December 5, 1193
Riona prodded at the fire with a barely-constrained fury, but Rona doubted either of them felt much warmer. What a terrible year. First her stepfather, then her little sister... and now one of her dearest friends.It had been a normal pregnancy, from all anyone could tell. Hilla had been up and about, smile on her face through the whole nine months of it. The labor had progressed quickly enough, easily enough, producing a healthy baby boy and a pair of proud parents.
But, she'd started bleeding. And then, she hadn't stopped.
Riona jabbed the log again. She'd sent one of the guards for her Aunt Aerina when Arydath had been unable to stop the bleeding. Aerina had said it would be a matter of hours. That had been some hours ago.They'd already had to say their goodbyes. Arydath and Bernardo and the children had the stronger claim to the last few minutes.
"Do you ever wonder if God plays dice?"
A valid question. If survival was based on the difficulty of the pregnancy overall, then Rona would have died birthing Yvanette. And Hilla would be out of bed, twirling little Halford to sleep.
"Whatever He does, it isn't fair."It didn't take too many years on the earth to realize that very little was. There were more than a significant number of men out there who clung to the idea that a woman's only worth was in bearing babies, while there was nothing more likely than childbirth to kill a reasonably healthy adult woman. Rona and Riona and Hilla had all been lucky in that they had married better men than that. It didn't make them any more or less likely to be so lucky in labor, as had been proven today.
"Hilla deserves better than this. Hilla and Bernardo and the children all deserve better."
Riona poked the top log so hard it toppled to the back of the hearth. "Clearly what any of us deserves isn't much of a factor."NEXT CHAPTER:
5 comments:
1193 has not been a good year for random death dates.
781 hasn't either. xD'
That makes two of Arydath's daughters to die of childbirth. :/
Best of luck for the others, right?
Indeed. :S
Weirdly enough, both Hilla and Lyraina went on their fourth child and second son. Celina and Feoda each have three kids so far... though, Celina's fourth has been born in-game and I can say for sure that she survived this one. And I believe Feoda rolled a longer lifespan than her twin.
But yeah, here's hoping that the two of them and their half-sisters are luckier than the older two. :S
Poor Hilla :(
And Bernardo and Arydath and everyone else. Though, Arydath, that has to hurt particularly for her. She's top of the class in what she does, and to have to accept that even that isn't enough to save the ones you love the most sometimes is rough.
Yeah. :(
The hardest period of Arydath's life was definitely when she was grieving for Lyraina. Now, she has to go through that all over again. She's helped and saved so many women, but she can't save them all, and she couldn't save her daughters. After this, she'll probably be even more worried whenever one of her daughters or daughters-in-law is expecting, especially when it's that cursed Baby #4 that got both Lyraina and Hilla. :S
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