fandomania | The Adventure continues...

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Our eggs:

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Our hatchlings:

I slept in very late the next day. It took a lot of effort to get out of bed. Ellyn and Mahli tried to fuss over me and help me get dressed, but the more they fussed, the angrier I got; so much so that I would snap at them whenever they touched me. They brought in a breakfast tray for me, but I wasn’t interested and left it untouched on the table in the sitting room. Mostly, I sat in a chair by the window that overlooked the garden, still dressed in my nightgown, with my hair uncombed and stared at the world outside the window.

Ellyn tried to engage me in selecting an outfit for Donal to wear for the viewing. I let her take me into the closet, where she and Nichol, Donal’s manservant, made suggestions about what would look nice on his body; but I kept rejecting their suggestions. In a fit of temperament, I screamed, “Oh, just pick something and leave me alone! I don’t care what he is seen in!” I pushed them away and ran out of the closet and out of the bedroom. I just needed to get away, so I ran blindly out of the house and into the garden. I paid no attention to anyone or my disheveled appearance. I didn’t even notice the pain as I ran over stones and pebbles with my bare feet. I kept running until I reached Donal’s studio. I needed to feel Donal’s presence once more. But when I walked in, I received a shock, because the studio was totally bare. No blocks of marble, no tools, nothing that gave any indication that this had once been an art studio. There was nothing of Donal there any longer. It felt like I had been violated. All of Donal’s comforting presence was not there to be felt any more. I screamed in pain and anguish. I couldn’t stand to remain anymore, so I ran out and blindly ran, not thinking about where I was going. I vaguely heard my name being called out, but it didn’t register and I didn’t stop running. It wasn’t until I tripped over a tree root and fell sprawling onto the cold, harsh ground that I stopped running. I didn’t know where I was and I didn’t care. Because my ankle and my feet were hurting so much, I then curled up into a ball and lay there.

A few minutes later, I heard someone walking towards me. When I looked up, it was Su Wei, immaculately dressed in a fine blue silk gown and robe. She looked at me with what looked like glee in her eyes. She looked down at me, smiling, and said, “It is you, Patra. My maids were frightened and said that there was a wraith in the woods. But I see it is just you. I am sorry to hear about your husband. But it is good for you to know what it is like to lose the man you love. Perhaps you will think twice next time and never try again to steal someone else’s man.” Shouts and the sound of running feet chased her away.

Within minutes, Captain Quinton arrived, along with several guards. A couple minutes later, Piatrus and Haral joined them. I didn’t get up nor did I acknowledge their presence. I just lay there and sobbed. Piatrus knelt down next to me and said, very gently, “Patra, my dear, it is time to go home now. Let me help you up?”
When he touched my arm, I screamed and backed away from him. “Don’t touch me!” I shouted. “I hate you! Why did you do that to me? Why did you violate me so?”

Piatrus let his control slip for a bit and looked genuinely surprised and concerned. “I am sorry, my dear. What am I supposed to have done to you? I have no idea what you are talking about!”

“Why did you do it? Why did you take all of Donal’s things from his studio?” I screamed at him. “Why did you destroy the one place of comfort that I had?”

“I am sorry, my dear girl, but I still don’t understand. Someone cleared out Donal’s studio? If that is true, it was done without my knowledge or permission. I would never have ordered that. You should know me better than that! I was planning on turning the studio into a shrine to his memory. I would never have touched anything in there without your knowledge and consent.

“I don’t do things like that. I haven’t redecorated my rooms in thirty-five years, since my wife died, to keep her memory fresh for me. I would not do anything like that to you.”

“But then, who did?” I asked through my tears.

“I don’t know, but I will find out. At least, I can understand why you are so upset now. Come, my dear girl, let me help you up, so that we can go back home?”

I allowed him to help me up, but I cried out in pain when I tried to stand. Rather than let me collapse back onto the ground, Piatrus leaned down and picked me up in his arms. Haral came over and examined my feet, saying, “Hmmm. Her feet are badly cut and her right ankle is starting to swell. I think that she is going to have to see a doctor. Some of the cuts look deep. Hopefully, the ankle isn’t broken.”

“Captain Quinton,” Piatrus said, “If you would run ahead and summon a doctor for Lady Patra, I would me most grateful.”

“I would prefer Fiorenzia look after me.” I stated.

“All right, then summon Fiorenzia and have her meet us in Patra’s rooms.” Captain Quinton and his men ran off back to the house.

Piatrus slowly carried me back to the house. Haral offered to help carry me, but Piatrus turned him down. It seemed like it was a matter of pride for him to do this. As we walked away, I caught a glimpse of Su Wei standing behind a tree, looking furious.

When we arrived back in my rooms, Fiorenzia and my maids were waiting for us. Once there, Piatrus set me down in chair in the bathroom. He then left the bathroom so that the women could take care of me. Ellyn and Mahli already had a hot bath drawn for me. They quickly undressed me and helped me into the steaming water. Under Fiorenzia’s supervision, I was thoroughly washed and more scrapes, bruises and cuts were found. When she was satisfied with everything, she told my maids to help me up, dry me and help me into a fresh, clean nightgown. Rather than have me hobble back to the bedroom and dirty up my wounds, Fiorenzia summoned Piatrus back into the bathroom and he easily carried me over to the bed, standing back while Fiorenzia ministered to me. She washed all of the wounds in a stinging substance, which she said would prevent infection. She then applied a salve to each and bandaged all the wounds up. She then examined my ankle, humming as she did so. She then wrapped a very tight bandage around it. Fiorenzia then gave a jar of the salve to Ellyn and extra bandages, with explicit instructions on how to use them.

Piatrus came over and asked, “How is she?”

“She has almost a dozen cuts and an equal amount of bruises. But since they are so fresh, I am not too worried about infection, although I am taking a cautious approach any way. Her ankle is just sprained and is not broken. I have reduced the swelling and eased her pain a bit, although that will wear off eventually. I have wrapped it to give it more support; it probably will bother her a bit for the next few days. As long as she does not over use it or go on long, heedless runs again, she should be healed in a week or so.”

Fiorenzia then turned to me. “You have been most fortunate, young lady, in that you have not hurt yourself badly. I understand your distress, but you need to keep yourself in better control.” She placed her hand over my belly. “You have not harmed your baby … yet. But you are not eating enough. You need to eat more or you will lose your baby to malnutrition. I do not think that you want that to happen, do you?”

“No. Not at all!” I replied in a quavering voice.

With my maid’s help I was tucked into bed. As she started to leave, she told me, “I will check up on you in the morning to see how you are doing>”

“The viewing and the funeral are tomorrow morning,” Piatrus said quietly.

Fiorenzia turned to him and said, “Ah yes, that is right. Then I will be here very early.” And she left.

Piatrus walked over to me, leaned over, kissed my forehead and squeezed my hand. “Rest well, my dear, knowing that everyone here loves you and is very worried about you.” Then he left.

Mahli went to clean up the bathroom, while Ellyn sat in a chair not far from the bed. She picked up some knitting and began working on her project. Soon, the only sounds that I heard were the quiet clicks from her needles and I drifted off to sleep.

I awoke some time later. Ellyn was still sitting and knitting. She noticed that I was awake and came over to me. “It is almost dinner time, milady. Shall I have your dinner sent here on a tray?”

“No, I think that I would like to get up, get dressed and have dinner with the family.”

”Very good, milady, I will let everyone know.” Ellyn pulled on the bell pull and within a minute Mahli appeared. She then went to tell Chef Ifon of my decision.

Ellyn found a pair of fur-lined bedroom slippers that didn’t hurt my feet as much. She carefully helped me change into a simple, black dress of soft wool. She then combed my hair and confined it in another black hairnet. When Mahli returned, she and Ellyn slowly helped me to hobble to the dining room.

When I finally made it there, both Piatrus and Haral stood up and came over to me. Piatrus looked concerned. Haral told me that I should have asked for help, that he would have happily carried me here.

“Thank you. But for some reason, this is helping to keep me focused. I needed to walk here on my own.”

They both took over for my maids and helped me into my chair. When everyone was seated, Piatrus said, “Suthi, I think that there is something that you need to say to Patra, isn’t there?”

She blushed and cleared her throat. “I apologize to you, Patra. I am the one who ordered the clearing out of Donal’s things from the studio. I thought it was unhealthy to leave things as they were, but I was wrong. I didn’t realize how much doing that would hurt or upset you. I apologize. I hope that you will find it in your heart to forgive me?”

“What have you done with his things?”

“I had them put in a storage shed, so that when you were ready, you could go through them and decide what to do with them. I had nothing thrown out whatsoever. If you like, I can have then returned to the studio?” Suthi asked tentatively. “I hope that you can forgive me for my error? I know now that I was wrong.”

As tears started rolling down my cheeks, I said simply, “I forgive you.”

Uncle Haral silently handed me a clean handkerchief. He patted my hand comfortingly.

To break the silence that ensued, Piatrus signaled the servants to start the dinner.

It wasn’t an elaborate meal, but halfway through, I realized that Chef Ifon had remembered all of my favorite dishes, which helped me with my appetite.

The meal started off with a split pea soup, with little bits of ham and carrots, and a dollop of crème fraîche on top. The salad was fresh broccoli chopped fine with onions and raisins in a bacon and vinaigrette dressing. The main course was sea scallops braised in apple brandy and rosemary, served on top of a bunch of quickly sautéed spinach, with a simple serving of dumpling noodles and a side of large mushrooms stuffed with brie and nutmeg. For dessert, came pear halves poached in red wine and cinnamon, cloves and ginger, placed over a scoop of frozen custard, with dark chocolate drizzled artistically over everything and slivered almonds sprinkled over that.

I didn’t talk much during dinner. I just ate and listened to others as they chatted. From time to time, I noticed both Haral and Piatrus watching me. I suppose that they were making sure that I was eating properly. I was comforted knowing that they cared for me.

After dinner was over, Izshaq came and asked if I would see the children. They were very anxious about what was going to happen the next day and he thought they would benefit from my presence and help.

I didn’t need to be persuaded. Izshaq helped me walk to the nursery, where they also had finished dinner.

The children clamored for my attention the moment I walked into the room. Izshaq got them calmed down and took me over to the rocking chair. My children gathered around me after I sat down. I talked to them about Donal’s death in simple terms so they could all understand. I explained what was going to happen the next day. I tried to help them understand about death as best I could. I asked them if they wanted to be with me during the viewing. I explained to them that although Daddy appeared to be sleeping, he really was not. I tried to get them to understand without scaring them or having them misunderstand. It was very difficult for me. I gave them the option that if they didn’t want to come, they didn’t have to. That not going wasn’t bad or didn’t mean that they didn’t care. I told them how much that I loved them and what good children I thought that they were. I also told them how much their Daddy had loved them. I also told them that even though I was frequently sad because of this, it didn’t mean that I loved them less or that they had done anything to make me cry. I also explained what that when they were in the viewing room they were going to have to be on their best behavior. However, I told them that I had arranged for a play room nearby that they could go to at any time they needed to. I told them that they could bring one toy for them to play with in that play room, but they could only play in that room and not where the viewing was going to be.

The children had a lot of questions, which I tried to answer. Sometimes it was Izshaq who would answer the questions and not me. I was grateful for his help. I didn’t leave until it was their bedtime even though I was exhausted long before then. I made myself say good night to each and every one of them. Maxel was the hardest to comfort. He had not been here long enough to feel secure and was worried that he would be sent away again. I told him that he was my child now and that I loved him just as much as I did the others. I reassured him that he would always have a home with me and that he was part of our family forever. I stayed with him until he fell asleep.

Afterwards, Izshaq walked me to my rooms and placed me in the care of my maids.