#earthrunes

"Oh she's beautiful" Siv has returned to Earth Runes with Coradel so they could have that talk, but of course, they had to stop by to see new baby River. Dame Claire can't help but look proud. Motherhood and Ailil? Double whammy

"Well, she could hardly help being that, could she?" Coradel smiles as Siv gushes. Then, "How are you and the baby doing, Claire?"

"Well, Magnus has been wonderful, helping with feeding and more, I mean, he SHOULD, he's half responsible for this little bundle, but I was worried. I'm back in fighting trim, more or less.. still feel a bit rusty. HOpe it doesn't affect my pennons performance" Claire admits

Siv is holding the baby and making a fuss "One day I might have a bundle meself, not for many years though"

A smile at Siv, then to Claire, "It's almost certain to impact your Pennons performance, I should think. I mean, what a massive change to your body! But that doesn't necessarily mean that it will make your Pennons performance worse. Just...prepare to make some alterations should you need to, I'd think."

"If someone hits me in the chest with a mace, I hope I squirt milk right in their eye" the Ailil grumbles

Siv snickers

Coradel laughs. "Perfect! The Gwydions will have a fit of apoplexy! Apologies to your mother there, Lady Captain."

"Why do you folks want to pick on Gwydions? THey're a fine house, a bit full up on themselves... but good folk, short fuses aside" SIv doesn't seem TRULY offended, just curious

"Well, for House Ailil, they have stood in our way with all thier politcal might for a while. And Fiona I suspect just find them stuffy?" Claire looks at her liege with a shrug\

"True, true. Low-hanging fruit, you know. It's terribly easy to insult some Gwydions. Poking the bear."

"THey do bring it on themselves at times," Claire says

Siv shrugs "Atimes. Oh...she seems very relaxed" Snif sniff "Perhaps too relaxed?"

Coradel looks to Claire. "What do you wager that the Lady Captain will hand the baby back to you rather than manage the deed herself?"

"What happened to Fiona fearlessness?" Clare looks at the troll

"It wasn't enough to banish Fiona laziness and sense of 'eww'" Siv grins and does return the baby "Beautiful child"

"Oh, my house, wronged! Claire, if I may?" She easily takes the baby from Claire's arms, if she allows, and heads for the changing table.

"Oh, now I feel small" says the tallest woman in the room

"If you ever do have a baby, you might want the practice, Captain" Claire does indeed allow her liege to handle the changing

Coradel has done this before, learning the finer points from Claire. She manages the task with ease and confidence and even a sense of style.

"first time she tried this, she looked almost panicky" Claire betrays a confidence to Siv "Now, if she could, she'd put a bow on every diaper"

"Now, now...I simply didn't want to hurt my granddaughter. Did I?" she asks River rhetorically as she puts a clean diaper on her. "No, I did not! Not at all!" That unavoidable sweet tone of not-quite-baby-talk.

Siv looks amused "She's going take the role of spoiling grandmother despite the age non fit isn't she, Claire?"

"Probably, I'll get to be the bad guy" And yet Claire smiles "God knows, Magnus is wrapped around her little finger"

"Oh, as if this little one could ever do any wrong!" Coradel asserts with confidence. A quick readjustment of clothes, and she picks River up and holds her high for a quick spinnnnnn fly through the air! before handing her back to Claire.

River makes happy noises, then goes into her mother's arms "I'll take her from here. You two have fun" Claire says "And thank you"

"Very welcome!" Coradel says, tossing the dirty diaper in the pail before they go.

"Oh, I should show you our most recent additions to the stables," she says to Siv.

"Lead on" Siv says and follows

Coradel does lead on, saying, "You were going to fill me in on the trials and tribulations of a Lady Captain."

"Aye, well, tis a long story" She moves to the stable, and makiing sure none are in ear shot, she says "I am in a polygamous relation ship, Jonas, me troll lover lad, and Piper, a satyress you may have met? Singing voice like an angel. Each has their history, and their wounds, and I well and truly stomped onto one without meaning to..and now , ti's very tangled"

A spider might have been politely dropped off a distance a way. She'll tell Zara, but would prefer to tell her direct

"Let me guess...the satyr's the owner of the wounds in question?"

"Oh, if only it were a passing thing" Siv shakes her head "THree days I waited while she ran off. no texts back till the fourth or so...you see she has a phobia, and I iddn't realize how serious it was"

"Oh." A frown of puzzlement. "Can't she just...get over it?"

"Nope. Not a Fiona" She says "She.... imprisoned for a crime she did do, reformed, and has become a joy to me. But.. the scar of her fears of those times remain. You see, she was punished by a Liam, imprisoned... and because of that, she has a hard time being near Liam sidhe. That's why I said you m,ight be insulted, you being tightly entwined. There was this girl, sweet thing, a squire in need of a knight. And Da well, he had just gotten time to go driving again, and mentoring would damage that. " A frown "And.. you know? I really thought I was onto something. I AM a knight. Squiring is part of the task right? Pass on what I know, and I've no trouble with Liams. So I took her in under my wing. But I was rash, and reckless... and Piper felt I should have asked her first. She was probably right. "

"Ah." A nod and a sigh at the mention of Liam-reluctance. "I could be offended, but...honestly, August has gotten me used to brushing aside the casual disregard...but Dreaming help the fool who disrespects him directly," she adds with heat and appetite for a fight. Then another deep breath. "But still..." she says as they arrive at the stable. "Your Piper might have a point. Why do you think you didn't ask her?"

"Time? I suppose, the idea was on me... sudden and clear.. but I had to move quick before da cemented it and that little girl got stuck with a man who felt trapped , oh he'd not blame her for it, but there you go. I had seen Piper with another Liam sidhe but.. only now do I realize they rarely stood near each other evnein the parties... but I can't just tell squire Kassedy 'hey, remember when I told you I'd be your knight? well, I lied. Because my girlfriend hates your house' she had enough bullying for it."

A frown. "It would be cruel to the girl, yes...but I doubt she'd be surprised." She shakes her head. "That is a tangle."

She strolls slowly down the line of stalls. Most of the animals there are the ones Siv remembers from before.

"Oh I stepped into it good." An admission, she admires the horses. She DOES like the animals, though they don't capture her like the sea does, "Honor and Duty war against love, love SHOULD win, but I find myself very fond of the girl .. not like a daughter, but she certinaly put my mind on the idea that one day I might be a decent mom. I mean, we odn't want the world over ridden with DeBuke trolls ONLY right?"

A grin at that last

A light laugh at that. "No, indeed." A glance at the troll. "It sounds as though you have found that you have a passion not only for the sea, but also for the duties of a knight. You jumped fast enough to take them up."

"I did," She nods "A bit too fast. You know, I am proud to be Fiona, but I knew the down sides spoken of. I thought, will I be one of those Fiona with the complicated love lives that go crazy every few months , or will I be one of those reckless leap before you look types. Turns out I'm both" She eyes a horse at the end "Wait, she's new"

A smile. "She is," she says as they approach the white mare. "And she's...well, she's also wounded." A tone of regret, there. "She may not come to meet you."

"Oh.." Siv holds back, then holds a hand out gently "Does she meet you?"

"Sometimes," Coradel says quietly.

The horse comes out cautiously, but she no longer lashes out at Coradel, who is not Chloe. She is on guard, but sniffs.

"Oh poor girl" Siv says, "Here.... let's try this" She takes an apple out, and rather than give it to the horse directly, lays it on a rail within reach "When you told me I would see your horse I snagged one"

"She was abused," Coradel murmurs. "Terribly so." Then a smile at the apple. "Clever captain."