In Which Nora Sees a Man Head over Heels

March 15, 1171

"All smiles, as usual," Nora noted with a grin as Falidor bounced Roddie up and down. "He's always so happy to see his Uncle Falidor."

Falidor tugged at the corners of his mouth in what he might have judged to be a satisfactory reply, but his gaze did not shift from the baby's eyes. "He's got his sister's eyes."

Nora raised an eyebrow. She wasn't sure whether he meant Raia or Viridis, but it seemed like an odd thing to say in either case. "They've got their father's eyes."

Her brother's face grew grim, as though he was about to be ill--not that this surprised her much. He'd been wearing that look quite often lately. "You don't say."

"Look, if you're going to be sick, I'd appreciate it if it wasn't all over my baby." She held out her arms and gestured for him to hand over Roddie; flushing, Falidor obeyed. "Maybe take a seat now--I think it's time for somebody's nap."

Nora crossed the room and lowered Roddie into his crib as Falidor set himself down on the couch. As his little eyelids began to droop, she leaned in and kissed the baby's forehead, then stepped back and joined her brother. "You said you wanted to talk to me about something?"

"Yes." He clasped his hands together and sighed, a wave of some unnamed emotion spreading outward to the tips of his fingers and the soles of his feet. "I'm in love."

Well, that certainly explained why he'd been so green around the gills recently! Nora clapped her hand against her thigh and laughed. "It's about damn time!"

"Yes... I suppose." He sunk back into his seat and sighed, looking far less like a man in love than a fading half-corpse. Of course, she supposed, it wasn't as if he didn't have reason to be feeling down; he would still be legally married to Ailede for over nine months, and love did have a tendency to slow the flow of time.

"So, who is she?" It seemed like a harmless enough question--perhaps even one he'd be eager to answer. Instead, however, his features fell even further.

"Uh... I don't want to say."

Nora frowned. "Oh? Why not?"

"She's a bit... inconvenient." He took hold of a lock his hand and held in front of his face, examining it. Nora rolled her eyes; after finding one gray hair a few weeks prior, he'd been just as paranoid about them as any forty-year-old woman.

"Falidor, love is inconvenient." She gave his hand a quick squeeze, then shot him a quick grin; he returned it half-heartedly. "And that's the beauty of it, really. Would you want it to be easy? How can you know how much it means to you if you don't have to work and wait for it?"

"It's not ease or lack of therefore that concerns me." Falidor slumped forward, his arms folding and resting deftly across his knees. "I'm sure she feels at least something for me, but she's quite young and could doubtlessly do better. I really don't know if she'll still be interested by the time I'm free to marry her, and I don't want to trap her in either case."

"I see." She glanced down at her own ring--Severin's, as Jothein's was now housed alongside Lady Alina's in a small shrine at the back of the wardrobe--and smiled to herself. Love always seemed to strike at the worst of times.

Also, the best of times.

"Well, I guess all you can do at this point is wait until January and see how things stand between you and this mysterious lady love of yours then." It was a truth that he already knew, but nonetheless it was all she could say.

At the very least, he smirked--the first true smile she'd seen from him in a while. "Way to tell me what I already know, sis."

Nora shrugged. "If you wanted my opinion, then I was obligated to say at least something, was I not?"

"If my lady feels disinclined, she may ignore this servant's humble requests."

Dear Lord! Before she'd married him, she'd never understood why Severin didn't care for the formal addresses, but now she found them tiresome as well--and her brother knew it. "Damn you."

"Damn yourself." Nora rolled her eyes; Falidor laughed. "My God, you really are spending too much time with that man."

"Why shouldn't I? He makes me feel good about myself." She leaned back on the armrest and glanced toward the baby's crib, smiling to herself. "Doesn't this girl of yours do that for you?"

Falidor snorted. "On the contrary, she makes me feel like an idiot."

Intrigued, Nora straightened her posture and looked her brother over once again; suddenly, he did look like a man head over heels. "Well, if I know anything about men, then you must be very much in love indeed."

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