Later on, after everyone managed to eat a stew that didn’t assail our gag reflexes, I readied the children for bed. Or, at least, tried to.
Blaise, in a fit of childish mischief, ran away wearing only his underwear when Ghorbash attempted to give him his evening bath. In the next room, I fared worse with Lucia, who, upon seeing her reflection in the bathwater, wailed like a banshee and threw a temper tantrum that both Rayya and I failed to restrain. This went on for the better part of a half hour until we decided to just sort of dunk her into the basin a few times and call it sufficient.
Both children put up a fight when we tucked them into their beds. Eventually, all the adults ended up in the bedroom, trying to convince them to go to sleep.
“But Mama, you’ll be gone by the morning, won’t you?” Lucia pouted from under the frilly white nightcap she insisted on wearing for the next several months.
“Yeah, we don’t want to fall asleep when we don’t know when you’ll be back,” Blaise added, evidently having gotten over his anger at me.
Their unhappy faces tugged at my heartstrings, and I found myself torn between duty and parental love. Kharjo stepped forward at that moment, offering to tell them a few bedtime stories of his homeland that would carry them over until I returned. I sent him a grateful look when they accepted, and I had Llewellyn play some soft background music as we settled in to listen. The atmosphere finally winded down to a calm quality, with Kharjo’s lilting, accented voice weaving together the tales of Elseweyr.
Ghorbash took my hand and entwined our fingers as Blaise and Lucia’s eyelids grew heavy. Once Kharjo finished the last story and Llewellyn plucked the final few notes on his lute, I stood and planted a kiss on each child’s forehead. The adults tiptoed out, and I was about to shut the doors and thank the Divines for the peace and quiet I so desperately needed.
The front entrance banged open.
“I have returned!” Derkeethus’s voice announced. “By the way, did you all know there’s a dead giant out in the front?”
NO!
My heart plummeted when the children’s eyes instantly popped open. Our achievements in the past twenty minutes came undone as they shot out of their beds and barreled past me to greet my friendly Argonian steward—whom I now wanted to kill.
“Derkeethus! Derkeethus! What took you so long?” they chirped.
“Damn it, lizard!” Ghorbash roared from downstairs. “Efaldra and I were able to get these two to sleep at last, then you come in and just ruin everything!”
“Oh, she’s here?” was Derkeethus’s nonchalant reply. “Excellent! I need to let her know I borrowed one of her horses, which, sadly, didn’t make it on the journey back…”
“She will be most displeased,” Kharjo remarked. “I have seen how she reacts when her equines die.”
“And who might you be?”
The volume of noise escalated as everyone began talking at once, and above the new ruckus, Llewellyn called, “Should I play something again, mistress?”
I stayed frozen on the spot in front of the children’s bedroom, fuming and too livid to respond.
“Derkeethus, I need another opinion on this stew I made earlier.” Rayya’s voice joined the fray. “Perhaps the Argonian digestive system will have better luck with it.”
“Don’t do it,” Gunjar warned. “That culinary abomination is better off as poison.”
“Say that again, carriage driver,” Rayya snarled.
When all the bickering reached an intolerable crescendo, I commanded my legs to walk… out the north balcony and down the stairs to escape the manor. I came upon an amateur conjurer at some ritual stones down by the lake, and I absentmindedly zapped him to death when he turned hostile. Sighing, I sat next to the skeleton he’d laid out on an altar in the middle of the stone circle, weary beyond my mind.
However, I had found silence and tranquility at last.
“You’re the only one who understands me,” I said to the skeletal remains of some unfortunate soul. “The quiet is best. Now move. This is the only place around here where I can get some rest.”
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timeasmymeasure
Chaos at the Hearth [6/6] [END]
Date: 2013-12-14 11:43 pm (UTC)Blaise, in a fit of childish mischief, ran away wearing only his underwear when Ghorbash attempted to give him his evening bath. In the next room, I fared worse with Lucia, who, upon seeing her reflection in the bathwater, wailed like a banshee and threw a temper tantrum that both Rayya and I failed to restrain. This went on for the better part of a half hour until we decided to just sort of dunk her into the basin a few times and call it sufficient.
Both children put up a fight when we tucked them into their beds. Eventually, all the adults ended up in the bedroom, trying to convince them to go to sleep.
“But Mama, you’ll be gone by the morning, won’t you?” Lucia pouted from under the frilly white nightcap she insisted on wearing for the next several months.
“Yeah, we don’t want to fall asleep when we don’t know when you’ll be back,” Blaise added, evidently having gotten over his anger at me.
Their unhappy faces tugged at my heartstrings, and I found myself torn between duty and parental love. Kharjo stepped forward at that moment, offering to tell them a few bedtime stories of his homeland that would carry them over until I returned. I sent him a grateful look when they accepted, and I had Llewellyn play some soft background music as we settled in to listen. The atmosphere finally winded down to a calm quality, with Kharjo’s lilting, accented voice weaving together the tales of Elseweyr.
Ghorbash took my hand and entwined our fingers as Blaise and Lucia’s eyelids grew heavy. Once Kharjo finished the last story and Llewellyn plucked the final few notes on his lute, I stood and planted a kiss on each child’s forehead. The adults tiptoed out, and I was about to shut the doors and thank the Divines for the peace and quiet I so desperately needed.
The front entrance banged open.
“I have returned!” Derkeethus’s voice announced. “By the way, did you all know there’s a dead giant out in the front?”
NO!
My heart plummeted when the children’s eyes instantly popped open. Our achievements in the past twenty minutes came undone as they shot out of their beds and barreled past me to greet my friendly Argonian steward—whom I now wanted to kill.
“Derkeethus! Derkeethus! What took you so long?” they chirped.
“Damn it, lizard!” Ghorbash roared from downstairs. “Efaldra and I were able to get these two to sleep at last, then you come in and just ruin everything!”
“Oh, she’s here?” was Derkeethus’s nonchalant reply. “Excellent! I need to let her know I borrowed one of her horses, which, sadly, didn’t make it on the journey back…”
“She will be most displeased,” Kharjo remarked. “I have seen how she reacts when her equines die.”
“And who might you be?”
The volume of noise escalated as everyone began talking at once, and above the new ruckus, Llewellyn called, “Should I play something again, mistress?”
I stayed frozen on the spot in front of the children’s bedroom, fuming and too livid to respond.
“Derkeethus, I need another opinion on this stew I made earlier.” Rayya’s voice joined the fray. “Perhaps the Argonian digestive system will have better luck with it.”
“Don’t do it,” Gunjar warned. “That culinary abomination is better off as poison.”
“Say that again, carriage driver,” Rayya snarled.
When all the bickering reached an intolerable crescendo, I commanded my legs to walk… out the north balcony and down the stairs to escape the manor. I came upon an amateur conjurer at some ritual stones down by the lake, and I absentmindedly zapped him to death when he turned hostile. Sighing, I sat next to the skeleton he’d laid out on an altar in the middle of the stone circle, weary beyond my mind.
However, I had found silence and tranquility at last.
“You’re the only one who understands me,” I said to the skeletal remains of some unfortunate soul. “The quiet is best. Now move. This is the only place around here where I can get some rest.”