In Which Falidor Hears Bad News Put to Ill Use... Again

August 8, 1166

"I know he was a horrible person and nobody liked him and we're all probably much better off," choked Ailede between sobs as Falidor rubbed her shoulder with the tips of his fingers, "but he was still my father! I just can't believe he's really gone!"

Uneasy, Falidor placed a hasty, awkward kiss upon his wife's brow. While he knew firsthand the pain of losing one's father, this reaction was not one he might have expected of the almost unnaturally cold Ailede--even if he had been led to believe that her feelings for her cruel father were anything less than hatred. "There, there..."

Ailede wiped a tear away from her eye. Gentlemanly conduct might have dictated that Falidor do that for her, but he found he could not move his hand any nearer to her face; some insensitive, perhaps paranoid part of his mind couldn't help but notice more than a few similarities between this instance and the last time a family member of Ailede's had passed. Her brother had died. She'd cried about it, and he'd comforted her.

Then, she'd taken the chance to tell him that she was pregnant with another man's child. It was so typical of her--manipulative, opportunistic, and selfish beyond belief.

"You know, I blame him and my mother for this," she moaned. "When she came over here with the news, she said he'd been having some troubles with his heart for a few months now, but they decided to just keep it between themselves. Didn't want us to worry, she said--well, maybe if my idiot sister had known, then she wouldn't have sat down at the dinner table and blurted out that she'd missed her monthly!"

Well, that explained why he had come home to find Neleine in the guest bedroom, unloading a small bundle into the dresser drawers. Ridiculous. His pregnant sister was a bad influence on the girls, but hers was a young woman in need of a home? And how old was Neleine anyway? Thirteen? And did Ailede even like her all that much? "So, she's... staying with us, then?"

Shaking, Ailede nodded. "Mother blames her for what happened to Father, so she threw her out, and Eblor won't take her."

"What about the father?"

She shrugged, brushing him aside as her tears slowed and she began to make her way toward the door. "It's a moot point. He's married, and too old for her anyway; she said she had to tell him she was sixteen."

What on God's good earth had he married into? He doubted he could find a less functional family if he tried. On a more positive note, perhaps his worries had been needless--what were the odds of two sisters announcing their pregnancies a day apart?

"Anyway, I'd better talk to my sister. I'm thinking that we can just keep her inside once she starts showing, then pass off our babies as twins."

Just high enough, apparently. "You're pregnant too?"

She didn't even bother answering; she simply left the room, slamming the door behind her.

Shaking his head, Falidor made his way to the bench and collapsed upon it--muddy boots and all. If she didn't mind Lord knew how many men who'd had Lord knew how many women defiling her nether regions, then he saw no reason why she would have problem with her husband defiling her furniture.

He should have expected this--in fact, he had expected this. He wasn't surprised; he wondered whether or not that was a good thing.

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