A Quiet Evening

Writers: Miriah, Yvonne
Date Posted: 8th September 2014

Characters: Taril, Humari
Description: After hiring Arnott, Taril discretely inquires into the boy's relationship with Humari
Location: Sunstone Seahold
Date: month 8, day 10 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: Arnott, Yriadha, Yarmel

Humari

Whatever else Humari was, she could certainly cook. Yriadha hadn't lied about that. Taril leaned back from the table, comfortably full, and idly wondered why he hadn't bothered to take a wife earlier. The table was neatly laid with the remains of their dinner: roast fish with a herb sauce, river grains, fresh greens and cress. After his success with Arnott earlier in the day Taril had decided to open a bottle of white wine, and had even persuaded Humari to share a glass with him. "Thank you for dinner," he said. "You're a very good cook."

Humari flushed with pleasure at the compliment. "Thank you." She sipped her wine and rose to begin clearing the table of the dirty dishes. "What's your favorite dish? Maybe I can make it tomorrow for you."

"Hmm..." Taril thought for a moment. "I don't really have a favourite dish. But I do like fish pie. And summer squash with cheese, when it's available. Cheese after dinner to nibble on is always nice, especially if there's company... what is your favourite dish?"

"I can make fish pie." She gathered up the dishes and placed them in the sink, then began to dispose of the few left overs that there were. "In summer, maybe I can go to the market to get squash." Her eyes lifted. "If that's okay with you, I mean." She'd not been allowed to go on her own before. She turned to start filling the sink with water. "I actually like roasted red fruit. It's a desert, but with sweetner, some cream and a cup of klah, it's nice in the evening, especially if it's cold outside. I've not made it in a long time." Her mother had always said that it was bad for the figure to have desert too often. She picked up a cloth and began wiping the table to clean it.

"We should have redfruit tomorrow," Taril told her. Cream and redfruit and a bit of sugar sounded delicious, and it was a dessert he hadn't had since... well, for a very long time. "And of course you can go to the market. How else are you going to make me dinner?"

"By myself?" Her brows rose. "You won't need to escort me?" She had been using the stores in the apartment. In fact, she'd barely left the apartment, unsure of what her freedoms would be. "But..." She shifted uncomfortably. "I don't really have the marks to go right now."

"You're _my_ wife. You'll have marks, and no one will bother you. And if anyone does, let me know and I'll have them dealt with." Even if she didn't let him know, the offer of a thirty-second mark to anyone who saw her being harassed meant that he'd know anyway. Taril made a dismissive motion with one hand. "I don't have the time nor the patience to walk everywhere with you. If you'd feel more comfortable with someone else, go with one of the other Hold ladies."

That he would trust her that much made her stomach quiver a bit, especially considering the ladies part. She resolved to talk to Torinya the next morning to go with her to the market. No one could complain about that. "Oh. I'm sorry. I'm just...used to different things I guess." She gave a quavering smile. "Thank you." She cleared her throat a little. "Would you like me to pick up anything else at the market?"

"Whatever foodstuffs you need. Some of the sellers have a running tab with me-- Erlip, Kador, Bomarrl, Grawlen... try them first, and whatever you ask for they'll deduct from what they owe me. Just keep track of it." At her look, he shrugged. "They sell their surplus to other Holds through me, and I take a percentage. Kador's extra catch he salts, for instance, and I take it up to the harbors with roads going inland."

She nodded, repeating the names silently so that she remembered them. "Uhm, I hate to ask, but may I get material for new underthings? I don't have many and even though they really don't show, they're getting a bit threadbare." Her face flushed a little. "And perhaps some yarn?"

"I've been meaning to speak to you about that... I don't really need two offices. I can move most of what I have here to my office at the docks, and you can have that room as a sewing room. Or whatever you need it to be."

"Oh." Her voice trailed off, obviously surprised at his generosity, though he had, as far as she was concerned, been more than generous already. "Thank you. I'd like that." She felt abruptly awkward, feeling as though she was bringing very little in to the marriage and he was bringing far more. She stood, her hands clasping at her front and tried to find something to say, anything to break the silence that suddenly grew between them. This was the hardest part of the evenings with her new husband, trying to talk to him, trying to figure out what to say. So, she tried casual. "Did your day go alright?"

Taril shrugged, seemingly oblivious to the awkward pause in conversation. "Well enough. The warehouse should be complete and ready to use by the end of the month, or early next month at the latest. Speaking of... a boy named Arnott wished to pass along his regards." He glanced up to gauge her reaction. Humari looked frozen, like an ovine facing the executioner's axe, so he continued in the hopes that he could put her a bit more at ease. "He's a thoughtful lad-- he asked after you after I hired him to do a bit of cleaning up for me."

She stared at Taril and swallowed roughly. "Arnott?" She licked her lips and then nodded, hurriedly turning to the sink to begin scrubbing the dishes. "Yes. Yes he is. He has a hard life. It's good that you hired him for work."

"Many of the dock workers do have a rough time of it, but I rather suspect that Arnott will do well for himself in the end." Taril paused, then added, "I'll pass along your regards the next time I see him."

She kept scrubbing the dishes. "Arnott's smart enough to craft if his father would let him. He's wasted just working at the docks for scraps." Humari's voice became firm, almost unrecognizable from the meek voice she had been addressing Taril with before. Her mind was elsewhere, focused on the young boy. Her lips thinned as she rinsed off a plate.

Interesting. This was a new facet to his wife: deviant, meek, _and_ opinionated? "He is one of the smarter lads I've dealt with..."

"He's very smart." Humari agreed as she rinsed the other plates, her movements quick and precise as she washed. She suddenly paused and though he couldn't see her expression, she smiled at a memory. "I've known him since he was little." She shook her head and began on the eating knives. "He used to keep watch for Yarmel while I went fishing or if I just wanted to get away from him for a bit." She gave a little, embarrassed laugh. "When he was ten and I was thirteen, he said he would marry me to get me away from him."

If only Arnott had known... "I knew that he and Yarmel were not on good terms, but I didn't realize that you knew him so well, and so fondly. I'm glad that he was the one I hired out of all the lads looking for work." Arnott was turning out to be a better choice than he'd first suspected.

She nodded. "So am I." She set the dishes to dry and returned to the table. She dried her hands before she sat and then looked at her wine glass. She took a sip. "I know a few of the young boys on the dock." She paused, coming to the realization that most of the ones she was calling young boys, were only a few Turns younger than she. "Mother didn't like it though. She thought I would get a bad reputation." Her cheeks colored. In truth, her mother had told her that they were beneath her. "I didn't get to see them much after I...uhm.. began to develop."

"There is a time for everyone when childhood friends are set aside," he said diplomatically, although Yriadha was right in that case. Young ladies of good breeding didn't spend time with the folks around the docks for a good reason. It was too easy to commit a crime and sneak off unnoticed with the tide. "How is your egg?" he asked, changing the subject.

Humari didn't say much to the statement, instead preferring to take a sip of her wine. She just nodded. It made sense, except that any other friendships had been few and far between. Except for Vreena. Her mouth tightened just a little at the memory, but she was put back into the present by his next question. Her lips lifted into a bit of a smile. "Staying warm. I've noticed it rocking quite a bit lately. I think it'll hatch soon, so I'm keeping meat ready." She turned to look over her shoulder at the egg.

"Good! They're hungry." Taril smiled a little and leaned his elbows on the table. "What colour do you hope hatches?"

She turned back to him and flushed a little. "I was wanting any color, really. But I wouldn't mind a gold or a bronze. They seem to be the smartest."

Taril nodded. "They are-- or so I hear. Just like dragons."

She looked down at the table, falling immediately silent. She had thought to go to the Weyr shortly before their marriage. That, of course, was no longer an option, but the reminder brought to mind the beating she had taken shortly afterwards.

He was beginning to learn her moods, and the way that stray thoughts that flitted through her mind would show themselves in the slope of her shoulders or a subtle tightness around her eyes. It was barely noticeable, and understandably so given the still-healing marks on her back. Taril decided to steer the conversation in a different direction to keep it light. The evening had been pleasant so far. "Do you play cribbage?"

Ease settled more into her shoulders as she blinked at the sudden change of topic. She looked up and nodded. "Yes I do."

"If I ask nicely, will you indulge me in a game?"

Her brow furrowed. All he had to do was tell her to play, but she had began to notice that he really didn't command her to do much of anything when he certainly could have. She certainly had more freedom in the home than she had assumed she would have. She finally gave a little smile, her eyes warming. "Of course."

"Excellent. Why don't you pour us both another glass of wine while I go find the board and a deck of cards, and we can spend the evening doing something inconsequential," Taril told her, offering a smile of his own.

She nodded, poured the wine and rose to get the cards. It was a nice, peaceful ending to the day.

Last updated on the September 21st 2014

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A Quiet Evening