The Guardian

Prologue

       The Crone gazed down on Her children as the Moon moved slowly across the skies above Nerem. Her face was unmoving, yet not unkind, as she silently observed the home she had focused her attention on. A woman cried out in pain as she was comforted by her mother and her younger sister. A thin, shimmering sweat had broken out across her face, and tendrils of dark brown hair, fixed by the sweat, seemed almost a caress from the Great Mother Herself. As if reminded, the Crone turned towards her own Daughter, and slowly, the corners of her mouth wrinkled as they drifted upwards in a slight smile.

        "Always comforting, my Daughter...you fit your Role so perfectly." Her Daughter turned to her and smiled benevolently. 

        "Yes, Wise One. I am always with our Daughters when they labor. This one is in for a long night though, I am afraid." The Crone frowned at the Mother's statement. 

        "You are not taking her are you, Mother?" The Crone and the Mother both turned at the third voice, smiling at the Maiden, who saw their domain through eyes of innocence. The Mother let a look of shock flicker across her face and she shook her head.

        "No, Innocent One, it is not her time tonight. She is just in for a particuarly difficult time. It may possibly leave her unable to have another, but that is left to Time for the telling. I am not to intervene, only comfort and guide." The Maiden nodded, satisfied with the Mother's answer. She disliked reclaiming any soul under their watchful gazes, especially the souls whose time she felt had come too soon. A piercing scream drew the Three back to the font in the center of the room. Hours had passed in the house in Nerem while they had held their conversation...time passed much differently in their Realm than it did on the Planet.

        "Push, my Lady! The child is coming!" The midwife glanced at the laboring mother. This had not been a pretty birthing, not that a birthing was ever pretty to begin with. This one, however, had lasted much longer than any the midwife had attended before. The woman screamed again and bore down with a grunt before collapsing back against the pillows. Seconds later, a tiny cry filled the air.

        "My Lady, you have given birth to a healthy, beautiful baby girl. May she ever be under the protection of the Three." The midwife sent up a silent blessing of gratitude, to the Mother, for Her watchful eye during the labor, to the Crone, for the wisdom She granted to the midwife in assisting the Adept through her labor, and to the Maiden, that the baby would be blessed with Her exuberance and innocence.

        The Three watched as the infant was placed into her mother's arms. The woman smiled, tucked her daughter up against her breast, and as the baby latched on and began to feed, the mother kissed her head and whispered, her word echoed by the Three.

                "Calais."