Eighteen-year-old Nicholas Hammerstein is at the cusp of finishing high school in his hometown of Los Alamos, NM. He has a seemingly ideal life and is blessed with loving parents, a cute baby sister, and great friends. Nicholas is a gifted student and martial artist who has dreams of leaving for college at the end of his senior year. But, living in a world of Emergent humans, he will soon find his life turned upside down as his life and the fate of a kingdom hang in the balance. His future and theirs will be determined by how he navigates the drastic changes in his body and the magical and superpowered Mergent population he joins.

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The Legal Stuff: Emerald Princess © 2016-2023 By Sofia Hammerstein
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2016-2023 By Sofia Hammerstein. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.
 
 
Chapter 16: Sofia-Proof

I WOKE UP in Caireen’s arms as she picked me up out of my crib. “Oh, so those eyes do open?” She said sweetly.

“It was a long day,” I told her.

“I know,” she said and cuddled me tightly in her arms, “I was so worried things were not going to work out.”

“I knew they would,” I told her with a smile.

“Why?”

“Because I had you and my family, duh!”

“Well, I know you fed before bedtime, but I think you need breakfast,” she told me with a smirk.

She nursed me, and I reflected that it wasn’t so bad in my own private castle. What would happen if Hannah nursed me somewhere publicly, though?

It was only when she burped me like an infant that I realized I had finished. “Wow, you’re really not awake yet, are you?”

“I was just thinking,” I told her.

“About?”

“Can’t you tell?”

“Not when we’re here.”

“Oh… Well, there’s a stigma to breastfeeding in our world. I know you said it was normal in the past for the wet nurses to nurse royalty until later. But, still, in our world, it’s seen as really weird to be breastfeeding past the first birthday… and taboo past the second birthday. Let alone for an eighteen-year-old girl to breastfeed a two-year-old who looks like she must have had her when she was only a sophomore in high school… It’s not fair on Hannah, especially,” I told her with tears.

She hugged me, “I don’t think you need to worry as much as you think, Sofia. First of all, you are tiny for a two-year-old even. Most people would probably assume you were under two if that’s what you’re worried about.”

I nodded, “Maybe. But still, poor Hannah had a normal life, and all of a sudden, she’s like gotten locked into being the teenage mother of a freak.”

The spank on my bottom made it through the wet diaper without problems. “You are not a ‘freak,’ and I’d better never ever hear of you saying that again!”

I whimpered, “Sorry...”

“Okay, tell you what, why don’t we go ahead and pull Hannah in here? Maybe that will help both of you.”

“What about you, though?”

“What do you mean?”

“Aren’t you going to be jealous?”

She laughed, “Sweetie, I’m with you twenty-four hours a day, more than that because, with the day here, you end up with a thirty-eight-hour day each day. I’ll be fine.” She hugged me. “Let’s change that messy diaper, and then I’ll leave you to play while I go get Hannah.”

Caireen laid me down on the ornate table and got to work on changing a disgusting diaper. I never seemed to poop right away in the mornings at home, but in her land, I seemed to be as regular as my sister after dinner. Dinner… Breakfast. ‘I guess I just had a meal, didn’t I?’

I sighed as she pinned a new cloth diaper onto me and said, “Feel better now, butterfly?”

I smirked, “Is that my new nickname?”

“Well… one of many. A moment ago, it was Poopy Princess!”

I stuck my tongue out at her. “While I’m gone, I want you just to play. No magic practice right now.”

“Can I use magic to change my dollies’ clothes?” I asked with a smile.

“Well, of course, as long as you’re playing!”

I giggled as she tickled me, carried me over to the floor, and sat me on a rug next to my dollhouse. “I’ll be back - you be good!”

I had to laugh at the fact she would leave me alone. I mean, how much mischief could a two-year-old get into? Ask my sister… it’s impressive!

I must have been really focused on playing because I didn’t hear Hannah approach before she picked me up and threw me up into the air. “Hmm… You’re so light; this is easy!” She said as she caught me and threw me again.

She held me then and hugged me. “So, this is where you go every night while you sleep?”

I nodded, “Isn’t it beautiful?” Then, I paused, “Which way did you come?”

“I brought her through the front gates,” Caireen said, appearing behind her. “Why don’t we go to the garden and have tea?”

“Okay,” I said. I wriggled out of Hannah’s arms, grabbed Emie, and said, “Follow me!” Hannah dutifully followed me out to the garden. I had run at my top speed down the stairs, it was kind of terrifying, actually, but she hadn’t had any trouble keeping up. As we approached the garden, a butler, Benjamin, met us.

“Your Highness,” he bowed to me. “Your Majesty,” he said to Caireen, who was also right behind us. “Your table is right over here,” he motioned.

“Benjamin, this is Hannah,” I told him.

“Yes, I know,” he said, “pleased to meet your acquaintance right this way.”

‘That’s weird...’ I thought to myself. That was borderline rude.

I kept walking on my own behind him and basically had to run three steps to his one as he was very tall. A table with a wooden highchair was dressed with a cloth tablecloth, fine china, silverware, flowers, and a tray of fruit was sitting temptingly. Hannah picked me up and placed me in the highchair before sitting on one side of me while Caireen sat opposite, facing each other.

“Berries?” Caireen asked me as she put some on a plate and put it on the wooden tray that had been placed onto the chair.

“Please,” I said.

“So, Hannah, I’ve wanted to meet you face-to-face for a while now, but this is the first time it was possible for me to pull you in.”

“Why is that, Your Majesty?” Hannah asked politely.

“You weren’t bonded to Sofia before. There was no connection for me to do it like I could with her parents.”

“Oh,” she said and slowly chewed a small piece of apple. “So, am I the same to her now as her parents?” She asked nervously.

“Maybe more so,” Caireen said gently.

“How can I be more connected than them?!?” She said, “I’m just her friend…?”

“That was true before your change.”

“Do you know what it did to me?” Hannah pleaded.

“All the Mergents that are awakening have some changes; some like Sofia a lot, some like you won’t see as many physical changes. Over the next month, though, I think you’ll find yourself filling out a bit more up top and getting that model figure many of your kind have. I suspect you’ll look a little older, but I don’t think you’ll age anymore - or at least not as fast as you would if you were normal.”

“I know the physical stuff, but why did I start lactating?”

“When Sofia jumped into your arms, what were you thinking?” Then, she added, “How about just before too? Sofia hasn’t heard your side of the story.”

Hannah looked like her heart was wrenched as she said, “Well, I was sitting out in the hallway with Lily and Sofia, both of them quite close. I mean, if Sofia had gone running down the hallway, I would have caught her and made sure she stayed with me. I swear you were only a couple feet from me!”

I nodded.

“I looked down at Lily, starting to flip up her dress. I leaned over to push it back down, and then I couldn’t believe it when I saw a man grab Sofia and just take off with her.” Hannah had tears in her eyes at that point. “I didn’t know what to do! Luckily Sofia’s mom and grandma came out right then, so I handed Lily to them and ran after her. I made it to within sight of the food court, and suddenly, it went from the noisy early dinner sounds to absolute silence.”

“I heard a lady scream, ‘Oh my God, someone call Nine-One-One!’

“Followed by another person, ‘That baby’s a Mergent!’”

“And then finally, ‘Someone, get that baby! It’s a freak of nature!’”

“Everyone seemed to get in my way as I ran to find you. Suddenly, I could see you being chased by a dozen men and a couple of women. You were running and jumped into my arms.” She paused and squeezed my arm gently. “All I could think of was that my baby was safe in my arms, and no one would take her away again!”

‘Uh-oh,’ I thought. ‘I bet we are stuck together… Or at least, Hannah’s stuck to me!’

“Suddenly, I felt angry and pushed my hand out to shove away anyone that might get close.” She looked down, embarrassed, “I was more than a little shocked when a ball of green light flew out and hit the ground in front of them. It was like a bomb went off… After that, I just kind of collapsed and don’t really remember much except her grandmother helping me to move and run away…?” Tears were streaming down her face.

“So, what happened to me?” she asked Caireen.

“Your EFP locked into the ‘my baby’ idea Hannah. At that moment, it locked into the idea of being the best mother for a baby it could be. Not only that, but it did that with Sofia specifically in mind. That meant your hair had to change, your eyes changed, and realistically I have a feeling your very DNA changed to match hers.”

“So, I really am her mother now?”

“Sort of… Sofia’s mom will always be her mom. Normally, a baby grows up and sheds their mother to move on with their life. The mom, of course, stays in the daughter’s life some, but never forever. In your case, I think the two of you will probably be inseparable. You shot that ball of energy out through a method other than magic. I think your people call it a pyrokinetic talent. Still, you have just enough magic inside of you that, combined with Sofia’s relief, essentially bound you two together for life.”

“So even when I grow up?”

“Problem is that Sofia will never grow up. She’s eventually going to be shown by me how to change her diapers with magic. Still, she’s never going to be potty trained.”

“But why would I need to lactate?!? She’s way too old to breastfeed!!!”

“Maybe in your modern world, but I’ve already had this discussion with Sofia. Before the last hundred years, breastfeeding was common until babies were four or five. Sofia’s well within that range. Technically they’ve called her about twenty-six months old, but I think twenty-two to twenty-four months is a better guess myself.”

I nodded at this - I kept having a nagging feeling that they inflated my age for my ego.

“Anyway, in this world, I’ve been nursing Sofia for most of the last week. It helps her magic grow in your world. I’m not sure what your milk may do for her in the real world, but maybe it’ll even help her grow?”

“You think we should do that again?” I asked.

“I don’t think the two of you really have a choice, sweetheart,” Caireen said. “Hannah, I have a feeling you will produce milk until you die someday in the distant future. Of course, you could use an electric pump or nursemaid other babies, but why would you want to when you have your own to hold and comfort?”

“She’s really basically my daughter, then?”

“Yes.”

Hannah sighed and then picked me up from the high chair to hold me. “How often am I going to need to nurse her?”

“Well, it’s not like she’s an infant, and that’s all she eats. So I would say morning and bedtime for certain. Maybe after lunch and dinner? You’ll probably need to express milk more often than that, though.”

I felt Hannah squeeze me. “I’m never going to live down the teenage mother stares.”

“Actually, you probably will in the next month. You’re going to start looking older, and people may assume you’re old enough to have had her when you graduated high school.”

“Why does she get to grow up and I grow down?” I asked irritatedly. They both laughed at me.

Caireen eventually sent Hannah home to her own dreams after telling her that she would be invited to join us from time to time. Her dreams were important, though, and she didn’t want to disrupt that every night. Once she was gone, Caireen again nursed me to sleep herself and said, “You have got to be the luckiest baby in the world to have three mommies who love you!”

 
 
I WOKE UP to Hannah moving around the room. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you, Sofia,” she said.

“It’s okay,” I said. “What time is it?”

“6:30,” she said. “Would you mind?”

“Mind?”

She blushed, “Nursing from me again?” She paused, “It felt so amazing and right last night.”

“Look, I know we just talked about this, but I guess I feel like we need to set a few ground rules?”

She looked almost scared, “Like?”

“Can you pick me up out of this crib?” I asked.

“Can’t you pull yourself out?”

‘Go ahead and try it,’ Caireen prodded.

I had a bad feeling about that as she almost sounded like she was goading me. I reached up to the rail to pull myself over. Once I had a handle on it, I leaped out but suddenly found myself on my rear in the crib again. ‘What was that?’

‘Well, we can’t have the baby getting out of her crib without an adult’s help, can we?’

‘Really?’ I seethed, ‘We are going to talk about this later!’

“Apparently, I can’t,” I told Hannah angrily.

She giggled at that but picked me up and stood me on the floor. “Umm, can you sit on the floor across from me?”

Hannah sat down, and I began, “Okay, I get that for all intents and purposes, I am now physically and emotionally connected with you as my mother... But I was eighteen last week, AND I’m trying to go ahead and have somewhat of a normal life. If I have to go back a bunch of grades…?” I shuddered, “I don’t want to have the stigma of everyone seeing me breastfeeding.” I paused, “I really would like that to stay the deepest darkest secret that no one ever finds out!”

Hannah nodded, “I’m okay with that. So… morning, bedtime, and maybe a couple others if we can get back to our room?”

“For now, please stick to that.”

“Okay, what else?”

“Okay, I guess I have to accept that my potty training will never happen. And I know everyone will figure out I’m in diapers in about two seconds, especially when they smell poopy. They’re probably going to think I am a real baby for the first couple of hours, I’m guessing… Please don’t just check my diapers, though. If you can tell I’m wet, or you guess I am… say something like will you come to the bathroom with me or something? Or just pick me up?”

“What about the poopy diapers?”

I groaned, “Like I said, nothing is going to hide those. Just don’t embarrass me, please?”

“Okay, where may I change you?”

I thought, “Well, I doubt the bathrooms here will have changing tables for babies, so we’ll have to figure that out.”

“You would be okay with me changing you like a normal baby in the bathroom?” She sounded shocked, “And letting the other girls see that?”

I shrugged, “I’m probably never going to be able to avoid that one.” Then, I sighed, “They really are the most convenient places for you to change a baby… and unfortunately, as much as I hate it... I am a baby.”

We talked for another few minutes about some rules before she said, “Okay, if we’re going to get ready in time, you need to eat now.” She picked me up and sat in the rocking chair before exposing her breast to me. With that, we began a new routine that didn’t feel awkward or wrong anymore. I was a baby; she was my mother…

Okay, I lied. It was still bizarre! I probably would have been sick if my body didn’t seemingly go on autopilot as I nursed.

Hannah left to shower, and I began looking at the computer on my toddler-sized desk and was ecstatic to see it was perfectly sized for me. It also had the most impressive specs of any laptop I had ever seen! I tried to get logged in but got an ‘access denied’ screen. I looked around the room and opened my closet to look at all the pretty dresses inside. I couldn’t help but notice one that was the exact duplicate in real life of the one from Sofia in the cartoons. I smiled, ‘Thanks, Caireen.’

When Hannah was finished showering, she looked flushed. “What’s wrong?”

“Umm… any chance you or Caireen could help me out with a nursing bra and those pad things for leakage?”

I nodded, “Caireen had already put those in that drawer last night,” I said, pointing to one of her white dresser drawers.

“Oh, thanks.”

She wrinkled her nose, “Smells like a poopy princess in here!” Then, she looked at me and said, “Can you wait until after I get dressed?”

I nodded, “I guess I’m getting used to it; I hadn’t really noticed?”

“Of course not; you’re a baby!” She told me with a smile.

I watched Hannah get dressed into a simple tunic and tights, as it was Sunday and the uniform wasn’t required. She quickly put on her makeup, came over to where I was playing with some dolls, picked me up, and sat me down on the changing table. “So, what happened with the crib earlier?”

I sighed, “Caireen didn’t appreciate that I could get out of my crib at home without help. I guess when she created this one, she felt like it needed to be Sofia-proof.”

“Only I can get you out?”

“No, anyone old enough to take care of me can.”

She smiled, and I looked terrified, “Don’t worry, I’m not mean enough to do that to you.”

I sighed in relief!

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