In Which Lorn Looks Up Downward

July 9, 1179

"My lord." Lorn was not unused to visits from the other nobles, but they normally occurred in light of some urgent business, and therefore he could usually expect them. He got along well enough with Severin and Octavius, but the age gap was significant enough that social calls rarely had sufficient purpose; the lords were more likely to visit his mother, while he in turn did the same with their children. "Is something the matter?"

"Yes, though I hope you'll forgive me for speaking to you first." Severin brushed a few strands of horsehair off his tunic and looked up at Lorn, eyes in the precise balance of give and take. He had something to say and he wanted to say it gently. He also wanted to predict how Lorn would react. "Or second, I suppose, after Nora."

Odd way to begin. "Does the order matter?"

"Possibly." The older man leaned forward in his seat, back straightening out of its slouch. Lorn was standing and had about an inch on Severin besides, but in that moment, he might as well have been a kid again, looking up downward, staring at his friends' father, his father's friend, the man who'd shown up at the castle one tragic night to tell him he was half an orphan. "I'm not sure that I want you to know this. I'd never dream of telling any of your siblings; it's your mother who has to know, but I feel that it may be better if she heard it from you than from me."

"What difference does it make, who she hears it from?"

"Maybe none, or maybe more than I considered." Lorn frowned; if Severin noticed, he chose to disregard it. "I care about your mother. She's one of my dearest friends and has been for longer than you've been alive. But while I know her as my friend, you know her as your mother, and while I can guess how she might react as a mother, there's no way that I can know firsthand. That's why I think you might be the better choice for telling her this."

And what was 'this'? If it concerned Lorn's mother as a mother... something about Xeta? No--if something had happened to Xeta, Severin would not have been so vague about it, nor would he have thought that Lorn's other siblings didn't need to know. But if it didn't concern any of his siblings... and he thought he might have known if it was about him... "What is it?"

Severin cast a wary glance toward the door and sighed. "You might want to sit down."

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