Role

Chapter 15

It was painful, beyond much anything else she had experienced, but if
Salyeris had learned anything as a Battlerager it was dealing with pain. She
screamed out as she pushed and with that the pain subsided, a feeling of
relief coming over her, and the wailing of an infant filled the glade. She
glanced over to Rolastia, who tended to the child, giving her a meager smile,
before she collapsed into deep sleep from exhaustion.

She was roused days later by Rolastia, her body now weaker, but recovered.
"Seems Neltouda blessed you with a girl." That was all she said to Salyeris
as Rolastia gave the child to her. Salyeris embraced the child to her,
kissing her lightly on the head. There was no scar, no marks upon the child.
She had not been born cursed. Elation overcame Salyeris for a moment, and she
issued a brief prayer to Neltouda before she looked up at the bard of the
maiden who had taken a seat nearby. Salyeris gave her a nod. "You know now
what must be done?" Rolastia nodded slightly.

"Nobody may ever know she is mine. She must be free from this life I have
led, free from the wars and violence. My duty is not yet over, but my burdens
will not be her's" Again, Rolastia nodded. "She will forge her own path, live
her own life free of all that once bound me. She will decide where the storms
will take her for herself."

Salyeris looked at the child once more. "In time child, you will know your
mother, who she was, and who you truly are. When that time comes, you will
find me ever with you." Salyeris brought her harp to her hand and began
strumming it lightly. The child's hand reached out and plucked a string as a
curious look came to her face, giiggling in delight at the sound it had made.
At the sound of that single note Salyeris smiled. She could touch it, she
could play the harp of her mother.

"Rolastia." The bard's ears perked for a moment but her expression did not
change. "I entrust to you the care of my daughter, Lesolanya Vanima'ona."
Rolastia looked at her. "Vanima'ona?" Salyeris nodded. "Nimkerta is my name,
a lasting reminder of who I once was. But for her, I think Vanima'ona suits
her best."

"What does it mean?" Rolastia asked.

"Beautiful gift, for that is what she forever will be to me." Rolastia only
nodded again and softly replied. "So shall it be."

As Rolastia took the child from Salyeris, she nodded her respects one last
time, and left the glade with Lesolanya in her arms. Salyeris's eyes never
left them til they were out of her sight. A daughter. A dream fulfilled.
Salyeris knew in time she would see her daughter again, and that feeling
filled her with a joy that she had rarely known in her life