In Which Lonriad Doesn't Quite Deserve It

January 5, 1177

Lonriad had figured it would be quite some time before Lorn was willing to speak to him again--still sore about the whole Rona ordeal, no doubt--but a few years prior, the duke had started a tradition of taking all the fathers-to-be in his social sphere on a hunt, and apparently he cared more about that than his personal grudges. Not that he should have been surprised; in spite of his most recent experiences with the man, Lorn wasn't the type to drag out such ugliness forever.

In any case--whether Lorn hated him or not--he supposed he had to be here. Not only did Lorn outrank him substantially, but his acceptance of the invitation was for all intents and purposes the official announcement. Asalaye was only three months along and so far they'd only told their families. Lonriad wasn't even sure how Lorn had found out; Raia had told him, most likely, but it could have been Xeta, or perhaps Riona via Rona. For everyone's sake, he hoped it hadn't been that last possibility.

"Lonriad."

The voice belonged to Lorn's brother Abrich, a flash of red cloth and brown leather approaching from the stables. There was a grin on his face and Lonriad had to return it. It was nice to see that one of Rona's brothers, at least, still liked him. Then again, Abrich was too wishy-washy to hate anyone. "Hello, Abrich. Doing some sparring?"

"Yes, but we were just about to wrap up." 'We' must have been him and Lorn. That made sense; obviously Lorn couldn't keep sparring if he was about to leave for a hunt. "Congratulations, by the way."

Lonriad grimaced. At least he could blame the redness of his face on the cold. "Thank you. And what about yourself--any New Years' greetings from your betrothed in Dovia?"

"No, but it's not like I expect to hear from her much at this point. It'll be a while before we're married." He gave a shy little smile, as if he wanted to be polite but didn't really want to press on with the subject. Lonriad couldn't blame him; he probably wouldn't have been all that talkative either if his older brother had betrothed him to a twelve-year-old. "Anyway, uh... I don't mean to rush you, but you might want to wait outside the gates for another ten or fifteen minutes."

That was an odd request. "Umm... why?"

"Ah, well... my sparring partner doesn't really like you."

...Oh. "So then I should probably keep my guard up when he takes me hunting."

"What?" Abrich's eyes narrowed for a second, then bulged, his mouth following suit. "Oh, no! I'm not sparring with Lorn, I'm sparring with--"

"Abrich? What's going on out--oh."

Lonriad's ear twitched. He knew that voice, and it definitely wasn't Lorn's. "You spar with Aspen?"

Abrich sighed. "Only when there's no one else around. She always kicks my ass."

Lonriad shot a wary glance toward the figure emerging from the stables. She was a scrawny little dab of a thing and the oversized boys' clothes made her even moreso. At the same time, he didn't find Abrich's claim all that unbelievable. "That... really is your color."

"Oh, sod off." What? He had to gape at her. Aspen had always been icy to him, but he knew her as a quiet, awkward sort of girl who only spoke when spoken to and even then seemed to find it a struggle--certainly not the sort who told a knight to 'sod off'. She must have felt like a big man with that sword on her belt.

Abrich groaned. "Aspen..."

Aspen ignored him, her green glare never leaving Lonriad. "Brave of you to show your face here after what you did to Rona."

Lonriad raised an eyebrow. Obviously he couldn't blame Rona if she hadn't forgiven him, and it hadn't seemed irrational to worry about Lorn... but Aspen? That had been half a year ago now! If Rona's friends and most of her family had forgiven him, then why couldn't her maid? "Uh... well, Lorn kind of invited me..."

"Yes, well--Lorn isn't exactly doing much for her either, is he?" Abrich clapped his hand to face. Maybe Aspen had only ever been polite with him for Rona's sake? Either that or she'd been taking out her anger on Abrich and still had quite a bit left to unleash. "Did you know he's shopping around for bachelors in Dovia behind her back? All she ever wanted was to stay here and you were her only reasonable shot at that!"

"Look, I never meant for her to get hurt, all right?" If anything, her scowl deepened. A shiver crawled up his back and he doubted it was the weather. "Who knows? Maybe Lorn will bring someone in for her, not send her out." At least, we can hope that... right?

Aspen bit her lip. "You can't exactly promise that, can you?"

No--but just then, it would have been nice if he could. "I'm going hunting with Lorn soon. I could talk to him if you'd like."

"And why should he listen to you?"

Lonriad glanced to Abrich for help, but the boy seemed to have decided he was better off watching the snowflakes than he was getting involved. It must have been great to have that option. "Uh... well..."

"Uh, well indeed!" She worked up a bit of saliva and spat, the wad landing squarely on the toe of his boot.

Abrich cringed. Lonriad pawed at the snow like it made any difference and stared. "I'm... not quite sure I deserved that."

"No, Sir." He nearly jumped back in shock as he caught sight of the stable master over Aspen's shoulder. He'd been so focused on the girl that everything happening behind her had been oblivion. "No... I don't think you quite did."

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