Terra Magica
March to December 2014
"How's Andrew?" Claire asked when we met up for dinner a couple of days after Seska's death.
"Not great," I answered, "he's headed off to Gwynedd...to think, so he said. I was in two minds whether to stop him or not, but decided that it was his choice. I'll keep checking in with him regularly and maybe he'll eventually confide in me about what happened."
"There's something else worrying you," she commented, after a moment's silence, "there's more to this than you've told me. More than him just having been imprisoned by the Black Star, although God knows that's bad enough."
I looked at her, with a slight smile on my face.
"You really do know me too well."
"We've been lovers for long enough," she answered, grinning, "what is it?"
"I was trying to think of a good way to tell you," I replied, my tone more sober, "but...the woman who had held him captive used him somehow to father her a child. I don't know if it was rape, or just a genetic experiment, but Andrew is going to have a son."
She paused for a few seconds, letting the information sink in, before looking at me again.
"I thought you said Seska...that's the name, isn't it...was dead?
"She is."
"Then surely the foetus is also dead? Andrew certainly wasn't away long enough for her to give birth..."
"We...Roland, Morgaine, William and myself...decided that it was Andrew's choice what to do with the child. After all, it is still his son."
"I would agree with that."
"He decided that it wasn't right for the baby to die for the sins of the mother. However, at the same time, he didn't want anything to do with the child, or for her to live a moment longer. I was forced to apply some of the skills Brand has taught me over the years for the first time."
"What are you telling me here, Robert?" she asked, a tone of anger in her voice, "that you've been playing God? Experiments on unborn children are unethical in every sense."
"I would hope you know me better than that," I snapped, perhaps more harshly than I intended, "I am not experimenting on it. All I intend to do is keep the foetus alive until it can survive for itself."
She looked at me, her eyes narrowing slightly.
"And then what? You said Andrew doesn't want anything to do with it. You and I are getting married in a few weeks. Part of the reason for that is so we can have and bring up our own children. Are you telling me I am also going to have to look after some bas...this child as well?"
"I am still trying to work out what to do," I snapped in reply, although deep down I could understand her reservations, and didn't know how to argue against them, "that's why I didn't tell you about this immediately. More than anything else I want us to be together and have a family. But that doesn't make the problem go away. Andrew may eventually come around to accepting the boy as his, but I don't expect it to be any time soon. It may be never. This leaves in my charge an Amber blooded child, which somehow has to be brought up knowing who and what he is. "
"Why?" she asked, incredulous, "you weren't brought up knowing your heritage, and you always say how much happier you were before you learned who you were. Can't you just find someone to adopt this child and have done with it?"
"Having met John, who never quite realised what he was, and lost Fritz and probably Wilhelm as I wasn't there, it seems unfair to leave this boy in ignorance," I answered, "whatever the circumstances of his conception, the baby is still Andrew's son. Still my grandson. I am responsible for him as head of the de Lacy family."
I looked at her face, a variety of emotions evident on it, and sighed. "I have hoped Andrew would settle down and have a family for longer than I can remember, and I wanted him to realise that a family can be a great joy. I know that won't happen with this child, and I wouldn't force him to accept it, but the baby is still his."
"Robert," she answered, tears welling in her eyes, "this is supposed to be our time. Not his. Just weeks from our wedding, are you going to put your son above me? Because if so we might as well call everything off."
With that, she took the napkin from her lap, laid it on the table beside her still half-full plate, and left the room. I rose to follow her, but felt rooted to the spot, as if she didn't want me to go after her. Hurt and frustrated, and yet completely able to understand her point of view, I slammed my fist hard down on the table in anger, causing one of the glasses to tip over, then headed out into the garden to think, mentally damning still further the bitch who had brought this thing on us
* * * * *
Claire and I didn't end up calling everything off, of course, but I made a point of not mentioning the matter to my fiancée again before the wedding, and she did not raise it. I knew my responsibilities to her, and was determined to discharge them. Hell, I was looking forward to it, and a good nineteen years away from the family. However, it did not stop me wondering how to solve the problem once the child was old enough to leave the incubator.
In the end, what solved it was the creation of Sable, days before the boy was born, after many months of worry and with Claire seven months pregnant with our own twins. It is funny. I had imagined the twins as being the ones who would be as old as the universe they would mainly live in, but of my descendants, Andrew's son was going to be the first one there.
I did not make the solution part of the building process itself, of course. Tying a universe to the needs of one individual, especially an unsolicited one, would have been ridiculous. However, I knew that in my capital I would have acquaintances and some would become friend enough to help their King by doing him a favour for himself, rather than out of duty. After all, the Primal Realm itself and its surrounding Shadows, the ones that would become the Commonwealth, had to come into existence populated, to start the process of setting up trade and other considerations needed for a realm to grow, even if the rest of the Sable system could be left at fast speeds to evolve in its own time.
My first action in the new universe was to hold the coronation that would confirm my status in Sable as King and Creator, with Claire as my Queen, and to make Andrew known as the Crown Prince. They came into existence days before it was due to be held, having waited anxiously for it, in their minds at least, for almost an eternity before that.
My second was to go into the fast developing city around the caldera, and find the people I was looking for.
The couple's name was Ellis, and the husband, Simon, was the Head of what would become the foremost mage school in the Luxor system, given a few years. He reminded me a lot of one of my fellow lecturers at Kings, so I expect that was who he was subconsciously based on. He and his wife had wanted children for... well, a lifetime...and they agreed to act as adoptive parents to the King's grandson. They even accepted the condition that the boy should know who he was and be allowed to mix with his Royal Family, as well as his guardians. They employed a nurse, and waited with a combination of curiosity and eagerness for their new charge to arrive.
Dominic was "born" on December 10th 2014. Despite his inauspicious beginnings, he had developed well possibly reflecting the fact that he was an Amberite child, and seemed healthy. Not unsurprisingly, Claire left me to take him to Sable alone, although I hoped that perhaps she might eventually come around to accepting the boy. Still, the fact that she had at least accepted the Sable solution was something, and it was early days. My hope was that perhaps, when she realised that I was not going to place him over our own twins, she would mellow towards him.
One of the servants made sure he was warmly wrapped, and then I took my charge and made my way to the Maze and the other side of the Pattern. The day was brisk but sunny at my destination. Despite the altitude it would never be hard winter there, although it was so set that there would be some approximation to seasons. I stood on the caldera rim for a few moments, looking down at the lake and smiling at my handiwork, until the boy started sounding restless. Then I concentrated a moment, and teleported myself down to the entrance to the college quad: when I had designed the place, I couldn't resist having Sable mage college bear a startling resemblance to a white stone Kings.
The bursar looked up at me, surprised, as I walked in, and I got the impression that he recognised me and felt he should make some kind of obeisance, but was confused by the bundle I was carrying. I just smiled and went past him, heading for Simon's private quarters.
I knocked on the Ellis's door, which was opened by their maid. She looked startled for a moment, but then remembered herself and let me in. I was shown to the drawing room, and a couple of minutes later Simon and Kate came in.
"Robert," Simon said, glancing at myself and my charge and smiling, "I assume everything went well?"
"Everything seems to have gone fine," I answered, "and he is fit and healthy."
Kate came over and picked up the baby, who stared at her at her with wide open eyes and gurgled slightly.
"Have you given him a name yet?" she asked.
"Dominic," I answered, "assuming you have no objections."
"None at all," she answered, almost surprised that I had asked, "when was he born?"
"A couple of days ago."
"And his parents? Do they mind us looking after him?" Simon asked.
"No. Andrew, his father, was completely in agreement, and his mother is dead."
Kate looked up, startled. "Childbirth?"
"Complications setting in from it," I answered, my tone non-committal. That was one story I had no intention of telling either them, or even Dominic as he got older, unless I had to.
"Will Prince Andrew be coming to see him?" asked Simon.
"Probably not," I replied, "I suspect Dominic will remind him too much of his mother. However, you may have other visitors, and likewise I hope that, as he gets older, he will spend time in the palace."
"We will make sure of it," came the reply.
With that, I stood up. "I should be getting back."
"Of course," Simon asked. Then Kate came over to me, and kissed me on the cheek. "Thank you, Robert."
"I hope everything works out," I answered, genuinely meaning it.
"I'm sure it will," she answered, "he's adorable."
I smiled, and then left them alone with my grandson. I returned to the palace and made my way back to Millbank, returning to the Maze. Then I walked back into the house, aiming for the library. En route I met Claire, who was just coming down the stairs, moving very slowly.
"Is it done?" she asked.
"It is. Simon and Kate seem happy, and I am hopeful that everything will work out."
She nodded, then looked at me.
"Do you understand my reasons?" she asked, quietly.
"Yes, and I agree with many of them," I replied, "but do you also understand why I had to do something to try to help the boy?"
She looked at me, then nodded again.
"Come on," I said, putting my arm around her waist, "you should be sitting down, not standing on the stairs talking."