In Which Riona's Cool Is Cancelled

November 16, 1175

"Couldn't resist the call of the snow, I see."

A little embarrassed, Riona pulled herself out of her snow angel and faced Isidro with a sheepish grin. She hadn't meant for him to catch her playing in the snow like a fresh-faced little child, but... "It's been ages since I've seen this much. It almost never snows back home."

"The world's getting colder. It might snow a little more." He trudged onward, pushing up mounds of snow as his boots cut through the unbroken white. Mindful of the angel--obscured somewhat already by the fast-falling flakes--Riona shuffled forth to meet him. "Alya finally wanted a break from her mama?"

In spite of the chill, Riona's face grew warm. A couple weeks back, Alya had taken to referring to her as 'Mama' and she hadn't had the heart to correct her, so the name had stuck. Awkward as it had been at first, though, she'd grown used to it--privately, she found she sort of liked it. Might as well get used to it, she figured as another light wave of nauseous tease washed over her. "She's taking her nap. The innkeeper's little girls are sitting with her. I said for one of them to come get me if she wakes up." A scattering of snowflakes clung to the sleeve of her coat; she brushed them off, then shot him a teasing grin. "She seemed to want you today, though. Kept asking when Papa would be back."

Isidro froze. Somehow, Riona doubted it was the cold. "She's never called me that."

"Well, I'm assuming she meant you." The winter's bite was had introduced to her hands an icy throbbing, so she reached for his; they weren't any warmer, but somehow, the distinct cools cancelled each other out. "She really likes you. I know you worry she doesn't, but she does."

A pinkish tint flashed across his face. She thought it cute but she didn't mention it. He would have brushed it off as the fault of the weather. "I... see."

"Let's keep her."

It was one of those sentences that jumped from the heart to the mouth without making that crucial stop at the brain. She certainly hadn't thought to say it--and from the look on his face, he hadn't expected to hear it. But now that it had been brought up, she didn't think there was any other option. "Why not? We love her, she loves us, and what kind of sick people would we be if we let her lose two sets of parents in the same year?"

She squeezed his hands and waited for him to say something, but he only stared at the sky in contemplation. "Please? My father will probably knight you, so it's not like we won't have the space or the money. Izzy?" Was he even listening? "Izzy? Goddammit Izzy, say something."

He remained silent for a couple seconds, his hands letting go of hers and dropping to his side. He didn't like this idea--that must have been it. Irked, Riona readied herself to protest. She wasn't going to give an inch with this. She couldn't. She would keep this argument up all the way back to Naroni if she had to, and if he didn't want to hear it, then--

Then what? Her thoughts were cut short as he met her eye and smiled. "Well, I can hardly keep her away from her mama, can I?"

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