Reconsidered

There was a constant hum of activity coming from the nursery. Thankfully, Isebrilia had taken to Abrien quickly and had warmed up to her brother sharing her space. She didn't cry when either were in the room anymore, which was a blessing. It was crazy enough in there without her adding to the stress. Nana and I were constantly running in and out trying to take care of the three toddlers while also keeping the house in order. It was a good day indeed when I only had to focus on teaching Cugu as Isebrilia had completed that phase. She was content to sit next to Abrien as they played with the xylophone and peg box.

Erumaren's birthday was more one of those bittersweet ones. I had relied on a lot on him since the fire, and it was sad to have him leave when the only other school-aged children in the house were Celendel and Celenia. They were often so busy that Erumaren had been the one I had been talking and relaxing around with the most. He was going to be very busy from now on as well seeing as he had decided to become a police officer. Nana said his decision was good timing. I was wondering what she meant by that until she reminded me that Maldor was really getting on in years. When he did pass, we would have lost our source of background checks if there hadn't been another officer in the family. I didn't like the reminder. I didn't care one bit about not having background checks. It was the thought that I was about to lose another son that disturbed me.

Celendel and Celenia spent most of one afternoon at the consignment store that opened up recently in town. Celendel, who had yet to find one activity he was particular interested in, was fascinated by all the skill items the store had to offer. Meanwhile, Celenia found her love for art again when she came across a drafting table. She began trying it out right there in the store. Unfortunately, it had already been claimed and she hadn't the money to purchase it anyway. I was not in the mood to buy yet another bulky item to add to the house. I also knew it wasn't right to purchase my children whatever they wanted simply because I had the money. Celenia would have to earn the cash herself if she really wanted to get one.

When I realized I was pregnant again, I went through my maternity clothes to find that many items were very old. I really needed some new outfits. I went out shopping to replenish my store, and had a fun time doing so. I liked what I picked so much that I found myself staring in the mirror much more than normal.

What was even better than getting new clothes was that I got a break from cooking for a while. Celendel was trying several different activities to figure out what it was he was really good at. For about four days or so he became fascinated with cooking. With nana making the morning meals and Celendel doing dinner, I didn't have to do a thing. Better yet, one evening Celendel made us my favorite salad to eat as I was beginning to get moody from the pregnancy. It was his way of calming me down.

It was a few weeks later when Isebrilia had her birthday. A bit unfortunately, I still called her Eleme sometimes in my head. It was hard not to when they appeared so similar. Eleme and Isebrilia was very different in terms of their personality though. Eleme had always loved doing lots of physically exercise and was constantly on the go. Isebrilia was much quieter and preferred to be inside doing something creative. The blocks quickly became her favorite toy.

I made a trip over to Abriel's house to see my 214th grandchild. Abriel had given birth to a healthy baby boy whom she had decided to call Nicklaus. While I was there, I couldn't help but to think of Raine. I missed being able to talk to her nearly daily like I had been able to do when she was still alive. She had gone on to have two boys and a girl of her own. I had kept up with them and their children for a while, but my own life had gotten in the way and I lost track of some descendents of mine again. 214 grandchildren was an impressive number, but I had to have thousands of descendents by now. It was hard to wrap my head around the reality that that was almost a given.

Eloril made a brief visit. He couldn't stay so long seeing as he and ada were incredibly busy at home and that he had stayed so long the last time he had been around. I had hoped that he would bring me the good news that Erien's parents had changed their minds about not letting her come anymore, but he didn't. Erien's parents remained as adamant as ever that Erien stay on the elven side of the wall. I was disappointed.

Though Eloril's visit was short, he did what he could to make it as productive and full of fun as possible. A new children's play center had been opened up down the street. Isebrilia absolutely loved going there. She and Eloril had become attached as soon as Eloril arrived. He was willing to play with her there until they closed in the evenings.

Eloril left a few days before I gave birth to my new daughter. I named her Anawen. I was glad I had given birth to another girl. I could only have one more boy if I wanted to end up with an even total at the end of the order. If I gave birth to two or more boys, then the boys would win at the tally. More than that though, what I focused on was the startling truth that it was Anawen who was my 100th child. Yes I had raised more than 100, but she was the 100th baby I had actually given birth to myself. It was such a ridiculously high number to have reached. I laughed at myself when I thought back to the time when I had been afraid my body had been wearing down from all the pregnancies and labors. That was back when I had about forty children. I was glad I had turned out to be wrong.

I began to think that as long as I am doing the order that I will never get used to differences in development of elves and humans. Abriel had had her first child. Abrien looked as if she had barely grown. Her newborn niece would surpass her before too long. It boggled my mind. I began to think that, in the slim case I did marry and have fully elven children, that their slow growth would drive me crazy. To see my children grow, develop, and become little people of their own was the most exciting thing about raising them. I would be so impatient if I had to switch to having to wait decades to see any of that.

I was pleased that Riverview was doing more to add more entertainment to the town. There began to be a reason to go out on the town. The most recent event that happened was a series of performances from acrobats, magicians, and musicians from nearby cities. It was hard for nana and I to attend what with having the little ones to watch over, but Celendel and Celenia went to each and every show. They both said their favorite performance was that done by the male acrobat.

Hearing about all the amazing things they saw made me feel cooped up. Nana agreed to watch over Anawen for me so I could take the older children to the festival without having to worry about a screaming, fussy infant. The twins, Isebrilia, and I had the greatest of times. We ended up staying a bit longer than we had anticipated. After going skating, collecting pumpkins, making a trip through the haunted house, taking some pictures, the four of us sat down for a late dinner.

That wasn't the end of our evening. Celendel, Celenia, and Isebrilia grouped with Thoronton, who was at the park as well, to have an apple bobbing content. It was amusing to watch them go at it. Even more amusing was Isebrilia giving up after her lips barely touched the water because she didn't want to get wet. Celendel and Celenia were incredibly disappointed when Thoronton won and got the festival tickets for being the winner. They were trying to save up all their tickets in order to purchases some of the bigger prizes the festival offered.

The first of the fall frosts fell upon the world on the day of Anawen's birthday. I was overjoyed to see for once that the fair hair one of my children inherited was not my own. Anawen inherited Emmanuel's coloring, and I believe it suited her much better. A lot like how Celenia attached herself to Celendel, Anawen grew close to Cugu very quickly. Simply by putting one near the other I could have them entertained for hours. They also liked sitting together on the chair in my room while I worked on my writing. For some reason, they found the action of me typing to be hilarious.

Though things had been going well for a while, it didn't take long before I had something new to worry about. Much to my dismay, Ranna and Marty had had triplets at pretty much the last second before Ranna was past her childbearing years. I went over to visit her. Matt was remaining at home in order to help his parents since Ranna and Marty were too elderly to do much of the physical work required for looking after three toddlers. I tried to talk to Ranna about how I was worried that she and Marty would pass before Dylan, Jeromy, and Ichelle were grown. It was the kind of worry I hated the most. I remembered how I was so anxious all the time back when Elioviel and Morty face a similar dilemma, but they had thankfully managed to hold out until after their children were adults. I feared that wouldn't be the case. However, Ranna was reluctant to talk with me alone. She stayed where Matt and the children were so that I couldn't corner her to face the scary reality she knew I would maker her face.

I kept trying, but Ranna was a tough nut to crack. I went ahead and made preparations on my own. I was constantly thinking about how our house could be arraigned if I had to take my daughter's children in. I was so much in thought that Cugu's birthday snuck up on me. He didn't change much with his growing up other than him developing a love for animals. He loved playing with all the animal toys we had. Cugu also would go into the nursery to play quietly even when Anawen was napping because he still preferred to be close to her.

It was only after a lot of self-motivation and fighting of fear when I went ahead to meet the next approved man on the list. I had been doing good for some time. However, my heart was beginning to race all the time again. So many times did I have to remind myself not to think about how I only had four children left to bear. Four children. Oh Goddess. It actually made my head hurt to think that that I was the number I was left with. It was certainly a struggle to call Mr. Leo Bohannon over. I know he was trying to make me feel more comfortable by getting to know me when he suggest we carve jack-o-lanterns, but he made the day worse by prolonging something I just wanted to be over and done with. I could have had a few extra hours in that day where I could have deluded myself to the point where I would forget how close I was to the end of the order.

Celenia surprised me one day when she announced that she had saved up enough money for a drafting table. I had forgotten about her desire to buy one. Since she had gone ahead and earned the money herself, I could say no. Nana and I put away the chemistry station since no one had used it since Erumaren moved out. We placed the drafting table in its place instead. Celenia filled page after page with sketches the day it was set up. She had decided that she wanted to be a stylist when she graduated.

And her goal for the future kept her talking about how soon her and Celendel's graduation would be. I listened to her politely, but inside I was wanting to tell her to stop saying anything. I didn't need the reminder that what was really seeming to be my last set of twins would be moving out within several months time. It made me reconsider my thoughts earlier about going crazy at the slow aging of my potential full elven children. I would endure countless years of slow growth if I could just keep my children with me......