Chapter 39
“It’s odd to see Gloria growing up so quickly.” Romeo commented as the trio laid out under the stars. The reliable rhythm of the waves lapped at the sand, and something that at some point they had all realized that they had stopped hearing. It had been nearly 16 years since they had arrived at the Islands, and after a while they had blended into the community and found peace.
“I know, I can hardly look at her without feeling like she should stop growing. Like I can have Midshore put a charm on her to stop her aging.” laughed Anwyn. “I can only imagine what it will be like when the twins are eventually that age. Then I’ll really feel old.”
“At the rate the twins are growing, they’ll never be that age.” grumbled Liam. “I just want them to be able to clean themselves. Six people in the family, and only two males. I have three daughters, Romeo! Three of them!”
“I can’t complain, I have two sons.” Romeo smiled. “Lily loves them too. They rough-house together, build things, learn together. I’m telling you, I’ve never been happier. More at peace.” he turned his head to look at Anwyn. “I’m sorry I live on the other cluster, I would have loved to send my boys to your school. It just would take too long to journey there every week. It took so long for us to build our family, to have them leave for long periods would break our hearts.”
“I know.” Anwyn smiled, and patted his hand. “We’re just happy that you could come and visit us for a few days. I’m sorry that we don’t have a spare room right now; we just added Gloria’s loft and that really showed us how old we’re feeling! I was worried Liam would fall off the ladder and hurt himself. And the heavy lifting- We’ll hire someone next time.”
“That’s ok, I’ll just sneak in and borrow a room from the Sisters. I’m sure Midshore already knows I’m here.”
They lay there in silence for a while. The sky sparkled with the light from distant suns and systems, their dance unimaginable to most. The vastness of the sky almost made Anwyn feel like she would fall into it if she let go of the ground, so she decided to stop looking. She closed her eyes and felt the pull of gravity on her, the soft grit of sand on her skin and feet, and she focused on her breathing.
A baby’s cry cracked out from the house, and Anwyn stood up from the ground. It was her turn to solve whatever problem the twins were encountering, and Liam mouthed ‘thankyou’ as she walked past.
Liam and Romeo looked up at the stars, and he was reminded of the journey to the coast they had taken, looking up at the stars every night through the trees. There were less trees here, and they were shaped differently, but if you could find a particularly firm patch of ground and an old and sturdy tree, you could almost imagine you were back on the mainland. As terrible as it had been, and the fact that he had been locked up in a dungeon for months and then been on the run for years, he still missed the markets, the buildings, and some of the people.
“How has Gloria been doing? She was asleep by the time I arrived, I didn’t want to bother her.” Romeo asked.
Liam huffed. “She’s been doing as well as any girl her age could hope. She has a pretty serious boyfriend, though she doesn’t want to put a label on it. They’re… pretty serious.” Liam repeated.
“You… didn’t walk in on them, did you?” Romeo asked, concerned for his best friend and goddaughter.
“Creator, no!” Liam barked out a laugh. “It’s just, she hasn’t been considering anyone else, he fawns over her, and from what Anwyn says about him from what she sees at school is that he’s always around her. When he comes to see her, they walk around holding hands around the bigger island. We’ve seen him kiss her goodnight. It’s all very sweet, but she’s not sold on it yet. I’m not sure why she’s hesitating, he seems like a catch. At least, to the rest of the community. His host family loves him.”
“You don’t seem very set on it.” Romeo observed.
Liam took a second to collect his thoughts. “I- He reminds me of someone. Something. And The dreams I had before I met him were strange. I was back in the dungeon, then the king said he was going to send someone, and then here’s this guy. I could be making connections where there are none, and I don’t want to tell Gloria that what she’s doing is wrong either. I have no proof of anything.”
“You’re her dad, surely you can tell her what you think.” Romeo inquired.
“You obviously don’t have any daughters. Gloria goes to the beat of her own drum, and while that can be a good thing and I’m happy she’s independent, it can be like trying to untie a very delicate knot when advising her. She had a falling out with Midshore last week after Midshore told her that she knew what was best.”
“Midshore can be a bit of a controlling personality, what happened?” Romeo asked.
“Midshore was poking around in Gloria’s mind during training. Midshore is convinced that she’s having special dreams and Gloria is furious that she went looking in her mind. I really don’t want to get that involved in it, I just want them to make it right between each other.”
“Sounds like a headache,” Romeo rolled his eyes. “Women fight over the smallest of things.”
“I remember us fighting about some things that felt pretty big.” Liam looked at his friend and smiled, happy to have him near for the time at hand.
~*~
“Is your hair tidy? Is that your best shirt? My dear, I’ll have to make you a better shirt. Krista deserves better. She’s the Marquess’s daughter, you know. We need her to like you.” Barnabus’s wife fluttered around Seneca, making sure he looked presentable.
“The matching is arranged, I’m not sure why she needs to like me. It has nothing to do with either of us.” he grumbled.
“Oh, but everyone likes to see a happy young couple. You and Krista are going to be a very public couple, should things go the right way. You want people to have faith in you, and part of that comes from having people think you’re in control of your life. Everyone knows that marriages are arranged all the time, but they like to think that your love is spontaneous.”
“It’s a lie.” he looked at himself in the mirror. He wasn’t in the mood to meet his future wife, but he also didn’t want to disappoint the careful work of his mother. It had taken many letters and more than two years of negotiating to arrange the match, and it still wasn’t certain. The Marquess couldn’t travel all the way to the settlement and not gather suspicion, but his daughter disguised as a peasant to get across the border would work perfectly.
“Of course, the marriage will only happen after the plan is successful, so don’t like her too much, you hear?” she nudged Seneca and he restrained himself from growling. He really wasn’t in the mood. Two days ago he had dreamed of the swirling world and she still hadn’t been there. She hadn’t been there for months. His questions still went unanswered. Who was she? Where did she go when he didn’t dream of her? Why were those dreams always so strong and why did he always feel sick afterwards? He told himself that he should stop concerning himself with it, but how can you stop thinking about something that had an impact on your life once a month?
“I hear she’s quite the lady.” clucked Barnabus’s wife.
“I don’t really care about any of that.”
“Well, don’t tell her that. Women want to be flattered. Wooed! Be kind to her.” she finished up what she was doing and stood next to him.
“I feel like no one ever taught me how to be good at this.” he said, starting to feel the sprouts of self doubt.
“Don’t worry, no one starts out good at anything. You'll be no different. No matter how much your mother thinks that you’ll be the one to pull all of her plans into place, you’re not perfect. No one is.”
“That’s not very encouraging.” he looked at her sideways.
“Well, you’re not Henry, are you?” she patted his shoulder and walked out of the room.
Seneca looked at his polished self in the mirror and had to mentally hold his arm in place so that he didn’t ruffle his hair. He never had it slicked back like this, and he wasn’t one for special dress.
Instead, he turned and walked out of his room and walked down to the main floor. His mother was getting papers sorted, there was a lot to talk about with the Marquess’s daughter and her entourage. Deals to be solidified, reinforcements to be allocated, money to be transfered, promises to be made.
“Seneca! Lady Krista and her group will be here any moment, wait outside and greet them. Stand tall!” his mother ordered firmly as she searched for a certain paper. A table and chairs had been collected outside as that was where there was room. The inside of the house was cramped and as much as Barnabus’s wife tried to keep it clean, she also didn’t want to disturb Seneca’s mother who was never a tidy person.
Seneca walked out the door and straightened his shirt. The Marquee had been an ally of his mother’s since before he was born, and there were still a few high ranking members of society who were willing to aid her. With the political unrest among the king and the Church, it was getting easier to really support for her cause, but they still had to meet in secret. If their movement was uncovered now, it would ruin everything that had been put into place since Seneca was born.
The sound of horses was heard getting closer and soon the carriages were brought around. Barnabus directed them on where to go, and the people inside stepped out.
Lady Krista was visually stunning. Her hair was quite blonde, her posture straight as a freshly cut board, and her dress was clean. Her whole body seemed to be clean, from her face to her shoes. When was the last time Seneca was that clean?
“I assume you’re Seneca? Seneca Galant?” she asked him directly.
“Yes, that is me.” he half stammered. He wasn’t prepared to be the target of her attention, he had been surprised by her beauty.
“I wish to speak with your mother. Then I shall speak with you. Please show the way.” Creator, she’s as bossy as my mother, he thought. I hope she lightens up.
We saw a bit more of Seneca's mother, and got a bit of banter between the trio. Are you not entertained? Are you satisfied? Have I wet your palette for more? There are several clues in this chapter, let's see if you can find them
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