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Conor groaned as he came into the cave, shaking his
head at what he saw. On a normal day, the cave would be quiet, the
fire in the center making the only noise and providing for solitude.
But, as it was raining outside, the twins could hardly go
outside, without someone yelling at them. It looked like Conor would
be the first to do so, today.
Liam, the slightly older of the twins, and by no
means the more serious one, was drenched from head to foot. He was
looking more and more like his father every day, and the hair that
was normally only manageably curly (in his opinion, girly),
was messier than Conor thought an eight year old could get it. But,
this was no ordinary eight year old. He was Conor's son,
and as fitting, he was the most active child imaginable, getting into
more trouble than his Da seemed to when he himself was
younger.
And his daughter... never once did the girl want
to act like a lady. She had her mother's spirit, and wouldn't be tamed
for
anything. Nothing, not even the rain, could make Lavender Gwen behave
like a well mannered child should. At the moment,
she was wrapped in a blanket- one of her mother's favorites, none the
less- and her all ready long and wickedly curly hair was
pulled into pig tails, tied with strips of the clothes she wore that
wore themselves out to rags a few moons after they were first
trod in. Her dress- normally one with so much dirt, it could be called
a brownish red color instead of the colorless off-white it
had once been- was soaked to her, outlining her lithe body ever more.
And at their feet, as if to make things even more
disagreeable for them, was, in the middle of the mud, a kitten. Ever
since the Romans had arrived, the things were multiplying,
finding Eire much more agreeable than Rome.
Liam looked up just in time to see his father come
in. He tried to make an innocent face, and smile up adoringly at Conor.
It
didn't work as well as it had when he was a wee baby. His hand froze
midway to petting the soaking animal. "Hello, Da." he
called, the dimples on his still baby face becoming more evident as
he tried to make his smile adorable, and break down any
viewers defenses. It worked on his "Aunt" Molly every time. But not
on his father, who had gotten used to the grin and
recognized it as a sign that his young troublemaker was up to something.
Lavender, who knew that they were caught and couldn't
get out of punishment, as she hadn't escaped it yet- from her father,
mother, or her Aunt Deidra, let alone Molly- just looked sullenly away.
She was very surprised at how her father reacted to
their recent mischief.
He knelt beside them, and picked up the kitten.
"What did you name it, Lavy?"
She stared up at him with wide blue eyes. "What
did we name it? Da, we can keep it?"
Conor grinned at her, and chuckled. "We'll see what
your Momma thinks about that."
Lavender looked away. "Oh well. I liked Puddles."
Liam reached out for the cat, again. "I did too,
Da. Can you change Momma's mind, please?"
Those pleading eyes made one want to give in. But,
Conor held his resolve, using all the techniques Deidra had taught him.
When he found it hard to discipline his tiny children, his sister by
his brother's marriage had given him some Priestess coping
lessons mostly concerning how to not give in to temptations. "I might
have tried, but seeing that you two are all wet and you
know how many times we have told you not to go out in the rain..."
he broke off, shrugging. The cat meowed, as if adding to
the plea.
Liam tugged at his Da's wet tunic. "Da..." when
Conor looked at him, he continued. "It was going to drown in the rain.
We
went out to save it from drowning in a puddle."
Lavender nodded, and gave her part in the story.
"See, it looked so helpless, and it was so cute, we had to save it."
Conor did his best not to laugh at the thought of
a kitten drowning in a tiny puddle. He still felt a tiny smile tugging
at his lips,
and made a stern face to cover it. "Why did you know that the kitten
was in the puddle unless you were outside?"
Obviously, the story that they had thought up to
cover their actions didn't cover that aspect. Lavender looked pitifully
at him,
"We heard noises." she told him, thinking of the idea at the spur of
the moment, blurting it out. She took a good look at her
father, noticing that his own hair was wet thoroughly, and his clothes
were far from being dry, as the cloak suggested they
should be. "You were out in the rain, too. Momma is going to be mad
at you, too." she told him, her little eyes going wide,
again.
"Momma's going to be mad at who, too, Lavy?" Catlin
said from the door, grinning at the scene. "And who's our guest?" she
nodded at the kitten in Conor's arms.
Lavender bit her lip, and stared up at her mother.
"At Da, Momma." she practically whispered, knowing she was in trouble.
Conor, with a big grin on his face, raised the kitten.
"This is Puddles. She is the so-called reason behind the two midgets
getting wet in the rain."
Catlin wanted to laugh, but she knew if she did,
there was no way that she could discipline her two naughty children. They
wouldn't take her seriously. "Oh?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, and
shifting the load of laundry from one hip to the other.
"What was your excuse?"
He was still grinning when he answered her. "I was
coming back from visiting my brother and his wife. She is still trying
to
have a baby, you know."
Catlin sighed, and waved her children away. "Go
on now, you two. Get a bath, and if you don't come back clean, I shall
see
to it that you won't keep that silly cat of yours. In fact, you just
might not..." she cut off as they scurried off to their trunks to get
their bath items, and night clothes to get into after bathing. They
ran off, barely missing knocking her down.
As soon as they were far enough away, she broke
into a fit of giggles. "They're a mess, aren't they?" she commented,
dropping their laundry on their bed and sitting beside him, resting
her head on his shoulder. "Ah, but we need a house. The
Romans are gone, love, and they could hardly burn our house down if
they aren't here. We've been in the Sanctuary for so
long..." she sighed wistfully. "And Aidan and Deidra all ready have
a house..."
Conor sighed. "Cat, you know I've been too busy
to make a house for us. I'll start as soon as everyone else is settled
in.
Why don't you like it here?" he turned to her, and brought his hand
up to her face, stroking her cheek with his thumb.
She looked up at him, and answered, "Conor, it's
not private. We share a home with everyone else, and we don't even have
a big enough cave. There's four of us in here. I don't remember the
last time we were alone."
He pulled her close, letting go of the kitten and
tucking Catlin's head under his chin. "We're alone now, aren't we?" he
whispered.
She sighed, and nodded. "But only for a little while."
He closed his eyes, content to only hold her for
the moment. Then, he remembered that he was soaking wet, and therefore
getting his wife the same way. Reluctantly, he pulled away, and stood
up. "I'm going to go do what our children should be
doing." he told her, grabbing some things from his own trunk. As soon
as he was gone, she sighed once more, and started to
fold the laundry.
Catlin woke up to something walking over her. She
groaned, and opened her eyes. It was the kitten, who stood staring
down at her on her chest. She was going to swipe at it, but Conor beat
her to it. She could feel the heat of Conor's body
through her night shift, but it was disturbing. Why could he be so
hot? Rolling over and out of his arms, she brought a hand up
to his forehead, brushing curls out of the way to check for a fever.
Sure enough, she felt like her hand was being burned by a
hot brand, or like she stuck her hand in a fire.
Startled, she sat up. "Conor, you're burning up!"
she exclaimed, looking worriedly at him. "Are you feeling all right?"
He shrugged, but it was a weak gesture. "Fine enough."
he wiped a bead of sweat away from his temple, managing a weak
smile.
"No, you're not." she decided, and got up to pour
him some water. She finished pouring it, and helped him sit up, the
blankets falling from his bare chest. She was going to hold the cup
for him, but he silently insisted on holding it on his own. After
he took a thirsty swig from it, he coughed, most of the water finding
its way back to the cup. "Drink it slowly, dear." she
instructed, and watched as even a tiny sip made him sputter. She got
back up, and walked to the children. As if expected, both
the twins, curled up sweating in their beds, were burning up. What
had happened for them to all fall ill? What ever it was, she
was afraid of it. They couldn't drink any thing, which could kill them
if the fever didn't. She went to go get the healer.
Catlin found the healer in Molly's cave. Molly had
fainted, and her body was sprawled out on the bed. The healer had
tucked her soundly in with the covers, and was bathing Molly's forehead
with a cold, damp rag. "I've never seen something like
this, Catlin." she told her, and shook her head. "And I don't know
what started the outbreak. Why, Molly has the fever, as do
many of the little children in the Sanctuary, along with their older
siblings. I'm afraid that you are here to tell me that someone in
your own cave has come down with it. Heaven forbid if your two dears
have it. Poor souls, and them being Conor's heirs. Or if
Conor has it, that's almost as bad. But, he's a tough one, a fighter."
Catlin sighed, and hated admitting that that was
the reason behind her calling. The healer, Eryn, stood up. "Molly needs
to
sleep, I'll check on her later. For now, I need to help you out."
They walked to the cave in silence.
When they got there, Eryn sat beside Conor on the
bed. Conor, noticing her there, hastily yanked the furs up below his
chest. Eryn chuckled, and waved a hand at him. "It's not like I haven't
seen a man before, Conor. Not you, yet, but it's nothing
new. I'm a healer, remember, so I might have to see you some time,
sooner or later."
Embarrassed, Conor turned away, and Catlin tried
to hide her laughter at her husband's reactions to Eryn's
straightforwardness. She joined Eryn at their bed, and watched as Eryn
checked over Conor. It made him extremely
uncomfortable to be checked over by her, especially after the her reaction
to him. When she was done checking him out, he
closed his eyes. "I feel like I could sleep for a thousand years..."
he whispered, just before nodding off.
Eryn laughed briefly, and checked the twins out
in turn. "It's definitely the same fever the others have." she looked
distractedly at the cat, who was curled up by the dying embers of the
fire. "It's that cat!" she exclaimed.
Catlin blinked, "What about that cat?" she queried.
This one hasn't been finished. It will be finished sooner or later. Bug me about it. :)
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