300 word drabble: Hands to Rock Cradles

Written for avatar_500 prompt #23, Soothe.

Summary: Ty Hei is learning what it really means to be afraid.


Hands to Rock Cradles

“Shh,” Ty Hei murmured.  “You’re part of something important, you know.  You were born into something really special.”  She did her best to keep her words as conversational as possible, but the tense little undercurrent of fear kept finding its way in.  The baby that lay settled in her arms over the gentle, slowly returning rise of her belly bumped his fat little fists against the air  and whined furiously reflecting her agitation.

Her father had told her- her mother had told her, her mother who knew what it was like to be pulled into someone else’s secret and have it become hers.  They told her to fall in love with someone whose family worked for theirs, someone from the island, from their personal family fief, someone who would lose everything if he told.

She had asked if it was love and trust if she were holding all the cards.

It was love, and romance for her, and she could trust Xian with her life.  She could.  But there were children now.  Her mother had told her about that too.  Now Ty Hei wished she were holding all the cards.

“You’re part of something important,” she whispered, ruffling her daughter’s hair, breathing deeply, and letting herself sink into the ritual.  Someday, when her girl was older, she would tell her what she was born into, why she could feel the air inside her, not just on her skin, someday when her girl was older, and her baby boy, and the baby inside her were all older.  Old enough not to tell their friends, or their father, old enough to be safe, more safe than she had to be.  “You were born into something really special.”

The three-year-old’s voice, sleepy and indistinct, followed Ty Hei out the door.  “I know, mom!”