May 10, 2009

In Which Arydath Is Always Right

September 29, 1157

"I must say, Arydath, I'm surprised to see you," Lady Alina greeted her as she lowered her pregnant form onto the couch. "Delighted, of couse--but surprised nonetheless."

Arydath smiled. "I wouldn't expect otherwise, milady--I didn't really announce myself beforehand, did I?"

"Don't feel as if you have to; you are always welcome here. Now, how is the new baby?"

"Thank you, and he is very well," replied Arydath with a grin, "but he cries every time his father comes anywhere near him. Poor, silly old Halford."

"Jealous of this large, hairy man who showers Mama with hugs and kisses, no doubt," laughed Alina. "How is Lyraina feeling about the new baby?"

Frowning, Arydath could think of no more fitting a reply than a mere shrug. "Indifferent, I guess. Just as long as Papa picks her up and tosses her in the air once in a while, she's happy."

Alina nodded. "Sounds like Raia when Jadin was born."

"I remember," agreed Arydath. "However, I also remember how young Prince Ietrin was terribly jealous of both his sisters--still jealous of little Princess Camaline, I believe. It should be interesting to see how Raia and Jadin react tonight."

She watched as Lady Alina raised an eyebrow, just as she had predicted. "Tonight?" Alina repeated, confused. "What's happening tonight?"

"Well, they might find themselves made wallflowers tonight, considering they'll have a new baby brother by the end of the afternoon."

Alina stared blankly. "You must be mistaken, Arydath; the baby isn't due for another few weeks."

"I know, but the baby thinks he's due today," insisted Arydath. "I hope you have a name picked out, milady."

"Well, Severin wants to name the baby Viridis if it's a girl..." the lady mused, but she trailed off as Arydath shook her head.

"Trust me, it's a boy," Arydath assured her. "I'm always right, milady, so maybe you should start thinking of boy names, and start thinking quickly. Although... I guess you could call him Viridis, but I imagine he'd get teased."

Sighing skeptically, Alina heaved herself to her feet and made her way toward her squabbling children. "We still have a few more weeks before we know whether or not he will. Now, Raia, stop hitting your brother."

"Mama, Jadin pull my hair!" Raia defended herself.

"Well, he can't say very much yet," explained Alina. "How else is he supposed to tell his sister how pretty she is? Now, play nice."

Jadin smiled widely at his mother, offering her a doll. "Mama!"

"All right, I'll play," she relented, "but I don't think I can stand up on my own, so when Papa has to pull me off the floor, I'm telling him it was your fault."

Arydath could barely claim to be listening. No matter what Alina claimed there was no way that baby was going to wait another few weeks. Her belly was that of a woman mere hours--if not minutes--away from giving birth; Arydath would not leave until that baby came.

And she planned to be home for supper.

"Arydath...?"

Yes, she would indeed be home for supper.

NEXT CHAPTER:

5 comments:

Van said...

Mom, on the off-chance you ever stumble across this page (actually, on the off-chance you know how to use the internet), Happy Mothers' Day! Love you!

Anyway, I have a few announcements to make. First of all, you may have noticed the lovely, obnoxious Adult Content notice. I've decided to add this to all of my blogs. By my standards, I don't think it's necessary, but I recently had a discussion about parenting with my friends and based on the looks on their faces when I gave my opinions, it would appear that I have shockingly lax standards in regards to what is and what is not appropriate. Therefore, I'm putting up the warnings, just in case. I don't imagine they'll be applicable most of the time (although, I do have an Ashelia sex scene written up that will be appearing before the end of Part I).

Secondly, since there are only eight posts left in 1157, I've outlined 1158. I regret to announce that over the course of that year, there will be three deaths. However:

a) None of the deaths will actually be seen. We will hear about two of them after the fact, and one of them we will have a post that occurs shortly before.
b) Though we have seen all three characters before, two of them have only been seen in passing. Neither of them has even had a line.
c) One of the deaths will probably be celebrated by all readers.

And lastly, if anyone has been missing Electra, she will be making a brief cameo appearance in Chapter Seventeen of Ashelia, but I'm not sure exactly when that will be up. I just got Sixteen up last night, and I've decided to adapt an updating pattern of Naroni-Ashelia-Naroni-THIV (because Ashelia and THIV actually have definite endings, whereas Naroni does not).

Meanwhile, welcome to Naroni, Searle! *runs off to update family tree*

Penelope said...

WOOOoooOOO! Oh Van... I'm so glad you're killing off Thetis's husband. :P

Anyway, I really like Arydath and Halford. I was wondering when they were coming back.

hehehe Your mother doesn't know how to use the internet? That's so precious!

Van said...

Who said it was Thetis's husband? :P

I like them too, but the thing about these kingdom stories is that a lot of the drama happens with the higher classes, and sometimes it's hard to fit the peasants in (unless they just scream for it, like Florian). Fortunately, Arydath is the resident psychic midwife, so she gets some airtime with that. I love Halford to death, but I really need to think of more stuff for him to do. The last few times we saw him, he was running around delivering bad news--the man needs to appear in a happier post, dammit!!

Heheheh, I might be underestimating my mother, but I don't know for sure :)

Phoenix said...

Well heck! I was hoping that it would be freakin Geneva! Blah! But Thetis' husband will work just as well.:D

LOL! I love Arydath! She's so calm and serene! Haha! That's great! I guess as a midwife she would have to be huh?

Don't feel bad about your mom Van! My mom knows how to use it she just doesn't want to be bothered! Plus I have to go step by step when I send her links and things to tell her how to get there! Fun times!:D

Van said...

Speaking of Geneva... you might be interested to know that I am currently taking the first ever pictures of her baby. The baby looks a lot like Dad :)

Yeah, Arydath rarely loses her cool. The closest she comes is when Halford does something she deems stupid, which she secretly considers a turn-on.

Heheh, my mom + technology = grrr. She is the only person I know of who has honest-to-goodness asked where the "any key" was.