Saehressa once looked upon pregnancy with mixed feelings. It had been ten years since she was last pregnant, and had forgotten what it would be like to have a new life forming within her, dealing with the myriad of demands pregnancy imposed upon a woman, and after reaching gestation, going through labour and childbirth. On the other hand, so many she knew were changed forever by the experience of becoming a mother that, despite their prior loss, a desire to have another child overwhelmed all reservations.
What a difference a just a smidgeon of time can make! Now at the halfway mark in carrying her second child-to-be, Saehressa was now quite experienced at pregnancy and motherhood, a quiet confidence long ago replaced all of what she once could not imagine. Saehressa was as one with this new life; they had become well acquainted by necessity, but she was more than willing to do everything in her power to facilitate and nurture this symbiosis. And that slight kick she felt from this new being for the first time just moments ago served as a hello from an unseen but present accompaniment.
By all accounts, Saehressa’s was a ‘normal’ pregnancy. Saehressa experienced a normal amount of morning sickness, a normal amount of breast tenderness, a normal amount of weight gain, a normal increased need to urinate… and now noticeable movement at about the normal time. Not that any of this was a day at the beach, but in her opinion it was easily tolerable; truth be told, she was really enjoying the experience of being pregnant again.
While she would never lose the pain that came with the death of her first born, Cshrehyi, Saehressa welcomed the chance to bond with a new life, to be a parent once again.
From the moment she tested positive for pregnancy, Saehressa resolved to bond with this new life; she sensed in some abstract and highly intangible way that this child she carried would make a significant mark upon human history.
Engaged and active in nurturing, Saehressa spent time interacting with the foetus, if you could call her doing everything and the foetus coming along for the ride ‘interaction.’ Her favourite moments were reading the recently restocked bookshelf full of children’s stories (Saehressa loved the feel of traditional books, not the electronic versions that now dominated the business of publishing and reselling literature), where she would softly and slowly read aloud, just her and… and…
As yet, no name had been chosen, though not for want of effort by Saehressa or Mrevan, her partner who was beyond ecstatic at the prospect of again being a father. They went through literally thousands of names, and not one name yet jumped out and appealed to them in tandem.
Saehressa’s mind drifted back to her interaction with the foetus. While she loved to read, she especially loved setting at the traditional keyboard – the baby grand in their great room – playing and singing her favourite songs, sharing with her child to be. How she loved to play, how she felt as one with a traditional stringed, percussive keyboard. At one time Saehressa stealthily fell into daydreams where she developed and made use of her ample natural music talent. Then she met Mrevan, and those dreams were lost in the flow of life.
When they bought their home, Saehressa insisted they buy a traditional piano. There was insufficient room for a full scale model, but the baby version occupied the space in the corner by the picture window quite nicely, giving it the added advantage of being right in an ample supply of ambient natural light.
Now… Saehressa would play, sing, and read to her developing child. And one day she would teach this child her skill with keyboards, her skill with voice, so she… (she! Saehressa smiled at the knowledge she would soon have a daughter) could know the joy of soothing one’s soul – of communicating with one’s soul - through the complex act of making associative and complementary sound.
Saehressa rose from her comfortable chair and made her way to the keyboard bench. Lifting the keyboard cover, she once again began her daily mission to entertain – and teach – her child. The lyrics came easy… and when Saehressa came to the part with a name, there was no hesitation; there was no mumbling, there was no substitution of any name just to blow through and finish the song.
For the first time in life, this unborn child absorbed and stored away the first recognition of her existence in and by an interactive and communal society: they now knew who she was, how she would be known, as told by this happy creature she faithfully accompanied.
As Saehressa’s voice melodically and happily voiced the name “Llhaesa” for the very first time, this newly named and unseen descendant kick-messaged her approval. Llhaesa. An early transitional Arrhazon name, one long fallen from use, Saehressa first became aware of it when her advance literature class studied a rare work written a millennia before.
In the ancient story, llhaesa was a mythological leader revered and treasured by the people, one who challenged them to better, to end endless war, to build for a peaceful future, together.
The name meant ‘inspiring healer’ in early transitional Arrhazon, and Saehressa intuitively felt the name llhaesa was a perfect fit for her child – but there was more she could not quite form into conscious thought.
Shaking the feeling off and inspired by the sudden name ch0ice, Saehressa went another verse with the song, feeling two kicks right around when she sang the name ‘llhaesa’. Saehressa laughed at what she believed was coincidence, for it seemed that those two kicks were in time with the music she played.
On a level somewhere between conscious and subconscious thought, Saehressa was aware that the singing of llhaesa’s name triggered recognition not of the child’s approval of a name choice, but of the child acknowledging Saehressa gained awareness of a name already bestowed by the universe – and only now brought to Saehressa’s conscious attention.
“What a silly thing to think,” Saehressa muttered, half-heartedly and only consciously dismissing a notion that somewhere in her soul, she knew as truth.
