August 22, 2009

In Which Severin Finds the Damage Done

October 17, 1160

"Well, well, well," Severin began, stepping into the room to discover the source of the noise that the cook had been complaining about; it was his daughter, jumping on the bed. "It seems that someone is up past her bedtime."

Raia laughed as she continued to bounce about. "But it's my birthday! Anyway, since I'm five now, can't I stay up later?"

"If you can be quieter, then maybe I'll think about it," he told her, "but certainly not this late--it won't be long before it isn't even your birthday anymore."

"All right--when it's not my birthday anymore, I'll go to bed," Raia promised.

Chuckling slightly, Severin shook his head. "You know, technically... the only 'birthday' you'll ever have was five years ago--and as I recall, you slept through most of it."

Horrified, his daughter froze briefly, then swung herself off the bed and stared at him; he was unsure whether it was her eyes that were wider, or her frown. "Did I?" she gasped, as though she had just been told she'd gone temporarily mad and killed a building full of people.

"Indeed you did," he replied in a teasingly grim voice. "Now, go to bed."

Resigned, Raia pulled back the covers and crawled beneath. "Fine. 'Night, Papa."

"Goodnight, Raia," he bade her, planting a quick kiss on her forehead. "Happy birthday."

"But you just said my birthday was five years ago!" she protested as he made his way out of the room.

"I'm old; I'm allowed to contradict myself," he assured her. "Now, put out the candles and go to sleep."

He closed the door softly behind him and strode along the winding corridor to his own bedchamber, where he found his wife awake, staring at the empty fireplace.

"Practicing pyrokinesis?" ventured Severin as he joined her on the couch. "If so, I hear it's easier while snuggled up to one's husband."

Alina giggled. "That would certainly present an easier target."

"Albeit more distracting," he added with a grin. "Anyway, I just told one lady that it was time to go to sleep, and now I think this older lady should do the same."

"Fair enough," she agreed, "but I have to talk to you first."

Severin frowned; he wasn't sure about the emotional note in her voice. "All right..."

"You sound worried," mused Alina, one eyebrow raised. "Don't be--it's good news."

"Good news," he repeated as he placed his arm around her shoulder and pulled her toward him, relieved--he'd had enough bad news lately. "Thank you, Princess."

"Don't just thank me, you idiot," she sighed. "Sometimes it takes more than one person to make some good news. If I recall correctly, you were there at the time."

He found himself smiling as their eyes locked. "You don't say? It's the stables, isn't it? Have my men finally finished extending the stables?"

She rolled her pretty blue eyes--she did this so often it was endearing. "I say I have good news and you immediately think it's the stables? Severin... have you been drinking?"

"No, but I might have to if you don't tell me soon."

Giggling again, she leapt onto his lap. "All right, I'll just tell you. In May... well, we're going to have another baby."

At once, about a million possible replies formed in his head, each one proving more profound than the last. There were so many to choose from; he elected the safest option.

"...what?"

May. That placed the conception date around... August. She'd given birth in June.

It was true that after his mother had married, the majority of Severin's youth had been spent with his father and stepmother, but he had spent enough time with Laveria to hear her telling women that it was more difficult to conceive a child closely following a birth. Two months had seemed within the safe time frame--Alina hadn't even started bleeding again between the birth and the conception. How was she so sure that it had been August, anyway?

But really, it didn't even matter. He shouldn't have counted himself safe--he should have just told her his thoughts on the whole idea.

Of course... maybe it had been inevitable. Was he about to give up sex with her altogether? Not a chance. He'd just have to start pulling out, perhaps, but he realized that--he had been raised by Lonriad, after all--that didn't always work. Oh well; he'd give it a try after this baby was born. For now, the damage was already done.

Meanwhile, Alina's smile was drooping slightly as she studied his face. "Severin? Are you all right?"

"Of course," he lied, hugging her tightly. "Of course, Princess. Like you said, that's... good news."

Fortunately, she didn't seem to notice his hesitation as he choked out the last two words. "I knew you'd think so!"

When would it end? He'd decided that six was enough; now, there was going to be seventh. How many times could he put his reasoning aside and say "Just one more"? If he kept doing that, there would be thirty of them before he knew it.

Last one--no more. No exceptions. After this baby was born, they were done for a few years.

"Princess, it's late. Let's go to bed."

NEXT CHAPTER:

25 comments:

Penelope said...

He could always just become a eunuch. :D

Van said...

That's probably plan C or D... or Y :P

Penelope said...

*LOL*

"Who lives in that castle on the hill?"

"Why that is the home of Lord Severin, the handsomest eunuch in all of Naroni..."

Van said...

"It's an interesting story. You see, he has thirty-two children, all between the ages of thirty-three and eleven months..."

Penelope said...

"'Cutting It Off' had been plan Y which was preceded by plan X: 'Run Screaming Into the Night'..."

Van said...

"Caused a scare, that one did. Remember? Old Goodwife Noth thought it was werewolf activity!"

"Oh yes, I remember."

"But everyone knows there are no werewolves in Naroni."

"No, only mysterious, naked forest dwellers. Anyway..."

Penelope said...

"He was discovered by Florian Tumekrin who forced Lord Severin to return home after scaring Florian's livestock half to death. Once through the gates of his castle, his wife presented him with his thirty-second child and while he was holding the new born for the first time, she then proceeded to undo his belt..."

Van said...

"Needless to say, she left him for his father a week later."

Penelope said...

"All thirty-two kids still live up at the castle over yonder though. And so do their kids. All 97 of them."

Van said...

"We're making bets on his suicide date. Would you like to join? According to the chart, December 16th is still free, and so is March 22nd..."

Penelope said...

"I'll take December 16th. Fewer hours of daylight. More opportunities for soul-crushing woe."

Van said...

"Ooooooh, good choice. Me, I've got my money on November 30th..."

Penelope said...

*trumpets sound and a servant comes running down from the castle, panting*

"Gentlemen! I bring tremendous news! Lord Severin's eldest granddaughter has delivered triplets!"

Van said...

"...well, who had today in the suicide pool? They WIN!"

Phoenix said...

You two are idiots!! I was LOL'ing the entire time I was reading your mini-story!!

Severin no!!!! You poor fella!! And come on Alina!There's no way you're giving all your children the attention they need!!

Penelope said...

I am a bit curious though- Why did Alina wait so long to announce the pregnancy? I mean, that's 2 missed periods right there!

Van said...

Yeah, but she got pregnant two months after giving birth to Riona. Her period might not have returned after the pregnancy. Her due date is probably just an educated guess based on the fact that she's not showing yet.

Plus I think most women in those days liked to wait a while, just to be sure. No easy piss-on-a-stick pregnancy tests in 1160.

Van said...

Heheh, glad we amused you, Phoenix :)

Yeah, the kids probably aren't getting nearly enough attention. As we might see in the next post, kids like Raia and her cousin Searle (the page) are quite a bit more independent than Roderick's or Dalston's kids. This is probably due to the fact that there are just so many kids at Severin's castle, and the younger ones probably get the bulk of the attention, so the older ones have had to learn to do things for themselves.

thewynd said...

I love it! A twofer! I am not sure which story to comment on, the one in the post or the one in the comments!

Poor Severin, they really do need to talk don't they? Him about his concerns for their ever expanding brood and Alina about her emptiness.

Van said...

The story in the comments came as a pleasant surprise for me too, Gayl :)

Oh yeah, they definitely have to talk. These two are probably the most head-over-heels in love couple in the kingdom, but they've both got their little secrets that they feel the other needs to be protected from. I imagine Severin will probably express his concern after this baby comes, but I can't see Alina fessing up about her postpartum problems any time soon. It's a sucky situation :(

thewynd said...

I could not stop chuckling over the mini story. You guys crack me up!

Van said...

Glad we could amuse you, Gayl :D

It was pretty LOLworthy, wasn't it? And I am not even a person who LOLs a lot :D

Verity said...

Yay! Grown up Raia.

And poor Severin... all ready to be set with six kids and then pop here comes another :)

Somehow I think it isn't going to go that well when he tells Alina. She seems to need to be pregnant to be happy. Not a good situation.

Verity said...

Btw. Do you roll your pregnancies randomly or just make them try for a baby?

Van said...

I was sooooo happy when the toddlers finally started becoming kids :)

I roll for pregnancies, although mine is the least sophisticated system for rolling for pregnancies ever. At the beginning of each Naroni year, what I do is work my way down in my character list from the oldest living woman who could potentially get pregnant (it's sorted according to date of birth, partly because it's relatively easy for me to find people that way, partly because I find a cruel amusement in seeing Severin's name directly on top of Laralita's). For each woman who is sexually active and of child-bearing age, I roll a dice, regardless of miscarriages, fertility, etc. If it's a six, then she gets pregnant at some point that year and I randomize the conception date.

So yeah, that's why if you check my family trees, a lot of my sims seem to have rather scattered fertility (like, having a baby every year for three years and then five years between that and the next or whatnot). I don't really bother with fertility ratings--toyed with the idea, but ultimately tossed it aside.

Although, I should probably mention that after Alina rolled up pregnancies for three consecutive years, the idea for this storyline came into my head and her subsequent pregnancies were all rigged. I've done this a few other times, like in the case of Geneva's baby with Aldhein.