A Night Among Family

by **Ireth Telemnar** on October 24th, 2013, 12:08 pm

Winter 60th, 509 A.V.

The baby gurgled and Ireth stirred from her thoughts. She blinked a couple of times to clear the blurriness of her vision from having closed her eyes for a couple of minutes and smiled softly as she took in her surroundings. Her beloved mother Birine bustled about between the old black iron stove and the table, pots boiling, cups clattering, small slurps as she tested the foods she brewed. Her long graying-dark blonde hair lay long down her back in a braid, although every once in awhile Birine would tuck the loose strands behind her ears. She was preparing a meal for her children, a special meal. It was the anniversary of her birth, and she was doing what she loved best. Cooking, and spending time with the family she created. Rhysol's blessed me so, Birine thought as she opened the door of the stove, releasing the tantalizing aroma of the loaves of herb bread that were baking there.

There were three young men and one woman seated at the Telemnar's over-sized wooden table. The men, all around the same age, were Ireth's older brothers. Well, most of them. She had five brothers in all, each older than she. The eldest, a sailor named Jonah, had been unable to come to this dinner. The reason Ireth'd been given was vague, as if her mother had thought that her daughter was too young to understand. Ireth hadn't pried though. She didn't want to upset her mother, not today.

The other brother missing was Rothull, the second oldest, who was out on a secret traipse with Ireth's father. Ireth hadn't even been given a reasonable excuse for their absence. Birine had laughed aloud and exclaimed "Why! They've gone to find giant emerald eagles that fly through the Lake and snatch up pretty young girls!" That had been an inside joke among the Telemnars when Ireth was smaller, something her brothers would tease her with. Somewhere in her belongings the fourteen year old had a drawing that Rothull had done for her of an emerald eagle on a scrap of homework from back when he'd attended school.

The men began to laugh abruptly, and even though she hadn't a clue what the subject of their amusement was, Ireth couldn't help but chuckle along with the contagiousness of her brother's laughter. One of the brothers pushed his long blonde dreadlocks out of his face and whispered something obscene about the price of something or other, and the others laughed again. This was Pernn, the fourth oldest of the Telemnar boys. A brooding young man, Pernn raised pigeons for a living. He made his money by selling the birds, selling the eggs, or by getting the fowl to race back to his NHC room. The child that Ireth held, a little baby girl less than one year old, was Pernn's daughter Taikame. Pernn had never been married, the mother of his child being a pretty young daughter of a healer that Pernn had courted. The lass had died in childbirth.

Pernn had lost a certain sense of reality after his beloved passed. How he kept going, Ireth would never know. One of Ireth's sisters-in-law had had a baby around the same time as Taikame was born, and she took on the responsibility of nursing the child alongside her own.

by **Ireth Telemnar** on October 24th, 2013, 1:03 pm

Ireth stretched carefully under the blanket she had wrapped around her. Taikame was awake, for a moment, and gazed up at her aunt with those inquisitive deep blue eyes before their lids grew heavy again and the infant settled back into the realm of sleep.

One of the men, the one with the curly black hair, reached over and took the hand of the one woman sitting at the table. He leaned close to her and whispered something in her ear that made her giggle. This was Athorr'e, the third of Ireth's brothers, and his wife Nykita. Resting in Nykita's lap was another swaddled baby, their son Honaser, who was only a few weeks older than Taikame. Nykita extended her hand up to wipe something from Athorr'e's cheek, presumably dust, but he feigned a nip at her fingers and she smacked him playfully on the shoulder.

Athorr'e was a dealer of antiques and always managed to have dust on his person. He worked in a nifty shop owned by his trade-master down in the Merchant's District. His work didn't seem too terribly exciting to Ireth, but he made a pretty decent living, and his family was happy. Nykita was very pretty, and had been a seamstress before she had to make time to raise her son and take care of Taikame too. Athorr'e was one of the brothers that Ireth was closest too.

The last man seated at the table was the youngest of the Telemnar boys, Ghahinder. A muscular and tough-looking young man, Ghahindor caught Ireth looking at him and gave her a wink. A smile lit up her face, and she giggled. Closest to her in age, Ghahindor and Ireth were sometimes the best of friends. But, with there being six children in this family, sometimes a couple of children would get along and sometimes they wouldn't. There were so many factors and variables that the dynamics of it all were too overwhelming to be comprehended by anyone other than the Telemnar siblings themselves, and even then they would laugh at the silliness of how complex and simple their relationships were.

Ghahindor had recently left school and been taken into an apprenticeship by a man who had been hired by the scientists of the Kelvic Research Institute to track down the kelvics that ran free in the streets of Ravok. Sometimes they would be escaped slaves, sometimes they had just wandered onto the floating city. Either way, the Institute paid its trackers well, and Ghahindor had blossomed under the tutelage of his trade-master. He was learning about wrestling and how to throw a heavy bolas. Whatever it was that he was doing, Ireth thought that he had a very exciting life.

"What'cha thinking about there, girl?" Ghahinder called over to her. Ireth shook her head and laughed.

"Only thinking about how ridiculous you look, Ghahinder. You know," she rolled her eyes dramatically, "The usual."

Their mother laughed at this and patted Ireth's hair when she walked by. "Oh you two!" Ghahinder stuck his tongue out at her childishly and the folk seated at the table laughed again.

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A Night Among Family

A Night Among Family

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