OpDk: Last Lullaby
by Durandir


By grace a calm precedes every storm, it's said.

It was so on the night of the invasion. Warned of Luna's fall and informed about
the invading Yuuzhan Vong, as we waited and prepared I held onto a momentary
peace. Babies aren't known to schedule their hunger in accordance with battle
plans. So while Thayer was readying the Palace for our defense, I claimed a
quiet corner and nursed my son.

As he was eating, I sang to him, bits and pieces of lullabies and hymns,
Mendellia's national anthem and some of her folk songs, and sometimes just a
wandering tune without melody or lyric. If my singing had any effect on him, I
didn't see it: unless perhaps to heighten his hunger, so eagerly he nursed.
Riehn has Thayer's bright eyes, but his appetite must come from my side of the
family: my husband's always moving too quickly to sit down to table long, and
some days he'll miss a meal or two entirely because in his absorption with other
matters he forgets to be hungry. Riehn never forgets. But perhaps that's just a
baby thing and he'll grow out of it.

When at last we'd finished nursing, I held the baby up to my shoulder and patted
him till he burped, and then I praised him in baby-talk for his effort. As with
the nursing and the singing, there was a deep comfort in this little ritual, and
while I smiled down at my son, peace held sway in my heart. Then, not yet
wishing to let go of this moment of calm, I rocked him in my arms and sang
again:

"Think of me everyday,
Hold tight to what I say,
And I'll be close to you
Even from far away."

Yes, "Junior's Lullaby" [1]. Riehn cooed to hear it; we sing it to him so often
that he knows the sound of it quite well. Of course that's not the only Veggie
Tales song he knows so well: I'm sure my son will know what a cebu is before he
learns what a cow is, and his first words of Spanish will involve dancing
cucumbers. But the Lullaby we sing constantly. I continued:

"Know that wherever you are,
It is never too far."

Then there was a hand on my shoulder; Thayer joined in with his clear tenor, and
I grinned up at him and switched to harmony on the last lines:

"If you think of me,
I'll be with you."

Riehn yawned in contentment. Thayer bent to plant a kiss on the baby's forehead,
and one on my lips as well. "Rich has breakfast started now," he said, and
reached to take the baby from me. For a moment I had the urge to cling to the
child, not to give him up--not even to Thayer!--for fear, for not knowing when I
should hold him again. The images of the Yuuzhan Vong, the details of their
perverse cruelties and unstoppable conquests, were at the back of my mind. But
the calm and the lullaby were still strong in me; I kissed my son and handed him
to his father.

We were heading back upstairs to return Riehn to his crib, but before we passed
the Batcave's door, Sharon's voice recalled us. "Your Majesties," she said, "we
have incoming."

Thayer and I stopped and looked back at her. "Vong?" he asked.

"No," she said. "One of ours. Wait, two of ours. I've got positive IDs for the
Bat-wing and the trainer X-wing."

We both breathed a sigh of relief: Survivors of the moon base, beyond all hope!

"No others incoming?" Thayer asked. "None of the enemy following them?"

"None identified as yet," said Sharon. "Doesn't mean they won't follow them soon
enough, though."

"Right."

"We'd better have some of the medics down here when our folks arrive," I pointed
out. "We don't know what kind of condition they'll be in."

Thayer nodded. "I'll call Iris down, and--"

"And what, Sire?" It was Iris's voice. Startled, we turned in the direction of
the sound and saw Iris Sewallei and the Queen Mother, Llessur Atner, emerging
from a turbolift into the Batcave.

"And some of the med bay staff as well," Thayer finished with a smile. "You're
just in time, Iris. We have the Bat-wing and the X-wing trainer incoming, crew
unknown but possibly in need of medical attention."

Iris nodded and immediately went into action, heading for the cabinets where
medical supplies were kept. Then Llessur approached us. My mother-in-law and I
got along rather better in those days than we had early in my relationship with
Thayer; I admired her and she, I think, had taken a considerable liking to me,
in her way. But she was still an intimidating presence, with all her regal ways
and well-worn authority. I crept closer to Thayer and latched a hand through his
elbow as if for my own stability.

"What's happening, Thayer?" the Queen Mother asked. "What is the alert for?"

"We've been invaded," he said softly.

"Invaded? Mendellia?" asked Llessur.

"No," he said. "Terra. Or, properly speaking, Luna; but they'll be here next."

"Terra invaded?" She glanced between his face and mine for a moment, back and
forth, weighing this information. "By whom? Have our allies beyond the Sun
turned against us?"

"No," I said quickly. "In fact, they're waging a war now with the same enemy
that's invaded us, an enemy from beyond any of the worlds of the New Republic or
the Empire."

"How goes their war?" she asked.

"Badly," I admitted.

"Then we have little hope for their aid in Terra's defense."

"Most likely," Thayer said. "But we haven't even heard from Coruscant yet. They
should have received the distress call from the lunar base, the same that we
picked up. Perhaps they'll see fit to make Terra a battleground for turning the
Vong back." His words were optimistic, but I heard only doubt in his voice.

"The Vong?" Llessur asked.

"Yuuzhan Vong," said Thayer. "The invaders."

Llessur watched us through narrowed eyes a moment. "I would ask to know more of
these invaders, but you'll want to speak of that to all our people when they
have gathered, won't you? And in the meantime there's work to do. Here, son,
give me the baby. I'll look after him. You and the Queen must see to our
defenses."

"Thank you, Mother." Thayer gladly handed Riehn over to her, and she headed back
upstairs with him. Again I felt a prick of fear as my son passed farther away
from me. But in my mind I had no doubt that with his grandmother he'd be
safe--she was such a formidable lady that I wouldn't have been surprised if the
sound of her voice alone had proved capable of stopping a Yuuzhan Vong dead in
its tracks.

I wish her voice had indeed proved so powerful.

~
[1] There's a sound file of "Junior's Lullaby" at
http://ultimateveggie.com/sounds/sounds04.html for anyone who's interested.