ma mère

[beheld_beauty]

Jane's out again.

But at least this time Rose fetched Renée up from Downside first. Renée's been reacquainting herself with life; Charlie has been catching her up. Belle was a small child when her mother died, and her mother has spoken with her a little, but mostly wants to catch up on the past decades from Charlie, who is more or less as she left him.

Today Renée is ready, she says, to meet her son-in-law and grandchildren.

They walk, because why not. Céleste is obliged to leave Rainier at home; creatures more mythical than grandchildren are not for today's revelations for Renée. Renée is living with Charlie, of course, in his cottage that he has allowed Belle to renovate but not expand.

Belle knocks on the door. Charlie opens it, and holds out his arms to solicit hugs from granddaughters. Céleste provides gladly.

Comments

[beheld_beauty]

"All right then," grins Belle.

"I think, if it is a girl like your existing girls think," chuckles Renée, "that you should call her Avril, isn't that a pretty name?"

"It is pretty," acknowledges Belle. "But perhaps not a first name. Middle name, maybe."

[deslandes]

"Hyacinthe," suggests the Beast. "Hyacinthe Avril Cygne."

[campanas]

"Pretty!" opines Céleste.

[beheld_beauty]

"I like it," laughs Belle.

[mindfields]

"Me too," says Yseult.

[beheld_beauty]

"But what if you have a boy?" asks Renée.

"Oh, I don't know," says Belle. "We'll see. Hyacinthe is unisex, at least."

[deslandes]

"Saves trouble that way," says Beast.

[alicornucopia]

"I suppose," laughs Renée.

[beheld_beauty]

Belle kisses her husband on the cheek.

[campanas]

"Mushyyyy," accuses Céleste.

[deslandes]

"Yes we are," says Beast, and he kisses Belle back.

[campanas]

"Muuuuushy!" shrieks Céleste, giggling and clapping her hands over her eyes.

"Grownups do that, chérie," says Ranata. She kisses Charlie's temple, and Charlie laughs softly and puts his arm over her shoulders.

[mindfields]

"It is cute," declares Yseult.

[beheld_beauty]

"I am so glad you think so," says Belle to her eldest, amused.

[mindfields]

She laughs.

[beheld_beauty]

The visit with the rosebuds' grandparents continues with approximately insubstantial chat, Renée progressively more comfortable with her new situation as time wears on.

And then the family goes home to their castle, and Belle gives herself the night off from running around enchanting things, and the rosebuds are left to their own devices.

[deslandes]

And Beast endeavours to make another rosebud with her.

[beheld_beauty]

Whether they succeed on the first try or the thirty-first is anyone's guess. Belle does not check by magic until other symptoms have appeared.

She proceeds through being a pregnant enchantress, and then there is a little Hyacinthe Avril Cygne.

[carillons]

She is little! And quiet and calm and thoughtful, for the most part, even as a baby. She gets even quieter and thoughtfuller as she grows up.

[campanas]

"What are you thinking about?" Céleste asks her one day.

[carillons]

"Mice," says Hyacinthe. "They are small and fuzzy."

[campanas]

"Yes. And Rainier eats them sometimes."

[carillons]

"Then I should not have one as a pet," says Hyacinthe. "Unless it was a magic uneatable mouse."

[campanas]

"I can train him not to eat your mouse, if you get a mouse. You could get a mouse with wings!" suggests Céleste.

[carillons]

"What would a mouse do with wings?" wonders Hyacinthe. "I think they might get in the way of its mousiness."