You Are My Kind

Writers: Eimi, Heather
Date Posted: 9th December 2017

Characters: Capwick, Sanora
Description: Sanora's actions have consequences...
Location: Vintner Hall
Date: month 2, day 9 of Turn 9
Notes: Notes: Refers to the events of m2d2 "AHH: A Dusty Hem"

Cap looked up as his wife opened the door. "Come in, love. We need to talk."

Sanora was carrying a basket filled with beans that needed to be
snapped, something she volunteered to help with since she liked
keeping busy and it freed up a kitchen drudge to do other things.
"Oh?"

It was not usual that the Hallsecond was home so early for lunch, but
he felt what he had to discuss with her should not wait. "Norwick
came to visit me this morning."

Sanora's eyebrows raised as she took a seat in her favorite chair,
placed an empty basket on the floor and then the basket of beans in
her lap. "That's unusual. Was something wrong?" she asked, snapping
the first bean and tossing the ends into the basket on the floor.

"Yes," Capwick said with a sigh as he leaned over to grab a bean out
of the basket and followed suit. He liked being idle about as much as
she did. "It seems your visit to the Hold has caused a bit of trouble
for our son."

The woman's lips twitched repeatedly as she tried to restrain a
chuckle. "I know it's wrong of me to laugh," she said with a shake of
her head, "but I just can't help it." Sanora sighed a little and
snapped another bean. "Tell me what Norwick said."

"Sanora, it really isn't funny," her husband said, electing not to
make eye contact with her. Cap knew Sanora was not going to like
hearing criticism. "It turns the 'hide pusher' that you decided to
insult is one of the senior understewards in charge of accounting.
He's Norwick's direct supervisor."

"It wasn't a direct insult," Sanora said briskly, "they _do_ work a
lot with hides, do they not?" She snapped a bean harder than
necessary.

"It doesn't matter if it was direct or indirect." Cap knew all to
well that even his wife's most subtle digs were well aimed. "You then
went on to hurl an unveiled insult at not only one of the most
respected senior women of the Hold, but also on her daughter."

The woman's sides shook with laughter that she bit down on as she
recalled the moment she'd reminded Kiora about her own failings as a
mother. "Only because she started it," Sanora lifted her chin, tilted
her head back to send a wave of her dark russet hair over her shoulder
and out of her face.

"Somehow I doubt that," her husband said honestly as he threw his
freshly snapped bean down into the basket and placed his hands on his
legs to look his wife straight in the face. "They are claiming that I
am married to a disorderly, mean-spirited drunk who can't hold her
liquor. Some are even wondering if you aren't a closeted alcoholic
and that I'm not plying you with booze on a regular basis just so I
can live with you."

Sanora's temper flared, her blue eyes flashing, all humor gone, "So
now I'm a liar, am I? Thank you for taking my side, husband, or for
even asking me the truth of the matter." She slung two ends of a
snapped bean into the basket.

"I _know_ you, wife. When someone says something that you take as even
mildly insulting, you go straight for the throat. And I'm not saying
that they didn't do something to deserve your anger, but you need to
keep your _wrath_ in check. Those weren't just Holders at that
table. They were well respected ladies, and an invitation from them
was quite the nod to you. By insulting them, you have opened yourself
up to slander and gossip, and through you, you have opened me and our
son as well."

"They were already insulting you, it was just hidden behind their
snobbish smiles and ridiculous manners, and now it'll be out in the
open." Sanora flashed an insincere smile, "Honesty is the best policy,
that's what they say isn't it? I don't care if I ever get invited to
another one of their precious meetings, they can slander and gossip
all they like. I'd rather go back and live on the farm again and muck
stalls out for the rest of my life than have to be pretend friend with
them."

"Are you not hearing me?" Cap asked, throwing his arms up in the air
in a helpless gesture. "This isn't about how it hurts _you_. It's
hurting your _husband_. It's hurting your _son_. This isn't about
_you_ anymore!"

Sanora spat out a curse that would have made a seacrafter blush as she
stood, dumping the basket of beans in her lap on the floor, "No,
you're the one not hearing _me_, Capwick! You are trying to punish me
for defending you, and our family. When they looked down their nose at
my clothes, at my shoes, I didn't say anything, _anything_! I smiled
and made polite conversation. When they laughed at me and treated me
like a dimwit for preferring to live here as opposed to Amethyst
Cliffs, I smiled, I took it. But when they talked about you I was
through, okay?!" With trembling fingers she bent and began picking up
beans from the floor and tossing them back in the basket.

"Shard it, Sanora," he said, rising to his feet. "I know _why_ you
felt you had to do it. But being looked down on is far different from
making all out insults. Would you please just leave the flaming beans
and look at me."

She quit picking up beans, but she still didn't look at Capwick,
because she knew if she did she would cry, and Sanora hated crying.
"No."

"All right, then just listen." Capwick knew to pick his battles.
"I'm sorry that you're not just a vintner's wife anymore. I know you
were trying to defend me. But there are rules in polite society, and
when you break them, they can have deep and long lasting consequences.
From everything that Norwick told me, the women you insulted are good
people. You aren't like them and never will be, that's true. You
test their boundaries is all. But they would have come around to
liking you and understanding you if you had given them a bit of time.
Now I know that it's a lot to ask of you, but please, for me and for
Norwick, please let's try to fix this before things get out of hand."

His words reverberated through her mind, **"You aren't like them and
never will be, that's true."** He'd never been bothered by the way she
was before, but now that he was Hallsecond _she_ was the one that had
to change? **So I should apologize and they should act as if they're
perfect and did nothing wrong? _I'm_ supposed to take all the blame
for this?** Sanora finally looked up and looked Capwick square in the
eye, "I'll leave you a pillow and blanket out here on the couch
tonight, Hallsecond. If that doesn't work for you, perhaps you can go
ask one of those _good_ ladies at the Hold for a place to sleep? Their
husbands will probably be happy for the break."

Oh, she could be an infuriating woman sometimes. Cap clenched his jaw
and his fists, but made sure to keep his words calm. "Sanora, if I
had wanted a Hold woman, don't you think I could have had one? You
are my kind, and you know it. Just like I'm yours."

"I don't know, Cap, you sound an awful lot like the enemy right now.
You've not said one thing in my defense, not a flaming word. You've
sang their praises, and basically asked me to kiss their butts. Well,
I refuse! I'll grit my teeth and be polite if I see them again, but I
will not apologize and I am not befriending them! But thank you for
throwing me under the carriage." Sanora crossed her arms over her
chest and muttered sulkily, "Last time I defend you."

Cap clasped his hands in front of his mouth as he took a long slow
breath. Finally he said, "You're right. I'm sorry. I forgot to say
that I love your temper. I love that fight in you. As much as it can
drive me crazy at times, I love your combative spirit and your heart
piercing honesty, because when you tell me that you love me, I know
that you really mean it. And I know that when I say that I love you,
it's not just Harper dribble, it's words I've earned. I love that
this," he pointed between the two of them, "isn't easy, because I will
never get bored of you like other husbands do. And I will _never_
throw you under a carriage."

Sanora's eyes slid sideways as she looked at Capwick, and then she
turned and buried her face in the front of his chest, her arms going
around his waist. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, too." His arms wrapped around her and he place a long kiss
on the top of her head. "I wish you could have just gotten your licks
in and that was that. It would have been a sight to see." They stood
silently a moment before Cap took both her arms in his hands and stood
back to look into her eyes. "I don't want you to kiss their butts. I
don't want you to be any different than you are. I just want you to
make peace is all, and to remember that not every shot has to be fired
straight at the mark."

"I'll make peace," she sighed, even though she clearly wasn't happy
about it, she would do as her husband asked. "And I'm only doing it
because I love you... and Norwick."

Cap knew there was no answer required other than to express his
appreciation in a sharding good kiss. Pulling back just slightly he
whispered, "Where are the girls?"

Sanora had to blink away the haze that Capwick's kiss had induced.
"Girls?" Oh, their daughters. "Up at the Hold," she answered.

"Good." He took both her hands in his and ignored the crunch of the
beans under his boots as he slowly pulled her back towards their
bedroom.

Last updated on the December 10th 2017

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You Are My Kind