A Profound Feeling

[MunaZaldrizoti 8037]

Spoiler

 

 

[!] A portrait of Rickard Vientos, Princess Victoria Vientos, and their infant son Tristan | Circa 1711

 

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Motherhood had always been tricky for Victoria Vientos, her lack of parents at such a young age crippling her ideas of an ideal family life. Six children she had brought into the world so far in her lifetime, with only two to still be living alongside her. Her newest progeny, aptly named Tristan Arthur, looked as his older sister had. He and Alastrine had shared the same white locks, fine and thick, and matched in eye color with a shade that rivaled even the finest aquamarine crystal. He was healthy, with unblemished skin and a sharp jaw like his father. Her newest pride and joy, her only living son.

 

She pondered on the feeling her father must have felt, the day he had lifted her up from exile and deemed her fit to be his daughter. How proud he had looked on that day, the Master Sage Delaselva, as he hugged her tightly and asked that she call him ‘Father’. As she watched her son sleeping soundly in his bassinet, she wondered if he had done the same when she had slept in the library as a child, having spent the entire evening examining the yellowed pages of a history tome.

 

The thoughts of the Princess wandered to her daughter, Alastrine, and to that of the grandchild she had left behind when her ship sank after an unruly storm. Had her daughter cried out for her mother, despite their weak relationship? Had any of her children, with most of them having deemed to live away from her, ever think of their mother when they grew old and grey? She supposed she would never know.

 

She sat down beside her newborn, pearlescent eyes trained on his tiny face, his miniature hands curled about the hem of the blanket that kept him warm and safe. How much she had achieved in the last saint’s year, the restoration of her family’s title and the birth of a son. The reassembly of her Order and the feeling of finally being able to settle down with her husband, Rickard.

 

How far she had come, how much she had managed to get back. How much she still desired to do, inspired by the miracle of a new life.

 

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[Andustar 4143]

Rickard Vientos’ undivided attention now nestled with his family.  Having recently sired another son, his enthusiasm was perhaps at its height, a feeling he could cherish with his wife.  In his distant past, the scion of Kovac had no such luxury, weighed down by the intrigues of statesmanship and nobility.  However, that was the past.  Here and now, he would enjoy the pleasures of the present.

 

Sat next to Victoria, he embraced his family, for, at this time, there was nothing else in the world that concerned him.

[Axelu 4333]

The Baroness of Mehran, having assumed her birthright within the safety of Aeriel’s warm grasp, smiles upon her parents, her own daughter, and her newborn brother.