In Which Aldhein Squints at a Second Gleam

April 29, 1203

"Good morning, gorgeous." Aldhein spun his wife into his arms and dipped her down for a kiss. It was a rare thing, his coming down for a bit of breakfast before she'd barricaded herself in her study for the morning, so they'd both come to welcome the rare morning greeting with a newlywed fervor.

And it was especially welcome now, given the presence of their... um, house guest. The children, at least, had bedtimes.

"Morning, handsome," Shahira obliged as the kiss ended and she stepped back to meet his eye. He knew that look. That was the look of someone very much in need of a passionate night. She was half a Kemorin, after all. "We really did have the worst timing last night."

"In our defense, you can't really plan for someone banging on the door to complain that our kids stole his bow and quiver."

"But we did try, given the hour." As she rolled her eyes, the signature creak of the front door sounded from the foyer. The children wouldn't be up for a while yet; the offender must have returned. "So much for a wake-up call on the kitchen floor."

Sure enough--

"My God. Are you two ever not touching each other?"

Annoyed, Aldhein scratched at the side of his nose as his brother-in-law, fresh from the training grounds and probably trailing dirt all over the floor, barged in. The fallout from his unwitting nuptials still up in the air, Nato had thusfar avoided the prospect of settling it by bouncing from residence to residence every few days, trying to stay one step ahead of anyone who might chase him down and make him face the problem. Given that Aldhein saw Nato's parents every day and could have turned him in at will, he thought he'd been generous enough in indulging him to merit the minimum standard of visitor etiquette, but Nato apparently didn't see things that way.

Particularly if his route to the basin included a swift cut between Aldhein and Shahira with no more courtesy than a kiss to his sister's cheek. "Is he keeping you from your work, sis?"

"No, but if you're planning on recovering here for a while before heading out again, I suspect you might try." Lip between her teeth, Shahira retired to a seat at the kitchen table, probably more to distance herself from the several hours' worth of sweat housed in her brother's tunic than any actual need to sit. If one of them snapped and told him to cut them from his rotation, Aldhein wasn't sure if it spoke well or poorly of him to know that it would probably be Shahira--but, not wanting to debate his own worth as a brother-in-law or a person in general at the moment, he just sighed and joined his wife at the table.

"He'd better wash more than just his hands later. Maybe lock him in the bathroom before you leave, and make sure there's soap."

"I can hear you, you know." Nato took to scrubbing his hands with a new ferocity. "Can't a man go for a piece of bread and an apple before he takes a bath? It's not as if I plan on walking around the market smelling like this."

"No, just other people's houses." Aldhein flexed his wrists beneath the surface of the table. He'd never been a violent sort, but no one could avoid the urge to strangle another person forever. "Going to the market today, then? Instead of--oh, I don't know--talking to your wife?"

Some line of sibling loyalty crossed, Shahira kicked him under the table.

Nato, however, froze for a second before busying himself with the towel in considered defeat. "Aspen doesn't want to talk to me."

"Probably true, given that anyone I know who's had much to say about it says she's barely spoken since the wedding, but you have to talk to her at some point. If I were you, I'd rather do so of my own accord than because my parents made me."

"My parents aren't-- it's complicated, all right?" Nato whipped back around, hands dry to his standard despite the gleam of wet flesh still upon them. "I know, I know, the church says we're married because we did technically consummate it, but there's bound to be something to contradict that. Surely you can't be legally married when you're as drunk as we were. It's just a matter of time before someone manages to find grounds for an annulment."

Aldhein squinted as a second gleam--a different gleam--bounced off Nato's hand as he swatted some hair out of his eyes. Not necessarily the sort of gleam he expected to see from the finger of someone who claimed to be a bachelor.

"So you just... feel obliged to keep wearing your wedding band until that happens?"

No kick this time. No freeze. Just a startled twitch, followed by a silent glare, rooted in more emotions than Aldhein deemed worth the bother of listing.

That, and a bitter groan from Shahira. "Aldhein, go to work. Nato, take a bath--then either go to your next house, or go talk to your wife."

NEXT CHAPTER:

In Which Shahira Sends Herself

March 25, 1201

Shahira tapped her foot in an impatient bid for Nato's acknowledgment. Their father didn't want to push the matter outside of Nato's own hands, and her mother could no longer discuss it without upsetting herself. Severin, the only one of their siblings young enough to still be at home but old enough to possibly understand, had taken the approach of minding his own business--which Shahira would have preferred for herself, had the option been there.

But Alina didn't have the patience for such talks, and Alya somehow occupied both their father's camp and their mother's at once, so that left Shahira. Today, at least, had not been the worst day she could have resolved to get it over with. Nato was home for the weekend, so there was no need to ride all the way out to campus. Both of her children were in a reasonably social mood, so a play-date with her youngest siblings hadn't been out of the question. She'd brought them over as an excuse, then had Aldhein show them to the playroom after asking if Nato was around. He'd just returned, and had headed for their father's study.

Shahira scowled as he continued to ignore her--rather an insult, as that door always creaked. "Don't tell me you damaged your ears while training."

Her brother tossed the poker he'd been holding aside and turned around, groaning. "So now Mother's sent you to pester me about that."

"I sent myself, baby brother. I'm concerned. Seems every time I ask about you when you're not in class, you're out training."

"And that's strange? I'll be graduating in September, in case you've forgotten. If I'm going to be a knight, I have to be in shape--and don't think about telling me otherwise."

"What otherwise? That it's probably not the best idea for someone with your condition to become a knight?" She crossed her arms over her chest. First sons of knights typically followed that path themselves, but their mother had been fighting this since Nato's earliest fits, fearing he'd fall off his horse before he even got to the battlefield. Their father had pointed out that Naroni's chances of going to war any time soon were approximately zero, and that not all knights would be sent to the battlefield if they did--Sir Setran, for example, who was infamously hopeless with all variety of weaponry. Nato, if he insisted on becoming a knight--and their father swore that he wouldn't intervene either way--could stay behind the lines in the event of war as a strategist.

There was wisdom in her father's words, but Shahira had to wonder if Nato only wanted to be knight because he'd grown up expecting to be one. He couldn't see that there were other options. "There are other paths, you know. You're smart; there's a lot you could do."

"Like what? I suppose being a reeve isn't the best idea for someone with 'my condition'. Be a steward like your husband? A solicitor? A professor at the university?" Nato nearly spat the last suggestion out in distaste. "I'm bored, Shahira. I can't keep waking up every morning knowing that each day will be exactly the same as the one before. If I had to do that for years during what should be the prime in my life, I'd probably have to kill myself--not out of any actual desire to die, but for sheer lack of any point in delaying it."

"You're so morbid." Shahira rolled her eyes. In hindsight, she probably shouldn't have told him all those horrific bedtime stories when they were growing up. "Get yourself a wife, then. Family's never the same day in and day out."

"Yes, because if I'm truly as delicate as Mother thinks I am, then it's a good idea to have children relying on me to put food on the table." Nato sighed, eyes shut briefly before meeting Shahira's again. "By the way, if Mother asks about this talk--and I know she well--tell her that my becoming a knight means that I get to inherit this castle so long as neither Father nor I do anything to piss off Grandfather or Wolf. And that means that I'll be living with her until one of us dies. Wouldn't she feel more comfortable that way, knowing that I'm only ever a few flights of stairs away for her to fret over?"

"Good Lord. You talk as if she's made a hobby of it. This isn't fun for her, you know." He'd understand that if he ever had children of his own, but she wouldn't presume to make that her business. "You're at least not going alone, are you?"

"No. Roddie insists on joining me all the time. Him when I'm home, and Darry on campus--I blame Alya and Aspen, respectively."

"You can blame them--but I'll thank them. I don't want you getting hurt."

"And I'm not trying to hurt myself. Can I just assure you that I've talked things over with Father, and Grandfather? And Aunt Raia, when she called me in to talk about the applications of my major?" Aunt Raia didn't typically do that for students; their mother must have put her up to it. "Look, the only thing that matters here is that I'm an adult now. I can fuck up my own life if I want to."

NEXT CHAPTER:

In Which Alya and Her Sister Are Insufferable

August 29, 1199

"Look, I get that the baby is the cute one," Alina groaned from the bed, "but I kind of just shoved him out of an area that didn't quite accommodate his size, you know--just in case either of you have forgotten."

"Forgotten?" Shahira rolled her eyes, though she didn't waste a second before turning them back on little Bernardo. "I don't know where you've been for the past several years, but we've each done that twice."

Alya turned her head just in time to see Alina stick out her tongue. She had to chuckle. "No, seriously, Alina--we're very proud of you. But this is the first time you've had any amount of space to yourself in nine months." As if to prove her point, her new nephew nuzzled himself against her arm.

"It is--and it's quite the adjustment. Get over here, all three of you."

"As your majesty commands," Shahira sassed, nonetheless turning away with a quick smirk and joining Alina on the bed. "Never mind any crap we give you, though; no matter how awful we are, you know Gualtiero's obliged to wait on you hand and foot until this little fellow gives him some grandchildren."

"Maybe longer, if you end up still having children of your own past then," Alya chimed in, though she privately shuddered at the thought.

Alina did the same--only not so privately. "The last thing I want to think about right now is grandchildren--and children younger than grandchildren."

"Good thing you waited for Mother to leave the room before you said that!" Shahira chided--and not without cause, given that their youngest brother was a mere two months old while her own son would be seven in January. "At least Casimiro didn't have to wait long for a nephew he won't be getting hand-me-downs from."

"Speaking of hand-me-downs, I'm still waiting on those old things of Izzy's you promised for Severin."

"And you'll get them--when I get those clothes of Riona's you mentioned for Thetis."

"My God." Alina sighed. "In a few years time, I'd better still have more interesting things to talk about than children's clothing."

"Really, Alina: we're only insufferable around you. Amongst ourselves, we discuss much more interesting things."

"Such as the making of the children that wear those clothes."

"Exactly."

"Right." It was Alina's turn--and not an unjustified one--for an eye-roll. "Ugh. I hate to say it, but I'm so sore down there that I don't even want to think about that just yet."

"Ah, that's just as well." Shahira flexed her hands out in front of her and cracked her knuckles. "Gualtiero's going to be so busy catering to your every other whim that he'll be much too tired for that anyway."

NEXT CHAPTER:

In Which Shahira Suggests the Summertime

March 31, 1197

"So... you live here now?" Izzy asked as Shahira finished pulling his nightshirt over his head, wide blue eyes like his Aunt Alina's every time she'd wanted to tag along after Shahira tagging along after Alya. "Every day?"

"Yes, sweetheart." She hoisted her son to her shoulder and kissed him on the head while he tugged at the neckline of her graduation robes. "I live here every day now."

"Good."

Izzy leaned in and nuzzled his nose against hers. Inside of her, a wave of relief washed from heart to head. In all honesty, she'd wanted to attend university more than she'd wanted to be a mother. She hadn't been ready to be a mother. But, she loved her son, always had, and had worried what effect only seeing her two or three days out of every week for the first few years of his life might have had on him, or on their relationship.

But, whatever Aldhein or the grandparents had told him about his mama's inconsistent presence, it had clearly worked. He missed her when she was gone, he was always excited to see her, but he seemed to understand that she had to spend some time away, for his sake as well as hers, just like his papa had to hand him over to Shahira's mother when he went to the castle so he could perform his job.

"Very good. And I'll be working from the house, so you can stay here with me some days, or you can go to the castle with your papa some days--whatever you feel like."

"Yay!"

"I'm looking forward to it too." She lowered him into his bed and stroked back his hair--raven black, like Aldhein's. It wouldn't be long before they'd have to get him a bigger bed! He was already grown to the point where holding him required a time limit. And when they got him a bigger bed, then it would be time to move him into a bigger room than the nursery joined to the master bedroom. Really, most children his age probably had those bigger rooms already. Most children his age had little siblings in need of a nursery.

"Good night, Izzy."

"'Night, Mama."

She kissed his head again, then watched as he settled himself down, eyelids drooping. She pulled his blanket over his sleeping form, then turned away from the crib, smiling to herself as she made for the door and returned to her own bedroom.

Her own bedroom--where the house's other male inhabitant was swift to greet her.

"Izzy went down just fine, I take it?"

Shahira nodded. "You know better than I do how good a sleeper he is."

"Heh. I don't know, he seems to protest more with me. Maybe when we move him to a new bedroom, he'll be a little more cooperative." Aldhein smirked. "Might realize that it's easier to sneak out of bed and play with his toys for a while when Mama and Papa aren't right next-door."

"Well, he won't have to worry so much about his mama tonight. Four years of university earns you at least one good sleep, and damn it, I'm taking it tonight." And after the endless toasts of the ceremony that morning, and the constant parade of relatives who had been in and out since she'd returned home in the afternoon, she had no intention of breaking that promise to herself. But, for Aldhein--and for herself too--Shahira winked. "After, of course, some playtime of our own."

"Well! I'm not about to say no to that." Aldhein's fingers spidered down her side until they found her hip. But, curiously, they took a detour and leaped for her hand. "Actually, I've been thinking."

"Oh?" Shahira grimaced. With mention of moving Izzy to another bedroom, she thought she could guess what this was about.

"Yes, well... now that you've graduated, I was wondering if maybe it was time for another baby--a planned one this time!" He chuckled at his own joke; jaw locked, Shahira choked out a breath that he might have taken for a laugh. "Izzy seems to do well with younger children. He's fond of his cousins, and of your little sisters. I think he'd like a sibling."

"I'm sure he would." Izzy liked everyone. Izzy wasn't the problem.

Aldhein frowned. He, at least, got that. "What's wrong?"

"Well... to be honest, I was hoping for at least a little time between my graduation and the next baby. Not a whole lot, just... enough to sort of be myself for a while. And to focus on Izzy, since I've missed so much of his life so far."

"Mmm." Her husband nodded, even if he couldn't quite hide the disappointment in his eyes. At least there was understanding mingled in there as well. "Yes, I suppose that's fair."

"But I do want another one eventually. Maybe we can discuss this again in a few months, even? Summer, perhaps?"

"Summer." Aldhein grinned, if only for a minute. "I like the sound of summer, but that's not really so far off. Will that be enough time for you?"

"It will be some time, at least. I can't make up all of the lost time to Izzy, but that should be at least enough time to doll out some serious doting. Maybe it won't be--but if not, I'll let you know how I'm feeling about it."

"Perfect." He smiled again--not so fleetingly this time. "Whenever you're ready."

"And in the mean time..." She drew herself further into him and nipped him on the earlobe. "...I've still been quite diligent with my herbs."

NEXT CHAPTER:

In Which Alya Has Already Taken Care

November 25, 1194

"I can't believe they're not here yet!" Shahira indulged her fingers in a nervous twitch as she stared down the door, daring it to open. "Yes, I get that CeeCee and Renata would rather drink Falidor under the table and I get that Alina would rather make out with Gualtiero in the pantry--but damn it, it's your wedding! You'd think it would be no trouble to spare five minutes to see you to bed."

Alya shrugged. Her sister wasn't too high-strung a person, but she did have an impatient streak and woe behold those who tested it. The girls were running somewhat late, and Alya suspected that Shahira would rather get the rituals of the evening over with and spend more of her precious holiday time with her son and husband. With that in mind, she had more stake in getting this over with than Alya herself did.

"You don't need to stay if you don't want to--and they don't need to come either. Do you see me wearing white right now?"

"No, but still: it's your wedding night, and you deserve a special one." Shahira sniffed. Perhaps her own unceremonious wedding had spurred in her a desire to see better for her sisters. If that was the case, Alya could appreciate it. "Besides, Izzy's been babbling about babies--and since the timing's not right for a brother or sister, the least I can hope for is a new little cousin for him as soon as you and Roddie are ready."

"A new little cousin?" Alya smirked as she took her sister by the arm. And here she'd thought all those mad dashes to the privy had been so obvious. "Well, if that's what you're hoping for, then it might interest you to know that that has already been taken care of."

"What?" Eyes wide beneath her thick lashes, Shahira clasped her hands together. "You're expecting?"

Alya grinned. "Expect a little niece or nephew in July."

"Oh, how wonderful!" Her sister flung her arms around her and kissed her on the cheek. "Congratulations!"

"Thank you! Just don't tell Mother and Father just yet." She winked as they parted with a squeeze of each other's hands. "Or any of our siblings; you know how none of them can keep a secret."

"Ah, yes, of course." But, if Shahira kept walking around with that sort of smile, then it was only a matter of time before one of them suspected something. "Might I tell Aldhein? I'll need to get the good news out of my system somehow."

"Yes, you can tell him." Aldhein, after all, was a Tumekrin. Everyone knew that Mistress Tumekrin hadn't raised any blabbermouths. "Just maybe be careful what words you use around Izzy, at this stage in his speaking career."

"It would be more fun to see you answer him when he asks what happened to your belly anyway."

She would say that!

Not that Alya would have it any other way. "All right, but if he wants a little sibling so much, then expect him to pester you about your belly for a while."

NEXT CHAPTER:

In Which Alina Longs for Springtime

January 31, 1193

Alina had never been fond of winter at the best of times. She hated being cooped up in the castle, the world outside at a standstill until spring. She liked fresh air, the smell of earth, grass beneath her feet. She liked coming and going as she pleased, meeting whoever she happened to meet, waking at the crack of dawn and not retiring until well past midnight. November through March made for a bleak cage, and that had been before her older sister found herself in trouble.

To be fair, her parents hadn't been explicitly stricter with her, even if they'd been more jittery than before at the prospect of her in the unsupervised company of young men her age. And, to be fairer, they'd been just as jittery with Nato whenever he'd headed off to a potential lurking place of young women. But between their nerves and Shahira's approaching time and the sheer dull of winter, Alina had been growing more and more restless by the day. She had hoped that Alya's return home would improve things somewhat.

But, as she should have figured given the circumstances, Alya had spent much more of her time fretting over Shahira than keeping Alina from going mad. Even now, the two barely noticed her as she poked at the fire like a mindless husk. It took a lot to make Alina wish that her brothers were around, but today--the straw that broke the camel's back--her sisters had managed it.

"I'm just sorry I couldn't tell you what to expect. I feel as though I'm falling short of my responsibilities as the big sister."

"No, don't feel bad for being smart about it. Plus, now you're have someone else to tell you what to expect--assuming it doesn't kill me, that is."

"It won't kill you. And don't even joke about that!"

Privately, Alina didn't think much of it. Shahira had something of a morbid streak to her; reassuring herself with jokes about her own death might have been a way of keeping things normal. And if Alina had read enough into that to get it, then she must have been mad indeed. What a way to spend a winter, stuck with a sister about to pop.

And then the rest of winter would be spent dealing with the baby! What she wouldn't have given to blink and find it springtime.

"Are you all right?"

Alina rolled her eyes. Shahira must have been so sick of that question, having heard it at least once an hour since the middle of October.

But--for the first time in all that time--she didn't answer.

"Shahira?"

On Alya's prompting, Alina looked over to the couch where her sisters sat. Sure enough, Shahira was a little pale, a little still--and a little fidgety, all at once.

"I... I think it's time."

NEXT CHAPTER:

In Which Shahira Makes a Goal

June 29, 1192

"So... this is where we get to have our wedding night." Shahira shut her eyes to the sight of her husband--how baffling it was that she had a husband!--looking around her parents' guest room. She and Aldhein would be sleeping here until his schooling resumed, the day after the queen's coronation. She'd go back to her own room after that, and resume her own schooling from home. "Not that we need a wedding night at this point..."

This had all been a blur. They'd been engaged for all of five days before they'd wed early this afternoon. Shahira hadn't even had a proper wedding dress commissioned, instead wearing an old gown of her mother's they'd had hemmed the day before. Aldhein only had a wedding tunic because his brother Severin had been more than willing to part with his; based on the bright yellow, Shahira could see why, but Aldhein had been a good sport about the color.

And about the whole thing, really.

"Well, maybe we don't need one, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't have one." She opened her eyes just in time to see him ease himself onto the bed. "Maybe we can make a twin."

A twin! At least she had the morning sickness to blame for her nausea. She was scarcely ready for one! "Please don't joke about twins."

"All right. Sorry about that." Aldhein reclined back against the headboard and winked. "One baby at a time. And plenty of space between this one and the next--if you want a next, that is."

"It's a little early to talk about the next one." She joined him on the bed, fighting to keep a grin. She did like him. She had felt their marriage had been the best way to go about things. But she hadn't thought she'd be married--or a mother--for a good few years, at least! "I'd like to go through university first."

"Of course. You have far more business being at the university than I do, at least." Aldhein smirked. No matter what he thought of his classes, Shahira hoped he was at least enjoying the parties. "I'll be taking your father up on his job offer. My father supported thirteen of us on a steward's salary without any issue."

Thirteen! Shahira cringed. "We are not having thirteen."

"Oh, God, no!" Aldhein shuddered; good to know they were on the same page there. "But do you want to know a secret?"

Shahira shrugged as he took her by the hand and pulled her toward him. "All right..."

"I think this one's a boy."

It wasn't wishful thinking, not by the tone of his voice, not how some husbands spoke of sons. It was simply a fact, a statement of a sure guess. And, little though she put faith in such things, Shahira wasn't entirely surprised. "That's funny. I have a feeling it's a boy too."

"A girl wouldn't have caused this much trouble. She would have waited until we were good and ready to be conceived." Aldhein's right hand lingered at the side of her stomach before returning to her shoulder. "I guess we'll have to spoil his fun by being somewhat competent."

Shahira doubted they could. But, it was nice to have goals. "I guess so."

NEXT CHAPTER: