Baby Fleur

15th September 1228

My baby was born today. I have called her 'Fleur', because she is a little flower. I found the birth extremely uncomfortable, but I think that was because maga Iuris Perita and magus Speculor both insisted on being present. I could hardly drive them away, but I wish they hadn't been there. I am sure that they have some dark designs on my baby, quite beyond what Quercus might want to do.

As soon as Fleur was born, Speculor cast spells on her, but quite apart from the fact that she is a girl born on Harvest Moon, she takes very strongly after her father, who isn't Achilles. Her eyes are green like spring leaves, her skin is as brown as a nut, and her hair is like the leaves of the oak tree. She is really quite a beautiful baby, but I don't know what I am going to do with her. We cannot raise her here as my daughter.

16th September 1228

Achilles and I had a big fight today. He shouted a lot about my dissolute ways, and I shouted a lot about his dissolute ways, and then he accused me of having an affair with magus Constantine, and I accused him of having an affair with Amelle (not sure why I accused him of that, but it seemed like a good idea at the time), and finally he stormed off threatening to put me in a nunnery, or have me tried for adultery.

Of course, the noise made baby Fleur cry, and Amelle had stormed out when I suggested she was having an affair with Achilles, so I had to comfort the baby myself. I also went to find Amelle and apologised for my wild accusation. I can't afford to lose my nurse when I have two young children to look after. At least Phillipe is growing up now.

17th September 1228

Achilles came back today, and he was much more calm. Neither of us exactly apologised, but we had a much more civilised discussion. We agreed that the Midwinter feast was a special occasion, and that something about the presence of faeries causes problems. We also agreed that Fleur was a problem. I nearly lost my temper again when Achilles described her as an inhuman monster, so he revised that to 'obviously related to the fay'. He agrees with me that she cannot be raised as my daughter, as that would cause far too much talk, which would do his position no good at all. It is fortunate that we kept the pregnancy rather quiet, as we both of us feared that something like this might happen.

In the end, we decided that we would pretend that she was actually Amelle's daughter, as Amelle is clearly related to the faeries herself. Amelle wasn't too happy when she was informed of this, but as it wouldn't involve any additional work, she did grudgingly accept it. Of course, it will take some time to convince the villagers to refer to her this way, but at least everyone will know the story that we are planning to tell visitors.

When she is a bit older, we will send her to be fostered at the covenant. Another strange person there will cause no problems, and she won't be so far away that I never see her. Achilles went to the tower to see if the magi thought that this was a good idea, and found that they were positively enthusiastic about taking her in a few years time. They did ask that she be taught Latin, and the basics of the Liberal Arts, which is a little strange. I was planning to do that anyway, of course; my daughters are not going to be ignorant peasants.

13th October 1228

Maga Speranda returned from her journey today, and immediately came to look at the baby. She wasn't interested in talking to me at all, she just looked at Fleur's leaves and then looked very smug and pleased with herself. She also said that she would be requiring the services of Amelle in Spring. I can't let my nurse go for an entire season! Who's going to look after the babies? And I can hardly employ a nurse for one of the children when she is supposed to be Amelle's child. I need to speak to Achilles about this. Amelle is my nurse, not Speranda's servant.

14th October 1228

Achilles seemed unsympathetic to my plight. He said that it wasn't worth offending the magi over something as trivial as a nurse, and that there were plenty of other covenfolk who could do the job for a few months. I pointed out that Rubea was used to Amelle, and that by next March Fleur would be too, and that they would cry a lot if a new nurse was brought in, but Achilles said that that wasn't his problem. Men!

23rd October 1228

Achilles is furious over Fleur again, but not with me this time. It seems that maga Speranda rushed off to congratulate Quercus on his new baby, and Achilles is not at all happy about having Fleur's parentage so openly acknowledged. It is true that it was extremely tactless of the maga; she might have waited a while, as I am sure that Quercus will come for Midwinter.

However, Achilles is no longer in the mood to do any favours for Speranda, so he has headed off to the tower to tell her that, with the presence of the new baby, it will not be possible for her to take Amelle away for an entire season.

Later

Achilles has spoken to Speranda, and apparently he agreed to send my babies to the tower for a whole season. I pointed out that that wasn't the solution I had in mind, and told him to go back and tell Speranda that she would have to come to the manor. He laughed at me. How dare he! I made my displeasure clearly known, and Achilles retreated to the great hall.

24th October 1228

On reflection, I don't want Speranda living at the manor. She's creepy and strange, and might still have a crush on me. Maybe it is better for Amelle to take the babies with her. I can always go and visit them, and we are planning to send Fleur to be fostered anyway.

14th December 1228

A large group of pilgrims has just turned up at the covenant. They greatly upset the babies, and Amelle, who fled with them to the covenant. I also felt greatly uncomfortable, and in the confusion I was able to get to magus Constantine's room without anyone seeing me.

He was not exactly pleased to see me, and practically ordered me back home. I tried to explain about how bad it felt there, but he wasn't at all sympathetic. He reminded me that Achilles was already cross with me, and spent the entire time pacing at the opposite side of the room from me. He hardly even looked in my direction. As I stayed, he became more and more agitated, and he almost yelled at the poor servant who knocked on the door and said that the other magi requested his help.

After a while, when it was obvious he wasn't going to be any help, I sneaked out of the tower and back to Caribet again. I still don't much like it here, but Achilles doesn't seem to have noticed my absence, so at least there won't be any more problems.

16th December 1228

The faeries didn't come to yesterday's Midwinter feast, presumably because the pilgrims had only just been persuaded to leave. There was a lot of wine and revelry, but not the magic of previous years. There were also a lot of creepy magi around, and Constantine absolutely refused to talk to me, so I went back to the manor early. I was pleasantly surprised when Achilles joined me later, having returned alone himself.