Responsibility Ch. 25

With those thoughts in her head slowly calming her sickened body, Rahela managed to nod and say, "Your Majesty is wise, but I have little authority to confirm such a thing. Unless a physician will agree, I refuse to do so."

The Emperor put a hand on her shoulder, and there were a couple of pats too. "Don't fret, Little Empress. You'll have the finest care. A mother of my child should want for nothing."

Rahela reached up to move some of her long hair away from her throat so the cool air could reach that skin a bit better. She looked down at her lap and sighed at her nearly tangled skirts. "If it wouldn't be bothersome to Your Majesty, I'll have a respite with a bowl of hot broth."

The Emperor pushed himself back up to a standing position. Rahela noted how his tunic's hem swished and bounced. "You'll have more than broth," he said. "I'll send the finest meal for the most delicate new mothers." He bent down to rub and scratch her scalp with his fingers. Then he started walking on. "I shouldn't play with you while you're so weak. Rest well."

Rahela groaned into one of her palms and tried to recover from her own overwhelming emotions.

Perhaps an hour or so later, the chambermaids had returned. The ladies and maid-in-waiting too. Rahela was sitting in her bed, still occasionally thinking she needed to vomit but never quite needing the wooden bucket that had been placed near the mattress for her. Gabi was kneeling on the mattress, near Rahela, and she was chatty.

"You're with child. How magical! You've brought even more honor to Testoa. You should be so pleased. I'm pleased. Mother would also be pleased if she were here. Are you too unwell? Do you need more broth? More bread? More water?"

A meal had been arranged on a small table of wood, which was over Rahela's lap. A warm, chicken based broth with little pieces of meat. Two small loaves of bread. Gently flavored water. Dried fruits. And a cup of bitter liquid that was meant to be supplemental medicine that encouraged a peaceful pregnancy, but was otherwise harmless if there was no pregnancy. Rahela was absolutely certain there wasn't anything harmful in the cup.

Lifting up that cup, preparing herself for an unpleasant sip, Rahela sighed and told Gabi, "We don't know. If these symptoms become more regular, and more surface as time passes, then we'll have a physician examine me."

Happily fiddling with one of her long, blonde braids, Gabi smiled and said, "I'd love to be an aunt, but once I've graduated from my fostering, I won't be able to see the child often. Won't you please let me visit you at times?"

After a short gulp, which made Rahela cringe and suck at the her mouth's ceiling, she said to her little sister, "Assuming the pregnancy isn't cruelly ended, I survive giving birth, and the child survives, I'll summon you whenever I can."

Something of a frown threatening her face, Gabi asked, "Is the risk so high? How scary."

"Motherhood is the most necessary, and yet the most dangerous thing in this world." Rahela set her cup down and tore a piece of bread away. "His Majesty might participate in a ritual at a birth goddess' temple with hopes of finally having a firmly established heir."

"At the least," Gabi said as she shifted her position, "he'll probably donate money. I think he wants this heir much more than anyone else, even his mother."

Rahela nodded and put her piece of bread into her mouth. Soft and appropriately chewy. It had also a very soothing flavor too. It might help anyone's upset stomach, unless that particular anyone had been poisoned or injured.

Some more time went on. Gabi talked and talked. She was so cheerful. Rahela's stomach calmed after a time, and she no longer thought she was about to vomit.

She assumed she might've been a bit ill from an old chunk of meat or a rotting egg. To be honest, though, Rahela couldn't imagine when she would've done that. All the food she'd eaten had been, at least to her knowledge, perfectly safe for consumption. The only rotting material would be purposely fermented and still wonderfully good for the body.

To Rahela's surprise, and many peoples' congratulations, Rahela was feeling unwell the next morning and a bit of the afternoon too. She said more time should pass. More symptoms might arise. Who knew?

Pehaps the Emperor did know.

He certainly looked at her like he knew. Almost all the time he was near her. Those excited looks, those proud looks, those, "I'm right, you're wrong, and it's wonderful," looks.

Was it truly so wonderful?

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