Chapter 4

Four months after Krista and Oris nearly lost their child; a healthy little girl was born. Despite Krista already having birthed one child, it was not an easy birth, several times the baby's heart beat dropped low enough to cause concern. Malorious was getting ready to take Krista down to the surgical room for a c-section when Theona finally made her entrance into this world. Theona was a larger then normal baby by earth standards, but was just right by Torian standards especially considering her mother was 5' 10" and her father was 6' 5". It was with great love and pride that Oris officially announced the birth of the first earth/torian offspring, a healthy and perfect baby girl. There was much to celebrate, Krista and Oris had not only proved that a happy and harmonious mating could occur between their people, but that there was no doubt that the offspring of an earth mother and a Torian father, would be normal and healthy. In many ways Oris and Krista were instrumental in officially bonding both species together.

Within the month of Theona's birth there were 10 confirmed pregnancies between the young women of earth who had been the first to mate with Torian men. All pregnancies were closely monitored. It had been decided that until the babies were successfully delivered that none of the women nor their mates would return to Toria, a month with limited medical facilities on board one of the Torian space ships was too much of a risk. All women one week before leaving with their husbands would be given a pregnancy test and only those that came back negative would be allowed to leave. No one especially the husbands were willing to risk the journey with a pregnant wife.

When Theona was 6 months old Krista asked Oris if they could make a trip to Toria, she was eager to see his home world, and wanted so much for what was left of Oris' family to see their son and daughter. It would also give her a chance to see how the women she helped prepare for life on Toria were doing. They had received reports that all of the women were now expecting and that only one was having difficulty.

Apparently Michelle one of the young ladies was at risk for loosing the baby. Michelle had been out tending her garden when she slipped and fell, since her garden was at an angle she ended up rolling and her abdomen hit a rock retaining wall. Michelle's husband Attorn had been out in the field and when he returned to the house for the noon day meal was concerned when he couldn't find her anywhere in the house. He went out back calling for her and when he didn't get any response began to panic. He had by the grace of God went out by the garden and happened to see her lying there unconscious. After gently picking her up and getting her into the house and into bed called for a physician. Michelle had a concussion and significant bruising to her abdomen. There was nothing anyone could do but wait to see what would happen. Other couples from the farms around theirs came to help so that Attorn could stay with his wife until they were sure she would be okay. After two weeks it looked like everything would be fine, Michelle woke up with severe pain in her abdomen, Attorn woke when she screamed and saw the blood under her. By time the physicians arrived it was too late, Michelle lost the baby, she was so distraught that at Attorn's request the doctor gave her drugs to force her to sleep and rest. Attorn blamed himself for his wife loosing their child, while it was really no ones fault, in his mind he thought that if he would have been home sooner or hadn't let her work in the garden the baby would have been okay. He did everything he could for Michelle, in the nearly year since becoming mates he had fallen deeply in love with her. The doctors requested that they wait at least 3 months for her body to heal before trying for another child. Many nights Attorn came home from working the fields to find Michelle in the baby's room crying. He would always go and hold her, telling her how much he loved her and that they would have more children. Before the 3 month period was up Michelle and Attorn's love was even stronger then before. Within 2 months Michelle was pregnant again, this time Attorn was very adamant that she rest and not worry about the garden or much around the house either. Attorn would only allow Michelle to cook and do very light cleaning around the house, he requested a caregiver be brought in to ensure that Michelle didn't over do it. No one could blame him for taking the extra precautions, nine months later a healthy baby boy was delivered.