Rune

Amrunela noticed that Jaekel was looking a lot better now. She was thankful about that, as he had looked like it was probably worse than he had been letting on. But that was the way he was, always downplaying his own pain, and working on making sure everyone else was feeling okay. He had an attitude of service, one that made her realize that he would be a really good king when that time came.

He had come back to stand near her, while blowing on a cup of tea; he seemed to be enjoying the steam. He was grinning broadly watching her siblings play amongst each other.

"Feel better?" She smiled at her best friend broadly.

"Much." He glanced at her, those odd eyes of his wide and innocent, and gave her a bright smile.

"Good," She nodded, as she turned back to look at her siblings. They could get quite noisy….she hoped that it was not hurting the prince's head.

���Sometimes I envy you…." She heard him murmur, though there was a note of fondness in his voice, "Having so many siblings, each of them precious in their own way."

She laughed at him, "You do realize we all consider you one of us, right Jaek?"

"….."He did not answer for a little bit but then sighed, "But I am not actually your sibling, Rune. You know that, right? I just think it would be nice to have a little sibling of my own…"

"Well, you can borrow mine anytime!" Amrunela grinned at him. All her siblings already called him brother anyway, and though he had protested when she had first tried to call him that, he had given up with her younger siblings. Amrunela though had never got into the habit, besides she liked calling him by a shortened form of his name anyway.

He gave a short bark of laughter, "Thanks…I already look after them enough they are practically like my own siblings anyhow."

The triplets were starting to misbehave, they had gotten hold of Kleio and were trying to turn his nails multi colored through an illusion. The seven-year-old kid was not happy. With a shake of her head Amrunela went to put a stop to it before it got worse.

The three girls lowered their head as she knelt beside them and started gently chastising them.

"Sorry, Sis, we know we should not be irresponsible with our magic," Adalyde murmured, pulling on the hem of her skirt.

"Yeah, it's not for pulling pranks," Lavylia sighed despondently, looking as if she was more upset about being caught than actually repentant.

"Or torturing little brothers," Sonrisah lowered her head, obviously embarrassed at having been engaged in bad behavior.

"Good girls," Amrunela ruffled their hair, with a smile, they were only eight and it was natural that they would be a little mischievous. Still there were better things to do than mess with their slightly younger brother.

She wondered if she had ever done that sort of thing to Caldron or Vestyl. She could not remember having done so. Though she could kinda remember once trying to braid Jaekel's hair. She also remembered that he had calmly let her do so, with a look of gentle resignation to the treatment. As he had short hair it had not ended up quite right, though the flowers she had put in his hair had brought out his eyes.

Jaekel was comforting Kleio as she was chastising her sisters. He was pretty good at it and quickly got the kid to stop crying and start smiling. He really was like their sibling.

Amrunela was enjoying her birthday party greatly. All of her fifteen siblings were being pretty well behaved, especially the older ones. After the triplets were corrected, there were no major incidents.

During the evening, she was given her presents. Her father gave her a new journal, for her to take notes of her daily life in. She was thankful for this as she was on the last page of her current one. Her mother had sewn her a new cloak, embroidered with her favorite vine motifs. Her siblings all gave her various things, from pretty stones to embroidered handkerchiefs. Uncle Jayesh and Aunt Fayre had given her a beautiful longbow, that had wonderful flower carvings on it, Amrunela could not help but love it.

Jaekel though had gotten her two gifts, both of which she loved. The first one was a sturdy bag that she could easily carry supplies in. It was a lovely shade of green, that would go well with many of her favorite outfits. The other was a lovely silver necklace, with a pendant in the shape of a water lily. She immediately loved it.

When nighttime finally came, she went up to her bedroom tower. She had been excited when she had been given this room to stay in, it had a wonderful balcony that she could easily use to survey the wonderful sights that Carendlus had to offer, as well as a window seat that had fascinated her since she had been moved in here. She had put compartments for her books all throughout the surrounding area of her little seat. She had a chest set by her bed, and a beautiful chestnut wardrobe. Her bed had beautiful bright red blankets, which her father had gotten for her, and a black canopy hanging over it.

Amrunela curled up on her window seat and wrote in her journal again before going to bed.

"Jyndrail, 19th of the Month of Dryaster, Evening,"

My birthday has been wonderful. It was fun being able to celebrate with my parents, and our best friends. Jaekel gave me a wonderful knapsack, I absolutely love it! His parents gave me a bow which I cannot wait to shoot. I also really love the cloak and new journal my parents gave me, and the gifts from all my siblings, especially the hand mirror that Caldron got me. Goodbye this faithful journal of mine, and thank you for always listening to me!"