The Adventure continues...
Jul. 13th, 2009 01:45 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
mistresshuette.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
fandomaniaPlease click and view our eggs and hatchlings. I do the same for you. Thanks.
Our eggs:
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Our hatchlings:
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With Piatris gone, things slowed down at lot in the compound. Orlando started up my magic lessons once more. I could tell that Donal was not happy about this. I just could not get him to see how much it meant to me. But at least he did not forbid me, because that would have left me with quite a dilemma.
As I progressed, it became clear that I was less of a spell magic user than I was an elemental or internal magic user. I had problems saying a spell or writing a spell and using my power to fulfill it. Somehow I could never say things properly or write them correctly and they would always fail. But we found that I could summon my powers and create things with them mentally. Like creating a little fire ball that stayed in my hand and didn’t burn me or taking two leaves and turning it into a butterfly. Orlando seemed pleased with me. He said that every magic user had his or her own style. He said that my style of magic, while not unheard of, was not common either. I was apparently challenging him to find lessons to help me learn. But then, Orlando always loved a good challenge, and that was what I was.
One morning, several weeks after Piatrus had left, word came to Donal that his father, Dashal conAgri, had arrived for his visit. Donal stormed into the sitting room where Orlando and I were working.
“I have just been informed by Captain Quinton that my father is here.” Donal stated matter-of-factly. “Do you know anything about this visit, Patra?”
I could feel myself blush. “I am sorry, Donal dear. He wrote when you were away in Lag Valley and asked to visit and meet our children. I wrote him back telling him that it would be all right when you returned in the fall. It totally slipped my mind, as so many things have happened in between. I am so sorry. I take it that you don’t want to see him? I thought that you two had made up your differences years ago in Rawn-Devu.”
“Not so much made up as ignored. I wasn’t there long enough to do so.” Donal sighed. “I suppose that since he has made the effort to come visit, we should be gracious hosts. It is good that Pahpey isn’t here right now, because the two of them don’t get along at all. I think that has it something to do with my mother’s death.”
Orlando and I stopped our lesson and Donal and I went to the great hall, where the messenger was waiting for us. Donal told the messenger to admit his father and bring him to the hall. While we waited, I spoke with Cora and had one of the bedrooms in the north wing prepared for a guest.
When Captain Quinton ushered Dashal into the hall, I finally met my father-in-law for the first time. He looked like a typical Freedonian man. He was about my height, 5’8” tall, with a sturdy build that tended towards fleshiness. His shoulders were broad and his arms muscular, but his waist was thick and his stomach protruded over his belt. His coloring was also typical Freedonian. His hair was curly dark brown with several streaks of gray, as was his full beard. His eyes were brown and his skin tone was olive. He was wearing a wine red wool knee-length houppelande with bag sleeves that gathered at his wrists. He wore black hosen and shoes on his feet. He wore a red wool sugarloaf hat on his head. He wore many rings on his thick fingers. I could see no resemblence between him and Donal.
Dashal came towards us with an unctuous smile on his face and his arms wide, acting as if he were the host and not the guest. “Donal! My boy, you appear from the dead after four years, disappear after a few days and never return! That was almost three years ago and not a word from you! I had to discover your whereabouts from an old patron of mine, who recently purchased one of your sculptures! Give your old man a hug!”
Donal kept his face impassive as he embraced his father. His face looked at stoney as Piatrus’ did, when he was hiding his emotions.
“How long have you been living with your grandfather? Is the old man still alive? Of course, he is. Men that mean never die young.”
“We have lived here almost three three years. Yes, Pahpey is still alive, but he is away on business at the moment.” Donal replied.
“And who is this vision of beauty? She looks like a ghoddess incarmate!”
“This is my wife, Lady Patra. Patra, this is my father, Dashal conAgri.”
I gave him my hand and dropped the briefest of curtsies. Dashal took my hand and kissed it, then he grabbed me and kissed me on both cheeks. I was afraid he was going to kiss me on the lips, so I turned my head away from him.
“Welcome to the family, my dear! Patra… Patra… where have I heard that name before? It rings a bell. Were you ever in Kansari? Perhaps at court there?”
“Why yes,” I replied. “Before the fall of Freedonia, I was the Royal Dragon Ward for my cousin, Queen Lynnaria.”
“You are THAT Patra?”Dashal’s eyes widened in surprise. “You are the heir to the vanDraco throne?”
“Yes.” I said simply.
“Donal, my boy, you always had to most amazing luck! A beautiful and royal wife! Who would have expected that of you?”
Donal frowned a bit at the tone his father used. “Are my brothers and their families here?”
“No. No. Joss has his military duty and couldn’t get away. Teo is working on a commission and couldn’t take the time. Manzo’s wife finally presented him with a boy after having five girls. He was too busy to come. Speaking of children, where are you children. I have heard you have a couple…”
“Yes, I do. I have a four year old son and, with Patra, we have two and a half year old twin boys, an eighteen month old daughter and another child on the way.” Donal put his arms around me as he said that and patted my tummy when he mentioned the coming baby. “I have also adopted Patra’s children from her previous marriage and we have several other adopted children.”
“How many do you have, all told?”
“Twelve, not counting the one on the way. We like children. What can I say?” Donal held me tightly in his arms.
“That is amazing. You have more children then all of your brothers combined.. With a gorgeous wife like yours, I am not surprised though. She must be a pleaseure to bed.
“Your children sound like a handful. When can I meet them?”
I frowned at him, but said, as pleasantly as I could. “The oldest four are in school, but you can meet the rest right now, if you like.”
“Am I invited to stay here? I wasn’t sure if Piatrus was going to allow me to …”
“Piatrus isn’t here now.” I said. “What ever your differences are, I am sure he won’t mind you staying. You are family.”
“Thank you, my dear, you are most gracious. If you don’t mind showing me to my room, I would like to freshen up a bit. That will give you some time to prepare the children for me.” He smiled broadly again.
I rang for the servants to take Dashal’s luggage to his room, while Cora escorted him there.
An hour later, my children, Donal and I were assembled in the family room, waiting for Dachal to appear. We waited for an hour and he didn’t appear, so I sent the children back to the nursery so that they wouldn’t be cranky when he decided to show up.
Donal went to look for his father. He returned to the nursery looking disgusted. When we went to our sitting room, he finally opened up to me.
“That man is just unbelievable!” Donal exclaimed, exasperated. “He isn’t even here for more that a couple of hours and he already has seduced one of the maids. I walked in earlier to find him boffing the girl, instead of trying to get to know his grandshildren as he said he wanted. Unbelievable.”
“He chose sex with a stranger over meeting his own grandchildren?”
“Yes. That’s my father for you. Totally selfish. Totally hedonistic. Critical and insulting. I just don’t know why I am even trying…”
“I do. Because I was so naïve to invite him. I am sorry.” I said, sorrowfully.
“Oh, love, it isn’t your fault. You couldn’t have known what kind of man he is, what kind of father he is. I was naïve also in thinking he might have changed.”
Later, I went to Cora to have a word with her about my father-in-law and the maid, Enna.
“I am sorry, milady, that Enna is a bit of a tart. I will assign her elsewhere. And assign Merelda in her place. She won’t take such crap from any man, she won’t. That I am sure.”
I didn’t see Dashal for a while. When I next did, he was being escorted back to the main house by a guard. “We found his wandering around, looking into places he has no business looking into. Captain told me to escort him back here and make sure that he stays here.”
“Well, I never …” sputtered Dashal. “I get lost and suddenly, I am spying? I have never been so poorly treated in my entire life…”
“Really, Dashal?” replied Ferrell, walking up from behind us. “I have heard that you are persona non grata in a lot of places.” Ferrell gave his former brother-in-law a contemptuous look. “What are you up to now? Whatever it is, I advise you to get it over with and be gone soon. Father will kill you if he finds you here.”
“I am here to get to know my grandchildren! At my daughter-in-law’s invitation.”
Ferrell didn’t miss my look of skepticism. “Lady Patra has the kindest heart in the world and doesn’t know you as we do. I can see that you must be up to your old tricks again. That behavior won’t be tolerated anymore. My sister is dead because of you. I would advise you to cut this visit short, because I just got word that Father is on his way back home. “
Dashal glared at him and then turned and went back to his room.
Ferrell watched him leave and said, “I don’t know what my sister saw in him. I really don’t. He made her life miserable, while she was alive. All those affairs and mistresses of his. I am amazed that she gave him four children. I would have thought that she would have stopped sleeping with him when she discovered how many times he cheated on her. I suppose that his isolating her from the family by living in Freedonia must have affected her judgment …”
“Or perhaps she felt if she loved him all the more, he would eventually love her back. Sometimes, you just delude yourself into hoping that something you do right will make him love you. That you are a lovable person…” I reponded wistfully.
“That sounds like experience to me,” remarked Ferrell. “I hope Donal is treating you okay?”
“Donal is wonderful. He is warm, loving and the best husband a woman could want. It was my first marriage that was the nightmare.”
“Thank you for the insight. That does sound like something that Helene would have done, unfortunately.”
Our eggs:
§ § § § § Our hatchlings:
§ § §With Piatris gone, things slowed down at lot in the compound. Orlando started up my magic lessons once more. I could tell that Donal was not happy about this. I just could not get him to see how much it meant to me. But at least he did not forbid me, because that would have left me with quite a dilemma.
As I progressed, it became clear that I was less of a spell magic user than I was an elemental or internal magic user. I had problems saying a spell or writing a spell and using my power to fulfill it. Somehow I could never say things properly or write them correctly and they would always fail. But we found that I could summon my powers and create things with them mentally. Like creating a little fire ball that stayed in my hand and didn’t burn me or taking two leaves and turning it into a butterfly. Orlando seemed pleased with me. He said that every magic user had his or her own style. He said that my style of magic, while not unheard of, was not common either. I was apparently challenging him to find lessons to help me learn. But then, Orlando always loved a good challenge, and that was what I was.
One morning, several weeks after Piatrus had left, word came to Donal that his father, Dashal conAgri, had arrived for his visit. Donal stormed into the sitting room where Orlando and I were working.
“I have just been informed by Captain Quinton that my father is here.” Donal stated matter-of-factly. “Do you know anything about this visit, Patra?”
I could feel myself blush. “I am sorry, Donal dear. He wrote when you were away in Lag Valley and asked to visit and meet our children. I wrote him back telling him that it would be all right when you returned in the fall. It totally slipped my mind, as so many things have happened in between. I am so sorry. I take it that you don’t want to see him? I thought that you two had made up your differences years ago in Rawn-Devu.”
“Not so much made up as ignored. I wasn’t there long enough to do so.” Donal sighed. “I suppose that since he has made the effort to come visit, we should be gracious hosts. It is good that Pahpey isn’t here right now, because the two of them don’t get along at all. I think that has it something to do with my mother’s death.”
Orlando and I stopped our lesson and Donal and I went to the great hall, where the messenger was waiting for us. Donal told the messenger to admit his father and bring him to the hall. While we waited, I spoke with Cora and had one of the bedrooms in the north wing prepared for a guest.
When Captain Quinton ushered Dashal into the hall, I finally met my father-in-law for the first time. He looked like a typical Freedonian man. He was about my height, 5’8” tall, with a sturdy build that tended towards fleshiness. His shoulders were broad and his arms muscular, but his waist was thick and his stomach protruded over his belt. His coloring was also typical Freedonian. His hair was curly dark brown with several streaks of gray, as was his full beard. His eyes were brown and his skin tone was olive. He was wearing a wine red wool knee-length houppelande with bag sleeves that gathered at his wrists. He wore black hosen and shoes on his feet. He wore a red wool sugarloaf hat on his head. He wore many rings on his thick fingers. I could see no resemblence between him and Donal.
Dashal came towards us with an unctuous smile on his face and his arms wide, acting as if he were the host and not the guest. “Donal! My boy, you appear from the dead after four years, disappear after a few days and never return! That was almost three years ago and not a word from you! I had to discover your whereabouts from an old patron of mine, who recently purchased one of your sculptures! Give your old man a hug!”
Donal kept his face impassive as he embraced his father. His face looked at stoney as Piatrus’ did, when he was hiding his emotions.
“How long have you been living with your grandfather? Is the old man still alive? Of course, he is. Men that mean never die young.”
“We have lived here almost three three years. Yes, Pahpey is still alive, but he is away on business at the moment.” Donal replied.
“And who is this vision of beauty? She looks like a ghoddess incarmate!”
“This is my wife, Lady Patra. Patra, this is my father, Dashal conAgri.”
I gave him my hand and dropped the briefest of curtsies. Dashal took my hand and kissed it, then he grabbed me and kissed me on both cheeks. I was afraid he was going to kiss me on the lips, so I turned my head away from him.
“Welcome to the family, my dear! Patra… Patra… where have I heard that name before? It rings a bell. Were you ever in Kansari? Perhaps at court there?”
“Why yes,” I replied. “Before the fall of Freedonia, I was the Royal Dragon Ward for my cousin, Queen Lynnaria.”
“You are THAT Patra?”Dashal’s eyes widened in surprise. “You are the heir to the vanDraco throne?”
“Yes.” I said simply.
“Donal, my boy, you always had to most amazing luck! A beautiful and royal wife! Who would have expected that of you?”
Donal frowned a bit at the tone his father used. “Are my brothers and their families here?”
“No. No. Joss has his military duty and couldn’t get away. Teo is working on a commission and couldn’t take the time. Manzo’s wife finally presented him with a boy after having five girls. He was too busy to come. Speaking of children, where are you children. I have heard you have a couple…”
“Yes, I do. I have a four year old son and, with Patra, we have two and a half year old twin boys, an eighteen month old daughter and another child on the way.” Donal put his arms around me as he said that and patted my tummy when he mentioned the coming baby. “I have also adopted Patra’s children from her previous marriage and we have several other adopted children.”
“How many do you have, all told?”
“Twelve, not counting the one on the way. We like children. What can I say?” Donal held me tightly in his arms.
“That is amazing. You have more children then all of your brothers combined.. With a gorgeous wife like yours, I am not surprised though. She must be a pleaseure to bed.
“Your children sound like a handful. When can I meet them?”
I frowned at him, but said, as pleasantly as I could. “The oldest four are in school, but you can meet the rest right now, if you like.”
“Am I invited to stay here? I wasn’t sure if Piatrus was going to allow me to …”
“Piatrus isn’t here now.” I said. “What ever your differences are, I am sure he won’t mind you staying. You are family.”
“Thank you, my dear, you are most gracious. If you don’t mind showing me to my room, I would like to freshen up a bit. That will give you some time to prepare the children for me.” He smiled broadly again.
I rang for the servants to take Dashal’s luggage to his room, while Cora escorted him there.
An hour later, my children, Donal and I were assembled in the family room, waiting for Dachal to appear. We waited for an hour and he didn’t appear, so I sent the children back to the nursery so that they wouldn’t be cranky when he decided to show up.
Donal went to look for his father. He returned to the nursery looking disgusted. When we went to our sitting room, he finally opened up to me.
“That man is just unbelievable!” Donal exclaimed, exasperated. “He isn’t even here for more that a couple of hours and he already has seduced one of the maids. I walked in earlier to find him boffing the girl, instead of trying to get to know his grandshildren as he said he wanted. Unbelievable.”
“He chose sex with a stranger over meeting his own grandchildren?”
“Yes. That’s my father for you. Totally selfish. Totally hedonistic. Critical and insulting. I just don’t know why I am even trying…”
“I do. Because I was so naïve to invite him. I am sorry.” I said, sorrowfully.
“Oh, love, it isn’t your fault. You couldn’t have known what kind of man he is, what kind of father he is. I was naïve also in thinking he might have changed.”
Later, I went to Cora to have a word with her about my father-in-law and the maid, Enna.
“I am sorry, milady, that Enna is a bit of a tart. I will assign her elsewhere. And assign Merelda in her place. She won’t take such crap from any man, she won’t. That I am sure.”
I didn’t see Dashal for a while. When I next did, he was being escorted back to the main house by a guard. “We found his wandering around, looking into places he has no business looking into. Captain told me to escort him back here and make sure that he stays here.”
“Well, I never …” sputtered Dashal. “I get lost and suddenly, I am spying? I have never been so poorly treated in my entire life…”
“Really, Dashal?” replied Ferrell, walking up from behind us. “I have heard that you are persona non grata in a lot of places.” Ferrell gave his former brother-in-law a contemptuous look. “What are you up to now? Whatever it is, I advise you to get it over with and be gone soon. Father will kill you if he finds you here.”
“I am here to get to know my grandchildren! At my daughter-in-law’s invitation.”
Ferrell didn’t miss my look of skepticism. “Lady Patra has the kindest heart in the world and doesn’t know you as we do. I can see that you must be up to your old tricks again. That behavior won’t be tolerated anymore. My sister is dead because of you. I would advise you to cut this visit short, because I just got word that Father is on his way back home. “
Dashal glared at him and then turned and went back to his room.
Ferrell watched him leave and said, “I don’t know what my sister saw in him. I really don’t. He made her life miserable, while she was alive. All those affairs and mistresses of his. I am amazed that she gave him four children. I would have thought that she would have stopped sleeping with him when she discovered how many times he cheated on her. I suppose that his isolating her from the family by living in Freedonia must have affected her judgment …”
“Or perhaps she felt if she loved him all the more, he would eventually love her back. Sometimes, you just delude yourself into hoping that something you do right will make him love you. That you are a lovable person…” I reponded wistfully.
“That sounds like experience to me,” remarked Ferrell. “I hope Donal is treating you okay?”
“Donal is wonderful. He is warm, loving and the best husband a woman could want. It was my first marriage that was the nightmare.”
“Thank you for the insight. That does sound like something that Helene would have done, unfortunately.”
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