May 23, 2009

In Which Riala Looks Twice

December 1, 1157

"Mama!" called Rifden as he ran into the house, toddling along as quickly as his five-year-old legs would carry him. "Mama, Falidor's here! Falidor's here!"

Riala pursed her lips, caught somewhere between hope and disbelief. "Is he?"

"Uh-huh," her youngest son insisted. "He's outside talking to Nora and Grandpapa."

Stepping away from the water bucket, Alsina sighed. "Great. He probably brought stupid Ailede with him."

"Alsina, don't call your sister-in-law stupid," Riala scolded softly, though privately, she did not blame her daughter in the slightest.

"Why not?" demanded Alsina. "She is."

Rifden bounced indignantly, as if worried that his family had forgotten his very presence. "Ailede didn't come!"

Ceidrid, Riala's middle child, gave a sigh of relief as he lowered his nose to the pot of soup Nora had been preparing. "Good. I hate her."

"Ceidrid!" exclaimed Riala. "Don't you dare say that when your brother comes inside!"

He shrugged. "You know, Ma... I think some part of Falidor hates her too. It's not like he married her out of love or anything. She's just some hussy who was looking to take advantage of some drunken idiot, and it turned out that the drunken idiot was him. Besides, have you seen the way she talks to him? It's obvious that there's no respect there whatsoever."

Riala sighed. "You shouldn't talk that way in front of your little siblings."

"Rifden's heard worse, Ma--and Alsina says worse."

She opened her mouth to ask exactly what sort of things Alsina was saying these days, but before she could, the door opened to reveal her firstborn... and someone else.

"Falidor," she addressed him, not fully capable of saying much else. "Oh, Falidor..."

"Hello, Ma," Falidor replied with a nod. "Ma... this is Fenrick."

Riala took a moment to cough, then smiled. "Fenrick? Your father..."

"I named him for Father," he confirmed. "He looks just like him, doesn't he?"

"And just like you," she added, her dark eyes meeting the baby's blue ones. Those were the most beautiful eyes in the world, she realized all over again. She had married those eyes... her three older children had those eyes... and now, her grandson did as well.

Falidor beamed at her fondly, as he had as a small child, fully in awe of his mother. "Do you want to hold him, Ma?"

She nodded. Gently, Falidor lowered the baby into her arms; the little boy was the spitting image of his father at that age, she saw only too clearly.

"He was born on the fifteenth," admitted Falidor sheepishly, "but he was sick, and I didn't want to take him anywhere until he got better."

For the first time in a week or so, Riala let out a slight laugh. "He's beautiful, Falidor."

"I know."

"How are you liking Fenrick, Mama?" asked Nora as she strode inside--Riala had to look twice.

"Oh my," she gasped between frantic blinks. "That baby looks just like Fenrick."

Falidor nodded. "She's his twin, Ma. Her name... is Riala."

She felt herself smiling again--she had to cough, but she resolved to keep it in while she was holding the baby. "I... don't know what to say, Falidor."

"You don't have to say anything," he assured her--God, he looked so much like his father.

Beside him, Nora nodded. "Sometimes words aren't enough, Mama."

Riala's grin only widened. "No, but oftentimes, they are all we have. When these two are older, you will understand."

NEXT CHAPTER:

7 comments:

Van said...

And so ends 1157! Uh... babies for this year... there's a lot... and not many that are noteworthy but whatever:

May 9 - Dalston and Celina had a daughter, Xetrica (Xeta)
May 19 - Roderick's brother Oswald and Medea's sister Athalia had a son, Sparron
June 4 - Dalston's brother Arkon and Alina's sister Renata had freaking TRIPLETS, son Conant and daughters Arletta and Ramona
June 21 - Octavius's brother Tertius and his wife Nearina had a son, Mernolt
July 1 - Viridis's brother Haldred and Alina's sister Cladelia had a daughter, Celina
August 20 - Laveria's suitor's daughter, Avine, and her husband had a daughter, Melria
August 26 - Halford and Arydath had a son, Cordieth (Cord)
September 13 - Lonriad and Viridis had twins, son Sidwein and daughter Taimyra
September 29 - Severin and Alina had a son, Searle
October 4 - A couple of Severin's tenants had a son, Aidric
October 26 - Aldhein and Geneva had a daughter, Eilyssa
October 30 - Adonis and Honora had a daughter, Nanalie
November 15 - Falidor and Ailede had twins, son Fenrick and daughter Riala

Two many twins! And TRIPLETS! Too many character files on Van's computer!

In other news... what the hell's up with TribalPages? I can't update the family trees... :(

Phoenix said...

Daaaaang! That's A LOT of kids!! Wow!!

This was a sweet chapter! And Falidor looks really great! Seriously! Twins? Wow! Boy has some super sperm or something! Have you aged them up to see? *nudges Van* I know you did!

And darn it! My work computer sucks! What's the preview pic! I can see a silhouette of...someone!

Van said...

Heheheh... the polls said Falidor was the choice for twins, so... :D

I did age them up. They both look quite a bit like Falidor (although I can see more of Ailede in Fenrick than Riala). I post grow-ups every eight kids (significant kids, that is--they actually have to live in Naroni, and their parents have to have shown up more than once. I don't bother growing up nieces or nephews living back in the Old Country. Actually, this next round will have an exception, because I wanted to see Lonriad's kids).

Yep, it is a silhouette of someone. A curmudgeonly, shirt-loathing someone.

Phoenix said...

Oh!! Oh!! Oh!!!! Is this a Florian update?!!! YESSSSSSS!!!!

Van said...

Yeppers :)

Penelope said...

The look on Florian's face is making me giggle prematurely.

When did you grow Falidor up to adult?? He's look'n pritty, pritty hot there.

Hehehe. Sorry, Falidor that I voted for twins!

Van said...

Gotta love the "confused" facial overlay of the modeling hack :D

This is Falidor's first post as an adult. He's a week or so shy of seventeen in this post, but I figured he was close enough. Plus he's going through the transition into fatherhood anyway, so it's rather symbolic.

Fortunately, Falidor's pretty good with babies. Hell, his main duty as the "steward" is looking after Severin's three kids, the oldest of which is now two years, and the youngest of which is two months.