[piosenniel]

7 Cermië

Pio put the seedcake back on the tray, and pushed the table away from the bed. ‘You will regret it if you come near me,’ she said in a low, even voice to Gilly, who had stepped close to her in anticipation of her next move. She threw back the covers and sat up gingerly, easing her legs over the side of the bed. ‘And worse yet,’ she warned, seeing Gilly take another step closer, ‘if you touch me at all.’

Cami’s voice came tiredly from the opposite edge of the bed, where she now sat. ‘She means it, Gilly. Best leave the fool Elf to fall over by herself, if that’s what she wants to do.’ Cami yawned broadly, and laid down on the pillow next to Pio’s. ‘Eru knows we’re all so tired that if she does . . . fall over, that is . . . we won’t have enough energy among us to get her back in bed.’ She tossed the other pillow on the floor in front of Pio. ‘Try to land on that you stiff-necked Elf, we’ll throw a blanket over you and you can stay there til we’re rested or you’re better!’ Cami’s voice trailed off into another series of yawns, then silence, followed by the soft sounds of snoring.

Pio’s face had gone white from the effort of sitting up, and the room about her was starting to spin and close in about her. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath, then called gently to the babies. They were nearby, and dreaming, but the touch of her thought awakened them, and their little minds reached out for her. Relief flooded through her. They were alright.

‘Bring them to me. They are awake now.’ Gilly started to protest that they were sleeping, but their tiny voices proved otherwise as they took up the lusty cry for the comforts of their ammë.

Gilly picked up the pillow from the floor and propped it against the headboards of the bed. ‘If you’ll get back in there, as Amaranthas directed, and settle in comfortably, I’ll bring them to you,’ she bargained with the pasty-faced Elf.

‘Just bring them, and quickly, I’ll do as you wish.’ Her leg had started to throb, and she eased it gently back onto the bed, pulling the covers back up over her legs as she rested against the headboard. Soon they were in her arms and she held them close, telling them of her dream, and the plans for Cami’s big day tomorrow.

She was loath to let them go, and when they were fed and changed, she bade Gilly help her settle them in between herself and the deeply sleeping Cami. ‘It will be all too soon,’ she said softly to them as she stroked their hair, ‘that you will be leaving me, and making your own way in the wide world. I’ll hold you as close as I can now, as proof against that time coming.’

Pio turned on her side and gathered their drowsing forms against her. She lay for a few moments her hand lightly on them, watching them breathe their little breaths, then dropped off to sleep herself.

Which was how Maura found the four of them when he came to collect Cami later that morning . . .

[ May 31, 2003: Message edited by: piosenniel ]