Expedition Dipuma

Chapter 22: Tim

After Mike lifted the man, who I later discovered that his name is Dimitri, I noticed that everyone but Rosie left.  When I looked into her eyes, the shock and anxiety of everything melted away into a smile on my face. There's a hint of playfulness in her eyes as a frown transformed into a smirk. "Hey." I said, in a suave whisper. She giggled softly, just enough for me to hear her. "Shall I escort you, Madame, to your throne room?" I ask with a serious tone but I have a wide grin on my face. I offered my arm out for her to hold on to and she laughed as she came around to hook her arm with mine. She rested  on my shoulder. Then we walked slowly, as if lulled by sleep with our slow motion, until the castle came into view. I suddenly stopped, not entirely enough to startle her, but enough for her to take notice and look up at me. I was looking at the hole above our heads as she asked "What’s wrong? Why did we stop?" What she didn't see is the single rose in my unoccupied hand. In one swift motion I let go of her, brought the rose into view, and bent on one knee. "Rosie," I bore my heart and soul in every word I said. She brought her hands to her face to cover her mouth and nose as I watched her eyes spring with tears of joy. "I have always loved you since the day we met as children, only I never knew exactly how much until I understood what love means. I want to wake up in the morning and see the soft golden hue of your eyes and fall asleep in your embrace. I want to become a good father for your children and help them become strong warriors. All that I know is that I want to marry you. What about you, my queen, do you want to marry me?" My speech felt like it went on for a long while, and the shock filled silence seemed to be dragging time on for hours until I heard her muttering something. "What?" I asked gently. "Yes!" She practically shouted as she jumped into my arms and locked lips with me. Then I realized that we didn't plant the rose yet. I gently backed her out of my arms and said "Wait! We have to plant the rose!" Her face flashed a trace of high anxiety. "Oh no! Quick! Let’s plant it and kiss again!" We do and when we kiss, it's a deeper, delicious kiss that is passionate and smells like the dirt on our hands. She seemed to have forgotten that her hands were dirty and I could feel the dirt between the feathers on my chest and cheek. I chuckled a little as she broke away and only then did she see the mess that she made on me. She's a bit embarrassed but then we both laughed until it felt like our sides and faces were going to break. Rosie let out a longing sigh and spoke up. "Tomorrow, I would like to announce you as the King of Sunyata. Are you prepared for that?" "Yes!" I answered without hesitation and a touch of excitement.
Then I walked her home and went back to the guards house one last time. In the morning I go to find Rosie in her room, but the guard that is at the door is acting kind of strange. "What’s wrong, Karyn?! What happened?!" I hurriedly ask in a hushed tone in case Rosie's still asleep. Karyn stepped closer to me and said "She's not herself, sir! She is throwing things out of anger one moment and then sobbing over something so minor that I wouldn't ever consider sobbing over on a normal day or not. If I may, I suggest that you bring her to her brother immediately!" She sounds so freaked out by what she saw, so I tell her that she's finished with her guard duties for the day. Then I hesitantly open the door. The sight that meets my eyes is strange. I know that she always likes her room especially clean, but this is insane. The blankets and sheets are strewn every witch's direction, the pillows shredded to bits of feathers, and in the midst of it all she is buried in feathers and curled up in a ball, her wings in the open and out stretched in the air. I stealthy stepped closer to her. I softly put my hand on her shoulder and she sprang up out of surprise, then anger, and anxiety quickly filled her expression. Her face suggests that she has been crying for at least a few hours. I slowly, gently brought my hand up to cup her cheek and wipe a tear that rolled down. "Hey, what's the matter?" I asked cautiously. "I don't know how," she gasped, trying so hard to keep from crying again. "I don't know how or why, but I am an emotional wreck and my stomach is in a ton of pain. I don't know what is happening." It's all she could do is to stop crying and she's clutching her stomach. "What about my announcement, about us." She exclaimed, tears streaming down her face. "It's okay, we will do it when you are better." I said, trying to sooth her as she sobbed harder than before. Then, as if she was enraged by my suggestion, she immediately stopped crying, and her expression hardened into anger. "What!?" She quietly spat in my face. "I had everything planned last night! Why would I dare cancel my plans that deem you as my husband!" She was barely an inch from my face and I can feel the splatter of her spit on my face. It takes me aback for a moment at the ferocity of her anger,  the spit that's clotting my feathers, and how swollen her abdomen is. It's almost like she ate three meals per meal time. I pull my hands up slowly and gently grab her shoulders to have her sit back down as I agree with her. "Okay, let me go find your brother to get his opinion on it. It wouldn't be fair if it was just my opinion to base it on." I said slowly backing away as her expression was full of anger, confusion, and she looked dazed. Suddenly, she leaned over the bedside and threw up. I went back over to comfort her, my fingers messaging between her wings on her back. "I will be right back, okay? I'm going to get your brother." She gave me a nod and I quietly left.
As fast as I could, I flew to the healing tree and burst through the door, shouting "Mike! Mike!" "I'm coming." I heard as he slid down the stairs, "What is it my friend?" I panted and said "It's your sister." He froze in his spot and actually made eye contact with me. "My Queen is sick!" I said, raving like a mad man. "Okay, I heard you." He said, putting his hands on my shoulders to calm me down. I took a deep breath, "Sorry, I'm just so worried about her." "I know. Let's go see her, where is she?" "I left her in her room with a guard. I just hope that she didn't scare her away again. We have good training to conceal our fears, but she scared the new guard this morning." I said as we hopped out into the air. "Well, on the bright side of things, she knows not to mess with the queen."Mike chuckled.
As we walked over to her room, Karyn looked calm and on guard. "How is she?" I asked, doing my best to keep anxiety out of my voice and expression. "She's fine. I let Sarah in to assess the situation, and now she's asleep as Sarah is cleaning up the room." I visibly relaxed and hoped that there wasn't going to be any more of what happened earlier. "Thanks a million for coming back to your shift. You are welcome to have the rest of the day off and tomorrow as well." "Thank you, Guān Tim." She gave a slight bow and left. Then we silently opened the door and tiptoed inside. Sarah saw us and finished the last little bit of cleaning. "How is she?" I asked, in a low whisper, to not wake up Rosie. Sarah seemed a tad off, avoiding eye contact as she busied herself with the chore. "It's best if Mike takes a look." That's when she looked at me, her eyes so full of worry as she tried to make it seem like she wasn't worried. My anxiety spiked again at her concern. I turned around to see Mike, with his forehead pressed against Rosie's. I swear that his face turns a shade lighter than his usual blue color. He gently sets her down as my anxiety flares a touch more and I do my best to hide it. "What’s wrong? Why is she acting this way?" I asked, my anxiety dripping through into my voice. He looked at me with a shocked expression and he tried to speak except it's like the words are stuck in his throat. Like he's choking to try to say something. I moved towards him and set my hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, take your time." He nodded and stopped his mouth from gaiping like a fish.
"Rosie is pregnant." He muttered so fast that I almost didn't understand what he said. "Wait, what?!" I said as blood left my face, I bet that I looked pale too now. "Rosie is pregnant!" He said making eye contact with me again. He can tell that I'm confused and said, "I have no idea how but she has a baby growing inside her body! That doesn't make any sense! That's literally so impossible for this kind of situation to occur!" Oh, boy. He's so outraged by this that he starts to pace the room and his voice becomes louder. I tried to quiet him but it was too late, Rosie stirred. She stretched out and yawned. Her eyes fluttered open and looked at us. She saw how worried we were and sat up as she herself wore a look of concern. I swooped down to her level and cupped her face as I said, "Don't worry  my love. Everything is just fine." I really hoped that I sounded convincing but her gaze fell to the floor. "What's the matter?" I asked as I sat on her bed and embraced her. She sighed and said tiredly, "What is happening to me? What are we going to do? I feel so lost." I let her rest her head on my chest as I messaged her back in between her wings and thought for a moment, not entirely sure how to break the news to her. I kissed her forehead and we let go. "You, my love," I started to say hesitantly, "are pregnant with my child." I tried to stay strong for whatever reaction she decided to give, but I was practically trembling on the inside. Her face went through a slew of emotions as she processed what I said, then she decided to let her face construct the expression of surprise. With relative calmness, she spoke. "Okay, that explains a lot. But what are we going to do about it?" She brought her knees up, hugged them, and put her right cheek on her knees. "We will just let it run its course and we can ask our father for advice. He should probably have at least some advice since he grew up around this kind of situation." Mike said matter of factly.
"Okay, but how is this even possible?!" Rosie said, lifting her head, and pressing the palms of her hands on her face, trying to think about it herself. Then she stopped and looked at us like she discovered something. "Wait, I know how! We kissed before we even planted the rose! And we kissed afterwards as well!" Concern etched itself onto her face and I realized the same thing. It took all of us a good five minutes to process the news. "Do you want to go see it?" I finally asked. "Yes, I would." She said calmly and I helped her to her feet. "I'm going to talk with father," Mike said as we got to the door, we turned to look at him. "Maybe he can guide me through the whole process of the situation at hand," he paused for a moment,  "I think that I will bring Sarah with me as well, so that she can learn with me." Rosie nodded and said "Yeah, take her with you. She could use something to keep her mind busy. She has had the worst time losing Jackie."