Two months.
It had been a mere two months since Valerius had gained a daughter, but had lost the love of his life in the same night. Two months since he’d left his home in Arcanaes. Two months since he’d faced anyone, besides the woman he’d hired to help him with the babe. Decimus, the captain’s five-year-old son had been growing more and more restless and acting out. A boy is not meant to be pent up at home all the time. It didn’t help that the child didn’t quite understand that his mother was never coming home, and kept asking about her. Val had been losing patience. Finally, the wet nurse had advised that Val take the children out for a few hours while she cleaned the house and cooked an evening meal. It took some doing, but Val finally had relented.

The usually proud man didn’t have the energy to put into his appearance as he usually, though he did at least wash and change his chiton before setting out with Decimus running ahead in innocent excitement. Val cradled Cornelia in his arms, her tiny frame nestled into a linen sling tied around him, looped over one shoulder and beneath the other. ”Deci! Slow down!” Val squinted against the brightness of the morning sun, not having left the house since the funeral rites of his beloved Zinovia. He didn’t want to do this. He didn’t want to face people. To see them be happy when he had lost everything. The baby stirred against his chest. He looked down at her, and his face softened. Perhaps not everything. But how was he to manage without his wife? Better had it been he who had died and not their mother!
’Come on, papa!’ came the young boy’s cry of impatience.
Valerius wiped the moisture from his eyes and determinedly set out for the market with his children in tow.

Decimus spent a good hour, leading his father around, or darting off through the streets to check out some brightly colored thing he’d spotted from far away. Val was losing his patience. He was weary, and the babe was becoming fussy. Was she hungry? Was she hot? Cold? Oh, why had he agreed to do this?! He knew nothing of caring for children! Zin had done everything with Decimus. She had been a natural mother. Deci had been nearly walking when Val had come home from the war to learn he had a son! He was not cut out for this. Not without her.

Decimus darted into a store, ducking under the arm of a patron leaving the place and slipping in through the closing door. Val called after him, but it was too late. Valerius clutched Cornelia to his chest within the sling he wore and followed his son into the small building. He found his young son touching everything he passed. ”Decimus! Put that down!” His voice boomed, startling the boy who threw his arm out wide, but forgot to let go of the beaded necklace he held before he did so. The string snapped and the glass beads went flying and rolling across the floor, some shattering as they hit. Val marched up and roughly grabbed the boy by the wrist and began scolding him about keeping his hands to himself.

The boy’s eyes began to tear up, eyes that looked so much like his mother’s. ’I hate you! I wish mama was here! She would never yell at me!’ The words silenced Val, and his grip lessened on the child. Deci took the opportunity to jerk free of his grasp and run for the door, crying. The baby started crying too. Overwhelmed, hurt, and on the verge of an emotional breakdown, Valerius simply leaned against the wall behind him and slid to the floor.

Feeling over whelmed and lost, Valerius was barely aware of the woman stopping his son from escaping the shop. He was numbly grateful for that small blessing, because the usually poised and strong man was not certain he would have had the ability to run after the child – and he certainly wouldn’t have known where to go looking for him had he lost sight of the boy. The crying infant in the wrap he wore pulled the majority of his attention as the – he assumed she was the shopkeep – guided a sniffling Decimus towards the back and introduced him to a young girl behind the counter.

The boy settled in to play, still hurt from his father’s scolding, but quickly being distracted by a new friend and new toys.

When she came to kneel in the floor next to Valerius, he was trying – and failing – to calm the whimpering baby in his arms. He was quickly growing frustrated, which seemed to only upset the tiny human even more!
’Would you like some help? I can take her for a minute if you like, so you can catch your breath. …’
The haggard captain hesitated, eyeing the woman for signs of ulterior motives. Val had been extremely protective of this tiny bundle in his arms; his wife had given her life so this child could have a chance to live. Seeing nothing but honest concern in her eyes, Val slowly, and carefully removed the wrap from around his shoulders and offered her the squalling infant. He nodded in response to her assumption that he felt he was drowning. He cleared his throat and rubbed a hand over his tired features. ”Indeed, it does quite feel like drowning.” He bend one leg, his knee straight up and rested one arm on the appendage so that his hand dangled before his shin. He looked towards the back where he could hear Decimus speaking with the girl, then his gaze shifted to his daughter, whom the woman now held. ”I thank you… for stopping him. I never would have found him had he managed to run from here,” he admitted. He wasn’t sure why he admitted such a thing. He did not usually allow others to see such weakness in him, but he was simply too weary to keep up his usual front.

In no time it seemed that Cornelia had calm considerably. ”You are good with her. I am afraid I will never obtain the skill needed to care for them myself.” He shook his head, feeling very grateful for all that the nursemaid had been doing ‘til now to manage the children at home these past couple months. Val had not needed to be so hands on with Decimus. The boy had been a year old by the time Valerius had come back from war, and his wife had been so very good at caring for him that he rarely got upset at all. This was all entirely new, and entirely over his head!

Val caught sight of the beads in the floor a short distance away. ”I will pay for that,” he said, nodding towards the mess. ”And anything else he my son may have broken or damaged.” Valerius was not rich like the nobles were, but he had plenty of money to provide for his family’s needs and wants and then some.

’It’s difficult when you have multiple little ones to look after. Especially once tempers flare.’

The was an understatement, to say the least. Valerius had felt for weeks like there was a rage bubbling just beneath the surface. Anger that his wife was gone, anger that he’d been powerless to save her. Anger that he was a widowed father left to care for Decimus and Cornelia alone. Sure, he had a couple servants at home to help with the house and most of the responsibilities of keeping the children alive. But he was responsible for how they were raised, what they were taught. Of making sure they were loved. Valerius felt so overwhelmed by it all, and it left him with a simmering headache near constantly. At least it had yet to grow into one of the throbbing pains that usually made him ill and bedridden.

’Don’t be so hard on yourself. I had to raise her from birth when our mother passed.I have far more practice is all. You’ll get there in time I was clueless too back at the beginning.’

Would practice be all it took to get the hand of caring for his daughter and keeping the rambunctious boy in line? Somehow, he doubted it. He was a soldier, a warrior. He wasn’t meant to do the duties of a mother! Perhaps he should remarry, and soon. Then there would be a woman in the house that could look after the children and not just the indentured servants. But the thought of being with anyone else, of welcoming anyone else into the home he’d shared with her, just didn’t sit right with him. No. He couldn’t remarry just yet. Maybe not ever.

That’s when he’d tried to distract himself by glancing around and his eyes landed on the beads scattered on the floor and he’d offered to pay for the broken item.
’Oh, don’t worry about it. It can be reassembled with a little effort. … Besides, I think it’s about time someone gave you a break.’
Not that Valerius didn’t appreciate the sentiment, but the proud captain would be leaving a few silver coins on the counter before he and the children left this place. He was not about to not pay for damages and the woman’s time.

’I’m guessing this is all pretty new to you, right? I’m Myrrine, by the way.’

Valerius took a deep breath ad let it out slowly through his mouth. ”It is still fairly new, yes. Their mother crossed the River Styx on the day Cornelia was born.” He reached a hand out and stroked a finger across the now sleeping baby’s cheek. He dropped his hand and nodded towards his son and the girl. ”You met Decimus, already. My name is Valerius. Captain of the Golden Shields in Arcaneas.” The captain inclined his head to Myrrine, the only manner of a bow he could off whilst sitting in the floor. As he did, though, a sharp pain shot through his temple, causing him to wince. He sucked in an audible breath through his teeth and pressed the heel of his left palm to his temple.