by Mikayla Lane
“Sir, what do I tell them when they ask why?” Ivint hesitated at the question while Randor, Scaden and Cari looked at him expectantly and hopefully. He looked at two identical, beautiful little faces peeking out of their blankets at him.
“Tell them they need to come and bear witness to the miracle, my son and his mate have given to us all.” He barely got the words out before he choked on a sob and dropped to his knees next to Randor. He didn’t even notice when the room cleared as he stared at the two little girls.
Scaden handed Tessa to Randor and helped Cari up, so she could hand Amia to his father. Ivint looked at his son questioningly, making sure it was ok for him to hold the little girl; he accused them all of lying about.
“This is Amia, Councilor Torenson. Uncle Randor is holding Tessa.” Cari told him softly as she gently placed the tiny babe into his arms, the girl; he accused them all of lying about.
He stared in shock and amazement at how tiny the little girl was and looking over at Tessa in Randor’s arms he could not tell them apart. They truly were exact copies of each other. Twins… he had never in all of his travels heard of such a thing. How did they know them apart?
“How do you know, which is which? They are exact.” He looked up as Cari, Scaden and Randor all laughed.
“Sir, if you look closely at Tessa, she has a small black beauty mark in the corner of her right eye, and Amia has no such mark.” Cari smiled gently as Scaden’s father looked in wonder from one baby to the next, finally seeing the difference between the two. Little Amia felt so tiny in his arms; he had never seen a babe so small and began to worry.
“Amun, are they alright? Is Cari alright? They are so very small. Are they sickly?”
“Sir, they are all perfectly healthy. Their size comes from several factors, one of which being they are females. It’s been so long since we’ve had a girl child on our planet, we have most likely forgotten that they are usually much smaller than the males. And then there’s the fact that there were two of them growing in the same space. They are a very good size all things considered and extremely healthy.”
He moved the blanket farther away from her face, freeing one of Amia’s hands. He sat spell-bound as she wrapped a tiny little hand around his finger. He barely noticed that Randor had handed Tessa to his father, and Duncar sat next to him just as enthralled.
He couldn’t seem to stop looking at both little girls. If he hadn’t seen them, both come out of Cari with his own eyes, he wasn’t sure if he would have ever believed this wasn’t a trick of some kind. Looking at his son lovingly trying to make his mate comfortable made him feel guilty for not believing them.
“Son…”
“It’s ok Father. As long as you and the Council don’t plan on taking my family from me, all is forgiven.”
They spend the next hour passing each of the babies around the room to each other, including the security tech’s who remained inside to keep them safe. They all had a laugh at the looks of panic on their faces, afraid they would somehow break the tiny little girls.
By the time Cari’s great-mother, Randor and Scaden’s mothers showed up, there wasn’t a face in the room that wasn’t laughing or smiling at the precious little girls who had charmed everyone.
It was Ivint who laughed heartily while explaining to the women the trick to telling the little ones apart. And chatted excitedly about the strong grip Amia had when she had held his finger tightly in her tiny hand.
Scaden and Cari just smiled at each other and everyone else and answered what seemed like a million questions from everyone. When Cari began to slump against Scaden, he knew she was too exhausted to stay up any longer.
“Amun, is it ok to move her to our bed upstairs?” He didn't want to take a chance on hurting her after all she’d been through. The room went silent while they all waited anxiously to hear if she was alright.
“She needs plenty of rest, but other than that she is fine and will heal well. I don’t recommend she try any space flight for a while though. I want to make sure the incision heals completely before we try anything that stressful on her body.” Amun made sure that Ivint was looking at him when he said the last.
“I have no intention of ordering anything that may harm my son’s mate or my great-daughters. We will keep them safe here, for as long as we have to and move only to Scaden’s ship when they are ready.”
“Let me get Cari settled first. We have a lot to talk about Father. Mother, Councilor Lakatis, can you help me settle the girls into bed after I get Cari comfortable?”
“I would be honored. And please, call me Mother Caretia.”
Cari gave a small smile at her clan mother and Scaden’s mother as they followed them up to the stairs to her and Scaden’s room. She kissed her little girls and Scaden, before dropping into a deep sleep.
The women, including Randor’s mother followed Scaden into the nursery next to where they had put Cari and exclaimed over how beautiful the room looked. After tucking in each of the girls, in the same crib for now, they couldn’t help but stare at them in amazement while they slept.
Whispering quietly to each other they chatted to each other about how perfect the little ones were and how truly exact they looked. They never even noticed that Scaden left them to head back downstairs.
Scaden entered the living room, and found it cleaned up. He’d have never guessed that his daughters had been born right here not hours ago.
“Randor helped us figure out how to put the room back to rights. Duncar and I would love to see these horse creatures that Randor said you’ve been working with.” His father told him with a broad smile, clapping a hand on his shoulder.
Scaden agreed to leave the house and his family, knowing that if anything happened, one of the women would come running for them. The way they had doted over his daughters and Cari had been wonderful. He had no doubt that one or all of them would not be leaving his girls until they were well enough to travel.
He led his father, Duncar, Amun and a dozen other men out to the stables to show them the horses and explain as much as he could have of what he had learned, not only of the planet, but of his girls. And Gibly, of course, he couldn’t leave out their new friend.
As he spoke, their expressions ranged from shock, to amazement, to total disbelief at some points. However, he knew after everything was said, and with Randor there to lend credibility to his words, that they believed him. The miracle of his daughters was proof enough to any of them that anything was possible.
Come morning, he knew everyone was getting hungry and since no one was inclined to leave, Scaden and Randor set about making a huge meal for everyone. Steaks were of course, being the main menu item.
*****
It had been a week, and not one person had left the house to go back to the ships. Scaden’s parents, Randor’s parents and Cari’s great-mother all stayed close to Cari and the babies. Delighting in every smile the girls made, and exclaiming over every move they made as if they had never seen a babe do the same thing before.
Scaden and Cari laughed at the antics of the adults as much as at the antics of the babies. They knew their girls delighted in charming everyone around them. Even the normally stoic security techs would smile and coo at the little darlings any time they were near them.
And the girls couldn’t help but make sure the Council would do everything they could to keep their friend Gibly and his kind safe.
Cari still laughed at the shock on the faces of Scaden’s and Randor’s parents as well as her Mother Caretia’s; when they came down to breakfast one morning and told them about the girls taking them to see and speak with Gibly.
Each of them spoke with disbelief until they began realizing that they all couldn’t have heard and seen the same things as each other, if it had only been a dream. When they realized it was all true, they were in even more awe of the girls and their abilities.
And instead of fearing them, their pride in their gifts had them constantly on the comm’s bragging to
anyone and everyone back on Valendra about how talented and amazing the twins were.
And true to his word to Tessa and Amia in the dream, Ivint sent orders back home that the Sibiox was never to be harmed under any circumstances. He also ordered observations of the animals to determine a way for them to communicate with the intelligent creatures, without the assistance of his great-daughters, who were far too young right now to help them learn how.
The days had passed quickly and pleasantly, but they all knew the time was coming to leave. The people in town were becoming a little suspicious about the amount of food they had been getting almost daily in order to feed everyone. And they knew that they couldn’t stay with this many people here, without someone coming out to investigate.
They had carefully chosen many of the security techs and brought them into town as Randy and Scott’s cousins, who were staying to help with the horses and land. The townspeople accepted them as easily as they had Randor, Scaden and Cari, and were thrilled when they started by cattle from them as well as horses.
Everyone had loved the steaks and other food items so much, they agreed to raise the cows in order to supplement the food supply on the ships. And it was always nice when one of the crews, from one of the ships called down to thank them for the wonderful food.
So it had been agreed by all, that the ranch would be kept as a place for the little ones to come to often as well as Cari, Scaden, Randor and their parents. A place for all of them to learn about this world where more children like Cari would hopefully be found, along with survivors of the outpost.
Even though things had worked out so well for her new family, Cari couldn’t help but continue to worry about Jess. She could only hope that they would find her soon.
She finished packing the clothes that Randor and Scaden had gotten Cari in town, after the babies had been born. She was far too happy to wear her own clothes and not the elegant dresses she had to wear the last time on the ship.
It had taken everything in her not to laugh at Randor and Scaden’s mothers and her great-mother when she came home from one trip to town with some jeans and sweaters for them. The look of horror on their faces was priceless.
Cari convinced them that if they wanted to go to town and meet the people, like everyone else, then they had to dress as the locals did, so they wouldn’t stand out. The ploy had worked, and it hadn’t taken long before they were all buying themselves more jeans and sweaters.
Construction had already started on a comfortable home for the men who would be staying and working the land and animals. With the advanced technology they possessed, the large home would be completed within days. They included a few extra comforts from home that the men were used to; and comm’s and perimeter technology to let them know if anyone tried to sneak on their land.
She looked out the bedroom window and sighed over how much she would miss this place. For the first time, she had a home and family, and she felt truly safe and happy, and she didn’t want to leave.
She felt Scaden come up behind her and leaned into him when he wrapped his arms around her, enjoying the feel of his warmth and love surrounding her.
“We’ll be back soon, Amalaya. I don’t think any of our parents want to stay away for long either. They seem to have adapted very easily to this world of ours.”
She loved that he called this world his as well. That he had readily adopted her home, as easily as she had his. Turning in his arms, she hugged him tightly and leaned up for a kiss.
“I had a talk with Amun today. He said that I was fully healed now.” She smiled as his cock immediately hardened at her words.
“Does that mean what I think it means?” The hope in his voice was unmistakable.
“It does indeed, my love.”
“Then let’s get the hell out of here and get on the ship. At least, we’ll have some privacy there; we sure don’t have any here.” He grabbed her bag and practically dragged her out of the room, while she laughed at his eagerness.
Epilogue
It had been six months since they left the quiet ranch in Montana and went back to the ship Adaria. Scaden and Randor’s parents, as well as Cari’s great-mother Caretia had all taken up residence in the quarters surrounding theirs.
Tessa and Amia had pretty much taken over the entire ship. They had started crawling a month ago and were constantly being lovingly tended to by whatever person they happened to run into on their escapades.
Now every comm on all the ships was tuned to the girls, as everyone marveled at their little miracles. They didn’t need baby sitters for their girls; everyone always knew exactly where they were whenever they left Scaden and Cari’s quarters.
From the time, they had boarded the ship as infants; they had been adored by everyone. Charming even the hardest of men on all the ships, and when they started to babble and try to learn to speak everyone took it upon themselves to teach them.
Cari thought back to something Randor had told her one time was an Earth saying and found it to be very true in the case of her daughters. “It takes a village to raise a child.” In their case, it was several villages of ships.
Scaden and Randor’s parents, as well as her great-mother Caretia and even Uncle Randor, made a point of taking the girls to visit the other ships and the other crew members. They said it was great for morale, but Cari and Scaden figured it was to show them off.
There was no doubt that their family was extremely proud of their girls and didn’t hesitate to tell anyone they saw what amazing little thing they were able to do now. Cari could never have dreamed of finding such love and loyalty.
She finished packing the clothes and personal items needed for the trip they were taking to their ranch on Earth. She was very excited to be going back and seeing all that the men had accomplished while they had been gone.
Scaden’s father, Ivint, had to start rotating the men at the ranch, the others on the ships becoming so jealous of those on the planet that he was afraid of a mutiny if he didn’t do something. Luckily, this solution had been more than acceptable to everyone, and things were running smoothly.
Leaving their bags on the bed, she left the room and went looking for her mate. She hadn’t noticed the excitement in the air, until she had walked farther down the corridor. Curious, she followed the emotions, until she reached a conference room, two levels down.
Seated around the table looking serious, but excited, were Ivint, Randor, his father, Scaden, Caretia and several members she knew were a part of Scaden’s personal tact team. Against the wall holding Amia and Tessa, were Scaden and Randor’s mothers.
Quietly walking over to them, she caressed her daughters’ hair and kissed their cheeks, sending them her love, as they cooed and babbled softly.
“What’s going on?” She whispered to Scaden’s mother since she was the closest to her.
“We have back up teams heading your way right now. Several are coming from the ranch since they are closer and should be at your location within the next few minutes.”
“Amun is coming with backup from here. Since he is the most knowledgeable of our Med-Tech’s on the unique Valendra/human children, it’s best that he be the lead to tend her when you find her.”
“The others will be sent with Niklosi, to retrieve the other child. I want updates as often as possible, is that clear?” Scaden’s father commanded with that scary voice he had sometimes when he was directing the crew.
“Yes sir!” She recognized Balduen’s voice immediately.
“Is it Jess? Have they found her?” She knew she shouldn’t interrupt them, but she had to know. Sensing her upset, Scaden got up and walked over to her and put his arms around her.
“Yes Amalaya, they think they have finally found her. At the same time, they confirmed that they thought it was her; Randor received a distressful message from a girl on the website, claiming to also be one of our children.”
“Father is trying to extricate both girls as soon as possible. As you heard we have teams
that have left from here and some from the ranch. Amun will be there to see to Jess and to the other girl to confirm she’s one of ours. They’re being taken to the ranch once we have them.”
“Then let’s go!”
“Absolutely not!” Cari stopped on her way out of the door and turned at Ivint’s order to her.
“Why not?” She expected Ivint to answer, but it was Scaden, who held her again as he explained it to her.
“Until we can confirm that this other girl is truly one of ours, we can’t put you and the babies in danger. We can’t take the chance it’s some kind of trap, or that she’s being tracked.”
“Then take her to another location, I want to be there when Jess is brought to the ranch. She’s going to be terrified enough as it is! I promised her, and I’ll be there. We don’t break promises to our own.” The last she directed specifically at Ivint.
She knew she’d won when; he relented and ordered that the other girl be taken to the cabin that Niklosi and Balduen had been staying in. And for the team to hold her there until Amun could get there and verify who she was.
“Thank you, Father. This means a lot to me, and to Jess.” She ran over there and hugged the man, turning she went to take Tessa and Amia, when Randor and Scaden’s mothers stopped her.
“We’re going with you. She may feel better if there is more than one woman around her, since she’s been surrounded by those animals for so long. We might be able to help.” Scaden’s mother Sacara offered. Randor’s mother Jintaria nodded her head in agreement.
Cari silently thanked the All Father for giving her such wonderful women in her life. And was not the least bit surprised when her great-mother Caretia looped her arm through Cari and told them, “Let’s go pack ladies; we have one of our own to help.” And led them from the room.