March 5, 1179
"Up and about again, I see." Severin paid Celina a kiss to the cheek as she greeted him with an embrace. She felt a little warm, but there was little cause to worry if she'd come to receive him; the most hospitable of people would not see guests if they thought they might pass on their illnesses, and there were few more hospitable than Celina. "Glad you're feeling better. Nora and some of the kids are down with that cold as well; they're on the mend, but it's not pleasant.""You're telling me. Ovrean and Mernolt and Eldona all have it now. I think Ovrean's got it the worst, him sleeping next to me and all."
"Hmm. Perhaps I'll move to the couch until Nora recovers." Celina smirked, always knowing a joke when she heard it. In truth, he wasn't worried about catching anything. After that Remiel incident, he doubted he'd ever be comparatively sick again.
Not that the Remiel business was exactly over."Sorry that I couldn't receive you when you called last week. But Ovrean said you did get what you wanted out of that trip?"
"Well, I didn't get to see you--but I did meet that new steel ward of yours." Celina took to twirling a loose lock around her finger, mouth curling into a grimace. He hoped she didn't think he was angry about it. No, so far as he knew the statue was perfectly harmless, for all it was a little... animated. "I can't say I've ever seen such personality in a suit of armor."
Her smile eased somewhat, though the concern lingered in her eyes. Perhaps she'd grown attached. Severin had been rather jaded about unexpected house-guests since Isidro's sorry excuse for a father had shown up, but he supposed he could understand in theory. "Oh, he certainly has no shortage of that."
Umm... "'He'?""Well, it's just our best guess, but he doesn't object when he hears himself referenced as male. And 'it' just seems so dehumanizing. Not that he's human, but he's..."
"Close enough," Severin finished for her. Celina nodded. "Anyway. I take it there's been no trouble?"
"Not really, no." For all he'd heard, it was still a relief. It still baffled him to think that a man so vile as Remiel could create something so... not. "Well, he does tend to get excited about meals and then disappoints himself when he can't eat anything, but that's not so much troublesome as it is heartbreaking. And occasionally he won't let me leave without an extra bedtime story, but that's it.""You tell him bedtime stories?"
She grinned. "He loves them."
"Huh." Given how the statue had been when Severin had last called--all excitable and energetic, lacking in personal boundaries, intent on giving a grand tour for all he'd been here a thousand times--that wasn't as surprising as it ought to have been, even if it was every bit as unsettling. He must have finally given up on ever hoping for the best. "Do you think maybe...?"He managed to catch himself. No, there was no sense in suggesting it, not without any concrete proof. He didn't want to scare her. Nor did he want to get her hopes up.
"Maybe what?"Maybe I'm going to have to have another chat with Remiel. "Forgive me. Just thinking out loud."
NEXT CHAPTER:
8 comments:
Celina's in Depth Charge for this post, but now that I've had a chance to play with Xeta's hair too, I'm thinking she'll be going Brisance. I think I could have gone either way for Celina's hair, but Brisance was an indisputably better match for Xeta and I do want them to have the same color.
I like Celina's hair either way, the darker browns suit her :)
And I am really interested in this chat with Remiel! I'm hoping he's looking worse for wear after all this time, serves him right.
I think Severin is thinking what I'm thinking!!! And since Severin is one of the smartest characters in Naroni, I'm counting that as a point in my favor. ;)
I agree that "he" seems to be the best pronoun for the suit of armor, and he definitely seems to be acting a bit childishly. I'm glad he found a home with Celina; she'll take good care of him.
And I can't wait to see what Severin forces out of Remiel.
EkhoGirl: The darker brown does suit her. It was a bit too dark for her daughter, though (might have been the texture more than the color itself).
Oh, we will be seeing the chat with Remiel, but I can't imagine Severin would want to go into that without having a pretty solid guess first. Plus he'd probably want to put it off as long as possible. In other words, I haven't put it on the outline yet :P
Morgaine: Most people seem to default to "he" when it comes to stuffed animals and sculptures and things that aren't clearly of either gender. But so long as the suit of armor doesn't protest, they should be good ;)
Yeah, if there's anyone in Naroni equipped to take in a childlike sentient decoration, it's Celina XD
Hunh. I kept waiting for Celina to ask Severin something on behalf of the suit. Not that I could imagine what that would be, but it seemed like she really intended to talk to him about it for some reason.
So the new Jadin Jr. is grandchild number what for Severin?
Huh. I wonder what he might have asked. Or how he might have asked Celina to ask; I can't imagine those hands have much mastery over a quill.
This kid is Grandchild #... 12? That's including Alya and Lettie's Alina. But it won't be the last for very long. Vera and Asalaye are both due in April, then Raia's due in September. And I think there's going to be another grandchild conceived in May. Geez, Severin only turns forty-seven this year :S
Christmas at Severin's must be insane.
Deck the halls and deck the endless stream of kids :S
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