Kennan Estate;
Neal looked around at the now cleaned up ballroom equivalent. It was so small compared to the palace. Sitting down in a chair, he put his head in his hands, trying not to think about the palace, and therefore Xlelon.
"Argh."
He got up, frustrated at himself, and found an empty practice yard. He practiced sword play with a mirror until he realized that there was someone watching him. Turning around, there was his cousin, intently studying his every move. Neal smiled, he was rather fond of Cleon.
"Morning Cleon. What are you up to?"
Cleon came out from the shadows, still looking at him intently.
"I'm watching you. Daddy said that I was to go to the palace soon."
Neal winced. His cousin had taken it so well, he was only nine, could he really comprehend it? The man had died during the night, though in the time from the attack, many healers had tried to help, with no success.
"Really now? Are you happy?"
Cleon nodded.
"He was very proud of me. I'm going to do well for him."
Neal sighed and smiled at the boy. Cleon's hair was a bit long, the usual bouncy curls hanging around his ears. His eyes were like Neal's own, it was a trait that the family always passed on. Though, since Lady Kennan's eyes had been blue, Cleon's eyes were blue gray, as opposed to Neal's green-gray.
"I'm sure you will." He murmured. Cleon looked at him sharply. He loved his older cousin, rarely as he got to see him, but there was something different about him now. It wasn't just the loss here, he could tell. His mind was always wandering, and when it wasn't he was doing something.
"Neal, can you tell me about the palace?"
Neal smiled.
"Of course, what do you want to know?"
"What's it like?"
Neal paused. Nowadays, the first thing he thought of when anyone mentioned the palace was Xlelon, but he wouldn't tell anyone about that unless they asked him point blank. So he described the training yards, the dining halls, the ballrooms, the chapel, then stopped. He had forgotten how soon he would be in that chapel. Turning abruptly away from the subject, it was far too strange to think about, he found his cousin again regarding him with a piercing look.
"Is there anything else you want to know?"
"Why do you always look like you're somewhere else?"
Neal started. Losing his father had changed his cousin into a pensive little boy, perceptive beyond his years. It rather frightened him. Well, he may as well tell him, it was the best thing that had come from this, and he may as well share the joy.
"Well, you see Cleon, I left something…someone at the Palace, and I miss her."
"You love her? Don't you?"
There it was again, that perceptivness that Neal wasn't used to at all in his cousin. And now that it came to it…
"Yes, I do."
Cleon smiled widely.
"Tell me about her, please?"
Neal smiled back, and began to descirbe how they had met, and when exactly he had fallen in love with her, with Cleon listening raptly.
"But how did you tell her?"
Neal smiled.
"It wasn't hard, I simply kissed her."
"Just like that? Wasn't she mad?"
Neal chuckled.
"I admit, I was taking my life into my hands when I did, but yes, just like that."
Cleon smiled and asked another question.
"When?"
Neal paused, should he really tell him that his night of joy was his cousin's night of pain?
He decided yes.
"Midwinter."
Cleon cocked his head.
"But what if you had wanted to tell her sooner? Would you have had to wait?"
Neal laughed.
"Of course not! I'd just find another time!"
"Oh."
And with that he wandered away, thinking again. Neal shook his head and got up from his seat on the rail, then wandered off in his own direction.
~^~
Xlelon dropped the letter from Neal unexpectedly. A servant in the hallway that she was in looked at her.
"Mi'Lady? Are you well?"
Xlelon took a breath and smiled.
"Yes, thankyou."
She picked up the letter again and re-read it, this time stopping. The thing that had surprised her was Neal's description of a conversation he had had with Cleon. He had told him about Midwinter…which meant…
"Oh gods. This is so beyond strange."
~^~
There we go. The Cleon that was pulled in the previous book is explained. ::is proud:: Yay!