I don't own it.
One of the unspoken rules of Varius Manor is "Do not, under any circumstances, argue with Alfredos."
Even Brutus and Iason do not argue with the old steward. And Iason argues with everybody. (In fact, Tim thinks that Alfredos is the only member of the household that Iason hasn't attempted to murder. That is how sacred he is.)
Free or not, Alfredos' word is law.
So when Tim walks in on Dika and Alfredos going at it (or their versions of "going at it" anyway) in the kitchen, he seriously considers pinching himself to see if he's actually awake or if he is dreaming. Because it can't possibly be Dika and Alfredos over there, the one simmering with cold fury and the other a mountain of ice.
It's not like Dika never loses his temper, but when he does it is like one of those firecrackers they use to celebrate midsummer (or provide a distraction) hot, fierce, appearing and disappearing in a flash.
And Alfredos…Tim has seen him disapproving, and sometimes even angry, when one of them comes in a little more the worse for wear than usual, but he has never seen this level of fury, and never directed at one of the family.
With one final glare, Dika says something in a low tone that is not any language that Tim knows and storms from the room, leaving Alfredos looking rather deflated.
"Ummm…" Tim glances between Alfredos and the door several times. "What's wrong?"
The steward sighs. "Nothing that you need concern yourself with Master Timotheus." And shoos Tim out of the kitchen pretty quickly. It did not really matter, Tim has long forgotten why he'd come down there in the first place. Instead, he makes his way to the library and sits down on the window bench that Dika had declared to be "Tim's Thinky Spot."
They have a serious problem. Usually, when members of their family fight, Dika will hunt them down and force them to talk about it with him and then Alfredos will passive-aggressively push them into working out some sort of truce. Tim doesn't know what they are supposed to do when it is Dika and Alfredos doing the fighting. They are the two members if the Family with any real sensitivity towards emotions and talking about them. Them and Stefania anyway.
He draws a deep breath. Focus Timotheus. First step, find out what's wrong. Deduction, he can do that. For the rest…
He'll need reinforcements.
He heads off for the women's quarters to have a talk with Kass and Stef. Hopefully he hasn't done anything recently to cause either of them to be so angry with him they'll shut the door in his face and refuse to listen or let him in.
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