The Village Girl

Chapter Thirty One - [Seetha]

Everyone was talking about how Aaryan and his men had completely ousted the Lord in the West. Quite a few of the villagers were praising him, though some others were a little fearful. Apparently the Western Lord had a strong control of his border which protected us from invaders.

Though I was hearing this, I was a little surprised. If he had such great control over his border, why were those rebels able to attack us a year ago?

Anyways, I didn't really care so much. I was just happy Aaryan was safe and whatever fighting was happening was over and he would be back soon.

As the days passed, I was spending a lot of time with Maadu and her baby because my whole family was busy preparing for the annual temple festival. Once a year, our village would have a grand celebration that would last a total of twenty days to thank the gods for the harvest.

It was a lot of work preparing as our village temple was really a tiny shrine, so every year the builders of the village would get together and put together a lovely building to cover our tiny shrine for the purpose of the festival.

So yes, my whole family was busy. My father and brothers were helping out with the building, and my mother and sister-in-laws were busy doing pretty much everything else... weaving garlands, sewing multiple extravagant silk sari's into a smaller ones for the goddess statue in the shrine to wear for every day of the festival, and even helping to paint the structures that the men were building.

Of course, I could not be that helpful, except for maybe the garland part. But again, whenever I joined, so did the ten soldiers that Aaryan left behind, and I was well aware that the presence of these men was nerve wracking for everyone else. So instead, I stayed home with Maadu.

I was bringing her food and taking her for short walks, just like I used to. I didn't usually go too far, mostly because though I was thrilled to see old friends, it was always strange to have those soldiers following close behind me at all times.

Also, I was still quite pregnant.

So, for the most part, I stayed near home.

The guards who served me were friendly. They were often quite appreciative when I made them tea, and they seemed to quite enjoy my mother's cooking. Sometimes, I was able to convince a few of them to leave and help the men work on getting ready for the festival, and other times, when they knew I wanted some space, they would stay back a little.

And I appreciated that... knowing well that they were taking risks when doing that.

I couldn't blame them for fearing Aaryan, especially after the spectacle that Aaryan made with the guards that let Aarun into my room.

So while my family was out working, the guards still remained close by as I brushed Erumai while he and Maadu ate. After finishing, I went inside, made all of the guards tea as they spent the whole day working and the sun was beginning to set. The men thanked me before taking the tea from me and sitting at my porch as I returned to check if Maadu had finished eating her own dinner.

It was rather humorous to see ten large, burly men sitting around talking and drinking a small cup of tea. So after waiting for them to finish, I informed them that I would be taking my cows for a walk. They were fine with that, though five of them joined me, giving me my space. At some point, they started to talk to me, a few of them telling me that my family was kind and it reminded them of their own families.

To that, I was rather surprised.

I forgot that many of these men were once people like me. They were just people who dropped everything to serve the country. For some reason, that reminder made me like them a little more.

After taking Maadu and her naughty baby for a short walk, I returned her to their little stable as night arrived. My whole family had returned home, but I wanted to make sure Maadu was settled into her home with her baby before I left, so I sent the guards in for dinner as I finished up with my cows.

Maadu was an excellent mother. She was constantly hovering over her baby, who had grown quite a lot, and I smiled as she waited for Erumai to get into his stall first before she stepped in after him.

My father had told me that Erumai was quite the troublesome little one. He wasn't in the mood to work the farm just yet, unless of course, Maadu was nearby. If Maadu was working, then he would work too.

I chuckled to myself, imagining Maadu as a strict and scary mother.

After shutting the stall for the night, I turned to head back to my home, but just as I stepped away, I felt water begin to trickle between my legs.

I stopped breathing, putting my hands on my belly.

I lifted up the skirt of my sari, seeing drops of water on the floor of the barn. "Oh..."

My water broke.

Maadu began mooing rather loudly behind me, as if she knew what was going on, while I tried not to panic.

I had watched all my sister-in-laws go through labour and I knew that the water breaking did not necessarily mean the baby was right around the corner. I may have a few hours left.

But of course, my reasoning did not really help me.

I waddled out of the stable and towards my home. "Ma!" I shouted, trying to catch my breath. "The baby's coming!"

Chaos ensued as soon as those words left my mouth.