It's My Birthingday!!

Writers: Estelle, Miriah
Date Posted: 7th April 2021

Characters: Lorican, Lusilk, Silgan
Description: Lorican gives Silgan the perfect birthingday gift.
Location: Sunstone Seahold
Date: month 8, day 14 of Turn 10

Lusilk

Lorican was roused from sleep by the light pattering of small feet and
an excited young voice outside the bedroom. He yawned and snuggled
back under the furs. After living with Lusilk and Silgan for a while
he'd got used to being woken this way, but lying in the cosy bed with
the warmth of his wife sleeping in his arms, he wondered if he could
stay there for a few moments longer.

The sound of the feet woke Lusilk but like the man beside her, she
didn't want to rouse. She stretched slowly, felt the warmth beside her
and murmured sleepily, rubbing her cheek against Lorican's bare
shoulder. One eye slowly fluttered open, then the other, before she
grumbled softly. "Tell 'm to go back t'bed. Warm."

"Mmm." The footsteps stopped for a brief moment and Lorican closed his
eyes, hoping to compose himself for sleep again, but then came a tapping
on the door and he knew it was impossible. "All right." Reluctantly, he
sat up, and called out in a low voice. "Silgan? It's too early. Mama and
Da are sleeping."

"It's my birthingday!" SIlgan called out from behind the door,
sounding a little aggrieved by their insistence on sleeping. "It's
already morning!"

Lusilk groaned as Lorican rose to a sit, reaching out blindly to try
to pull him back down and back to the warmth of the furs. At Silgan's
words, she sighed and rubbed her eyes, then slowly sat up beside him
with a grumble. "He's not going to go back to bed, Lorican. We might
as well get up."

"Yes, you're right." He smiled, feeling the familiar glow of affection
and desire at the sight of her face framed by her dark hair, loose and
tumbling around her shoulders. But Silgan clearly wasn't going to wait,
and he was in fact rather impatient to see what the boy would think of
his gift. He slid his legs out from under the covers and hunted around
for a pair of trousers to put on, then went to open the door and laughed
as a small figure burst in and nearly collided with him. "Happy
birthingday, son."

A surge of nausea struck her the moment that Lorican rose, but Lusilk
swallowed it back with an exhalation. Silgan barrelled in before she
was dressed and she yanked the furs up to her chest before remembering
that she was wearing a thin nightgown. "Happy Birthingday, SIlgan."
She offered a chuckle at his evident excitement. "Breakfast first for
you and then..." She slid her feet out of the warmth of the bed and
rose, then swallowed before rushing past both of them. "Move!" She
darted for the privy and made use of it, heaving out her sickness
quickly.

"What...?" They couldn't see, but they could both hear and Lorican
looked down to meet the young boy's worried gaze. "It's okay, Silgan.
This happens sometimes when you have a baby inside you." At least, that
was what he'd heard and he hoped he was right. "Do you think you could
bring Mama a cup of water from the jug next door? Good lad."

While the boy went to fetch the water, Lorican followed his wife and
crouched beside her, resting a hand lightly on her back. For a short,
guilty moment he wondered whether Urlene had gone through this with
their son, alone. "Lusilk?"

Silgan ran for the water and as Lusilk lifted her head, he reappeared
in the doorway. "Mama? Are you okay?"

Lusilk looked up at Lorican and glared at him as though the situation
was entirely his fault before wiping her mouth with the back of her
hand. "Yuck." She sighed and took a breath before turning her head to
Silgan and at her gesture, he brought her the cup. "Thank you. Sorry,
Silgan. I'm fine. Just a tummy ache." She sipped the water, swished
her mouth out to cleanse it, then drank. Rising, she grabbed a towel
and wiped her mouth again, wrinkling her nose. "Alright...I'm better.
I think I'll just have some toast this morning."

Lorican studied her face with concern for any further signs of sickness,
wondering whether he should suggest seeing the healer, but decided that
for now, she knew best. "All right, let's let Mama get dressed, shall
we? Then we can have breakfast, and after that...we can stop by the
forge." He gently enticed Silgan out of the bedroom so that Lusilk could
have some privacy. "There might be a special surprise there."

"A surprise! YAY!" Silgan ran out of the room to get his shoes, eager
at the thought of any surprise at the forge.

When they left, Lusilk dressed and quickly ran a brush through her
hair before swiftly braiding it in her usual manner. Emerging from the
bedroom, she was greeted by her young son bouncing on his toes in his
impatience. Her brow raised as she glanced up at Lorican with a
murmur. "A surprise hm?"

"Yes. After breakfast," Lorican said, not without a touch of pride at
having being able to conceal something from Lusilk. Even if she had
spent the past few days in bed.

With the prospect of the surprise ahead, breakfast was quickly over and
they headed down to the forge. It was a bright, clear day with the scent
of the sea in the air, and the calm of early morning on a restday while
the rowdier folk were sleeping off a late night. There wasn't the usual
curl of smoke above the forge chimney, or the clinking of hammers, just
a drowsy-looking apprentice sitting on a bench outside in case anyone
should come by in need of their craft goods. He stood up hastily when he
saw the journeyman approaching, but Lorican smiled and waved to him to
sit again.

"Wait here a moment." He ducked into the building and emerged carrying a
hide-bound portfolio, much like the ones he used to store his designs,
except that this one had Silgan's name neatly scribed at the top corner.
"Here...take a look inside."

Inside the portfolio, the top sheet showed a sketch of a simple
three-walled smithy, not unlike the one back at Barrier Lake, the front
open and the roof cut away to show the forge fire and anvil inside and
hooks for a few tools fixed to the wall. Next to it was the figure of a
boy about Silgan's age, just the right height for the miniature
building. On closer examination, there were small, neat notations of
measurements all around the drawing, and calculations of quantities of
stone and wood and tiles at the bottom corner of the page.

Lusilk's brows rose at the drawing, glancing at Silgan, then back at
the drawing. She looked up at Lorican, a slow smile spreading on her
face and spoke softly. "He's going to love it, Lorican."

Silgan looked up at the two of them and began bouncing on his feet in
excitement. "What is it? What is it? Is it a new hammer? Is it tongs?
Can I see?"

Lorican crouched down and opened out the portfolio in front of Silgan,
placing it in his arms. "A smith needs to learn how to build himself a
forge, in case he's posted somewhere that doesn't have one, or it needs
repairs," he explained. When the boy had had a chance to look, he
pointed to a small pile of building supplies, covered with a tarpaulin,
standing against the wall of the main smithy. "Those are for yours. I
thought we could build it together."

Silgan's eyes bulged at the drawing that was placed in his hands and
goggled openly at it before giving a high-pitched shout of utter glee.
"MY OWN FORGE!? I really get my OWN?" He began to bounce as he spun to
look at the supplies and then lunged at Lorican, wrapping his arms
tightly around Lorican's neck, squeezing tightly. "Thank you, Da! I
love it! My own forge! Mama! I get my own forge!"

"Well, you're getting to be a big boy now. You need your own place to
use that hammer." Lorican hugged Silgan, both relieved and pleased that
he liked the idea. "The first step is to mark out the site, and dig the
foundations. I thought over there would be a good place." He pointed to
an area opposite the entrance to the forge, currently empty ground next
to a storage building. He'd be able to see it from where he was working,
and watch over any children playing there.

He gave Lusilk an apologetic look. "I'm afraid the work is mostly
digging to start with. We might get a bit muddy."

"Yes, you do." Lusilk nodded in agreement, pleased at Silgan's
pleasure at the gift. Lorican had known just what to get the lad; she
hadn't ever been that good at that sort of thing. Her gaze turned to
Lorican and her lips quirked upwards in amusement. "I had figured that
out already. Mud isn't going to hurt either of you. But I'm not going
to be cleaning up after either of you. If you track mud and muck into
anywhere, you're cleaning it up."

"Yes, ma'am." Lorican winked at Silgan. "I wouldn't dare track mud
through the Hold anyway, for fear of the Headwoman. She doesn't seem as
though she'd appreciate it."

Silgan promptly interrupted, too excited to worry about something so
distant as the Headwoman. "Can we start now? I want to start now! I
want to make things! Please?" His turned big, dark eyes to Lorican,
pleading wistfully as he tugged on the man's arm. "Please?"

Lusilk smirked at her son's pleading, then turned to sit on a chair
and slowly stretched out her legs. "I'll supervise."

"All right, then." Lorican was too excited about starting on the little
forge himself to even make a pretence of hesitating. He took out a
handful of pegs and string and a measuring tape that he'd fetched from
the smithy with Silgan's portfolio. "First, we mark out where the walls
will be. Here, you can hold on to the end of the tape, and tap in the
first peg..."

Last updated on the July 21st 2021

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It's My Birthingday!!