The Diary

GF 77 What?

What did you eat?

RotM – Four years after chapter 47

Great Béma riding the Halls! I leave Woldenfeld for two hours! Two! Hours! And all Mordor breaks loose! My poor, poor baby! But, his father proved himself more than capable… what a man I married…

~~~...~~~

Strange, Gamling thought to himself, the amount of stomach content that could spew from such a tiny body. Strange also, how far said vomit could project itself. And stranger still, his youngest child would wait until his mother had been gone several hours, visiting her sister-in-law, to decide to vomit endlessly down the middle of the gangway in the barn and all over his father.

"Stand still!" Gamling grabbed the little one and bent him over. "Right here is fine. Don't move!" Abéodan and Haleth both stopped in their tracks and began to back up, disgust on their faces. "Haleth, go tell Willan I need a bath up in mine and Aefre's room now, and a pail for the clothes. Abéodan, saddle up and get Aefre." The twin chose that moment to come into the barn and Haleth hauled him back out on his way out.

The youngest was still yakking up his belly. With revulsion, Gamling perused the contents of what was puddled in the dirt floor and spying the likely culprit of what caused his son's stomach upset, waited until all that was coming up was stomach bile.

"Close your eyes and step back." Gamling took a vomit – encrusted hand and quickly walked his son to the outer door. "Fresh air and water fixes most things." He handed the full dipper from the rain barrel to the boy. "Spit, don't swallow."

Several sputters later, he stood up and opened his eyes. Seeing his vile clothing and then his father's, he immediately burst into tears. "I'm sowwy! I didn' mean to, Da… I'm sowwy…"

Gamling scooped him up, moving quickly into the manse, ignoring the noises, the 'ohmy that poor baby' from the serving girls. He wondered how Aefre maneuvered at all carrying a child and recently, he had seen her with both boys on each hip. And smiling about it! He made a mental note to rub her back more often.

The door to their room was open, the curtain to the bathing chamber thrown back and steam already rising from the tub. There was a bucket already waiting for the clothes and without much preamble, Gamling peeled the garments from his now sniffling son and checking to make sure the water wasn't scalding, put the young one into the tub.

"I sowwy."

The Marshal dug through the shelf, looking for soap and the hair vial. "It's okay," he found what he was looking for and grabbing a washcloth, brought a stool up next to the tub. Without considering he himself was still in stinky clothing, he sat down and began to bathe the spewings from his son. "You shouldn't eat berries that aren't ripe."

The little one didn't whine, like he normally did when his mother washed his hair. As the water spilled over and suds were lathered in, he blubbered, "Dey wuz wed, like the wabbleberries-"

"Those aren't rabbleberries, young rider." The child seemed to like it when his da called him that. "Those are olderberries and they aren't ripe until they are purple. If you eat them too soon, you'll get sick."

"Dey tasted funny."

"I'll bet they did."

Willan brought in the last bucket and poured it in the tub, bringing the water level rather high. He tapped Gamling on the shoulder, scrunching up his nose and pointing at the nasty garments he himself was still wearing. "I know. I was waiting for you to finish. Have the squires throw down fresh sawdust where this one lost his breakfast and pour water on the wood plankings where it splattered. I'll be down later when this one settles down to pick through it." Gamling then stood up and as soon as the door was shut, took off his own clothing and joined his son in the tub.

The child was sitting between his father's knees and busy creating suds sculptures in his hair, when his twin peeked in the door. "Are you still sick?"

"My tummy hurts." It was a weak answer, a whimper, and with a gentleness rarely seen, the elder of the two leaned over the tub and hugged his brother.

"Feel better soon." As he wandered towards the door, he looked back over his shoulder. "I'll be alone tonight."

Not right, Gamling thought. Those two had never slept apart since the moment they were born. It would be a rough night for both if Aefre returned this eve and decided to keep this one in the bed with them. The child looked so dejected, Gamling felt equally sorry for him as he did the one who was sick. With a nod and a wink to his other son, the boy soon stripped off and joined his brother in the tub, both of them now sitting between his legs, their hair (and his, truth be told) sudsed up ridiculous and standing straight up on their heads, and soaping up their father's powerful arms.

Aefre did return early that evening. Abéodan had caught up with her as she was within sight of her father's holdings. Sending Léoma on to spend the night with her aunt and husband at the smaller homestead, she returned at a speed that Abéodan was hard-pressed to keep up with.

She found her husband, clad only in rarely worn sleeper pants, ensconced on the bed, with both boys tucked up under each arm, sound asleep. She noticed both of their sons were wearing their father's old tunics. He was quietly reading a missive from the King.

"Béma! Both of them? What happened?" She threw off her cloak, letting it drop in the floor and rushed to the bedside, obviously at a loss at which one to cluck over first.

"This one," her husband nodded to the little red-head, "is fine. He is… commiserating is all and experiencing sympathy pains. The other, however," he nodded to the youngest, "got into the olderberry bush this morning."

She was stroking his face, checking for fever. "The olderberry bush isn't ripe. Eating those would make him-"

"Sick. Really sick. He spewed all over the barn and all over me."

Aefre sank down on the bed, checking the forehead and cheeks of the one who was in such misery. His eyes opened to slits. "Mama? You come home?" The voice was weak, so not like the daredevil he was.

"Ah sweetie," her hands cupped warm cheeks, "of course I came home, right away! I couldn't visit with Aunt Eadlyn when one of my babies is sick. I had to come home and make him well. How is your tummy?"

He rubbed it thoughtfully. "It's rumbly."

"My tummy is rumbly too," his twin chimed in, still tucked under his father's arm. He didn't seem to notice the small earthquake caused by his father's laughter.

"Aw honey, tell you what," Aefre held out her hand to the elder of her sons. "Why don't you come to the kitchen with me and we will fix a nice tea for your brother and find something for your tummy." His mother rightly guessed his tummy was 'rumbly' for very different reasons than his brother's.

"Okay!" Quickly, he crawled over Gamling's stomach, catching the Rider off guard and making the man grimace and gasp before jumping from the bed. The moment the little one's feet hit the floor, he grabbed his mother's hand. "I'll help." He started to pull her towards the door.

"Is your tummy rumbly, Gamling?"

"Me?" Aefre's husband pointed to himself. "Your son just stepped all over it. Yes, it is rumbly."

"I'll bring you something as well," she smiled before turning away and allowing the middle child to drag her from the room.

Dinner was eaten in their bed that night, although the littlest one had a strange tasting tea that put him to sleep and both boys slept between their parents, making the bed rather crowded that evening, despite its size.

And strangely enough, neither boy was known to pick berries from bushes after that. They preferred to eat them from the bowls after someone else picked them.