Morning Sickness

Though they didn’t make much progress toward Nythe, it was a good night.

During the trek back to the entrance the soldiers had introduced themselves and declared their desire to defect from Luvall. The eldest, Gray, was apparently not named after the thick mane of grey hair on his head; he both looked and acted like a lion who’d grown too old to fight and just wanted to sleep. Roy, who was probably in his mid thirties, had enlisted believing the lies he was told of helping make a 'glorious future' only to find he would be ordered to butcher women and children.

“No 'glorious future' can come from that kind of slaughter," he said with eyes darkened by guilt. "I’ll never clean the blood from my hands. But I will spend the rest of my life trying.”

He had been quietest of the three during their departure of the cave, and also seemed to be the one most seriously affected by the song Sahaela had been singing.

“Well that’s why I want to make it, a place where people can just love and live freely. A real Love Shack,” the youngest of them said with the charming smile of youthful naivete. His name was Beau, though most of the other soldiers had just taken to calling him Boy.

“They’re kind of adorable, aren’t they?” Sahaela asked of Midori with a playful smile. They had just finished sorting through what remained of the ghost’s possessions. Most of them had been ruined through the passage of time, but what had remained in perfect condition was her staff.

Made of a wood that was white as bone and highly polished it shimmered in the firelight, Midori could almost feel it humming in her hands. The wood at the tip looked to have been splintered and then threaded together forming a pair of wings around the part of the bulbous head carved away to reveal a pointed handled that looked equal parts beautiful and deadly. It felt good in her hands, it felt like it belonged there.

“I’m glad that it passed to you, and not some spelunking treasure hunter,” Sahaela smiled at Midori and though it was warm there was a sadness there.

“I’m just holding on to it for now,” Midori answered, which seemed to bring a brighter and more genuine smile to the ghostly woman’s face.

But the one thing that excited Midori more than anything, was the fact that she possessed a gift for magic. It apparently had something to do with the gift she’d been given as a Herald, something she still didn’t fully understand, that opened the door for her to learn the arcane. And she was incredibly eager to learn.

“It’s not something that comes overnight, I hope you know.”

“I know,” Midori said while looking fondly at the staff. “But I want to be able to help not only Rune, but you, and others. I want to be able to do something. I spent so long unable to do much of anything back home, and I just… I don’t want to be powerless anymore.”

Sahaela’s ghostly hand closed over Midori’s own, she had been surprised to learn that ghosts were capable of interacting with the physical world to some degree.

“I’ll help as much as I can with that.”

After a long evening of discussions a decision had been made.

Roy, Gray, and Beau would come with them on the road to Nythe, neither Rune nor Midori felt it would be wise to leave them unsupervised even if they did seem sincere. Sahaela had already positioned herself as both Midori’s mentor and also bodyguard, for she stood guard in the evenings when the young woman took a relaxing and well needed bath.

“I’m going to eventually need to do something about my braids.” Midori said while enjoying the comfort of the cool water.

“What do you mean?” Rune asked. He’d been sitting nearby, having recently bathed as well.

“Well where I’m from I get them done every two or three months. Normally my hair is…frizzier, I guess you’d say? But I never really properly learned how to do this kind of stuff without help. I sort of just always assumed I’d have access to a hair stylist.”

“A what?”

“Someone who works on your hair, but like as a job.”

“Your world is strange.” This declaration caused both Midori and Sahaela to laugh.

It was nice to have someone else to talk with that understood, at least to some degree, the strangeness about adapting to not just a new environment but one so utterly foreign.

“Honestly when I got here it took me almost a full year to stop wearing a hijab,” the ghostly visage of Sahaela was one draped in the garb of the world with a layered bit of robe and without seeing her memories Midori would have had no idea she was from another world.

“Okay but like, what’s something you miss?” Midori leaned against the rocky edge of the stream and looked up at her ghostly companion with a playful smile. She’d never really been able to have ‘girl talk’ before and it was nice to be able to engage in it finally.

“Oh man…I mean like obviously I miss the bands and stuff but I think the thing I miss the most is an ice cold coke, oh wait no! Milkshakes!” Her eyes glazed over in delight at the thought and the pair giggled in the shared joyful memory.

“I mean, we can probably make that though right? I think I remember how to make ice cream.”

Sahaela’s eyes seemed to grow wide with disbelief and she flew instantly toward Midori.

“You do!? I tried freezing milk and sugar, milk and honey and it all just turned into sweet frozen milk.”

“You need salt.” The ghost woman stared at her in disbelief but she continued, “it’s something about the freezing temperature. I don’t really know the science behind it but I can totally show you how to do it once we can get the ingredients.”

That evening Midori went to bed dreaming of the delicious ice cream she would be making in the future.

-----

She woke however with only one certainty. She needed to vomit.

Racing to the edge of the stream she emptied the entirety of her stomach there, retching until there was nothing left. Once that had finished she gulped in air before washing her face and rinsing her mouth out with some water from slightly further upstream.

Standing up she was surprised to see Rune in front of her, concern etched into his face.

“Are you alright Midori?”

It was a confronting question. She knew exactly what the issue was, she’d been lucky enough to avoid it until now but it was going to be her every day for the next few weeks—or potentially even longer if she were extremely unlucky—so she decided to not tell any kind of lie. It was strange feeling comfortable enough to tell essentially a perfect stranger something she’s kept secret from her best friend.

“I’m…I’m pregnant, Rune.”

There was a silence that hung heavy in the air, but she was surprised to see Rune let out a small almost disappointing sigh.

“If I had known earlier I would have used a different knot.” Shaking his head he looked down and it was then Midori realized he was disappointed not in her, but himself.

“What do you mean?”

“When you explored the cave. Had I known you were with child I’d have used a knot that puts less stress on your stomach.” He knelt in front of her and looked up at her, quietly asking permission to place a hand on her stomach.

She nodded, trying to ignore the flushing in her face, chalking that up to her morning sickness.

His hand was gentle on her stomach, she felt him feeling under her belly button before standing up and nodding as if he’d come to some kind of understanding.

“Thank you for telling me this, Midori. Now let’s get you something to eat.”

Something about the kindness in his voice, the lack of judgment, and having spent weeks worrying and expecting a crucifying by her friends and parents, that caused her to throw her arms around Rune. She buried her face into the crook of his neck and cried, letting out everything she had been holding back until then.

Rune just held her.