March 15, 1188
"Quiet, isn't she?"Devoted stepfather though he was, Ovrean had only sat through one of Xeta's labors, and that had been the difficult birth of Dalston. Lyssa, Wolf, and Celina had all been healthy, quick births, and by the time Ovrean had arrived at Veldora Keep, they'd all been clean and swaddled and indisputably in the world. As far as he knew, Xeta was not prone to making much noise during her healthy labors.
Severin, having been present for all of them, knew better. The truth was that the baby wasn't the only thing on Xeta's mind.
Jadin ought to have been sitting here.
He was in the bedroom. Xeta was on a single bed set up in the nursery; Jadin had offered to move to one of the guest rooms for the birth, but Xeta wouldn't hear of it. With her ailing husband only a room away, no doubt she was making a conscious effort to keep the noise to a minimum.
But Severin cared to upset neither Ovrean nor himself any more than necessary. "It must be going well.""I hope you're right." Ovrean drummed his fingers across his knee. Devoted stepfather though he was... he may not have been entirely focused on Xeta either. "You know, I still remember the day I met Jadin, like it were yesterday. Remember, how he and Searle put that snake in my bed?
"I thought Alina was going to kill them."Severin forced out something of a laugh--more like a sniff. "I think Alina thought she was going to kill them."
"He grew up well, though. A scamp, sure, but always a good-hearted one."
"I always thought so." A good-hearted scamp, just like his grandfather.Curse all the damned luck in the world that Jadin wouldn't live nearly so long.
NEXT CHAPTER:
9 comments:
Sorry about the shortness, but I thought it would be better if this one was kept to-the-point.
Honestly, this has to be one of those situations where there's not a lot to be said. They've known about Jadin's health for a while, Xeta is in about as routine a danger as she'll ever face, and it seems awkward to talk about either because of the mixture. There's nothing Ovrean can say to Severin that he doesn't already know or feel, and Ovrean knows that too.
At least it looks like Jadin might lay eyes on the baby. :/
Yeah, that's what I figured. Xeta will probably be all right (and, going by the preview, that's a safe bet), but Jadin is definitely running out of time. And there's really not much Severin and Ovrean can say to each other here that needs to be said.
Jadin will get to see the baby. The pictures from the next post aren't the last I have of him.
What I've been wondering for a while: How is Dalston Holding up? You mentioned that he is somewhat sickly, so I'm a bit worried there. ._.'
Of course, Jadin has more sons, but it would be a hard blow for Xeta if Dalston kicked the bucket, too.
(BTW, I do not know if you get a message when I update, but your sidebar didn't, it seems. Ignore this if you got one (or didn't want to know this). ^^'
And the OpenID tells me I do not own my identity. <.<)
Jadin's son Dalston is doing all right, healthwise. He's sickly, but not dying. He's healthier than his Aunt Viridis was over all; he's more consistently stuffed up, tired, and physically weak, but her bad times were baaaaad. We'll be seeing him soon, and I do have plans for him further than that.
Jadin and Xeta have two sons who are opposites in every way. Jadin tends to favor Wolf because they have much more in common, but he feels badly about it.
The sidebar isn't always prompt. :S It's updated itself now, though, and I probably wouldn't have seen it earlier because I was at school. *runs off to read*
Phew, that's a relief. ^^' It wasn't really clear to me what "sickly" entailed here.
Do they at least get along with each other?
Oh, good, I was a bit confused about it. ^^'
Dalston and Wolf are kind of neutral in regards to each other. They don't fight, but they aren't any closer than the average pair of brothers. They have different interests and different personalities, so it's easier for them to do their own things. Privately, Wolf thinks Dalston is boring, and Dalston thinks Wolf is overwhelming.
Wow, it has been forever since we've seen Ovrean.
At least Jadin will live to meet the baby.
Little bit. :S
And yes, at least he'll get to see his newest little one.
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