Sophie rushed to open the door before Aunt Bashala could, only to have a shadowy figure lunge at her.
"Immortal Sophie! Please save my wife and child! I beg you!" A young man collapsed to his knees before her, tears streaming down his face.
"Raki, what's wrong?" Aunt Bashala emerged from the inner room, startled. "Is Fika going into labor?"
Seeing Raki nod through his sobs, Aunt Bashala panicked. "But it wasn't supposed to happen for another week! The only midwife in our village, Barbara, left for her daughter's house yesterday and won't be back until the day after tomorrow! This is a disaster!"
"My mother sent me to find Immortal Sophie," Raki pleaded. "She's the only one who can save them now!"
"That's right! We have an immortal among us!" Realization dawned on Aunt Bashala, and she exhaled in relief. "Immortal Sophie, Raki and Fika are good people. This is their first child—you must help them!"
"Raki, take the immortal to your house at once!" Without giving Sophie a chance to explain, the two of them practically dragged her toward Raki's home. Sophie's protests—"I don't know how to deliver a baby! I've never done this before!"—fell on deaf ears.
From a distance, they saw a crowd gathered outside a small hut, whispering anxiously. The moment they spotted Sophie, they surged forward, shouting, "The immortal is here!" "Fika and the baby will be saved!"
*The whole village is mobilized for a birth? In the middle of the night?* Sophie realized there was no way she could refuse now.
Pulled inside by the women, Sophie barely had time to take in her surroundings before a piercing scream made her jump. Seeing the writhing woman on the bed, Sophie's own panic surged. *Fine. I'll do it.*
She racked her brain for everything she knew about childbirth—most of it from TV dramas and one graphic birthing video she'd stumbled upon online.
The room was packed with frantic women. Sophie snapped into action. "Five of you who've given birth before—stay. The rest, out!"
She barked orders:
"You two—boil water. A lot of it."
"You—light candles. No candles? Then build a fire, but keep the smoke down."
"You—find something for her to bite down on."
As the women scrambled, Sophie realized she'd forgotten something crucial. *What was it?*
Then it hit her. "You—get scissors and a clean, soft cloth for the baby. You—stay with Fika."
Once alone with the laboring woman, another horrifying thought struck her: *Who's going to pull the baby out?* The sight of blood made her queasy—she couldn't even handle raw meat.
Abandoning the screaming Fika for a moment, Sophie bolted outside. "I need one more woman who's given birth—preferably with soft hands!"
A young woman in her twenties followed Sophie back inside, leaving the crowd outside even more tense than before.
Fika's screams were ear-splitting. Sophie fought the urge to flee. *This is terrifying. No wonder they say childbirth is like walking through the gates of hell.* She prayed silently, *Please let this go smoothly. No complications. I have no idea what to do if something goes wrong!*
Hovering near Fika's head—careful not to look lower—Sophie gripped her hand and shouted encouragement.
"Breathe in! Hold it! Push!" *It's probably like straining during constipation,* she thought wildly.
"The head's halfway out!" the young woman assisting cried.
"Wait—gently push it back in!" Sophie vaguely recalled this was to prevent tearing. *Hopefully.*
The woman followed her instructions, easing the baby back slightly.
"Breathe! Push again!"
A loud wail erupted. The entire village seemed to exhale at once.
Sophie directed the assistant to cut the umbilical cord with fire-sterilized scissors and tie it off. Only then did she relax.
The experienced women stepped in, bathing the newborn in warm water and wrapping it snugly before placing it beside Fika. Once the placenta was delivered, Sophie's role was done.
Truthfully, the village women could've managed alone—they usually helped each other through births. But without their usual midwife, they'd panicked and pinned their hopes on "Immortal Sophie."
Exhausted despite not having done the physical work, Sophie staggered outside.
Charles and Little Bai were waiting. She gave them a weary smile before dragging herself back to Aunt Bashala's house.
Collapsing onto the bed, she muttered, "If anyone wakes me up, I'll murder them."
---
Sophie slept until noon, her stomach growling loudly. She cracked an eye open, winced at the sunlight, and burrowed back under the covers—until hunger finally forced her up.
A tantalizing aroma led her to a table laden with food. "Wow, a feast! Is it a holiday?"
"You're awake, Immortal Sophie?" Aunt Bashala beamed. "The villagers prepared this to thank you. They made a batch this morning too, but you were still asleep. Eat now—you must be starving!"
As Sophie devoured the meal, she suddenly realized—"Aunt Bashala, where are Charles and Little Bai?"
"Oh, they went with Raki and the village children to catch milkfish in the lake. The fish are delicious and help new mothers produce milk."
Sophie's blood ran cold. "The lake? But Charles can't swim! And Little Bai is tiny—if he falls in, he'll drown!"
She bolted toward the lake, heart pounding.
**Will she reach them in time?**