2 life as a toddler

As weeks passed I began to piece together a reasonable image of my situation. And it was most definitely not good.

The first thing I learned was that wherever 'here' was it was not up to my standards. The surroundings were a mix of ornate and primitive which told me that I had either been thrown back in time or I was in another world altogether. Neither was optimal to be sure but if nothing else at least I had not been reborn into a poor family, if the obsessive amount of furs, silks and gold in my nursery and the nannies looking after me were any indication.

My first solid clue of my exact situation was my roommate, the noisy baby that shared my room and frequently had the maids running to swaddle him. I guess I could not fault him (I was fairly sure that it was a him), my nephew had been much the same way in his youth and considering our surroundings I could wager that survival was not exactly optimal. Still it was not a great comfort to spend weeks in 'baby on airplane' hell.

In any case the baby looked weird, it had violet eyes and a few wisps of white-gold hair. That made me weary instantly as it was a clear point for the 'not earth' category. I could hardly judge since what few trips I had done in the arms of nannies allowed me to catch glimpses of myself in mirrors. I was more or less the same with a lighter tone to my eyes and more golden green than silver in my slightly fuller hair. So whatever I was stuck in was either not human or the pigment range of humans wherever 'here' was was not at all like Earth's.

I also noticed that whatever the hell the locals spoke was at least similar to English, certainly a relative of the romance-languages at least in sound. In my previous life I had considered being semi-fluent in a few languages to be a mark of pride so I hurriedly made mental notes of every word they uttered. I needed to pick up the language sooner rather than later.

Strangely enough it was not that hard to engrave them into my mind which suggested that either my mind was not quite the same or that I was merely subject to the benefits of a child's brain. I truly hoped that the latter was the case. Still if it meant I could understand their words before long I was not going to question it too much.

Then there was the view whenever the maids took me to a balcony, on one side of the castle (and I could safely wager that I was in fact in a castle) was the endless horizon over blue of a sea while to the other was a city. A dirty and definitely-overcrowded city dominated by what looked like three hills above one of which my new home was situated. Above another hill was a tall black dome which I could not fathom the use off and atop the other was what looked like a fortification of some sort.

In retrospect, I should have gotten a better idea of my location from that clue but at the time I just made a mental note that my new home was definitely not a high-fantasy setting (which ironically enough, I was wrong about in the worst way possible).

Aside from trying to puzzle out my circumstances, trying to decipher the local tongue, attempting to achieve control of my body and the various humiliations which at the time composed my sanitation and dietary needs, I received a continual and in hindsight obvious clue as to my location. I am my neighbor had visitors.

Every so often I would see someone come by and speak with the nannies, their clothing varied in value and style but a few in particular stood out and actively engaged with us mostly in colors of black and red but it starting switched onto only green. I habitually began sorting them into piles.

…

Our most frequent visitor was a tall, rather pretty girl who looked about a decade the junior of my true age, her dressing style indicated a serious level of status. Her hair long and the colour of oak, her form tall and slender with a face that I would happily call absolutely gorgeous. The only thing ruining her look was the absurd amount of ornamentation on her dresses and hair, normal enough for a woman of status at the time but really a shame. In any case I suspected her to be a relative of some sort given the way she picked up and swaddled me and my twin(?) although I would wager a distant cousin given the severe differences in our looks but I was slightly unnerved by the sheer amount of affection in her green eyes. Maybe she's our mother? though I want to dismissed the thought because how young she looks, but I could be wrong, this is seems like medieval times, so age is just a number after all.

She made a point of visiting on an almost daily basis and seemed to drill our caretakers, I could not quite pick up the specifics but it seemed to me that she was probably asking after our health. It was always good to see a relative that cared, especially if the nobility here worked anything like the normal perception of European nobility.

Perhaps it was a bit premature but I put her in the 'ally' pile.

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