UN: glassmidnight
LN: Kaarmann
DH:
Joseph Anton Cornelius Isidor (30)
DW:
Maria Elisabeth Theresa Hermine (29)
-DS:
Arthur Elias Wilhelm Cornelius Erhard (12)
-DD:
Elisabeth Therese Antonia Amalie Renata (10)
-DD:
Aloisia Margarete Magdalena Cornelia (9)
-DD/DD:
Johanna Isolde Petronella Mechtilde /
Augusta Rosemarie Sieglinde Beate "
Romy",
Princess Johanna and
Princess Augusta (5)
-DS:
Joseph Konstantin Elias Anton Bertram "
Sepp",
Prince Joseph (3)
-DD:
Anne Cordula Agathe Hermine, Princess Anne Rank:
Prince and
Princess, brother and sister-in-law to the
King
The past three years have been difficult for
Prince Joseph and his family.
Joseph has made a great effort to step forward into his role of assisting his brother as Bial had fallen on difficult times. As
Walter tiptoes through the messy diplomacy surrounding French and Orlaisian relations, he relies on
Joseph to give him first-hand information from both places, and
Joseph has spent much of the last few years off in either the French Court with his wife and children, or secretly in Orlais, working with the government there. He has grown close to his brother through this and works very hard to help
Walter through this rather sticky situation. He agrees with
Walter's plan to assassinate the French king should it come down to it, but he worries about their younger sister and her response to such a move. Her son the Dauphin is uncomfortably like his father.
The children have been working on their studies tirelessly, and
Arthur's physical training has been greatly extended. They all seem to be progressing well enough, but miss their father now that he has been so sporadically with them, either in
France or in Bial. With their common trips to
France, the girls have begun to like their French cousins.
Sepp is too young to do much but play with
Heike, as
Flip gets rather bored of him. It has become quite apparent that the Dauphin and his cousin
Prince Arthur are not on the best of terms.
Arthur now towers over the thin little French prince, and outshines him in looks with the family dark hair and bright blue eyes. The two avoid each other whenever possible, and
Arthur refuses to speak French with his cousin, insisting the two converse in
German.
At home,
Arthur has begun to have his own social circle among the children of the nobility, notably with
Eleonore's eldest daughter
Valeria. The two twelve-year-olds are frequent dance partners and are often seen strolling around the grounds together, usually accompanied by a number of their younger siblings.
Elisabeth and
Aloisia share tutors with
Valeria and are pleased that she and her brother get along so well.
Arthur seems to genuinely enjoy her presence and the two are together quite often, though always in the most proper and appropriate manner. Both are old enough to understand
Eleonore's position as
Walter's mistress, and both actively seek to avoid scandal.
Elisabeth also has a little circle of girls whom she stitches and draws with often. They are all still young enough to enjoy playing with their dolls and playing outside, however, so elegant as she may wish to seem, that is what
Elisabeth and her friends spend most of their outside of lessons doing.
Aloisia and
Elisabeth are nearly inseparable, being so close in age, and often ask for their gowns to be made in the same style, but in their respective favorite colors. They can often be seen walking arm in arm with other, dark curls bouncing in colorful ribbons.
Johanna and
Romy have begun basic lessons centering around letters. The two are nearly identical, except for
Romy's dark freckle birthmark on her face. They remain in the royal nursery with
Sepp rather than in their parents' private apartments.
Maria Elisabeth's pregnancy with
Anne was a difficult one for her. She had very strong morning sickness throughout the beginning of her pregnancy and missed her husband very much when he was away. While in
France,
Adelheid was nothing but kind to her, but
Maria Elisabeth missed
Magdalena,
Hedwig, and
Eleonore's company. The birth was a hard one for
Maria Elisabeth, made even harder by the fact that
Joseph was still on the road between Orlais and Bial when her pains began and she had to give birth without her husband by her side for the first time. She is glad of
Arthur's protectiveness of his younger siblings and begged for him to remain at Court rather than accompany his cousin
Max to military training. She desperately does not want her firstborn to become a soldier and her tears changed
Walter and
Joseph's minds on the subject.