And The Goddess Did Rejoice (van)

[Khiara]

52nd Day of Summer, evening

It was a cool summer night. The stars twinkled in a clear black sky and a faint breeze tickled its way through the grasslands. In the depths of the nomad city, people slept and children dreamed. Except perhaps one.

Khiara lay amidst the pillows and fine furs of her shared bed with Vanator, Kashik and the child they had brought to this world. Her eyes stared into the darkness, their violet hue barely visible in the low light of the lamps. Around her head, rivlets of ebony hair spread out like a gold and violet shimmering halo, falling like silk across the pillows. A slight smile pulled at the corner of her lips, and her hand gently touched her stomach.

Illness, foul and crippling had gripped the vantha for days since Kavala's arrival. The vomitting had caused violent cramps and her back ached from being hunched over in agony. In the end, Khiara had confined herself to bed, calling on a healer when she felt no better. Goddess, had she eaten something poison? Was she dying?

As the healer examined her, the golden eyed girl had clutched a bucket close and dabbed her own forehead with a cool cloth. As the medicine man gave her the diagnosis, there was little Khiara could do but cry. Kashik and Vanator had been visiting with family, and had yet to hear the news.

And so it was, Khiara waited for her husband, with tears now dried.

[Vanator]

Vanator strolled through the encampments of Endrykas, feeling a bit refreshed. He had found Emi at the archery range, and spending time with his friend had given the Denusk a respite from the tumultuous and emotional events that had rippled through his family in the past two tendays. The arrival of his sister and his...Bolden, had brought both happiness and discord. Kashik remained at her mother's, and Khiara had fallen ill suddenly. The few bells shooting arrows and talking with Emi helped put things back in perspective. Now, his first order of business was to return to the pavilion and see how his vanthan wife fared. Ducking into the large tent, Van laid aside his bow and quiver. Khiara still laid upon their bedpile and her husband moved to kneel at her side. He could tell she did not feel well, her olive skin a bit more pale, but she still somehow looked beautiful, and contentment reflected in her eyes. His hand moved to brush across her forehead and into her mane of silky dark hair. "How do you feel my love?" His tone gentle and sincere.

[Khiara]

The young woman turned her head slightly as Vanator walked through the opening of the pavilion. As he put away his bow and moved to kneel beside her, the vantha found herself marvelling at how he glowed. The drykas radiated like the sunlight had been absorbed into his golden skin, or he did to Khiara in the low lights. She had always believe the sun had imbued Himself into the man's very soul. As his warm fingers stroked across her brow and into her raven locks, the girls violet eyes drank in his own, filling her vision with him. Her small smile turned thoughtful.

"I feel good, really good. Vanator, I love you so much. Do you have any idea? I mean really? Truly, I wouldn't be here without your help. Or Kashik's. Or Kavala's. This whole family has given me more than I could ever hope to repay. And I am grateful for that every single day of my life." The tears had come again, threatening to spill over. Khiara took a breath and looked away, shaking her head.

"Goddess, I'm sorry." Blinking away the tears, the vantha smiled at Vanator again. She felt weak from the illness, tired and sore. The muscles in her torso from front to back ached and when she moved they burned. Before he left, the healer had given her a light tea of ginger root, peppermint, red raspberry leaf and willow bark. This was to settle her sickness somewhat, and to ease the ache in her muscles. It had helped a little, but still she felt unwell. Lifting her hand from her stomach, the young brunette took her husbands hand in hers, skin cool and slightly clammy. Her small fingers intertwined with his as she looked at him. The first half of summer had been a horrible roller-coaster - for both of them. Ronan, Bolden, Kavala..and now this. It seemed as though the Denusk pavilion bore a curse, as silly as that would sound out loud.

"Did you have a good day?" The violet eyed girl asked softly, irises swirling lazily like smoke across a lowering sun. It was too little she spoke to him like this, the drykas so busy with his responsibilities that sometimes they seemed to walk in different worlds. What time they had together, she had been depressed or they had been strained. Khiara missed him.

[Vanator]

The husband could see his wife was emotionally moved, her words of affection and gratitude reflected in liquid violet eyes, glistening with pending tears. The drykas settled next to Khiara as she took his hands in hers. The vanthan's hands were always cool, but now they were softer and tacky, as if they had been soaking in cold water. She may feel better, but she was still not well. Vanator set aside the concerns that racked up in a list of tasks and chores in his head, taking the moment to focus on his second wife. One hand slipped from hers, his arm then encircling her shoulders and pulling her to him gently. "I had taken my new bow out to the range to work with it, and met up with Emi out there." Emizal Siverden had been a sort of gods' send to the married trio. The same age as Kashik and Khiara, she had befriended both women. Zivatar had taken a shine to the Diamond Clan woman as well, and was quite content to stay in her care on occasion when Vanator and his wives could get away for short periods together. Emi had also become a good friend to Van, offering somewhat objective opinions and counsel to the older husband regarding his younger wives. They all benefited from Emi as someone outside the family. "Now, mother said a healer has been here to see you. Are you alright? What did she say?" Vanator had been concerned for Khiara's health. She was not a native of the Sea of Grass, and he feared some indigenous affliction, to which the drykas were immune, may have infected his northern wife. He had not expressed the depth of his concerns to her, not wanting to further upset her.

[Khiara]

Khiara's eyes lit up a little as Vanator mentioned Emi. A friend of the family, and a trusted caretaker for the baby when the time arose, the vantha was fond of the drykas. She nodded a little.

"I'm pleased to hear it. Emi is a good friend, and besides...a little practice never hurts anything." Shifting so she could be pulled closer, the young brunette relished in his arm around her shoulders, laying gently on his chest and breathing in the rich scent of the sun and grass that eminated from the man. He revealed that his mother had told him about the healer, and Khiara couldn't help but shake her head. The matriach of the Denusk family was quick to send word. At least in this instance the sunset eyed girl held some things to tell Vanator before his mother did.

"Yes, a healer visited. We chatted, and he gave me something to settle the nausea. Tea, very pleasent actually. He said that..." Emotion caught her voice, constricting her throat and pausing what she had to say. A small soft sob rose from her lips, before the young woman caught herself.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't cry but...Goddess, I can't help it." Leaning away slightly, the vantha's violet eyes met his own rich brown ones, a slight tremble to her lip even as a gentle smile came to her face.

"Vanator, he said I'm pregnant."

[Vanator]

Vanator settled further into the furs and cushions, permitting himself a few chimes to be with Khiara. She, in turn, nestled closer to him, the softness of her form and the clean scent of her hair bringing a sense of satisfaction and contentment to the moment. For suffering illness, Khiara's mood was bright, and he hoped the treatments the healer left for her would cure her. The sound of her lilting accent pleased him, until it hitched. The vanthan's demeanor altered, as if a restraint upon her emotions had given way, the hint of a sob whimpering in her throat. His anticipating eyes met hers, but the gold hue of distress was not present in her irises, instead the violet color of happiness lit Khiara's eyes. A soft smile mirrored her joy on her full lips. Pregnant. Khiara's face lit up as if the sun had suddenly peeked from a cloudbank. Realization struck at Vanator's understanding, instantly filling him with elation. His grin broke into a laughing smile, his arms encircling his young wife and pulling her close, his lips pressing against hers. Then he pulled away far enough to gaze into her gleaming eyes. "Pregnant? We are going to have a baby! Oh gods Khiara, I am so happy!" Van knew she had fretted terribly over the fact that the had not conceived a child in almost a year of marriage. He had faith, however, that they would have a child eventually. "I told you, I told you!" Van gently pressed his hand to Khiara's belly. His emotions moved at the feel of the firm plane of her tummy, hardened by living on the plains. It would soon grow plump with his child, and his dream of continuing the Denusk pavilion's next generation continued to blossom. His hand then cupped her cheeks and he kissed her again. "You will make a wonderful mother my love, you have blessed me and my family!" As he looked into her olive-hued face, he believed she did truly glow.

[Khiara]

Khiara couldn't help but laugh as he hugged her tightly, wiping the tears of joy from her cheeks. It was so silly to cry, but so many emotions filled the girl. Relief, elation, curosity (why now and not before?), sadness for her family not to be able to see their grandchild, and a deeply held sorrow that would never completly dissapear for Eliac and these things he would never experiance. Still, it was happiness that won overall.

Looking down at the hand pressed to the still flat plane of her stomach, the vantha laughed softly.

"Just think, it looks like nothing, but inside there is a tiny new life growing, the Goddess breathing her light into a little soul - maybe new maybe old." A sudden wave of nausea caught the young woman and with a hard swallow she laughed and sighed.

"I just never thought it would make me so sick. The Healer said he's seen women so ill they thought they were dying and Goddess, I almost felt like that. But he said it should pass too, eventually. Maybe another month." Grinning, she glanced up at the drykas again.

"I should start showing by then." Reaching down to place her hand on his over her stomach, Khiara closed her eyes and relished in the moment together. A small smile pulled on her lips.

"I wonder what color our child's eyes will be." She asked softly, unwaivering in her faith of her Goddess and unquestioning whether she would bless the child with her Light. Khiara had never seen a mixed blood vantha before, but she believed that Morwen's Touch would encompass all that bore her bloodline. Regardless of parentage.

[Vanator]

Vanator beamed at his vanthan wife, elated by the news, and still reeling from her revelation. She may have never looked as beautiful to him, even as her color ashened and her full lips paled as the latest bout of nausea washed over her. The husband eased his wife back down to her bed, brushing aside the long dark locks from her face. Van still marveled at the colors that her mane contained, subtle hints of viloet and gold that appeared in a sheen when the lighting hit her just right. And her eyes. Unique among his family, probably in all Endrykas, were the eyes of Khiara Denusk. The most captivating were the liquid-like transitions between the violet, gold and lavender hues that her irises displayed as her emotions shifted. "I pray that our child has your eyes, though it does give one's mate an advantage." Van quipped with a grin, referring to the fact that Khiara could not hide her feelings from him, her eyes always gave her away. The drykas all too well recalled Kashik's pregnancy, her time of morning sickness, and the stages of the pregnancy she endured. His hand went again to rest lightly on Khiara's abdomen, but paused, remembering her upset stomach. Instead he took her hand in his. Khiara and Kashik were very different people, and Van wondered how his northern wife would handle the pregnancy, not always easy in the Sea of Grass. "You will be adorable with a full womb." He teased. "I presume if mother knows, and she knows that I know...the whole pavilion must know by now!" Vanator leaned down to brush a kiss across his wife's lips. "There will be much celebrating, Kashik will see to that! Now, what can I get for you, some water, bread to nibble on?" Vanator also remembered the helplessness he often felt when Kashik was pregnant, and his sometime comical efforts to prove useful, which amused or irritated Kash as often as it had helped.