[Infinity Manor] And Make It Double

by **Gemma Parker** on March 28th, 2019, 12:39 pm

Gemma watched as the life faded from Madeira's eyes, and for a moment, she was sure that the mother of the child in her arms had passed on. But Yonatan never lost his focus.

"Don't stop." He almost growled. Gemma continued to pray, tears now streaming down her face. She channeled every drop of power her goddess allowed into healing Madeira, but there was no wound she could see. There was blood, of course, but she didn't know why. It was just there. She had never witnessed an event like this, and instead of the excitement she thought she was supposed to feel at ushering new life into the world, all she felt was fear.

"Please don't let me lose her. Please don't let me lose her." She repeated, not knowing what else to pray. She didn't even realize she'd slipped back into Common.

The building around her seemed to have a mind of its own with all the wind and rain. Something slammed behind and above. The cottage rocked. Was it an earthquake? But then something caught on fire behind her, flashing up into a blaze. But when Gemma looked, the fire was contained in the fire place. Wind howled through the chimney, hurting Gemma's ears and causing the babe in her arms to cry out, adding to the cacophony. The wind whipped the windows open and the rain defied nature, flying almost horizontally as it raged at them with its frigid claws. What was happening? Her mind instantly flashed back to the cave she had escaped only two days earlier. The water had acted strange, pushing against itself and moving almost with a mind of its own. And now something similar was happening here.

Gemma wanted to clutch her hands to her ears and fall to the floor, but the baby in her arms kept her standing as she clenched her eyes shut and let out a silent scream, bending over Madeira's unconscious and trembling body as she tried to shield the baby from the water with her body.

Then suddenly, it was over. Madeira coughed and gurgled, and almost as if she had spoken in some strange language, commanding the storm to abate, everything within the cottage went quiet. Well, everything except for the baby.

"Madeira!" Gemma exclaimed in joy. She thanked her goddess for bringing Madeira back, and looked all around as things returned to normal in the cottage.

The new mother was gifted a second wind. Gemma was sure it was Rak'keli's doing. The second birth was still hard, but compared to the insanity of the first, this one seemed... normal. Almost easy by comparison.

Yonatan never stopped. Once the second child was out, he tied and clipped the cord that tethered her to the mother, and expertly cleaned the child while also clearing her airway. Gemma took note, now that things were calmer. She would have to learn how to do all this in case she was called on to aid again in the process.

While Yonatan took the boy from her to lay on the mother's chest, he motioned Gemma over to apply pressure over Madeira's bleeding genitals. She wondered for a moment if Madeira minded, but when she saw her, she could tell that her attention was focused on her children.

Twins. Crazy.

She applied pressure, watching the woman's face for any negative reaction. She grimaced against the pain of her recently relocated shoulder and braced the arm against her body awkwardly as she tried her best to complete her orders through the pain. She then began to massage her belly as instructed, praying as the glowing hand circled slowly.

Yonatan seemed content with her performance for now and left the cottage to yell at the Shinya outside. Gemma had forgotten that they were still there. They reminded her of the bodies she had seen outside.

"I'm a mother..." Gemma heard Madeira try to speak through the fatigue.

"You're the strongest woman I've ever met." Gemma said genuinely, still massaging and applying pressure.

"How's your hand?" She asked. She knew there wasn't much time before this quiet was broken once more, but she would keep tending to Madeira for as long as she could.

by **Madeira Dusk** on March 29th, 2019, 11:54 pm

Outside, under the sound of the pouring rain, there was a rattling, thumping sound as Yonatan and the Shinya readied something heavy outside. But inside, with the babies nursing and the two women breathing sighs of relief, it was almost peaceful. With Gemma's constant prayers even Madeira's pain seemed like a muted, far-away thing. Like the madness that had happened, and will happen, were both stepping back to give the four of them space to recover.

"It doesn't hurt much anymore", Madeira answered the healers question, trying to keep the drunken slur out of her voice. She didn't know if that was because of the healing herbs and the wrapping, or if her nerves had burned away. Either seemed possible at this point, but hardly worth worrying about. It would scar, and badly, she knew. But under that scar, carved into her body like a brand, would be a mark like Gemma had. She had been claimed, just like the healer. But instead of helping to keep the living alive, it would help keep the dead, dead. The irony made her laugh, a bright bubble of noise bursting warped and mangled from her blistered lips.

"Your Goddess... would be proud of you, Gemma. You helped bring two lives into the world, and saved mine." she placed her stiff, bandaged palm over the hand that the Konti had pressed to her belly. "Thank you."

And in the quiet, with just the rain drumming against the windows, the cold stone and the silent Architectrix around them, Madeira found herself telling this Konti exactly what happened. Completely unprompted, and the healer busy worrying about more present things, Madeira still couldn't help herself. She had to tell somebody. No matter how insane she sounded, someone had to know, and she wanted it to be the girl who had saved her life twice.

So she told the story. She started from the beginning, doing her best to be heard and understood through her mumbling, with Death appearing in her living room flanked by her jackals. Though she was sure the healer wouldn't believe her, she even told her about her sentient house, and how it dug the moat and barricaded itself against the beast. She talked about Jomi, and how he bravely fooled the Desolate One with her, and Emma, who had run to get help. She talked about the Shinya who had died trying to save her, and finally the Eiyon mark she earned.

The only thing she didn't confess, the one thing she kept to herself, to hopefully carry to the grave with her, was that the priest was still alive. She couldn't kill it. Nobody could. And it could return to full power the moment someone dropped soulmist into its ashes. Nobody could know she had it. Else Uldr's cult could end up knocking on her door, or the god itself could come seeking its servant. The Shinya would take it from her, or the Twele, and if one of their own were to mishandle it, or think to control it, it would take more than just five lives.

Nobody could know. She would bottle it and will have to keep it safe, keep it close, forever.

"Savis doesn't know what happened. That woman who lives here", she concluded, just as Yonatan returned, shaking his soaked hair like a wet dog. "She'll kill me herself. She and death don't get along", she laughed weakly, gurgling in the fluid collecting in her throat.

"There will be no talk of death here", the man proclaimed boldly, completely misreading the situation. "The Shinya have brought a covered wagon. It'll be a tight fit, but you'll be dry and off your feet as we bring you to the Catholicon. Gemma, you'll ride in the back with her and the babies."

With that, two Shinya with hard, determined faces entered with a stretcher. They removed Madeira from the table as gentle as they could and covered her and the children with their white shawls as they brought them out into the rain. In the clearing with them was an Okomo drawn cart with wooden wheels and an uncomfortably low roof. Madeira understood immediately that this thing was originally meant to cart the dead back to the Shinya headquarters. The Spiritist wanted to ask if this meant the dead were still in the moat, but couldn't bring herself to voice the words.

They slid her into the prepared cart, making sure she and the babies were warm and covered, and made a space next to her for Gemma to sit and watch the three of them. The movement and the sudden drop in temperature caused the babies to fuss, but as one Shinya woman reached in to take them from Madeira the broken woman just held them tighter.

"No, no, please, I've got them."

Once everyone was settled and accounted for, they began to move, rumbling down the long path to the front gate.

I'm coming right back, she spoke softly in her mind to the ruin of a manor dwindling behind them. Once they fix me I'll fix you, too.

As she sunk into an exhausted sleep, leaning on Gemma and holding her newborn children in her arms, she felt the soft press of the defeated Architectrix in her mind, wishing her good-bye.

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