In Which Danthia Brings Forth the Facts

March 17, 1180

"Well, I suppose I can be grateful that she at least got herself here safely," Danthia sighed as she stepped down from the stairs and joined her former husband in the kitchen. His stillness was more than a little puzzling; all these years and she didn't think she'd once seen him sit without fidgeting like he wanted little more than to get up and leave.

Then again, she'd never seen him at home. "So I take it she's not--?"

"Grounded until the birth of her first child? Oh, she definitely is." And given how long Tivie had been gone and how far she'd traveled--and everything that could have happened between then and now--it was a lucky thing that such an event was well over nine months away. "But her well-being is more important; I needed her to know that, so I just looked her over and gave her a hug and said we'd talk once we both got our thoughts together. Celina's bracing her for the worst, no doubt."

She pulled up the nearest chair and settled herself in. She supposed she could work out her feelings around Searle. She didn't want to risk giving her daughter the wrong idea, but she felt no similar concern toward Searle. And why should she? He'd certainly never given her that courtesy.

"Speaking of my sister, why is she here?"

"Moral support, mainly." Searle raised an eyebrow, and not without reason. But she doubted he knew his sister as well as he'd have himself think. "She called just as I was about to leave and insisted on joining--probably just to make sure I didn't kill you." Not that it had been necessary. If she'd gone through their entire marriage without killing him, then she clearly had no such intentions.

"And Sidwein had nothing to say about that?"

"Sidwein has no say in what Celina does. I sent my son with a message, but we left before he did, so it's not as if Sidwein had a chance to object." She dragged the chair forward with her ankle on its leg and set an elbow on the table top. "Besides, it works out well enough given that we might meet them halfway. Nythran and the children are heading to Naroni, and if Sidwein heeds Primus, he and little Haldred will join them. He has a brother he barely knows there anyway."

Searle sniffed. "What business does your family have in Naroni?"

"You don't know?" He shook his head. The response both surprised her and failed to do the same. "Doesn't your father-in-law write to you?"

"He writes to Viridis, and I respect my wife's privacy."

"Of course you do." It was perhaps the only part of being a husband she recalled him having mastered. "I suppose it must have slipped her mind. But anyway, it's your niece. Cladelia."

Searle's eye twitched. Beyond that, however, his stoicism was so complete she thought it almost forced. "Riona's eldest?"

Danthia nodded. "She's marrying one of your cousins--Karlspan, your Aunt Renata's youngest boy. He squired for Lord Severin before he was knighted last fall."

"Huh." Searle pressed his hand to his chin and slumped forward. "It didn't occur to me that Cladelia was old enough to be married."

"Well, you ought to get used to the idea, since Tivie's less than a year younger." Another twitch of his eye. Tivie had asked about Searle a few times, and one of the few details Danthia had given was that she had her father's eyes. She'd been wrong, though. Tivie had gotten her eyes from her father... but they were his father's eyes. Searle had his mother's eyes, which were nearly as startling, but the fact that she'd forgotten was yet another reminder of how little they'd known each other. They weren't even close to the same shade. "Anyway, we'll be there early to help with the preparations--apparently the castle needs some serious work--but the wedding isn't until June. You have plenty of time to consider coming."

He sniffed. "Do you think I should?"

"You're the bride's uncle, and the groom's cousin, and the father of Cladelia's stepsister." For all facts had traditionally held any sway over Searle. "You figure it out."

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