Jeanne G'Fellers - No Sister of Mine by Jeanne G'Fellers (reading tree TXT) 📗

for hundreds of thousands of passes. If they can do it, Taelachs can, too, probably better.

Belsas and Chandrey were still tying their loose robes about their waists when they burst into the apartment. “Why isn’t she in the birthing suite?” Belsas moved to the side so Chandrey could take Tatra’s place at LaRenna’s head. The healer joined Krell for her own examination as the urge to push overwhelmed LaRenna again.

“Atta girl, wren bird!” encouraged Krell. “Count it out. One, two—”

All present lent their support by counting along. “Three, four—”

“FIVESIXSEVENEIGHTNINETEN!” LaRenna moaned. “It doesn’t help!”

“There wasn’t time to take her to the med unit, Grandmaster Belsas,” said Tatra. “It happened too rapidly. The head crowned about the time they got this far.”

“Tatra!” Krell jerked the healer’s attention back to the immediate matter. “The head is in the canal. Is that what I think?”

“The cord!” Tatra reached to untangle the cord, but it was pulled too tightly around the infant’s throat.

“Midwife’s here.” Firman’s smile faded when he saw the despair wrenching across Tatra’s slender face.

“Hurry up,” begged Chandrey. “There’s a problem.” LaRenna wriggled in her arms while clutching the hand Krell extended.

Firman returned a few seconds later with the midwife bent across his shoulder. “Here she is!”

The midwife struggled out of his grasp and slid from her perch. “Put me down, young man, before I give you the spanking a spoiled child deserves. What could be so urgent that you need to abduct me in the dark of night?” She dropped her wrap when she saw what was happening. “Merciful heavens! The Taelach are finally breeding.” Her hands were warm on LaRenna’s quivering leg and her voice was unmistakably familiar. “Hello, young woman, we meet again.”

“Nyla Smalls.” LaRenna smiled weakly. “I was hoping I’d see you again some day. Never dreamed it would be like this.”

“Me neither, child. Now let’s see what we have here.” Nyla examined her charge but looked unconcerned about the tightly wrapped cord. “I need the assistance of all three of you stronger types. One of you hold her upper body and the other two hold her legs. This baby needs air.”

Krell took her position at LaRenna’s head, while Belsas and Firman, faces turned respectfully away, each steadied a leg. “All right, mother.” Nyla rubbed cleanser into her wrinkled palms. “Next contraction don’t push. We must free the cord.”

LaRenna took an apprehensive breath as the urge to push resumed. Nyla looked straight at her as she inserted her hands to pull at the cord. LaRenna sobbed over the extra pressure that invaded her.

“I know it’s painful, child, but we must, it’s almost, yes, there it is. It’s free!” Nyla wiped her hands on a towel. “I believe that strapping babe is ready to come out. Everyone except the father, no, guardian, needs to leave.” Firman readily fled the room, but Belsas and Chandrey lingered, unwilling to go until Nyla asked them a second time. “Please, Grandmaster Taelach, you and your lady must leave. Things will go better if you wait in another place. This is a moment for the parents alone. My presence is medical only.”

The elders left without further complaint. It wouldn’t do to argue with the midwife. She appeared to have matters well in hand.

“It’s time.” Nyla gave LaRenna an experienced smile. “With the next one, you will push harder than you ever thought possible.” She pointed to Tatra’s emergency kit, motioning for the healer to spread it in front of her. She selected a small blade and doused it in cleanser.

LaRenna gasped when the pressure became acute. She had to get rid of it, the sooner the better. It was ripping her in half. Krell drew against her, supporting her by wrapping under LaRenna’s arms as she prodded her for an open connection. “Let me in, wren bird.” A nauseating wash of pain in Krell’s groin and back signified the open channel. So this was what labor was like. No wonder most Autlach women opted for the relief of drugs.

“Are you linked?” Tatra watched Nyla intently, wondering what she intended to do with the blade. “Krell?”

“Mother help me,” whispered Krell in a high pitch. “But this is intense.”

“Inform me when you feel the start of another contraction.” Nyla wished Autlach fathers could obtain the understanding Krell was. “Either of you.” She was careful to keep the blade from LaRenna’s sight. “Is the male who rushed outside the birth father?”

“No,” Tatra replied before Krell managed to say something less than civil on the matter. “This child is pure Taelach. I’ll explain how after this is over.” Nyla’s expression became puzzled, but she left the matter alone as LaRenna began to shake.

“Now?” asked Nyla, knife ready.

“NOW!” Krell could feel the pressure and sting of the cold blade as it sliced into LaRenna’s undercarriage. The baby slid out of the birth canal to the shoulders. Nyla cleared the infant’s nose and mouth, explaining her actions to Tatra as she worked. “When the child is this large”—she cleared the baby’s eyes—“the cut keeps tearing to a minimum, reduces infection, and makes healing faster.”

“I see,” replied Tatra. “This is all so new.”

“And almost over. All right, LaRenna, make this contraction your last. Deliver the shoulders and it will be finished. Help her, guardian. She’s tired. This labor has been hard and fast.”

Krell nodded and mustered her strength. One more time, Wren bird. Let’s bring our child into the world. LaRenna remained silent but squeezed the arms cradling her. Together, they concentrated on the effort. There was a shot of squelching agony then a sudden release.

“The baby,” whispered LaRenna. “Let us see her.”

“Soon.” Nyla knotted then cut the cord and rubbed the child with a towel, trying to stimulate a breathing response in the still, blue child. “Come on, cry for Nyla.” She massaged the infant vigorously until it gasped, skin soon glowing the ruddy pink of new life as its whimper grew to an angry squall. “There we are.” Nyla sighed. “Get mad and cry. It’s healthy for you.