June 9, 1173
"Aww, look at you!" A silly grin broke on Lyraina's mother's lips as she tickled the baby's belly. Poor woman would probably never forgive herself for missing her grandson's birth. Lyraina didn't blame her for it--her new little sister had caught that nasty cough that had been wreaking havoc on the babies back in Armion, and naturally their mother had been preoccupied with her--but it was always tougher to forgive oneself. "Look at you, with your big blue eyes--just like your grandpa!""Hence the name, Mother." Lyraina kissed Halford's brow and bounced him once, meriting what she'd come to realize was a delighted squeal. She'd never been one of those girls who cooed over babies and Lord knew she'd always hated having to look after her own little siblings, but having a child of her own was different. She wasn't sure why, but after all those months spent worrying that it would just be the same damn thing over again, it was a relief.
"And it's a good one." Her mother stepped back, black eyes alight, smiling without having to smile as she often did. "I'm sure he's very happy right now."He was. She wasn't sure how she knew that, but she did. Somewhere, on some not-so-distant cloud, her father was looking down, seeing through the roof, making eyes at his new little namesake. Now there was a man who could have smiled without smiling--not that he'd ever not smiled.
"Did you want to stay for supper, Mother? Had was going to get a chicken from his father's coop on his way back from the village.""Tempting, but I'll have to decline." She looked down at her grandson and winked. "I have my own baby at home, you know--she needs to be fed too."
Lyraina smirked. Her mother was a knight's wife and therefore a lady, but she was still the same stubborn old Goodwife Diarn everyone knew and loved. A wet nurse for Riona wasn't out of the question, but her mother insisted on taking care of that herself--'A wet nurse wouldn't do it right.'
As if there was a right way to nurse a baby. Just as long as it got fed, wasn't that right? Then again, she thought she understood. It wasn't about technique. She wouldn't have felt right about some other woman nursing her baby either. Maybe that was silly of her--it surely wasn't wrong to take on a wet nurse--but it could have been just a preference, and if she thought hard enough, she could guess at her mother's reasoning. It wasn't too different from her own. Maybe they were more alike than she'd ever thought."Well, I should probably be going," her mother announced, waving once more Halford's way. "Give my best to your husband, Lyri. Also, I left you a present."
"A present?" She hoisted her son back up to her shoulder and watched as her mother made her way into the corridor. Of all the things she had come to expect from her mother's visits, presents certainly weren't at the top of the list. "Why? What is it?"
Her mother shrugged, not even bothering to turn around. "You'll know it when you see it."
As the light footfalls fell on the steps and the floor below and faded from earshot entirely, Lyraina could only ponder. Her mother had dashed into the master bedroom for a moment, hadn't she? Surely she'd left whatever it was in there? But before her curiosity got the best of her, she heard the front door open, Had calling for her. She took the baby downstairs and played with the two men in her life while the cook fixed supper, then savored the scrumptious meat before feeding Halford once more, and before she knew it, the evening had passed her by.
It wasn't until she went to put the baby down for the night that she found the strip of green fabric lying in his crib.
NEXT CHAPTER:
10 comments:
Bah. Sorry about not getting something up last night, especially a short little bit of drabble like this.
I'm really excited to write the next Orbis Umbra, but when I went in for the last photoshoot, I didn't have the time or energy to build the sets I need. I have quite a bit to do today, but if I can finish earlier enough, then maybe--maybe--I can get it up tonight. If not, expect it some time on Monday night.
Also, today is the last day to get your questions in, unless you're up early enough on Monday (which you probably will be considering how late I sleep and my far-Western timezone, but you know how it is).
This is so sweet. I've always wondered about the wet nurses, why women used them, how that would work. I can't imagine doing that (either nursing someone else's baby or turning mine over to another woman).
I love the present! And I like short and you never write drabble!
Thanks Beth :)
Wet nurses weren't totally impractical, I don't think. Obviously if the mother died, the father would have to hire one, or if she was ill and couldn't produce enough milk on her own. But sometimes there might have just been instances of noblewomen who couldn't have been bothered? I'm not really sure. I can't imagine it's the sort of thing that many historians recorded :P
But yeah, I don't think I could imagine using or being one either.
She left part of her scarf? Ooh! That made me go all teary!
I really, really like this chapter. :) So glad that Lyriana is taking well to being a mom -- and another Halford! Hooray! I hope he's a lot like his grandpa. Every kingdom needs more Halfords.
Also, re: wet nurses, certainly in the Renaissance, if you were sufficiently well-to-do, you might not have been living with your kids. Certainly Henry VIII's wives were not expected or encouraged to nurse their babies. (I think Anne Boleyn wanted to nurse Elizabeth and Henry shot that down pretty quick.) His children got separate households of their own pretty early on, and "frequent visits" from the parents certainly didn't mean "frequent enough to reliably feed a nursing infant."
And by "pretty early on," I mean that Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon's son Henry died at approximately the age of six weeks (ish), and he was already in his own household. Sad. :(
Also, breastfeeding apparently does have some sort of contraceptive effect, which makes evolutionary sense (or so I think), but does sort of interfere with the noble desire for MOAR HEIRS.
/history lesson
Huh. Weird that they would set up kids with their own households so early. It's like they were literally just thinking of them as heirs and nothing more :S
Thanks Morgaine :)
Well, that and the court tended to move around a lot (and everyone knows travelling with munchkins is a PITA, especially back before cars!), and it wasn't necessarily the healthiest place to be. After they had been in a palace for a while, they had to move to the next one because the place stunk to the high heavens and the rats were everywhere.
Plus many of the Tudor palaces were in and around London, and London was pretty much Plague Central. Better to put the kids out in the country where they wouldn't get sick. Henry had a particular phobia about plague ... probably connected at least in part to his heirless state. King dies without legitimate male heir = civil war, probably.
/second history lesson
!!! Talk of Henry VIII! Srry I just love the Tudors so much! lol
I always kinda wondered why wet nurses were never brought up (or if they were I missed it). I just assumed that your female characters are just epic mothers (mostly! :P)
Morgaine: Okay, that makes a little more sense :)
Chene: Wet nurses were never brought up because they never had to be brought up. They're one of those things I would be obliged to at least sort of research if I was going to go into any depth, and I don't have much patience for research :P
Haha, I loved the history lessons in the post. Thanks Morgaine, that was very informative!
And... awwww... Halford. Also, good old Arydath! She just never changes. I love that about her.
Arydath in a fancy dress is still very much Arydath ;)
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