dinner, and everyday he would preach to them as he would his followers. To his surprise the paralarvae generated devotion, a surprise that he took to Heket. "Yes, my children generate devotion as tadpoles, but as they mature their divine blood grows in strength, and so they will come to consume it when they are older."

Unlike his sister's tadpoles, his paralarvae's appetites remained completely manageable, so that even with one hundred and six children he had no problem with keeping them all fed. So when they had grown big enough to crowd the swimming pool with their size and numbers, they were simply distributed among the other pools. And since he could afford to wait, he planned to commence the Rite when they were old enough to leave the water.

"Lord Kallamar, they will very soon be ready to leave the water," Mala told him one day.

"Then it is time," he replied simply. He moved to the centre of the room where they could all see him and they looked to him with adoring and unsuspecting faces. Mala watched as he raised his arms aloft and energy streamed from his body and into all of theirs. They cried out all at once as the sickness rapidly took hold, and they sank to the pool floor.

"Mamaa," the ones closest to her wailed and she sighed.

"It is as your father has said, my little ones, only the strongest of you will survive. So rest now and save your strength."

Kallamar summoned his senior healers, of which Anthalyn was one and after they were all inoculated against the illness, the work began. They worked in teams, tending to one pool each, with Anthalyn working with Mala. Over the next week, day after day, the bodies of the deceased were removed from the pools for Kallamar to take away.

"Lord Kallamar." He turned at the call of his name. "Look!" Mala held a paralarva in her arms for Kallamar to assess their condition. They had opened their eyes! And the sickness was loosening its hold! They were strong. They would survive. But he would not count his blessings just yet, as there still existed the possibility that they could take a turn for the worst.

Regardless he smiled. "Put them in the recovery pool."

Nine more joined their sibling in recovery and a tenth was being moved in when one of the healers tending to the pool suddenly shouted. "Lord Kallamar! Look!"

The paralarva had recovered enough to rise from the pool floor and swim to the pool's edge where they were preparing themselves to emerge from the water. "Mother…" They mumbled. "Father…"

As several moved to intercept, Kallamar commanded them. "No. I will deal with this." He gently scooped them up into his hands and smiled down at them. "You are almost well, or are well enough that I am convinced of your strength, so I see no reason to let your suffering continue." He cured the paralarva with a touch, banishing what was left of the sickness from their body. "And henceforth, you will be Kalinor, my eldest son." The newly named Kalinor stared back speechless, and the smile slipped off his face a little. "Are you not grateful, Kalinor, my son?"

Kalinor blinked lethargically. "… I am not ungrateful, Father," he croaked. "I am tired… and very hungry…"

"Oh… Yes… of course… Then let us get you some food." He swept out of the room with Kalinor in hand, leaving the rest to Mala and his senior healers.

Seven more were moved into recovery until there was finally just a single paralarva left in all of the sick pools. The one he had identified as leucistic. They showed no sign of recovering yet no sign of worsening either. "Will you not cure them of the sickness, Lord Kallamar?" Mala asked.

He shook his head. "They must show me they are strong," he replied.

So she continued to tend to them. "You can fight this, my little snowflake," she told them. "You can survive this if you show him you're strong." She lowered her voice to add. "I already have a name for you, you know."

"What would that be?"

Mala jumped and spun to face him, preparing to be chastised. "L-Lord Kallamar…" But Kallamar's expression was simply curious. "It's uh… Coral, my Lord."

"Coral?" He repeated with a puzzled blink.

"Yes," she replied. "The coral forests of my home are this colour. So I thought… well… I suppose I was just thinking of home."

"I see…" He glanced down at the paralarva in her arms. "I am curious to know, Mala. Why does this one's survival matter to you so much?"

Mala dropped her gaze to the paralarva as well. "You probably don't remember this, as I'm sure you have cured so many. But when I was a little girl, I came down with a terrible illness. Because I survived the journey to your temple, and because of our devotion, you decided to cure that illness and spare me from death."

Kallamar's eyes widened as some pieces fell into place. "… I see…"

"They've been fighting for so long that I suppose they've begun to remind me of me. Though I was not the same age they are now."

He stared down at the paralarva once more and felt something within him yield. "Very well," he sighed. "If they open their eyes, then I will consider that a sign of strength and I will cure them."

Mala looked up with wide, watery eyes. "Truly?" She clasped her hands together in gratitude. "Oh, thank you, Lord Kallamar-"

He held up a hand. "Do not thank me yet, Mala. Their survival still remains to be seen."

She bowed her in concession. "Y-yes… of course."

Days passed and they finally opened their eyes. "Very well." He took them in hand and cured them with a touch. "Then henceforth you are Coral, my youngest daughter."