Herald Alberich opened his eyes to that warm light that basked his room despite the still dim rays of the sun just beginning to break dawn. The scant light was filtered through the stained glass that was no doubt the centerpiece of the otherwise utilitarian room. The sun emblazoned in warm gold colors contrasting sharply with the cooler jewel tones of Valdemaran blue and white glowed with the merest hint of light on the horizon, and Alberich enjoyed the few moments between sleeping and waking to enjoy the peace this vision offered.

Running his hands through tousled hair he rose abruptly noting the bite in the air that would correspond to what seemed to be the start of a gray day. He paused for a moment to consider the pot bellied brazier in the corner of his room, only to dismiss it in favor of donning extra woolens beneath his usual gray leathers. Normally the brazier would have been out of place, and until a month ago had not occupied the corner. He had noticed but not commented on it when it had arrived and had warm memories of when he was not the only one to wake up dappled with jewel-like shades in this room.

Pouring out a pitcher of water into the basin by his bed he completed his morning ablutions with haste, remembering, with something approaching wistfulness, when the water bucket had been placed close enough to that very brazier to make the task less of a shock to his sleep warmed skin.

::I see you are growing soft with all these worldly comforts about you.:: Suggested a voice in his mind.

:: Hmph:: was the herald less that articulate reply as he dried off.

:: Though:: continued the Companion thoughtfully ::I don't see why you don't combine living quarters::

:: First, your opinion I do not ask:: Alberich retorted somewhat sharply.

::You know Myste must near the archives be. Her place there be and mine here is.::

:: Well pardon me:: replied the Companion, not at all chastised. :: You seem a great deal more, how shall I say, tractable, when Herald Myste is nearby::

::Yes. For my tractable qualities you must have chosen one such as I:: scorned Alberich with a mind voice dripping with sarcasm.

Wisely the Companion just sent a sense of faint indignation along their link.

In his mind's eye, he could see her curled up in the one chair the room held, pouring over a document, the spectacles she wore glowing with reflected lantern light and her feet tucked onto the broad ledge of the very brazier. Yes, on occasion Myste did make herself very comfortable here, in what would otherwise be a spare and very male room. Not that she intruded or cluttered the room with her possessions. As a matter of fact, despite what he had seen of her own quarters, she was scrupulous about never leaving anything behind.

They were certainly a study in contrasts, if their quarters were any reflection of their personalities. Myste lived her life surrounded by organized chaos, or what he supposed was organized, as she could usually find what she was looking for. Scrolls of parchment and bound texts created, at best precarious piles of potential avalanche material, and interesting topography in her vicinity and spare pen nibs and inkwells were the hidden pitfalls among these piles of the unwary or bumbling person tried to approach her.

He, on the other hand, lived in a space defined by it's very spartan order as military, utilitarian, or as Myste once commented "quintessentially masculine". A youth spent at the Academy after having been a poor youngling hadn't left him much in the way of material possessions to cherish, nor had the very mobile life of a Sun's Guard Captain. He hung onto very little that he didn't immediately need and he regarded things much like he regarded weapons; looking for quality when they were necessary and keeping them well maintained as long as they were useful, but always prepared to discard them if the need arose for such expediency. His quarters reflected that trait and despite the years he had spent in his rooms at the salle within the Collegium, his decor, save for the one extravagance of the stained glass window in his room, remained as Dethor had left it.

:: The differences in your personalities is hardly shocking compared to the fact that you are Collegium weaponsmaster and Herald Myste is well...who she is. A study in contrasts, the warrior and the scholar.:: ended the somewhat rueful sounding mind-voice of Kantor again interrupting his thoughts.

:: My personal life so interesting you find so interesting this particular morning?:: he thought back. But he had to admit it was true. When he had been contemplating whether it wouldn't be faster to wring her neck himself rather than send her out to any kind of combat the way she was, he had hardly imagined that he would be pursing a relationship with her.

::Other abilities she has. Valuable to the circle they make her.::

:: Oh no doubt. Her abilities are not in question. I was merely thinking it was in a way fortunate that you two make such an unlikely pair. Fewer people speculate the connection between you two. I doubt even many of the heralds know about it.

::Should be as it is::Alberich said, feeling that the fewer heralds and trainees knew about his relationship with Myste the better to discourage interest in his personal life by those he trained.

::Wait. That she and I live together were not you suggesting? Why so sudden change of heart: he added suspiciously, wondering if his usually stolid companion was participating in the annoying, but sometimes useful habit of Companions to gossip among themselves .

This time the sense of indignation was greater from Kantor as he picked up the thought and accompanied by the exclamation.

::When have you known me to gossip!::

::When need has been for it::Alberich admitted calmly.

::I would never 'gossip' as you so crassly put it. It just seemed to me that you have been thinking of Herald Myste more than usual lately.::

Alberich was surprised at his Companion's words and wondered if he had been mooning. He had seldom had lady friends in his past, and those that he did have, though much appreciated had mostly been the result of monetary transactions. Though he had had chances to partake of the willing starry eyed at the various border villages he had patrolled as a suns Guard, he had somehow always balked at this rather common practice among his peers. Rather, he would pay honest coin for a hour or so of pleasure. The current situation with Myste was hardly anything that had been in his experience before. So was he, therefore, mooning like a knobby kneed calf; enough to make his Companion comment on his changed behavior?

Before he could say anything, Kantor who had been, if not eavesdropping than following the train of his thoughts broke through.

:: Chosen, you are not acting any differently as other people could see. But I am your Companion, I am suppose to see the things that others do not. I could hardly imagine you shirking your duties or "mooning" as you so succinctly put it. I was merely thinking that you might be considering taking Myste for a more permanent mate.

::Marriage?:: Alberich stood both mentally and physically dumbfounded for a moment that he paused in the act of buckling his belt and looked toward the stained glass which was the direction of Companion's Field.

:: It does happen among those in the Circle you know:: Kantor said rather matter of factly.

Yes, occasionally Heralds married, but it was more infrequent than many imagined considering how hedonistic they were considered by the rest of the court. Becoming a herald was by no means the equivalent of taking monastic oaths, and marriages, not to mention dalliances and other partnerships, did happen among those in the Circle. However, when duty came first, and there was the extraneous bond with the Companions factored in, marriage was something both parties had to be very committed to.

Besides Alberich had never had the occasion to imagine himself married. His own beginnings as the illegitimate child of a serving woman, followed by the rough training a the SunsGuard Academy had given him very little experience or expectation of a family of his own either in theory or in practice.

Whatever had brought it about, Kantor had planted a somewhat disconcerting seed in his mind, and had maddeningly gone silent. As Alberich exited his rooms to make sure the salle was in order for his first class of the day his innermost thoughts were unsettled.