VE LAUDOV NIKUL: The Little Moon

[Mady 3771]

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

The Little Moon

 

[An artistic depiction of Nikul the old Haeseni deity of the Moon]

 

 

High within the cold peak of Morteskvan laid the Duchess Vidaus, the echoes of pain flooded the halls and led the castle to grow quiet aside from their bounce against cobble. The Vidausi nursemaid held tight unto the hand of the Duchess as she labored away. This had been her third child, the first two certainly not easy; but this one was far different.   The cold weather was worse than normal, a blizzard pounding at the windows of the Ducal chambers and the poor servant tossed coal now and then into the fireplace to keep the room warm as ice etched the windows.   Tatiyana prayed then, her head bowed as her back laid against her bed. Even with her husband aside her whispering reassurance, she still prayed.   She prayed for the blizzard to cease. Though harder the snow fell.   She prayed for the birth to be swift. Though it only grew longer and harder to bear.   She prayed for it to be a girl. One perhaps of her likeness.

It was then, deep within her pain and prayer that the blizzard seemed to yield. Through the heavy clouds and the dark, peeked the streams of silver; the streams of the moonlight finally granting the Duchess an odd comfort in this time of stress. It danced through the colored panes, looking like glitter dancing through the air as it lit up the room in an opulent glow.   It was then the baby had come, the cries of the child easing the worry that choked the room.    There she was.   A baby girl, but in likeness she was not. Her skin pale and her hair white, it was clear that she was Ruthern by the tint of her blue eyes and the way the features were a perfect blend of mother and father. Yet not blonde as Gentry had been, far past it.   “The light. . .she is of the light.” The mother panted out as she held the swaddled babe in her weakened arms, beams of moonlight slipping through the frosted windows of the room to shine over the mother and child.    The fair features of the child seemed to shock the woman, confusion muddled with her exhaustion on that dreary night though she knew the babe was good, she could feel it in her heart. It pained the Duchess to let go of her girl - her first girl, as the midwives saw to her. Only until the little child was nestled back in her arms, warm and sleeping, did Tatiyana allow herself rest.    “Ve laudov nikul. . .” She’d utter, tucking the furs of the swaddle closer around the child as the Ducal couple welcomed the newest blood of Ruther to the realm.

 

 

[libertyybelle 6187]

Ipera Nikulara of the House Ruthern slept bustled in her crib, soundly within the moonlight