Ancient Things We Hold

Chapter 26

Raised to the Light

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Aldwyn wasted no time in running for Nava. She took her time in coming, though, for she was in the middle of delivering another child. Therefore, he lingered outside moving his weight from foot to foot in a desperation for her to hurry. Meanwhile, Tamar looped her arms around Hodaya's shoulders and paced with her around the room.

Once Nava could come, he was still impatient. She was old and worn out from her previous delivery. Furthermore, she saw no need to hurry seeing as Hodaya was a young, relatively healthy girl. Due to this, she walked while he rushed off ahead, often looking back over his shoulder with clenching hands to see where she was. Oh, how he wished she would hurry!

When he got near to their home, a voice shouted out to him. "It is Hodaya's time, then?" it said. Whilst still rushing on, he looked towards the voice and saw Levona leaning out of the window as usual with a nonchalant smile.

"We think so!" he said back. He thought she said something else, but he was already pulling the door open and darting up the stairs by the time she did, meaning her voice was just a shadow. His footsteps echoed loudly in the enclosed space, made louder when he jumped onto the landing and burst into their home.

When Nava arrived, she closed the bedroom door. "Don't come in, Reb Aldwyn; the birthing room is no place for a man," she instructed. He stood in the middle of the floor staring with a frown. His movements were still unsettled, showing he was not content to just wait around. Noticing this, she added, "Wipe that worried look off your face, as well. She is in perfectly capable hands,"

For hours, he heard barely no sound from the bedroom but pacing and heavy breaths. Every now and then, his head became heavy and dropped down to his chest, but he soon sprung it back up again by the worry that flashed in his mind.

It had become so dark. Candles flickered in the bedroom, sending waves of light darting beneath the door. He watched them to distract himself but it did little to do so, especially when the candles became redundant by the growing glow of the dawn. An entire night had been spent in agonising quiet. However, as the sun started to become stronger again, so did the burning within Hodaya, which was when she started to cry out for the first time.

They were broken cries. He couldn't imagine the pain she was in, nor whether it was more or less than the average. As the noises continued to emit from the room, the realisation that he knew absolutely nothing came upon him. Was it normal to sound like that, to shout in such agony? All he could do to calm down was remind himself that as long as she was strong enough to cry like that, she was truly alive.

Aldwyn prayed for her through that horrid hour in which her agony was made vocal, stopping only when silence came. He thought he heard the cries of a child. Relief washed over him, but when he rushed to the door, it was still locked and her cries continued. He had thought it would open to him once it was over.

Was it over? And if so, why did the walls continue to echo? Something must have gone wrong, he panicked. The childbirth was so painful that it had hurt her somehow.

Finally the door unlocked. Tamar emerged, her dress drenched in blood and her face pale. In her hand was a small bowl. "Dispose of this please. And could you fetch us some more boiled water?" she said. She passed the bowl into his hands, then rushed back inside so quickly that he didn't have to chance to ask her what on earth was happening.