Escalation

The snow came quickly. It was one of those instances where there was nothing on the ground when I went to bed, but there was a foot of the white stuff the next morning. Naturally, school was cancelled for the day after such a storm. The boys were overjoyed to have the whole day off. They made the walk in the badly cleaned sidewalks to enjoy the winter festival that had recently been set up.

I believe Calun got the most enjoyment out of their time there. He's certainly become something of a daredevil ever since he had his birthday. Now he does all of these extreme things- like eating dirt to freak Ithilas and Galir, and me, out. While I am glad he has become more active and involved, I worry a bit about this new attitude. I just don't want him to go too far and accidentally hurt himself. I suppose as long as he keeps to the relatively safe activities like snow boarding at the festival, which he is quite good at, he should be fine.

Ithilas and Galir have become quite the cloes-knit pair ever since Calun started high school. They're kind of like Linnatiel and Rorion in that they're almost a pair of twins who were simply born separately. They play together all the time. And I mean all the time. They do tend to get a little too rough with each other though. In this instance, Galir thought it would be a wonderful idea to start a snowball fight with his uncle by smashing a snowball half made of ice into Ithilas' head. Despite the pain it obviously caused him, Ithilas eagerly joined in the snowball fight. He had a nasty welt on his head when he returned home, but ignored it so he could tell me about the fun things he and Galir did. Perhaps it's more him than Calun I need to keep an eye on.

I can't even express how much I love my dear Eleme. I know it really hasn't been that long since I've had a girl, especially compared to that long streak of boys in Aurora Skies, but I certainly did miss having a daughter to cuddle. Though so many of my other children have had my green eyes, the color is really something different set against Eleme's dark skin and hair. I never want to put her down. I would just stare at her all day if I could. Blessedly, Calun and Ithilas don't mind my gushing over Eleme. They do it too. They also like how my distraction makes it easier for them to get away with doing things like eating the two brand new cartons of cookies I had only just bought in one sitting.

Galir has recently been bouncing all over the place at the anticipation of being a big brother. It won't be too much longer until the new baby is here. Sind and Griselda have decided to not find out the gender ahead of time, just like they did with Galir. They want to be surprised. It should not surprise you then that I am personally hoping for a girl. It would be nice for Eleme to have a relationship with a niece like the relationshipIthilas has his relationship with Galir. Sind is hoping for a boy though. He loves roughhousing with the one he already has. Galir adores his father, and what a father Sind is.

Mr. Clemens, however...

He left that one time, and then it became as if he completely forgot about our existence afterwards. It was then that he randomly showed up one day. He said not one word about taking Eleme or about the fight. In fact, Mr. Clemens acted like none of that had happened and everything was fine. All he wanted to do was spend some time with his daughter, if I would allow it. I was exhausted, and desperately needed a good nap. Since he was being so agreeable and responsible for once I agreed to his request. I left Eleme in his care while I quickly changed and practically leapt into my nice, soft bed.

I barely got any sleep. Eleme was unending in her crying, and I was forced to go see what was going on. I walked into the living room to see my daughter screaming her head off while Mr. Clemens just sat there watching television.

He didn't even move, look at me, or acknowledge my presence in any way as I had to once again pick up Eleme to comfort her from her father's stupidity. I brought her to the nursery where I took care of her and got her set down for her own nap before I went to confront Mr. Clemens. He still didn't budge from his position when I returned. It took me turning the television off to get his attention. This annoyed him, but I was much more furious with him than he was with me. I tried, perhaps not nicely, to tell him the errors of his actions. For a while, he took the whole thing as a joke.

Until he finally got angry. Mr. Clemens didn't understand why I was getting so upset. Eleme was perfectly fine. That was only because I relinquished my nap to take care of her after he refused to do anything to help. No, I had butted in, he challenged. Eleme was fine without anyone having to do anything. She just needed to cry for a bit. No! There are times and situations where a child merely has to cry out his or her tantrum, but that was not this instance. Her crying was the kind where she definitely needed an adult's comfort.

Mr. Clemens didn't know why I always acted as if I knew everything. Well, I certainly knew more than he did. Me telling him that got him very angry. He wagged his finger in my face dangerously. He told me if I continued this behavior that there would be consequences. I couldn't stand how he thought those big muscles of him make him a threat. It's clear he only knows how to rely on brute force.  I've had over 350 years of physical combat and weapon training at home, and there's all the martial arts I've learned while living here. I can more than handle myself against an oaf like Mr. Clemens.

He wanted to threaten me more, but I shoved and locked him out of the house.

The others let me steam off my fury in peace over the next several days. Mr. Clemens was either too angry with me to come back, or he was actually smart enough not to come back. I tried my best to simply drive out all thoughts of him. It was hard, but I managed to do it. It was only when I did that I noticed something was going on with Griselda. She kept getting these calls. Each time I managed to stumble upon her taking one of those calls I heard the same man's voice. The reason I kept stumbling upon those calls is that Griselda was incredibly hesitant bout having any of us around when she took them. She made sure to have the conversations in private.

The more time that passed made it clear, at least to me, that she was hiding something. I didn't know what to make of the situation. A part of me briefly feared Griselda was doing something unfaithful, but I felt bad for even considering the idea. She is just as devoted to Sind as she always has been. However, I remained concerned and curious about her caller.

The children had yet another snow day. Calun, Ithilas, and Galir certainly get great enjoyment out of them, but for me it means I lose more of the little time when I can just rest and relax. Thankfully, they remained rather calm and quiet this time around. I even had an amusing experience. Ithilas and Galir spent the morning using up all the spare arts and crafts materials we had lying around the house to make king costumes. They dressed up exactly the same before the put the costumes on and pretended to rule over the table. When I walked by while they were playing I could not tell who was who. Their voices even sound so similar. Honestly, I had to stare for a good minute in order to tell which one was my son.

I barely saw Calun that day. He was downstairs in his room the whole time working out to the athletic channel on television. That he was doing that all day didn't surprise me. It has what he's been doing with most of his spare time for a while now. I believe it gives him that adrenaline rush he's come to crave. I also wonder if Calun has become more determined to increase his physical strength because of what happened with Mr. Clemens. He became just as angered as I was when I told the family what happened. Calun has not liked Mr. Clemens at all ever since that evening at the bistro, and his dislike has only grown.

And, unfortunately, the situation with Mr. Clemens became bothersome once again. While he doesn't come over anymore, he has taken to calling multiple times a day. It quickly became obvious that the only reason he called was to insult me more. I blocked his number, but he uses other phones to get around this. I feel like I am going crazy. I even stopped feeling like cuddling Eleme- which you know makes things bad. I finally got around to having a few glasses of wine from that bottle I bought before her birth. Ithilas has been a trooper despite my bad mood. He helps to take care of his little sister so I am not so stressed.

One would have thought Sind was a first time father by the way he reacted to Griselda's water breaking. It was if he had no idea what was happening. Griselda was trying to recover from the shock and pain, but he simply stood there freaking out. I rolled my eyes, and gave him a tough but loving slap on the back of the head. I made him calm down, and help me get his wife situated.

Sind got his wish. Griselda gave birth to a boy, who the two of them went on to name Calanon. I must admit, it was a very surreal moment when I saw Griselda holding Calanon, who has his father's hair, the same way I held Sind after he was born. This baby boy before me will grow up and have children of his own in seemingly a blink of the eye- just like my little Sind did. 

Seeing Griselda and Calanon there like that was somehow very comforting. I will lose all of my children. There's no denying the reality of it. We will be separated forever, and yet they will live on forever. It is through their own children that my children will carry on. Despite my best efforts, I have lost track of a lot of my descendents. So many generations of children have been born. I know I have at least great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren by now. My legacy and the Goddess' will has been spread so far. I suddenly felt both very big and very small in the grand scheme of things.

A few hours after Calanon's birth, Griselda came to give me another little announcement. She knew I had been watching her take all those phone calls. She understood I was concerned and suspicious. Griselda revealed all of those calls had been from her father. That stunned me. It had stunned Griselda herself too. Apparently he had had a bad heart attack, and it scared him when he realized he almost died that he would have died while having such a strained relationship with her. Now he hoped he might rebuild what they once had.

The repair was going slow, Griselda admitted, but things were still better between them than they had been for so many years. She thinks her father's example is even causing some of her other family members to want to start talking to her again too. However, she was so nervous taking the first calls. It was hard conversing with the man who had shunned her for so long. She needed the privacy because she had been too scared to say what was going on. Now things are well enough that she wants to tell everyone the news. I was incredibly happy for her. I was glad for this turn of events, and I admired her willingness to let back in her life the people who has caused her so much pain.

It snowed a lot again. The sidewalks were absolutely covered with it, but I was determined to get Eleme out of the house. She and I have been too cooped up recently because of all the bad weather. It was bit hard to push the stroller, but the bright sun and clear sky made it worth it. Pushing also got easy as we went along. Eleme was having the time of her life. She kept reaching and trying to crawl out. She babbled away the few words she has learned so far. I think she even tried to sing a song.

But you can probably guess who just happened to show up to ruin the day. 

How does he pick all the worst times to show up? Why is he so insistent on infuriating me? He got what he wanted. Why can't he leave me alone? It's not like I'm hounding him for money, and it's clear he doesn't really care about Eleme. Mr. Clemens walked right up to us, and brought up that argument we had on the day of Eleme's birth. He asked if I was finally bringing her to his house. No, we were merely on a walk. Mr. Clemens was instantly frustrated. He wanted to know when I was going to give her over.

Had he even bought a crib? Diapers? A single thing Eleme would need? Of course not, he said, there was no need. I needed to stop being so stingy and give him what I had. I refused. I flat out told him he was not fit to care for a child. I had been trying to keep an open mind as to allow him a space in his daughter's life, but he was pushing my patience too far. I was told I had a lot of nerve. Mr. Clemens wished he had never slept with me. Our time together hadn't even been that good.

I went ahead to ask him why he kept bothering us then. Why didn't he just leave us alone, and stop all this fighting and anger from happening? Mr. Clemens didn't respond to that. He simply told me I couldn't keep Eleme to myself forever. I glared at him ready to really start something, but he rapidly dropped the argument to walk away. He left again this time, but I know I am going to hear more about this very soon......