Advent Story 2014: The Magi: Silvana: The Winter Solstice (part four)

[k_a_webb]

A.N. This update was written entirely using my new voice recognition software. Although I still think it’s going to take time I seem to be further along that I thought I was going to be today. Yesterday I don’t think I had the microphone in the right place, and thanks to mistake I just made I found that the vocab knows the word hadron, but now we seem to be getting to know each other a bit better, if you can say that about a piece of software, I’m feeling a lot more positive than I was.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Every time Silvana looked at Kerilyn she was reminded of how soon the baby would be born. Before they left the Carne Kerilyn was already pregnant, but that was something Silvana hadn’t known about in advance. Kerilyn, as she always had, had been keeping secrets from Silvana. Maybe it had something to do with how Silvana was just a slave. That had always made things difficult between the two of them. Neither of them wanted it to and before there was nothing they could do about. Fortunately that something that was something they could now change, because the two of them were no longer with the Carne, and that was something Silvana was grateful for. She thought Kerilyn was. It seemed like she was. Yet Silvana couldn’t help thinking there were days when Kerilyn wished she’d stayed the Carne. Her family were all there, the parents and sisters she left behind, and that was something Silvana was certain had to bother her. Kerilyn never said anything, but Silvana could see the pain in her eyes.

“Wouldn’t you prefer to be at home?” Silvana brushed a hand through her hair. “I know you say you are different your family, and I believe you are, but I know how much it hurts not to have your parents around. It isn’t something I wouldn’t wish on anyone, especially not you. There are days, and they’ve been happening more regularly recently, when I miss them more than I ever thought possible.” Like all slaves Silvana had been taken from her parents at an early age. The Carne didn’t keep records. It didn’t matter to them. Why would it? Some day, though, she hoped she was lucky enough to find out who they were. It seemed very unlikely. “Do you not feel like that sometimes?”

“Occasionally, yes. Most the time I feel relieved that I’m out of there, that I’m free to live my life, and I can be with the woman I love.” Their eyes met. “There was a time when I didn’t think this would ever happen, so finding myself in this position is something I will always be grateful for. If it hadn’t been for the Magi I would have been trapped there for the rest of my life. If it hadn’t been for you, Silvana, and would have been trapped in a loveless handfasting.” Kerilyn sighed. “When I found out it had been planned since I was born I was so angry with my parents, I couldn’t believe they would have done that to me, even though it was normal for the Carne, because I always believed they would let me choose who I would handfast. Obviously I was wrong about that.” She shook her head. “My sisters are in the same position. Both of them have accepted it. I think it was something they were expecting. My parents couldn’t understand why I wasn’t happy with the decision they made. They thought they’d done the best thing they could for me.”

Mirrored from K. A. Webb Writing.