Private Third Contact

[Corazona von Ascania]

Despite the absurd circumstances of her birth, Luciana was declared healthy. All tests passed, all ten fingers and toes present and accounted for.

Cora still couldn't quite believe how it all had happened – the stuck elevator, Aurelian's presence, and Adelle's guidance from across the stars. It seemed like something out of a poorly written holodrama. Fortunately, unlike a poorly written holodrama, everything seemed to end up alright. Quiet, even. Mundane, according to the nursing staff.

Cora couldn't help but be utterly mesmerized by the tiny bundle curled into her chest. So small, yet so loud when she wanted something. How could someone so slight upend her world so thoroughly?

After several days, the little family was being discharged. Makko was off handling paperwork, and Cora simply held their daughter. Ukatian aristocracy preferred their firstborns to be male, but Cora couldn't think of Luciana as anything but a miracle.

"No more surprises, now," she murmured to the babe with no small amount of motherly affection. An echo of Adelle's earlier words shortly after the birth.

Lucy's fist curled into the collar of her hospital gown, infant reflexes still raw and unwieldy. As she stroked the dark wisps of her daughter's hair, Cora hummed a soft, aimless melody of some forgotten lullaby. A relic of her own mother, perhaps. Before she'd grown tired and distant.

Adelle Bastiel

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Tags: Corazona von Ascania

It was miraculous how much a simple shower in the refresher could restore life. Adelle walked the hall of the Labor and Delivery wing, dressed in a clean change of clothes and freshly bathed. Her frantic race to the spaceport and flight here had left her with little time to actually clean up since rolling out of bed that night. She didn’t have anything nicer than her usual nerf-leather jacket and tunic, but she had been able to meet with Tona and pass off the special bottle of Whyren’s Reserve for Aurelian, with a note on flimsiplast: You did good.

The door to the von Ascania’s room was closed. Adelle had been told that Makko was off filling out the paperwork for them to be released. Which meant her time on Ukatis was done—not that she’d been needed in the first place. A sense of professional duty had brought her here in the first place, the drive to follow-up and make sure that someone who’d been in her care was doing fine. And they were, both Cora and Luciana. It was high time she returned to her other patients.

Adelle knocked on the door softly, mindful that Luciana might be sleeping. She entered just as quietly when granted permission.

“I heard they’re finally releasing you,” Adelle said. “Do you have everything you need?”

Her eyes drifted to the tiny infant in Cora’s arms. It never got old.

 

[Corazona von Ascania]

“Come in,” Cora called softly.

She smiled when Adelle appeared at the threshold. “I do,” she affirmed. There was a pregnant pause as she looked down to Lucy, perfect and breathing and curled into her chest. “At least, I think I do.”

Cora looked back up to Adelle, her smile a little crimped and awkward. “I remember when most of my younger siblings were born. I’ve read books about parenting. And yet, I still feel so under prepared.”

Almost like it was a mistake to let two brand-new parents out into the world with a tiny, fragile baby. This was going to get far more difficult without an army of seasoned healthcare providers available around the clock.

Cora just couldn’t comprehend how difficult it would be. Special and overwhelming in equal measures.

“Sorry,” she shook her head, pausing as Lucy took in a sharp breath. “That might’ve been a little too much. You’ve already helped us so much already.”

Adelle Bastiel

 

[Adelle Bastiel]

Tags: Corazona von Ascania

Adelle cocked her head to the side slightly when Cora apologized for… something. Talking about her feelings maybe. There was a lot that had happened in between Adelle coaching via comlink and this meeting so she couldn’t fault Cora for not remembering that Adelle had medical experience. That and hormones after birth were a roller coaster for most women.

“You’re fine,” Adelle said. “I’m a doctor and Healer, I’ve heard it before. Truth be told, I hardly feel like I did much.”

She leaned against the wall. She had been prepared to do more. If things had gone sideways, if something had happened, Adelle had been bracing herself. Had located the pinprick of Aurelian’s chaotic signature, the twin lights of Cora and her babe equally small at that distance. Fortunately, it hadn’t been needed.

“If it helps,” Adelle said slowly, reaching into her pocket for a folded piece of flimsiplast, “I did write down my own contact info, in case you need something. I know you have your own support network and medical team for stuff, but if you have questions or just need to scream at someone you don’t know…”

Adelle held out the flimsiplast between two fingers, offering it.

“Well there's a bucket head that can take it.”