Gifts

 

"Of a truth, and no insult to your sister, milady, but I can scarce believe my old friend Worek could father such a delicate and beautiful flower," Chrijo called out as they entered the largest house in the village.  "Yet I see enough of your father in your face that I would know you anywhere, Princess Grilda," he added as he bowed lowly and kissed the back of her hand.

"Have we met before, kind sir?" the heavily pregnant woman asked with a smile at his polite greeting. 

"Dearest heart, allow me the great pleasure of introducing you to a very old and very dear friend of both our families," Dansius spoke as he stepped up to kiss his wife on the cheek.

"You wound me yet again, you scamp," Chrijo pouted.  "Could I not be billed as merely a very dear friend?  If you must speak of my age, there is no need to add to it so grievously.  Of a truth, lad, you make me ancient enough being old enough to be wed and soon to be a father.  Pray do not add more years than are necessary to my antiquity."

"Antiquity, he says," Friezen scolded.  "I like that.  And me the same age as you, you self-proclaimed wizened bag of bones."

"Ahh, but in my eyes you will forever be the mischievous sprite with the flowing blonde locks that dazzled the halls of Worek and the camps of his army with your charm and magic," Chrijo assured him with a bow for good measure.

"Silver tongued oaf," Friezen snorted, but all could see the smile on his face.

"Master Friezen, it is good to see you once again," the lady of the house greeted and attempted to curtsy.

"No, no, dear," the sorcerer stopped her with a hand on her arm.  "The days that the little girl needed to bow to the great wizard are long past, besides your delicate condition."

"Who else have you brought home to share our meal without sending word ahead, husband?" Grilda asked rather pointedly as she stared the young man down.

Properly chastened, he apologized and then began the introductions.  "Friezen, you know well, my love, but allow me to add to your acquaintance the only other survivor of the Battle of Jolyne, Chrijo the Mighty."

"I knew my dear father had powerful friends in his day, but I knew not that he dined with gods," the princess said as she bowed her head in respect to the man since she could not curtsy.

"We'll have none of that talk from you, dear lady," Chrijo told her.  "Your father was one of my closest friends, as was the sire of young Dancer here.  You two, above all others in this kingdom, should know me as a man who did what had to be done, and paid a higher price than my own death for it.  Let us speak not of pain and loss on a night when we should celebrate what has been gained this day."

"I knew I recognized this village," Boren exclaimed suddenly as he beheld the lady of the house.

"The village is to me as any other," Juram observed.  "I shall always remember the lady, however.  To learn of her station now shames me, I must say," he added as he dropped to a knee before her and dragged Boren into a similar pose.

"You may remember us from a year or so ago, milady…. That is to say, your highness," Carzier stated with a bit of a blush, as he too stepped forward and knelt.

"Carzier, you have met the Princess Grilda before?" Friezen asked his nephew pointedly.

"How could I forget the trio of mighty warriors who knocked on my kitchen door in the most dreadful storm in many years past, shivering and sniffling like the lost little boys they were?" Grilda laughed.  "It does my heart good to see you all still hale and hearty despite yourselves."

"Milady," the three pouted at once.

"It was most gracious of you to take us in that night, Princess Grilda," Juram told her with a low bow.  "Especially with your husband away with the late Duke.  And to run hot baths for us yourself, and you a princess…." He marveled with a blush.

"Yes and gave you all the scrubbing you needed desperately," Grilda added with a laugh.  "Should this child be a boy, I shudder at the thought of all the filth he will bring into my home if you three were any indication," she smiled.  Her face went serious suddenly then.  "The late Duke?" Grilda questioned.  Her attention was then drawn away from the questions she had for her husband by a small hand waving at her shyly.  "Oh and the little mouse is with you again," she cooed delightedly and motioned Ker forward.  "I see your brothers in arms do not try to hide you this time," she smiled and bent just enough to kiss Ker on the top of his head.  "Do you still keep them safe, little mouse?"

"I do, mum," Ker said proudly.  "Uncle Friezen has taught me more spells now so I am even gooder at it now."  He scrunched his face in concentration and wiggled his fingers until suddenly a single rose was in his hands, which he presented to the lady of the house.

"You have learned much," Grilda gasped as she took the flower and bestowed him with another kiss to his head.  "My little mouse reeks of the rough life of the campaigns once again.  Will my darling boy warriors ever once come to my home already clean?  Baths for the lot of you just like the last time."  It was neither a suggestion, nor an offer; it was an order from a woman who had come into her role as matron of the house.  "Dansius, can you help see to them this time?  I would, you know, but I fear my ability to scour the filth of the forests from wayward boys is hampered by the child I bear."

"Grilda!  You have bathed these young men?  It's improper," Dansius gasped.

"I bathed only the boys, my love, and bathing was all it was," Grilda assured him.  "Their stalwart leader refused my attentions most vehemently.  Of course, later on I learned most of that was so I would not discover him hiding the little mouse from me, as all of them knew I would not spare the rod from their backsides for endangering such a precious mouse.  And then the mouse himself proclaimed quite proudly that it was he not them that kept their number safe at nights in the wilds, and I do not doubt his word or his skill."   She swayed a little then and flushed a bit as she went to a nearby chair and sat.  "Dear me, all this excitement…" she mumbled and fanned herself a bit with a cloth.

"You have been feeling weakened?" Orien blurted as he rushed to her side and took her hand into his own.  "Your hands are cold as well.  Your feet, do they swell and ache?"

"You know the travails well for a young boy," Grilda responded.

"Orien is a skilled healer, Princess," Chrijo told her.  "Heed his words.  Do not let his youth fool you.  He was trained by the best healer I have ever known."

"Lord Dansius, your wife should be abed," Orien ordered.  "Her blood is weak.  She needs more greens in her diet.  Rest for a week, milady, and mind what you eat and drink.  The baby takes more than it gives at this stage, so you must be cared for, so that she is cared for."

"She?" Dansius asked with a pout.  "Is it not a son, then?"

"Your child is most certainly not an it, whatever else they may be.  I cannot be sure, I know there is a girl, but….  Tarel, what say you?" Orien said thoughtfully.

Tarel stepped closer and closed his eyes as he sniffed the air and then held one hand out in the air toward the princess, before smiling happily.  "You are to be congratulated, Lord Dansius.  You have a fine, healthy daughter… and son."

"A daughter… and a son?" Dansius whispered.  "Bless me," he whimpered before passing out on the floor, much to the amusement of all present.

"As I thought," Orien nodded firmly.  "Off with you, milady, to your bed.  I shall bring your supper up to you.  You will stay in that bed for a week, leaving it only for the chamber pot, do you heed?"

"I will do as my healer directs," the princess said with a gracious nod.  "The supper, though…."

"Leave your kitchen to us, milady," Juram said with a smile.  "In addition to being a fine healer, our good friend Orien is a most gifted cook as well."

"We will stay here that I may watch over you, milady," Orien said firmly.  "If you eat what I give you and do as I say, you and your children will be of good health when it is their time."  He suddenly blushed and turned to Chrijo to say, "I do hope this does not cause issue with your plans, Father?"

"The healer has a patient, my son," Chrijo said with a smile and a ruffle of the boy's hair.  "We stay until you declare it safe for us to take our leave of our friends."

"With more mouths to feed, your gallant knights will go out hunting with haste, milady," Carzier offered with a bow.  "It also gives me yet another chance to observe our paladin, Tarel, at his best."

"Paladin or not, you will do your fair share of the hunting this time, Carz.  I am no traveling show to be watched, cousin," Tarel snorted.

"But of course, lion of the hunt, but of course," Carzier said with an obviously sarcastic flourished bow.  "We shall all assist in carrying home your game, won't we my brothers in arms?"

"You hunt, I will stay to assist the skilled master in the kitchens," Juram told them as he sidled up to Orien and gave him a one armed hug.

"You only offer to stay that you can nibble as I cook," Orien laughed.

"You wound me, great chef," Juram pouted melodramatically.  "To have my motives discovered so soon, I must be losing my touch."

"If Ker is the mouse, then you are the rat," Orien huffed in exasperation, but there was a hint of smile on his face as well.  "Come along then great rat and help me see to the good lady's meal as well as our own."

"I go with Sir Tarel and his pompous side kick, then," Boren said rolling his eyes. 

"Sir Tarel?" Tarel questioned.

"Pompous sidekick," Carzier growled.  "Mutiny amongst my ranks," he complained. 

"You're all rank, you smelly oaf," Chrijo laughed.  "Hurry your hunt as much as you can, so you can clean yourselves on your return, that we do not offend our gracious hostess further."

"They aren't the only ones that announce their presence with an ill wind," Friezen muttered as he sent a glare to his love. 

"If I am to be a god of war, should I not make my presence known to the mere mortals before they even set eyes upon my greatness?"

"You are meant to slay your enemies with your sword, not your stench," Friezen returned.  "Or mine," he added with a wrinkled nose of distaste.  "Help me rouse the duke that he can show us where to draw the water from and start the bath processional…. Which none of our young ones will be exempt from," he added with a glare at the teens and boys.

"We shall make haste if the game does," Tarel told him with a shrug. 

"Game?  What game?" Dansius mumbled from the floor as he sat up slowly.  "Why am I on the….  Oh, I remember now.  One of each," he sighed with a huge silly-looking smile on his face.

"Milord Duke, pray tell us where we might find the most plentiful game in the least time that we be able to return quickly to dine….. and cleanse ourselves?" Carzier asked, adding the last three words at the look from his uncle.

"Not in that order, mind you," Friezen grouched under his breath.

"The forests north of the village would have the most game, but they belong to the….  Well, as he lies dead on the road to the south, I do not think it matters whose game it is now, does it?" Dansius answered with a question of his own.  "I can ride with you, if you…."

"Stay milord, and be of comfort to your good wife," Tarel dismissed him.  "It is not every day that a man and his wife learn of the near birth of not one but two blessings."

"How did you…. How could you know?" Dansius stammered.

"The healer that trained Orien was my mother," the teen explained.  "I helped her many times before Orien took my place at her side, so that I could take my own at my… Chrijo's side."

"I hope you are not ashamed to call me father, Tarel, for I am most certainly not ashamed to call you my son," the man in question said softly.  "The fact that I did not sire you bears no effect on my feelings for you, or for Orien."

"I would never deny you, father, unless it protects you or our family to do so," Tarel answered.  "I sought only to protect you from having to claim us."

"When will it sink into that thick head of yours that I could be no more proud of you and your brother than I am right now?  Besides, not all secrets are meant to be kept from the children of old friends," Chrijo instructed, telling the teen, as well as the others from their party more than his words said to their host, Dansius.

"You have brought justice to my family line, may you never have a secret that is not safe with me," Dansius told them all. 

"We shall think on that, my young friend," Friezen told the man.  "I pray you do not hold our mistrust against us until we all know you better."

"May we both meet your trust, as our lives are surely better for your arrival at this time," Grilda said just before she headed upstairs.  "Little Mouse, might you accompany me to my chambers that I may hear all of your adventures since last we met?"

"Lay but a finger upon my shoulder, milady, and you shall be as safe on the stair as you are reclined in your bed," Ker told her as he started up the steps with her.  "I am stronger than I look, milady."

"This I already know my tiny but mighty sorcerer," she smiled as they walked up the stairs together. 

"If you could, milord Duke, I would take my bath first so that I may get to work in the kitchens quickly," Orien prompted.

"Yes, of course," Dansius agreed.  "Right this way, Healer," he said with reverence.  "Is my lady in danger?  Or my heirs?"

"The lady and the babes will be in fine health once we fortify her blood," Orien told him.  "As I said, she needs bed rest and greens.  I have seen this before and the woman was far weaker than your good lady, yet with the care of my mother and my self, she brought forth a fine healthy son.  This will be my first time assisting a birth without my mother, and it is two, not one child, but I will let no harm befall your lady or your heirs, milord. You have my solemn vow on that, milord Duke."

"My heart could not be more at peace, Healer," Dansius assured the young one.  "If my old friends Chrijo and Friezen both put their trust in your skills, then who am I to doubt you?  Follow me to the kitchens and then I shall show you to the bathing chamber."

"Tarel, have a care when you are in the wood," Chrijo whispered.  "The game may not be all that has eyes and ears, especially in a forest that many think belonged to that swine you discharged earlier."

"As much as I might wish to see it again, perhaps this hunt should be made in human form, not the great lion," Carzier suggested.  "I would see if your skills are equal, cousin."

"My sight and hearing is much the same in either form, Carz," Tarel told him as they walked out of the house with Boren.  "Though an arrow does a bit less damage to the carcass than my claws."

An hour later, the three hunters returned with a wild boar and a basket of gathered greens and roots for seasoning their prize.  Orien was quite pleased with the catch, but more so with the greens and roots.  His words of praise for Tarel made the teen blush with pride and Carzier and Boren pout as it had been their idea to gather the secondary goods.  Boren would have spoken up on their behalf, but Juram gave him a kiss to the cheek before shooing the three hunters toward their baths.