It wasn't supposed to be this way.
K'ten rested with his elbows on his knees, head in his hands. He could hear his newborn child nearby breathing softly in sleep. He could hear the murmur of the women outside his room. His beloved, his dear Monaca, rested in her bed. There was little that could be done for her. She would pass soon.
It wasn't supposed to be this way! Monaca and he should have had many more years together, they should've gotten to raise the child that had helped to end her! But this was how things were. Too much of her life's blood spent, she'd been too weak to survive for long.
"Katen?" Her voice was weak. K'ten rose and went to her side, holding her hand gently. She was lovely. So very, very lovely. Even now. Her curly dark hair pulled back from her pale face, her dark eyes partially open. A smile slowly played across her lips. "Katen." Her eyes closed and she exhaled slowly.
"Rest." He urged. Monaca sighed. She sounded so tired...
The pair had been born in the same hold, their families close. Katen had always been small and slight for his age, and Monaca had been the loud mouthed young woman who'd protected him from bullies. She had been searched by a dragon when she was fifteen turns old, and Katen had begged his way with them. It had been a surprising change in expectations when Katen had Impressed the young brown Ozumath and Monaca had been left on the sands.
She had eventually aged out, but by then the pair were inseparable. She worked in the caverns, cooking and cleaning, and spent all her spare time with her beloved K'ten. Turns went by and Monaca found herself expecting near her thirtieth naming day. She'd been excited, she'd been overjoyed.
And now this. Now his beloved lay there. She continued to smile but her eyes stayed closed. "Katen. Our child?" She asked weakly. K'ten steeled himself and dropped her hand. He picked the child up out of it's cradle, held it up so that she could see. Her eyes opened after a moment, one weak hand went to stroke it's cheek.
"Oh... Oh Katen. So precious..." She smiled up at him. K'ten felt his heart break as he looked down at her, forcing a smile. "I'll be well soon, and we can.... We can do so much." Her eyes drifted back down to the child. K'ten shifted and sat beside her on the bed, he gently supported her arms so that she could hold her child. "What.... What to name him?"
"I don't know, Beloved." Ozumath hummed in his head, trying to give him support. Monaca rested her head against his firm chest, staring down bleakly at the child.
"I think.... I think.... Marcel." She smiled softly at the little dark bundle. He took after his mother already; none of K'ten's light colors seemed to have leaked through to him. "Marcel. He's so beautiful...." Her eyes closed, she slipped unwillingly back into sleep. K'ten held her and their child, continued to hold her even after he felt her breaths stop, even when she turned cold.
One of the women took the child from his arms, his friend O'ren gently pulled him from his beloved. Numb to the world he allowed himself to be dragged away, to drink out his sorrows.
"The child will go to the creche, of course." He heard himself saying. O'ren nodded and gave him a one armed hug.
It wasn't supposed to be this way.
Jeanemon Community Member 
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