Entry tags:

chapter1, matriarch domain

Chapter 1

Bearing a child was hard enough, but bearing a child without the benefit of the other, more experienced women of your Clan around you, was downright nearly impossible.


It was bad enough that she had to do this once on her own, but she was carrying Twins and that made the birthing twice as painful, twice as lonely, despite the company of the midwife from the nearby village, without her mother at her side.

"You must push", the midwife commanded, and so Angharad did, bringing her Firstborn Daughter into the world with a great deal of pain, blood and tears. She lay back, panting, wishing it was over, while the midwife swaddled the baby, after cutting the cord, and laid it in the basket near the hearth. She felt another contraction starting, as the woman resumed her position at her feet. "Again", she said, "One more good push should do it."

It felt as if she were being wrenched apart, this agonizing push to bring forth the second Twin. She bit her lip, trying not to scream, trying to be stronger than the Clan women she'd known who wailed, cried and ranted during their birthing experiences. She almost succeeded.

With a wild cry, she pushed her son out into the light. The midwife took him up, cut the cord, cleaned him, swaddled and laid him near his sister. She then turned her attention to the new mother on the bed, and all that pertained to the after birthing, especially of Twins who were both very healthy and strong.

"How is she?" Angharad demanded, "Let me see my Daughter."

The midwife, wisely keeping her thoughts to herself, brought the baby to her. She checked on the boy, who seemed to be fast asleep already, and tidied up the rest of the room.

"Will you be alright?"she asked Angharad,as she moved the basket with the other baby in it to the near side of the bed, "I will come back in the morning to check on you."

"Fine, I will be fine, we will be fine." Angharad said, her eyes fixed on her tiny daughter, "Thank you."

The midwife nodded, and gently closed the door behind her as she slipped out.

* * * * * * *

The past two weeks had slipped by.

Skyana, and her Twin, Skye, were growing swiftly. Angharad dreaded having to return to work in the morning, knowing that she had to entrust the care , the future of the Clan, of her Heir and First Daughter to a stranger in the form of a nanny from the village while she was gone. It was times like these that she felt the loss of her people even more keenly. But she had no real choice. They had to eat, they had to have heat and clothing, especially, as growing babies often do, since the Twins were rapidly outgrowing everything she had been able to salvage.



It had taken the better part of the pregnancy to return the Matriarch Domain, as well as the Males Compound, back to its former glory. But now, with two babies to care for, and her finances running extremely low, she'd had no choice but to return to work. The restaurant needed her, almost as much as her children, and her desire to become a Master Chef compelled her to go.

Angharad sighed, and thumbed through the phone book. One draw back to being a member of an insular Clan, was that you really didn't know many people outside of your own family, extended or otherwise. Finding a good nanny wasn't going to be easy.

Finding the listings, she closed her eyes and pointed. Whoever her finger hit would be who she called first. She opened her eyes as her finger rested on the page. Lainey Toyonaga. Ok, she thought, You get the call and first shot, as she picked up the phone.

Several hours later, she greeted Lainey at the door. She looked nice enough, if a bit.. odd.

"'Thank you for working us into your, what I presume must be, busy schedule", she said as she shook Lainey's hand, "I do apologize for the short notice."

"Not at all, my dear!", Lainey said, warmly, "I have free nights, and you fit in perfectly."



As she surveyed the great room, she said, "Now then, you go off to work and leave the worrying to me. They will be well taken care of."

Angharad had her misgivings, a feeling in her gut about this woman, but she had no choice. They needed the money, and so she headed out to work for the first time in two weeks.

She spared a fond smile for the gnome figurines that her mother had so loved when she was alive as she walked past them to her vehicle. They always brought a smile to her face and reminded her of fond memories. She was glad she had rebuilt the strong fence that surrounded them. They may not be valuable, per se, but to her, they were priceless.

As she drove off, she shrugged away her bad feelings towards the nanny. ' Ok, I'll give her a week', she thought, 'If these feelings don't diminish or go away, I'll find someone else.'

The restaurant was extremely busy that night and she found herself not thinking about what might or might not be happening back at the Domain, as she concentrated on getting dish after dish of Lime-seared Prawns out to the hungry customers. Her feet hurt, and she was sweating profusely by the time her Waitressing shift had ended.

"Go home, " her boss said, as she dragged herself into the back, "It's near enough to closing and you've just had Twins, after all. We'll talk about getting you a raise and a promotion tomorrow before your shift starts."


She nodded tiredly, his words not fully sinking in, not bothering to remind him on that it was two weeks ago that she'd had the Twins, and had still managed to work a regular shift while pregnant and repairing the Domain and Compound. She was tired after all, and missing her Daughter dearly. The odd feelings were back now, as well, since she wasn't so busy concentrating on her customers' orders.

The drive home was rather uneventful. As she pulled into the drive, all seemed well, tranquil even. She wondered if her fears were unfounded.

Sighing deeply, she got out and locked the vehicle securely before heading inside. A gentle snow had just started to fall. She hadn't realized it was Winter already. She'd lost complete track of the seasons, being so preoccupied lately.

Lainey greeted her at the door, "You must be worn out from your first day back, you poor thing," she said, "Dinner is on the table, go eat. The babies have been fed and are in their cribs. I'll just let myself out."

Angharad nodded tiredly, "Thank you, Lainey, I'll check their diapers before I head to bed. See you tomorrow evening then."

As the nanny waved goodbye, Angharad shut the door securely, locking it behind her. Dinner smelled delightful and her stomach rumbled in agreement. Filet Mignon, she saw, 'At least she can cook well', she thought.

No sooner had she sat down and taken more than a single bite, when there was an angry crying from upstairs in the nursery. One of the Twins was awake and demanding attention. she sighed and pushed herself away from the table. This was one of the 'joys' of having children- as babies, they demanded nearly every moment of your attention.

Hurrying upstairs, the crying got louder, as the other Twin was invariably woken by the first. Now she had two screaming, unhappy babies on her hands. Opening the door to the nursery, lovingly restored to the way she remembered it from her childhood, she saw why one had woken up and was now throwing such a tantrum. Angharad smiled ruefully, she'd throw a fit too if she had to lay in a dirty diaper.



'Of course, it would be Skye, ' she thought, 'Boys always were more trouble than they were worth, which wasn't much really.', as she picked him up out of his crib.
Quickly and efficiently, she changed his diaper, cleaned him up, and placed him back in his crib. Turning, she looked at Skyana, her Firstborn Daughter and Heir, who looked back at her with uncanny intelligence in those newborn gray eyes of hers.

Angharad smiled warmly, and bent to pick her Daughter up, cuddling her closely, smelling the wondrous scent that was unique to only babies. She kissed her on the nose and laid her back in her crib, tucking her in securely, then doing the same, as an after thought, for the boy Twin.

Turning out the main lights, she made sure the gentle mobile light in the center of the room was still on, then closed the door softly. If she was lucky, they would both sleep through most of the rest of the night before waking, hungry and demanding attention. Then she headed back down the stairs to her now cold dinner.

Crossing the great room, she glanced out the windows to see how much snow had accumulated. A sight she was not expecting greeted her eyes. There, on the front walk, was the nanny, grinning wickedly and rubbing her hands together greedily.



Chapter 2