In Which Winter Meets Had's Idea of Comforting

October 16, 1195

"Twice, now." Had sighed as he finished with the laces of his best tunic. The family colors, as he was--and had been for over four years now--the patriarch of the Naronian Indruions. Not yet forty was not old enough to be a patriarch, not in any world Winter's husband and his family deserved. Had himself, if Winter had anything to do about it, would one day sit silver-haired in his favorite chair, bouncing great-grandchildren on his aching--but still holding--knees. Adonis, much as he'd deserved the same longevity, and though he'd died happy and fulfilled, had not been quite so lucky.

And, on days like Thetis's wedding day--days Adonis ought to have lived to see--that was felt all the more strongly. "You know, I feared I might be the one walking Rahileine down the aisle, but I never considered that my father would die before Lea and Thetis married. I suppose at least he saw Alina take her vows, for all he had mixed feelings about that, but he wasn't so old that he ought to have left three children unsettled."

"They were never unsettled, Had. Even if your sisters couldn't have figured out their own futures--which Lea and Thetis, at least, did--you would have helped them had they asked." And he'd even added to the dowries his father had left out of his own pocket! It would be a while before Arydath or Giana needed theirs anyway, and Winter suspected Honora wouldn't need hers at all--or, not in the way Had anticipated giving it. "Your father and mother and stepmother did well for themselves, and by all of you. You were given a good foundation, and were well schooled on how to build on it."

"We were. Still, he ought to be here today. Ought to have been here for Lea's wedding too--and to see her children." Had sniffed. Perhaps he'd overheard Lea confiding in Winter that she suspected that she held in her the beginnings of her third child, her third in as many years. At least those three babies had their paternal grandparents to dote over them. "Only a matter of time before Thetis starts having babies too. I guess at least they'll have Fenrick's parents."

"They will. But, you know..." Winter pursed her lips, not sure quite how to best voice the thought. Everyone had a different idea of what was or wasn't comforting--and what was or wasn't ridiculous. "...I think your father left enough love in the world that Thetis's children and Lea's children and any other children the family might produce will feel it. You'll all tell your children about him, and about your mother and stepmother, about how they worked so hard and loved even harder. And I think you and your siblings all have enough of your father in you that they'll get to know him through you."

"I hope you're right about that. I'd like to think we all have some of our father in us, and our mothers too." He managed, at least, a wistful smile--though, it was quick to become a smirk. "Well, except Congren."

Winter grimaced. Congren was, by a vast amount ahead of his closely-clustered competitors, her least favorite sibling-in-law. She suspected it was a unanimous ranking among all the Indruion in-laws. That said... well, whatever Congren's problem was, she'd figured he found it easier to be an ass than to work his way through it. It was the least she could do for the father-in-law who'd left the family on such strong bedrock--sticking up occasionally for the one wayward son. "I think there's more to Congren than we all give him credit for. He's a hard worker, at least; he got that from your father."

"I guess so, for all I wish he'd work a little harder at not being a colossal dick. But ah, never mind Congren; it's Thetis's day." And Had, Winter knew--for all he'd never believe it shouldn't have been Adonis--would do her well, walking her down that aisle as he'd done for Lea before her. "I just hope our father and her mother have a decent view of the chapel from the clouds."

Nodding, Winter pulled him in for a hug. "I'm sure they do."

NEXT CHAPTER: