With the household finally returning to a peaceful state after all the trouble that's been had recently, I decided to allow Elvaran and Analinde to stay in the same class at school. I don't have to worry about their separation anxiety anymore though. The two appear to have peacefully gotten over most of their issues. However, Analinde has become a more attached to Niphredil in the past weeks. Her actions have put me under the impression that Analinde doesn't want her sister to have her birthday. I think she's been playing with her and pulling little pranks on her more often in hopes of keeping her a child. Niphredil has simply been putting up with the clingy attention like a trooper.
Niphredil's birthday came despite Analinde's attempts and my own silent wish that my baby girl didn't have to grow up. Couldn't time have slowed down just a tiny bit? I wanted to spend more time getting to know my little Niphredil before she became a beautiful young woman. I suppose this is one of the negatives of having so many children so close together. I don't have the opportunity of getting to know them as well I do if I had less children to look after. I think I'm the only one worrying about such a thing for the children all seem to be quite content. Niphredil thoroughly enjoyed her birthday, and is looking forward to being the oldest in the house after Raradia graduates.
Niphredil is like Raradia in that she loves art. She's taken to frequently visiting the art museum to sketch and get inspiration. Unlike Raradia though, it looks likely that Niphredil will actually pursue a career in the arts.
We only have one tree in our yard so you would think there wouldn't be too many leaves around. That line of thinking would be wrong. Raradia, Niphredil, Elvaran, and Analinde were somehow to make two large piles of leaves from that one small tree. They spent the entire afternoon raking all the leaves, and the entire evening after dinner playing in the piles. However, after all the movement they smelled somewhat on the bad side when they came back inside. There were a lot of showers taken that evening.
I kept hearing this strange noise late one rainy night that prevented me from sleeping. I thought it was a sound created solely by the storm, but it only got louder and louder until I had no choice but to check it out. All I had to do was look out the front door to see a young cat mewing pitifully as it lay on the doorstep hoping to be granted some shelter from the rain.
No cats. That was the rule I made. There was no way I could just leave the poor thing outside though despite my dislike for its breed. I dried the cat off and fed it before making a quiet late night trip over to Ricardo's house. I placed the cat on his covered porch where the thing happily bounced onto one of his padded benches and fell comfortably asleep. This was perhaps a bit underhanded, but now it's Ricardo's choice whether to take the animal in or not. Given how eager he was buying a cat for Raradia, I don't think he'd find one more too much of an issue.
Delenmir had his birthday, and quite enjoyed it. He spent most of the day getting himself wet by splashing in all the puddles left by the recent storms that have come through. This is turning out to be one of the rainiest autumns I have ever seen.
It's a bit scary how much Delenmir looks like Idhren. You would think the two have the same fathers they're so similar. Watching Delenmir, I was filled with nostalgia for my baby Idhren. I wished more than ever that Chaddie had been willing to look for just a second at the wonderful man his son turned out to be. What I want even more though was for Idhren and Delenmir to meet. It was only after I thought about it for a long while that I realized they will meet one day- in the great beyond that's past the mortal life. They will spend all eternity together. I forgot that it's me who will never seen them again.
On that note, more dreaded news came to me not too long ago. This time it was Isilmar who left, and left earlier than he should have. There was nothing to be done about the disease that attacked him though. It was too powerful for even the elvish blood within him to overcome. At least that extra strength of his allowed him to live much longer than the doctors anticipated.
However, there is joyful news to be shared as well. My pregnancy with Christopher's child is well under way. Since this was a pregnancy where I was allowed to find out the gender, I discovered another baby girl was going to be added to the household. It seems the girls are catching up to the boys in numbers again. I truly hope both count is equal when this task is over and done with. Won't that be something spectacular?
Raradia had her birthday just a little while before my daughter came. Surprise surprise, Ricardo took that stray cat in and now Raradia wants to open up a shelter to take care of lost and stray cats. She'll be moving in with her father since he's agreed to help her in this endeavor.
It was a couple days later and a little after noon when I gave birth to Linnatiel. I was happy to see that my child fathered by a man with darker skin actually kept the darker skin logic would dictate her having. I was rather not in the mood to have to prove Linnatiel's paternity if she had ended up as another fair haired, green eyed, light skinned child. The whole situation with Andie and Rieldir is hopefully the last time I'll have to go through something like that.
However, that's not to say I didn't end up with a fair skinned child. No, the Goddess decided our house wasn't full enough yet. Linnatiel kept me up that night for a long time. I managed to get perhaps an hour of sleep before more crying woke me up again. I began heading towards the nursery until I realized it wasn't Linnatiel who was crying. The noise wasn't coming from the nursery at all. My mind was so tried I thought someone had moved Linnatiel and put her outside. Even when I opened the door to see a crying newborn boy right on my doorstep it took me a good few seconds to understand what was going on.
The fact that some woman had left her child here supposedly for me to raise then hit me hard. My eyes pierced through the darkness of night hoping to spot some movement or person, but there was no one in sight. The poor boy on the ground was starving. Really having no choice, I took him inside to my bedroom and nursed him.
While I nursed him, a note nestled in the blanket he was wrapped in fell onto my lap. It said what one would expect the note to say. The mother didn't give a clear indication as to why, but there was no chance she would be able to raise this child in a proper environment. He had to get away from the life she would have forced him into had she kept him. This woman had been watching me for some time. She knew I could provide a stable and loving home. She apologized for forcing the child on me, but hopes that as a fellow mother I understand that she will do whatever she can to keep her son alive and safe. I did understand. Quite well did I understand. The last of the note went on to directly say that she wants me to raise this boy as my son. She promised to never try to come and take him away. To prove her resolve, she hadn't even given him a name.
As the little boy fell asleep in my arms, I held him tightly. I felt sad for this mother and son. The environment the mother refused to have her son in sounds like a truly terrible environment to be in. I hope the mother is in no danger herself. I prayed that she would be alright. Settling the child into the spare crib, I went back to sleep. It was the middle of the night. I was too exhausted to talk to anyone or do anything. I knew the logistics of where the child would go and what would happen could be worked out in the morning.
Niphredil, Elvaran, Analinde, and Delenmir left for the school the next morning without even knowing about the child. I slept in a bit later than I anticipated, and missed them leaving. I only had two people who I could really call to help me figure out where I should go from here with the little boy. Those two people are, naturally, Elioviel and Morti. They were able to come over right away since Gilberto, Tosha, and Ashley are now teenagers.
Elioviel and Morti said I had a couple options, but they depended on whether or not I wanted to keep the child. I told them I did want to. His mother was relying on me. I can't simply hand this baby off to someone else. I was thus told that things should be rather simple then. Because the mother directly stated in the letter that she wanted me to raise the child and was giving me full custody, what was going on was essentially a private adoption. As long as I could be proved capable then the child was mine. Elioviel and Morti suggested we go to the police to make a statement, and then go to city hall to make everything legal.
Morti watched over Linnatiel while Elioviel and I took the child with us so we could deal with all those legality issues. We were gone most of the day. Niphredil, Elvaran, Analinde, and Delenmir got quite a shock when they returned home and Morti explained the situation to them. I was slightly terrified entering the very large and very intimidating city hall, but I was already prepared anything for my new and unexpected son. When we returned home around dinnertime, little Rorion was official our newest addition to the family......
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