Letters. His only information was in letters. His whole life revolved around letters. How had he ever lived on letters alone? Surely he had stilted conversations with Karin and brief conversations that lacked intelligence with his pagehood friends. But the people who supplied him with intelligence and stability in his crazy world were all gone. His father had gone to Queenscove for a short holiday. Kel and Dom were gone up at New Hope overseeing and reintroducing themselves to their tenants. And then Roald had left to accompany the royal supplies that were going to New Hope's new castle. Neal would have loved to accompany him and the supplies but Karin wasn't able to make the trip in the time needed and he needed to stay and work in the infirmary since his father had left. Never before had words on a page held so little to him! He needed more than bits of news in letters that seemed to find their way to him every week or so.
Despite his frustration, he searched his desk in the infirmary when he arrived knowing that the other letters had gone there before and not to his room. And a letter was due from someone. Maybe Roald or his father or Kel or Dom. Someone had to have sent a letter. But his desk was empty. He hadn't had news in over a week and his desk was empty. He let out a frustrated whistling scream as threw himself back into his chair. The other attendants in the infirmary didn't even bother looking up to see what was wrong. It had been this way for two months. If he really thought about it, Neal had this same tantrum every day there wasn't a letter. If he really dug deep he'd know that no one seemed to care because it was the same story each time. But this time a letter really was overdue.
"My Lord, Sir Nealan?" A servant danced from foot to foot in the doorway looking nervous. When Neal looked up at him and stood the young man's eyes went wide as he scurried forward and practically threw a stack of letters down on the desk in front of Neal. He was gone from sight before Neal could even thank him.
"What was his problem?" Neal asked looking around at the other people in the infirmary.
"You were sparking," one of the young women walking between rooms commented.
"Sparking?" He looked down at his hands and realized that his Gift was flickering over his hands and forearms. "Oh. Well that's new." He took a deep breath and thought hard about calming things. When he could no longer see the dark emerald twinkle at his fingertips, he turned to the letters on his desk. A letter from his father, a letter from Roald, and a letter from Dom. No letter from Kel but it seemed like Kel and Dom often said enough in each other's letters that Neal was fairly certain he could just call the letter from both of them now. It was odd thinking of them as a single being rather than two separate people doing two separate things. Thinking it over a little more, Dom opened his father's letter first. It was most likely to not be related to the other two.
It started simply with the news of the fief and his mother and his siblings and all of their doings. There was the business of the fiefdom which Neal was expected to know as the future duke. But unlike his brothers both those who had passed into the Peaceful Realms and those still living, Neal actually liked the economics of the fiefdom. After the first page of economic explanations, Neal found several bits of different letters attached written in a different hand.
Brother, I was not aware that my son, Garrett, was so ill-behaved towards you and your son. I will most certainly have words with him. As to your accusations that he propositioned that whore, we shall have to disagree. My son assures me that she was after him. Clearly one Masbolle between her legs wasn't enough. Nevertheless she won't have claim over any Masbolle's any longer. I shall be removing Domitan from the family as he refuses to heed his family's wishes. I've read through your embellishments of his apparent accomplishments and I have reasons to doubt your story about my now former son and yours gallivanting across Scanra with that whore to kill a supposed necromancer and a seven and a half foot tall barbarian. The King said it was a mage on our side that did away with the killing devices in the war and if you are going against the King's story you must have lost your mind. I do not wish to hear anything on the topic again.
Another scrap read:
I received your notice from the King that stated the apparent true story of what happened with those killing devices. Either way that boy that no longer belongs in our family is nothing more than a soldier following orders. He was ordered out there by his commander and then he took his orders from that whore. It was only pure dumb luck any of them came home at all. Accomplishments, I laugh at these so called accomplishments.
Feeling a bit enraged, Neal turned to the last scrap of paper and read:
The Lady Knight sent me a letter asking about wine. She said she wanted to serve it in their castle and at their town's inn. She claims they possess a trade center to Scanra and the people are quite fond of wine. She knew that Masbolle's vintages were the best. Why I am telling you this, Dear Brother, is the fact she signed the letter Lady Knight Keladry, Countess of New Hope, and Count Domitan of New Hope. Now I know only one Keladry and Domitan and frankly my dear brother, I want to know why you haven't written me about their marriage or these titles or this new fiefdom that they seem to have stumbled upon. I thought you were all about extolling the accomplishments of my former son. Why haven't you written me about these things? What else aren't you telling me?
Neal smiled at the last one. So his aunt had discovered Dom was now a Count and married. He knew she probably liked to stay informed on the things Dom was doing because she probably wanted to feel like she had made the right decision in disowning her son. She probably also liked to see him suffer a bit as a commoner and was being denied that right. From what Neal could tell, her news seemed to be coming from his father and he seemed to have stopped writing her before Kel and Dom married. It surprised him that his father was holding out but then again she never believed Dom accomplished anything so why would his father keep trying after so many laughs in his face. He set the scraps aside with his father's letter and opened up Roald's letter.
Before Roald had left, Neal had asked him to be thorough on the goings on at New Hope. In response the Prince had sent letter after letter with the intricate details of the local economics, building plans, the expanding and fortifying of the walls and defenses, the farms, the mines, the building of roads, the establishment of taxes, the fur trade. He wrote the finer details of everything and this letter was no different other than the brief news that the castle was nearly done and within the next month it would be completely built up and he would come back to Corus to be with his wife.
Finally Neal picked up Dom's letter and broke the seal. Secretly Neal approved of their new symbol which was pressed into the wax seal: a golden sun rising over a blue field. Of course the color of the seal was simply blue but he knew what the colors were supposed to be. Kel's other shield had been retired and a proper New Hope shield was being made for her. Her old badge had been set away and a new one was made. Flags were being made to show anyone passing by the symbol of the fief. Roald had even reported that after the headwoman had seen the design she had asked for small flags to be made for distribution and decoration during special occasions, like when Kel and Dom finally officially celebrated their marriage.
With a smile at that idea, Neal dived into the letter. Certainly it came from Dom first and foremost because it started with Sir Meathead the Magnificently Stubborn. The title changed each time but the 'Sir Meathead' stayed the same. He was fairly certain if Dom didn't start a letter that way he'd be so concerned about his mental health that Neal himself would have to march up there to New Hope to see if he had been hit on the head in all of the help he was doing in building his own home.
The news started much the same as Roald's letter. The castle was almost done, they had been able to move into the family's quarters which had become a priority to the carpenters in the last month. Now they had moved on to the guest quarters, servants' quarters, and places like a great hall for banquets and parties. The walls were being insulated and fireplaces being built in almost every room to withstand the cold of winters. Expensive glass panes had been brought in for all of the windows which Dom claimed was part of Queenscove's gift to them. Their blacksmiths were working overtime to produce the nails, door handles, railings, locks, and anything else that went into a castle that was metal. Local young boys and girls, and anyone interested could earn a wage helping with the woodwork, the plastering, the painting, or carrying of supplies to anyone doing such work. Already Kel had seen fit to hire at least two cooks to make sure those working were fed and she was apparently reviewing applicants for a personal servant for herself. Dom had already picked a young man by the name of Alston to be his personal servant. Once the news of the fief had been traded, it came down to more personal things.
I know we told you that we'd most likely be ready to invite everyone up to visit and celebrate by spring but there's been a change of plans. I have reason to believe that Kel will not want to be hosting a throng of people for a party when she herself would be nearly eight months pregnant.
Neal had to read that part four times over before the words had sunk in. Kel was pregnant. Newly so. It was late August and if in the spring she'd be eight months along with winter snows in the north lasting up to five months. She had to have gotten pregnant sometime the month before. They certainly had wasted no time at all but then again he had noticed she had taken off her pregnancy charm before their wedding. If Neal thought really hard about it, he would realize Kel was at the opportune time to have children. She would be bound to her fief for at least a year or two. In reality she and Dom would be there for more like three to five years before they'd consider leaving for extended periods of time. Kel wouldn't be called on for active duty until she could leave for a reasonable amount of time marking this the perfect time for her to be laid up with pregnancy and raising children.
Yes, Meathead, I know. Children already? But Kel and I discussed it and she wanted to make sure we had a line of succession before she was sent back out on active duty. Those sorts of things are important. Just think Karin and our child will be roughly the same distance in age as you and I were. I hope they can be as close as you and I were. And Kel says of course you are welcome to come and visit with Karin at any time. You two have your own rooms in the family quarters. We planned for your invasion of our privacy the moment we found out we were expecting.
Neal scanned the rest of the letter and then took out his quill, ink, and paper to start writing. The infirmary was quiet enough that he could probably spend the next four hours writing before one of the attendants came to tell him they required his help. The first letter he wrote was to his father expressing his wishes to be present in New Hope when Kel was due. There was absolutely no way he would miss such a thing. The second letter went back to Dom, once again expressing his wishes to be present when Kel was due. He demanded to know what midwives Kel was using and their qualifications. Was she having morning sickness? He could send some teas that helped ease the nausea and the aches that would eventually come with her swelling stomach. Did she know the restrictions she should be following in her exercises? If not he was including a whole list and she should follow them very strictly. What sort of foods was she eating? She needed to eat very healthy things. Did they need him to send any foods from Corus? Any winter fruits? Vegetables? He knew Kel would have no probably eating fruits and vegetables, but did they have access to them? Did they plan on a wet nurse or was Kel going to nurse herself? Did they have a nursery set up yet? Did they have nursemaids in order? Should he interview some in Corus and send them up?
The letter he folded together and sealed was nearly ten pages long with his lists and questions and worries. He wanted to make sure Kel was safe. That the baby would be safe. Most noble women didn't have a problem with their pregnancies but then again most noble women were in large comfy castles surrounded by servants to follow their every whim. They had the access and monies for whatever the lady wanted and she was likely not doing training exercises. Kel wasn't in that position and he highly doubted she would allow anyone to follow her every whim or would import foods just because she craved them. They still had work to do at their fief and he wasn't sure she'd just stand back and let others do all of the work on their own. Perhaps he should ask his father for leave starting as soon as he returned and plan to spend his winter with Karin at New Hope. Rather than let his worries make him open his letter to his father again to add the request at the bottom, he let his sensible side that sounded far too much like the woman he was worried about and took the letters to be sent out immediately. If Kel and Dom wanted him, they would ask, he hoped.
A/N: As I was writing all of Neal's worries for Kel those worries came not in Neal's voice to my head but my brother-in-laws. I give him credit as my real life Neal. I'm not even kidding. I deserve some pity.