In Which Jadin Proposes a Happily Ever After

May 2, 1166

"Searle! Lonriad! For love of God, could you two stop jumping on that couch?" Jadin's mother scolded. "For one evening--that's all I ask. Can we just have one evening where nobody jumps on the damn couch?"

Neither of his little brothers showed any sign of relenting. Indeed, it seemed to Jadin that Searle was bouncing with even more energy than before. "But Mother! Uncle won't mind!"

"And he won't mind a little dust here and there," his father added with a fond smile. "He's your brother, Princess. He loves you, regardless of the state of the castle--and if he complains, then he can go stay with Roderick and Laralita and see how he likes it there."

She didn't look impressed. "You and your solutions."

Casting a quick glance back at his brothers, Jadin snorted. "Mother, if he really is our uncle, he'll want to join them!"

His father nodded in agreement. "Alina, don't forget that we are talking about a man capable of making light of the fact that his own name sounds like a part of the female anatomy."

"A part?" asked Lonriad between bounces. "You mean there's more than one?"

Their mother crossed her arms and frowned at him, her eyes narrowing to blue crescents. "Lonriad! Severin, I hope you realize that I'm not going to be the one talking to him."

"Don't worry mother--I'll tell him everything he needs to know, just like Jadin told me," Searle promised. Jadin glared at him; it was nice to be the one that their mother was least angry with every once in a while, and he had been hoping that this rare moment would go unspoiled.

Her lip curled inwards. "Oh really? And who told Jadin?"

"Raia," he answered automatically, though it would have been nice to have had a scapegoat who was actually present.

Shaking her head, his mother sighed. "Figures. Where does that girl get the gall, going around talking about ovaries and--"

"Ovaries? Plural? Out with it--who else has been using my nickname? I'll kill him!"

Before the voice could even register in Jadin's head, his mother had turned around with a delighted squeal and flung herself into the arms of a man who had just entered the room. Like she herself, he was tall, red-haired, and blue-eyed; other than gender, the only obvious differences were his aquiline nose, his rusty beard, and a complete lack of freckles. "Are you our Uncle Ovrean?" demanded Searle as he shoved Lonriad down to the cushions.

"Well, if you're associating me with ladies' body parts, then I can't be your Grandpapa Lonriad now, can I?"

Jadin laughed appreciatively; meanwhile, his mother flushed and his father took to massaging his left temple. Searle waved his arms as he continued to reach for the ceiling. "You're a lot funnier than both Uncle Rudolphus and Uncle Haldred!"

Their uncle returned the compliment with a sly grin over his sister's shoulder. "Not that that takes much."

"Anyway, your letter said you had a surprise?" Jadin's mother inquired as she released her brother from the embrace. "What is it? Have you finally found a wife?"

Uncle Ovrean chuckled, his laugh as natural as his very voice; Jadin took this as a sign that he might not react too horribly to that snake he and Searle had hidden in the guest bed. "Well, I'll be damned! I'd never condemn a woman to a lifetime of my ugly old self! Actually, that's not quite true--I came here to tell you that now that I'm here, you, dear sister, will never be rid of me until the day I die!"

Well, that didn't sound good. Worried, Jadin rushed past his parents and stared up at his uncle, fighting the increasing urge to blink. "You're dying?"

His concern was met with a laugh; at the very least, it seemed the man had come to terms with his fate. "Your parents will be wishing soon enough! Oh, bless you, son! I take it you're Jadin?"

"He's Jadin, and he's nine," Lonriad confirmed from the couch. "And he's Searle, and he's eight. And I'm Lonriad--and I'm ten!"

Launching himself into the air, Searle shook his head. "You're six!"

"I'm almost seven, and seven rounds up to ten!"

"Then why aren't Jadin and I ten?"

"Because you're ugly and you smell, that's why!"

"The only thing I smell is you!"

Jadin glanced back at his mother, who looked as though she wanted nothing more than to throw one of his brothers out of the window and tell the other to clean up the mess. "I'm sorry about this, Ovrean."

His uncle gave her a dismissive wave. "Oh, it's no trouble--boys will be boys, after all. I trust the girls are--?"

"Much, much worse," Jadin's father finished for him as he rubbed his wife's shoulders in an attempt to soothe her. "Fortunately, they won't be back for another hour or so, so you have plenty of time to brace yourself."

Uncle Ovrean laughed again, causing Jadin to wonder if he was capable of much else. "Well, we know they don't get it from our side of the family, don't we, Alina? Severin, if any one of your children can give your younger self a run for his money, I'll eat my hat."

"But Uncle Ovrean, you don't have a hat," observed Lonriad.

"That's true--I got hungry somewhere near the border. Fortunately, I never really liked that hat all that much anyway," he added with a wink before turning back to Jadin. "Anyway, I'm not dying, son. You see, I sent the duchess a letter expressing my sympathies when I heard that her husband had been killed, and we ended up corresponding. She mentioned that her son was thinking about maybe recruiting some knights in preparation for the return of those forest folk next year, and... well, I figured maybe I could be his first recruit."

Jadin looked back at his father, who offered a small smile. "Hmmm... I wonder why Lorn never mentioned that to the rest of us? In any case, I imagine you would be rather helpful; between your face and your odor, I don't doubt that any ill-wishers of Naroni will soon be Spain's problem."

"Exactly."

Jadin cocked his head and examined his uncle once more. "You're a knight?"

"That I am," Uncle Ovrean answered. "Why so interested? Thinking of becoming one yourself when you grow up?"

"No, I'm going to be a lord--and not necessarily when I grow up," Jadin corrected him, gesturing to his father. "Just whenever he dies."

His father stifled a laugh as his mother gasped. "Jadin!"

"What? It's true! Anyway, Searle and Lonriad are going to be knights, but I'm going to be a lord."

Ovrean paused thoughtfully. "A lord you say? Do you have yourself a lady?"

Jadin nodded. "I have lots of ladies--and none of them even know about each other."

He felt his mother's hand fly across the back of his head; after almost a decade of living, he was so used to it that it barely stung. "And my mother didn't know about any of them until just now either."

His uncle took another moment to consider; it seemed he could do more than laugh after all. "Well, I suppose it's good to get it out of your system... but eventually, you're going to want to look at all your ladies and figure out which one is the lady."

This advice was the exact opposite of that which he had received from his grandfather. Needless to say, he was rather confused. "What do you mean?"

Uncle Ovrean sighed, an unfathomable expression breaking through the face that Jadin had assumed perpetually jolly. "Well, you're only a kid, so don't go troubling yourself over it now, but there comes a time in a man's life when he looks in a mirror and sees a wrinkled, pudgy old windbag of almost forty, and he starts to wonder... what if? What if it had been her? Or maybe her? Where is she now? And who will bury me when I die? Does my line end with me?"

"Ovrean..." Jadin's mother muttered.

"I'm sorry, sister," he apologized. "I'm just saying... well, what does an old knight do?"

Having grown up with his little sister Viridis, Jadin knew the answer. "That's easy; he goes and slays the dragon and saves the princess."

A hint of the old smile reappeared on his uncle's face. "And happily ever after?"

"Yes," Jadin confirmed. "Happily ever after."

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