"But dear, sweet, secondborn,
Let me tell you this.
The truth is, before you were born,
I doubted the infinity of love
And yet
The moment they placed you in my arms,
Cocooned in blankets,
With your button nose and scrunched up lips,
Eyes firmly shut and so new to this world,
It's as if I grew a whole new heart
Just for you."
-Rasha Rushdy
Evening sunshine came spilling in through the open window of the sitting room that occupied the quarters of Juliette and Randulf Howlester. The room at the moment, though, only held the former, who lounged peacefully on the settee with a thick quilt pulled around her and a small bundle of blankets held carefully in her arms. The woman's gaze had not lifted from the bundle for many minutes, taking in the slumbering expression of the infant held close. Her fingers lifted to the babe's face, fingers brushing gently across the newborn's cheek and up to their forehead which was marked only by thin wisps of light hair.
A servant pushed open the door of the quarters, peering in towards the lounging noblewoman who sat a room away, though easily seen through the archway connecting the two chambers.
"My lady, you have a visitor," the maid called gently, holding the door close. Juliette lifted her gaze finally away from the child in her arms to take in the maid at the door, collecting her tired thoughts before nodding.
"Allow them in, though do tell them I'm not up for a day of conversation." The Ithanian gave a faint laugh at her statement and the servant nodded briefly before vanishing again from the room.
When the door opened again, Juliette shifted to sit up a bit, the infant held closer in her right arm as her left hand pulled the quilt closer. A young girl came tumbling into the room and hopped across the floor towards the resting woman as an older man and woman followed after.
"Mama!" The young girl shouted, bringing a flinch from Juliette at the loud call. The other older woman bustled to the girl's side to catch her arm and murmur towards her as the man continued past both to sit besides Juliette's feet. He lifted a hand to reached across and rest it on Juliette's left hand, giving a bright smile.
"How are you, my love?" Randulf finally asked, his voice softer than Juliette's eldest had been- though the twelve year old had now calmed and came to rest on the floor in front of her mother.
"Yes, how are you, dearest sister?" The other woman, Darcie, questioned as she drew closer towards the others. Juliette squeezed Randulf's hand with her left before freeing it and lifting it to rub her eyes.
"Well, tired, to say the least. It was rather peaceful before dear Ellora came along." The twelve year old girl huffed from the floor at her mother's teasing before she pushed herself up a bit to look at the baby.
"Mama, what's his name?" Ellora asked, going to brush her fingers along the child's fine hair. Darcie murmured something else to her, along the lines of 'be gentle', that was awarded only a dirty look from her charge. Randulf reached across to catch the girl's bothersome fingers in his hand, squeezing them and giving her a warm smile despite the warning gesture.
"His name? Why it's.." Juliette turned to look towards Randulf, who returned the gaze and both sat there a moment in thought. Darcie wore an amused grin and slowly lowered herself to sit besides Ellora, wrapping her arms around her sister's oldest in a hug. "It's Greysen," Juliette finally stated with a small sigh, turning her gaze back towards the sleeping infant in her arms.
"Greysen?" Darcie asked, her hands raising to adjust the ribbon tying up Ellie's dark hair. "That's a fantastique name." Randulf lifted his wife's legs slowly to rest them across his as he sat close to overlook his firstborn with a rare expression of absolute content. The child's mother leaned her husband's way, allowing him put an arm around her own that held the infant.
After another quiet moment of content between the four, Juliette finally replied to her sister, "Oui, Greysen. Greysen Aldwin Howlester, doesn't that have such a lovely ring?"
OOC Information
- Juliette Howlester has had another child- though this is not public knowledge unless you're close to the Howlesters/are a Howlester, you were informed by Juliette, or simply the news spreads.
- (The baby was technically born yesterday.)
