fandomania | The Adventure continues... (Reply)

I discovered several things after leaving Gudrun's place. 1) With the sling Donal made, I could walk and feed Jayzon and still retain my modesty. 2) We had to stop several times to change the baby, which meant we didn't get as far as we should have. 3) Resting only one week after childbirth wasn't nearly long enough to give me back my energy for walking so far.

Even with our changing stops, I was completely exhausted by mid-afternoon. I could see concern in Donal's face and even Orlando seemed worried. But I shrugged them off, telling them that I was okay and to leave me alone. I certainly don't remember anything about the last mile or two of our journey that day. It took all of my concentration to keep moving my feet. When Jayzon began to wail, Donal called a changing break. I must have swayed, because I vaguely remember Donal putting his arms around me and then everything went black.

I awoke sometime later. I am not sure when it was, but it seemed like dusk. Jayzon was crying. Donal was sitting next to me trying to rock the baby to sleep and failing.

"Give him to me," I told Donal. "He is hungry."

"You are awake."

"Yes. For the moment."

Donal handed the baby to me. Without thinking, I opened my dress and started to feed Jayzon. Within minutes, his rhythmic suckling put me back to sleep. I am not sure, but I think that this happened several more times that night.

I finally awoke after the sun rose. The children and the hatchlings were off a little ways away playing a game with Orlando. Their giggles and squeals were a beautiful sound to my ears.

Our eggs:

Our hatchlings:

When I got back from the latrine area, Jayzon was hungry again. I took him and, turning my back on Donal, I fed the baby.

"You don't have to do that. I promise not to watch."

"It isn't that I don't want you to watch. The problem is that I want you to. But I am a married woman and I am not supposed to want someone other than my husband to see me naked."

There was an awkward silence between us that seemed to last forever. I finally broke it when I said, "Thank you for taking care of the baby last night. I was more tired than I thought I was going to be."

"It wasn't a problem. I think I am becoming quite adept at baby changing. And Jayzon and I have come to an understanding about burping after his meal. I looked him right in the eye and said to him that, in some cultures, burping was a form of thanking the cook for an excellent meal. He understood me very well because as soon as I started patting his back, he gave out quite a large belch."

I laughed weakly and then bagan to cry.

Donal looked nonplussed.

"I should have insisted we stay there longer. You aren't ready to travel yet. If you push yourself like this, you are going to hurt yourself. You, then, wouldn't be able to be a good mother to Jayzon and your children."

"If I had stayed any longer at that house, I wouldn't be able to remain a good wife to my husband."

Right then, the children and the hatchlings came noisily back into camp, shouting "Mommy's awake now!" and began clamoring for my attention.