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rainbowfic2015-09-11 04:53 pm
kay_brooke) wrote in rainbowfic2015-09-11 04:53 pm
Aurora #25, Burgundy #7
Name: kay_brooke
Story: The Eighth Saimar
Colors: Aurora #25 (Sith), Burgundy #7 (dry)
Styles/Supplies: Seed Beads
Word Count: 748
Rating/Warnings: PG-13; no standard warnings apply.
Summary: Lalin left something behind.
Note: Wow, it's been nearly a year since I wrote a piece for this canon. Constructive criticism is welcome, either through comments or PM. Last Burgundy.
“Doline.”
She put down her quill and sighed. She had told no one to bother her before dinner; there was too much to do. Few at the temple knew to what extent she went to keep the village authorities--and the Light Guard--away from the worshipping house. It was more than just denying knowledge when the guards came round, so much more. A whole series of alliances and friendships and favors owed that, if even one might prove a weak link, could bring the whole thing down around their ears.
It was up to Doline to keep those tenuous threads unbroken. A little uninterrupted time was all she asked for, when she was already doing so much for everyone else.
But it was Mina, and she had entered Doline’s room without permission. Doline’s exasperation drained away when she saw the bundle in the younger woman’s arms, to be replaced with a hotter anger.
How dare she. Because Doline did not need to see the face of the infant Mina carried. She recognized the blanket well enough. She was the one who had made it. A gift, it had been, and now just as rejected as the child it was wrapped around.
“He was in our sleeping quarters,” said Mina.
Doline stood from her desk and crossed the room, pulling away one corner of the blanket to peer into Aodh’s face. The child was sleeping, silent for once. A fussy baby, he was, and rather sickly, and she knew he had proven to be a challenge for his young mother. But that was no excuse. “Can we send someone after them?”
Mina’s head shot up sharply. “You want to give him back?” She held him a little tighter to her chest.
Doline sighed. “To be raised with his family, yes.” Her own hot anger was already subsiding. There was no point in feeling offended. What was done was done, and if she was honest with herself, she should have seen it coming. Lalin had not taken to her own child the way a mother should.
“She was never his family!” Tears pooled in the corner of Mina’s eyes. “I was always the one to keep him clean, to play with him and sing him to sleep. All she ever did was take him to her breast, and she hated every moment of it. I would have done it happily if I was able.” She looked down into Aodh’s face. “She doesn’t deserve him.”
“You are not his mother,” said Doline gently. She agreed with Mina; even if Aodh’s mother had been so loving, she had left on a difficult journey, to take on a difficult life. How was that a good place for a baby? But she had to make the argument. Mina could not decide another woman’s child was her own just because she wanted him to be.
“I’m a better mother than she would ever be,” said Mina. “Few of us here are related by blood, and yet we are still a family. Why should he not join it?”
“Many of us here are without family of our own,” said Doline. “He is not an orphan.”
“He is,” Mina insisted. “She abandoned him. I think her intentions are quite clear.”
Doline looked toward the window, where the golden light shining muted through the trees told her it was nearly time for dinner. Though it might be possible to send a rider after the caravan, what was the point? Mina was right. Lalin had not forgotten her child on accident. A message from Doline may shame her into returning for Aodh, but there was no guarantee of that. “I suppose it’s too late for a rider. I’ll send a message to someone in town who may be able to pass it on.” She doubted it. Liam and his family has been the last guides to Toirnoirbhach she knew of, and had now gone themselves. Who else would know how to get there?
Mina still looked defiant, so Doline nodded to her. “Make sure he’s fed. Catrin can serve as nursemaid, and he is old enough to start eating other food now.”
Mina nodded. “Thank you.”
“This is not a permanent arrangement,” said Doline, but again, it was just to underscore that she had not given in to Mina’s demands. She was almost certain Aodh would never see his birth mother again. None of them would.
Well, she couldn’t pretend she was very sad about that.
kay_brookeStory: The Eighth Saimar
Colors: Aurora #25 (Sith), Burgundy #7 (dry)
Styles/Supplies: Seed Beads
Word Count: 748
Rating/Warnings: PG-13; no standard warnings apply.
Summary: Lalin left something behind.
Note: Wow, it's been nearly a year since I wrote a piece for this canon. Constructive criticism is welcome, either through comments or PM. Last Burgundy.
“Doline.”
She put down her quill and sighed. She had told no one to bother her before dinner; there was too much to do. Few at the temple knew to what extent she went to keep the village authorities--and the Light Guard--away from the worshipping house. It was more than just denying knowledge when the guards came round, so much more. A whole series of alliances and friendships and favors owed that, if even one might prove a weak link, could bring the whole thing down around their ears.
It was up to Doline to keep those tenuous threads unbroken. A little uninterrupted time was all she asked for, when she was already doing so much for everyone else.
But it was Mina, and she had entered Doline’s room without permission. Doline’s exasperation drained away when she saw the bundle in the younger woman’s arms, to be replaced with a hotter anger.
How dare she. Because Doline did not need to see the face of the infant Mina carried. She recognized the blanket well enough. She was the one who had made it. A gift, it had been, and now just as rejected as the child it was wrapped around.
“He was in our sleeping quarters,” said Mina.
Doline stood from her desk and crossed the room, pulling away one corner of the blanket to peer into Aodh’s face. The child was sleeping, silent for once. A fussy baby, he was, and rather sickly, and she knew he had proven to be a challenge for his young mother. But that was no excuse. “Can we send someone after them?”
Mina’s head shot up sharply. “You want to give him back?” She held him a little tighter to her chest.
Doline sighed. “To be raised with his family, yes.” Her own hot anger was already subsiding. There was no point in feeling offended. What was done was done, and if she was honest with herself, she should have seen it coming. Lalin had not taken to her own child the way a mother should.
“She was never his family!” Tears pooled in the corner of Mina’s eyes. “I was always the one to keep him clean, to play with him and sing him to sleep. All she ever did was take him to her breast, and she hated every moment of it. I would have done it happily if I was able.” She looked down into Aodh’s face. “She doesn’t deserve him.”
“You are not his mother,” said Doline gently. She agreed with Mina; even if Aodh’s mother had been so loving, she had left on a difficult journey, to take on a difficult life. How was that a good place for a baby? But she had to make the argument. Mina could not decide another woman’s child was her own just because she wanted him to be.
“I’m a better mother than she would ever be,” said Mina. “Few of us here are related by blood, and yet we are still a family. Why should he not join it?”
“Many of us here are without family of our own,” said Doline. “He is not an orphan.”
“He is,” Mina insisted. “She abandoned him. I think her intentions are quite clear.”
Doline looked toward the window, where the golden light shining muted through the trees told her it was nearly time for dinner. Though it might be possible to send a rider after the caravan, what was the point? Mina was right. Lalin had not forgotten her child on accident. A message from Doline may shame her into returning for Aodh, but there was no guarantee of that. “I suppose it’s too late for a rider. I’ll send a message to someone in town who may be able to pass it on.” She doubted it. Liam and his family has been the last guides to Toirnoirbhach she knew of, and had now gone themselves. Who else would know how to get there?
Mina still looked defiant, so Doline nodded to her. “Make sure he’s fed. Catrin can serve as nursemaid, and he is old enough to start eating other food now.”
Mina nodded. “Thank you.”
“This is not a permanent arrangement,” said Doline, but again, it was just to underscore that she had not given in to Mina’s demands. She was almost certain Aodh would never see his birth mother again. None of them would.
Well, she couldn’t pretend she was very sad about that.
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