Chapter 248 – Irlo Visiting her Grandmother

*** Armirynth ***

Why does my second pregnancy have to be so stressful? Twins, my daughter disappearing on me, moving into the capital, moving into the castle grounds with the Queen, and now my baby is marching off to war. It makes me feel silly that I worried so much about becoming a single Mother during my last pregnancy.

I've been a bit of a hypocrite with Mai. I've stopped her from running around the city while I still do all the housework. Not all of the housework; I'm too slow to do that, but I'm still cooking and cleaning a room or two to keep my mind off everything. Mai does tell me to stop, but I just say I'm older than her and ignore her complaints. I think my cooking is the only thing keeping everyone from tying me to the bed.

It has been strange not using a normal fire. The mana stoves are better at keeping a specific temperature, but I've lost the tempo that keeping the fire going gives you. Still, I can instead cut ingredients or sit down for a bit, which does make it faster and easier on this poor old pregnant woman. I just had to get used to using mana.

"Mai," I say, the door opening behind me. That cat loves to sneak in a taste of the food while I'm cooking. "You know..."

"I'm not Mai!" a little voice squeaks out behind me. "Are you Grandmother? Daddy said Grandmother was pregnant, and you're pregnant, right?"

"Yes, I am," I say, turning to see who has invaded the kitchen. "And who are you, little one? I feel some kind of relationship bond with you, so Grandmother would be right. Is Daddy my son?" The little girl is a cutie in a green sun dress. My baby gave this little elf a lot of features. All the features, really. She's just a step short of being a dragonkin herself.

"Yes!" my Granddaughter says, running to my legs and out of my sight. "He didn't tell me how to glow or change colors! Daddy said it was natural and to ask you about it. Daddy was lying, right?"

"Haha," I chuckle, trying to find the little girl with my arms past my belly. "No, little one. Daddy did come out of my womb glowing and changing colors. Freaked me out in an already stressful moment. That little stinker has never made it easy for me. And it seems you're following in your Daddy's footsteps! You're hiding from this pregnant woman, but thank you for the hug."

"Let's play!" my Granddaughter says, taking my hand and pulling me towards the door.

"I have food cooking, dear. How about after dinner? Can you join us for dinner?"

"Don't worry, Lady Armirynth," a woman says, stepping into the kitchen. "I can handle the food, and I think the Princess would love to join you all for dinner."

"I'm happy to have the Princess. Thank you for taking over for me," I say. The Princess clearly isn't listening to me, pulling me towards the door as the other woman steps up to the stove. Another maid is waiting outside the door, giving me a soft smile. I'm guessing I'm taking over for entertaining the Princess. I am happy to do it, but I hope I'll be getting some help in keeping up with this energy. I don't think I could handle this like I did with Alzi, and they seem to be very similar.

The Princess walks through the house, dragging me along, humming some song. She makes it to the garden in the back of the house without any issues, clearly having already memorized the layout for this type of manor. The somewhat chilly air that doesn't seem right for the middle of winter hits my skin as the Princess lets my hand go and starts running around to check out the flowers before running back to me.

"Can we play tag?" the Princess says. The maid chuckles behind me, but leaves it to me to answer my Granddaughter.

"Little one," I say, my hands moving over my belly. "I don't think I can play tag in this state." She really is just Alzi as an elven Princess. I don't know how she didn't become a full dragonkin with so many of Alzi's behaviors. The Queen must be strong for her genes to win out in the end.

"Is it hard to run while pregnant?" the Princess asks. I need to learn her name.

"Yes," I say. "The belly gets in the way, and babies are heavy. It was a lot of work to keep up with you while you were walking through the house. Can I have your name? I'm sorry, but I didn't get to talk to my son before he left to hear about you yet."

"Irlo!" Irlo says, throwing her hands in the air. "My name is Irlo! What is your name, Grandmother?"

"Armirynth," I say. "Is there something else you would like to do? I'm sure Daddy would love to play tag with you when he gets back from the war. By then, I'll have had these kids as well, so I can join you and see if I can still keep up with the young ones."

"Daddy likes to play tag?"

"Yes," I say. "Yes. I did my best to play, but he often had to play with butterflies. I was busy with my store and didn't get to spend as much time with him as I would've liked. I'm hoping I'll get to spend more time with these two."

"Daddy did say you were having twins. Are you sure Daddy had the rainbow when he was born? Will those two be the same?"

"Yes, Daddy came out of me glowing and colorful, but I doubt these two will be like that. I think your Daddy is special." Irlo pouts a bit at the news, eyeing my belly.

"Then we can walk through the flowers," Irlo says, giving up on figuring out my babies' colors through my clothing and skin. She takes my hand again and pulls me over to the nearest cluster of flowers.

"Princess," the maid calls out. "You should make sure Lady Armirynth is capable. Pregnancies are hard, as I've told you a few times now."

"I'm fine," I say. "I'm used to running around, so I can look at flowers with the Princess."

"Very well. Please tell me if you get tired. I can take over."

"Thank you," I say, getting dragged along. Irlo did not care what her maid said.

Most of the flowers aren't blooming, even with the unnatural heat the castle provides. But there seem to be some that love the chilly air, keeping the garden from being depressing.

"Do you know the names of the flowers?" I ask.

"No, they just look pretty. Mommy says I can learn about the flowers later, once I can read well enough and do some math. I do know about roses! Mommy loved it when I gave her a rose until she remembered I had to get them from her garden. Then she would chase me around and smother me with kisses."

"That was sweet of you. I'm sure she loved getting them. She probably liked having the excuse to get outside for a bit," I say. I wonder if the Queen fixed the garden herself or if some maids covered the little girl's tracks. Either way, I'm sure it brought a smile to the Queen's face.

"Do you know the flowers?" Irlo asks.

"No, I grew up in a small village outside the city. Until recently, I lived there, and we didn't have these kinds of flowers there. Most of the gardening space went to growing vegetables and fruits, and the land outside the walls was used for crops. So, it took a lot of work to find anything besides weeds. Your Daddy would find some for me here and there, but they always belonged to someone else, so she would just drag me there to look at them."

"Daddy likes exploring?"

"Yes, your Daddy loved to run around our house and village."

"Hmm. I like that one the most," Irlo says, pointing out a deep purple flower. "Do you think Daddy would like it?"

"That one is pretty. I know Daddy would like it, but I'm sure you'll have time to ask him yourself. Do you know what we should do?"

"What?" Irlo asks.

"You should go to each batch of flowers, pick out your favorites, and then, when Daddy comes back, you can show them to him and see what he thinks. Maybe pester your teachers to give you some facts about them to share as well. Impress him with your brain and then beat him in tag."

"Yes, I could beat him in tag! I'm a ferocious dragon! I'll find some flowers!" Irlo shouts. Then she runs off to go look at the flowers, letting me walk slowly through the garden, watching her. I hope she doesn't trip. I don't know how strict this maid will be or how worried she'll be about small injuries. Alzi liked to hide it whenever she fell back in the village, and Irlo acts like she's her clone. Of course, she doesn't have to worry about her Mother being tired when she gets home from work.

Alzi is too kind.

But she keeps going, running from flower bed to flower bed, taking a close look at each flower before running off again.

"Irlo!" I shout. "Don't run too far." It's probably safe for her to run around on the castle grounds, but I think the maid would be more comfortable if we could still see her. Or at least I would be.

I hated that I couldn't always watch over Alzi when she was small. My neighbors helped a lot, but it's hard to watch over a kid, especially when you're a single mother who doesn't deserve to have a kid. I hope their kid is alright. They'll be great parents.

"But I haven't checked all the flowers!" Irlo shouts back.

"Your Highness," the maid shouts. "Come back! Your Grandmother is right."

Irlo turns, and I'm sure she's pouting as she stares at us, but she runs back when we don't give in. She gives me a hug from the side so I can see her this time, and her big eyes blink at me as she decides something.

"I found three more flowers to show Daddy."

"I'm sure Alzi will love them, little one," I say. "Want to hear about your Daddy when he was younger?"

"Yes!" Irlo says.