Abalyes Voltaris

The Child

Things were starting to get tense. Gallaniara was heavily pregnant now and was maybe a week or two away from giving birth. Thalleous was starting to show up less and less, which put more pressure on me to be there for Gallaniara when the time came.

A week and a half later, I was out looking for herbs to make a pain killer for Gallaniara. I couldn't find a single one. I started to panic. I heard a horse in the distance and payed no attention to who was riding it. Eventually I gave up and came running back to our camp. Thalleous was there, leaning on a tree.
"What's happened now?" I asked with urgency and dread in my voice. Thalleous didn't respond right away.
"I can't believe I just did that," he almost whispered to himself.
"What did you do?"
"Nothing severe I hope." I noticed he wasn't looking the best.
"Are you okay?"
"I'll live. I'm just focusing on keeping my stomach down." I looked at him, confused.
"Why?"
"I helped Gallaniara." I paled as much as an Ardoni could and ran off to Gallaniara. She was laying on the ground, blood everywhere. I rushed over to her and checked her pulse. It was still beating and she was still breathing. I looked over next to her and there was a small bundle of blankets. I carefully looked and saw a female Ardoni. She had redder markings than Gallaniara, but the marking on her small face, it was blue, Thalleous' blue. She aslo had horns of Thalleous' blue. I couldn't tell what her eye colour was because she was sleeping peacefully. I left the girl where she was and got to cleaning the place. Once I had finished, Thalleous came back to the camp.
"I suppose you'd be fine with that because of your training to be a healer?" He asked me.
"I wouldn't know. It's hard to tell if you haven't experienced it," I replied.
"Very true." We were silent for a couple of minutes. "What are you and Gallaniara going to do now?"
"I don't really know. We have to keep going at some point." I carefully picked up the newborn girl and cradled her in my arms. "Thalleous, you should be one of the first to hold her." I gently handed the girl over to Thalleous and he took her gingerly. "You're not going to drop her." He studied at his daughter's face and smiled.
"I honestly thought I'd never have a kid. All of our futures are changed now."

About a day later, Gallaniara woke up.
"How you feeling sleepy head?" I jokingly asked her.
"Surprisingly good. Where's the kid?" She asked. "Oh, nevermind." She noticed I was holding her.
"Do you have a name for her?" Gallaniara thought for about a minute.
"No, I can't think of one. Why don't you name her?"
"Really?"
"Well, Thalleous isn't here and I've got an idea for her last name."
"What about... Kayla?"
"Kayla Voltaris-Sendaris. I like it." I smiled and carefully handed Kayla over to Gallaniara. She cradled her in her arms and held her close.
"How are we going to travel now?"
"Don't worry about that, we'll manage."