Zeta settles into her duties as a mother easily. Previous experience making her comfortable with her third child. Her mates don't try to bother her for attention if she's busy with Akanke'. And they all become good hard workers because no one wants to lose his turn beside her at night. Rayee, the one she had been the most afraid of becomes her guilty pleasure. When it's his turn to stack bales in the barn, she'll go out to check his work. His work is always perfect and she rewards him with a go on the bales. Her small hands fisting in his fire red hair.
Zeta steps into the Elders' Council meeting with a six month old Akanke' on her hip and a diaper bag slung over one shoulder. Akanke' is more the size of a large ten month old human child and a hit with the members of the Elders Council. There are other human females pregnant now. But Kamaki is assigned to the care of Zeta and Akanke'. The other women have been assigned their own physicians, and Kamaki gets frequent call from the other physicians. Zeta's friends Miranda and Lizzy are both pregnant. And Lizzy has really blossomed here. She no longer has trouble making eye contact, smiles all the time and has become very outgoing.
Zeta accepts a kiss from Kamaki as she takes her customary seat between him and Palam. She immediately notices that Palam, who is normally very cheerful, is very sad.
"
Palam answers sadly, ""
"
"
Zeta turns to Kamaki and ask, "How do you say surrogate?"
"Cunomacha," answers Kamaki, who's been listening.
Zeta turns back to Palam, "
"
"
Palam says, "
"" responds Zeta with a smile. ""
Palam gets teary eyes, "
"
Palam says gratefully, "
"
Kamaki says amazed, "
"
Jonina is pleased to share the generous offer Zeta made to Palam when they get home. Anlo, who sleeps with Zeta every night, is pleased to have such a generous mate.
Zeta learns, that so they do not know which brother is the father, they all ejaculate into the same specimen cup before they use the sperm to fertilize the eggs. Eggs are harvested from Palam. But to actually fertilize her eggs with her mates' sperm, a single sperm has to be carefully injected into her eggs. As Zeta lays on an exam table waiting, she talks to Kamaki.
She ask him, "Kamaki, are you ever lonely? Do you ever wish you had your own mate and family?"
"Yes and yes," answers Kamaki. "But not having my own mate and children allows me to really focus on my work, to go where ever I need to go, whenever I need to go.
My mother put off taking mates as long as possible. Said she was sorry for that because she had trouble conceiving. They felt very blessed when I was finally born. My mother is passed, but my two fathers are still living. They spend most of their time doing research.
As for mating, I am grateful for good close friends like you and your mates. Besides your family, I am especially close with one other family. We are certain I am the biological father of their second son. He is a beautiful boy, smart also. I trade for mating occasionally also. I know you think it is wrong, but I am a male and I have needs like all males.
But I am only one hundred, still a young male. There is still time for me to find a mate of my own and have a family of my own. I do not expect it, but it is still possible."
The fertility doctor steps in carrying a syringe with Palam's fertilized eggs in it. They are injected into Zeta's womb through her cervical opening.
The fertility doctor informs Zeta, ""
"
The fertility doctor responds, "
"
Kamaki hides his smile behind his fist and turns his head as if he may cough. He manages not to laugh, compose himself, turns back to the fertility doctor and says, "
"I hope he never gets the urge to smile," Zeta tells Kamaki, "His face might crack."
"Do not concern yourself with his attitude," Kamaki tells Zeta. "Many of our physicians are full of themselves because they were chosen to be trained in their fields. Females always receive extra education in leadership and head of house holding as well as receive extra training and education in nursing, pediatrics and basic family doctoring. And if they demonstrate exceptional abilities in other areas, they receive training there also. For a male like me, who is cross trained in psychiatry, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, family medicine, alien languages and space flight, it is rare.
Now, that doctor is one of our most renowned fertility specialist. But he only gets to call himself a specialist because he is not trained to do anything else except for maybe whatever his family assignment is, farming, cloth weaving, cobbling, construction, stuff like that."
"So for Anlo to come to my world with you, he had to be cross trained in different fields, right," ask Zeta.
"Yes," confirms Kamaki. "He had to learn your language, but he knows a couple of others as well. Plus, he is trained in aero and outer space engineering as well as astronautics."
"How many languages do you speak," ask Zeta.
"Let me think for a minute… Eleven," answers Kamaki.
Zeta laughs, "Why do I suddenly feel stupid? I mean, I knew you were smart. And I knew Anlo's smart. But there's so much I don't know. So many questions I haven't thought to ask. I don't even know how many languages Anlo speaks. I just let my hormones runaway with me and got myself knocked up."
"Knocked up," questions Kamaki.
"It's a slang term for pregnant," explains Zeta. "It just all happened so fast. I really feel over whelmed sometimes."
"That is very understandable," responds Kamaki. "So things went much slower with your husband?"
"Not exactly," admits Zeta. "We got married pretty fast. We'ld only known each other for three months. But we were careful not to get pregnant right away."
"But even though you became mates quickly, things were good, yes," ask Kamaki.
"Yes," confirms Zeta, "The only problem we had were his parents. My parents would have loved him."
"How do you think your parents would feel about Anlo and his brothers," ask Kamaki.
"Individually, they would like them," answers Zeta. "My parents were friendly loving people. If they didn't like somebody, there was a very good reason. But this multiple mate situation, I don't know what they'ld think. Sometimes I still can't believe it myself. Waking up with Anlo feels natural. Then I realize it's not just him I'm waking up to, there's a moment when I want to scream and I don't want to believe it. Until I came here, my husband had been the only man I had ever been with. I had expected that if I ever met anyone else after he was gone, that would probably be it. I had expected it to just be me and Anlo. Nothing in my previous life experience prepared me for this in any way."
"Everything you are feeling is normal," assures Kamaki. "And I apologize. I have not always been understanding. There has been a learning curve for us all."
Zeta is sent home with orders not to do anything strenuous, not even mating. Of course, she hasn't had much time for that anyway. Usually just once in the morning with Anlo and whose ever turn it was to sleep with her the night before. Then the rest of her day is devoted to Akanke' and chores.
Palam and her mates accompany Zeta to the next appointment with their fertility specialist. He confirms that Zeta is pregnant. Two of the embryos implanted and are growing in her womb. Palam and her mates are very excited. Zeta is more reserved. She's never had a miscarriage, but she's never been a surrogate before either.
Zeta waits until she is twelve weeks pregnant to explain to Gabe and Jasmine that she is having a baby for her friend, Palam. Of course, they ask if they will get to see the baby after it's born. Then they go back to talking to Akanke', who now responds with laughter, hand clapping and excited noises. Akanke' can walk now and Zeta spends much of her time telling her no. Zeta still doesn't like Krag, but it likes Akanke' and Akanke's likes it. Zeta is still nursing Akanke', but only three times a day. Akanke's is very interested in what the big people are eating, and likes to help them eat their food.
Akanke' was held so much after she was born, Zeta was afraid she would think she was supposed to be held all the time. But Akanke' is bright and curious with a strong independent streak. And while she is smaller than a Koto child of the same age, she is larger than a human child the same age. Zeta, Anlo and Septimus speak English to her all the time. The rest of the family speaks in their native tongue to her, while Palam speaks to her in her native tongue. Akanke' is learning to speak all three languages quickly.
"Anlo," Zeta stepping out of her bathroom, "call Palam and her mates and inform them I'm in labor, please. Then call Kamaki and ask him to come deliver them."
"Mommy," Akanke's voice questions as she reaches up to Zeta.
Zeta picks her up. And as Ananke' hugs her tightly, Zeta assures,
"Mommy's fine. I'm just in labor. It means I'm going to give birth to Palam-na's babies soon. Let's go to the kitchen and help make breakfast."
Kamaki, Palam and her mates arrive in time for breakfast. Akanke' is delighted to sit on Palam's lap and eat with her.
Palam ask Akanke', "<
Akanke' nods her head with big exaggerated nods, "<
The whole table goes silent as Zeta bears a contraction.
Akanke's little face wears her fear loud and clear as she says, "Mommy?"
"Mommy's fine, sweetie," assures Zeta. "Having a baby is just hard work, that's all."
Akanke' looks up at Palam and says, "<
"<
"<
Palam confirms, "<
"<
Palam smiles, "<
The contractions really start to kick in around lunch time.
"Akanke'", would you like to go with Ikada, Nonoda, Noneeda and Nonida," ask Zeta.
Akanke' looks over at her grandparents, who all wave at her. She smiles and runs over to them. Jonina scoops her up and lifts her over her head. Akanke's squeals with delight.
"
Akanke' shouts happily, "
Zeta is relieved that there are fewer people in the room. Anlo sits behind her like he did while she delivered Akanke'. Kamaki is there to catch, while Palam and her mates are anxiously waiting.
Several hours later, Zeta has given birth to fraternal twins, a boy and a girl. Kamaki had to show Zeta how to tell the difference. Palam and her mates are thrilled to finally have children. They are small by Koto standards, only fourty-five centimeters long (about 18") and two point seven kilograms (about 6lbs). But they are healthy even if they do look a bit different. They don't have four eyes like their mother, just two like their fathers, but they're Palam's eyes.
"" Palam shares with Zeta as she sits on the edge of the bed by Zeta holding one of her newborns.
""
Zeta pats Palam's knee, "
"
Kamaki assures, "
"
Kamaki answers her with a smile, "
Palam exposes a breast. She raises the twin she's holding to it. The twin latches on and a wave of contentment washes over her face.
Kamaki tells Palam, "
Zeta ask, "
" Except as a female child, I was not seen as anything special. The men of my world are gluttonous and abusive. Better to be a female with many mates here, than one of many mates there. Here my new daughter is valued and she guarantees a mate for her brother. They are both loved and valued here. Here is a good place to be. I am very blessed to be here instead of there. I did not know it when I first came to be here, but I am one of the lucky ones. My father wagered two of my sisters gambling and lost them. Not that it meant anything to him. When he had a party for his friends with drinking, gambling and drugs, my sisters and I were part of the entertainment. I was not cooperative. Thus, I was usually tied naked to a bed so the males, including my father, could take turns using me. All night long, one right after another would climb on me and use me. I eventually got pregnant. It was no big deal, nothing special, until I gave birth to a son. Then all those males lined up to have their DNA tested to learn if he was their son. If I had given birth to a daughter, no one would have tried to claim her. When it was learned who was the father of my son, my son was taken from me and given to him. I had no say. Females have no say there. Of course, after losing my son, I was extremely depressed. I tried to kill myself, but failed. I was useless. My father not wanting to deal with me anymore traded me away to my current family for basically nothing. Here, I received a lot of therapy and a lot of love from my mates. I have made one of the best recoveries they have ever seen a female from my world make. It is why I was chosen to be an advisor to the Elders' Council. Still, females from my world here do not like to bump into each other because we are painful reminders of our past. As for my son, I do not even know his name and have not seen him since he was taken from me when he was three days old. He is a young male of twenty-six now. I think you can imagine my anguish that I gave some strange male I cared nothing for a son, yet I failed to give the mates I love and adore a child. Thank you, my Zita-na. Thank you for helping me to have children with my mates. You are a true friend and I will be eternally grateful.>" Zeta had learned that Palam's world was male dominated, but she hadn't known that the women were treated badly. And she was sure it was much worse than Palam described, that Palam deliberately didn't go into detail. Not to spare Zeta from the shock, but to spare herself from reliving it. " Palam smiles, "