Topic: Familia Omnibus Supereminet

Raena Shimmer-Scale

Date: 2013-03-16 14:24 EST
Lady Shimmer-scale stood on a balcony overlooking the courtyard where her children were training. She was cradling a child in her arms as she watched. The child was a fosterling, whose mother she had taken under her wing. The mother had no family to help and her husband was serving with the army. Octavius has taken her on as a patient and had asked Raena to look after the girl; knowing full well she would not refuse. True to form, Raena became a surrogate mother to the young woman. She helped the girl prepare to be a mother herself.

Octavius was not long in joining his wife on that balcony. ?That is a sight I have not seen since Tiberius was an infant.? He murmured as he looked at the pair.

?Moments like this are gone for us unless our children decide to settle down and grace us with grandchildren.? She mused as she cradled the sleeping infant.

?I do not understand why you do not require the girls to wed, Raena.? It was a point of contention between the couple.

?We have already discussed this, Octavius.? She said with a hint of exasperation in her voice. ?I see no need to force Aquillia and Lucretia into a loveless match and Elianna is too young.?

?And the boys??

?Maximus and Tiberius are too young and do you wish to lock horns with Larcius?? Raena replied wirily.

?Not particularly, no.? Octavius sighed. ?We indulge them far too much.?

There was a soft laugh from Raena. ?In this, yes. It is a balancing act, especially since we cannot allow them to be children.? Her voice trailed off with her own memories.

?Rae, they are not you. We are here and still draw breath.? Octavius spoke as he looked over the balcony. ?Was growing up with Gaius that difficult??

?Octavius, you were in training when Gaius took Liviana and I into the field.? She closed her eyes.

?I know, my dear.? It was one of those rare moments where Octavius demonstrated any soft of affection where others can see. He rested an arm across her shoulders and truly looked at the pair. ?The child is beautiful like her mother.?

?Yes, she is, Octavius.? Raena murmured, ?They were fortunate to have your expert care.?

?They are fortunate for your caring heart.? Octavius countered.

?You knew full well that I would not allow her to go alone in this.? She said with a fond smile to her husband.

?You have a tender heart when it comes to children, especially babies.? Octavius? lips curved into a rare smile.

Raena started soothing the child as she started to fuss. ?I think someone is needing her mother.? She placed a chaste kiss on her husband?s cheek and reluctantly moved from the shelter of his embrace. Without looking back, she knew he was watching their own offspring.

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Tiberius Shimmer-Scale

Date: 2013-04-19 19:14 EST
::well after arrival in Rhydin::


How long had they been here?
How long had he hated almost every day of this cold and wet land?
Everything was gone and only bits were coming back to them. It would never be the same.
These faces, the smells. He was just about to partake in some of the greatest things his homeland could offer just to have it ripped from his hands and see people and beasts that could never have survived in his home look down on him WHILE looking up mind you.

It was these things, these restless waves of anger that drove him now. Which led him in and out of trouble. Like today.

He had been somewhere he should not.

And it could have cost him his life.

It would not have come easily, though he had to admit he?d thought too much of himself right before that moment.

Gingerly, slowly he pulled his jacket off rolling one shoulder at a time in silence. Pain written in his eyes, but not a single utterance. It was late in the morning when he?d returned to the Lodgings set up in Rhydin. He?d waited until the others would be gone or busy before getting back into the room he left before dawn.

As he held up his jacket to the window beams of sunlight shone through it and lit up the floor at his feet. A groan and it was tossed into the corner. Looking over his shoulder into a wardrobe mirror, he could see the ribbons and points of crimson. If this was any indication of how unlucky or lucky he had been, he was sure he ruined every stitch of clothing he had on.

Gritting his teeth he grabbed the bottom of his shirt, like ripping a bandage off, he yanked his shirt off over his head. His shoulders, sides, and back protested, clotted blood now new, closing small cuts opening again.

These would not be alone. They would add to the variety of scars about his body that lay beneath fancy clothes. While Tiberius was fair skinned and young, he?d had to go through the same right of passage of his brothers and father, and his father before him. Mistakes while they were made, left marks, each a lesson learned never to repeat one way or another.

Shedding and tossing the rest of his clothes away, he?d burn them later, there was no repairing. He soaked a towel in a compound their father made, the sharp scent filling the room as he wrapped it about his chest quickly before the stinging would set it.

At least it wasn't for nothing. He filled a small tub with hot water in a room adjacent to Max?s quarters while he went over everything in his mind from the morning. He was for some good and it would save them some trouble. Somehow he knew he was going to have to apologize and work some kind of deal for this.

His mind raced, sitting in the tub, he began mapping out a bit of a maze from memory on a pad of paper he always kept nearby. Once he knew he didn't miss a detail, he started drawing in small 8 leaf flowers that matched a small medallion on his night stand.