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 Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2023 11:07 am
[Niabi 1]
Niabi had felt like every fiber in her body had been on edge for the past week. It had been a long journey home, and they had made their normal stops along the way, but eventually they had made it back to Jauhar. Their conversation had been picked up where it left off, and they had gone to Chibale. They had gone to ask for a family.
Niabi paced the room of the home they were staying in and paused only to look at Amarone and throw her a small smile. “It should be any day now; it’s been a week. We should hear news soon.” They had to wait in Jauhar, they couldn’t stay on Chibale. Not with Amarone at least. They allowed outsiders to speak with Aisha for blooms, but didn’t allow them to stay on island for longer than a day or two.
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2023 11:08 am
[ Amarone 1 ]
Amarone wasn't one you'd consider to be motherly. She wasn't too concerned with such things, either way. It wasn't that she was against the thoughts, it was simply that she never really thought about it. But she had grown up with a big family, and the thought of being surrounded by others, supported by others, was something she had come to miss. So after a long trip and some deep late night conversations, she found herself excited beyond belief at this new adventure. The adventure of a family.
She used that energy in different ways than her partner. Instead of nervousness, she used her energy to tinker and practice, building tools that might help them in their journey to motherhood. She also did a lot of research on the Aishan ways. Not being a religous type, she wanted to make sure she understood her partner's side of things. She was open and didn't mind the idea of raising her children in something that meant a lot to Niabi.
At the comment, Amarone stopped what she was doing and turned, tilting her head as curls fell around her dirty face. She had been working with oils and it showed.
"You said Aisha actually blooms flowers, right? And they are able to recognize them that quickly?" She remembered seeing the flowers on the tree, and how many were simply flowers. As an earthling, she found it impossible to identify any that might be holding life.
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2023 11:08 am
[Niabi 2]
Niabi stopped her pacing to face Amarone after she had spoken. Her questions were always surprising and unpredictable, this time probably because these were things Niabi took for granted. They were just known to the Sisters. As an earthling there would be no way for Amarone to know about the blooms or how they were looked after. “Yes. The mystics are trained to know which will bloom younglings and who they belong to.” Niabi had never seen the process for herself, but she lived on Chibale for a large part of her life, close enough to Aisha to have enough details on the subject to know more than some other Alkidike.
“The mystics are able to tell, and they send for the parents once it’s known.” She smiled to Amarone and fiddled with the nails on her hands. She was nervous, and it had been so long since they hadn’t been on the move she didn’t know what to do with herself inside the hut.
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2023 11:08 am
[ Amarone 2 ]
Moving to wipe off her hands on one of her soiled rags (she really needed to clean this set, considering most of the oils weren't coming off), Amarone settled to wipe on her work pants before standing with a stretch.
Feeling her back crack slightly, a sign she had been working quite a bit and both delightful while annoying, Amarone let out a sigh as she settled back in to look at her partner. Girlfriend? Wife? Hmm they'd have to examine that title now that they had a child potentially on the way.
"They weren't that big...I can't imagine they housed a youngling..." She muttered, before her eyes sparkled with curiosity, "What makes it different than the blooms...maybe something biological...but the fact we prayed for them shows it's magical..."
Muttering for another second, she caught herself and reminded herself she needed to focus on soothing Niabi, who was much more nervous than she.
"Surely you're right, it might be taking a little longer since we decided not to wait so close to the tree?"
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Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2023 2:45 pm
[Niabi 3]
Niabi took a deep breath in and tried to look a little less visibly nervous for Amarone. “Well they have to start somehow. The blooms get much larger but they don’t have to be full-size to know which ones will bloom.” Niabi moved to lower herself into one of the chairs in the room but still felt rigid and tense even sitting.
“I’ve never seen it done before, but they say the mystics read an aura from the flower.” Niabi let out a small laugh. “You could say it’s partly magic.” The word magic felt wrong to describe it, but it was about as close as she could get to a word.
Niabi opened her mouth to continue the conversation, comment on the length of the trip to the mainland, but she was interupted by a knocking on the door. Her big black eyes locked onto Amarone’s and she could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Was this it?
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Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2023 2:45 pm
[ Amarone 3 ]
Amarone had learned to accept the ways of the Aishans as beyond her. It was partially out of respect for her partner, she knew it was an out-of-bounds topic to do extensive research in. It was simply something that had no reason, even if many earthlings tried to find one. So instead she settled down as well, leaning forward to rest her elbow on her knee and her hand in her palm. It was then that the knock sounded and she darted up to sit straight, her eyes wide and looking back at Niabi's but a playful grin on her cheeks.
Easily bounding up and around the space, she approached the door before spinning around, questioningly searching to see if Niabi wanted to join her. It didn't take much scientific method to deduce who was there considering they weren't quite settled in with their far off neighbors. Oh this could only be one person, with one set of news.
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Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2023 2:45 pm
[Niabi 4]
She felt like she had barely had time to sit at all before she recognized what was happening and what Amarone was waiting for. Niabi leapt to her feet and joined her wind earthling partner at the door. She gave Amarone’s hand a tight squeeze before gently keeping hold of it and using her other hand to open the door for their guest.
It was an Alkidike that she didn’t recognize but that didn’t surprise her. Even though she lived on Chibale for years her social circle had been small. She took a breath in and welcomed the woman inside. “We can only think of one reason that you might be visiting us today, is there news?” Her question became increasingly more timid with her words.
‘Yes, I’ve brought word from the Mystics.’ It was hard for her to read her tone, but Niabi tried to tell herself that if blooms hadn’t happened that they would have waited longer to see. The chances of them only waiting a week to tell them they couldn’t be parents were small. She hoped.
‘Congratulations, you will be parents.’ The alkidike woman grinned at Niabi, her eyes dashing to Amarone before returning back to Niabi. ‘Aisha has saw fit to give you blooms.’
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Posted: Sat Feb 18, 2023 2:46 pm
[ Amarone 4 ]
Smiling lightly up at her partner and squeezing back in return, Amarone for once was quite calm and peaceful. It was a rare thing to see in the bouncy woman, often only when she had to really focus for her projects. But in this case she was focusing for her partner, for their future, and the calm and peace was like her holding her breath and waiting to see what was on the other side.
Moving smoothly through the paces, she let Niabi take the lead with the conversation, though her hand squeezed once or twice in reassurance.
When the news was dropped, almost at once Amarone let out a squeal before letting go of Niabi's hand to jump up and hug her, letting the action speak as her heart beat widly and her smile was wide. Stepping back after a long beat, she turned as if to dart and hug the Alkidike messenger, but caught herself at the last moment and clasped her hands.
"Congratulations indeed!"
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Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2023 10:48 am
[Niabi 5]
Niabi gripped her partner tight in the sudden embrace and beamed from ear to ear. Her heart felt so light. Though something about the news caught her ear and processed before too long. "Blooms? As in more than one?" Niabi looked to the alkidike woman bringing them the news and waited for her confirmation. One bloom would have been a miracle, more than that Niabi almost couldn't imagine.
The alkidike woman nodded her head, her small smile looking back and forth between the two women. "Yes. Two blooms are waiting for you. The mystics have asked that you wait here until you receive news that they are ready to bloom." She confirmed with the two women.
Niabi looked to Amarone and felt her heart melting. Two little babies for their sudden family. She gave Amarone another tight hug. "Two of them." She felt like her words were nothing more than a breath in her partner's ears.
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Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2023 10:49 am
[ Amarone 5 ]
Being the one to be embraced now, Amarone laughed as she nodded at her partner, "Two little things running around, making messes and all sorts of discoveries." She replied, grinning brightly as she pulled back.
Turning to the Aishan before her, she nodded in understand. Waiting would be tough, but she knew it wasn't her place to wander about near the tree. She was very fortunate to be allowed on this adventure, and she was happy to follow the rules.
"So now we wait..." She replied, glancing back toward Niabi, "And try and keep ourselves busy."
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Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2023 10:49 am
[Niabi 6]
"Now we wait." Niabi echoed Amarone, clutching her hands tightly.
She thanked the alkidike for the news and gave her a warm smile. "Thank you for the news of our blessings. We're very eager to be called upon."
The alkidike woman left and the door closed behind her. Niabi turned to her partner. "I don't think I can believe that we will have two younglings soon."
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Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2023 10:49 am
[ Amarone 6 ]
Amarone smiled and nodded, moving away back to her workbench and sorting things out quickly.
"I'll need to make sure things are out of the way...do we have time to build an addition? Maybe a workshop away from the house? And somewhere for them to sleep...but surely they will be small enough that a spare bedroom wont be too bad. Oh they probably can share since they are twins? They'll be twins right?"
She rushed through a long moment before turning back to Niabi, "How soon is soon, anyway?"
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Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2023 12:03 pm
[Niabi 7]
Niabi listened to Amarone already trying to plan for the future and their renovation to include their new additions. She felt like there was so much that needed to be done but she was useless at this exact moment. She wanted to work with her hands, but all they could do was plan today.
“Soon is…” she trailed off before continuing her sentence. “at least six months?” She offered to Amarone. It took a while for the flowers to bloom their younglings, they still had a long road ahead of themselves to grow and become ready to live on their own. “It takes at the minimum seven months to grow within Aisha, sometimes as many as nine. I hear it is relative to earthlings.” She looked to Amarone to confirm her information. The ‘how’ was very different, but the ‘when’ was close. “I think we should have enough time to add on to the home before then and get what we might need. There will be help.” Or at least there usually was when it was just Sisters awaiting blooms. She wasn’t so sure now that Amarone was included in this. But blessings from Aisha were still blessings, so she would hope that they would see some Sisters helping them build.
“They’ll be twins, though it will be a surprise to see if they resemble each other.” Identical twins were rare in Aishan blooms.
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Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2023 12:03 pm
[ Amarone 7 ]
"Phew!" She said as her shoulders relaxed, "Six months, that's not too soon." She replied with a casual smile, "With how quickly they bloomed, I figured it'd be a month, maybe less. Things are so...amazing." She ended simply, before listening further to Niabi's description and information.
At the mention of help, Amarone nodded eagerly, "Perfect, I'll take it! As they say, it's takes a village to raise a child, and we're getting two." Giggling at the thought, she let out another wistful sigh, "Well, they are going to be quite striking either way. I didn't see many mixes on our way out there...at least not Windlings. Too bad they likely wont get my crystal color." She added with a cheeky grin.
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Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2023 10:31 am
[Niabi 8]
Niabi rustled her hand through her dreads and shook them out, trying to release the tension she was holding in her scalp. She would have thought that with the good news she would be able to now relax but it was just replaced with the stress of preparing for the babies.
She grinned at the thought of what they would look like and wrapped her arms aroung Amarone's waist. "It's a shame. It's such a lovely color." She never asked Amarone how she came to have such an unusual color for her crystals but they were obviously changed. She knew enough wind earthlings to know they sported a pink color. "They're going to be beautiful."
Another thought settled onto Niabi and she pulled back with wide eyes from Amarone. "Do you think they will be boys?"
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