(A/N So, this is the chapter! Tadaa! I just want to make one thing clear, and that is that Joseph and Cashmére is right now twenty-two (Marcia's twenty), and that Odale was born when Marcia was twenty-six, the same day as Marcia became EOW. Just wanted to make that clear. You can read no (not that you couldn't have done that earlier, but, you know... Oh, goodness, just read now already! Stop reading the Authors Note... I'm serious! Stop! Oh goddesses, I'm rambling again...)

Chapter 21: Kitumaini Meets Marcia

"Oh goodness." Marcia had to lean against something. She leaned against the wall.

"You okay, Mar?" Joseph wondered.

"Yes," Marcia replied, "Yes, I am, but..."

"But what?"

"Do you know what mum will say about this?" Marcia wondered. Joseph snorted.

"I can guess it." he said, "But it's not about what she wants."

"Try to tell her that." Marcia muttered. Joseph snickered.

"But you're okay with it, right?" Cashmére asked.

"Of course!" Marcia answered, "It's great!"

Cashmére smiled faintly, as though she was relieved. She sure was, by the way. "Is it a he or she?" Marcia suddenly asked.

"We don't know, yet." Cashmére said, "But we know what we would name it."

"Which name...s?"

"Either Lorea Trassimma Overstrand Tanner, or Marcus Augustus Overstrand Tanner."

"Marcus after you," Joseph folded in, "If it's a boy. Cass came up with it."

Cashmére almost blushed. "It's a latin name." she just said.

"For how long?" Marcia wondered.

"Fourth month." Cashmére replied, cheerfully.

"And does your father know..?"

"No."

"He's not going to like it, either, is he?"

"I don't care at all about that." Cashmére pursed her lips, "He can't stop me- I meant us- from this."

"Hm."

They discussed the baby for a while, but then, Joseph and Cashmére had to go down and say hello to their guests. Marcia followed. While walkind down the staris, she almost fell a couple of times, but she always succeded not to in the last second. Fortunatley. She didn't want to look stupid. Now, she was quite happy that she hadn't chosen her new, white, slightly pointy shoes. It would have made her trip even more. She was, when she thought about it, rather clumsy. However, clumsy or not, Marcia, Joseph and Casmére finally reached the entrance-hall. Trassimma was waiting down there. "Hello!" Cashmére said to her, with a huge smile across her face.

"Hello, dear." Trassimma replied, almost a little dryly. Then she turned to Marcia. "Where were you, Marcia? I couldn't find you anywhere- oh!" Trassimma had now noticed Marcia's new dress, "Oh, you changed. I see." Marcia almost blushed. Once again, she didn't know why her mother made her blush, she just felt embarassed over the fact that she got attention. Her mother didn't usually pay much attention to her. While her brothers, back when they were younger, had chosed careers that her mother appreciated, marcia had chosen to becom a wizard. Her mother dissaproved all kinds and sorts of magyk. What Marcia didn't know was that it was because her mother had wanted to be a wizard, but, as we all now by now, she was not. Trassimma was, in fact, a little bit jealous of her daughter for being a wizard. But she would never, ever admit it. She was too proud for that. Marcia saw that Trassimma tried to figure out whether she (Trassimma, then) liked the dress or not. Marcia had seen that expression many times, especially as she grew up. She remembered that one time when Rodrian and Maximilian had brought a rat- a tiny little grey thing, not to mention scabby- home and asked if they could keep it. Rodrian and Maximilian had trained the rat to wake Marcia up in the mornings, which Marcia never really had appreciated (or forgiven. Not that she still was furious, or that she infact was plottin revenge, but she was a little- just a little- angry over it, still). But who on earth liked being waked up by a rat, running around under the covers? Not Marcia, at least. Their mother had had the exact same position then, as she had now. That also made Marcia a little angry. The dress was worth so much more than a filthy little rat. At last, Trassimma stopped looking at it, and returned her gaze to Cashmére. "But.." Trassimma frowned, as though she recognized Cashmére from somewhere, "Aren't you that girl Joseph brough with him?" She wasn't so clear about what she meant, but Cashmére, Joseph and Marcia understood what she meant perfectly well. Trassimma had recongized Cashmére from that time Joseph had brough her with him, and visited Trassimma. It hadn't been such a lucky visit, since it had turned out that Joseph's father- Melchior- had died. Cashmére shook her head. "I don't think so." she said, and smiled at her future mother-in-law.

"Hm." Trassimma pursed her lips.

"Cashmére!" Cashmére almost groaned. This was not the right moment to introduce Kitumaini to Trassimma- or Marcia, by the way. She gave Joseph a hurried kiss on the cheek, before she hurried of to her friend.

"The truth, please." Trassimma said, in a commanding tune.

"Huh?" Joseph looked at his mother.

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Is she the girl you brought with you?" Trassima asked.

"No!" Joseph answered, "Ma, please, don't you believe in her? I hope you do believe in her. It will cause problems otherwise."

"Hm." Trassimma said, again. Marcia suddenly bit her lip. What would be her mother's reaction to getting a grandchild be? Or, what would her mother's reaction to getting a grandchild be, if Cashmére was the mother? It was a rather scary thought. Marcia knew that she would freak out. To get all the horrable scenarios out of her head, Marcia went over to Cashmére and her... friend. Cashmére's friend looked rather nice. Marcia didn't use to judge people by their looks, she thought it was unfair, but she couldn't help but think that the woman beside Cashmére looked very kind. She had darke skin, black hair, hanging in ringlets down her back, and big, warm, brown eyes. As soon as Marcia came closer to them, the woman started talking to her. "Eho!" she, the woman, said. Marcia could tell by the voiced that she was excited. "Kitumaini sum. Tu?" What the woma said was, though Marcia didn't understand it; "Hi! I am Kitumaini. You?" She almost felt embarassed. "I don't understand." she replied, "I don't speak latin." Marcia felt extremly stupid. If there was something she hated to say, it was 'I don't understand'. What more she hated was to actually not understand something. It made her feel uneasy. Of course she knew that she would never be able to know or understand everything, but it still made her feel uneasy. No matter what anyone said. "Oh," the woman said, "I'm sorry. My name is Kitumaini. Who are you?"

"I'm Marcia." Marcia answered, "Pleasure to meet you."

"Mama?" a little girl, who almost seemed to hide behind, Kitumaini, stuck her head out. Then, she said something that Marcia didn't understand. And it wasn't in latin. Kitumaini answered in the same language, and the only thing that Marcia really understood was that the girls name was Guillaume. A pretty name, really. Finally, Kitumaini finished her talk to the little girl, whom appereantly was her daughter, and turned back to Marcia. "That's Guillaume." she said, "My daughter."

"Oh." appereantly, Marcia had been right.

"I have to go, Mar." Cashmére suddenly said, "I'll see you later!"

When Cashmére had left, Kitumaini leaned over to Marcia. "So, what do you think of the groom, Joseph?" she asked, "He's quite a nice catch, ei?"

"Oh, he's my brother." Marcia answered, again feeling embarassed.

"Sorry," Kitumaini blushed. "I did not know."

Marcia laughed."Of course not." she said, "But you're right. He's a nice catch. I hope they'll be together for quite a while."

(A/N That, ladies and gentlemen, was tha chapter. Hope I'll see ya'll soon!