Chapter 9: Time Flows

The Ashram, 1 Month after Tanya’s birth, Date unknown, shortly before dawn

Oksana gently picked Tanya up from her cradle and slowly walked out of the Ashram, until she reached the viewpoint she had used to gain a proper view of the Ashram, to paint it.

The path she tread was not well-worn at all, by any definition of the word, filled with rocks, snow-covered pit traps and many, many ways of killing those unprepared, those who do not look before they leap, and, perhaps most importantly, those ordinarily skilled enough to pass through the trap-laden course without much damage to themselves might find themselves lacking in a singular, extremely important aspect, and that would be luck.

They might fall in a hole of an unknown depth, which may or may not have spikes at the bottom, depending on how good the luck they got left is, and they would slowly, steadily, ever so slowly, die of thirst or frostbite, whichever came first.

They may get hit by a randomly timed avalanche, or die of heatstroke due to not thinking enough and being unlucky enough of visiting on one of the few days where the sun does shine directly on them.

Oksana jumped, skipped, and hopped across the path like it was a small garden in springtime and she was a flighty little boy enjoying the best years of his life.

She, with a little bundle in her arms, hummed a little ditty as she jumped from one spot to another, the little bundle of ‘joy’ in her arms, making certain that said bundle was not stirring from her slumber, even a little. Oksana jumped past one last obstacle, and stood before her new home.

In the end, she could not stand to destroy the Ashram and build her new home there, for all the symbolism that might provide. Instead, she went through a slightly life-threatening trek, coaxed a couple stubborn century-old trees to spare a couple tens of tons of wood (which was another life-threatening situation in itself, man those trees were stubborn, it was only some wood, it would grow back. Sheesh, one would think that taking some wood from them, Oksana asked for them to spare her the skin off their backs... oh.) and then using said wood to build herself a house that could and would withstand the stupidity thrown at it by the mountain.

Sometimes, Oksana would think that she was in a certain narrow ocean where the world went crazy and men treated their journeys and difficulties while there as their way of comparing dick sizes.

The mountain she currently resided in, was to be found, for those foolhardy enough to even think of searching for it, at the very end of the world, where none had ever gone before, and, for as long as she considered it her home, no more shall try.

And so, she stood before her new home, it was about two stories tall, with very different architectural roots compared to her prior home, and the differences didn’t stop there. She had not one, not two, but three hidden rooms, with each room at least as big as an entire floor of a mansion and at least a hundred meters from her new home in different directions.

She slowly shook the bundle in her arms, carefully opening the layer of clothes, and then another, and then another.

(This might seem a bit surprising, but it is indeed cold on a mountain while being an unknown height above Sealevel) Oksana slowly woke her near-suffocated-to-death infant daughter and gently turned her head away from her daughter’s accusatory dichromatic too-cute-to-be-frightening stare.

She slowly lifted her daughter by her extremely insulated body and faced her to her new home, and declared to her, “Tanya, this shall be your home for as long as you carry the name of Raken. For, whenever you feel that all is lost, this house shall provide you with shelter, and I will be right there with you when it feels like the world itself is against you.”

Oksana took in a deep breath, and shouted! “Tanya, I am no good with words, so keep in mind that behind those walls, none can threaten you, for YOU.ARE.HOME!”

Those words were more for herself than her daughter, and Oksana would know how much she needed those words, she needed that speech herself, and a safe home, when she …

“That was a long time ago”, Oksana thought, “No need to bring myself down when my future is so bright and full of light, this will mark the very start of Tanya journey in the labyrinthian maze known as life. I mustn’t think of the past, long forgotten by all but myself, to bring darkness in such a wonderful start...”

As Oksana’s thoughts devolved, going down the rabbit hole that was her past, she was awoken by something shaking her. She looked down and saw her daughter, her one-month-old daughter, who for reasons unknown had turned away from staring at the house with starry eyes, and had at some point managed to reach her shirt, which she had shaken vigorously, and when she saw that her mom had snapped out of it, she buried herself in Oksana’s clothes and cooed softly.

Oksana smiled at her little minx, and at herself for letting herself flow down into that spiral without even a single protest. If she was going to flow down something, she would much prefer if that was to be while she kicked and screamed her way free, or at least tried. She would never go quietly into that good night. She no longer had that right for as long as she had a child in her care.

No matter what the circumstances of her birth were, Tanya was her daughter, and her husband’s as well.

Oksana took a deep breath, looked down and saw her daughter doing just fine while snuggling in her clothes, and laughed. “Bwehehehehehehehehehe... This daughter of mine will be the light of my life. She is so cute and innocent, I am sure she won’t turn out like her siblings... I’m sure that was more the fault of that idiot husband of mine than mine, yes, I'm sure...” She devolved into mumbling, but smiled as she did so, Tanya just cooed contentedly and fell asleep, her strength drained and her purpose of comforting her mom fulfilled.

Oksana, of course, ate her words of her daughter’s future within the next five months.

Her daughter had turned out to be the most mischievous, and troublesome of all of Oksana’s children. Once, she found herself nursing her child when suddenly the object of her ministrations did not oblige till she read her a book.

If she did not know any better, she would think her kid was blackmailing her to learn more of the world, with each instance of herself giving in, Tanya only grew bolder. Once, Oksana caught Tanya looking at a picture book, conflict visible, both in her eyes, which Oksana could not see, and her behavior. She was, by the looks of it, attempting to read the book, but was also extremely bored, her head dropping many times. Even for the fact that her body was much bigger than the normal was in fact but normal, seeing as she was a child who accepted both her's and her husband’s bloodlines, she was born to be extraordinary. Not least of which is the fact that she carried the D. of freedom in her name.

She was of course, still unable to speak, she was still an infant after all. No matter her prodigious intelligence or her highly mature body (for her age, it only appeared to be a child a month or two older than herself), she was no monster.

Oksana herself knew what it would feel like, being highly intelligent while in an ineffectual body, unable to do anything while the world continued in its fated, hated course, robbing her of the opportunity to...

She snapped out of the funk, without any help from her daughter who was peacefully sleeping after a full day of... sleeping

She was aware that Tanya was a six-month old baby, with little to no actual stamina, but she did spend every second she was awake with her beloved mom.

Speaking of which, it was time to feed the little hungry titan. She ate more than her own body weight, only in fluids of course, and the weight went nowhere. Her digestion was a matter of mystery Oksana was not particularly inclined to solve. She had known many people with insatiable appetites, and none of them had ever revealed their secret, the closest she had ever gotten was that she needed to “Feel yer hunger mate, ye shall know”, and she very much did not know.

Six Months later, Tanya’s First Birthday

Oksana was excited, she was going to celebrate her youngest daughter’s birthday!

And she will do it in style. She will coax her daughter, who had recently seemed to be a bit taken with her pacifier, which was provided to her after her oh-so-perfect mom remembered that babies did in fact require pacifiers, requiring a picture of her eldest child as an infant, with a pacifier in her mouth, to totally convince her that she had not made up an invention that had no use at all in her sleep.

Tanya seemed taken to sucking on the pacifier whenever she was around or whenever she opens a book of one sort or the other, just when she gets tired.

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Even though she had more stamina now as compared to her prior state, where she could stay active for only minutes at a time for not more than two hours, now she could stay up for not less than a half-hour at a time and could stay active for more than 5 hours each day.

She was such a cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute little thing too. She had big puffy, extremely pinchable cheeks, hair that reached to her shoulders and looked like not a single comb had ever touched it in a single day of her life but somehow still perfectly suited her, chubby fingers (although they were not as chubby as Oksana's other kids) and she always giggled when put into frilly little dresses, which perfectly suited her.

Oksana looked at the timekeeper set on her table and blanched. It was an hour before dawn, which meant she had not more than an hour to check for herself if she was satisfied by the immense amount of effort she put into making the entire living room seem like it was floating above the clouds.

The normally brown floors were covered by a rug that was a light blue, with intermittent white spots of irregular size in them, the table, also colored blue, had blue silverware around two small black plates, with two chairs, one colored a hue that was a mix of gold and orange like the sun seen on the endless seas, the other being a mix of blue and silver, like a full moon expressing its motherly nature to all those that saw it and providing protection against all those that had ill intentions, much like a mother.

The walls, however, took the longest, for those were what took Oksana the longest period to determine the appropriate hues for.

They were shaded blue at the bottom, with the top part colored black with spatters of white. Oksana had used a special paint, that did something special when the right condition was fulfilled, though it was a right pain in the ass to make, and she could only make a small bucketfull of the most easily made white paint. She made the concoction herself based on the books in her family vault.

It went quite well, if she did say so herself.

Yep, she was satisfied with her work. It took her just under 11 months to make the thing, when it took her a month to build a house. “I really am not suited for painting”, She thought to herself as she looked at a room that could have been the magnum opus of even the most masterful of artisans, completely accurate star chart for a ceiling (which she only knew because of multiple decades spent with her husband simply staring up the night sky and had a

She looked to the timekeeper and blanched once more.

She then looked around and found the thingamajig her husband had given her, a lifetime prior. The thing looked like a conch shell, but she knew it was so much more.

She slowly creeped up to the second floor to her room, carefully opened the blinds, took out her violin, which made certain was in perfect working order and was tuned properly the day prior, and clicked the button on the thingamajig and began playing. She heard her husband’s voice once more, and he was even better than she remembered.

(Credits- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Obhsql25Hc4&ab_channel=FilmwaysVTC)

Happy birthday, it's Tanya’s birthday, happy, happy birthday to you! (Hot stuff!)
Hey, Donald, happy birthday, happy birthday, happy, happy birthday to you!

He's funny, charming, (Hello!) our fine feathered friend. (Yeah!)
Today's her birthday, best wishes we send. (Thank you!)
She's full o' surprises, quacks everyone up.
She's crazy for Mommy, she's our Tanya D. Raken! (Hey, toots!)

Happy birthday, (Yeah!) it's Tanya's birthday, happy, happy birthday to you!
Hey, Tanya, happy birthday, happy birthday, happy, happy birthday to you! (Oh, boy, oh, boy!)

In every country, she can be found,
Throwin' a tantrum, and jumpin' around!
The whole world loves Tanya, today is his day. (I guess.)
Across every nation, you hear people say...

Feliz cumpleaños, bon anniversaire, otanjōbiomedetō
Which means:
Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy, happy birthday to you! (Ptooey!)

There's a party, (a party) a party today. (Oh, boy!)
A once a year occasion!
A party (party), it's comin' his way,
Donald's birthday celebration! (Wow!)

Vickie (Hi, Donald!) and Mommy arrive with the cake, (Yum, yum!)
Daisy and Aanchal, (A-hyuck!) great Ludwig von Drake (Hello dere!)
Huey, Dewey and Louie, and Uncle Scrooge, too (Your birthday?)
They sing, "Dear Donald, happy birthday to you..." (Right!)

Happy birthday, it's Tanya's birthday, happy, happy birthday to you! (For cryin' out loud!)
Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy, happy birthday to you!

Tanya, we thank you for the joy that you bring, (Aww...)
So, have a great birthday, now, everyone sing! (Yeah!)

Happy birthday, it's Tanya's birthday, happy, happy birthday to you! (Everybody)
Happy birthday, happy birthday, happy, happy birthday to you! (Sing along)
Happy birthday, it's Tanya's birthday, (One more song, yeah) happy happy birthday to you!
Hey, Tanya, (That's me!) happy birthday, (Tanya) happy birthday, happy, happy birthday to you! (C'mon!)
Happy birthday, it's Tanya's birthday, happy, happy birthday to you! (We're havin' a party!)
Hey Donald, happy birthday, happy birthday, (Hey, Donald!) happy, happy birthday to you! (C'mon!) (Phooey, ptooey!)
Happy birthday, it's Tanya's birthday, happy, happy birthday to you! (Thank you very much!)

Tanya woke up in the middle of the song, but was petrified at the vision of her mother happily singing the song, but crying while doing so.

Towards the end, her mother had stopped crying and was grinning widely at her bemused daughter, “Thank you so much for being born Tanya!”

At this, whatever reservations that Tanya may have had left from her previous history with parents, got itself a reservation with a shark’s stomach and it walked the plank.

Tanya cried and laughed, but before she spoke, she shoved her pacifier into her mouth, breaking into giggles as she did so.

Tanya was now aware that she was not Tanya von Degurechaff anymore.

She had a family, and for once, she did as all girls her age did and smiled so broadly her head would fall off.

She was Tanya Viktoriya Oksana Nicholaus Draken, and she was a child who lived with her mom.

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