Steel Butterfly

37

Kalia's POV

Raena was in her room, groaning in pain and holding on to the foot of her bed as the midwife was checking her. She'd been in labor for two days, three counting today. I was holding one hand while the other was on the footboard.

"I forgot how much this hurts." She spoke.

"The baby's head is crowning." The midwife looked up to Raena. "I'm going to need you to start pushing. Raena nodded. Her hair was sticking to the nape of her neck. She gave out a groan.

"Good, keep pushing." The midwife told her. Raena was pushing, her knuckles turning paper white.

"Raena, I need you to push as hard as you can." The midwife looks up at her. I notice how bloody her shift got.

"I am!" Raena groaned in pain. She let out a pained groan. There was blood everywhere.

"You can do this!" Lizin and I told her. It was us and the midwife in the room while Ronan was pacing outside of it.

"It hurts." Raena groaned again.

"Xochitlizin." The midwife told her. "Dose her with cihuapactli." Lizin nodded and put a wooden pewter dish to Raena's lip. Raena drank it. She groaned in pain and the midwife hunched over to catch something.

"It's a little girl!" Lizin smiled as the midwife wiped the baby's nose and she started to cry.Raena smiled as I was blotting her face with a linen cloth.

"She's beautiful, just like her mother." The midwife went to clean her. "Alright, Raena. I need you to push out the placenta, okay?"

Raena nodded as she tried to push it out. A gross bob of red with tree veins popped out of her. The midwife picked it up.

"Good job, you were a warrior." The midwife smiled at her. I got off the bed and offered Raena my help in getting in the bed. Raena let go of the railing and almost fell over before I caught her.

"Here, let's get you to bed, okay." I told her. Raena nodded as she got in the bed and the midwife handed the girl over.

"My beautiful daughter, I can't wait for your older brother to see you." Raena smiled as she looked down at the tiny little face. I looked at her. She looked a lot more like Raena than Ronan did. That was for the best. I left the room to announce the news to the others.

Ronan stopped mid-pace as I approached him.

"Congratulations, you're the old brother to a beautiful little girl." I smiled at him.

"It's going to be weird." Ronan chuckled. "Is it okay if I see her?"

"Let me ask." I told him, returning to the room. Raena was nursing her daughter.

"Hello." Raena smiled at me.

"Hey, Ronan was asking if it was okay for him to see his little sister." I told her.

"Of course." She grabbed a small blanket to cover herself up. The baby let go of her breast as she was tying herself back together. I went to fetch Ronan.

"She's ready." I told him. We both walked back to Raena's room.

"Hey." Raena smiled at him.

"She's so small." Ronan looked at her.

"You were a bigger baby but you were a much easier birth." Raena smiled at Ronan.

"So what are you naming her?" I asked.

"Ariadne Hawkwind." She chuckled. "Ronan chose his own last name like his grandparents refused to give him ours."

"That sounds nice. It suits her." Ronan looked at his sister. "May I hold her?"