23

ELI—ELIAS VAUGHN OPENED HIS EYES, BUT COULDN’T SEE. A WOMAN was shouting, moaning, and he hurt, his shoulder, there’d been an accident, and where was Benny? The light, he’d gone into the light, and everything seemed hard now, the surface beneath him, the air around him, and he couldn’t see. What was happening?

Someone was shouting, not the woman. Around him, movement, he could feel it through the floor beneath him, could hear running.

“Got it—”

“They’re dying—”

“Get that one—”

Voices of conquest. The thought was a fragment, but he knew the tones he heard, knew that a battle had turned.

Something cool on his face, lifted away. Painful brightness flooded his eyes for a moment, and there was Benny, looking down at him, except—

—you’re old! His friend had aged twenty, thirty years. His eyes were the same, he could see that, but his face—

“You’re okay. Just rest now, you’re going to be fine,” Benny said, and it wasn’t Benny at all, this man was clean-shaven, white-haired, just a man with Benny’s eyes. There was another loud moan, almost a scream, and the man looked away, his face tight with anxiety and fear and

and excitement?

Too much to take in, and he was exhausted. Vaughn closed his eyes again, deciding that he’d believe the man with his friend’s kind gaze, take the man’s advice. Benny was coming, anyway, he’d be there in a minute, he could explain everything. Vaughn let himself drift away, knowing that something had changed, slipping into the dark with an easy mind.

“Uuuhhhh!”

The sound was the feeling, it was coming out of her, but Kas didn’t know it, knew nothing at all but her body, the pain, the need. Push, push, she had to push, her body was pushing whether she wanted it or not. The pain was huge and glassy, searing, but the need was greater.

A door, opening, a rush of air, more yelling. “What’s happening? Are they all—”

“—All of them!”

“Oh, thank the Prophets! Thank the—”

Shut up, why won’t they shut up, I’m, I’m—

“Uuunnhhh!”

“—get someone down here, now! Right now!”

Sounded like Jake, but Kas wasn’t sure, couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything but push, had to push. Opaka Sulan said something, her voice sweet and sure, Kas couldn’t hear the words but thought she could feel hands on her thighs, warm and strong. The need came again and she pushed, as hard as she could.

“—two, three, four—”

“You’re doing great, Kas, great!” Judith’s face, close to hers, a sweaty flash that was there and gone, and was someone holding her hand? She didn’t know.

“—nine, ten and breathe, good, deep breath and push, two, three—”

Sulan’s voice. The pain was like nothing she’d felt before, surely she was turning herself inside out, but even that wasn’t a thought, barely a scrap of understanding. The need. The need, and the feeling of movement, deep at her core, of liquid heat and movement.

“Now, Kasidy, push and hold, two, three—”

“There! There, I see it!”

Kasidy bore down, unaware that she was screaming, the pain so vast that it was no longer pain, it had become something else. The feeling of letting go, of movement had become all-powerful, quenching the need, finally giving her release. There was a burning, far away, and then that was gone, too—and she felt something leave her body. The baby, she was feeling the baby leave her body.

“Good, good!”

“Oh, God! Oh, it’s so—”

“Kasidy!”

Her mind was grasping, clawing for answers, hearing more now—hearing the sound of joy in the voices of Sulan, of Joseph, of Jake. Judith’s face next to hers again, aglow, tears in her eyes.

“She’s beautiful, Kasidy. She’s beautiful.”

A girl? Kasidy laughed, her heart filling up with the thought. A girl, and then Opaka was putting a warm, wet weight on her chest, and there she was, a tiny, tea-colored face above a piece of blanket, frowning, blinking, covered in goo. Looking at Kasidy with bright, confused eyes.

Another rush of air, cool and sudden. Kas looked away from the perfect, beautiful baby for a split second, saw that the door had opened, saw Kira Nerys standing there, her clothes ragged, her eyes going wide. Saw an amazed grin surface, then was through looking at Kira, her gaze drawn back to the blinking bundle in her arms. The girl was screwing up her face to squall, her tiny, perfect mouth working, her frown deepening, chin quivering. She let out a hoarse, fragile wail and Kasidy closed her eyes because her heart was breaking with it, with love for the child.

“Kasidy.”

Ben?

Startled, Kasidy opened her eyes, tears blurring her vision. She saw Kira again, saw, standing next to her, now striding toward her, kneeling at her side, the form of her husband, her love. Everyone was talking at once, excited, shouting, laughing, but he was with her, reaching out to cup her face, saying her name again, and again.

Kasidy wept, dying with happiness, reborn with it. Ben held her, held them both.