Chapter 3

That morning, as I awoke to find Fafara wrapped around me, sleeping peacefully, I felt a wonderful sense of contentment.

After two years with my new love, I had created a child, my first as progenitor. For Fafara, it would be the first pearl he had hosted in thirty years. All his other children had long ago grown into adulthood and settled into lives on their own. This, along, with Ilafa, would be the start of our new family.

I ran my fingers through Fafara's hair in the growing light. It was about a half hour after dawn and normally I would not yet be awake. It suddenly occurred to me that perhaps something had woken me.

It was a timely premonition, for just at that moment, I heard an insistent knock on the bedroom door. This was not Ilana wandering in; this was Arafa, evidently there for a reason.

"Come in," I called out, gently disentangling myself from Fafara, who slumped onto the bed before opening his eyes, blinking and looking around, dazed.

Arafa burst through the door waving a piece of paper. What could it possibly be? I was at immediate attention. Glancing at Fafara, I saw he was rubbing his stomach. No doubt he was feeling a bit strange as the aren formed within him.

"A messenger from town arrived on horseback this morning," Arafa announced breathlessly. I realized I must have been awoken by the sound of the hooves.

"He brought this message. For you." There was an urgency in his voice but in his eyes, I detected a tinge of happiness. Whatever the message, it was not all bad news.

I took the paper in my hands. "For me?" I asked. I was known in town but I certainly was not the regular recipient of urgent messages.

I glanced down. By the time I had finished the first two lines, I was in shock. Not the shock of horror, but the shock of joy.

It seems a family in a city far north of us was hosting a family reunion in a month's time. All the invitations had gone out, but an important guest could not be reached. A favored son, gone south with his partner two years prior, had been out of touch. They weren't angry with him, but if someone could pass along a message that they were looking for him, they would be ever so grateful. The son had dark auburn hair and blue eyes. He was a jeweler by trade. His name was Dera.

I set the paper down on the bed cover and looked at Fafara, who still had no idea what was going on.

"They've called for me," I said to him softly. "My family up north."

His eyes went wide. "Bad news?" he asked.

I shook my head. "No, good news. They're having a family reunion and they sent out a message hoping to find me."

"Ah, that's wonderful!" he declared, picking up the message and reading it over. "Ah, in a month's time." He sighed contentedly. "So when do we leave?"

His enthusiasm had so engaged me that I almost burst out, "Today!" Then, quite suddenly, I noticed Fafara touch his stomach. "We?" I asked. "We are are not going anywhere. I will probably try to leave by tomorrow morning."

"What?!" he cried. His face had fallen and he looked more hurt than I had ever seen him. "Of course I will come with you! I want to meet your family. I want to keep you company. You can't go traveling up there on your own! You'll need me to--"

"Host my pearl," I finished for him.