Chapter Text
Sam Smith had a good life. She was an excellent hunter; no one could move through the frozen forests as silently as she could. Her home was a harsh desert of wind and cold, but she lived with a group of good friends. Not many people sought out the hunting outposts on Deloona, but Sam didn’t mind. They were a tight-knit community, everybody watching out for each other. Theirs was a rough life, but there was something about the clear beauty of the icy landscapes around them, the white only sparsely dotted with the bluish underbrush and the high grey winter firs, that made it worth it.
Sometimes though, in the quiet of her own cabin, she wished she had someone to share it with. She didn’t wish for a partner, Sam had never been good with relationships, but she’d love to care for someone, share her warmth and food with someone, give her love to someone. Raise someone. Sam longed to have a child. Maybe it was time to go into the city.
It was a long trek down into Calura, especially when Sam’s sleigh was weighed down with the highly-coveted alam pelts. Those tiny creatures had one of the finest furs in the Old Galaxy and rich people paid a hefty price for it.
Sam sold them to Old Mark, a shrewd but fair tradesman, before she made her way to the city center. She hoped the money would be enough to pay the medical center's bills, otherwise she’d have to wait for another hunting season.
When she took a turn in the road, a woman stumbled into her.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Sam said.
The woman had the typical off-planet look: lips bluish from the cold and clothes not nearly thick enough to keep off the low temperatures. She looked harried, eyes darting around nervously.
Worriedly, Sam looked her up and down to check for frostbite. “Are you alright?”
The woman didn’t react to Sam’s question, she just clutched Sam’s arms, touched her fingers to Sam’s cheek, and scrunched up her forehead in concentration.
“Listen,” Sam started. “You should probably go inside, this cold can be—” Sam swayed on her feet. For a moment she’d felt something pushing at her, but there was no one on the street besides her and the shivering woman.
“You want a child,” the woman suddenly rasped out, face smoothing out in relief. “You long to have a child of your own.”
Sam froze. “How do you know?”
The woman finally opened her eyes and looked at Sam, irises compelling in their strangely multi-colored swirls. Her long, wavy hair was snow white, but her face looked young, much younger than Sam’s. “I’m pregnant,” the woman said, voice steady. “And I’ll die soon. I have no one to take care of my child.”
Sam looked down at the woman’s round belly, barely covered by her threadbare jacket. “There’s an Alliance base in the city. You can bring the child there and they’ll—”
“No,” the woman said sharply, her fingers digging into Sam’s arm with surprising strength. “No Alliance.”
Sam didn’t hate the Alliance, but she had no love for it either. Deloona had been part of the Alliance for a long time, and except for the tax collectors, they were mostly left to their own devices. She didn’t think Deloona got much out of being a part of the Alliance, but they were too small a planet, with too few inhabitants, in an unimportant solar system that didn’t warrant a seat in the Security Council. Their representative in the Assembly didn’t even have a voting right.
The woman in her arms was still looking at her imploringly, so Sam shook her head. “No Alliance.”
The woman was shivering violently now.
“You still need to go somewhere warm,” Sam pointed out. “How about we find a place to sleep for the night?”
The woman nodded. She didn’t seem worried anymore; despite the shivers racking her body she exuded calm and quiet serenity. Together, they checked into a little hotel.
The woman curled up on one of the beds, warming herself under the blankets. “My name is Mari. I’m going to tell you a story,” she said. “And when I’m done you can decide if you want to take in my child when the time comes.”
“Look,” Sam tried to soothe her, “I know a birth can be challenging, but we have good doctors out here, nothing is going to happen to you or the child.”
Mari gave her a tired smile. “Just listen to me.”
And Sam did. Mari talked for hours and with growing horror, Sam listened. In the end, she couldn’t deny her. Sam touched Mari’s rounded belly and felt the child underneath move. She was already in love.
“It’s a boy,” Mari said. “I want to name him Jared.”
Sam nodded.
The next morning, they traveled back to Sam’s cabin. She introduced Mari as a distant cousin escaping a bad relationship. Her friends were sympathetic and no one asked questions.
Jared was born on the darkest night of the year and his mother smiled tiredly. “I wrote a letter. I know it’s not enough, but when the time comes, will you give it to him and tell him all about his father and me?”
Sam nodded. “Of course. I will tell him about his mother, the strongest woman I have ever met.”
Mari took her hand. “You’ll be his mother. And you will be wonderful.”
Mari died at sunrise. It was like she had forced her body to hold it together until her baby was born and safe, and Sam wasn’t sure that wasn’t exactly what had happened.
Together with the whole village, holding little Jared sleeping peacefully wrapped in a blue alam pelt blanket in her arms, Sam buried Mari in their cemetery. She didn’t know what the future would hold for her child, but she vowed to do everything in her power to protect him and his secret.