[Galadria]

Galadria smiled happily in reply. "Well, to start out, you literally can't lie to Attalus. He can always tell. So, I worked out that speech in advance. I was afraid that he would insist on fighting your lover, but I should have known that he wouldn't want to harm the father of your child. Now if Odo will just get here and distract him before he gets to thinking about it and asking questions..."
Luckily, Odo and Cythera arrived the next day. They were longtime friends who had shared many of their adventures, but they preferred to live at their estate in the country, Rosetree. Odo was a short, dark-haired man with a pleasant smile that belied his hugely developed muscles. He had a grip that would crack rocks, Attalus used to say after one of his handshakes. Cythera was petite and blonde, lovely in a dark yellow silk dress that enhanced her peaches-and-cream complexion. Their arrival, as usual, was boisterously welcomed with much embracing and kissing among the women. Odo and Attalus, after suitable greetings were exchanged, slipped off to the basement to have a glass of wine and a private word.
"So," the stocky man offered as Attalus poured the wine, "little Em is pregnant, eh? And won't say who the father is? Oh, well, it's probably for the best. If he's not man enough to stick around and care for his child, he can't be worth much."
Attalus handed his friend a brimming beaker of a golden wine from Calimsha. "My feelings exactly," he responded. "If Noemi wants to raise her child alone, well, there is no better place than here. But I told Gal that I don't want her to get too involved or attached. After all, Noemi might just decide to take off with this fellow if he changes his mind. Gal is in a rare taking, though. It seems like becoming an aunt is the biggest thing in the world."
Odo looked at the blonde giant quizzically. "Of course, Gal is excited. It's her only sister, and Helm knows that they're close enough. Cythera was just wild when she got that lettter. Nothing would do but we had to pack up and leave right away. Women look at these things differently, old boy." He took a deep drink of his wine. "Ah, that definitely helps the situation. I've been dry for the last ten miles, but Cyth wouldn't hear of stopping at an inn, with us so close. She just had to get here. You and I had better make ourselves scarce for the next little while. They'll be talkiung all sorts of momma-and-baby things. Cyth has already brought some things for the nursery."
Attalus grunted. "They won't even know that we have gone. Come on, I've got a new horse that I want you to see."

Galadria led the women to the roof, where they relaxed on couches and shared the news excitedly. Cythera immediately cornered Noemi. "So, love, tell me everything. Who was this man that got you pregnant? You must have told me a dozen times that you weren't interested in having children. He must have been something special to sweep you off your feet like that. And, where is he? Is he such a coward that he can't face your family and friends? Odo wanted to find him and give him a beating, but I told him not to be ridiculous."
Noemi was blushing and squirming under this questioning. "Well, Cyth, it was kind of a one night stand. I was feeling needy, and he was right there." She shot a look at Galadria, who was closely listening. "He was awfully cute," she went on, with a sigh, "So tall, dark, and handsome. I'm sure that he would have swept anyone off her feet, as you say."
Galadria looked at her sister crossly. "Oh, hush up, Em. Cyth has to know." she turned to her blonde friend. "Cyth, through some means that we can't understand, this baby is both mine and Noemi's. We held a ceremony, and Tres confirmed it. Oh, and also, we finally found out who our father is...."
Cythera broke in with a puzzled look on her lovely face.. "What do you mean, both of yours? How can that be? You are both women. You say that Tres confirmed it? What happened, anyway?"
Galadria started to answer, but her sister cut in. "Let me answer that, Gal. It was all my doing. Cyth, about two months ago, I woke up from a nightmare, you know the ones, I've told you about them. I was a prisoner again, and Smaractus was gloating over me. He told me that Gal was dead, and that I would never be free, because nobody else cared enough to rescue me. I woke up crying and trembling, so I went and got Gal to lie down with me. She was nice, as usual, and did. And, as you know, I turned up pregnant.
"And all she did was touch you?" Cythera cried in disbelief, "How is that? Cho, what do you think?" she asked the drow priestess, who had been listening with sardonic amusement.
"M'zint to, " she answered in her throaty voice, "I only can think that it was Noemi's magic and great love that reached out through the physical contact and took something from my Mistress that quickened her. What, I cannot guess. But, as was said, the Goddess confirmed it. And, She said that the child would be a girl, as might have been suspected, and was a long-awaited child of prophecy. It had been said that the child would be Galadria's, but Tres hinted that some malign influence had been preventing the child's being borne in her womb. Prophecies indeed have strange ways around efforts to keep them off."

[ 10-25-2002, 06:44 PM: Message edited by: Galadria ]