My apologies for the long delay between chapters. NaNoWriMo got me. I did finish, though. :)
By the time Teagan brought Alistair downstairs to the solar to meet Maric and Cailan he knew what he was going to say. He could feel the tension in Alistair's frame as he brought the boy into the room with Maric and Cailan, and so he had decided that he was not going to push the boy. At all. "Maric, Cailan, this is Alistair. Alistair, this is my brother-in-law Maric and my nephew Cailan, which makes them your uncle and cousin, of sorts," Teagan said. Two pairs of blue eyes looked sharply at Teagan and then at each other. A look passed between them, then a slight nod. Teagan let out the breath he hadn't been aware he was holding. Maric and Cailan were going to cooperate.
"Pleased to meet you, Your Majesty, Your Highness," Alistair said, extremely formally, which made Maric's mouth twist.
"Alistair, I'm sort of your uncle now, and Cailan is your...cousin…please, simply Maric and Cailan will do fine," Maric said.
"Arl Eamon said I was never, ever to call you by your given name, Your M…Ser…" Alistair said.
"Eamon said a lot of things to you, Alistair. I'm not terribly pleased with any of them right at the moment, especially since I didn't know about any of them until Teagan told me," Maric said. Alistair looked skeptical, but simply said "Yes, Ser."
"Teagan, your housekeeper came in and said that supper will be served in just under an hour, so you both might as well have a seat while we wait," Maric and Alistair seated themselves and then an awkward silence descended as the four of them stared at one another.
"Alistair, Cailan is going to be working in Lord Felton's orchards for the next few days, just as you did," Teagan said in an attempt to break the silence. This bit of news made Alistair look at Cailan with some sympathy.
"Lord Felton makes you work really hard," Alistair said.
"Does he, now?" Cailan asked.
"Yes, I thought being a stable boy was work. I picked so many apples…and then I ended up having to sort the apples and…well, I'm not sure what he'll make you do, since you're so much bigger than me, but I bet you'll be sore after. I sure was," Alistair said, then darted an apprehensive glance at Maric. Maric simply smiled at Alistair.
"Well, I thank you for that bit of information, Alistair. I wonder, is there anything else you can tell me to prepare me for the next few days?" Cailan asked.
Alistair looked over at Teagan, who was glad to encourage the boy. "Alistair, perhaps you could show Cailan to his room? He's not seen it yet, and it will give you a chance to tell him all of Lord Felton's secrets without you worrying that I'll hear them," Teagan said.
"Oh, yes, that's a good idea. Alistair, would you like to show me to my room? It will fill the time nicely until supper," Cailan asked.
"I can do that. Would you please follow me, Your Hi….Cailan," Alistair said. He bowed to both Teagan and Maric and then started out of the room, turning back to ensure that Cailan was following. After the two boys left Maric sagged into his chair and sighed.
"Well…Eamon has certainly trained him. Maker's Breath, I am going to give Eamon a piece of my mind at Wintersend. So, are we just going to pretend that he's not my son, then?" he asked.
"For the moment. And besides, he's not your son, he's mine, or he will be as soon as the paperwork naming him my heir is final. I believe it needs one more signature," Teagan said with a significant look at Maric.
"Yes, yes, I know. I'll sign it tomorrow," Maric said as he raked his hand through his hair. "I'd just like a chance to tell the boy that I never wanted him in the stable," Maric said.
"I do not think he is ready to hear that, Maric. As you said, Eamon has trained him, and trained him well. He is very conditioned to believe that you did not want him. I do love my brother, but the more I hear about what he told Alistair, the angrier I get. It's going to take me a long time to undo all of that. Let it lie for now," Teagan said.
"Well, you know him better than I…I will be guided by you in this," Maric reluctantly said.
"Good man. He seems willing enough to talk to Cailan. Perhaps Cailan can serve as an intermediary between the two of you," Teagan suggested.
"Perhaps," Maric said, and shook his head. "You tried to warn me. The boy has never even met me, at least not that he remembers, and Eamon…well, Eamon seems to be angered that I had a child with someone other than Rowan, or something. I could wish he hadn't punished Alistair for it, though," Maric said.
"Truthfully, I am not sure what Eamon is thinking, there. Rowan had been gone for some time when Alistair was conceived. I certainly do not think less of you for it," Teagan said, which made Maric look askance at Teagan for a moment. Teagan returned his look and then waved his hand in dismissal.
"Yes, I know about that, too. Rowan told me," he said, which made Maric raise his eyebrows.
"When?" he asked.
"That six months I spent with her, when she was bedridden? There wasn't much else to do but talk, Maric," Teagan said.
"Right. Did I ever thank you for spending all that time with her, Teagan? Maker knows you spent more time with her than I did," Maric said.
"Not in so many words, no, but I knew you were grateful for it. I was glad to. She was my sister. And besides, you were running Ferelden. You were busy."
"I could have made the time if I'd really wanted to," Maric said.
"Oh, that's easy for you to say now, but not so easy to do, then. And perhaps that is not even true. I tell you, I had a backlog here at Rainesfere when I returned, and I have a very capable steward. I shudder to imagine what would have happened to Ferelden if you'd dropped everything to sit vigil with Rowan. If Loghain had been there to help you…but he wasn't, and we both know why. She never blamed you for not spending more time with her than you did. It wasn't easy for me to watch her fade away – it had to have been so much harder for you, and for Cailan. And besides, you were spending that time with him...well, most of it," Teagan said.
"I suppose it is too much to ask that I have a secret or two?" Maric said.
"Well, I don't have the slightest notion who Alistair's mother is," Teagan said affably, then waved his hand in dismissal at Maric's frown.
"Nor do I need to know, but I have never believed that story that Eamon put about that the boy's mother was a serving girl who died in childbed. I am well aware that you did not, in fact, visit Redcliffe anywhere around the time you would have needed to be there to keep company with any of Eamon's serving girls. Eamon has always made sure to make me aware of any visits of yours. Plus there is the fact that I was visiting Redcliffe fairly frequently in those days, and I was an unmarried man in his early twenties who was fairly popular with the serving girls. Believe me, if any of them had turned up pregnant I would have been informed," Teagan said, which made Maric snort.
"I suppose so," Maric agreed, and then fell silent. Teagan had hoped he would say something more, but had certainly not expected it. Rowan had told him that Maric used to be much more open, but he had learned discretion "the hard way", as she had put it.
After a few moments of idle chat – mostly Maric catching Teagan up on Denerim gossip – Cailan and Alistair returned. Teagan was happy to see both boys seemed relaxed, so it appeared they had gotten along fine. Alistair was, however, obviously still wary of Maric.
"Father, what have you gotten me into?" Cailan asked. "Alistair tells me that Lord Felton is a veritable slave driver!" Cailan said, which made both Maric and Teagan smile.
"That is not what I said!" Alistair protested. Teagan was alarmed for a moment, but Cailan corrected himself before Teagan could intervene.
"Yes, Alistair, you are correct – that's not what you said and I apologize for misquoting you. What you said was that Lord Felton worked you harder than the stable master at Redcliffe had ever done, and then I said that he sounded like a Tevinter slave driver," Cailan said, which made Alistair nod in satisfaction.
"You know, Lord Felton told me that he wished he had a few more boys like you, Alistair. You put in a good day's work when you were there," Teagan said. Lord Felton had, in fact, said that the boy had worked harder than he'd ever expected him to – he'd gotten into some sort of competition with one of Felton's grandchildren as to who could sort apples the fastest, and apparently the boy had given his utmost effort. He'd lost, of course – all of Felton's children and grandchildren had worked the orchards from the time they could toddle, but he'd certainly tried.
"I look forward to this more and more every moment," Cailan said, which made Alistair snicker.
"He's ok, really. He let us rest more than the stable master used to, and there was plenty of water to drink, and we could eat all the apples we wanted. He said something about how all men are the work of the Maker's hands and it was up to him to make sure we didn't take any harm from working. I asked him about it and he said it was from the Chant, although I'd never heard that one. Arlessa Isolde quotes from the Chant a lot, although it's mostly the part about how magic is meant to serve man and never to rule over him and how all mages are cursed. I don't know about that, though. I mean, the Maker made the mages, too, right? And Housekeeper Gaytha says that it's mages that make the really good poultices and how a mage saved her sister from dying when she cut her arm and it went septic, and why would they do that if they were cursed?" Alistair asked, then flushed and fell silent as he realized how much he'd been talking and that everyone in the room was now looking at him. Teagan smiled at him encouragingly – he was quite happy to see the boy get talkative around Maric and Cailan, for it meant that the boy was getting over his nervousness. Plus it showed Maric that the boy was indeed like him – Maker knew that Maric occasionally forgot his hard-won discretion and began to babble, much like Alistair just had. Teagan looked over at Maric and noted that the king certainly had noticed, for he was favoring Alistair with a rather enigmatic smile. Teagan promised himself to ask Maric about that smile later, but for now, one of the serving girls was standing at the doorway to the solar, signaling him that the meal was finally ready. Teagan smiled at her and nodded, which made her curtsey and leave the doorway.
"Gentlemen, supper is served," Teagan said, which made Alistair turn and smile gratefully at him, glad to no longer be the center of attention.
Dinner was a fairly quiet affair. Cailan and Maric had been traveling all day, so they were concentrating on consuming as much food as possible in as short a time as possible. Alistair had begun a growth spurt, Teagan thought, so he was also eating as much food as fast as he possibly could. Teagan was eating like a bird compared to the three of them, but he did not mind. He sipped his wine and watched the three of them – so alike. Oh, there were differences, to be sure. Cailan and Maric shared the same golden hair and blue eyes, whereas Alistair's hair was almost dun and his eyes were brown – courtesy of his unknown mother, Teagan imagined. Their faces, though…those were the same. If anyone were to see the three of them together it would be quite clear that Alistair was Maric's get….which meant that the boy would not be going to Denerim with Teagan anytime soon. Of course, Teagan did have a plan, if he was asked. He planned to say that since he was Cailan's uncle and Alistair was Cailan's cousin, of course there was a resemblance. It would even be the truth, as soon as Maric signed the adoption papers. No one who thought about it for more than a moment would be fooled, but he should be safe enough with the nobles most prone to gossiping. Thought was not a strong suit for many of them. He would have to watch himself among some of them, though – the banns and landholders especially. Teagan suspected that Lord Felton knew very well who Alistair was, or at least suspected, but was so loyal that he'd never speak of it.
The thought of Felton reminded him that Cailan would be traveling to Felton's holding the next day in order to further his practical education. Teagan smiled to himself at the thought - the boy had no idea what he was in for.
Why yes, we will be seeing Cailan getting hands on experience at the orchard. Fits in nicely with the title of the story, no?