Eighty Turns

Writers: Dana, Eimi
Date Posted: 12th June 2006

Characters: Daigoro, Cinale
Description: The couple contemplates the significance of eighty Turns...
Location: Vintner Hall
Date: month 12, day 5 of Turn 3

Cinale

"Why don't you set all that work aside for a moment, hon," Cinale smiled, shoving her way in through the office door, carrying a tray laden with hot cookies and fresh klah. "I brought a snack."

Daigoro grinned as he set his hidework aside. "Oh, you old beauty, you.
You remembered me."

"Of course! Do you think I _don't_ remember you all alone up here, wasting away from hunger, and with only Fey and Wort about to keep you company? Or perhaps they pester you..." She grinned knowingly, setting the heavy tray down on the desk.

"Well, I haven't been _that_ lonely. I've had Master Voracom to keep me company," he said with a nod toward the Woodsmith Hallsecond's empty chair on the other side of the room. "I wasn't sure anyone would remember we were in this old converted storeroom."

"If anyone forgets, I'll be sure to remind them." Reaching out, she plucked a cookie from the plate as she leaned down to kiss his cheek.

"Hey, I thought those were for me," he chuckled as he pulled her down to sit on his knee. "And how are things down in the kitchen?"

"Oh, busy! As it usually is. But it's different--working _under_ the Hold's cook... I'm so used to being in charge of every single thing--though I suppose I am her unofficial 'second." Cinale grinned, taking a nibbling bite of her treat. "It'll be nice when I can run things my way again..."

"Well, when we're married, I promise you can run our kitchen your way,"
the Hallsecond smiled up at her. "Just as long as you cook me cookies still."

She chuckled, brushing the tip of her nose against his. "It's bake, my love," she teased. "And yes, I will still bake you cookies. I can't resist the look you get in your eyes, remember?"

"Oh, you and your technical terms for things," he grumbled, brushing his nose back. "And that look in my eyes is for you, not your cookies."

Blushing, she kissed the corner of his mouth. "Sometimes," she whispered, smiling, "you make me flush like I'm a young girl again."

"Ah, but you forget," he smiled, turning to kiss her lightly, "compared to me you _are_ a young girl."

"I'm not that much younger than you. Truly. And you, Daigoro, are not old and decrepit."

"Most certainly not! I've got a good eighty turns or so left in me."
Shards, eighty turns... He was going to have Cinale for another _eighty_
turns... It was hard to wrap his mind around. That was twice almost twice as long as he had been alive...

"Mmmhmm..." She teasingly waggled her cookie just beneath his mouth after she took another bite. "That means you have at least another eighty Turns of me baking goodies like these just for you."

Eighty turns of cookies... Couldn't he get sick of cookies after eighty turns? And might she get sick of cooking them for him after that long?
She could get sick of a lot of things about him in eighty turns... Was eighty turns just... too long?

Seeing his expression change, a slight, worried frown crossed her face.
"What is it, hon? What did I say?"

"Nothing," he quickly replied, forcing a smile up at her. Still, even as he looked at her the same phrase echoed over and over in his mind...
**Eighty turns... Eighty turns...** "Why, did you say something?"

The line in her brow deepened a little more. "I don't think I did..."
She set the cookie aside. "Really, Daigoro, what's wrong? You had the strangest look on your face..."

"It's nothing, really," he said, trying to convince her with his fake grin. Finally he gave up. "I was just thinking, is all."

"Must not have been the best of thoughts..."

"Well, I was just thinking..." Daigoro frowned slightly. "You and I have eighty turns to get to know each other. What if in the end, you don't like so much things you learn? Eighty turns is a long time..."
**And even longer if you find you've made a mistake...**

Leaning back, she gazed at him. "Are you saying that you think I'll regret marrying you, Daigoro?"

"No. No. I don't think so." He looked up at her guiltily. "I just, had never thought about... _eighty_ turns before."

A half-smile twitched at the corner of her mouth. "What, did you think we'd only be married for five Turns? Six?" Her tone teased him very lightly as she gently brushed her finger against his cheek. "But really, hon, I don't understand... Do you really think that I'll regret it?"
**Because I know I won't...**

His eyes wandered down to her lips as he thought about the question.
Would she ever regret it? He couldn't see himself regretting anything, and yet he had watched several couples who at first couldn't get enough of each other, but over the passage of time they had grown to loathe each other's company. But that wouldn't happen with him and Cinale! And yet, those couples probably said the same thing...

Finally his eyes drifted up to hers. "Would you regret it? I don't know.
But I will spend every day of the next eighty turns making sure you don't."

Last updated on the June 13th 2006

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Eighty Turns