November 27, 2010

In Which Evaleith Copes with the In-Laws

December 8, 1170

Rifden Wythleit may have been one of the most distinguished and highly skilled tradesmen in the area, but regardless of his successes, he was no more mature than any other young man his age--which was, to be precise, eighteen and a half. "So... when do we eat?"

Embarassed, Evaleith slouched in her seat. The boy's sister and brother-in-law--who were also his lady and lord, he might have done well to remember--had gone through all the unnecessary trouble of throwing a nice family gathering for Falidor's birthday and he couldn't even sit and make small-talk for twenty minutes before asking about supper. And he called himself a gentleman?

Not that it mattered, seeing as everyone else called him such.

The Wythleit siblings had been born peasants, but of the five of them, Evaleith's husband was the only one who still retained that lowly status. Not that she'd ever expected to marry a gentlemen--Lord knew she was twice the peasant Ceidrid was--but she was a little tired of feeling like an impostor. She'd come to the castle in her best dress, only to find that it paled in comparison to both Alsina's lacy red semi-formal and the kirtle Nora wore to accommodate the vast-approaching baby. Of the men, Ceidrid was the only one who'd even felt the need to dress up at all; the rest of them were wearing the same sort of clothing they wore every day! How was it that they were the only ones here who weren't fancy enough for some stupid family dinner?

And to think, it wasn't even as if Severin hadn't meant to make Ceidrid a gentleman years prior! Ceidrid had declined the offer, saying he would not call himself a gentleman until he felt that he had earned the title on his own merit. It was honorable of him, Evaleith knew--honorable, but stupid.

Ah, but maybe she was being too hard on the poor man. Peasant or not, she did love him, and it wasn't as if they were impoverished--far from. Their sons were well-fed and they never had any trouble making ends meet. She'd made such a social leap when she married him that she had likely grown unused to maintaining the same status years on end--yes, that had to be it.

"I'm a little hungry too," Alsina whined from her husband's lap--how on earth did she feel comfortable hanging off of the man in front of her siblings?

Aldhein groaned. "Well, if you are, the children probably are too."

By Nora's end of the couch, Severin's eyes narrowed into a pair of dark slits. He must have thought his in-laws somewhat immature--not that Evaleith could blame him, really. "It won't be much longer, I'm sure. Anyway, Falidor... how does it feel to be all of thirty? It's been so long since I was that age that I can scarcely remember."

Nora glanced up at her husband and snickered. "Yes, because we all know that eight years is a lifetime."

"It's not--and that's the scary thing," piped up Aldhein as Alsina pressed a daring kiss to the side of his neck--she must have had something to drink before they'd arrived. "Enjoy whatever you have left of your twenties, children."

His sister-in-law flashed him a devious grin, then cast a side-long glance toward her brother beside her. "All right, knock it off; I think you're scaring Falidor."

Privately, Evaleith had to disagree; however Falidor looked, it wasn't 'scared'. Indeed, she found it doubtful that he was even paying any attention to the conversation around him. He didn't seem to be quite all there--hadn't all evening, now that she thought about it. She wondered why that was--had his marriage declined even further than they'd thought?

Seeming to sense something similar, Ceidrid left his post at the fire and headed toward his brother. "You all right, bro?"

"Hmm?" Falidor took a moment to come to his senses; by the time he'd snapped to the here and now, every eye in the room was upon him. "Oh. I'm fine, thank you, just... thinking."

"Ah, he probably just needs to get laid," chuckled Rifden from the corner. Evaleith glared at him, but he only smirked--stupid child.

But to her surprise, Severin also laughed. "Perhaps you might take him on a tour of the local inns later tonight? Falidor on the loose--fathers lock up your daughters and all that."

At the sound of the word 'daughters', Falidor buried his face in his hands and whimpered, leaning forward as his elbows met his knees. Evaleith raised an eyebrow; had Riala or Maddie gotten into some sort of mischief earlier?

"Mama!" a small voice Evaleith recognized as Nora's daughter Ceira's rang from the corridor. "Mama, Papa, everybody! Supper's ready!"

"We'll be right there!" Severin took Nora by the hand and hoisted her to her feet, then glanced around the room, his gaze finally resting on Falidor. "Falidor, we shall let you have the pick of seats; if it makes you feel any younger, you're welcome to sit at the children's table."

If possible, Falidor slouched even further. "That... won't be necessary, thank you."

"Very well, then." He wrapped his arm around his wife's waist and pressed a kiss to her cheek before leading her out of the room. "Come along, everyone--dinner is served!"

Rifden scurried along after the pair of them, and Aldhein and Alsina after him. Ceidrid locked eyes with Evaleith and smiled. "Hungry, love?"

"A little," she admitted. "Yourself?"

He frowned. "More than I could say without encouraging Alsina and Rifden, anyway. Falidor?"

Evaleith watched from the corner of her eye as Falidor pulled himself upright, relieving himself with the heavy sigh of a man twice his age. Ignoring his brother's question, he rose to his feet with a distracted struggle and began the long, labored trudge toward the banquet hall.

NEXT CHAPTER:

12 comments:

Van said...

Heeeey, we're done with 1170! :)

Unfortunately, 1171 is not going to start on the happiest of notes...

S.B. said...

I want to grab Falidor and tell him to pull it together fast! He's bleeding all over the floor and the birthday is an excuse nobody is going to believe for long!

I bet 1171 is not going to start on the happiest of notes, not given everything that's going on!

Van said...

Yeah, I can't imagine anyone's going to leave that dinner without the idea that something's up with Falidor :S They'll probably just assume it has something to do with his marriage, though.

Alas, 1171 starts on an old, revisited unhappy note, so unfortunately we won't even get any resolution just yet :S

Thanks Beth :)

Anonymous said...

I don't know about you guys, but to me it looks like 1171 is going to start on a naked note.

... But that's just me. ;)

Aww, poor Falidor, though. He needs a big hug. (Probably from Raia.) I want to see what Raia thought of that kiss, though.

And it's so sweet that Ceira calls Severin "Papa." Do the hoard of rampaging Kemorin kids call Nora "Mom"? Or are they able to remember their own mother too well for that? (I know Nora's kids were young when Jothien died.)

Van said...

Haha, that too :P

We'll be seeing Raia (and her opinion on the kiss) soon-ish... after this first bit of drama clears up.

I would imagine it's just the twins calling Severin "Papa"--and maybe their brother too. The twins were in utero when their dad died, so Severin's the only father they've ever known. Cuthron was pretty young at the time, so he might sort of feel that way too, even though he probably has a few sort of flash-memories of Jothein.

Aldara, on the other hand, just calls him Severin. Likewise, Severin's kids just call their stepmom Nora.

Anonymous said...

*stares at births, deaths & marriages bar* Severin and Nora named their kid after Roderick?!? Their firstborn (together, that is)?!?

Who would do that to an innocent child?!?!

Van said...

Heheh. I was wondering if anyone would notice that :P

The baby's actually named after Severin's grandfather, not King Roderick (although, King Roderick was named after this Roderick too, since this is his grandfather too). I'm sure the king thinks the baby was named for him, though. That might make for some interesting conversations :P

Anonymous said...

Ah, well, that's better. Much better. In fact, if Severin and Nora are smart, they might just let Roderick think that Baby Ricky is named for him. I mean, he'll probably take it as an apology for getting married, and since that's the closest to an apology he's going to get ...

It might make life much more pleasant for everyone just to let Roderick exist in his happy place. ;)

thewynd said...

I wonder exactly what went on after that kiss!!! Falidor is falling apart slowly! Hoping he can hold it together long enough to make it through dinner.

And this was quite an interesting way to end 1170!

Van said...

Morgaine: Haha, true :P

I'm thinking the baby will be going by "Roddie". I'm saving "Ricky" for Lorn and Leara's first son ;)

Gayl: Yeah, the man seems to be having regrets. Will find out exactly what went down the next time we get either a Falidor or Raia POV.

(Also, I haven't quite decided :P)

Thanks :)

Verity said...

Snicker... had to love Severin's comments. They really made me laugh. If only he knew...

Van said...

Oh, the irony! :P