fandomania | The Adventure continues...

For the followers of my story, I wish to inform you that I will be going on vacation Wednesday morning and will be returning the following Monday. Since I will be camping and away from civilization [i.e. the internet and even cell phones] I will not be able to post to this community until I return. Rest assured that once I am back there will be a lot more perilous adventures for Patra.

Please give my hatchlings lots of love and attention while I am gone, so I don't return to dead babies. Thank you and see you Monday!

Our hatchlings:

The Story:

I don’t know where I ran. I just ran. Every once in a while, I would hear my name called in the distance, but I ignored it. When I finally stopped, I was near the lake. It was starting to rain and I realized that I needed to find some shelter. The gazebo was nearby, so I headed to it. When I went inside, the skies opened and it began to pour. The chairs that had been there previously were gone, so I sat on the floor and leaned up against one of the posts. I was tired from my run. I just sat there and watched the rain falling on the lake; watching the patterns that the drops made as they hit the water. I must have sat there for hours; my rear end was starting to get as numb as I felt. When it stopped raining, I would have to head back, before they started sending out search parties.

“Ah. There you are, Patra dear.”

I looked up and saw Pahpey standing in the doorway. He looked very wet.

“Did you get caught in the rain, also, Pahpey?”

“I suppose you could call it that.”

I looked at him quizzically.

“We have been searching for you, Donal, I and a couple of my grandsons.”
“Oh no!” I cried, covering my face with my hands and started to sob.

Pahpey sat down next to me and put his arm around my shoulders. “There, there, my dear! There is no need to cry. I am sure that this is just a misunderstanding between you and Donal. Married couples are always having their squabbles. That doesn’t mean that they don’t love each. It just means that they need to communicate and listen better. I remember some of the squabbles that my wife and I had when we were your age. Looking back at them now, I can see how petty they actually were, but at the time, they seemed very serious. When we finally learned to share our feelings and opinions better and really listen to each other, we stopped fighting so much.”

”Pahpey, this wasn’t a squabble or even a fight. It was a fundamental difference in values. If he gives in to me, I know that he will resent me for making him do so and it will kill the love that he has for me. If I give in to him, I know that it will make me very unhappy. What he wants me to do would be like asking me to cut off my arm or my leg. I will always love him, but it is something that I just cannot do.”

“I am sure, Patra dear, that this matter isn’t that bad. Would you be willing to share this with me? I am a good listener and perhaps I can come up with a compromise solution. I am told I am very good at this.”

I started sobbing harder. “It isn’t that simple, Pahpey!”

“Try me.”

When I was able to calm down, I looked at Pahpey and said, “I just told Donal that I was pregnant again and he told me that he didn’t want it and that we would be better off without it. He wants me to get rid of it. I can’t do it. I just can’t do it. Not only because it is Donal’s baby, which makes me want it all the more, but also because it is, or will be, a living, breathing human being that doesn’t deserve to die just because Donal and I got careless on the wrong day. It is one thing to prevent pregnancy from happening. I am all for that. It is another thing entirely to kill a baby because it is inconvenient. I know that this is a personal choice that others don’t agree with, which I can understand, but if they have the right to make their decisions, I should be allowed to make mine also.”

“And what about when a baby affects and endangers the health of the mother? Should the husband and father be forced to watch his beloved wife suffer and even die because of something that shouldn’t have happened in the first place?” Donal asked quietly, while standing in the doorway of the gazebo.

“Donal? How long have you been standing there?”

“Since ‘fundamental difference in values’.”

“How do you know I will suffer or die because I have this baby? Just because others say it might happen doesn’t mean that it will. Carrying the twins was difficult because they were twins, but I didn’t die in giving them life. How do you know that this will be a difficult pregnancy? From the way I was feeling up until now, I was the happiest I have ever been in a long time. I was feeling so good and so full of life. And do you know that even though I am six weeks gone, I haven’t had a single second of morning sickness yet? With all my other pregnancies, I started getting sick every morning from the fourth week. And here I am, two weeks beyond that and I haven’t gotten sick yet. How do you know that your baby, whom I am carrying inside me right now, will endanger my health or will cause me to die in childbirth? How do you know?”

“I don’t know for positive. But I am unwilling to take that risk. I have almost lost you too many times in the past year or so. I don’t want to take the risk and lose you for good.”

“So you would rather not take that risk and have the woman you supposedly love mourn the loss of her child for the rest of her life?”

“You will get over it. People do. Women have miscarried babies since time immemorial. It happens all the time.”

I was shocked by his attitude. “I am not other people. If you make me kill my baby, you will destroy me. I might still be alive, but I won’t be the same woman you married. You will only have the shell left. Is that what you want?”

“No. No, I don’t. But at the same time, if you were to die having this baby, you will destroy me. You are my life.”

Pahpey sighed. “I can see that the two of you are at an impasse. You two need to calm down and take a deep breath before you say anything more. May I suggest a compromise?”

“Pahpey, please don’t suggest that I have half a baby…”

Pahpey chuckled. “No, my dear, I won’t. How about this? When this blasted rain stops, we go to Suthi and let her know of your condition, Patra, and your concerns, Donal. Let her watch Patra and her health more closely than she might otherwise do. And here is the real compromise. If Suthi feels at any point that your health is being harmed by the baby, you will agree to terminate the pregnancy. If, on the other hand, Patra’s health remains normal and she gives birth to a healthy child, you, Donal, will welcome it into this world with open arms and an open heart. Does that sound agreeable?”

“I will agree if, and only if, my health suffers and I become at risk of dying because of the baby.”

Donal took a deep breath. “That is agreeable to me.” Donal then knelt down next to me and said, “Patra, my love, my life. I have come close to losing you so many times of late, that I don’t want to ever have to face that again. I am sorry if my fears have upset you and made me say harsh words to you. If I could know for absolute certain that you won’t suffer from having my baby, I would be the happiest man on this earth. The thought of you giving me another child both thrills and scares me. I promise you that once this child is born, I will be the best father I can be for it and will love it until the day I die.” I threw my arms around Donal and he held me so close to him as we kissed and cried together.

“I hate to break this up, children,” said Pahpey, “but the rain has stopped for the moment and we should take advantage of it right now.”

And so we left the gazebo and went back to the main house. Aunt Suthi was sent for and brought on board to monitor my health. She set up weekly visits and asked that Donal be present so that he would know everything firsthand.

After several months of weekly visits, Aunt Suthi had to point out to Donal that I was the healthiest expectant mother she had seen in many years. She said that I even glowed in a way that she rarely saw.
Donal calmed down, but we still kept up the scheduled visits.

While in my fourth month, word came to Alfaria that Tuščia Žemė had been invaded by the Georgists and that the capital city, Valdžia, had already fallen. The king and his family and their armies had retreated into the countryside and were battling fiercely with their invaders. The king had sent envoys to the neighboring countries begging for help and aid in defeating the Georgists.

A summit meeting was being called for in a week in Daihor, with the king of Alfaria, the king of Rawn-Devu, the sultan of Mahajatma, the rajah of Pradat-Vashnah, the queen of Freedonia and the ambassador from Tuščia Žemė. It was hoped, according to the rumors that I heard, that a large coalition army would be raised to send the Georgists packing before any further countries were lost to them.

It was interesting to watch the various royal processions go by as the monarchs arrived in Daihor. I was so glad that I was no longer part of any court and had to participate in long and boring ceremonies and receptions. Having to forcibly smile at people you didn’t like and who would betray you at the drop of a hat wasn’t my definition of fun. It brought bad memories of my life in Freedonia, something that I never wanted to repeat again.

However, watching ordinary people get excited at seeing processions and fantasizing about the life style that would allow people to be part of one was truly a different perspective for me. I felt ordinary and free as a result.

It didn’t surprise me that the day after Queen Lynnaria arrived, a royal messenger was sent to the family compound with an invitation to me to attend her in her chambers. The messenger was very startled when I told him that I declined her invitation and was not able to come. I had made sure that Donal, Pahpey and Captain Quinton, the captain of the guards, were aware of what had transpired so that no one would be caught unawares.

The next morning, one of the guards came to Pahpey and then me. Lynnaria was outside the compound gates with a small following of guards. She asked to see me. Donal came in. I asked for their advice. Donal said to reject her, but Pahpey said that it would be polite if we invited her in and at least heard her out, even if we planned on denying her requests. I decided that Pahpey was correct. I asked both of them if they would stay with me the entire time. They assured me they would stick to me like glue. I then told the guard to allow them in, but to only allow her inside the house. I doubted she would acquiesce to that. To my surprise, she did.

We met her in the great hall, Pahpey, Donal and I. I hastily informed them of what protocol would be required of them and what they, as citizens of Alfaria, did or didn’t have to do for a visiting monarch.

We stood at one end of the hall as Lynnaria entered at the other. I gave her the curtsey one gives to an equal and the men gave her polite bows. If we had done so to the king of Alfaria, we would have in trouble for disrespecting the monarch of the land. However, since Lynnaria was my cousin and she was a guest in this country, she had to accept the slight. It was small payback for the rude behavior she displayed the last time she was here.

“Cousin! I am surprised at your visit. You seemed very angry the last time I saw you.”

“Patra, since you wouldn’t come to me, then I had to come to you. Why does it surprise you that I want to visit my closest and only living relative? I apologize for my rude behavior previously. I have no excuse for it.”

“You are forgiven. Come, sit, and tell me what is on your mind?”

“I was hoping, Patra, that we would have a private conversation.”

“This is as private as I wish it to be. Anything you want to say to me, you can say in front of my husband and my grandfather.”

“All right. I am sorry to hear that you were ill recently. So much so that you had to be hospitalized.”

I must have blanched, because Donal stood closer to me and put his arm protectively around me.

I drew myself up as regally as I could and said, “I think that this conversation is at an end.”
“No! Since you gave birth to the direct male heir to the throne of Freedonia, he needs to be with me, so that I can raise him up correctly until he is of age to inherit the throne.”

“What throne? The vanDraco dynasty of Freedonia is no more. And even if you were to win back Freedonia, I wouldn’t give my child to you or anyone else to make his life miserable with the kind of political backbiting and shenanigans that surrounds the monarchy.

“Secondly, even if I were crazy enough to let you have him, because of the circumstances of his conception, he would be at best a bastard and they aren’t allowed to inherit the throne.”

“They would be if there is no other male heir available.”

“I doubt if anyone would accept my son as their king. Who would accept the product of a morally ambiguous man who was willing to rape his own daughter? You disgust me. You are no better than my father. Please leave now, or I will be forced to call the guards and they will through you out.”

“Perhaps I should inform the king of Alfaria about your little secret…?”

“Go ahead. I am sure that he knows already, since I have been found innocent of those charges already by the Alfarian High Court. You are no longer welcome here in my home. Leave now. I am calling the guards, even as we speak.”

Lynnaria wavered for a moment, then turned and left the hall. She and her escort left and returned to the royal palace.

Diplomacy and politics are like a slow moving snail, with the result of nothing of substance was ever agreed upon and little to no help was sent to Tuščia Žemė. That country fell to the Georgists four months later and then the Georgist armies turned towards Alfaria.