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Update TWO! Enjoy!!!! <3
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I was scared at first, partially because Aaryan was not here. I had hoped we would be together when I gave birth, but he wasn't there. However, as the baby made its way out, I realized that that was not what I should be worried about right now.
So instead, I was grateful that my mother and sister-in-law Mayu were there. And I was grateful that Lady Suhanya was the one who helped deliver the baby while my brother's and father were pacing back and forth outside of the home along with the ten guards who joined us.
While the birth was happening, it was quite horrible. The pain was excruciating and there was nothing in the world I could compare it to.
All I could really do is remind myself that my best friend Saratha went through this pain when she was much younger... when she was about seventeen. I was nearly twenty. I was much older. Much stronger. I think.
I had to be stronger.
I was giving birth to the child of a warrior prince.
I had to be stronger.
And it was nearly a full day later that I finally pushed that stubborn child out.
My entire world went black as soon as the child was out, but it only lasted a moment because the second I heard my baby crying, I was sitting up, reaching out for my child.
When Lady Suhanya put the baby in my arms, my mother cried and rushed out to share the news with my father and the others.
I cried too.
And through my tears, the first thing I noticed as the moons light shined into the room, was that the little one had a full head of hair.
I have never seen a newborn with so much hair.
"How strange," Lady Suhanya said as she slid over next to me. "Aaryan was also born with a full head of hair." There was a kind of joy in her voice that I had not heard before, and I found myself laughing.
"It's not strange," I said, "This is Aaryan's baby."
And as the room began to fill with my family, and I heard people outside began to cheer, I held my baby close, happier than I had ever been in my life.
It was a little boy.
A prince.
The future King.
But more importantly, he was my little boy.
Mine and Aaryan's.
He was our child.
---
His name was Aathavan. Aathi for short, and his full name being Aathiraavanan as per the Rudraraha clan tradition.
Aaryan had approved of the name months ago when I suggested it, and so that was his name.
It meant sun, or sunshine, or 'as brilliant as the sun'.
It was somewhat ironing though, seeing as he was born in the middle of the night, under a full moon... but it still worked.
His skin was sunkissed and golden, looking almost as if he was glowing from the inside.
Aathavan.
It was perfect.
He was perfect.
My father was also happy with the name, saying that it also meant honourable and wise... someone who will always do what he thinks is right.
I did not know that, though this made me happy.
Three days after Little Aathi was born, the festival began. My family did not go to the opening ceremony, stating that something even more grand was happening in our home.
That same day, the messenger had returned and informed us that Aaryan was on his way. And from that moment on, my heart was in a state of constant fluttering, excited by the thought of Aaryan meeting his son.
Then, it was on the third day of the festival that for the first time since it started, the music stopped playing in the middle of the day. There was still an odd rumbling though, despite the fact that the drumming had definitely come to a stop.
Of course, it did not take me too long to figure out what the rumbling was...
Horses.
Hundreds of horses.
It was Aaryan and his men.
I stood up, Aathavan in my arms as I rushed to the entrance of our home. My nieces and nephews had already began running up the hill to see what was going on.
I couldn't see from where I was standing, and I found myself too excited to wait, so, baby in my arms, I started to rush up the hill.
"Seetha, careful!" I heard my mother yell, following behind me.
When I got to the top, I could see them. I could see the army of men. They must have all finished their work in the West and they were all going home together... not until they stopped here though.
However, I couldn't see Aaryan, not initially at least. But after a moment of scanning the crowd as my family, Lady Suhanya and the guards reached me atop the hill, I realized I did not have to look for him because he had spotted me.
Aaryan was close to the back of the crowd and the second he saw me, he pulled Bhumi out from the long procession of men and began galloping towards us.
Without thinking, I started running, carefully holding Aathavan in my arms. I ran past all of the warriors, along the side of the dirt road until Aaryan was close.
When he was a safe enough distance away, he slowed down but jumped off of Bhumi even before he came to a stop. Bhumi rode past me a few steps and circled around me as Aaryan reached me.
The first thing he did was kiss my lips, and when he pulled away, I was grinning though my happy tears.
I held up our baby for him to see, watching his face. He looked stunned... mesmerized... like he could not believe his own eyes. He touched the cheek of the calm child, who stared at his father.
I helped Aaryan hold the baby and watched as he stared, speechless.
Little Aathi grasped onto his father's finger as Aaryan's thumb traced around the outline of the large black bindi on the middle of his forehead.
Though this was the first time Aathi was meeting his father in person, it certainly looked like he was already familiar with him. Our baby was calm in Aaryan's arms, looking happy.
"Golden skin..." Aaryan said. "Like you... golden from the inside out."
I chuckled. "This is Aathavan," I said, smiling widely and pushing the blanket away from his face so aaryan could really see his son. "Aathavan, like the sun."
Aaryan's gaze softened even more. "A... boy..."
Though Aaryan did not look nervous before, I saw a relief in his eyes.
That made me feel relieved.
And after another moment of staring at our child, Aaryan began to turn around to face his men... and I noticed now that the King was here too, surprising me.
It was at that moment that I noticed that the world around us was holding their breath, as if waiting to see what Aaryan was going to say. As if wondering if something could go wrong.
Wondering if something was wrong with our baby.
They only started breathing again when Aaryan shouted: "It's a boy!"
Almost instantly, the crowd began cheering. Horses reared back as men threw their hands into the air.
Things were being thrown up into the sky, horses were stomping around and footmen were hitting the butt of their spears into the ground as they all cheered. Even the King was smiling as she shouted "a boy!" again and again, laughing.
Then the drums from the festival began beating again and for some time, I imagined that all of the world could hear this and know that Aaryaraavanan of the Rudraraja clan, the Crown Prince of Chandraba, was now a father to a little boy.
The heir to the throne.
This child had solidified his claim to the throne.
And as celebration erupted in Nandioor and the world shook to welcome my son, I realized that somehow...
Somehow I had forgotten the importance of a boy.
Somehow, though this child had become my absolute everything and was the most important being in my life... I had forgotten how important he really was.