Chapter 5

Fafara was the first to touch me. He placed his hands on my abdomen and began to press against the muscles. "I am Fafara. Arafa tells me you are at five weeks," he said, still pressing, feeling for the shape of my womb.

I felt a slight twinge and gritted my teeth before replying. "Yes, if memory services, I was at almost a month when I lost consciousness."

Fafara nodded slowly and closed his eyes in concentration. He began to feel me in a new way, prodding me with the tips of his fingers.

"Is any of this painful?" he asked me.

"No," I said, feeling another brief twinge. "Just a little uncomfortable."

"Of course," he said, finishing up and opening his eyes. He put his hand on my cheek and with his other hand, grasped my wrist and took my pulse. He counted off the heartbeats and nodded.

"You seem fine," he said finally.

"And the pearl?" I blurted anxiously.

"So far as I can tell," he answered, "it's fine as well, although..." He paused and Arafa and I tilted our heads expectantly. I was desperate for a prognosis. "You would know better than I. You are the hostling, after all."

I smiled, relieved, and rubbed my stomach gratefully. "You mean if I feel it's all right, then it is?"

Fafara raised an eyebrow. "You feel it's all right?"

I kept on smiling. "Yes, I do. I mean, it keeps moving. That's good, isn't it?"

"Yes, Dera," he said slowly, sounding a little bit uncertain. "That is your name, correct?"

I nodded.

He paused and looked at me appraisingly. I didn't know what he was looking for.

"Dera, have you ever hosted a pearl?" he asked at last.

For a brief moment, I cringed at the thought of remembering the slightest part of my past, but this question, however, was easy.

"No, this is my first," I answered.

"Ah," Fafara said, "then perhaps you do not realize all that you can do, all that you can learn about your pearl and your body."

He took my hand away from where it rested on my stomach. "Arafa is young, perhaps younger than you. He has never hosted a child. He does not have my experience with hosting and birthing. Let me tell you what you must do."

He instructed me to close my eyes and relax. I was to focus all my energies within. I had some practice at this and it came to me easily.

When I was prepared, he told me to "clasp the pearl." At first I had no idea what he meant, but then he explained. The soume-lam were powerful muscles and the pearl was buried within me like the pit inside a fruit. To "clasp the pearl" I need only use these muscles, holding it like a ball in my hand. If anything were wrong, it might be possible to tell through this touch. Even if everything were fine, it would be good practice for the birth.

"Clasp the pearl," he repeated and somehow I knew just which muscles to move. I felt the shape of my child and again, I felt it move. There was no pain. I was awash with joy.

"By Aghama," I said softly, opening my eyes. "We have survived."