In Which Severin Sees the Knack Explained

September 20, 1182

"So I brought the books from the past two years, plus last year's projections for this year. I gave them to Falidor, so they should be on your desk now. Let me know if you need anything from further back."

"That shouldn't be necessary, but thank you." As they often did when Severin ran out of work for him, Lucien's brows fell, the one hint of disappointment on an otherwise eager face. Since his youngest son-in-law hadn't had the formal training required of a knight, Severin had instead given Lucien control of his archives, which... might not have been the best idea. Not that Lucien hadn't proven capable, but the archives made for slow work and sometimes none at all, and the young man had an insatiable need to feel useful, to keep himself occupied. Something more to his liking would come up eventually--Severin was sure of it--but for now...

"And sorry."

"Don't be. I've been meaning to implement a new filing system, so I'll just get started on that."

That would be the fifth new filing system in as many months. Yes, the poor man needed something better. "You know, you are allowed to take a day off every once in a while."

"I know, but I feel like I've had too many recently."

"As if I'm going to begrudge you for wanting to take care of my daughter after her... visions." Especially when they'd turned out to be his other daughter and son-in-law. But few dropped the habit of over-apologizing, and Lucien was no exception.

"Yes, but..."

"My lord?"

The interruption occurred in the form of Morgan, through the sitting room door with her arms unaccompanied; Viridis must have been down for her nap. "Oh. Sorry, I didn't know you had company."

"Quite all right." Severin paid her a quick smile, then nodded toward his son-in-law. "Actually, this is Lucien--Vera's husband. Lucien, this is Morgan."

Lucien bowed his head--though strangely enough, his eyes didn't follow. "I missed you when you called on my wife and son."

"That's all right. I knew we'd meet eventually."

Severin frowned, though perhaps he was reading a little too far into it. Logically, it would have been only a matter of time before they met, but Morgan did seem to have a certain... knack.

"Anyway, my lord, I thought you might want to send someone down to the butcher's in the village by the Tetran border."

A certain uncanny knack. "Oh?"

"It seems that someone there hasn't been too diligent about keeping track of slaughter dates."

"So people may be buying bad meat." Morgan nodded. Hmmm. "Where did you hear this?"

"Oh, you know--the grape vine." She grinned, a little too widely.

"Interesting. That particular tidbit hadn't quite reached my ears." Just like many of the other 'tips' she'd given him since she'd shown up. He wondered if this one would adhere to the same remarkable standard of accuracy as the others. "But I'll be sure to send someone to look around. Thank you."

"You're welcome--though if my sources are correct, you might want to get on it today--you leaving for Carvallon tomorrow and all."

Right. Carvallon. If nothing else, surely a trip with Haldred of all people would be enough to make him never want to leave home again. But Searle's body had to be buried, and Severin needed to see his daughter's grave. "Noted."

"Thank you, my lord. And nice meeting you, Master Shadeling."

Lucien grimaced. "Yes, you too, Mistress Kellius."

Morgan smiled back, then turned around and returned to the other room, shutting the door behind her. Severin waited a few seconds before he looked to his son-in-law; sure enough, Lucien was still staring after Morgan's path. "Well?"

"She, uh..." The young man swallowed. "She's a cambion."

Severin glanced back at the door again. That was a word he'd hoped he wouldn't be hearing again for another while yet. A lucky thing that Morgan hadn't arrived a few years earlier, when Remiel had still been around. "Like you and my mother?"

"Yes, though she probably doesn't know it, which is why she wouldn't have known my energy. Or yours, or Vera's."

"Still explains her mysterious predictions. And I think Searle did say that Morgan just turned up when they needed a nurse." Though of all things that could have come to her at that moment... why that? Why had whatever force that governed her powers granted her the knowledge of the distressed young family? The tie to his mother, perhaps. Or simply luck. If Morgan herself didn't know what she was, then who was she to know how her visions worked? "Should we tell her?"

"Well... she should know, but we'll have to find the right way to tell her. I won't even tell you how Remiel told me." Though Severin thought he could guess. It wasn't pretty. "Maybe give her some time to get comfortable here, then I'll talk to her once she knows me a little better and she's in a safer place emotionally. After that, I guess she can decide whether she wants to live with Vera and me. She might not want to be around me after that."

Perhaps not. Or perhaps otherwise. "Fair enough."

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