The Alpha and the Omega: Act II | Chapter 4
28 Aug 2018User1355
ACT II - WHEELCHAPTER 4
The suitors were shameless, their attentions almost a mockery of the lingering grief within Sola’s heart. Yet they were relentless, with representatives from clans great and small arriving daily at Sola’s estate on New Cambria. They were the best of their people; a few were even already warrior-mated, offering to risk damnation in the eyes of the gods for the greater prize of Sola’s hand. If such was the bold gallantry that they’d convinced themselves would differentiate themselves from the competition, they were sorely mistaken. After the third such individual was sent away, Sola made a great speech to her court, decrying the impiety of such obvious chicanery. From then on, only properly unattached suitors paid their respects, but the Matriarch’s problems were by no means ended.
Arcturus was nearly of age, and as such considerations for his station would need to be made. It was not uncommon for clan nobility to receive a command in their youth, all the better to accustom them to leadership. Thus did the young man receive his first ship and crew- a first-generation Python, state of the art and liberated from Gal-Cop by his own participation. He would now play a greater role in the Quirium raids, his star rising or falling according to the will of the gods. If he did well he would become useful to Sola in matters of state. In the web of clan politics a well-arranged warrior-mating was worth a dozen raiding fleets.
So too did baby Cadfael need Sola’s attention. Her second son had been born amid far different circumstances than her first, and the Matriarch never hesitated to lavish him with af ection. Yet even as an infant the child proved useful, a living subtext that the Imperial court of Achenar would have appreciated. If Sola favored a particular suitor, she would give him her undivided attention. If not, she would breastfeed a cooing Cadfael in full view of the court, reminding all and especially the hapless suitor of the solemn recentness of her widowing.
Cadfael was, all in all, the best-nursed infant in all of Pegasi.
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