Post by Dame Aegraine lePower-Zurban on May 26, 2012 15:36:24 GMT -6
In Mid Life, 1335[/b][/u]
Problems at Lake Manor
by the players of Dmitrii and Aegraine
It had been a hectic summer and got worse in late August, for the family at Lake Manor. First, the twins took some time to adjust their routine. Dmi and Ae gradually got back into a habit of riding off to work in Turas Lan and riding back the one hour distance, a few days later. When his sister Kaye came to live in her quarters at the Manor, it was a time of happiness, the feeling of family complete.
Then, in late fall, the twins were both teething. Word came that Aegraine's mother Aurilla and the family employee Rhupert Jenks were lost at sea, when the construction business' stone boat went down in a storm. That loss resulted in Ae's father coming to live with the Zurbans. Perhaps this was the straw that tipped the scale. Whatever it was, things were no longer easy and comfortable at home.
Rosetta and Pytor cried at all hours and there was no rest for the wicked and the good as well. Both parents found themselves walking a very miserable baby over one shoulder when the sun came up that day.
At breakfast, there was old Martin chattering in his unending tales of the past, sometimes telling the same adventure over and over again. There were manor business decisions to be made before the couple headed out to the castle and instructions for child care to give. Aegraine was starting to feel stretched to the limit; she was even having cross words with Dmitrii, over things they used to merely discuss to solve.
Another day, another ride to work. They were in the stables, each of them checking the saddles and making sure their horses were give some attention before taking them out into the light snow fall, off to the city.
"Dmi. I am at my wits end. I cannot take this anymore. Is it possible to sleep while riding? I swear it is all the rest we get." She did not mention that their time alone together was so rare of late that she was worrying there was another woman. Ae moved the reins to get ready to step up and be seated on her horse Alt. “Dmi? We really have to do something about my Da. He cannot be coming into our room without knocking. He left Pytor out of the crib again and forgot to watch him. Also, I have had complaints he is too 'playful' with the maids."
The second half of the year had been trying… depleting patience in them both… yet they were resilient in this familial battle as they were in the wars of violence. The loss of her Mother, and Rhupert, were difficult… as any loss of family members… and Dmitrii, despite her chiding him for even the smallest thing, he comforted her in her losses.
Aye, Martin LePower was something of a challenge. Nigh into his seventh decade, his mind was being chipped away by Father Time… His mind had symptoms for what would one day be called Dementia… Even in the King’s finest of medical researchers, the latin word dementia means madness. But Martin was not mad, nor insane… just his recent interactions were soon forgotten… but his mind and his engineering skills were still unsurpassed. The plethora of knowledge he had on that subject still amazed Dmitrii.
Dmitrii saddled Troika and listened to his beloved wife. “Shall we ride west and stop when we get to the sea?” he teased her as he finished the saddle… His words caused him to move toward her… Looking around, like a young boy not desiring to be caught, he edges toward her and back her against the wooden wall of the stables. “We nay have much time alone anymore, between yer Father and the children… Maybe I have been delinquent in my duties as a Husband, because the duties as a Father and a dutiful son-in-law took precedence…” he takes her hands and sets them together over her head and presses against her… “For that I am truly sorry… and wish to rectify…” None would be in the livery this day… and the pair would be alone for a while… and Dmi would look upon her with his lovingly steel-grey eyes as he began to kiss her lips and neck. “If he is playful with the maids, maybe I shall be playful with the Lady of the House…” and he would try hard to make her giggle with his sensual antics.
For the first time since the twins were born, Aegraine giggled and laughed, for one bit of time all the burdens of her household, family burdens as well as work problems like that crack in the castle wall along the eastern gate side went out the window, gone as if there was nothing but the two of them off on some island which held them, their horses and smelled like a barn. "Playful is good; and I hope we do not change when we are Da's age." Martin was the oldest person Aegraine ever knew and the fact that the span of his days is now measured by months not days, was plain fact to her. To the old man, it was not.
"I almost think we need not go to the castle this day, but duty calls. If I had my choice I would be here, a bit longer. We need more time for us; if we let them, our family will take it all. I was afraid you were angry with me, we spoke so little of late." Ae looked Dmi in the eyes. Her handsome husband.
"Let us not dift apart like Martin and Aurilla did; not let blocks of distance and unspoken concerns build a wall between us. You are a wonderful father and I admire how you have helped my Da. Things will get better, eh?" She had rekindled hope and a smile in her voice with just these few moments."I am afraid the horses are getting anxious for their run to the city," She glanced over at Troika, pawing the ground, as if he were an impatient child.
They rode out the door, into the silence of light snow sifting down on them, so like the day they first met.
Memories of years past made the warrior smile… Aye she was beautiful as the day he met her at the City Wall… so beautiful, yet so strong willed, the knowledge she has of construction and engineering amazed him in such youth. But time would reveal her teacher and mentor… the man who became his Father-in-Law… A man of odd character, eyes that spoke volumes, mounted in a head bald as the day he was born.
They rhythmically rode those steeds toward the large capital city of Turas Lan… a city that housed a royal pair that history would nay see again… unless their offspring claimed such luck and fortune. A city that his beloved wife had a hand in constructing, whether her, her Father, or one of the world’s leading engineers from abroad, designed it.
She had given him no opportunity to respond to her comments before she had spurred her horse onward, but now upon the road to the City, though his words were spoken in rhythm to the horse’s stride… “We could have been delinquent and stayed home… I think not that the King would imprison us for intimacy of our own making…” he chuckled at the look she had so often given him with such comments…
He pulled back on the reins halting his horse… and he would watch her do the same and eventually turn around to rejoin him. And at her odd look in silently questioning his actions… “Angry with you? My beloved Aegraine… I could never be angry with you… My life is one filled with love… We have a fine home… two beautiful children… and we live free.” He chuckled a bit… “What more could two people ask of life… save the extra time in bed before our ages catch up with us…” and those steel grey eyes sparkled, and he could not resist the wink.
Leaning forward in the saddle, he removed the leather glove and raising his hand, caressed her check, his thumb tracing her cheekbone. “My love for thee is unyielding, like my swords in battle… never doubt that…” and when she nodded, he put on his glove… laughed, then spurred Troika into a run… But as he left her side he yelled… “Last one to the Castle shall bid service to the other in anything requested…” and away the dark figure rode, determined to beat his wife to their destination.
Two horses raced .along the pathway, headed to Turlan, stones and dry dust flyin in their wake. Mary Dunn and her man Angus, looked up, on their way to work their share at Lake Manor stables, a duty the resident farm families gave as assistance to the Zurbans.
"See there, Mary?" Red bearded Angus gestured to the pair hurrying to the castle. "She leaves her babies, just like you do, to go off and do for the gentry. Rank does not make life easy, if you think on it."
"No life be easy, eh?" Mary hefted a bale of straw from their cart and onto her shoulder, plodding on into the Manor stable building.
Dimitrii and Aegraine were in the middle of their life's work with home, family and duty to the crown to fill their days complete. This day they discovered how to make such a full schedule work. They learned the value of finding time for each other, inspite of it all.
These days were, inspite of the hectic schedule, their Eden, their days of as close to lesiure the Zurbans were to experience. Old Martin had something in mind, something that was to disrupt Dmitiii and Aegraine's lives andtake them far off from Lake Manor, into an abyss of peril.
to be continued, at the Castle , where old Martin ask a favor from the King and Queen
Problems at Lake Manor
by the players of Dmitrii and Aegraine
It had been a hectic summer and got worse in late August, for the family at Lake Manor. First, the twins took some time to adjust their routine. Dmi and Ae gradually got back into a habit of riding off to work in Turas Lan and riding back the one hour distance, a few days later. When his sister Kaye came to live in her quarters at the Manor, it was a time of happiness, the feeling of family complete.
Then, in late fall, the twins were both teething. Word came that Aegraine's mother Aurilla and the family employee Rhupert Jenks were lost at sea, when the construction business' stone boat went down in a storm. That loss resulted in Ae's father coming to live with the Zurbans. Perhaps this was the straw that tipped the scale. Whatever it was, things were no longer easy and comfortable at home.
Rosetta and Pytor cried at all hours and there was no rest for the wicked and the good as well. Both parents found themselves walking a very miserable baby over one shoulder when the sun came up that day.
At breakfast, there was old Martin chattering in his unending tales of the past, sometimes telling the same adventure over and over again. There were manor business decisions to be made before the couple headed out to the castle and instructions for child care to give. Aegraine was starting to feel stretched to the limit; she was even having cross words with Dmitrii, over things they used to merely discuss to solve.
Another day, another ride to work. They were in the stables, each of them checking the saddles and making sure their horses were give some attention before taking them out into the light snow fall, off to the city.
"Dmi. I am at my wits end. I cannot take this anymore. Is it possible to sleep while riding? I swear it is all the rest we get." She did not mention that their time alone together was so rare of late that she was worrying there was another woman. Ae moved the reins to get ready to step up and be seated on her horse Alt. “Dmi? We really have to do something about my Da. He cannot be coming into our room without knocking. He left Pytor out of the crib again and forgot to watch him. Also, I have had complaints he is too 'playful' with the maids."
The second half of the year had been trying… depleting patience in them both… yet they were resilient in this familial battle as they were in the wars of violence. The loss of her Mother, and Rhupert, were difficult… as any loss of family members… and Dmitrii, despite her chiding him for even the smallest thing, he comforted her in her losses.
Aye, Martin LePower was something of a challenge. Nigh into his seventh decade, his mind was being chipped away by Father Time… His mind had symptoms for what would one day be called Dementia… Even in the King’s finest of medical researchers, the latin word dementia means madness. But Martin was not mad, nor insane… just his recent interactions were soon forgotten… but his mind and his engineering skills were still unsurpassed. The plethora of knowledge he had on that subject still amazed Dmitrii.
Dmitrii saddled Troika and listened to his beloved wife. “Shall we ride west and stop when we get to the sea?” he teased her as he finished the saddle… His words caused him to move toward her… Looking around, like a young boy not desiring to be caught, he edges toward her and back her against the wooden wall of the stables. “We nay have much time alone anymore, between yer Father and the children… Maybe I have been delinquent in my duties as a Husband, because the duties as a Father and a dutiful son-in-law took precedence…” he takes her hands and sets them together over her head and presses against her… “For that I am truly sorry… and wish to rectify…” None would be in the livery this day… and the pair would be alone for a while… and Dmi would look upon her with his lovingly steel-grey eyes as he began to kiss her lips and neck. “If he is playful with the maids, maybe I shall be playful with the Lady of the House…” and he would try hard to make her giggle with his sensual antics.
For the first time since the twins were born, Aegraine giggled and laughed, for one bit of time all the burdens of her household, family burdens as well as work problems like that crack in the castle wall along the eastern gate side went out the window, gone as if there was nothing but the two of them off on some island which held them, their horses and smelled like a barn. "Playful is good; and I hope we do not change when we are Da's age." Martin was the oldest person Aegraine ever knew and the fact that the span of his days is now measured by months not days, was plain fact to her. To the old man, it was not.
"I almost think we need not go to the castle this day, but duty calls. If I had my choice I would be here, a bit longer. We need more time for us; if we let them, our family will take it all. I was afraid you were angry with me, we spoke so little of late." Ae looked Dmi in the eyes. Her handsome husband.
"Let us not dift apart like Martin and Aurilla did; not let blocks of distance and unspoken concerns build a wall between us. You are a wonderful father and I admire how you have helped my Da. Things will get better, eh?" She had rekindled hope and a smile in her voice with just these few moments."I am afraid the horses are getting anxious for their run to the city," She glanced over at Troika, pawing the ground, as if he were an impatient child.
They rode out the door, into the silence of light snow sifting down on them, so like the day they first met.
Memories of years past made the warrior smile… Aye she was beautiful as the day he met her at the City Wall… so beautiful, yet so strong willed, the knowledge she has of construction and engineering amazed him in such youth. But time would reveal her teacher and mentor… the man who became his Father-in-Law… A man of odd character, eyes that spoke volumes, mounted in a head bald as the day he was born.
They rhythmically rode those steeds toward the large capital city of Turas Lan… a city that housed a royal pair that history would nay see again… unless their offspring claimed such luck and fortune. A city that his beloved wife had a hand in constructing, whether her, her Father, or one of the world’s leading engineers from abroad, designed it.
She had given him no opportunity to respond to her comments before she had spurred her horse onward, but now upon the road to the City, though his words were spoken in rhythm to the horse’s stride… “We could have been delinquent and stayed home… I think not that the King would imprison us for intimacy of our own making…” he chuckled at the look she had so often given him with such comments…
He pulled back on the reins halting his horse… and he would watch her do the same and eventually turn around to rejoin him. And at her odd look in silently questioning his actions… “Angry with you? My beloved Aegraine… I could never be angry with you… My life is one filled with love… We have a fine home… two beautiful children… and we live free.” He chuckled a bit… “What more could two people ask of life… save the extra time in bed before our ages catch up with us…” and those steel grey eyes sparkled, and he could not resist the wink.
Leaning forward in the saddle, he removed the leather glove and raising his hand, caressed her check, his thumb tracing her cheekbone. “My love for thee is unyielding, like my swords in battle… never doubt that…” and when she nodded, he put on his glove… laughed, then spurred Troika into a run… But as he left her side he yelled… “Last one to the Castle shall bid service to the other in anything requested…” and away the dark figure rode, determined to beat his wife to their destination.
Two horses raced .along the pathway, headed to Turlan, stones and dry dust flyin in their wake. Mary Dunn and her man Angus, looked up, on their way to work their share at Lake Manor stables, a duty the resident farm families gave as assistance to the Zurbans.
"See there, Mary?" Red bearded Angus gestured to the pair hurrying to the castle. "She leaves her babies, just like you do, to go off and do for the gentry. Rank does not make life easy, if you think on it."
"No life be easy, eh?" Mary hefted a bale of straw from their cart and onto her shoulder, plodding on into the Manor stable building.
Dimitrii and Aegraine were in the middle of their life's work with home, family and duty to the crown to fill their days complete. This day they discovered how to make such a full schedule work. They learned the value of finding time for each other, inspite of it all.
These days were, inspite of the hectic schedule, their Eden, their days of as close to lesiure the Zurbans were to experience. Old Martin had something in mind, something that was to disrupt Dmitiii and Aegraine's lives andtake them far off from Lake Manor, into an abyss of peril.
to be continued, at the Castle , where old Martin ask a favor from the King and Queen