Chapter 33
Chapter 33 — The Weight of Waking
Aldren wakes to the baby's telepathic voice urging him to wake both mothers. The baby communicates love, hunger, and instructions for her name day: Aldren should feed her, then the family will go to the spring where she will be named. Kayline wakes first and nurses the baby while Aldren conveys the child's instructions to Mireth. The baby reveals her chosen name: Meredith-Kay. The family walks to the spring, where Aldren carries the baby into the water, and she is formally named before all three parents and the watching companions. The house sounds a full chord of arrival.
The baby said: Wake.
Not a suggestion. Not a request. Not the gentle telepathic nudge of yesterday morning when she'd let Aldren handle the early hours with diplomatic care, preserving the birth mother's day of rest like a docent protecting a museum exhibit from overenthusiastic visitors. This was an instruction. A clear, bright, unambiguous imperative delivered directly into Aldren's prefrontal cortex at a volume that made his sinuses ache.
Wake. I love you. I am you and I am us. Name day. I love. Hurry. Hungry. Let Mothers sleep. I need you. Hold me. I love you.
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