In Which Rona's Day Is Ruined

August 3, 1181

"Mama?" Yvanette's sing-song voice was the perfect vocal for the orchestra of nature sounds Rona had spent the last few minutes enjoying. "Are there more cakes?"

Ashe laughed quietly, though Rona could feel it clearly as ever from his chest. Yvanette did have a point, though. The whole family was alive and well and happy, and the skies had been clear and the winds only light and warm for Darry's first picnic. Perhaps they ought to have brought more cakes. Why not make a fantastic day even better?

"Sorry, sweetie. We just brought one for you and one for me and one for Papa."

"And you ate half of mine," Ashe added with a wink their daughter's way. Clearly not sorry, Yvanette giggled.

And she didn't need to be sorry. When she'd gone down for the picnic basket, Rona had noticed another batch of baked treats, all whipped up and ready for the oven. Ashe must have requested them; she certainly didn't remember doing so herself.

"So." His arm tightened around her shoulders, hand running up and down the curve. "Any thoughts as to what you want for your birthday?"

He would bring that up. Rona jabbed one finger lightly into his chest. "Don't remind me."

"I have to. I'm running out of time, and I know you like everything a specific way." Rona sniffed. He made her sound so particular. And somehow he said it with a smile. "Really, what would you like?"

"I'd like to not be twenty."

Ashe laughed again, more audibly this time. Rona didn't see what was so funny. "It's not that bad. Twenty doesn't really feel any different from nineteen. Hell, twenty-one isn't even that much of a stretch."

"Who are you and what have you done with that silly boy who said sixteen and seventeen were a lifetime apart?"

"That was... different." And of course he wouldn't explain how. Instead, he kissed her hair and stared up at the sky above.

She decided not to make anything of it. There was no sense in ruining the day. "That cloud kind of looks like Jadin."

"That one there?" He pointed and she confirmed with a nod. "That's uncanny. Yvanette, look! It's Uncle Jadin."

Rona peered over at her daughter just in time to see her blond curls shaking about. "Nuh-uh. That's a horse."

"Same thing, really." He shrugged, the motion making it difficult for Rona to hold back her chuckle. He gave her a couple seconds to catch her breath before grazing her hand with his thumb. "We'll have to eat light at supper. I've got something planned for after the kids are in bed."

"Won't we need to keep up our strength for that?"

He sighed, his muscles sinking, dragging her hand along. "Candlelight midnight feast. You're not going to want to do the other thing after that."

"Why not?" Was he still feeling self-conscious about that? They'd both gotten so much better! "It sounds like a romantic night. How else could it end?"

"I'm trying not to think about that." He pulled her a little nearer, until her chin rubbed against the chain around his neck. She seemed to recall the metal as colder before he'd taken to wearing it. "Honestly, the main goal is to make you more comfortable." A silent gulp forced itself down his throat; she could see it through the skin of his neck. "I'm telling you my secret tonight."

Rona pulled back and tried to focus on the key again. Not that she didn't want to know, of course, but ever since Darry was born, things had been so... good. Almost perfect, even. Not too exciting, but a string of peaceful days and weeks and months she hadn't dared imagine for herself since girlhood. What if the secret really was as horrible as he made it out to be? What if it ruined everything?

"Uh... are you sure you're ready?"

"No, but I'm never going to be, so I might as well just get it over with." Why couldn't he talk about this without that dreadful fear in his voice? Was it even worth it? She didn't want to make him feel like that.

But she had to know, didn't she? "Ashe..."

The blanket rustled against the grass beneath it. Rona pried herself up a couple inches, just enough to see Yvanette start to toddle toward the trees. "Where are you off to, bunny?"

"I saw something!"

And of course Rona had the one two-and-a-half-year-old who took that as a reason to put more distance between herself and her parents. She trade a quick glance with Ashe, then freed herself of is arm and stood. "Watch Darry for a minute?"

Ashe obliged and took the baby in his arms while Rona hurried off after Yvanette. It was a fairly safe part of the woods, so she didn't see much harm in keeping herself aways back, just as long as she could see the little girl. Oh, that had been so much easier back in the days when she was only crawling! "Slow down a little. Mama can't keep up."

Little help that did.

"Yvanette--"

"It was a cat."

"You see plenty of cats." Too many cats! She must have gotten it from Ashe's side. Rona had always been more of a dog person.

"A purple cat!"

Rona rolled her eyes--was it really rude, since Yvanette couldn't see without turning her head? "Oh, well, you haven't seen any of those."

"Nope!" And so she toddled on, in pursuit of what Rona had no doubt was a run-of-the-mill black cat. So much for thinking Yvanette knew her colors by now.

"Oooh! Mama, look!" Yvanette flashed back a smile before running off after whatever she'd seen this time. "Pretty!"

Rona did look. And it was a damn good thing she did.

And it was a damn good thing that she, for one, knew her colors. "Yvanette! Get away from those!"

Not quite white, not quite beige, not quite peach, not quite anything. She couldn't name it but she knew it anywhere. Years ago now, everyone in the kingdom had been made to. "Yvanette!"

Her daughter stopped just short of the rosebush and looked back at her again--with a frown this time, confused. "Yvanette, don't touch those!"

"But they're pretty!"

She started to reach. Rona couldn't take it any more. "DON'T!"

A couple birds took off from their perches in the trees. Yvanette was startled just long enough for Rona to dash over and get a hand between the girl and the plant, to pull her back to safety.

"You didn't touch them, did you?" Rona panted, scanning her baby girl's hands for cuts and scratches.

"No..."

"They didn't hurt you?"

"No..."

She found no trace of anything. She sighed in relief and scooped her daughter off the ground, kissing her face again and again as she raised her to her shoulder. She didn't notice the chirp of a nearby bird, or the rustle of a squirrel in the branches. She didn't notice Ashe calling her name, alerted by the scream. She didn't even notice the thorn wedged between two central knuckles of her own right hand.

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