Something To Do

Writers: Eimi, Yvonne
Date Posted: 25th January 2008

Characters: Thalia, Penryn
Description: Thalia's bored and finds herself at Penryn's door
Location: Garnet Valley Hold
Date: month 8, day 11 of Turn 4

Thalia couldn't read. Aslian was wailing next door and a slight headache was beginning to pluck at the backs of her eyes - if it wasn't for Liddy she'd probably have strangled her son candlemarks ago. She looked down at the worn little book in her hands - it was a sad thing, really, printed on cheap paper with words that ran to the edges of the page and ink that smeared on one's hands if one wasn't careful. She'd bought it for the price of a ribbon from a man at the last Gather who had a bag full of them.

It was getting on in the evening. There was only one window in her apartments but the glass was already bleeding the golden-yellow light that heralded the end of the day, and the creaks from the hallway outside had diminished as the ladies and fosterlings around her had retired to their own amusements for the evening. She thought about bringing out her gitar to practice the round that Carlan had given her, but she couldn't quite bear the thought of quivering, singing strings -
and to feel the sound with her fingertips as much as she heard it. After a moment she got up, swung a cloak from the peg near the door 'round her shoulders, and went to find Kiomo. He wasn't in his apartments and she didn't know where else to look, but the thought of going out for a walk alone was unappealing. Her boots scuffed glumly on the wooden floors in the hall as she started toward the front doors anyway. **Maybe I'll take Nipper out...**

Then she had a better thought, and her boot heels clicked smartly on the ground as she turned and made her way into another area of the Hold.
There was always _someone_ who could be guaranteed to be around! The door was open so she knocked on the frame, then entered. "Good evening Penryn! I thought I might find you here!"

"I suppose I'm not very good at hiding," the steward smiled as he set his pen aside. "Where are you going at this time of day?"

"Oh, out and about. Anywhere my feet will take me, I suppose..." She ran a seemingly innocent finger across the edge of his desk and glanced up at him. "I don't suppose you'd be able to find the time to step out for a walk?"

"A walk?" he asked as he turned to look out the window that he was lucky enough to have in his office. "It's getting on towards dark. I suppose if I were to go for a walk, I'd better make time now, shouldn't I."

"I suppose you should. Otherwise I'll just have to go by myself." She sighed. "We certainly can't have a Lady walking alone at this time of night, now can we." He gathered up his hides into a neat pile in the middle of his desk with a dramatic sigh to mirror hers. "I suppose I am _obligated_
to go with you."

"I wouldn't dream of stepping out if it was deemed a chore..." She was behaving abominably. Penryn was a married man. **Married!** And she herself was being courted by Kiomo. Even still...

Penryn shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, you already have your cloak, and you did take the time to walk so very far out of your way to find me..."
A smile turned up the corner of his lips, revealing a slight dimple in his cheek. "I suppose it would be ungentlemanly of me to refuse."

"Oh good." She sighed in relief. "I am simply sick of staring at these four walls, you know. Garnet Valley Hold has so much winter and sometimes it just gets to be too long. And we're barely even into snow!"

"This sounds dire. I believe a bit of fresh air is definitely called for." He motioned her to lead the way and grabbed his jacket off a peg on the wall as he passed by. "Shall we take a walk out to your garden? I haven't seen it for quite some time."

"If you wish. But it's rather sad to see it deadened and all covered up with snow."

"Oh, but I'm sure you'll have all sorts of plans of what you would like to do in your garden when the good weather returns. I'd like to hear about them." She had already taken a dusty neglected patch of dirt and turned it into something beautiful. He couldn't help but smile as he pictured her, trowel in hand bent over a tiny plant, her face shaded by a wide brimmed hat. She had never looked so lovely, he decided. Not even in her best Gather finery.

A smile tugged at the corners of her lips. "No, you wouldn't. I've been told that I could talk the ear off an ovine about my garden, and I highly doubt that you are an exception to that. No.. instead, tell me what you're reading. I'm sure a man like yourself reads quite a lot."

"All right, but I truly do want to hear about your garden," he said as he fell into step with her. "Let's see... I was reading an interesting report about the scarcity of wild game reported up in the mountains and how that might be related to our recent troubles with felines. And I've read a fascinating report on a new strain of grains which produce larger kernels. And a scandalous tale about one of our Holders who believes his father should have left more to him in his will than he actually did and believes Lord Ishek should swoop in a rectify the situation. Most entertaining..."

"That's _it_?!" Thalia stopped in the hallway to give him a shocked look. "You never read anything simply because you enjoy it?"

"Well, there is _one_ book," he amended. "'World Trek'. It's a collection of poems by a journeying harper."

"Oh? I don't believe I've heard of it."

"It's not new, or famous. But the imagery is amazing. He has some beautiful poems about the sea. When I read them I thought of you." He smiled, slightly embarrassed. It was not the sort of thing a married man should admit. "Since you spent time in Topaz Sea Hold, I mean. I thought you would have liked them."

"Well then, you'll just have to lend them to me." They'd reached the wide front doors at the head of the Hall and the guard on duty there pulled it open so that they could leave. Thalia shuddered a little as the cold air hit her face. "I did grow up in a Hold higher than here, but it is Topaz Sea Hold I long for when the weather gets dire."

Penryn pulled his jacket a little tighter around him. "I would like to see it someday."

"As would I. Again. Or... maybe not." She wrapped her cloak a little tighter around her shoulders and stared at the snow that clung to the hem of her dress. "After the hurricane... so much would have changed. It wouldn't be the same Hold that I remember so fondly."

"I suppose that would be true," Penryn replied thoughtfully, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I hadn't really thought of that. It must have been quite a shock to you when the news came."

"I've had a few shocks in the past two turns. I've learned to manage,"
she said dryly.

"Much more than merely manage." In his view she had seemed to blossom since her husband's death. She had taken an active and important role in the Hold, she had defended her son's right to succeed, she had managed the Hold's domestic affairs since the loss of their Headwoman and acted as the Lady of the Hold in official functions. Two turns ago he would never thought her capable of so much. He had thought her nothing more than am empty headed child-bride. Now he had the upmost respect for her. "I think you must be one of the strongest women I have ever known."

A laugh escaped before Thalia could quite control it. "Oh, pish! What nonsense! You obviously never had the good fortune to meet my Aunt Jaela, then. She was fierce. I just do the best I can."

"You're right, I never met her. But you are fierce in your own way." The Steward smiled as he remembered one particular instance in his office. "Do you remember when Master Daynar came storming into my office and you threatened to throw him out? You certainly seemed fierce that day."

"I can't abide bullies, and Master Daynar can be intolerably rude," she said with a sniff. "But that doesn't count at all. I can say what I wish to him and he'll think of me as merely an impertinent upstart, whereas if you or Ishek called out his bad behaviour, he'd hold it against the Hold itself."

"Ah, now there," Penryn pointed out, pulling his hand out of his pocket and extending a finger for emphasis, "you see having the ability to do something and _actually_ doing something are two different things. You could call him out, but more importantly, you _did_ call him out. Just like you not only could stand up for your son's right to inherit this Hold, you _did_. And still are. I think the fact that you're still here defending his claim shows a certain ferocity in you. I for one certainly would not want to cross you."

She laughed and was glad that it was cold enough outside to account for the blush that was spreading across her cheeks. She tucked her hand comfortably in the crook of Penryn's elbow. "Look! She pointed at a low, snow-capped wall over which barren branches scratched irritably at the frozen air. "There's my garden. Come inside, and since you told me all about your poems it's only fair that I do as you asked, and tell you all about my garden in the spring."

It would make for a much more comfortable conversation.

Last updated on the January 27th 2008

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Something To Do