I heard excited squeals and opened my eyes to find that it was morning. I had fallen asleep in the chair in the main room and was now surrounded by happy nieces and nephews.
“You're still here! We thought that you'd be gone by now!” said, Victoria.
“Of course I'm still here. Why should I have left?” I asked them.
“Well, whenever you come to visit, you and father have a long talk that we're not allowed to hear and then you're gone in the morning,” she said.
“Well, I plan to stay for a few days at least this time,” I said.This was greeted with loud cheers by the nieces and nephews and a small, quick smile from Baldric.
The smile soon vanished and he gave all of his children a stern look. “Yes, yes, it's wonderful that Uncle Derek is going to be staying with us for a few days. In the meantime, however, don't you all have your morning chores to attend to?”
Choruses of 'Yes Father' and 'Yes Sir' followed and all the children vanished into separate parts of the house.
“'Yes Sir?'” I said to Baldric.
“I've gained a couple apprentices since your last visit. I'm trying to encourage them to treat me with respect.”
“Oh? And how is that going?” I asked with a smirk.
Baldric rolled his eyes. “Well enough thank you very much. The children like to subvert my efforts when they can, but the apprentices are clever enough to respect me when I'm talking to them.”
“Fair enough.” We spoke for a while after that. Baldric told me more about what had been happening in the village and with the family while I told him about some recent popular smithing filigree that I'd noticed.
When Victoria, Veronica and Valerie announced that breakfast was ready, I got up and started into the dining room. Baldric caught me before I went very far. “Derek, I need to go pick up some iron from my supplier. It's going to take a couple days so I'd like for you to keep an eye on things at the house while I'm away. The children are old enough that I'm not very worried about leaving them alone, but since you're here anyway …”
“Of course Baldric, not a problem. Wasn't planning to go off cavorting very far in any case.”
Baldric relaxed and I could see the tension easing out of him. “Thank you. I actually have some ideas about your problem, but I won't be sure until I talk to Master Wayland.”
I nodded in appreciation. We joined the children in the dining room and sat for breakfast. The children pelted me with questions about my recent adventures and I did my best to entertain them.
“Have you been to any balls since your last letter?” Asked Victoria right out of gate. As the oldest she had first question rights.
“Other than the one I told you about last night, I have not. Balls don’t happen as often as that, you know,” I said with a kind smile.
Victoria rolled her eyes. “Well, have you been to any fancy feasts or dances since then?” She asked insistently.
“No, the only feasts I’ve been too have all been dreadfully boring. Not a bit of dancing and no princesses or anything of the like at a single one.”
Victoria and Veronica both sighed at the thought of my lost chances, but asked no more about dances after that.
Valerie tried a different tact. “Have you saved any damsels while you were away, or saved any kingdoms from a terrible enchantment?”
“No, but I did save the King from going out in his underwear again,” I said and the children all laughed. A few years before, a pair of shady traders had convinced the King that they possessed a set of clothes that only the most intelligent and worthy of folk could see, so of course the King bought a whole wardrobe of this ‘wondrous material’ to show how clever he was. It took me a week to convince him that he had actually bought nothing at all, and that was only after everyone had had a good laugh about whole affair. He still would have bouts when he tried to see if it would work ‘this time.’
