“We’re away from your kingdom.” I wasn’t exactly sure if that last part was true, but he remained silent.

Again, I turned toward both women at my side. “Will you deliver my child safely so nothing harmful happens to him?”

I couldn’t predict how exact I had to be with my request. I hoped to share birthing a child would give us some connection. Maybe even an inclination to listen to the spirit of my words.

They both nodded, and I hoped I made the correct decision.

“Let’s do it,” I said.

Please don’t let this be a foolish mistake…

***

I floated in a bathtub-tank. Just like I saw earlier with the various assortments of altered aquatic creatures. The implications weren’t reassuring. They were all weaponized life. Some took out a group of armed Volardi – the warriors of the galaxy. On my face, I had a fat, flat fish where Fuath sliced open my face. Pain I expected to continue dulled to a mild painful throbbing. Otherwise, I might have been more worried.

I admit I still had a lingering thought if they would do anything nefarious. All I could go on was instinct and practicality. Matros’ ship was crushed, and we were in a ship that wouldn’t correspond to Volardi commands. I suppose killing Fuath was an option but not one I wanted to do. Matros was right… I wasn’t used to this life. I’m sure there were hard decisions that had to be made in their history. Perhaps some that I would find horrific. Yes, there was something that didn’t sit right with me. There was something going on I couldn’t see.

A sharp pain in my stomach yanked me out of my wonder. Through the semi-blurred haze, I saw Matros. I couldn’t smell him, but I recognize that universal look of worry. One of the Sammen spoke, and I heard the reverb in my ear from a slug that was there.

“Our children are born in the sea.”

I got the meaning. It was both practicality and a sense of honor. They mentioned that I wasn’t as Volardi to them. Some Volardi would see it as an insult but I didn’t. Perhaps that proved their point.

No matter the reason, I was glad for the weightlessness of the saltwater. At least that took some pressure off my back. I heard some women on Earth do water births. Volardi do it in the medical lab. Somehow this seemed more right especially since I was on an ocean planet.

Maybe this can be a new tradition? Presuming I… we survive.