Fragile 3
"That sounds delightful. We will see you then", Nora responded. Nora slipped off the bed and her and her Bind left to allow Allurai to begin her weekly appointment.
"This should be quick," Janel said. He had been there after her last pregnancy with a female infant. Her death was always with her, so Allurai was incredibly cautious about all of her future pregnancies. She was here every week. Her group of spouses then filed into the room as the scan commenced.
"She is doing very well, Allurai." Janel advised the woman. "Her growth is on track, and she appears to be very active." Allurai saw the infant move and felt the fluttering inside of her. Her spouses would be relieved to hear of another healthy check up.
"I did not think she would barge into the room. That was a surprise. She was so loud", Nora said in a low voice. Nora heard the conversation as the doors closed. She sighed again, this society was so weird. Did privacy mean anything to these people?
"Two girls. I guess we will have to do things differently for a while in the kitchen, huh? You can sit and tell me what to do when you want to experiment. Like a commander?" Cerez said as they exited the elevator into the main hall. Leilanna was coming down the opposite hallway with her spouses around her.
'Is she watching the monitoring outside the doors?' Liem thought with a chill. Liem rolled his eyes. Leilanna always found out when they exited their courtyard.
"Greeting Leilanna, you look very beautiful." Nora said and gave an extended respectful greeting. Leilanna was in her thirty-first week of pregnancy, and was truly beautiful. She had an air of confidence about her that Nora wished she had. Leilanna smirked at her traditional greeting. She felt that Nora was very much like a child fumbling around. Her facial expressions were caught by all of them.
"Nora Quill, it is delightful to see you. I did not see you out running this morning. Instead of acting like a peacekeeper, you should start to act like you care about your children." Leilanna admonished Nora. Nora felt this hit a nerve since she had just been advised that she had to take it easy and was piling on. She was just trying to stay healthy. Nora kept her cool the best that she could.
"Yes. I have to take it easier now for my daughters." Nora said, starting to feel really guilty about how she was thinking selfishly about doing the things she wanted. She started to tear up. "Forgive me, I feel really exhausted, and I am going to go lay down now." Nora said, bumping into one of her spouse's shoulders and quickly slipped away down the hall. Liem shot his sister a look.
"Very nice, she just learned that her pregnancy is going to be high risk, Lei. She was being kind. You truly are becoming a cruel Matriarch." Liem spat and joined his spouses in following Nora down the hall. Allurai looked at her daughter and a scowl formed on her face.
"Are you feeling proud of yourself for that, Leilanna?" Allurai asked. "She has female twins, Leilanna. She must be very scared. You just called her uncaring. You have shamed me with your conduct. You know what you must do to make amends, correct?" Allurai said. She had witnessed their interaction as she followed behind them. She wanted to talk to Nora more initially and get her image taken with her. Leilanna looked back at her mother, stupefied. Allurai sighed and walked away. Her daughter disappointed her with her lack of maturity. She felt the urge to walk after them, but in her condition it was not the best idea to pursue her. Liem would definitely comfort her.
"I swear it is normally perfectly healthy for women to exercise. Maybe I have been pushing things?" Nora said in a whimpering voice. Nora opened the door to their home and started to cry, feeling guilty about her thoughts upstairs. Was she already a bad mother thinking only about her wants and desires? What if something happened to them? They had her genes, but they also had the DNA of a species that had difficulty with pregnancies. She felt awful.
"Nora, love, it is okay. They are healthy." Cerez pulled her into an embrace as she sobbed.
"I have been so neglectful. I have been cooking, exercising, doing chores and I have been so lustful. What if I hurt them by doing something selfish?" Nora sobbed.
"No you are not, many women work into their pregnancy. Like Allurai," Liem said in a soothing tone. Liem pulled up the image of the twins.
"Look, Nora, they are fine. We will make sure you are safe. You can be as safe as possible with females and still miscarry. I feel that you have been cautious and followed all of our suggestions," Liem said as he explained to his beloved. "We will love you no matter what happens. We will just slowly make modifications to our lives," Liem said as he finished."You are not like the other women here, Nora, we know. You are healthy. It will be alright." Liem said. Nora started to feel overwhelmed; her legs gave out from underneath her. Cerez caught her.
"What? What do you mean!" Nora said as she panicked. She started to slump. Cerez supported her.
"Stop guys!" Cerez said, startled, feeling Nora starting to tremble with stress.
"It is alright, do not worry about our love. You're safe" Kadir soothed her. "We know you will get through this fine because of that difference, we hope that is the same with them too." Kadir said, trying to calm her down.
"Can't you see she is overwhelmed, it is not the time to do this!" Cerez shouted, his eyes darting between his two friends. He felt ganged up on, he could feel that Nora might be feeling the same way. She would not feel relieved if they kept continuing on like this.
"Your identity is being kept as the last Northerner alive, so we ask that you keep going along with that. But we have faith that you will be alright because of that." Liem finished. Nora felt her own pulse in her ears as her vision blurred from the realization that Liem knew long ago and was keeping her in the dark.
"It is alright Nora, calm down. Breathe." Liem said as an alert chimed on their interfaces. Liem huffed.
"I told you to stop, it was not the time. It is okay, Flower. Take deep breaths in and out. Come on." Cerez said, panicking. His grip tightened, as he kept her steady. Nora started to feel smothered by it. She struggled against his grasp.
"Leave. Me. Alone." Nora said, through her pants. "I need to think," Nora said as she wrestled against him. Cerez released her, nervously following her as she walked.
"Think about what? You do not need to lie to us anymore." Liem said in a neutral voice, hoping she felt relieved. Nora cast him a look of fear, her legs wobbling. She rested her head against the wall panting. Cerez cast an incredulous look. Did he not understand how she was feeling?
"You do not understand how scary it is to be as alone and different as I am," Nora said, trying to excuse herself. " I was so scared, I am so scared. You have to understand." Nora said, starting to feel light-headed from the stress. "I- think I need to lie down." Nora said, as she began to see spots creep into her field of vision. She started to crumple, Cerez grabbed her and supported her weight and pulled her into his arms just in time.
"I got you. I understand." Cerez said, he glared at Liem and Kadir. He would not be able to take them both later, one of them would have to answer for this. What did it matter and why did it have to come up now? It could wait.
"It is okay love. Take deep breaths." Liem said, an alert tone making him full of fear. He panicked as she panted quickly, her eyes rolling around her head. He cursed himself. He should have waited for her to open up to them about this by herself, as Cerez adamantly suggested. He cursed himself for turning what would have been just a small bit of anxiety, to a full-on panic attack.
"Now, was not the time for this guys. I told you I was against this." Cerez shouted at him with frustration.
"Lay her down over there." Kadir said, angry with Liem and himself. Nora felt the fabric of the cushions as she fainted.
"You gave her an anxiety attack. Did you think that it was more than enough for her dealing with Leilanna's words, Liem? She was already stressed." Cerez glared at Liem. Kadir, Cerez and Liem exchanged tense looks with each other. Cerez shook with rage. If it was not for the incoming medical assistance, Liem would be dealing with his fists. He was itching to resolve his feelings like they used to.
"It was weighing on her, she has to know that we know. Can you imagine how isolated she has felt? She needed to know we knew and that we supported her. The sooner, the better or who knows what could happen the next time she plants an insecurity in her head?" Liem said, feeling guilty. He had made a huge mistake. Misjudged his timing. He felt like a stupid child being affected by his trauma so much that he hurt her unintentionally. "Quiet, he will be coming soon," Liem said as the door opened, as Janel briskly walked through the door.
"What happened?" Janel said breathlessly.
"She had words with Leilanna in the hallway, she became dizzy, and we managed to lay her down before she fainted." Liem quickly covered.