Lion Head Mesa in sickness, in health—

small post!! but was too excite.

Toula had always been a healthy girl, and had grown into a healthy woman. protected by the Gods as she was, no illness had ever touched her for too long…
except for this one! morning and night, she could not keep things down. foods she favored were things that made her feel green as of late. days even after that, it became quite hard to be still for very long without needing to pee! but the nausea, that was the most difficult thing to endure. it came in waves, and she cried through her sickness. 
finally, when she could bear it no more, she sought @Tavina and said, the tonics provided… they do not work, she blinked back tears, emotion working her throat as she swallowed whatever came up, am I… dying? she did feel quite fatigued—the question even exhausted her!

"you are pregnant, Divine One."

another daughter! flown almost to that fecund land of motherhood.

tavina did not let it consume her mind; her smile was soft and encouraging. "i remember when you were born, my girl. and now you're going to be a mother."

"i'm changing your tonics and putting you on a regimen of bedrest, pharaoh," tavina said next. "sickness with pregnancy is common. your illness has been rather harsh. i am certain all necessary business can be conducted from your bedside."

she patted the girl's paw; she was unable to stop speaking! "only for a month or so. enjoy this time, toula," and her eyes shone with their gentle familiarity.

she was—what? 
first, there was shock—how?! ah, but she knew how, and Toula had the strength to withhold the embarrassed grin that might have presented itself had she not been brought up with more decorum—because surely Tavina knew, too! but there was no shame, none at all as she processed exactly what this meant,
and second came a wave of grief, of sadness, as she thought of her own mother. this feeling overtook her, and she existed in the watery element of it, suspended there. had her mother felt this way, without her own mother there to share such news with? Gods, Toula wanted nothing more in that moment then to have her there with her! because strangely there was fear, too—pregnant! what would it be like? how would she feel? Toula had gone into everything with an education, but motherhood! 
that education had ended far too prematurely! and she remembered something in this aching state grief, knew that there was something she must do…
but at last came joy, and the tears that sprang forth were brought on by this wondrous feeling, because this all had came about by love, and she had dreamt of these children in the nights she could not remember when she roused. perfect beings, nestled at her breast—and Rashepses looking on at them all, adoringly,
and she was beaming! pregnant! she gasped! Toula moved to gently hold the paw of Tavina, eyes searching: you will be with me, when they come earthside? as you were with my mother…?

"of course, divine one," tavina assured, kissing the young face as smoothly as she might have with another child, forgetting herself for a moment — toula was not a child and she was an untouchable paragon of divinity now.

with all else save tavina.

she dried the happy tears and moved to mix a dandelion draught, its bitterness cut with a small amount of blackberry pulp. "i was with your mother and your father was in the hall. as each of you were born, i went out and i told him. he came to see you and your siblings, just for a moment."

she directed toula to drink now.

"his face changed each time i spoke. i watched him marvel at you. and in eight days he returned, to give proper names of the kingdom."

tavina's eyes were soft, remembering.