A very merry Christmas 2012 and best wishes for the new year 2013 to all readers of . May your lives be filled with peace, prosperity and happiness.
This single chapter is the wrap-up to 'Daughter.' For those of you following the story, consider it a small Christmas gift from across the seas.
Peace
There were hardly any sounds to be heard, not even the swish of the gowns of the smiling maids as they checked for any stray toys, books and the like before they retired to bed themselves. The many-hued night lamps in the large bedrooms cast a jeweled radiance, muted but beautiful on the dim walls.
The door into the children's parents' room opened as the last maid was leaving and, predictably, the children's mother came into the room. In answer to her unspoken query, the maid curtseyed and said softly, "All asleep, Your Highness. They did not stay awake for a minute once they got into bed."
The Princess crossed the room to where her twin sons were sleeping, smiled and nodded at the maid, who left quickly. The boys were already wrapped around each other, lost to the world. She kissed each rosy cheek, tucked the coverlet more firmly under each plump chin-and then repeated the same for her older three sons .
Moving into the next room, she paused for a minute, watching the happy and content face of her daughter-first born and heiress to the throne of Eternia. She sat at the head of the bed, always struck by the amazing resemblance her daughter had to Adam's grandmother, the late Queen Ranay. The same golden hair and deep blue eyes, and the same slim figure and regal bearing-not to mention her classic beauty.
Twelve years after their wedding, she mused almost absently, and not for the first time, one would have thought some amount of complacency would have set in….but ,thankfully, she and Adam were as committed to each other as they had been that eventful day when he had married her within six hours of formally proposing to her…her lips curved into a wistful smile, even as her heart gave a lurch as she remembered the wedding ,which, in spite of the short notice, had miraculously been just perfect…and then, there had been the public wedding within a couple of months of the original ceremony. She grinned as she remembered how she'd been forced to chew bitter grindel herbs to keep the morning sickness at bay during the elaborate ceremony, all the Royal family praying that she wouldn't throw up in full view…
Ariana's birth was the one thing that changed their life, she thought, looking with misted eyes at the sleeping princess. And to her and Adam's great joy, their other children were born at regular intervals, with the result that there was at all times a toddler in the family. Having four grandparents who enthusiastically loved and cared for them meant that Adam and Teela could concentrate on their Royal duties with a clear conscience, even as they went the extra mile to make sure they spent every spare minute with the children. With the birth of the twins, King Randor smilingly informed his son and daughter-in- law that they were now par with King Hirol the Great-an ancient king who held the record of six children. Only, after her visit to the healers today, she'd learnt that they were about to set a new record themselves…
Teela heard the door into her room open and she got up and walked across, dimming a couple of lights on the way. Adam had just taken off his cloak and he held out his arms as his wife went into them-it was a nightly ritual. A couple of comfortable minutes later, when they each finished rejoicing in the soft breathing and closeness of the other, they broke apart and Adam went into the bathing chamber for a wash and change.
When he came out, his wife was already under the sheets, and he joined her, stretching his hand out as she moved automatically near and placed her head on his shoulder. The winter was unusually severe that year and both husband and wife were snug in warm woolen clothes. Outside, she could make out the large snowflakes falling. If it kept up, the children would have a hey-day on the morrow.
"How was your meeting with the Agrarian nobility?" she asked, feeling drowsy already.
"No complaints so far," he said, holding her tighter. "They've had a bumper crop this year and so they were gracious enough to admit that we do our part of the work satisfactorily."
She smiled. Then, she asked him, laughter in her voice, "What did Ryan call about? I had to go to the University for their convocation and missed him…"
"Oh the usual-apparently Adora has developed a hankering for the giant crabs from the Eternian plains. I tell you-with all the sea food that the North is rich in, she would choose something that is a three-day trip away….poor Ryan was at his wits' end…..and their elder three children have decided to take their mother's side…"
Teela broke into laughter. "Adam, ask him to send them here. It'll be good for him and Adora and all of us."
"I already have, Teela," her husband said with a grin. "They will be arriving within the week and then staying with us for a couple of months-so be prepared to have the palace become a shambles. Adora's sons and our twins are an unstoppable force of nature…"
"That reminds me," his wife said, her lips twitching with yet another smile, "I went to the healers today…"
"Ah yes-what was it?" he asked, comfortable in the knowledge that if it was anything very serious, they would have told him directly.
She looked up into his face, and he looked into her bright eyes. She held him tighter and he enthusiastically reciprocated.
"Well?" he asked, and she felt loved at the slight nuances of his tone which showed a tinge of worry.
"We are having another baby," she said.
There was a split second silence, and then his arms crushed her like a vice. "That's wonderful," he said, his voice ringing with happiness. "I want another daughter, Teela-hopefully –she will be just like you."
She chuckled. "Not a son like He-Man?" she asked slyly.
He looked at her with amusement. When he'd first told her he was He-Man after the wedding, they'd had their first massive fight. She'd been furious-not actually at him, but at what she perceived was an utter waste of her efforts to make a fighter out of someone who was already the best fighter on the planet. When they –well she, actually-had calmed down she'd told him sardonically that she had just about given up hoping that all the people she loved would actually be open and honest with her for a change. It just wasn't to be and she accepted it, what with her parents and now him….
Luckily, it had ended with that, and though he was very wary of mentioning it to her again, he did get a few dirty looks when he'd had to go off as He-Man, leaving her pregnant and down in the dumps.
"No," he said, hoping he was saying the right thing, "a beautiful red-haired, blue-eyed baby girl exactly like her mother is just what my kingdom needs…"
She yawned and snuggled deeper. "Flattery will get you nowhere with me," she claimed, but he sensed the smile in her voice as she dropped off, and he switched off the lights, feeling elated.
Outside, the snow fell fast and thick and the Royal palace looked like a fairy land with its lights reflected off the snow. Tomorrow, the children would have the time of their lives-what with the news of their cousins' visit from the North, and the new baby, and the fun waiting for them in the palace grounds….
Eternia was at peace.