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  Oddly enough, it was the word “come” invading her dreamless sleep as an undeniable imperative that woke Yana. And the rumbling purr of the orange cat, Marduk, unexpectedly sitting right beside her head on the pillow. She felt the muscles in her belly shifting, not painfully, but definitely contracting, and she woke Sean. The cat jumped off the bed and stood imperiously by the door—as if she hadn’t guessed what needed to be done.

  “It’s time. I’ve been called,” she said.

  He was up and half-dressed before she could swing her legs to the side of the bed. But then, advanced pregnancy had slowed her once-quick, precise movements to awkward fumblings, which she sometimes resented.

  Sean grabbed up the fine polar-bear rug that Loncie had given her and threw it about her shoulders. He picked up the satchel that contained the necessary items and opened the door.

  Nanook was there, and Clodagh had her foot on the bottom step.

  “I wondered . . .” she began, smiling in the dawn light up at Yana.

  When Yana and Sean reached the ground—the path to the cave well trampled in preparation for this moment—Clodagh moved to her other side. “Do you feel like walking?” Clodagh asked.

  “It’s good for me.”

  “Yes, but is it what you feel like doing?”

  “Well, I have to walk as far as the cave, don’t I?”

  “Yes,” Sean said. “That you must do.”

  Looking sideways, Yana saw that Sean’s lips were tight against the anxiety he was feeling.

  “It’s okay, Sean,” she said gently, patting his hand. “It’s really okay. Hell, we know I’ve never been fitter.”

  “But you are not, so Sister Iggierock says, in your first youth.”

  “Iggierock has learned a great deal,” Clodagh said with a chuckle.

  And then they were in the cave, which began to glow, a soft lambent shine, welcoming, soothing, and the little twitch of apprehension that Yana had so vocally denied eased.

  I believe in you, she told the planet. I believe in you.

  “I believe in you,” the planet echoed reassuringly.

  “Oh, I believe,” Sean said beside her. He must have thought the planet was speaking to him, she reflected.

  They reached the spot that had been previously picked, and the bedding and other necessities were there. They had no need of the extra lights, for the cavern was radiant.

  Clodagh helped Yana slip out of her flannel nightgown, and then the first of the strong contractions caught her.

  “Breathe as you’ve been taught,” Clodagh said, waiting until the contraction had eased before she led Yana to the water’s edge.

  Sean dove in and broke the water as a selkie, coming to the two women, both of whom were now in the warm comfort of the water. Yana slipped down into it and found the ledge that seemingly had been created to cushion her, while Clodagh made herself secure just below Yana.

  The mist began to rise then, but only on the ground behind them. Yana inhaled deeply of the scented, comforting moist air. The next contraction was harder, yet she didn’t feel it as “hard,” only as a working of muscles. She could relax. Petaybee was all around her, and her husband was as he wished to be at this propitious moment in his life, this miraculous moment of hers, and Clodagh would see to everything healing as she always did.

  A furred face stroked hers from out of the mist and she laughed when she realized that it was Nanook—yes, and there was Marduk, too, and the gods knew how many more purring mightily in the cave, for it echoed of purr.

  Another massive contraction came, which Yana, for one second apprehensive, thought much too soon in a normal delivery. Then she found herself wanting to push and panted as she’d been taught.

  “It’s much too soon for this stage,” she said between pantings.

  “Well, you never know,” Clodagh said comfortingly. “We’ve been here longer than you might realize.”

  “But we—just—got—here.”

  Clodagh chuckled again and then was very busy between Yana’s legs underwater. The water itself was bright, so Yana was able to view her upheld legs on Clodagh’s shoulders and know that the woman was submerged. Sean’s furred flipper hand was on her knee and then there was a mighty convulsion and Clodagh came up out of the water, holding her hands up, and Yana saw a silvery furred baby body in the capable palms.

  “Your son, Shongili,” Clodagh cried, and the cats gave voice to the most musical caterwaul possible.

  “Oh my God!” Yana’s body wanted to repeat its previous confusion.

  A naked furry wet body was thrust into Yana’s hands as Clodagh ducked under the water again while Yana, consumed with a second mighty pushing, realized she was delivering a second selkie child.

  “How did that happen?” she exclaimed as Clodagh surfaced with yet another squirming baby, this one already squalling at its lack of precedence.

  “You’ve a fine family all in the one go,” Clodagh said, water sheeting off her smiling face.

  “Did you know I’d be having twins?” Yana exclaimed, half of her appalled that that information had been withheld, while the other half of her was marveling at the perfection of her selkie son, who, minutes old as he was, was already altering his form to human now that he was out of the water.

  Clodagh gave a snort, hauling herself and the baby out of the water. “And you as big as a whale and didn’t guess?”

  “How could I guess? I’ve never been around pregnant women. Oh, he’s gorgeous . . . oh, oh . . .” Suddenly Yana realized her son was completing his alteration to a totally human baby. Then Clodagh was holding her selkie daughter out of the water and the same phenomenon was occurring on that precious body. Sean Selkie was embracing her and the children, his silver eyes wide with wonder and blinking water.

  They made a tableau then, mother, father, children, and midwife, selkie and human. Then all were totally human as Sean lifted himself out of the water. Now Yana realized why the planet had insisted on this birthplace and how easy it had made what could have been a very difficult session for her. Petaybee was learning, too. Namid said the thing to remember about a planet only a bit over two hundred years old was that it, too, was a baby. Every time it had a conversation or experience, it learned, grew, expanded its potential. As he probed for its secrets, it had questions of its own for him on the nature of what lay beyond it.

  By the time the afterbirth had been expelled, Yana was able to emerge from the water, flat-bellied and lithe again.

  Holding both arms out in gratitude, she thanked Petaybee, her words coming out almost as a latchkay song:

  “Thank you for the birthing. It was painless.

  Thank you for my strong son and my fine daughter.

  Thank you for their changing.

  Thank you for everything.”

  “You are welcome, Yanaba. You are welcome.”

  Yana couldn’t help grinning. Twice welcome for bearing twins? This planet moved in mysterious ways— and what had it in mind for her children?

  “Welcome!”

  Books by Anne McCaffrey

  Decision at Doona

  Dinosaur Planet

  Dinosaur Planet Survivors

  Get Off the Unicorn

  The Lady

  Pegasus in Flight

  Restorree

  The Ship Who Sang

  To Ride Pegasus

  Nimisha’s Ship

  Pegasus in Space

  THE CRYSTAL SINGER BOOKS

  Crystal Singer

  Killashandra

  Crystal Line

  THE DRAGONRIDERS OF PERN® BOOKS

  Dragonflight

  Dragonquest

  The White Dragon

  Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern

  Nerilka’s Story

  Dragonsdawn

  The Renegades of Pern

  All the Weyrs of Pern

  The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall

  The Dolphins of Pern

  Dragonseye

  The Masterharper of
Pern

  The Skies of Pern

  By Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough:

  Powers that Be

  Power Lines

  Power Play

  With Jody Lynn Nye:

  The Dragonlover’s Guide to Pern

  Edited by Anne McCaffrey:

  Alchemy and Academe

  Curious, ’Cita watched the newcomers climb out of the shuttle. All of them were much too warmly dressed in layers and layers of fur and down, mittens, boots, coats, mufflers, and hats.

  One of them pointed at ’Cita. “There’s one! An aboriginal Petaybean!” He slogged forward while the others hung back. “You there! You are an indigenous native of this glorious being upon which we stand?”

  “Well,” ’Cita began, “I guess so.”

  The man’s nervous smile broadened into a wide grin and he beckoned to his companions. “She is! Come along, it’s all right.”

  “Brother Shale, you’ve been too hasty, as usual, and frightened her.” The speaker pulled back her hood to reveal a shaven head. She stuck out a hand. “Hello, honey. I’m Sister Igneous Rock. Take us to your leader.”

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  A Del Rey® Book

  Published by Ballantine Books

  Copyright © 1995 by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

  http://www.randomhouse.com

  Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 95-96241

  eISBN: 978-0-345-45754-7

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