The woman that had come to Miss Kalia’s door was not the child’s mother. The mother, according to the young woman had been one of the villagers that lived north in the forest. One of the small groupings of one-room hunts that could barely be called a village. The fact that they could survive for any length of time out there was a mystery to her. The towns and cities were the only places that offered safety in the wastelands. Maybe it had been different once, but now…it was a fact. The storytellers said that before the great war things had been different, but since there was no one alive now who had seen the war, never mind the time before it, they might just be stories. Wishes for things like summers. Springs that were true springs, and not just a brief defrost for a few months.

The baby was wrapped in a tattered blanket, and the young woman, Yolen was her name, said the baby’s mother had died in childbirth. That was a bad omen according to her people, and so they had given the girl to her when she passed through along with trade items to make it worth her while to bring the baby with her.

“And a’course she can’t see.” Said the young woman sipping her tea “So she’s double cursed. Blind and motherless. You want her Kalia?”

Kalia looked at the child sleeping in the basket at her feet. True, she was a pretty little thing, but the blindness meant she’d be hard pressed to work. Still Kalia wasn’t cruel…and it was a cruel world out there. And she might be able to learn some skills later in life.

“I’ll take her.” Kalia said, “Worse she turns out she can clean the house.” The woman nodded “I’ve got ten now….most under their tenth year. Won’t be taking many more for awhile.”

“It is an orphanage” Yolen laughed a little “Did you place that pretty Vinnie?”

“Aye. She’s handmaiden to one of the noble families now. And Jasper too, he’s serving Lord Albrecht’s son. So it can be…..they say my orphans are the best trained, and the nobles all come here. But I think this girl will stay. Noble houses won’t look for sightless eyes.”

Yolen shrugged “She’ll be fed, and clothed, and sleep well. That’s well enough. And you aint cruel…you aint beaten them. Sides, might be good to have one to care for you when you’re older yeah?”

“Maybe” Said Kalia. “She can stay. What’s her name?”

“Eika” Said Yolen.

“The Pilgrim’s Song” Kalia said, recognizing the name from the ancient stories “A funny name for the little hedgehog.”

“Last thing her momma said before she died, so they tell me.”

At her feet, the newborn girl slept unaware.

The man looked at the duchess. The woman was maybe 27, and she stood tall and regal despite everything. She had been widowed so young and with no children, but she retained her wealth and power and stood as a woman who knew very well what she had.

“They’ve brought it in, my lady.” He checked the data pad. “They said the pod was found in the north quarter…the dig below the caves. We’ve been finding some pre-war artifacts, some very very old and then this….the readings…well……”

“And you’re sure what’s inside?”

“Absolutely”

“So the stories are true.” The woman mused “I want it open. Now.”

The man nodded “As my lady commands.”

They entered the west hall of the keep. Several servants stood about looking at the great pod, a golden thing that looked like it might be a giant butterfly’s chrysalis. Three feet long, and almost three and a half feet in diameter.

The man, Doctor Forest, placed a small metallic circle on the edge of the pod, and then twisted it. The top segment of the device clicked, and there was a high-pitched hum. A special frequency.

The pod split in two as if a butter knife had sliced through it.

Gold liquid spilled out, filling the hall with a sweet flower like smell. As the small form slid out, one of the maids caught it, and held it up. The figure choked and she slapped it on the back like a newborn child. This cleared the fluid from its lungs, and it look a whoop of breath and began to cry.

It was a toddler. A child of about two years old. He was perfect, his mocha skin radiant, his hair like white silk, and his eyes as blue as the sky. His ears were long and delicately pointed. And when he cried, his voice was like music.

The maid that caught him began to dry him with a towel, and tried to hush him. One of the younger maids forked a sign with her hand “My lady Drucilla…he is a Saehd….one of the holy beings…we….”

“Don’t be foolish. He’s a baby.” The duchess took the child from the maid, and wrapped him in a velvet blanket and began to rock him “He is my baby.”

The girl looked away.

“Holy being hum?” The duchess looked at the boy and smiled a little. “Then we will call you Avand….the bright one.”

The child calmed and went to sleep in her arms.