A little girl, no more than two years old, sat on the huge fur rug in our bedchamber. She looked at me, her face so much like a younger version of my own but with her other mother's gorgeous green eyes, smiling a beautiful baby's smile. My heart almost burst with joy as I looked upon her sitting there, a large picture book open on the floor in front of her. I knelt beside her as she turned the pages. The pages appeared animated, but as I looked more closely, I could see that they were in fact images from my own mind, recreations of significant happenings of the previous few days! She placed her tiny hand in mine, looking into my eyes and smiling a heart melting little smile.
"Hello, Momma." a voice, a very young girl's voice that somehow sounded so familiar, said! I squealed as I sat up in bed, waking Gyn, whose arm had been around me, her hand resting lightly on my swollen belly.
"I saw her, Gyn! I saw Baby!" I said, crying with joy. "She spoke to me!"
"It was a dream, baby." Gyn said. "A wonderful dream. She spoke to me too." Then she also squealed and sat bolt upright! She placed her hand on my belly and closed her eyes. A wide smile appeared on her face.
"She's asleep." Gyn said, as she opened her eyes and patted my bump very softly. "But her mind is definitely active now, I can feel how much her consciousness has expanded. She can make sense of your thoughts and feelings, she knows who we are and that she's our daughter!"
"Is this how things are with demon babies?" I asked. "They start communicating with their parents before they're born?"
"I have never heard of such a thing happening before!" Gyn said, her eyes filled with wonder and tears of happiness. There were tears running down my cheeks too! "We must consult with Tel in the morning, until then let's all three of us get some rest."
I lay down again, but was awake all night!
The next morning, after breakfast, we went in search of Tel'estar. He was at the near end of the long sloping lawn that runs from the main villa to his private quarters at the rear of the residence. He was at archery practice, shooting arrows from the near end of the lawn into a target at the far end. Several of the shots were 'Robin Hoods', the point of a subsequent arrow having hit the nock of one already embedded in the target, splitting the first arrow right down the centre. As we watched him, I could feel Baby moving inside me, obviously awake now!
"She's wondering what you're looking at!" Tel said, as he loosed his last arrow, which split one that had itself already been part of a 'Robin Hood'. As I stood open-mouthed, amazed at the mental focus that allowed him to shoot so incredibly accurately while communicating with the baby growing inside me, he walked over to us, smiling widely. He placed his hand on my belly, conveniently bare above my short leather skirt, the thongs of my halter top stretched wide across my pregnancy-enhanced bosom.
"She spoke to us last night!" Gyn exclaimed. "How is that possible?"
"My hope has apparently been realised." Tel replied. "The powers of the estar are flowing through your daughter already. That would explain how her mind has developed so quickly, her consciousness already reaching out, exploring and developing through you, Lindsay."
"She's observing things around her through Lindsay's perceptions?" Gyn asked.
"Yes, when she is awake." Tel answered. "She is behaving as a baby does, just a little earlier, with a lot more help from her mother!"
"Can she see EVERYTHING I do?" I asked.
"When she's awake." Tel responded. "Asleep, she dreams of what she's seen while awake and shows her parents what she's seen!"
"So, I need to behave myself from now until she's born, right?" I asked, grinning wickedly.
"YES!" they both said at once, laughing!
Returning to our chambers, I found the Demon-language primer that I hadn't opened since the day Gyn and I had argued. I sat down on a rug, crossed my legs in front of me and began to study it. Baby moved and kicked lightly inside my belly for a while, then settled down and went to sleep. Gyn entered the room and sat behind me, her legs spread wide, her arms around me, palms resting lightly on my bump. I turned my head and kissed her softly, then went back to studying. I spent the remaining few weeks of my pregnancy learning how to read Demon-script, reading any books for Demon-children that I could find aloud. I also began recounting the tale of the 'three little hoggligs and the Wolf-demon', obviously a variation on one of my own favourites from childhood!
I spent a lot of time asleep in my last few weeks of pregnancy, as my demonic energy became my baby's tiny body. While I slept, Baby and I would sit on the rug in our shared dream, my arms around her as she showed me the pictures in her book, many of which were now the text in the books I had read to her during the day, which I would then read for her again. Gyn often joined us, sitting quietly in front of us, cross-legged, amazed, as 'Hunny' and I read together. Sometimes, I would hear her voice asking me to read a particular story, or who someone I'd spoken to during the day was to us. She became particularly interested in her uncle Tel, of course! Soon, she was communicating with me when we were both awake, my interaction helping me to finally develop limited telepathic abilities. So it was no surprise, on the afternoon that Lara'infer knelt at the foot of my bed, Gyn holding my hand tightly as I prepared to give birth, that I heard Hunny's voice in my head!
"What's happening, Momma?" she asked.
"We're about to meet you properly, Hunny." I replied. "you'll be with us very soon!"
"I'm frightened, Momma!" she answered! I could tell her little heart was hammering!
"There's nothing to be afraid of, my Hunny. Your mommies can't wait to meet you." I told her. "Just relax and listen to my voice. We love you so much, Hunny, everything is going to be all right."
"Yes Momma, I love you both too!" she replied as I gritted my teeth and pushed hard at Lara's instruction!
Hunny was soon in my arms, looking into my eyes as I cried with joy, Gyn hugging us both!
"Hello, my Mommies!" we both heard in our heads!
"Hello Hunny!" we said aloud, kissing her little cheeks and hugging her before she decided that she was hungry!
We had originally intended to name her Gyn-Lin'estar, but Hunny insisted that we'd named her already. Since we couldn't really object to our baby deciding on her own name, Gyn-Lin'estar was named Huni'estar instead!
I was in the kitchen, kneading pizza dough. Huni had just been fed and was taking her afternoon nap. I hummed to myself as I worked as Mila'infer, Tel's Chef, prepared lunch on the other side of the kitchen. She had been wary of me when I began using the villa's catering facilities to prepare little treats for my Master and our visitors, ill at ease at having someone she regarded as a Lady of the High estar's household in what she quite rightly regarded as her own 'domain'. However, once she realised that I had no intention of taking over the catering for her lord's residence, we had become friends. Felis and her family were now regular visitors for movie nights, and once Tigi and her brothers had tasted pizza, it was all they would eat when they were here!
