1st Draft Fridays - A Fistful of ... (#6)

Grehafen

Reaching the gates to the castle for Grehafen brings relief, even as there's some fumbling about as the people across the moat figure out who's on-duty to lower the bridge and lift the gate.

Aidan flexes his shoulders. Ferrel's been sniping and griping, off and on, the entire way back, even after Dakadza pointedly asked, "So you're Right, and everyone else is Wrong?"

"Of course not!" Ferrel snapped, then continued complaining about how Aidan's never bothered to preach to Dakadza.

Evonalé runs out to meet them, tripping over... What in creation did she trip on? Her own shoe?

Kitra catches her with her air magic before she falls. Evonalé's own magic sprouts a few dandelions between the stones flooring the entrance courtyard and sets them on fire.

His wife flushes, muttering "Thanks," before blurting, "What's wrong?! Why are you back? I thought you said you needed to be in Grehafen?"

"He got himself uninvited," Aidan answered.

Evonalé frowns, brow furrowing as she struggles to figure that out.

"Geddis didn't even see me! You didn't even ask—"

"I did," Dakadza cuts in, quietly. He caught up with them on their way back and has lingered a bit behind them since, in a way that's bothering Aidan, though he can't put his finger on why. The young man is surveying the entrance yard, the plants, even Jenna as the woman enters the yard from one of the servant ways, with an armload of books. "I was right. She didn't want to see you."

"Oh!" Evonalé says. "Hi! Dakadza, right?"

Aidan blinks. "You haven't met..." That's right. Dakadza hasn't been here before, has he? Evonalé avoids Marsdenfel, where Dakadza was living, and only went for her brother's funeral—which Dakadza didn't attend.

Still, surely she's met him before?

The young man eyes Aidan, eyes Ferrel, before giving a slight, awkward nod. "Yes, lulna."

Oh by the black fires. Aidan grimaces at his own inconsiderate obliviousness. "Proper address for a king or queen in mountaineer is 'Your Majesty' or possibly 'Your Highness', though that second one is more for heirs."

"Not my queen," Dakadza points out, still glancing at Jenna as she passes them all.

"Just call me— Oof! Ow!"

"My apologies," Jenna says, voice low, not flinching as she grinds her foot onto Evonalé's. "Your Idiocy."

She tilts her head towards a nearby window, one close enough for them all to be overheard, where nobles like to gather and gossip and...

And Aidan is pretty sure there's more to that particular room than he wants to know, considering the shade Evonalé's face turns, and her expression...

If he ever sees that again, it'll be too soon. He'd hoist her over his shoulder and drag her out of here, if he thought it would do any good.

"Since when do you know felvish?" Evonalé asks Jenna.

The woman shrugs. "Since I needed to understand you." She nudges Evonalé on the shoulder with one book and continues in the general direction of the royal area, probably Evonalé's study.

"Why? What did she call you?" Dakadza asks.

Oh. The insult was in felvish. Aidan hadn't even noticed. Since when does he know felvish?

"Um," Evonalé says. "Okay. So you're staying here with your wife, Dakadza's going with you to Salles... Jenna says she's not going to play along like I thought up because she likes you and that would make you uncomfortable."

Beside and a bit behind his wife, Kitra literally facepalms.

"Evonalé?" Aidan cuts in, catching her hands in his, before she can self-sabotage any further. Someday, she'll grow out of her shell and demonstrate that she's not nearly as dimwitted as she can seem, when her temper doesn't knock her out of it. Someday.

"Yes?"

He brushes her lips with a quick kiss.  "I love you. And I'll see you soon."

He hopes.

With that, he hands the reins over to Evonalé for her to take care of the horses. She enjoys doing that, more than he does, and he's pretty sure Sett prefers how she does its tail.

He draws Dakadza past her, waiting until they're in the castle proper before asking, "You see why I want to finish this soon as possible?"

The glance the younger man gives him is shrewd and reminds Aidan of his sister, Lallie, who always had a sharp eye and tongue to a degree that possibly explains why he and Evonalé don't mind Jenna.

Aidan has a few seconds of pondering the terror Lallie and Jenna could unleash on the nobility of Grehafen before Dakadza shoves him into the far wall.

He slams shoulder-first into the stone, his face hitting with a sharp sound. He spins with the impact, knife in hand, and turns to see Dakadza scowling, eyes narrowed, and poised as if listening to something.

Aidan follows his gaze to realize what spooked him. He puts his knife away and sighs. "That hallway was, ah, of particular interest to Evonalé's human family."

The runes are dim, scratched, in the process of being carefully edited over time to nullify them all. It'll be a few more years, he thinks, especially since Evonalé insists on doing it herself, rather than hire a scribe of the faery tongue. She doesn't want to risk the runes harming anyone else, doesn't even want Aidan touching it though he can tolerate them for the same reasons they don't bother Jenna...and he also knows some tricks to temporarily help that sort of thing.

There's no response, just continued staring.

"Dakadza?"

"Which door?"

"What?"

"The rock you need me to carry for you. Which door is it behind?"

"Um." Aidan waves onwards, not down the runed hallway. "Two more junctions down, turn left, third door on the left."

Dakadza nods once. "Wait here."

And the young man moves fast, continuing down the hall per Aidan's directions, leaving him blinking in his wake.

What in creation was that about?