The Black Magician Trilogy [alternate ending]

The High Lord - Epilogue 2 (Part 4)

   A month and a half had passed since Sonea's disastrous attempt at being an Ichani for the training of the Guild's Magicians and she was incredibly tired, uncomfortable, and completely ready for the baby to arrive.

   Since the incident, she had been put on strict bed rest for a week with minimal exercise after that for the remainder of her pregnancy.  At first she had been glad that she didn't have to walk around the Guild grounds due to the fact that everyone now knew about her pregnancy and she didn't want everyone staring at her.  

   Now, she was just glad she didn't have to walk far at all because despite being able to heal away the pain in her back and ankles, the baby was very active and heavy which caused her to waddle everywhere.

   Akkarin had been wonderful.  Sonea had insisted that she keep up with her studies until the baby was born so he had collected books for her from the Magician's library, and had her most used books printed or rewritten so that she could have her own copies.  He also helped her walk around the garden when the sun was shining, and had given her massages when the day had been particularly strenuous.

   For the past few days she had been having preparatory contractions, which Vinara assured her were pretty common for women in the last few weeks of pregnancy, but they had just made her more uncomfortable than usual.

   With two weeks left until her due date, Jonna, Ranel, and her cousins were set to move into one of the other apartments tomorrow so that Jonna would be here to help with the birth and the care of the baby for the first few weeks.  All the required furniture had been moved in and everything was tidy and clean.

   Sonea was looking forward to having her family close by again, even if it was only for a month or two.  She hadn't been able to see them for such a long period of time since before she threw that stone at Fergun.  She was especially looking forward to spending some time getting to know her cousins, whom she had only seen on occasion since they were born, and for Akkarin to get to know her family as well.

   It was currently early morning and Akkarin was getting ready to go and interview a few Guild Magicians over in the Magician's library since his book on black magic instruction was now complete.

  'What have you got planned today, Sonea?'  He asked, looking over at her as she lay in bed watching him put on his robes.  'Nothing too strenuous I hope.'

   'Once I manage to get up I'll probably make sure everything is in order next door, then come back and do some research on fungal infections and how to cure them both with and without magical healing.'

   He smiles his half smile, a teasing glint in his eyes. 'Sounds interesting.'

   Sonea chucked a pillow at him.  'It is interesting!  It is a very common infection among the dwells, so understanding how it spreads can be effective in teaching them how to avoid getting numerous infections.'

   'I stand corrected,' he replied, placing the pillow back on the bed and gently kissing her on the forehead.  'I love you, Sonea.  You are so incredibly smart and you care so much for everyone.  I can't wait to see what direction you steer the Guild in.  They won't know what's hit them.'

   Sonea laughed.  'With the extra recruitment from the city, the Guild is going to be changing no matter what I do.  However, I really hope that whatever I do will be good for both the Guild and the city.'

   'Well, I know you're already making great strides in both areas.  Now,' he gently placed a hand on Sonea's protruding stomach and leaned in close to it, 'you be good for your mother today, little one.  No kicking or wiggling too much.  Let her have some peace, okay?'