30th of the Phoenix, 1332 AE
After a rather stern-faced earlier childhood, I happily inform these pages that at long last, baby Truls started laughing - started a mere couple of hours ago as Tholyak overturned a rainwater barrel... rage towards the useless beast aside, I am afraid I am already addicted to that clear, rolling chime. I’ve been telling Drae it’s the trading of his stuffy Krytan halls for the fresh mountain air that incited this. Clearly, the boy is taking after the right side of the family.
And delayed laughter aside the little mongrel’s been thriving indeed. The former coal dark mop of his birth gave way to brighter, golden curls, not as dark as his father’s but I suppose they might darken to match that shade as he grows.
There’s a game that I play in my mind sometimes as I hold his tiny form, imagining what he would be like as a boy, a lad, a man... yet these thoughts create a fathomless ache as they are conceived. Imagining the journeys he’ll one day undertake, the roads that’ll carry him over. Perhaps much sooner other roads might snatch me away from him just as well. Can I prevent it? I am unsure, but I shall delay it as I’m able.
Thus far a simple shawl tie trick that I observed and copied from Amnoon’s denizens let me comfortably carry him on my back as I go out and about. He’s become somewhat of a matter of interest around the neighborhood - that is, the sprawling expanse surrounding Vanjir’s stead, for its numerous encampments and more longterm residencies. Most of the locals, unsurprisingly, never quite noticed how ‘puny’, their word, human cubs were. Though then they would note that the racket made by a disgruntled Truls was just as unsettling.
Mostly, however, he proves himself a pleasant company, his twinkling amber eyes reminding me of my father’s as he drinks this new surrounding world of steep emerald slopes with serene curiosity. I had a small outdoors crib crafted for him to lounge upon as I set to my Phoniex-time plans for expanding the stead with a nursery. Aided by Drae and at times the odd friendly visitor, we’ve been making fair progress... after so many months of idleness, the strain of a manual task, difficult as it might still be, is a blessed transition.
(( OOC: I missed ya’ll a LOT. Gonna finally catch up on all the asks & newer tags - thank you guys so much for these. RL snatched me away from all of my hobbies, really - all for good reasons! IC-ly Joan’s been mostly preoccupied with her new life as a fresh mother and might be for a while yet... I am still tentative about committing myself to frequent RPs, but if you have any specific scenes in mind, poke away and we can schedule. ))
