October 2, 2012

In Which Lettie Finds No Trouble

March 12, 1180

"Ma-ma!" Arkon whined, dropping his toy horse to the floor of his castle and flopping back onto the rug in frustration. "Alina keeps chewing my toys!"

"What do you expect?" chided their older sister from the couch. "You know she's going to wreck anything you let her play with, so why do you keep sharing? Hide your toys like I do, dummy."

"Rennie, don't call your brother a dummy." Lettie lifted little Severin to her shoulder and took to rubbing his back. Was she a horrible mother if she hoped he never learned to speak? "Alina, take that out of your mouth. And Arkon, you know you have to share."

"But--"

"No buts." God. Whenever Searle got back from wherever he was--the inn, no doubt, for all it was barely noon--he was in for the tongue-lashing of a lifetime. The children were rambunctious at the best of times and today had been the worst of them. And while neither she nor Searle were noted disciplinarians on their own, none of the children were stupid enough to not to listen if they both had something to say.

Or shout, as she would have preferred right then.

Someone knocked. Finally. "Searle, I swear to God, if I smell wine--"

"I'm not Searle."

Lettie frowned. No... that was Sparron's voice. But what was Sparron doing here? He'd called on her a few days after Severin's birth, just to see how she was, which had been kind of him... but with that in mind, it didn't add up that he'd risk a run-in with Searle again so soon. "Sparron? Uh... come in, I guess."

And without a hint of his usual hesitation, he did just that.

He wasn't alone.

As early as that evening, Lettie would look back on that moment and marvel that she hadn't dropped the baby in her shock. She'd seen her middle son--for all she shouldn't have thought of him as such--whenever she'd dropped by Tetran Keep, but it was the first time he'd been at her castle since his birth. And it was the first time all five of her children had ever been in a room at once. "Prior!"

Prior gave her a toothy smile. "Leddie!"

"Yes, that's Auntie Lettie." Sparron hoisted the boy a little higher as he started toward her. "What about the children? Are you going to say hello to them?"

Prior nodded. "'Ello."

"Hello, Prior. Hello, Uncle Sparron," chorused Lettie's older two as Alina waved and even Severin stirred.

"Kids." Sparron's gaze fell to each of them in turn--but lingered longer on Alina, Lettie noticed. "How have things been around here?"

If only he knew. Not that any good would come of telling him. "To be honest, they've been better. But you wouldn't be here if you didn't have other business--would you, Champ?"

Sparron shrugged and glanced down at Prior, who was in turn eyeing Severin with... whatever interest toddlers could have in babies. It might have been a nice idea, but it was irrational to think he somehow knew that the infant in her arms was his little brother. "I'm going fishing with Isidro this afternoon, so since I had to ride by here anyway, I thought I'd see if you wanted to take Prior for a couple hours."

Lettie blinked, all thoughts of her absentee husband and her children's unruliness gone at the very suggestion. As if he'd needed to ask. But-- "You don't think it would be--?" She caught herself just before the word 'suspicious' slipped out of her. Rennie knew that word and Arkon might have too, and at least one of the two would be curious.

"No, it's fine." And, as if to confirm his father's words, Prior smiled at her. "Camaline and Thallie are out of the house and my father is busy and the nurse is preoccupied with my niece. I'd feel better if I knew you were keeping him out of trouble."

"He'll be no trouble." As far as Lettie was concerned, that was a certain as two and two were four. "Actually, he might keep the rest of them out of it--won't you, Prior?"

Prior nodded, grinning all the while. His hair flopped away from his face, granting her a view of his freckles. He hadn't gotten those from his father.

He kept looking up at her even as Sparron set him down. "You be good for Auntie Lettie, all right?"

Another nod. Sparron kissed him on the top of the head, then eased himself back up. "Have fun playing with Alina and Arkon. Papa will be back soon."

Prior scooted over to the other two and picked up a discarded doll--and didn't put it anywhere near his mouth, just as much to Arkon's relief as to Lettie's, no doubt. Sparron allowed himself another quick glance at Alina, then flashed a smile for the baby before meeting Lettie's eye.

"Thank you for this. It means a lot to me."

Lettie sniffed out a small laugh. As if it were just him. "No. Thank you."

NEXT CHAPTER:

7 comments:

Van said...

Not quite happy with this post, but I wanted a follow-up on this front.

Prior and Rennie are both wearing meshes that Cynnix made me for the Keep's Summer Secret Santa! Raia's son Rio has aged up to toddler in-game and is now wearing Prior's outfit in blue.

Anonymous said...

Aww, Lettie does have a reason to smile. :) At least for the afternoon.

But Searle spending a lot of time at the inn ... that is not good. Not good at all. I thought Searle was the one to keep it together when he and Sparron were apart, but apparently no more. I don't see good things coming from this.

And I have to say, Sparron bringing Prior over (SO CUTE) made me just about melt. THAT is the action of a good man, even if he can cloak it with Camaline and Thallie being out and all the rest of it. I hope Alina sometimes goes over to play at Tetran Keep, so Sparron can get some time with her.

And I hope Searle gets his act together soon.

Van said...

Yep, there is some good in Lettie World today :)

Searle... well, I think with the previous breakups, he had the (apparently right) idea that they were temporary, but the last time... well, not so much. What always got Searle through the periods without Sparron was the hope, even sureness of getting back together with him. That's gone now. Searle's trying to fill that void and apparently he hasn't found anything but the bottle :S

Being a father, I think, has brought out the best in Sparron. Taking care of Prior gives him less time to focus on his own worries, and he's managed to pull his head out somewhat as a result of that.

Since Sparron (and therefore Prior, unless Camaline or Octavius take him places for playdates) doesn't leave Tetran Keep too often these, yet Lettie's kids know him as "Uncle Sparron" it seems reasonable to conclude that Lettie visits, and she sometimes brings the kids with her. So for all Lettie and Sparron will probably never have the relationships they want with the twin they didn't take, it's not like they'll be total strangers.

Searle... well, we'll see :S

Penelope said...

Ahh, a quiet moment to read some Naronies.

I love Prior. He's the sweetest little kid. Does Sparron often leave Prior alone with other people like that? Most children that age would flip. Every time we see Prior, he's hanging off of Sparron. Speaking of, is Camaline at all interested in the son that she schemed so long to get? I'm happy for Lettie here, but can also imagine how difficult it will be to say goodbye when Sparron comes back. :(

Yikes, I really can't get over the fact that Lettie let Searle touch her ever again after that whole having Sparron's children incident.

Van said...

He is a little cutie :)

Prior is pretty easy-going; his dad is his favorite person, but he likes other people too, so it's okay if Sparron leaves him with just about any trustworthy babysitter for a couple hours, particularly if there are playmates.

We haven't seen Camaline and Prior together yet, so I'm not really sure I can commit to a concrete answer, but I think we'd see some hint of resentment from Sparron if she was completely disinterested. I'm sure there is some sort of at least mildly positive relationship there.

Lettie is much more forgiving than I would have been :S

Anonymous said...

I'm not certain if I'm about to die of sugar or sadness that prior gets to meet all his half-siblings and his twin. He looks almost exactly like Alina, but they both look like Sparron, who in turn looks enough like Searle that it will probably never raise suspicions. (For that matter, Camaline is blonde and it's not as if there will be any "siblings" on Sparron's side to compare him to... I think they might actually succeed in passing him off as Sparron and Cam's for a fairly long time.)

- Scribbles, speculating on genetics.

Van said...

Prior has likely met at least Rennie and Arkon before, since Lettie visits Sparron from time to time, but this is the first time he's met Severin and possibly Alina too (well, since their birth). It's the first time all five of them have been together.

The kids do look alike as toddlers, but I peeked at their adult forms and oh, did their parents get lucky. It is very obvious that Prior is Sparron's son, while Alina takes more after Lettie's side. But Sparron, Lettie, Searle and Camaline are all fairly close cousins, so chances are nothing will look too suspicious to anyone out of the loop.