« Margaret is stung
Condal speaks with the father of her friend »
Eadred reveals the precise nature of his plans
Saturdays were always busy days for the royal steward, but this was the anniversary of the old Queen's death, and the King would not be bothered except in dire need.
Ralf had done all he could to prepare their morning's work for Monday, but now he found himself in the eerily unfamiliar situation of having a Saturday afternoon free.
When he stepped outside and saw the height of the pale sun that shimmered through the clouds, he thought he even had enough time to ride down to the market before dinner.
Thereupon he decided he would buy a wheel of the sweet Dunellen cheese Aelia so favored, and a pot of chicken livers for Aphrodite and Chloe, and for himself a jug of wine. They would eat and drink themselves into a long afternoon nap before the fire, and then Ralf would put up his feet and read from that borrowed book of Norse epic tragedy he had been saving for just such a gloomy occasion.
"Ralf!" a voice called joyously from on high. "There you are!"
Ralf looked up with dread, for he knew that ringing voice full well. It was the Captain of the Guard shouting down from the height of the wall, with his recent, unflagging glee: the man least suited to any gloomy occasion.
Ralf's instinctive reaction was to wonder whether he could run fast enough to reach the bridge before Eadred had made his way down, but he pulled together enough politeness to call, "What ho, Captain? Were you needing something from me?"
"Wait – here!" Eadred commanded. He began shuffling sideways along the wall, not daring to turn his eyes away from Ralf, until at last his grin broke into laughter and his sidling into a run.
The younger of the two guards behind Ralf barked, "No running on the walls!" as the Captain himself so often did.
Eadred laughed, "Right!" and slowed into the fastest, most unintentionally comical walk Ralf had ever seen.
The two guards laughed softly at each other. Ralf closed his eyes and sighed.
Eadred must have run again as soon as he stepped off the wall and into the castle, for he burst out of the tower door at a reckless speed, and he was forced to clutch at Ralf's coat as he arrived to drag himself to a stop.
"Ralf!" he panted. "My friend! My brother! My patron saint! What are you doing tonight?" He concluded with what he must have believed his most appealing grin.
Ralf knew better than to reveal to this man the precise nature of his plans for the evening. He said gravely, "Staying home."
Eadred's appealing grin fell open into a look of dismay. "That's not what you're supposed to say!"
"What am I supposed to say, O my acolyte?" Ralf asked wearily.
"You're supposed to say, 'Going to spend an evening at Nothelm!'" Eadred smiled eagerly again, for these days his eager smile never abandoned him for long. "Aren't you going?"
Ralf twitched his sleeve out of Eadred's clasp and stepped grandly away.
"This was to be the first occasion when I would have seen Flann together with her new husband," he explained with mournful gravity. "Therefore I shall not go."
Eadred snorted and rolled his eyes. "But then the next occasion will be the first occasion, and the next and the next, and then you'll never go anywhere again!" He clapped his hand down on Ralf's shoulder and shook it. "Come on!"
"The next occasion will not be the same," Ralf glowered. "If you are incapable of understanding that…"
Eadred sidled hastily around Ralf and planted himself in his path.
"Ralf! My brother! Just because one woman wouldn't have you, I won't let you swear off all of them forever. She wouldn't have me either, I remind you!"
He grinned as merrily as ever while he said it, proving how little he understood.
"You wouldn't want to disappoint her ladyship, now…" he wheedled.
"Her ladyship will have more interesting distractions than I." Ralf yanked his sleeve out of the man's grasp a second time. "Is that all, young barnacle?"
"But, Ralf," Eadred whimpered. "I need you to go. I need you to get an invitation for me! Her ladyship would do anything for you…"
Ralf rolled his eyes and groaned. "Is that all, my brother? When's the last time you were home?"
"I've been on duty all morning… Why?" His hopeful, eager smile was already on the mend.
"I'm certain there's an invitation waiting for you there. His Grace has invited every unmarried man and boy of respectable rank in the kingdom, as far as I can tell."
"What?" Eadred laughed. "Why?"
"Because last night he tried to get rid of all the men at supper, and both of his daughters managed to get kissed anyway. And some kisses, from what they're saying! So tonight he seems to be trying to weight the scales the other way. Perhaps hoping there will be so many older men around that the young ones won't get a chance, and the young ladies will be left the uninteresting task of kissing men old enough to be their fathers."
"Or perhaps we'll all slay each other in our attempts to get at the girls!" Eadred cried. He smacked his fist into his palm and declared, "Send them at me! Last man standing wins!"
"It's been good knowing you, lad," Ralf sighed and patted him fondly on the back. "But I forgot to mention: Saeward's going."
"What?" Eadred squawked. He protectively slapped his hand over the eye whose magnificent bruise had only recently faded.
"I suppose you'll finally see some proof he likes women after all," Ralf chuckled wickedly.
"Mother of Pearl!" Eadred swore. "I had all the proof I need! He can like girls or boys or nanny goats for all I care!"
"Unless he's only going to the party to annoy you…" Ralf said thoughtfully.
"He's only going to steal the girl I want," Eadred wailed. "Just to prove he likes them! I know it!"
Ralf paused to consider the current crop of female friends and inhabitants of Nothelm. "Who's the girl you want?" he asked, mystified. "There won't be anyone there. Only friends of the family – married ladies and little girls. And Lasrua, but I wouldn't – "
"What about Flann's sister?" Eadred demanded.
Still Ralf was mystified. "Catan?" he gasped. "You're afraid of Saeward and not afraid of a jealous elf?"
"I am not afraid of anybody!" Eadred huffed. "And I meant Condal," he added with a grand sigh.
"Condal?" Ralf gasped again.
Eadred jabbed his elbow into Ralf's ribs. "Shhh! What if that diabolical reeve is listening?"
"But she's only a little girl!" Ralf protested.
"She may be little yet," Eadred laughed, cupping his hands over his chest to demonstrate in what manner he meant it, "but she's not a little girl!"
"She can scarcely be older than fourteen! If that!"
"How old are you, old barnacle?"
"Thirty-​​one. That's nothing! Our gracious Queen was married at fifteen, and if Sigefrith wasn't a dirty old bastard at his age when he married her, then I'm certainly not at mine."
"I never said he wasn't," Ralf grumbled.
"I'm telling!" Eadred taunted, like a little boy himself. "Come, Ralf – Lady Gwynn's the same age, and she's mad about you."
"I have no designs on Lady Gwynn!"
"You ought to!" Eadred whistled. "What a prize! Even if you do have nose hairs taller than she is, my dear giant. But I digress. I think fourteen is just about the right age for a wife. You can still make her what you like. What would you have me do – marry a thirty-​​year-​​old widow with six brats and seven teeth?"
"No," Ralf grumbled, "but a girl nineteen or so…"
"Well, if she was nineteen I would gladly marry her, but I can't wait that long. We're going to war in the spring, and I want to have my house and my wife all settled in by then. For if I must die," he said with an unintentionally comical air of tragedy, "I should like to know there is a chance I have left a little red-​​headed heir behind. A post – post – "
Ralf sighed and shook his head. "Posthumous."
"Posthumous son! You understand perfectly, Brother Ralf. And I have a clear advantage over our goat-​​fondling reeve," he said slyly. "For I speak a bit of the Gaelic. I wager the dear, shy little lass will be delighted to discover a man at the party who speaks her own language."
"I reckon she will," Ralf said dryly.
"Won't you come?" Eadred pleaded. "Then all I have to do is stick close to you, and Condal will stick close to Lady Gwynn, and in effect she won't leave my side!"
"I shall not go," Ralf grumbled. "I intend to go to market, and then home, and thereafter I hope not to see you until Monday morn. No offense."
"I'll come with you to market, at least," Eadred said gaily. He fell into step beside Ralf. "Do you think it's too forward to give a girl a gift the first time you dance with her?"
"Ahhh… what about myself?" He hesitantly sniffed the back of his wrist and then stuck his nose deep into his armpit for a sniff and a grimace. "You always smell nice, Ralf. What do you wear?"
"Keep it down, Captain!" Ralf snickered. "If Saeward ever hears you telling me I smell nice after you wondered whether he likes women…"
"Right!" Eadred laughed. "Let's keep the compliments between you and me, dear love. But – "
"Captain!"
Eadred spun around to face the young guard who had come hustling up behind them.
"Holy Mother of Pearl! Tell me you didn't just hear that last bit, lad!"
The guard stopped and stared dumbly at the two of them. "No…"
"Good!" Eadred beamed. "Now what can I do for you?"
"Aren't you on duty, Captain?"
Eadred looked worriedly down the path towards the bridge, and then up the path at the long distance he had already covered on his absent-​​minded way out.
Then he laughed. "Right!"
Aug. 19, 2009, 5:59 pm
Alfwold
Ralf Eadmondsson
Eadred Caedmondsson
Natanleod
Aethelnoth
So as revealed above, I decided to use the name Saeward for Mysterious Reeve. The Name Araphel Poll is still open for a limited time if you Saeward-voters want to switch. So far it looks like it's going to be Gudram, but I will have to decide within the next three or four chapters.
Eww this guy seems like a perv.
I love the way they refer to Maud as the old queen, just the "Late Queen Maud" would suffice. When Eadie dies will they also call her the old queen?
Yeah, Eadred is kind of creepy. Ralf always amuses me, though.
Eadred is certainly something of a dirty old bastard as far as looking at thirteen-year-old girls goes, but more than anything else he is just giddy. You might imagine he just won the lottery two days ago, because that's pretty much what this coming knighthood represents to him. He is already dreaming about everything he's going to have, and a pretty, maidenly young wife (after years of the sort of girls who hang out with bachelor guards) is one of the things.
Now, since he's going to be a gentleman he wants a real, fine lady. And, as it happens, Connie is the only girl in the valley who is fine enough but not too fine, as someone like Gwynn would be. If there had been an assortment of girls in an older age range, I think Eadred would have gladly gone for something a little older. But since Connie is the only thing there is, he has convinced himself that she is the ultimate, perfect bride, even at fourteen. He doesn't want to look around because he doesn't want to wait. What if he did get killed next spring, and missed out on that?
I suspect reality is going to hit our newest future knight rather hard over the giddy head, though. (Reality, and perhaps a certain number of gentlemen.) Ralf may wish he had gone, if only to watch.
I do love Ralf. Such an adorable doofus with his half-irony and half-emo, and his three cats.
What a pervy perv!
Well, I guess it's the times. *cringes*
A supposedly gay guard? LOL
I actually like Eadred's silly, wistful self! And if he's a perv, so are many of the men in Lothere. Seaward is about a hundred times creepier than Eadred (but I guess, for different reasons). Connie's age aside though, she's really not the right girl to pursue at the moment.
Hurray for the return of Ralf! I do hope he consents to get out at some point. He needs a friend that isn't the old lady who works for him. Yay, I was so happy to see him!
Alred looks seriously sleezy in the banner. That smile! You could slice marble with a smile like that.
I think Eadred will be fine once he settles down a bit. It's not my intention to create a creepy perv with him... he's probably quite likable otherwise. Sigefrith wouldn't have made him Captain or knight if he were ordinarily the sort to grope little girls or absent-mindedly wander off while on duty. I think I could have a lot of fun with him in the meantime, though.
A thirty-one-year old man who is determined to get married and get settled into his house before the spring is definitely not the sort of thing Connie needs around right now, though. We'll see how he is at the party, but I have the feeling he is not lacking in self-confidence when it comes to talking to ladies -- armpit-sniffing notwithstanding. So he'll be more of a handful than Cearball was.
And what does Mysterious Reeve have planned?
As for Alred, it was hard to find a banner that fit the two of them in, due to the difference in heights. Even so I thought it would be funny to tease you with the Dirty Old Bastard Alred that I threatened a few weeks ago. Some of those pictures are much sleazier than that. I don't think the chapter will go that way -- I hope Alred will be his gently teasing, gently flirting self -- but I haven't written it yet so I make no promises. slicing marble *snickers*
So, I had a random idea. I think I remember looking through Lothere families and saw that Sophie's former (abusive) husband had a sister. I specifically thought that it was nice that she had a picture as well as the fact that she was a bit older, 19 maybe, and still unmarried. Is this a possible marriage option for any of these lovely gentlemen? Or am I thinking of someone else...
Whew! *pants* Took me a while to remember where this came up. You're thinking of Colburga & Wynna's friend Osgyth. She was from time to time going out with Mouse's brother Oswald, and Mouse and Os were talking about her in "Matilda has no idea":
"You two fight again, Ossie? You always make up."
"No more! Didn't you hear?"
"What happened?" Mouse asked.
"Some lucky man is soon to be the father of a red-headed little baby, and I'm not the man!"
"Did she truly…?"
Oswald sighed as if he would rather talk about anything else. "I thought she was being unusually… affectionate with me a month or so ago," he said bitterly. "Now I think she was trying to trick me."
"Oh, Os! My poor boy! It's not the first time it's happened to you, either."
*snicker* Poor Os!
This was back in late September, so she must be showing quite a bit now. I don't remember whether I mentioned her getting married anywhere... I think I didn't so maybe she's going the unwed mother route. But she has always been a pretty fast girl regardless... Eadred certainly wouldn't marry her. He might have slept with her (maybe he did! -- though I think she was more of the farm-boy type) but he wants a nice little maidenly maiden now. Oh the hypocrisy! Oh the double standards!
Good thinking though! I need to find a way to get a crop of young ladies imported into Lothere somehow. We have a lot of young men, and it's easy to conjure up more, but things are going to get miserable for Connie if I don't get some girls. Hmm, I could get Sigefrith to endow a convent after all... that would be good for a few laughs and a few midnight escapades.
Ohhhh, so that is why, alright. She might be pretty interesting, especially in regard to her relationship with Sophie, but who knows. I think already we have a lot of interesting characters already that we do not get to see so much, because the story is so wonderfully expanding! Then on the other hand, it would also be interesting to see the two widowed healers and their dynamic. So much good stuff here! I do not even know how you decide who to write about. I really do like the convent idea though, it would be new and offer a nice place for some ladies.
Osgyth's entire household must be interesting. She's there with her widowed mother and her younger brother Thurstan. It was Leofwine's manor, and he supposedly held it in fee to the Earl, but Leofwine is dead, and the old Earl is dead, and in the beginning Sophie was too glad to get the hell out of that house to really worry about who got what.
Technically the manor should belong to the Earl to grant to some other knight, but between Sophie's get-the-hell-out mentality, and Baldwin's overwhelming meekness, and Edris's poor head for managing affairs, and the distance separating them from the rest of the community, young Thurstan and his family have sort of taken over the manor by default.
Thurstan is still a little young, but there could be problems in the future with him. He may prove to be the Osfrey Ealstan sort -- forceful and manipulative with his weak-minded supposed lord and lady. He is not being trained up as a knight. He is rather growing up to be a sort of rat or parasite. But because of the yuckiness of the whole affair with Leofwine and Sophie, no one is getting involved.
I am using / saving this particular storyline -- as well as "Heafon-heah", the lawless community in the hills up behind Sir Sigefrith's -- as evidence that Sigefrith's little kingdom is beginning to get too big for him to manage it all. Not that he is a bad king -- he is actually quite a good king -- but his kingdom is getting too populated and especially too spread out for him to keep an eye on everything personally, or even among his trusted henchmen such as Ralf. Heafon-heah, in particular, is supposed to be Sir Sigefrith's to handle, and so far he has been a little too careless and easy-going to be up to the task.
But all of that will be for future chapters, I have so much else going on now. But if you want to know how I decide whom to write about, a lot of it is based on what you all seem to want to read, so keep the ideas coming! I admit to being intrigued by those two darn widowed healers, too, ever since I noticed them.
Maybe I will read up on 11th century convents and what that comprised exactly. Hetty, Lili, and Hetty's maid Hattie all grew up in one, so it might be a logical thing for Hetty to suggest. And it would be a great way to get young gentlewomen into the valley. I just hope it doesn't come about because SIgefrith is obliged to make the same sort of threat to Emma that he did to Brit when he found out about Brinstan.
Hmmm... doesn't sound at all like what Connie needs but it sounds exactly like what Flann wants. I wonder if she is going to switch and start helping Eadred woo her. I mean, he has already decided he wants to marry her so he is a sure bet in that regard, whereas Cearball obviously likes her but who know what he wants and he might be going home anyway. I think Flann is about to get even more pushy, and it would suit her to have Connie marry someone in the valley so they could stay together. I mean she was basically throwing the poor girl at some random guy, imagine how she will act if she know somebody is asking for her hand. Oh dear.
I don't think Eadred is horrible... just totally over-excited. I mean things have just turned out really well for him. Ralf is so cute
Hmmm... and scary-beard reeve and goat eh? That guy is rather creepy. I don't know if it is the feeling that he could jab someone's eye out with that beard or something else but he just doesn't give me a good vibe.
Uh uh, no way, Eadred is totally not cool enough for Connie. He's not even really a character. At least not in my mind. He doesn't get to have her, she needs someone a lot cooler and who will be in the story so she will be as well Eadred is annoying...and lame.
First of all, I think Mysterious Reeve's beard is awesome. I wish I had more 3D beards that didn't look fake. His is pushing it in terms of fakeness but I think it still looks OK, especially combined with the nice manly stubbly beard he has going on.
As for Flann, I'm not quite sure what she wants for Connie (besides a human husband, pronto). On the one hand she would like to have her near because she loves her. On the other hand, she might want to get her as far from the valley as possible, e.g. Ireland. Murchad is there so she can always tell herself Connie would have family nearby. Of course Eithne met Dantalion in Scotland...
Also, the Captain was one of the men (along with Ralf and the other steward Wynn, in particular) who were flirting with Flann last winter. Among the doofuses who shaved their beards and then couldn't kiss her. So maybe proud Flann will have just a hint of jealousy about the fact that a guy who couldn't have her just shrugged and went for her sister instead.
However I think Cat will definitely be pro-Eadred, at least until something better comes along.
Did I say until? I meant unless. Yeah.
Don't worry, though, Tiana. I hope Eadred won't stay lame, since he will probably stay in the story a lot more now that he will be a knight, but I really don't intend him to end up with Connie. Connie is almost supernatural (heck, she's a real live fairy) and Eadred is just way too ordinary for her. In terms of the story Eadred is just there for the comedy plus to provide some extra pressure on Connie. She's going to be getting a lot of it, and not all of it will be freckle-faced and funny.
Oh god is there a way to take back that comment...like edit it out or something...I can't believe I said Eadred was lame...I love his face so much!
And can I edit out the "way too ordinary" and "just there for the comedy" parts?
He's so cuuuute! Even Ralf can't resist him.
Well Ralf does have an eye for cute things. Cats... Eadred...
I just love the 11th picture where the both of them have their heads cocked to the side. What a couple of loobies.
You know, reading this again, Eadred kind of reminds me of Gwynn.
It's that dreamy look he gets when he starts blabbing about possibilities that are so romantic. Condal! A posthumous son! The swooning, it's... Gwynnish.
And then there's the meddling-- Telling Ralf that Gwynn is dead gone on him.
Ah, I see.
Never thought of it that way.
I totally see it! Also his habit of using fancy words and phrases he doesn't quite understand. He clearly spends too much time with Ralf. He cracks me up whenever I get to write him.
MohaviWinter
December 8, 2009 – 11:36 AM
Mmm, am I the only one who sits here wishing that Ralf would go to the party and meet up with Princess Irene? They're both sensitive and lonely people. Even if it doesn't turn into anything romantic, I think they'd be good for each other as friends.
Not a bad idea! Ralf also knows Greek, at least the ancient kind. Only problem is that Irene isn't at Nothelm. Yet.
"Do you realize how insufficient a reason 'I love her and she loves me' truly is?"
‒ Sigefrith to Brede, "Brede learns how insufficient love is"
council-turn