October 17, 2013

In Which Anna Sees How It Would Appear

June 28, 1183

"And Telvar's not the only one getting bigger, I see!" Mona's hands, ruffling Telvar's hair moments before, now rested on Anna's stomach. Seeing as it was Mona, Anna supposed she didn't mind... but she was getting rather sick of all the near-strangers who saw her stomach and felt it was their God-given right to touch, never mind that she was their queen. The midwife said to expect the baby within the week; Anna wasn't sure if she could wait that long. "God, you must be getting tired."

"Only when I'm awake, except when I'm not." Her friend replied with a good-natured smirk. She never would have guessed it would happen when they first arrived in Carvallon, but now that Mona was married and Anna had a less familiar (if admittedly more competent) maid, she missed having her around. Mona visited when she could, as did Adinaye and many of Anna's other friends, but it wasn't quite the same as having an available companion living under the same roof. "So, how have you been?"

"Well enough, I think. A little sick, though."

Oh, really? "Sick, you say?"

Mona laughed. "Oh, you would assume it's that!" But she left it there, though the seconds-long pause left ample room for protest. "Thanks for forwarding my letters, by the way."

"It's no trouble." In all honesty, she just felt guilty about reading the things before she passed them along, but Mona had insisted and she did have a point; Anna was still supposedly Mona, after all, and therefore had to stay in the loop. "I haven't heard from your mother yet. I hope she doesn't take the news of Searle's new daughter too hard."

"Mmm. She might be hurt, but I doubt she was expecting him to name a daughter after her. Besides, grandparents get passed over for names all the time, even without bad blood there."

And yet, 'all the time' didn't seem to be frequent enough for these noble types. Her feet starting to ache, Anna sat down, her bump somehow more prominent than minutes before. "Speaking of names, you don't expect...?"

"Hmmm? Oh, no." A wink Telvar's way--for whatever reason--Mona shook her head as she joined her on the bench. "I don't think anyone expects little Carvalli princes and princesses to be named for the Dovian royals, even if their mother is from Naroni. If you'd named Telvar 'Roderick' or 'Oswald' or 'Farilon', I don't know how many of his future subjects would take him seriously."

"Carvallon does hate Dovia," Anna agreed. An odd thing to be grateful for, but thank God. "Do you think we could get away with naming this one for one of my parents? Adrius didn't object."

"I think you could. The only people who might know both lines well enough to question probably couldn't handle the sunlight if they left their monastery basements after all these years."

"I hope you're right. But if not, Adrius mentioned my mother's name to Devidra, and she said she liked it--and that there's not enough room in this castle for two Devidras anyway."

"There's not enough room for two Devidras on this continent!" Mona cackled. Anna had to smile. It was a pity that Mona and Devidra hadn't spent much time together, really; Zareth would have to invite his sister some time, without Anna and Adrius. Only, Anna thought she might like to see it. "But speaking of names..."

"Oh, so you don't deny that your sickness is that after all?" A little smug--and a little vengeful--Anna reached over to her friend's still-flat stomach. From what she recalled of being Mona's maid, it was a little firm.

Or at least, from what she could gather before Mona swatted her hand away. "I won't deny or confirm a thing. But if it is that, it would seem a little strange if I called the kid Roderick or Laralita, wouldn't it?"

A knight's wife naming children for her king and queen? It wasn't unheard of, or so Anna thought. Then again, if said king and queen's own daughter didn't do the seem, and the two had a known close acquaintance, perhaps it would raise a few brows. "I guess it might."

"There's Zareth's parents, but he says there's no urgency, so it would be up to me." Mona slouched, the fabric of her gown wrinkling as she slid, though if the pattern said anything, she'd been mindful of her middle. "What do you think of Lara for a girl? Or Derrick for a boy?"

Lara. Derrick. Shortened, perhaps... but really, there was no reason that either of those couldn't be a name of its own.

Or couldn't appear to be a name of its own. "I love them both."

NEXT CHAPTER:

8 comments:

Van said...

Kind of a drabble post, but eh... I figured it had been a while since these two had been checked up on.

Posting today instead of tomorrow for two reasons:

1) I probably won't have a chance to post tomorrow.

2) Since the submission phase of the Naroni U naming contest closes Monday, I figured I'd better do Thursday/Sunday instead of Friday/Monday so I can plug it one final time (and before the final time, here's the penultimate! Remember, multiple entries are allowed).

I have no idea how this will affect the rest of the week just yet. I may resume the usual schedule starting Wednesday. Or I may update Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday, then get back to the usual after that. We shall see.

Mimus said...

Devidra and Mona? I'm not sure that would mix well. ._.'

*sees Laralita gardening in the preview pic*
Ha! I knew it! xP

Ekho said...

Naw I like those names! Lara and Derrick, very sneaky :P then again Mona was all always quite sneaky at times...

Van said...

Mimus: That would be a lot of personality in one room, but if they had a common goal, there'd be no stopping them. ;)

XD

Ekho: Yep. The names are obvious enough that those in the know will get them, but either name could very well be a stand-alone that's not short for anything else to everyone else.

Anonymous said...

Lara or Derrick? Awww. I like it! (And for a double whammy, Mona could name her second daughter Lita! ... Though admittedly I'm not sure why she would.)

And I can't wait to see Anna and Adrius's newest bub, too! :D I can see why Anna would want that baby out, according to my mother, being pregnant once summer gets on is no fun. I can't imagine what that would have been like with no AC ...

:) It's just nice to see that everything in Carvallon is going well and people appear to be happy. If only some of that good luck would spread to Naroni.

Van said...

Heheh... twin daughters named Lara and Lita?

Baby! I can't imagine it's much fun being nine months pregnant in any season, but yeah, summer is probably especially bad.

All things considered, I suspect that 1184 will be a good year for Naroni as a whole, what with the university starting up, though I don't know how prevalent happiness will be on an individual basis. But yep, things seem to be all right in Carvallon.

Winter said...

Lara & Derrick are cute names! And, it wouldn't be the worst thing for Mona's baby to only half as connected to either of its royal grandparents for the sake of their brains and personality. We need no more Rodericks (unless it's zombie-Roderick come to repay Ietrin for his dollar store funeral.)

Van said...

Zombie Roderick would have made for an excellent Halloween special. :)