Introduction

Caladan castle stands as the main settlement for the territory of Galatea in the Holy Kingdom Of Faerghus. It is here where Count Frederick Galatea and Countess Isabella Galatea reside in their duties of governing the territory in their care.

The morning routines for most of the inhabitants of the settlement are underway even with the cool winter chill in the air. From the soldiers patrolling and keeping the peace, to the castle staff performing the daily choirs required to maintain the keep.

However there was a feeling of anticipation in the air. Many were aware that the Countess Isabella Galatea was expected to give birth to her first child in the coming days. Many were trying to predict whether their Lady would give birth to a son or a daughter.

Within Caladan, Count Galatea was observing the training of a new batch of recruits and officers in the training yard. The Count believes that having adequately trained soldiers and officers lead to a well maintained army. The start of such an army begins with fundamentals.

Along with Count Galatea were several senior officers who were in charge of this group of recruits. With a silent nod the officers began their instructions. For today, the objective of the recruits was to familiarize themselves with the use of the standard weapons used in the army. These weapons being the sword, the spear, and the shield.

As this was occuring, Count Galatea emerald green eyes were observing the recruits. He wanted to make sure the recruits were attentive and engaged with the demonstration. It's his belief that if a soldier does not take his duty seriously, then they will endanger themselves and their comrade's in the future. This was a core belief Frederick held and wants those he leads to understand as well.

With the demonstrations complete the recruits were commanded to grab training equipment off the racks to begin practicing the motions and techniques taught to them. While this was occuring one of his wife's aides approached him quickly from the direction of the keep. After bowing to her lord and with a deep breath she relayed her message "my Lord, you are needed at your chambers. Your wife has gone into labor."

With widening eyes the Count bid his officers to continue without him before he and the aid made their way into the keep. As a man in his 20's, Frederick had no trouble walking quickly to his destination.

As they made their way through the keep towards his chambers, they passed several keep staff along the way. At the sight of their lord moving quickly they made sure to stay out of his way while giving him a bow in respect of his position.

As the doors to his chambers were quickly approaching them, a sense of nervousness was beginning to take hold of Frederick. 'I hope Isabella is alright' he thought to himself. Isabella was the love of his life. If something were to happen to either his wife or their unborn child, he would never forgive himself. Taking him out of his thoughts was the aid who accompanied him. "My Lord, please wait out here while I go and see how things are progressing inside with our Lady".

With a reluctant nod the aid bowed to him and went inside his chambers to where his wife was. He already had the necessary personnel in place with his wife to make the process as smooth as possible. However, he was still anxious over the situation occurring on the other side of the door

As he began to pace back and forth in the hallway, the aid who accompanied him earlier came out to provide him an update on his wife. "My Lord, so far your wife is in good health. The contractions are occurring as expected and Lady Sellina believes that your child should be arriving shortly."

With a grateful nod Count Galatea responds, "very good my dear, I wish to be with my wife when our child arrives, so I will be joining you as you return inside." With a smile the aid says "of course my Lord, I'm sure she will be happy to have you with her during this special moment."

As the two of them entered into the master bedroom, Frederick quickly observed the situation currently going on in the room. His wife was in their bed with two of her attendees providing her with whatever she needs to be as comfortable as possible. Off to the side Frederick can see Lady Sellina currently at the foot of the bed overseeing his wife's care.

Lady Sellina is a mage who was a graduate of Fhirdiad School Of Sorcery. She was a talented sorcerer for her age and was well rounded in her skills and knowledge in both faith and reason magic. Frederick was fortunate enough to have met her a year earlier while on business in Fhirdiad. He was in need of a house mage for his keep and Lady Sellina was in need of a permanent post for stability. After several discussions an agreement was made for her to work at Caladan castle for the foreseeable future.

Lady Sellina turned her gaze from Countess Isabella to her approaching Lord. With a bow Lady Sellina says, "my Lord, I apologize for requesting your presence so abruptly, but I thank you for coming here so quickly. it is my belief that your child will be coming shortly and assume you did not want to miss this moment with your wife."

With a smile Frederick replied to Lady Sellina, "I thank you for sending word to me, I did not want Isabella to go through this on her own without me." After speaking to Lady Sellina Frederick walked over to his wife and kneeled next to her. Taking her hand into his own he asked his wife "Isabella, how are you doing? Is there anything you need?"

With a warm smile her sapphire eyes looked into her husband's eyes and replied "having you here for the birth of our child is all I need. All I want is our child to be brought into this world healthy and safe."

While staring into each other's eyes Isabella felt sudden pain in her body. She closed her eyes and clenched her husband's hands. Lady Sellina notices her Ladies sudden pain and immediately got to work.

"Alright everyone get to your assigned stations just like we practiced!" Lady Sellina then looks towards her charges. "My Lord and My Lady, I believe we are now at the endpoint in this journey."

After speaking to everyone, Lady Sellina moves into position to give Isabella instruction and to help deliver the baby. Over the course of the next hour, the contractions became more frequent in which the shouts of Isabella could be heard from a distance. After a series of strenuous contractions and with encouraging words from both Lady Sellina and Frederick, the sound of a baby's cries were heard in the room.

With an exhausted look on her face from this ordeal, Isabella weakly asks Lady Sellina, "Sellina, please tell us, is our child healthy?" After Sellina and the aids cleaned the child and wrapped it in a warm blanket, she approached the couple with the baby in her arms. "My Lord and My Lady, I am happy to announce that you have a healthy baby boy."

With a sense of gentleness not often seen on Count Galatea's face, he gently took his child from Lady Sellina and brought it to his wife. "Isabella, words cannot express how happy I am at this moment. To know that my child was born into this world healthy and my wife safe from harm is all that I asked for."

Frederick placed their child in Isabella's arms. With the look of pure love on her face she says, "it makes me happy to hear this my dear husband. Now we must name our child." With discussions previously made between the couple, they agreed on names for their future son or daughter.

With pride on his face, Frederick made the official decision on the name of his son. "Let it be known that on the fourth day of the Guardian Moon of the Imperial year 1162, the firstborn child of House Galatea will be named Seth Von Galatea!"

While this historic moment was occuring, Isabella suddenly started grimacing in pain. "Something is wrong Sellina, I am experiencing a similar pain I had earlier prior to my child being born!" With widening eyes, Lady Sellina began examining her charge with a look of shock and surprise.

Count Frederick Galatea was scared that something was wrong with his wife and asked Lady Sellina, "what is wrong with Isabella, the look on your face is worrying me greatly!" Gently taking the baby from Isabella after getting permission to, she addressed the both of them directly. "My Lord and Lady, something rare is occuring at this moment. I have read of this occurrence once and believe that you will have not just one, but two children being born on this day. The term used for children in this situation would be either identical or fraternal twins. Identical twins are of the same sex and share similar physical features. Fraternal twins can be both male and female and can have different physical features."

The shock can be seen on everyone's faces. No one has heard of this occurring before, but trusted the knowledge that Lady Sellina was providing them. Before Isabella can give any more thought in the matter a strong contraction occurred causing her more pain like before.

While still surprised by the news given to them, everyone remained dutiful in their duties to ensure everything would still occur smoothly. After about a half hour of contractions, a second baby was born. Just as done previously the baby was inspected and cleaned until finally put into a warm blanket.

Lady Sellina brought both children to the couple and provided them with more information. "First I want to inform you that your second child is a girl. I also want to inform you both that your daughter is healthy." Both children were given into the arms of their parents. The tired but loving look at both of her children can be seen from their mother's eyes. The father had the look of a proud man for both the children he saw in front of him and the woman who brought this gift to him.

"My dear husband, I wish to be the one to announce our daughter's name officially." Frederick had no issue with this request and allowed his wife to make the announcement official. "Let it be known that on the fourth day of the Guardian Moon of the Imperial year 1162, the second born child of House Galatea will be named Ingrid Brandl Galatea!"