Alaric finds his mother staring out the window at the sea. She looks very tired and has only picked at her breakfast.

"Alaric," she says with a smile, "How are you? You are certainly looking better."

"Much better indeed, mother. Though I find myself eager to catch up on what has been happening these past weeks." Alaric's brow furrows as he notices how tired she looks. "But, how are you faring? You look tired, and have barely touched your breakfast. Both you and Vosel are fond of telling me how important breakfast is!"

He takes a seat at the table and looks expectantly at her.

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

"Much better indeed, mother. Though I find myself eager to catch up on what has been happening these past weeks." Alaric's brow furrows as he notices how tired she looks. "But, how are you faring? You look tired, and have barely touched your breakfast. Both you and Vosel are fond of telling me how important breakfast is!"

[[Nitpick: No such thing as 'weeks'. They are called 'tendays' and you can find out more in the 'Sorendenese Calendar' article in the 'Locations and nations' category on the world site.]]

He takes a seat at the table and looks expectantly at her.

[[I have just had a look at the canon document you sent me and will get it back to you in the next day or so. Do you know if LibreOffice supports MS Word markup?]]

She gives him a rueful smile and then says, "I was up late last night reading and ate a complete tray of Alana's pastries in the process, so I am just not hungry this morning."

Then she becomes serious. "The death of Greft Tarantine seems to have stirred up a real stirge's nest in Constantine over the last tenday. And I've heard that his death might not have been an accident and that people suspect sorcery might have been involved. Your poor father is no doubt in the thick of it, poor fellow."

[[Nitpick: No such thing as 'weeks'. They are called 'tendays' and you can find out more in the 'Sorendenese Calendar' article in the 'Locations and nations' category on the world site.]]

Yeah; I remember the calendar. Week is just too easy to type.

[[I have just had a look at the canon document you sent me and will get it back to you in the next day or so. Do you know if LibreOffice supports MS Word markup?]]

No problem; if there's more you want or errors, just let me know. Errors are probably just confusion.

She gives him a rueful smile and then says, "I was up late last night reading and ate a complete tray of Alana's pastries in the process, so I am just not hungry this morning."

Then she becomes serious. "The death of Greft Tarantine seems to have stirred up a real stirge's nest in Constantine over the last tenday. And I've heard that his death might not have been an accident and that people suspect sorcery might have been involved. Your poor father is no doubt in the thick of it, poor fellow."

"Doubtless; Father did mention Tarantine's death in passing, but I have not yet had a chance to talk to him about it. It will have hit many people very hard, and it will be good when we understand exactly what happened." Brand looks around the table, and takes a piece of fruit to eat on the road. "In fact I was planning to visit Constantine today, and see what other news there was. Have you heard much else?"

[[re openoffice and Word markup; maybe. I don't know word that well. Kim sends me "Track changes" and "Comments", and they are fine. Broadly, LibreOffice does a better job of most things. Relying on formatting work between word and LO is dangerous, but word barely makes that work between versions, so no surprises there. Broadly speaking, stuff will probably be readable. And I do have Word and am willing to use in desperation.]]

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

[[Re: Brand's canon document: I'm making corrections and comments as I go through it (but not touching styles), so hopefully I'll be able to send it back in .odt format and all will be good.]]

"Doubtless; Father did mention Tarantine's death in passing, but I have not yet had a chance to talk to him about it. It will have hit many people very hard, and it will be good when we understand exactly what happened." Brand looks around the table, and takes a piece of fruit to eat on the road. "In fact I was planning to visit Constantine today, and see what other news there was. Have you heard much else?"

Alaric's mother brightens when he tells her he is going to Constantine. 

"Would you mind doing me a little favour?" she asks. "The book seller has a book for me. Would you mind picking it up? Normally I would just send Cobb [OCC: the coachman], but he is with your father."

"Happy to; what is the book? But I may not be back for a day or two. Did you wish to come into Constantine? The journey might do you good."

 [[Thanks for the hero-forge link. Figures ordered! I will also be interested to see if I can import the models and 'paint' them digitally for rendering as portraits. Do you or your daughter know good software for that? ]]

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

"Happy to; what is the book? But I may not be back for a day or two. Did you wish to come into Constantine? The journey might do you good."

[[Alaric's mother has never been good at lying and he gets the feeling she is not telling the complete truth about what she says.]]

"The book," she says, "Oh, it's just something for my studies." Then she adds quickly, "And I can't go into Constantine anymore, your father won't let me in my condition." 

She then turns to the window and says, "Besides, the city is a nasty horrible place with far too many people. And we live in such a beautiful place, why would I want to leave it?"

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

 [[Thanks for the hero-forge link. Figures ordered! I will also be interested to see if I can import the models and 'paint' them digitally for rendering as portraits. Do you or your daughter know good software for that? ]]

[[Sorry, can't help you there. I know that they will let you export the models, but as to whether you can import them into other software, I don't know off the top of my head. However, I do know someone who does a lot of 3D rendering work for artwork, so maybe he might know. I should see him on Wednesday, so I'll ask the question.]]

[[Edit: this page might be useful: https://all3dp.com/1/7-free-stl-editors-edit-repair-stl-files/ ]]

[[Does brand know of "her condition"? Menstruatiin, pregnancy, or disease...]]

Alaric laughts, "'The city is a nasty horrible place with far too many people', that sounds like father speaking! To answer your question: 'why would I want to leave it'...perhaps one might go for the scholars, bookshops and libraries."

"Whenever you feel up to it, I'd happily offer an appropriate escort"

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

[[Does brand know of "her condition"? Menstruatiin, pregnancy, or disease...]]

[[Alaric's mother is much younger than his father, so the first two are not impossible, but unlikely. He does not know of any illness, but he does know that she doesn't have a healthy lifestyle preferring her books to outside activities and spending many late nights in her study.]]

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

Alaric laughts, "'The city is a nasty horrible place with far too many people', that sounds like father speaking! To answer your question: 'why would I want to leave it'...perhaps one might go for the scholars, bookshops and libraries."

"Whenever you feel up to it, I'd happily offer an appropriate escort"

She says nothing to Alaric's first comment, but to the second, she says, "Thank you, Alaric. Maybe one day I will take you up on that offer."

Quote from phillberrie >>

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

[[Does brand know of "her condition"? Menstruatiin, pregnancy, or disease...]]

[[Alaric's mother is much younger than his father, so the first two are not impossible, but unlikely. He does not know of any illness, but he does know that she doesn't have a healthy lifestyle preferring her books to outside activities and spending many late nights in her study.]]

 

In that case he would say "Your condition? Are you unwell, Mother?"

Alaric's mother goes pink with embarrassment and then says, "I am not unwell, Alaric... I am with child."

"Then congratulations are to be in order!" [[assuming appropriate, he hugs her]]. "When is my brother or sister due?"

Alaric hugs his mother, who hugs him back with fervour. They then separate and he can see she has tears in her eyes.

"It is early days yet," she says. "And it may not happen at all, I am older than I should be... But with Aieda's help, all will be well, and your brother, or sister, will join our family in about six months."

[[can I make a roll here to see if he things there's more going on? Also, does she seem happy?]]

Ask her, "How is Father taking this? It does not seem a good time for him to be away. You may want to consider going to New Ninevah...."

[Have any of the long-terms staff disappeared? The pool boy, perhaps?]

Quote from AlaricBrand >>

[[can I make a roll here to see if he things there's more going on? Also, does she seem happy?]]

[[Make an Insight roll.]]

Ask her, "How is Father taking this? It does not seem a good time for him to be away. You may want to consider going to New Ninevah...."

[Have any of the long-terms staff disappeared? The pool boy, perhaps?]

[[None that Alaric knows of.]]

 

"We were both taken a little by surprise after so long, but he is accepting of Aieda's will," Alaric's mother says in response to his first question.

And then she adds, "And I am pregnant, not ill, Alaric. I am fine and would prefer to stay in my own beautiful home than take on all the stresses involved in travelling all the way back to New Nineveh. And besides... your father has his duty to the emperor. I would not wish to interfere with that."