technical issue

[thaumobabble]

Kanim crashes at the castle for a few days, then he buys Bella's old house off her, makes it walk to a more comfortable distance from the castle, and just visits a lot. He is very helpful. Tony makes spectacle frames, Bella makes lenses, Kanim makes out with Tony. When the spectacles and the window are completely replaced, it is spring, and Bella plants herself a garden of important herbs on the castle grounds, and takes apart wizard staffs with Kanim.

Kanim really likes Tony; he looks at her rather like she fell out of the sky into his lap and he's trying to figure out how she could possibly have happened. He really really likes her. He does not want to marry her. This is made extremely clear when Queen Marianne asks how he would feel about being Tony's backup husband possibility in case Bella cannot solve the technical issue, to which question his response is to bolt from the room at top speed shouting "I AM GOING TO GO HELP BELLA WITH THAT SPELL NOW."

(This is, he feels the need to explain to Tony later, no slight against her undoubtedly stellar qualities as a potential spouse. Which he wants Bella to enjoy. Which he will not be partaking of himself even though it is, evidently, not a law of nature that only one person can marry a given other person. Because he does not want to be any sort of royalty and be asked for things even if his only duty would be to impregnate another sort of royalty. He is not even sure he wants non-royal children.)

Bella works on the spell, and Kanim helps. It's mid-Pink when Bella finds her beloved Sherlock and says:

"I think this version will work, even if it would be premature to test it before Umber. Which throws into rather stark relief the fact that if I cast it, eventually we will have a baby princess on our hands, and we have not actually discussed parenting."

Comments

[thaumobabble]

Bella sits. "So. Thoughts on that?"

[calendarofcrime]

"Have you consulted Tony?"

[thaumobabble]

"About parenting? If I have a kid with her it'll be later - I guess she'd be awfully involved with ours, though."

[calendarofcrime]

"If you have a kid with me, you will be married to Tony by the time the child is old enough to speak. There are going to be three parents in this family if there are any."

[thaumobabble]

Bella nods. "Let's all three of us talk parenting, then, I'll go find her."

She goes looking for Tony.

[allthebrightest]

At the forge.

[thaumobabble]

"Hallo," says Bella. "I have a version of the spell that I think will work and it is therefore time to talk parenting."

[allthebrightest]

"...Crap," says Tony, "yeah, that's a logical conclusion, isn't it."

[thaumobabble]

"Yeah, I wasn't thinking of it before I had the spell worked out either, but now I have it and I'm going to marry Sherlock in Umber and it'll probably work, so, yeah. You wanna come have a sit-down or would another time be better?"

[allthebrightest]

"Eh, I wasn't getting anywhere anyway," she says, shrugging.

[thaumobabble]

Back they go to where Sherlock is!

After an awkward silence, Bella starts. "So, we could have this entire conversation about a generic 'the baby', but we could also just name her."

[allthebrightest]

"She's gonna be a her?"

[thaumobabble]

"Yeah, I think - Kanim agrees - that there's no way to produce a boy, under the circumstances. Not without borrowing some other contributor's, erm, material."

[allthebrightest]

"Okay, sure," says Tony. "Anybody got a name? I don't."

[thaumobabble]

"I don't have one in mind, no." Bella taps her chin thoughtfully.

[calendarofcrime]

"Carinna?"

[thaumobabble]

"That's pretty. Is it from somewhere?"

[calendarofcrime]

"A not particularly interesting poet."

[thaumobabble]

"Whose primary virtue is having a pretty name?"

[calendarofcrime]

"Yes."

[thaumobabble]

"I like it. Carinna. Princess Carinna," pronounces Bella carefully. "Carinna, don't eat that bug, Carinna, come say hi to Grandma, Carinna, it's time for your piano lesson - yeah, it works."

[calendarofcrime]

"Well, there's one small problem solved," says Sherlock.

[thaumobabble]

"All right. So - I don't know, what other problems are there?"

[calendarofcrime]

"I have no idea."

[thaumobabble]

"I'm assuming - tutors? In various subjects? Rather than some kind of traditional school like I went to."