Tie It With a Ribbon

“This is not a funny joke,” he warned her through clenched teeth, jumping to his feet and leaving me in shock. “It’s not funny!”

“I am not laughing,” she told him calmly, not moving a muscle.

“Don’t give me this bullshit! We invited you so warmly into our home, and this is what you say to us? Alena is already scared out of her mind, and you have to load this on her shoulders? She’s so small; she can’t hold the weight of the world! I don’t think you are helping, and I don’t see why you must say these horrible things!”

“You are scared. It is understandable.”

“Shut up!” he snapped, stepping towards her with that murderous look in his eyes again. “I should have your head for this!”

“You would just throw yourselves into another war.”

“If I’m going to die, what does it matter?” he asked, his fists trembling at his sides.

I wanted to reach for him, to try to talk some sense into him, but part of me wanted to let him commit a murder.

“You are supposed to put your country before your own life. Would you not die for the better good of your world?”

The wind was knocked out of me then, and I gasped for breaths. It was true, then, that we would have to die for our country to live on?

“Alena, ignore her!” he begged, turning to me with terror in his eyes. He strode up to me, pulling me into his arms. “Just don’t listen, okay? I won’t let anything happen to you, I swear. Even if I die, I swear you won’t, but I’m not planning on giving up anytime soon.”

“Since when is death planned?” our guest asked so calmly, and it enraged me to no end!

“Why are you still here?” he screamed at her, refusing to release me from his too-tight embrace. “Haven’t you done enough?”

“Though you may not like what I have said, it is only fair warning. If you choose not to listen, however, I am sure you will end as I believe.”

“We brought you here to tell us about our children. You can shut your damn mouth about anything else,” I hissed at her, holding fast to Zanzibar.

“Very well, but—”

“No! Just tell us about our children and leave,” Zanzibar warned her, releasing me with blatant hesitance. “If I could, I would much rather do it myself than allow you to touch her with your vile hands.”

“Yes, but you cannot,” she told him, her eyes dropping to me.

I shirked away from her hands, but Zanzibar forced me towards her. I glanced to him, biting my lip to stop the protests, but he only shook his head sadly.

“We don’t have much of a choice,” he murmured, kissing me softly as he caught my hand. “I don’t like it, but we have to make sure they’re alright.”

I nodded, allowing her to press such chilling hands to my stomach. I suppressed a growl when she smiled absently, mumbling words to herself before standing up.

“They are doing very well, but I do know that they are not all one race.”

“What are they, then?” Zanzibar asked, his love for children shining past his hatred.

“Well, one boy is developing quickly, like a cub, and the other is giving mixed signals, which does lead me to believe he is a split. The little girl is progressing much more slowly, and I can guess that she is a bird.”

“So we will have these complications?” I whispered, gripping tighter onto his hand.

“So it seems. I can guess that the children will be born in the timeframe between one month and three months. For your daughter’s sake, I should hope it is three. But perhaps one month would work; I simply do not know. Only time can tell us, I suppose.”

“But…” He bit his lip, as if knowing that what he was about to say was horrible. “But it is most likely that our son, the lion, will make it?”

I looked to him, unable to form words. “My baby girl!” So I could speak. “My baby girl could die, and you say that?”

“Let’s be reasonable here, Alena. We need at least one to make it, and he seems like our candidate. We may even have two out of three. That’s a blessing in itself.”

“What if your cub was the one to die? What then?” I hissed at him, tearing my hand from his grasp. “How can you think such a thing?”

He sighed, shooing the woman with a simple hand gesture. “I love you, sweetheart… But the odds are against us.”

“I know that,” I choked, holding my bloated abdomen. “Don’t you think I know that? But what happened to wishful thinking?”

“Wishing upon a star will do nothing, as it has been so blatantly obvious through all of our plights. I will do everything in my power to place all of them in your arms, but if it comes down to having to choose, I’m afraid she will have to be the one who doesn’t make it into this world.”

“When do we tell our people?” I choked, still staring at the swollen sight. “When do we tell them that we have three hopefuls, and when do we tell them what we believe these three hopefuls to be?”

He shook his head. “Not yet. There is still some time, despite popular belief. And we are not yet sure. I would like to be absolutely certain before I risk such massive chaos.”

“Since when can three newborns cause terror?” I whispered, tearing my eyes from the sight and to my husband. “This is not right.”

“And that’s why we’re risking everything, Alena: to make it right.”