Chapter 55: Reasons and In-laws
Spring 85
It wasn't long before everyone in town knew about their up-coming wedding, including that they were waiting until her father could attend. Everyone offered to pitch in to make it great, ready for whenever the time was right. Whatever they did best was offered, such as Porcoline, the restaurant staff, and Kiel getting together to plan a celebration feast. Blossom said that she usually made the wedding attire, but she offered the patterns she had to Dolce so she could practice her earthmate crafting on a major project. Illuminata and Amber worked quickly to gather up flowers for the festivities, asking Lest to use his fields to bring some into fresh bloom. Lin Fa even offered them one of the best rooms in the Bell Inn for the wedding night.
For a bridal party, Margaret invited the girls around town to stay overnight at her house in celebration. This led to the guys to plan their own slumber party over in Arthur's room the same night. "Which means we're free to leave all the windows open and not worry about any of them trying to spy on us," Meg said.
"Would they really do that?" Amber asked.
"Don't worry," Forte said. "Even if they try, I still have my sword here. They will pay for such insolence."
"They certainly have before," Clorica said with a smile.
"Though, I believe that this is the first evening they have had a slumber party as well," Xiao said. "It doesn't seem to be a thing boys would do often. I wonder what they will find to talk about."
"I wonder if they'd gossip about us?" Clorica asked.
"I hope it's not anything in poor manners," Dolce said.
Wendy shrugged. As she'd found her voice, she said, "Who knows? Maybe they just talk about normal stuff like girls do?"
"That seems most true," Xiao said.
"Well about half the guys there are kind of girly," Frey said. "Maybe they'll start talking about fashion."
Some of the others laughed. "That might be," Meg said with a delighted smile. "Some of them are pretty well dressed from day to day. Though it's debatable in Leon's case."
"Well dressed halfway?" Clorica suggested to further amusement. Then she clapped her hands. "Oh, it's getting close to summer now. Remember last year when we went to the capitol to do summer clothes shopping in late spring? We should do that again."
"Oh yeah, especially with all you new girls around," Meg said with a nod. "I could use a new swimsuit at least. Hey, we can even find some modern attire for Dolce and Amber."
"Lumie gave me most of my clothes," Amber said. "Are there lots of clothes in the other place?"
"Sure," Meg said. "It's a big castle city unlike Selphia, so there's a lot of permanent shops carrying all kinds of styles."
"That might be fun," Amber said, curious.
"What do you mean by modern attire?" Dolce asked, unsure of changing her usual style. She did keep the same few dresses from day to day.
"Well you wear so many layers that it's got to be stifling in the summer heat," Meg said. "I think you could still look cute in a style with lighter weight that won't be as cumbersome."
"I'm used to it," Dolce said.
"Aw, but you could look amazing!" Pico said. "Maybe you could even show your arms off!"
"What?" Dolce asked, her eyes widening a bit.
"Nobody will think less of you for it," Xiao said. "And it is not like we have to worry about causing the boys trouble by wanting to look pretty. If they are bothered, then it is their problem for not being well-mannered enough to have self control."
"Maybe I'll look for new patterns and materials," Dolce said. "I'll think about it."
"What's so weird about showing your arms off?" Amber asked, holding her arms out in front of her and twisting them. "They're just arms, everybody has them."
"It's cultural differences, I'm not sure you would understand," Dolce said.
"And your logic's kind of dangerous to go much further with in polite society," Frey said.
"Oh right," Amber said, dropping her arms. "But really, it's just arms, not the stuff modesty wants covered."
"Um, why have our recent slumber parties always ended up talking about this kind of thing?" Xiao asked, rubbing her head.
"It's me!" Amber said with a big smile.
Frey snickered. "No kidding."
"At least you realize it," Meg said. "Though we should be talking about Frey because it's her party."
"I like the clothes for the wedding," Dolce said, her mood lightening. "There's a lot of detail work that would take a long time in the means I was taught with. But now that I've been working on magic crafting, it's a whole different kind of soothing to pull it all together."
"I'm sure you'll make it all beautiful," Frey said, wondering if she should ask to see the designs. But it would be fun to be surprised by it too.
"Oh yeah, the pattern on that is so dreamy," Meg said, getting Xiao to nod. But then she asked Forte, "Isn't it an exquisite treasure?"
Having been in an uneasy quiet when the talk turned to fashion, Forte tensed when the question got directed at her. "Um, actually yes, couples in the past have always looked amazing in the clothes Blossom made. Although, with this wedding in question, I've had to wonder, well..."
"Well what?" Dolce asked, looking at her.
Forte blushed a bit. "Well, Leon has a fox tail. How do you account for that in making his clothes?'
"I don't," Dolce said. "I asked him once about what he was doing to alter his pants, but it's an unconscious thing that the other three do. The tails and wings pass through clothes while being physical past that contact. While I can't say why that happens, all I did was decide on the overall shape based on his profile."
"Are you going to make him wear a shirt?" Frey asked.
"I'm making one, but I can't make him wear it," she said.
"I'm sure you could think of a delightful way to get him to wear the full outfit," Pico said with a grin.
Frey shrugged. "I think he will with only a show of resistance. It's a special enough occasion to count."
"That seems like it will be a strange thing to see," Xiao said. "Are you sure about this?"
"I've seen him in a shirt before," Meg said. "And it was strange! But that was your first date with him, right?"
"Right, that was when," Frey said with a nod. "I think it's like when my brother crossdresses; it's only on special occasions and it wouldn't be nearly as fun if he did it often enough for people to expect it."
"That's a fun way to think about it," Wendy said, laughing with a few of the others. "But why'd you agree to marry him so soon? You two only just met this spring and you might even be married before summer."
"I'm pretty sure it will be before summer comes," Frey said, smiling happily. "My dad won't complain about it once he gets here and talks to Leon. After all, he and Mom married in the same season they met too. But for me and Leon, we started getting along from the moment we first started talking to each other. Then there was that ordeal with the hell gates and how we got through that cemented the whole thing. We both know this is what we want and it's right for us."
"You both certainly seem completely happy with it, yes?" Xiao said, happy at the idea of it.
"But is it okay?" Amber asked, curious and puzzled. "Because when I lived with the fairies, they said getting married was a terrible thing because that meant you were tamed and no longer a strong independent heart."
"I don't think anyone but fairies think of it as being tamed," Meg said.
"Well there's nothing saying that you can't keep a strong heart after marriage," Frey said. "And it's not fully dependency either. Marriage is more of a partnership between two people to get through life together. The world's not perfect and all kinds of bad things can happen without warning, or without apparent reason too. It's hard to get through everything alone, but if you've got someone at your side who's vowed to be loving and supportive with you, then one person can give their strength to their partner at the times they need it most."
"Sometimes it's hard to believe that people call you a sage," Forte said. "But when you say things like that, it makes more sense."
She chuckled. "Funny thing is, that's just what my parents and elders told me, not my own idea. But I agree with it. I only know all that I know because others learned it before me and passed the knowledge down."
Once a couple of the bookshelves were pulled out of Arthur's room and replaced with couches, it made a good area to hang out, not even crowded in spite of eight guys being there. Arthur had brought out a game called Monopoly that he declined to play aside from being a kind of referee in handling the pretend money. Though if he had been playing, Leon would not have wanted to try. It seemed like the kind of thing Arthur would have a huge advantage in.
"I've not been to a slumber party before, so I wasn't sure what else to suggest," Arthur said.
"The girls here have them fairly regularly," Vishnal said. "Though I'm not sure what they do."
"Never thought of going to see what they were up to?" Leon asked.
Seeing him get embarrassed was great. "Uh, no, not at all! It's the girls' party, so it's better to leave them be."
"Yeah, and Forte's there so you don't want to mess with them," Doug said.
"Oh, do you have experience with that?" Arthur asked. Sometimes he could have a really sharp wit too.
"N-no I don't!" Doug said, although the way he and Vishnal were reacting, maybe they did.
"I think they just talk based on what Forte says," Kiel said. "Though sometimes I ask how it went and she grumbles about Amber. Which is weird because the two of them usually get along."
Leon could guess why, since any conversation about clothing around Amber invariably swerved into nudity at some point. But he didn't want to say that about her. "Well about half those girls are tomboyish in some way, so maybe they talk about adventuring outside town."
"Yeah, some of them you'd much rather have on your side in a fight," Lest said. "Who knows, maybe they gossip about us too."
"When do we gossip about girls?" Kiel asked.
"Like, right now?" Lest said, finding the question amusing.
"Maybe more than you realize," Leon said. "Though I wouldn't know what to suggest for a party. There were only two of us kids in the village I grew up in, so any party was usually related to the pilgrims who passed through."
"Yes, I've had to deal with lots of formal affairs myself," Arthur said.
Leon smirked. "Well they weren't always formal, let me tell you. Some of them were quite a drunken ruckus that our parents tried to keep us out of."
"That doesn't sound very much like what pilgrims would do," Vishnal said, puzzled.
"You go travel through the dangerous unguarded roads for weeks at a time and then tell me you wouldn't want to unwind once you got to your destination," he said.
"Most parties I've been to were harvest feasts or otherwise related to farming," Lest said. "Though sometimes us kids would go on an overnight camp-out in the woods."
"That actually sounds cool," Doug said. "Maybe we could take a camp out down to Keano Lake to the south. Just have to watch out for the mushrooms."
"Oo, camping among the mushrooms," Leon said, smiling. "You mean that area where all the giant ones grow? That could be fun." Especially sneaking mystery mushrooms into the camp meals.
"Yeah, we could get Dylas to make sure we pick the safe mushrooms to eat," Kiel said.
"Sure, I think I could do that," Dylas said.
"Aw, why take all the fun out of the guesswork?" Leon said, making his ears droop. "There's some really interesting ones out there if you're brave enough to try."
Unfortunately changing the subject, Arthur said, "Lest, I've been wondering about something. Your father's coming into town and, he wouldn't happen to be Corrin Nolan?"
"That's him," Lest said with a nod.
"I had a feeling it might be," Arthur said, looking serious. "Huh."
"Wow, you mean the Corrin Nolan?" Kiel asked, wide-eyed and interested. "He's like famous among all the knights of Norad."
"Ah, I think you mean infamous," Arthur said, shifting his glasses. "Though I have been curious about his side of the story."
"You can ask him about it, I'm sure he won't mind," Lest said.
"What's he infamous for?" Leon asked. Not that it would matter to him what his future father-in-law had done. In fact, it might be more interesting to join this family if he were certain kinds of infamous.
"Well Corrin was going to be accepted as a royal guardsman straight from being a squire," Kiel explained. "That's a pretty high honor as taking that job often leads to some of the highest titles in knighthood. But then he got stripped of the noble rank he had earned and was told to leave service even though he was really good at what he did. If it was just that, he might have fell into obscurity. Instead, the old knight who trained him, Arthur Lest Lawrence, he was angered that they'd do that and quit even though he was captain of the royal guard and thought of as one of the best living knights around. Corrin and Art then took to wandering around Norad, continuing to uphold the chivalry and honor of knights by dispatching monsters and protecting the places they came to. Central Norad kept trying to get Art back, even just as a master for training novices. But he swore that until they accepted Corrin, he would not take back his knighthood."
"Wait, but what got Corrin stripped of nobility in the first place?" Doug asked. "They've got strict guidelines for the royal guard, I hear, so if he was nearly there, why kick him out just before?"
"Well that," Kiel trailed off, not sure what to say.
"He was very good at what he did," Arthur said, implying that it was in more than just knightly traits.
"Pretty much," Lest said.
"Was he a criminal?" Sven asked, curious as well.
Kiel shook his head. "Oh no, they said that he was an excellent example of a chivalrous knight... except that one thing. That wrecked everything for him, but he stood by his beliefs and wouldn't comply with their requests."
"In a way, that's brave to keep such integrity," Arthur said.
"So what was that one thing?" Leon asked.
"I'm sure you'll find out before long," Lest said, making Arthur have to stifle a laugh. That made Lest look over at him. "Oh, you'd probably be interested to know that he's been traveling with Art again, so they're both going to be in Selphia."
Arthur raised his eyebrows. "Really? I'll have to see about talking to him at some point, since I never got to meet him even if I got named for him."
"Yeah, I bet he's got lots of interesting stories to tell," Kiel said. "What's he like?"
Lest rubbed his chin. "Well... I have to say, just about all me, Arthur, and Art share is two names. Art doesn't say much, being a gruff tough as nails sort. He's got at least a hundred different scars and while he's old enough that Frey and I call him Gramps, he still is a powerful axe fighter. Just now, he and my dad are on a pilgrimage to see the four Native Dragons. Terrable and Feirsome both challenged them to battle before they'd consent to talk, and they won that right. But Art won't boast about it. If you try to pick a fight with him, he'll refuse for your own safety. The one time I saw him fight another human was one evening when I got in trouble. He knocked a guy about as big as Leon down in one hit, then pulled out his axe and told him not to mess with me. The other guy thought he was tough, but he backed right off at that in terror."
"Wow, he sounds so awesome," Kiel said.
"That's quite a difference," Arthur said, impressed as well. "Though, if those two native dragons are like that, no wonder such pilgrimages have fallen out of favor. Ventuswill might be the only one who will speak to ordinary people without such requests."
"What?!" Dylas said unexpectedly, looking back at Vishnal. Sven close to them looked shocked as well.
"That's why," Vishnal said.
"What are you guys...?" Doug asked, before Lest whispered something close to him. "What the...? Seriously?!"
"Yeah, that's why," Lest said with a smile.
"If that's what I think it is, it should be obvious thinking about the twins here," Arthur said.
"What are you guys whispering about?" Leon said, trying to be stern with them.
It wasn't working. "Well I can see that now," Doug said.
"Are you going to let me in on it?' Leon said, looking over at Dylas.
However, Dylas grinned in a slightly scary fashion. "No, I don't think so."
"Fine, but I'm going to get back at you all somehow," Leon said, trying to hide behind his fan. But they knew something he didn't. About Corrin? What could it be?
Spring 86
Because he worked in the library, Leon made sure to learn a low range sound shield spell before he started practicing on the typewriter. It made it so he could enjoy the noise of it while not disturbing others. He was starting off with being made familiar with the layout of the keys and common tasks like switching the ink, loading paper, and keeping an even margin. Like with other modern devices, it manged to make a simple task more complicated in one view and more convenient in other views. Leon was sure that his handwriting was neat and consistent, but if this was the publisher's preference, he may as well learn it.
He caught a glimpse of a woman with green hair at the edge of his vision and glanced up from the instruction book in case it was Frey. But it wasn't. Her hair was darker and shorter, plus she wore an armored dress like the one that Forte usually wore. Frey preferred mage armors such as cloaks. Still, it was quite impressive, especially since this warrior lady had slight signs of being older on her face.
She smiled on seeing she had his attention. "Hello, do you work for the library? Or are you simply working here for the ambiance?"
"Yes to both," he said, getting up from the typewriter to come to the desk. "I'm the main librarian, Leon. Did you need help with something?"
After chuckling at his joke, she put a book on the desk. "I was wondering if you allow visitors to borrow books or if I should just skim this here."
"Sure, you can borrow it but your limit is only three days before you need to check back in about it," he said, taking the borrower records book. She had a guide to monsters around Selphia. "Adventuring then? You'd want to know that our maps are out of date by several decades and we're just now getting a cartographer to come out to redraw them."
She nodded. "I knew about that. My friend and I met the cartographer and we were considering accepting the job as his guards. But there's a lot to consider in it, including being familiar with what appears."
"It's really lovely countryside," Leon said, writing down the book's name. "Just have to be extra careful down south these days. What's your name?"
"Corrin Nolan," she said.
The name made him stop immediately and look back up at her. She smiled and there wasn't a hint about her that would have made Leon guess she was a man. "You're Corrin?"
"Yes, I came here in part to visit my children," she said, her eyes bright like Frey's were when she had some mischief in play. "Though when Frey wrote to tell me that she was engaged, I was really curious. So you're her fellow."
"Yeah, that's me," he said, setting the pencil down a moment. "You know, I was told that you were really good at something but not what. That was an understatement."
"Thanks," she said. "Though there's more to that this time around. I kept joking with Frey that she'd end up married to her research, but I didn't think that would end up true."
Leon had to laugh at that. "You could say that."
Corrin nodded. "Anyhow, we're going to have dinner over at the restaurant tonight and we'd like you to join us if you want. We've already got a reservation for 1730."
"Sure, I'll meet you all over there," he said. "Though for future reference, am I supposed to be calling you my father in law or mother in law?"
"I prefer to be known as a woman," Corrin said, thankfully showing no signs of being bothered at the question. "But if I like you, I'll let you refer to me as your father in law. That's simply how Frey and Lest grew up knowing me as because their mother and I couldn't have stayed in Grelin otherwise."
"All right, had to make sure," Leon said, thinking he probably should have guessed their father would end up being someone like this. Especially when Arthur said it was obvious thinking on them. In that case, he felt like there shouldn't be a problem between them. He finished recording her borrowing the book and then talked with her a while longer before going back to his typing practice.
A few minutes ahead of time, he met up with them outside of the restaurant. Arthur was also out there, talking with them about what happened with the knights. And just as Lest had said, the namesake of them both was an old guy who looked like he could still be a one man army on the battlefield. "I felt it was her choice to live how she wanted as long as she was noble in conduct," Art said. "They simply couldn't accept that. When they brought up that accepting her might mean accepting an actual woman into knighthood, that was the point where I couldn't go along with their decision any longer."
"That's right, it shouldn't matter who's handling the sword," Corrin said. "If her conduct and loyalty are appropriate to the station, then let a girl serve her homeland in being a knight."
Arthur nodded. "Yes, I've come to see that myself. Selphia has a female knight serving Ventuswill and she's dedicated to the job just as much as the men back in the capitol."
"You're biased," Leon said to come into the conversation.
"Well, that doesn't really count," Arthur said, a little embarrassed.
"Sure about it?" he asked. He and Forte still had interest in each other, but neither of them were making any moves towards each other. It was a pity, but something that could change even if it took outside influences. In his mind, Leon felt that would be needed. Both of them had degrees of formality in their everyday behavior which were going to act as a wall between them. It might take some mischief to get those walls to crack and fall, and he was more than willing to provide such mischief.
They ended up talking shortly past the reservation time, causing Margaret to come out and bug them. Then she brought them in to a family dining room separate from the main restaurant. Unlike the other room, there was no music player and there was more whimsy in the décor. Like some paintings of crowds that had funny little scenes if one looked closely and the displayed collection of monster figurines. The five of them didn't take up the full table, so they stayed to one end for an easier time talking to each other. In unspoken honor of his position as the eldest, Art was given the seat at one end of the table. Lest and Corrin sat on one side of him, while Frey and Leon took the other side.
In Leon's family, a meal would have been accompanied by talk about the day's work and matters concerning the shrine of Ventuswill. In this family, the meal started off with Frey saying, "You know dad, you're looking bustier than I remember you being. Did you rework your enchantments?"
"That's no enchantment going on," Lest said, a smile on his face.
"Well not like I was using," Corrin said happily. "You remember when I said that Terrable was a jerk? I have to take that back now because Aquaticus is far more of a jerk. While he lives in the lake right beside the town of Sharence, we had to recruit a local guy to get us into a lengthy cave dungeon in order to reach the place where we could talk to the native dragon. Then Aquaticus turns out to be seriously out of touch with mortal society and doesn't really care to correct that. He didn't like that I showed up as a man wearing an armored dress. Thinking it would make me be more serious through shaming me, he transformed me into a physical woman. He didn't expect me to thank him for it. I think he gave us the pilgrim's sign just to get us out of his home."
"That's great!" Frey said. "Though he is the god who presides over transformation, so if any of them would change you properly, it'd be him."
"Sounds like the best kind of jerk out there," Leon said.
"He didn't have to go saying that my claim was impossible," Corrin said, still not happy about that part. "Though I'm glad he transformed me before asking why I was dressed as I was because I don't think there's any way I could have convinced him to do it otherwise. The guide did say that the town honors the divine water in part to keep him from from messing with the town on a mistaken premise again."
"You're lucky to have a god that likes mortals here," Art said. "The other three native dragons are mostly neutral about us, though they will give some mortals a chance if they see them as deserving."
"Though Aquaticus is a meddler that you want to convince that nothing's wrong or else you'll get meddled with," Corrin said.
"Those of the eras when those divine dragons were born may not have seen it as pressing to make sure they have a favorable view of mortals," Leon said. Even if his birth family could be too serious for his liking, he felt glad to hear another sign that their work had made a difference.
Venti woke up and checked over how she looked. There were a pair of pilgrims in town today, a kind of visitor that she hadn't seen in centuries. Was that going to come back into style? That would depend more on her fellow Native Dragons than her. Besides, this was a pair of warriors said to be a cut above most adventurers, so perhaps pilgrims wouldn't be common again. Though her information had come from Lest and this was his father and adoptive grandfather coming to visit, so who knew?
As Lest brought them into her chamber, she could see that they were quite a pair. The elder warrior Art had a soul as rough as his body; he'd certainly lived a hard life and endured terrible things. But his heart still burned bright, not bitter with life. His age might not let him wield that large axe he carried as well, or let him travel much longer. On the other hand, Corrin might be able to live by her sword for quite some time still. Her runes showed evidence of recently being transformed into a female, although that made her body match her soul and mind well. She had a measure of levity along with the weight of chivalry, making her quite interesting to Venti before she even spoke.
Lest introduced them to each other with some formality even though this was his family, which was nice and proper if a bit suspect on his part. Venti nodded to them. "Well met, pilgrims. It's been a long time since I've seen your sort."
"Thank you for meeting with us," Art said, saluting to her with Corrin. "We came out of curiosity to see if this could still be done, something both of us have wanted to do for a long time."
"Yes, we had to fight two of the others and chase the third through a long dungeon," Corrin said. "So this is a pleasant visit in comparison."
"I wouldn't make visitors do something like that, unless they really wanted to," Venti said.
"Yeah, cause she's too lazy to actually fight herself," Lest said.
Embarrassed at that, she snarled. "Lest! One of these I am going to eat you for your impertinence." He and Corrin laughed while Art just raised an eyebrow. Venti shook her wings a bit and figured she could drop the formality now. "Anyhow, I'd be fine with just chatting for a little while. Got any embarrassing stories to share about Lest?"
"Aw come on Venti," Lest said, smiling.
"Serves you right for calling me lazy," she retorted.
"Maybe I do," Corrin said, enjoying this exchange more. "But then, you wouldn't happen to know any embarrassing stories on Leon in exchange, would you? Since he's marrying my daughter, I'd like to be as much trouble to him as possible."
Venti laughed at that. "That sounds even more fun! What have you got on Lest?"
"I could tell you about the first time that he tried to crossdress and it went horribly awry," Corrin said.
"When was that?" Lest asked.
"When you were five, before we had a good idea on what your blessing was supposed to be. Of course, being that we had twins of a girl and boy, there were times earlier that he wore Frey's dresses. Our neighbors figured he'd grow out of it when he got a better idea of what a boy is supposed to be like. He never really did thanks to me, but this one time, he and his sister fooled a traveling merchant into thinking they were both girls. Lest got offered a really adorable dress to try on, with sequins that shifted colors, the kind of thing kids love. We let him and were even going to give him a super cute hat to go along with it. But of course, something that changes colors is very likely enchanted. He had come out of the dressing tent to show us and then in a matter of seconds, the whole dress unraveled and the merchant was rather shocked that we'd let our son dress like that. Thought it'd end up giving him a confused identity."
"Well I confuse some other people but not myself," Lest said, not embarrassed at the story. But Corrin had to know something that would get to him.
Still, Venti chuckled at the story. "Aw, that's unfortunate. But I think you taught him well in that regards."
"Hey, I was really happy to since I didn't expect I'd get a son who liked wearing dresses too," Corrin said with a smile. "So what kind of dirt do you have on Leon? Am I going to have to get really serious on him?"
"That depends," Venti said. "Although actually, you know how people would pray to him for wisdom and guidance while he was a guardian? The whole incident that was based on was a sham, actually."
"Really?"
"Sometimes I think saints get seen as saints because we don't know their full story," Art said.
Venti nodded. "It happens. With Leon, he'd gotten accepted as a Dragon Priest when he was seventeen, which is impressive on its own since his father and grandfather hadn't gotten accepted by other priests in the land until they were in their late twenties. Leon mostly served alongside his father, but in the first week where he was working alone, the Norad high king and a few of his advisers came to visit me. They had political questions that I had no clue about how to answer. I mean, I was a little under a century old at the time, but I didn't know a lot about human governments at the time."
"Did they know about that and were trying to get divine approval in a tricky way?" Corrin asked.
"Possibly," she said. "Plus this was the generation after the Norad nation helped the final collapse of the Ath kingdom, which Selphia had originally been a part of. The Karnak family had been influential in Ath even before that branch took on working for me. So it was a little awkward dealing with someone whose father had conquered the capitol of our homeland and left our land hanging on its own against Sechs raiders. I told Leon that I didn't know how to answer their questions.
"Thankfully, they didn't know dragons all that well as Leon was able to tell me in the dragon language not to worry about it and he'd come up with something. I wasn't sure if he could because he was a lot younger than me, but then he made up some riddle that I'd supposedly given him and told it to the Norad king. Leon then proceeded to pick apart his own riddle for nearly an hour. While he was bluffing the entire time, the king and his advisers completely fell for it and were really impressed that he could work out the riddle. And they were no fools, I could be sure of that even then. They were older than Leon's father had been at the time, so they should have known better."
"I suppose it does take a special kind of wisdom to bluff being wise, especially to your elders," Corrin said.
"Maybe," Venti agreed. "When he got to a point where he couldn't bluff without making it obvious, he smiled and told them that he'd been messing with them the whole time and I had actually said that it was a human matter that humans should settle. Which I hadn't said either, but it was less embarrassing. They still took him for being really wise and smart when he was just being a smartass. And when I tried to thank him for it, he said that he'd only done it to make them look like idiots. Which was also a bluff. He's like that, even now, in that he'll help you out if he considers you a friend, but he'll be really impossible to deal with and make fun of you the whole while. He's not bad overall, just infuriating to deal with face to face often."
"Well Frey deals with him better than most people," Lest said.
"He seems all right to me, definitely smart enough to keep up with Frey's mind," Corrin said. "Or maybe just try to. And I don't have a lot of room to complain about this happening quickly when I got married to Joyce near as quick, just a couple weeks longer. Although if I had to do it over again, I'd still live the same life even if it can be hard at times."
"They have a strong spark between them," Lest said. "Which I was a bit worried about since he's her first boyfriend and all. Then again, I saw his personal hell and from that, I'm sure he'd treat her well when she can keep up with his mind too."
A/N: I definitely wouldn't want to take on Arthur at Monopoly.
Corrin and Art here going to be the last pair to move in town (though there will be other new characters who show up, but only briefly). They're mostly background characters, but each of them have some things to contribute.
