28

Z A I R A

✿

The sun-yellow stone house, whose wall was covered with childish finger paints, was filled with loud chatter and children's laughter.

I sat on the colorful playmat in front of Koray and just reached for the red toy dragon. He was very fond of these things. "Were you looking for this, Liahevu, darling?"

He was actually too small for kindergarten, after all he was only one and a half solar orbits old. But since I always stayed with him and never left him alone, that wasn't a problem. He also loved it here and had already made a lot of friends. Well, friendships that you could just make with 1 ½ solar orbits.

"Will Beasty." Koray sniffed.

I looked around the busy kindergarten. We had almost every toy chest disassembled now, but I didn't know where his beloved dragon was. I stroked his dark curls and kissed his head, couldn't help cramping at his sad expression. I loved him so much, every single sob he let out when the stomach ache hit him again was like raw knife stabs in my heart. "Wait a minute, I'll ask Brenda, okay?"

He nodded and a tear ran down his cheek. I quickly got up and went in search of Brenda. “Hey, do you happen to know where Koray's dragon is? He probably misplaced it.” I asked the young, gentle, brown-haired she-wolf in charge of the kindergarten, who was just pulling a thick, light-green folder off the shelf.

She frowned and placed the folder on her desk. “Not that I know of... Maybe knows- Ah! I rearranged everything last night and swapped out new toys for old ones so the kids would have something else to play with. Maybe I stole it by mistake.”

"Oh," I said contritely. "Have you given it away yet?" Please, oh goddess of the moon, please don't. He loved this toy more than anything, talked about his friend Beasty all day long. Only this morning, when I had spooned him the warm, freshly prepared porridge in the kitchen, did he babble merrily to himself. How he looks forward to playing with him and letting Beasty fly with his powers again.

“No, they're still down in the basement. You're bound to find something in one of the boxes,” Brenda said, smiling, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I beamed at her as the weight of a stone fell from me. "You're my heroine, thanks!" I skirted every toddler that rushed towards me, running and laughing, and then picked up Koray, who was already holding out his arms to me.

I tapped the tip of his little nose. "I know where your favorite dragon is!"

His piercing green eyes, which he had inherited from Aramis, shone. "Yeah!" he said happily and threw himself around my neck.

Laughing, I opened the door and went down the stairs to the basement. As soon as I got to the basement, I flipped the light switch and the flickering light came on. It was chilly, but with a bit of luck we wouldn't have to look far.

The small room was crammed with metal shelves stacked with stuff. There were also old pieces of furniture lying around, play rugs rolled up and stacked against the wall. Small miniature tables and chairs intended for toddlers. Wow, Brenda actually cleaned up.

The brown boxes were on the bottom shelf. I set Koray down, who was already struggling in my arms, wanting to be set down as he padded to the toy chests.

Smiling, I helped him in the quest he was pursuing with so much perseverance. I adjusted my knee length dress as I sat on the floor and pulled the cardboard box off the shelf. It might be fall and the temperature was dropping with each passing day, but I just liked dresses too much to ditch them because of a little cold. Something Aramis commented with a snarl. But who could say no to such pretty works of art that also felt so amazing on the skin?

I especially liked colored clothes. Purple, light blue, yellow, dusky pink. And today's copy was definitely my favorite. The first time I put it on we were at home in the garden. Koray had tapped all the little flowers on it and tried to call them by their names. Sonnenbuuume, he mumbled and laughed while Aramis hugged me from behind and pressed warm kisses on the back of my neck.

Even now, in this small, gray room, while I was rummaging through cardboard boxes with Koray, Aramis felt like he was here with us. The bond that united us pulsated with the love he felt for me and Koray. My stomach tingled. He loved us just as much as I loved her.

"There! Beasty! Koray exclaimed, lifting out a large, crimson dragon. His smile immediately brought one to my face. How could he be so cute?

"You did great!" I crouched in front of Koray, strands of ivory hair falling across my face as I asked softly, "So, is Beasty okay too?"

He nodded vigorously and hugged the dragon to his chest. "Yes, Mommy. Beasty nana."

I laughed. "Well then, I'm sure he slept well." I got up and held out my hand to him. "Come on, let's go back upstairs."

Koray's small hand wrapped itself around mine. "Beasty foh too."

A smile crept onto my mouth. Koray in Semeric meant glowing, fiery moon - and it truly was. He could talk so much nonsense, was a bundle of irrepressible energy. Aramis must have been like that when he was little. "Glad he slept well?"

He shook his head wildly and his black curls flew around his ears. "Foh bad Fahu."

I looked down at him and had to hold back my laughter. "What brother, Liahevu? I thought Beasty had no family."

He tapped his chest with the kite, smiling. "Nay, my Fahu."

"Koray..." Now my laughter broke out. I ruffled his mane. "You have no Faruh, darling."

But Koray gave me a mischievous smile and nodded. "Light. Olange.”

My hand was already on the latch when I stopped. "What? What lights?”

Koray pulled his hand out of mine and pressed it against my stomach. "Eyes closed. Long light.”

I held my breath. It made no sense, Koray wasn't a healer werewolf, he didn't see the lifelines. Still, I placed my hand over his and brought my attention to the energy fields around us. I saw my own golden one as usual, then Koray's, which resembled a grassy green. I continued to focus, pressing my hand deeper into my stomach. When I was about to give up because I didn't notice anything special, everything inside me froze. A delicate strand of bright orange glowed in my stomach.

I widened my eyes and looked down at myself. My hand gripped Koray's small one on my stomach and I squeezed it. What?... But how? I... My thoughts made no sense, racing through my head so fast I kept losing them.

Tears pooled in my eyes. "Koray..." I choked on a laugh. "Come here, Liahevu." He stretched out his arms, his kite still in one hand, and I took him in my arms. In a trembling voice I said, "Koray, you were right."

He chuckled and wrapped his thin arms around my neck. "White."

Another half-crying, half-laughing giggle escaped my lips. I kissed his soft cheeks. "Mommy's pregnant!" Then I spun Koray around. "You have a little brother!"

Koray squealed with delight as I spun him around in the air and I screamed along with him. My sky blue skirt twirled in the air as I spun us faster and faster, my heart bursting with happiness. A baby. Aramis and my Baby.

"We have to tell Daddy that right now," I said breathlessly and with a huge smile as I hugged him again and we stopped.

Koray squeezed his kite between us. "Dadda. Want Dadda.”

I was excited, couldn't wait to see him. The first time I broke the news to him, I was so nervous that I avoided him for days. I had doubts about how he would react. Good or bad? In hindsight, I could have smacked my forehead. Really Zaira? By all moons, how could I have even thought that he didn't want our child? That he would be mad?

Everything looked different now. I could already see his expression in front of me. His green eyes, in which darkness had reigned for so long. Green eyes whose expression softened when he looked at me and Koray. I grew warm and my heart pounded frantically against my chest. I absolutely had to tell him. Now. "Yes, let's go to Daddy's."

I hadn't felt the heat, which was rising more and more. Neither did the smoke thickening the air upstairs. So I wasn't aware of the evil I was about to face when I opened the door.

Oh ye moons! Gray smoke billowed up the stairwell and I saw the blazing flames licking up the top of the stairwell. They spread in our direction.

And that extremely fast.