Rilla's Inheritance Chapter 6

So when Yan Adrin officially proposed to Gabriella… …and she accepted him… …the wedding took place at my new home. All my daughters were there – Tallin, Mellin, Valdin, Adrin, Caldin and Verdin. And, asleep in their cots, three Xydin daughters as well. Adri Adrin was very proud of all the security devices they’d put into the home.
“The gates are programmed to recognise your bio-signature,” he explained. “So they’ll open for you, and your daughters of course, but no-one else. You’ll have to let any visitors in – and if you don’t like the look of them, that door won’t be easy to open either.” Then he went into medic mode and started checking up on my health, but I reassured him I was feeling physically better all the time. Then he said I should talk to Adri Verdin about how my mind felt: though the Verdin didn’t have the gifts with minds that the Xydin did, nevertheless, they were talented that way. Adri Verdin was wonderful to talk to. He was so restful – like his daughters were as children – and I began to see what Adri Adrin had meant about the Verdin having a talent to soothe hurt minds. We talked and talked, about what I remembered (and although many things were foggy, some were getting clearer), about my dreams, and about how I felt with regard to the three babies in my house. Adri Verdin knew that they girls were being well cared for – both by me and by Gabriella, Felicity and now Yan Adrin as well. But he was the one to push me into going one step further.
“Rilla, those girls have no names yet. You have to name them. Only you can do that. And then you have to decide how they are to be raised. The Xydin need an Adrina, and those three girls are the clan’s only hope. I don’t know who their father was – and you can’t remember either – but he was clearly very powerful. I can sense what those girls might be capable of in the future. They need to be raised with love, with care – and with names. You have to think about this Rilla.” I did think about it – as the girls grew and moved on from being babies. But the thought of raising all three of them myself still filled me with a nameless unease. Then Gabriella said that she and Yan would adopt all three if I wanted then to – and suddenly I knew what I wanted to do, and what I could manage to do. I talked to Adri Verdin again.
“You were right about what the girls need. And I want them to grow up loved and happy – they are my children, and that is what I want their inheritance to be. But I can’t manage all three of them: there are too many half memories in my head. So Gabriella and Yan will take Zoe and Yolande, and raise them. They already know and love each other. And I will keep one, and raise her, and try to raise her so that she would make a good Adrina if that is what she chooses to be. And I will give her the most special name I can: I will give her my own name. She will be called Amaryllis.” Gabriella and Yan’s house was very simple, but so special, for two reasons. One, it was the first family house to be built for a long time. Two, Adri Mellin’s sister had had her house on that site. Yan said it was so odd to be living in a house, instead of the communal bunk houses that most of them shared. Only the Adri of each clan had his own house; the others lived in shared houses as that was more efficient. Yolande and Zoe were happy with Yan and Gabriella, and they were happy to take the girls on. They didn’t have the same sense of unease about their blue eyes that I had. And the girls were lovely children: I couldn’t work out my problem with them. Except that I didn’t know – couldn’t remember – who their father was. But when it was just me and Amaryllis alone in the house, life was easier. Why Xydin triplets should have upset me so, I didn’t know. I’d had triplets before – Gabriella was one of them! And Jenny, Laura and Kirsty too: OK, they’d been hard work, but nothing more than that. Taking time to get to know Amaryllis, to talk to her and to play with her, I realised more and more what a lovely girl she was. And maybe I was sensing what Adri Verdin had sensed in her too – hidden depths of power. I determined that any depths she had would be clear and fresh and lovely. She too would be loved, wanted and cherished, just as her sisters were. I consulted Adri Verdin on the best way to bring her up.
“Just as you are,” he said. “Be happy and love her. Let her get to know as many of the rest of us as possible; let her know that she is loved and valued by many. And look after yourself too. You need to know that you are loved and valued. Spend time with some more Verdin – they’re good for you.”
He was right; the Verdin were good for me. Adri introduced me to more of his clan, and got me out and about again as well – though there was usually someone keeping an eye out for me at all times. And I had given up my solitary walks in the woods. I took Amaryllis to the little wood-panelled library, and she met some more of her sisters there. And I was so glad to see them again as well. They were noticeably more mature now. I could tell that soon Gabriella wouldn’t be the only one of my daughters who had grown up. Philomena and Octavia invited me round for meals often. Even though they were only half Verdin, they still had that sweetness of temper that made being with them so restful and pleasant. And there was another Verdin whose lovely nature was definitely having a healing effect on my mind. Tambor Verdin’s love and kindness to me made me feel better day by day. I looked at Amaryllis playing with the basket of toys Imogen, Hope and Laura had made for her. And I thought about the other girls I’d had, and how they’d always had sisters to play with. Adri Verdin had said that it would be good for Amaryllis to have sisters – but only if it wouldn’t be bad for me. I figured that I’d probably be very happy to be pregnant with Tambor Verdin’s child. Amaryllis grew older, and I grew rounder! She was very excited by the idea of having a sister – or maybe even a brother – and couldn’t wait for me to give birth. And Tambor Verdin was a constant support too. They both lost it a bit when I went into labour though. And I had triplets again. But this time it wasn’t frightening at all. Betony, Delphinium and Camellia. Tambor had liked Amaryllis’s name and asked what it meant. When I told him it was a flower, he asked that we name the three girls after flowers as well. So I did. The girls grew up into toddlers – faster than Amaryllis had. But Adri Verdin and Adri Adrin had both said that Xydin girls should never have their growth speeded up – they needed their natural time for their minds and hearts to develop properly. And it was nice to have toddlers around again – especially such sunny-natured and sweet-tempered ones. I felt as if the sun had come out from behind a cloud, and my life was returning to normal at last. I had been right about Imogen being ready to grow up And she’d fallen, big time, for Danno Caldin as well. Fortunately, he felt the same way about her too. And when Meti Adrin took Hope for a moonlit walk one night, it wasn’t just to admire the stars either. Adri Tallin just had three girls sitting at his table now – three fairly tired girls after all the work everyone had put in, building more houses for the newly-weds. But no-one grudged the effort: it was so nice to think that in a while there would be new families appearing in the colony. I was still getting to know people as well – Adri Caldin introduced me to Tallis Caldin. He was big, even for a Caldin – a real gentle giant. Adri spoke very highly of him, and I had to agree. He was shy too. I knew what he wanted to ask me, and I knew that he wasn’t going to be able to pluck up the courage to ask either. I thought the whole thing through carefully – soon my daughters would start having children, but not immediately. Adri Mellin had advised them to enjoy their early married life for a little while first.
I’d had sixteen daughters before being kidnapped, and come back pregnant with three more. And Delphinium, Betony and Camellia made twenty two. But that wasn’t very many compared to the number of men needing and wanting a wife and a family. I hadn’t asked how many of them there were, but the plan had been for half to marry my children, and half to marry their offspring. More children wouldn’t go amiss. And would be so wanted and valued. I gave Tallis two daughters – Fern and Erica. He was stunned and delighted in equal parts. I was pretty stunned too when Daisy announced that she was head-over-heels in love with a Valdin. But she had always been an adventurous child, and I think she recognised a kindred spirit in him. And I was delighted when I realised that Kel Mellin was serious about Catriona. Serious enough to get down on one knee and propose to her. Their new house was like the others – small on the outside. And pretty basic on the inside, but they were sure that they would be very happy there. Life was looking good, and feeling sweet again. Amaryllis was enjoying being part of a large family. My Verdin girls were a delight, and a joy to everyone at school as well. Tallis was a gentle, caring father to Fern and Erica. My older daughters were growing up, and making their way in the world – some of them were getting married. Others, like Abigail and Barbara, were beginning to work: Abigail had begun her training as a doctor. One of the first things she was doing was helping Adri Adrin decode the data from the high spec medi-suit I’d been wearing. I liked the idea of my daughter looking after my health. Then Adri Adrin came round to tell me the news that pulled my happy world down around my ears. Abigail had been running all the data collected from my white medi-suit, analysing it and logging it. But some of the results had been so weird that she’d thought she was making some very silly mistakes. She’d re-done the work, and re-done the work until Adri Adrin had asked her what was taking so long.
“Then I double-checked all her workings. But they weren’t wrong. Rilla, I don’t know how to tell you this, but you had four pregnancies while you were missing. Not just one. And they all went to term. You have some other children somewhere.” Four pregnancies! I had been pregnant four times! But where were those children? What had happened to them. And as Adri enfolded me in his arms, a ghost of a memory stirred at the back of my mind, and faded just as fast – a grey room with cots in it. The next day at breakfast, I looked at my three happy girls at the breakfast table, and could not shake off the idea that there were children of mine somewhere that I didn’t know about. The older girls had gone to school early: they had that Verdin quickness of understanding that told them something was wrong, and that I needed space and time to reflect on all that Adri Adrin had told me yesterday. After the younger ones had gone to school, I looked at myself in the mirror. I hadn’t needed the translation helmet for ages now, but my hair was very slow in growing. It was all to do with slowing down my aging, Adri Adrin had said. Then I made myself look at the collar round my neck, and made myself remember what he had said about it.
“We use those medically – for after traumatic incidents, for instance. They can soften your memory of things – fog it a little. But they don’t take your memory away. It usually comes back slowly when the device is turned off, but the events feel a bit distant, and a bit like a dream. That one is unusually powerful. Your memory has gone – and I don’t know if it’s just locked away, or wiped forever. And I’ve never seen this device before, but it’s not newly made. It must have come with us.”