Finding Contentus

Chapter 135: The Inheritance of Parenthood

He placed his hands on either side of her face. "Knowing that is enough for us, Mama. Neo and I can handle the rest. We're warriors after all. This is what we do. The pain?"

Neosa laughed and jerked as though she had hit her humerus. "What is love without the affectionate wrath of pain?"

"What is love without the voting pleasures of pain?" Genesia lifted both his brows at his own question.

The twins replayed other animal forms they had encountered in their Impulse dreams. Cat and eagle for Genesia. Rabbit and hawk for Neosa. Accompanied by a red apple and a yellow pineapple.

Genesia played around with his dreadlocks. Your heart and diamond will fetch you. He repeated Omphile's words.

Neosa whipped her braids back and forth. My sweetheart and my honeydiamond. She reused Nephthery's terminology.

Together, they searched through Ramela and Ramoth's memories of Lovouta and Ayata when they were children, focusing on the third eyes on their foreheads from Durga and Agni, and the fierce familial ties they felt for their niece-in-law and nephew-in-law. With Nephthery's confirmation that Kesi was her younger brother...

"That's it. Your diagram matches up Gene! They're blood related to Mela and Moth. Cousins!" Neosa slapped his arm.

"Which is why they picked Bastet and Horus. They're two sides of the same body." Genesia rubbed the sting from his arm. "Thinking about it now, the naming scheme correlates too. Mela delights in Hindu festivals!"

"And Moth enjoys being drawn to the flames of Hinduism!" Neosa added.

They stared at their mother who stared back at them expectantly. "Sankofa." Bantii's voice showered over them. "One must move back to the past in order to move forward in the present."

"No matter how far the apple falls down from the tree," Genesia began.

"No matter how far the wind blows the apple like a leaf," Neosa continued.

"The seeds of the past remain inside the fruits that are born in the present and grown in the future," they concluded.

In a way, Lovouta and Ayata are twins too, born two years apart on the exact same day. They're coupled to us by blood right. There are roots in this from our Racaan ancestors, with the hybrids they had with the humans in Natalia, isn't there? Except what happened before ended in horrific tragedy. A miserable tale of unrequited love between Chief Asamoar and Chieftess Naledi with...

Information from the folklore of the red-eyed and yellow-eyed Phoenix that Kamilah disclosed to Ramiya sped into their shared minds. With Peymakilir and Pey. It all leads back to us.

Neosa made a sound like she was popping bubbles. Puzzlement was plastered on her face. "Mama." She made a face. "I'm not pregnant. At least I'm sure I'm not."

To be entirely honest, Neosa had no clue. She was sure she took a seedweed each time after her and Ramoth's spicy sessions that exceeded quantitative analysis.

Did I forget one time? Mara... if I did, surely I would be showing some signs by now like Ramela wouldn't I? My monthly bleedings haven't stopped. I haven't felt any waves of sickness brewing at any point, nor has there been any noticeable swelling.

"So why do I feel him as if I am pregnant? It's as if Ossaro is hiding and waiting for me to seek him. In my womb!" Neosa knocked on her rocky stomach frantically like she would a door. "Ossaro! Open up or I'll smack your bum!"

Ossaro did not answer. Neosa could almost hear him giggling innocently behind the imaginary door, or behind her imaginary womb. Am I losing it? I must be. No surprise considering how much of my mind I've lost already. This is just pure confusion. Or is Òsun's fertility meshing with Set's infertility to deceive me?