April 16, 2009

In Which Roderick's Biological Clock Ticks

February 17, 1157

Roderick had spent his wife's second and third pregnancies cringing in worry over the sex of the babies, but to his great relief, she had born daughters both times. Since he already had a male heir in Ietrin, he could not be bothered to raise another boy--what purpose would that serve? Naroni was not yet large enough for Roderick to establish another dukedom, and he would feel rather guilty about sending away his sons to Dovian monasteries. No, they would simply take up space in the castle until he was forced to set up castles for them somewhere, and then would come the question of their rank--certainly no prince would want to be a mere knight!

But daughters! Every daughter he produced would be a guarantee of an alliance, and since his daughters were both well-bred and beautiful, he would have no trouble finding himself some good ones. He would have to strengthen the his ties within Naroni first, of course--Leara was for Lorn, and Camaline was for Sparron--but who knew what bonds he could make with his future daughters? He would have several of them, he would make sure of it; a king could never have too many daughters.

"Hard to believe she was born a month early, isn't it?" he mused as he took in the sight of Geneva and Camaline together. "If I remember correctly, Ietrin and Leara were both smaller at that age."

Ordinarily, Geneva would have replied verbally, but instead, she simply nodded. Strange, thought Roderick as he drew nearer.

"You're growing much faster than your brother and sister did, aren't you?" he asked of the baby, who in turn gave him a slight smile and a violet-eyed stare. "Feel as though you have to win, don't you?"

Truth be told, Roderick still felt awkward when talking nonsense to Ietrin and Leara, but there was something different about Camaline. She was... well, perhaps not any more intelligent than either of her siblings, but there was a certain maturity about her that he had yet to see in either of the other two. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was definitely something.

Geneva sighed. "She'll have to learn to walk quickly; I don't know how long it will be until she's too heavy to hold."

"Would you like me to hold her for you?" offered Roderick. Just because he wasn't in love with Geneva didn't mean he didn't care about her; no, he had noticed that she hadn't seemed herself lately, and as her friend and husband, he figured the least he could do was take the baby when Geneva complained.

"Please."

Gently, she lowered little Camaline into his arms. Roderick's gray eyes met the baby's violet--oh, she was so much better behaved than her siblings! And much quieter too; the older ones were still prone to crying and screaming at every opportunity.

Not to mention, Ietrin was still a rather snot-nosed boy.

"So, is your sister pregnant yet?" he inquired of Geneva as she sat herself down on the couch behind him. "And, more importantly, is mine getting married yet?"

"In both cases, not that I know of," she answered softly. "Your sister is not getting married, but she certainly has no qualms about flirting with married men."

Roderick rolled his eyes. "Geneva?"

"Yes?"

"Neither do you."

It seemed like the sort of joke that would merit at least a small laugh, but for some reason, she remained silent. He briefly wondered why that might be, but was soon distracted by his older daughter.

"My God, Leara!" he exclaimed. "Get that doll out of your mouth!"

"Roderick..." muttered Geneva, but she quickly trailed off.

"Well, we can't have her chewing on toys forever now, can we?" Roderick insisted. "She might as well learn now. And Ietrin still has that insufferable habit of putting his fingers in his mouth, does he not?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Geneva shaking her head. "They're babies, Roderick."

"And they're beautiful," he added as he lowered Camaline into her crib. "A beautiful boy, and two beautiful girls. You know, maybe we should start thinking about another one."

NEXT CHAPTER:

6 comments:

Phoenix said...

What's up with Geneva?! I know she's not feeling GUILTY is she? And...how does she keep from getting pregnant? Her little tryst seem so spur of the moment I wouldn't think she'd be prepared all the time right? I wonder what her secret is!:P

Roderick wants MORE kids?! Oh good grief!! LOL!! He really likes Camaline huh?

Van said...

It's not guilt. It will definitely come up in the next chapter, however.

The odds of getting pregnant are actually quite low. I used to think it was some like a 33% chance of pregnancy when not using protection, but then I took Bio 30 and hooooooo boy. A woman can only get during one day of her cycle, which would have been difficult if not impossible to predict in those days. And even if one does happen to have sex on that day, chances are that none of the sperm will reach the egg, and even if they do, the blastula doesn't always implant, and is therefore miscarried.

That being said, protection is still a very smart idea :P

But given the amount of sex Geneva has, she must have rather low fertility, or a particularly acidic tract. Although mind you, her kids were pretty much one right after the other... hmmm... maybe she has some morning-after herbs or something.

Yep, Roderick wants more kids. Specifically, more daughters, so he can marry them off to a bunch of nobles and make a lot of alliances for himself. He seems to be adapting the way of Alina's father, who has five daughters, each of whom is married to the ruler of a shire in Dovia or Naroni. However, he also has five sons, all of whom are bachelor knights, which Roderick would rather prefer if possible. He only needs the one son, and maybe a backup in case Ietrin dies an early death (which I'm thinking he won't).

Yep, Camaline is his favorite, although I'm sure even Roderick wouldn't blatantly state it. He likes her because she is the least baby-like of the three of them, despite being the youngest.

Penelope said...

Something about Roderick seems so simple. I can't put my finger on it but that man has absolute no depth. It's interesting to me that he likes the baby that he perceives to be the least baby-like when he himself is a little baby-like.

Is Dalston writing his memoirs? :p

Van said...

That is exactly the thing about Roderick. He's a rather simple fellow, and very shallow, and doesn't realize just how immature he actually is. Really, I think he likes the company of mature people because they're just more adult than he is. He's kind of like an eight-year-old who would rather tag along with twelve-year-olds than play with the six-year-olds.

Judging by that paper, he certainly hasn't written much :)

Emmy said...

So you can only get pregnant if you have sex in a specific day? That's a relief. :P And also weird, given the high rate of unwanted pregnancies among teenagers.

Still, according to the Almighty Wiki:

"On average, 85% of married couples using no contraception will have a pregnancy in one year."

Van said...

Yep. The female body has a ton of natural defenses sperm. I think that stat is based on the guess that they're having sex at least three or four times a week, and they hit at least one of the ovulation days.

Regardless, contraception doesn't hurt... usually :P