A new life began… I could feel consciousness approaching. The noises around me were muffled but loud. My body felt hot, with something sticky clinging to my skin. I felt the pressure of something pressing against me, rubbing me down. Finally I felt another warmth nearby, pressing against me. I tried opening my eyes.
The world around me started out as a blur. The light was too bright and my new eyes were unused to it. All my other senses were like mush as well. I could hear but it felt muffled still. I could taste the remnant of something in my mouth but devising actual taste was impossible. Touch was like my body was numb as if I was pressing against water. These crude sensations were what I always felt upon being born, though always slightly different.
As my vision came into focus I saw what I usually did for the first time, well about ninety percent of the time. Looking down at me was a woman with auburn hair and green eyes. Her facial features were soft and were currently showing a smile of a mother's love. The kind of look that could melt a heart such as mine. As she held me out slightly I got a better image of a man, he gently poked me in the chest. His features were more defined than hers. He bore dirty blonde hair and brown eyes. They were both fine looking people, but over many lifetimes I had started to prefer more exotic appearances. The man was smirking at me, seemingly content with what he had created. Occasionally exchanging glances between each other I could see they loved each other very much.
As they looked down at me they spoke comforting words, words that I could not understand. This was typical, I had yet to be reborn into a world in which I recognized the language. They seemed to be a loving, happy couple, which was always a good sign. As I enjoyed the love of two parents their expressions changed to ones of worry. They looked towards a third person in the room and spoke to them. Then carefully, as if I would break from the slightest touch, passed me to my father, then to another woman. This woman was older than my two parents. Her appearance was that of a frumpy woman with some weight to her and rounder proportions. She held me up to examine me.
I knew what she was doing and why. She was checking my heart beat. Making sure air was passing between my lips and making sure my airway was open. This was a normal reaction, after all, a baby was supposed to cry. I had learned this early in my reincarnations and sometimes I would try my best to bawl so to put my new parents at ease. This time however I decided not to cry. A selfish decision on my part. I didn't have any real reason not to at least try and cry. Perhaps I didn't because I had just died a lethargic old woman and couldn't be bothered. Or maybe I was just tired of this recurring event.
Seemingly satisfied, the older woman handed me back to my parents and said some consoling words. I imagine they were along the lines of "Oh this happens sometimes! No need to be worried, she seems perfectly healthy!" Whatever words she spoke seemed to put my parents at ease. So began my new life.
My name is Victoria this time around. A pretty enough name, one I could get used to, as long I kept people from calling me Vicky or Vic. Maybe just V would be an appropriate nickname in the future?
That aside I had learned a number of other things since being born. My mother was named Julie while my father was Harren. This was always more difficult to figure out early on than you might think. Parents often refer to each other by pet names, such as honey or sweetheart. So picking out names from the words they said were something of a challenge.
Aside from me Julie and Harren had two other children. Almari who seemed to take after her mother, having auburn hair and green eyes, was four years older than me. She was quite cute and had the look of someone who would grow into quite the beauty someday. Renault was my parents first child and was six years old. His features looked more like father's but were still less prominent at this age. He also had auburn hair instead of father's dirty blonde. Having only been alive for probably a couple months I wasn't sure who I was taking after.
Whenever I was reborn it found it was always important to gather as much information as quickly as possible. My new family might find it weird that I would stare at them constantly, I needed to learn the language fast, as well as anything else I could pick up.
Although it was still early I did learn a few snippets of useful information. Harren and Julie were both craftsmen, which meant I was probably in an upper lower class family but this was essential. Harren was a cobbler while Julie was a seamstress or perhaps a tailor. Our home had a studio attached where they worked. The house wasn't exceptionally large and consisted of one main room sectioned off between a combined eating area and kitchen with the other section being a living area that contained my crib and Almari's bed. Above us was a raised attic reached by ladder. This was where Renault slept. Off the living area was the master bedroom and off the kitchen/eating area was both a storage closet and the family's studio.
While I was being breast fed the rest of the family ate things that were grown in the garden, with the occasional side of meat or eggs. Bread was often served as well. The garden was visible through a window across from my crib. Sadly that window was kept closed often as the winter season was approaching. The foods grown in the garden seemed to be some type of hard potatoes that I suspect needed to be boiled to be edible. Past the garden were fields of grain that looked close enough to what I was familiar with.
One day, while my siblings were playing, Almari managed to get skinned up badly. It didn't seem dire, more like a rash from falling down, but she came crying to my mother. After comforting Almari, mother started inclanting a spell. It seemed to be a minor healing spell that stopped any bleeding and repaired the skin. I suspect it also dulled the pain as Almari stopped crying shortly after and immediately went back out to play.
Magic being in this world was a good sign. Having had people attempt to burn me at the stake for practicing magic before. Anytime my mother used magic I made sure to watch the effect. Magic didn't seem uncommon in the world if someone who was a peasant craftsman could use it. In fact, apparently my mother could use two major types of magic, healing and some kind of water magic, which she used in her everyday life to cook and clean.
Life was going swell till after four to six months after my birth I began developing fevers. This seemed to worry my family greatly, I suspect due to my siblings being quite healthy individuals. The family took care of me dutifully however, exchanging rags on my forehead, letting me rest and even casting healing magic on me. The frumpy midwife who aided in my birth came by a couple times to check on me. My fevers continued to come and go through the winter, subsiding the next spring.
