14th December 1227
I will be attending the midwinter feast tonight, with Achilles. Everyone thinks that magus Constantine will be in attendance again, so I might be able to talk to him.
15th December 1227
That was a rather strange feast. Not unpleasant, but definitely not what I expected. Magus Constantine was there, but he was talking to another maga, a particularly creepy and boring woman who blathered on about her House, something like 'Tremey'. I have no idea what Constantine could possibly have seen in her; perhaps he was enchanted. Mind you, Constantine does seem to be rather undiscriminating in the distribution of his affections.
Anyway, since Constantine was ignoring me, and Achilles was talking to another maga visiting from a distant covenant, I decided to talk to Quercus, the faerie lord. I decided that, even though he did steal my baby, it is not a good idea to offend a powerful faerie, and he did give Rubea back to me.
Unfortunately, maga Speranda was also trying to flirt with Quercus. She was, I must say, very clumsy about it, and seemed to think that he would be captivated by her detailed accounts of exactly how her magic worked on faeries. I felt that, as the hostess, it was my duty to save him from this dreadfully boring conversation. She just wouldn't take the hint, though, and kept trying to butt in on our conversation.
That's when things got a little strange. All of a sudden, I no longer wanted to get maga Speranda to leave. Indeed, I was quite happy to have her stay with me and Quercus all night, which she did in the end. It made perfect sense at the time, but now I can't understand it at all. Speranda is a rather creepy maga, although not as bad as magus Speculor nor as ugly as magus Joach, and she's a woman. I had heard such tales about maga Gwenolé and the witch's daughters, but I have no such interest. Now that I think of it, though, I do remember hearing that maga Speranda went off with maga Gwenolé at one feast, and she did touch me several times at the feast.
Heavens! Maga Speranda is in love with me as well, and cast a spell on me to make me go along with it! I can't cope with having two of the magi of Saxum Caribetum losing their heads over me! It would make things far too complicated. I think I shall just have to keep quiet and stay out of the magi's way as much as possible for a while, until they have both got over their infatuations.
Anyway, when I got back to the manor house, Achilles was still in bed with Ana leBail, so I had a loud conversation with Heodez to give him a chance to pretend nothing was happening.
14th January 1227
I think I'm pregnant again. I left the feast with maga Speranda and Quercus, and we spent the night in his pavilion. I suppose it could be Achilles's baby, but somehow I don't think these magical areas work that way. If Quercus abducted Rubea, what will he do with his own daughter?
Oh dear. I do hope nothing bad happens to her.