Helen of Anarchia: 2. Birth

Laku Janaut and Helena Larkin were dreamily gleeful to be together. The wedding had music and dance till late night yet the first night of Laku and Helena was entirely sleepless and despite of that they did not feel sleepy the next day. As if their senses had finally attained peace which they desired since they fell in love. Remaj Janaut always told his students that if they felt thirsty they should drink water.

That’s what Laku and Helena had done. They desired to become one and then they did. But that was not the only thirst Laku Janaut had. As their days of togetherness joyously flowed along with time, Laku Janaut’s thirst for voyage and exploration intensified. He began focusing on building of the largest ship of Anarchia. But his love for Helena did not decrease rather increased every moment and so did Helena’s love for him. Helena was pregnant and Laku was taking good care of her. He spent most of his time at the coast instructing the workers to build the ship and overseeing the work. Rest of the times, he took care of his venerable father Remaj Janaut and his dear wife Helena.

Meanwhile, the atmosphere of Anarchia did not change. There was a constant sense of mistrust among the citizens. Since there was no regulatory body, the citizens came to terms with each other through bargaining. There was bargaining in every kind of transactions. Remaj Janaut and his educated friends used to discuss once in a while of a regulatory body but they always ended up concluding that it was a surreal idea.

Helena Larkin began having aches in her belly two or three times a week in her last month of pregnancy. This alarmed Laku Janaut. He stopped the work of shipbuilding for some months. He blamed himself for the aches for he thought that he was not giving enough time to her. He dedicated all his time thus, to her. Remaj Janaut was also alarmed by this.

They called the medicine man after she complained of bellyache again a week after she had her last episode. The medicine man declared that everything was normal. He gave some kind of potion for pain relief but it didn’t seem to work. Hours passed. And it did not work.

Through the window of the Janaut residence, Remaj could see the dark ominous clouds in the sky. Standing beside his friend the medicine man along with his son, he stood helpless looking at his wailing daughter in-law and the ominous sky.

It began raining. The sky and Remaj Janaut’s eyes both were crying heavily. Laku Janaut was also born on a rainy day, and his mother had died giving birth to him. Remaj Janaut could not help himself falling to the feet of his friend the medicine man. He painfully begged, ‘please, help her, please…’ He did not have enough courage that evening to get up and look at his daughter in-law in pain. Anxiously, he kept on crying. The medicine man was helpless too. Laku Janaut was helpless too.

At the stroke of midnight, after several hours of pain and wailing, Helena Larkin finally gave birth to a baby girl. Helena Larkin died and freed herself of all the pain. And left to her lover and his father unbearable pain. And a baby girl. To Anarchia, her glory.