New Girl II - Part I
A Tale from Skyra
by T. J. Skywind
Location: Ramez, Duchy of Atansha, Kingdom of Tildor
Date: early March 2048
The weather outside was still full of winter, biting and cold from winds off the eastern ocean. Inside the duke's manor, the rooms were warm and cheery. People were still feeling good about their recent victory against the Yrnifr frost giants. The giants had first laid siege to Little Pine Hill, an independent town three days hard ride to the northwest of Ramez, and then detached a smaller force in an attempt to attack Ramez itself. Warned of the impending danger, their duke, with the aid of his father, Prince Caernach, gathered a party of mighty warriors from across Tildor and a dozen Silver Knights from the Elven Free States. They met the score of giants and their ice dragon at Tolkan Falls and wiped out them out, and then proceeded on to Little Pine Hill, relieved the siege and destroyed the remaining enemy forces.
Word was beginning to spread that the people of Atansha were tough as nails.
Adding to the overall exuberant mood, at the end of February, Duchess Susan and her sister, Charlotte Ann, the Lord Marshal of Atansha, both publicly announced they were pregnant. With that revelation, it seemed that many other women in the household and even in the town of Ramez itself latched onto the idea of children and set about getting themselves in a family way. Men were in demand. Many in the manor and in the town walked around in a jauntier, more satisfied manner.
Royce Moramorian was the Duke of Atansha. At one hundred eighty-eight centimeters, the duke was taller than many men, and at an even hundred kilos, he was even slightly wider of shoulder than his father, the ruler of Tildor. The duke was nearly always clean-shaven, with short, dark brown hair, a strong chin and intelligent, dark brown eyes. Although nearly thirty, he looked barely twenty, a gift from his mother. Most would call the him handsome. He disliked fancy attire, and sometimes his First Wife Susan had to argue with him about wearing something other than simple workman's attire. Most of the time, he wore plain leather calf-length boots, canvas-style trousers of brown or blue, and some plain shirt, with a serviceable knife and wallet on his belt. While he could easily be taken for a common laborer, the enchanted long sword he wore, the surety of his movements and his aura of command set him apart.
Cold though it was, Royce believed that everything was going well. No, he amended his thought, everything was going
really
well. Susan was elated about being pregnant, and even Charlotte Ann was getting over her fears about being a good mother. The evening before, he and his two wives had enjoyed a full dinner in the main hall and the music from a visiting troubadour. Later, they had retired to a hot bath and slow love-making. First was Charlotte Ann, where he spent a long time slowly grinding her in the hot-tub. Then they retired to their bed and he spent nearly an hour paying attention to Susan, making her mad with desire, until she pleaded with him to take her hard and rough. Afterward, there was the comfort of their warm bodies beside him as they fell asleep. Royce would have enjoyed making love to them again this morning, but all three had separate tasks to attend to: Susan to the church, Charlotte Ann to the army, and he to balancing the demands of the duchy. Still, some lingering kisses and caresses had made for a pleasant wake-up and the hint of something more later. It was nearly seven bells and the three of them were almost ready to go have breakfast downstairs.
Slipping on his second boot, Royce found himself humming one of the tunes he'd heard the night before.
"I want to go visit our parents," Susan suddenly said, breaking his reverie. She was at her dresser in their shared bedroom, applying some eye liner and lip rouge.
Royce glanced up, catching her look in the mirror. Her hazel eyes were determined. He took a long breath. "I thought you had preparations at the temple to attend to this morning, in preparation of the Spring Equinox."
"They can manage without me." She used her finger to blend the liner into her eyelid.
Susan was tall and curvy. When she stood up, the top of her head came to his nose, and her long, straight blonde hair fell in a thick braid all the way to her hips.
Seated on her stool, she leaned toward the mirror on her cosmetic stand, dabbing a bit more lip rouge. She was dressed in floor length robes, cinched to her narrow waist by a wide belt, the horizontal pastel rainbow bands marking her as a priestess of the Lawgiver. Because of her wisdom and knowledge of canon law, Royce had quickly come to depend on Susan's assessments and advice.
He tapped his boot into place, and quickly did the lacing. It had been several weeks since their last visit to the capital city on the other side of Tildor. Royce mulled over her words. There was nothing in his schedule he couldn't bump to tomorrow. "Sure. When do you want to go?"
"Actually, I was thinking that later on this morning would be good, my love," she responded, putting away her cosmetics into their drawers. "If you wouldn't mind."
He shrugged. "Not at all."
Then Royce caught sight of his second wife, Charlotte Ann, across the large bedroom, standing by the tall bay windows. A full head-span shorter than her younger sister, she was leaner of build and all muscle. Her curly, dark brown, shoulder length hair was tied back, and she was dressed warmly in her uniform, her several throwing knives already in place under her marshal's tabard. As she buckled on her long sword, she scowled. Though hair and eye color differed, the sisters bore a strong facial resemblance to each other. Personalities were another matter. Where Susan could remain calm even in the tensest situations, Charlotte Ann had difficulty hiding irritation or anger.
"Charlotte Ann is coming, too." Susan stood up, casually re-seating the hair clip over her ear, attempting to ensare all the lose strands. Then she turned around and smiled.
Royce blinked. Two things struck him from her statement.
Charlotte Ann loved her mother, Gale, but since becoming Lord Marshal of Atansha, their father, Dobson Starshine, had quietly expressed his displeasure about her position, a fact that Charlotte Ann had hidden from her father for more than a year.
In Royce's opinion, his wife excelled at her job. She was highly skilled in both tactics and strategy. She definitely knew their lands better than he did, a critical skill in a military leader. She also knew her command, learning their names and their skills with ease. As much as he feared for her safety, Charlotte Ann was Royce's first pick as someone he'd trust to fight beside him. Dobson Starshine served as Lord Marshal for his father, the Prince. Charlotte Ann had worshiped her father, finding in the warrior's path both a means to honor her father and to express her own talents. Royce believed that his wife had actually surpassed Dobson's military abilities in the field. Dobson Starshine, however, was more concerned about rank. His daughter was first and foremost the duke's wife -- duchess and co-wife to her sister. Duchess outranked Lord Marshal. During the winter campaign, Royce had stepped into the matter, trying to be discreet while easing his Second Wife's distress. It hadn't gone well.
The second thing that occurred to Royce was that this was to be a longer visit, not just a day or two. As high priestess, Susan had considerable priestly magic at her command, and could even raise the dead. Charlotte Ann's absence from the duchy would definitely be felt. While he did not doubt the loyalty of his army, he was quite aware that his troops were devoted to their Lord Marshal.
With both of them gone from Atansha, Royce would himself have to stay behind, to rule and to protect their people. This also meant that Susan had decided that he wasn't going to be with them. No discussion. She had just decided.
That stung.
Standing, Royce took his long sword from its hook by his dresser, buckling it on. Keeping his voice neutral, he asked, "How long do you plan to be gone?"
"A month."
"A month! A full thirty days?" Now he understood Charlotte Ann's rancor. At Royce's request, she now added duchess to signed her orders. However, what both he and Charlotte Ann suspected was this would not be enough to placate her father. Dobson Starshine would only be happy if she stayed at home and had babies. His father-in-law had many good qualities, but he had some pretty backward ideas on how to treat women.
Royce kept his face calm, but inwardly he met Susan's announcement with heat. Almost as painful as the idea of them both being gone for so long was knowing that Charlotte Ann would no doubt have to endure her father's criticisms. With anyone else, Charlotte Ann would attack any threat like the warrior she was. With her father, however, Royce was concerned she would do as she had in the past – endure his words in silence and take them to heart, to the detriment of her self worth. Susan, as much as she loved her sister, had a blind eye to their father's faults.
Susan put her shawl around her shoulders. The main hall was still fairly cool in the morning.
"We've been here a long time, Royce, nearly two years. All of our earlier visits to our family have been short -- a day or two here and there. We want to really take some time and visit. There are baby clothes and blankets to make. And I also want to spend time at the main temple."
Royce watched Charlotte Ann lift her face skyward and roll her eyes. He had a good idea what his Wildcat would rather be doing. For a warrior woman who loved being outdoors even in the dead of winter, swapping baby stories would be a private kind of hell for his second wife.
Susan continued, "There's so much to do in preparation! And before you know it, we won't even be able to teleport with you to visit."
Teleportation, whether by spell or by psionic ability, exposed one very briefly to the cold of null-space. To adults and older children, the cold was easily shaken off. Age five and older seemed a good rule of thumb, though rarely even older children would succumb and fade from the experience. In the early stages of pregnancy, the mother somehow protected the baby she carried. Once she began to quicken, however, teleportation became risky. Some survived the travel. Others sickened and died within days. The unborn simply miscarried. Once children became sick, even the powerful
heal
spell was not enough to save them. It was as if that brief exposure to null-space frayed the link joining body to soul, losing appetite and becoming listless, until the child simply weakened and died.
