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Latest Chapters

Hedwige finds a small surprise

Little Brunhilde was already fast asleep.

Little Brunhilde was already fast asleep, but Lady Hedwige lingered by her cradle and continued her soft singing. This was her favorite hour of the day: the last feeding before the long sleep, and the songs, and the broad grins as Bruni tried to charm her mother into picking her up again.

At any other time of day she would have cried to be held, but the baby too seemed to savor this hour and did not truly mind being in her bed. She was tired; she was warm and dry and her belly was full of milk, and because of the dear songs she could be certain of her Mama’s presence even after her eyes were closed. Through those first, difficult, colicky weeks, perhaps neither had imagined life together could be so sweet, but now it seemed they had their reward.

Lili receives a birthday gift

'Alred!'

“Alred!” Lili was feeling too weary to run to him, but she rose and waited for him to kiss her hand. “What a wonderful surprise!”

“I hope you have been having nothing but wonderful surprises today, Lili, since it is your birthday. And I hope it is happy.”

Alred gets a view into Leofricland

'It must be important if they sent for you so late, old man.'

“It must be important if they sent for you so late, old man,” Alred said to his steward.

“It’s Lord Hingwar here to see Your Grace,” Aldwyn bowed.

Leofric is struck

Lady Eadgith was able to catch up with her husband just as he walked into Leila's room.

In spite of the length of his legs and of his stride, Lady Eadgith was able to catch up with her husband just as he walked into Leila’s room. Short of putting her own baby in danger, she would do all she could to prevent her husband from harming another woman’s child.

Leila sat on her couch, still on her nightgown.

Eadgith launches her thunderbolt

Lady Eadgith was almost surprised to find Leofric in his study as he had said he would be.

Lady Eadgith was almost surprised to find Leofric in his study as he had said he would be. In the time it took her to walk there, she had been wondering whether all of these evenings he had claimed to pass alone in his study had not in fact been spent in Leila’s bed.

Yet there he sat, alone with a book and a cup of wine, looking quite harmless and, in the flickering candlelight, rather tired and old.

Lady Eadgith's heavens are clouded

Tonight she had been moved to come sit alone in the candlelit gallery.

Lady Eadgith’s religion was more a matter of habit than of faith, but even she could be moved at times to something like rapture.

Tonight she had been moved to come sit alone in the candlelit gallery and look out into the darkened chapel. Now she counted out her blessings in her mind as if they were beads on a rosary.

Gratuitous baby picture and some useful links

Aelfden Britmarsson Hingwar It just occurred to me that I can no longer do a regular blog post on this blog, since I have hacked WordPress to allow dates from a thousand years ago. If I did a post from October 1, 2006, it would remain at the top of the page for the next 924 years of story… Therefore I will post for June 6, 1082, the day that Leofric’s nephew, Britmar, and his wife Judith had their first son and heir, Aelfden. (Named for Leofric’s brother, not the priest, though of course they are cousins.) I didn’t intend to write a chapter about it and so it gives me an opportunity to show you this little cutie, who inherited his mother’s famed violet-blue eyes. Now that I got your attention with a picture of a baby, I just wanted to point out that I added a link in the upper right corner: Where can I get…? Verity asked where I get my medieval stuff in a comment so I am responding on a top-level page for everyone’s benefit. I’ve been collecting medieval clothing and objects for nearly a year now; I simply download everything medieval-looking I see on various sites, so I would imagine the real list would be five times as long. These are the sites that have been useful enough for me to bookmark. If my dear readers have anything to add, comments are open there and here.

Lili's eyes cry

'Lili?'

“Lili?”

Lady Lili looked up and saw her husband standing in the doorway of the hall. He did not normally walk softly, so she was startled to see him there. She supposed she must have been more thoroughly lost in thought than she knew. But she hadn’t expected to see him in the morning!