A/N: Here it is, a slightly shorter update but an update nonetheless. Enjoy.

As usual, thanks for your glorious reviews. I love them, they make me happy. However, due to the new rule, I cannot reply to you. If you want me to send a copy of a really, really good "Against the no-replying-to-review rule" petition, tell me and I'll e-mail you it. A friend of a friend in the Harry Potter fandom started it, and it'll hopefully have 5,000 names on it by the time it's finished.

Disclaimer: I own ERmliana, Stew, Ermliana's mom, Nira, Ioniand Throniv's name. Everyone else is Sherwood Smith's.

Now, without further ado...chapter 15!

A Miserable Pair

And the road goes on

Seeming ever longer...

And the road goes on

Forever and I wander...

Forever and I wonder...

--Blackmore's Night, "Way to Mandalay"

It had been a tough day in Court; I knew that much. Not only had it been busy, but Lourden had been cruel and there had been four murder trials for small-time pirates who had merely stolen a bit--they hadn't even burnt anything or killed anyone. Typically, that would simply justify a few years in prison, yet all of them had been sentenced to death. It had been a bad day. But I hadn't realized just how bad it had been for Alaerec.

Alaerec, my slow-tempered friend, burst into my room without knocking and sat down in the chair angry.

"What were you thinking, Elestra?" he hissed. "Do you want to know how much I had to pay the butler to not report to Lourden?"

As much as I knew that what I had said was not right, I wasn't aware it was that bad. I was expecting him to be disappointed, that was for sure, but angry? I hadn't expected it.I had never even seen him angry at me.

"I-I'm sorry," I whispered, "I didn't realize it was that bad. It was allhistorical fact--anyone who wanted to go to the library and find it out. And all the ladies agreed--"

Alaerec grabbed my wrist. "Elestra! There are spies everywhere! How can you possibly forget that? Lourden's got just about every servant on his side--life, he's draining the treasury so that he can pay them to report to him!"

"I didn't know that!" I said defensively, yanking my wrist away from him. "I'm new at this stuff--and, other than Ermliana, I was the only person under the age of thirty-five in there! How would you like a bunch of old married women staring at you piteously every day for tea? The only reason I even went is to play the little part you wanted me to play!"

Alaerec shook his head at me, the anger obvious in his eyes. "I thought you were mature for your age. I thought you wanted to help. But now you just seem like a snarky little child."

In the thirteen years I'd known Alaerec, he'd never been angry at me. But this--this was horrible. I felt tears prickling the back of my eyes, and shoved them back.

And then something occurred to me.

"Alec, are you drunk?"

I lit a few glowglobes decoratively arranged on a low table. Alaerec's face lit up, showing dark circles around his red-rimmed eyes. Not drunk, then.my inner cynic told me,Just tired.

Oh, please let him be drunk.

"I am not drunk!" Alaerec said. His voice was intense, but still quiet. "I'm just fed up with your childish behavior!Look at you!Your father'sbeen dead nearly a year, Elestra! And yet every time you see Debegri you get all teary! He's a bastard, Elestra, you know it as well as I do, but you can't hide from him! You've got to face him head-on! But you're acting just as immature as he is!"

"Burn it, Alaerec!" I hissed. "He didn't kill your parents! He didn't ruin your childhood, did he?"

The tears threatening to spill out of my eyes finally did, and I turned so Alaerec wouldn't see me cry (Futile--he'd seen me start to cry, but I have my pride).

Silence.

Then Alaerec let out a huge sigh and sat down on a cushion. "Life, Elestra, I'm sorry. That was uncalled for." He set his elbows on his knees and cradled his face in his hands. When he spoke again, his voice was muffled. "Maybe I am a little drunk--I had some punch tonight. I worry about you too much, you know."

I turned and sat on the cushion next to him. "I should be a lot angrier than this," I said (still slightly tearfully). "But you were right, too. I should face Debegri head-on. It's what he's not expecting, right?" My voice broke, and Alaerec put an arm around me. I leaned into his shoulder.

"We're quite a pair, aren't we?" he said wearily.

I nodded miserably.

We sat there for several bell-changes, not talking, not sleeping, just sitting. And then, at second-white, Alaerec said, "Will you be fine?"

I nodded, and then told him yes.

At least that was the plan, but I only managed to nod once and then I said, "No."

"I won't, either," he responded. "I won't either."

And we sat there for the rest of the night.

Preparations for Ermliana's Flower Day party began to get much more serious just two days later. I was fitted for a new dress--slate blue with sapphires everywhere (the gaudy style was back in, but now it was jewels on the flimsy dresses previously popular) and a high empire waistline. It was pretty enough, and though the empire waistline was not the style, it flattered my short, slim figure better than what was popular.

Ermliana was frantic over a week after that--she and her mother had been in a monstrous fight and her mother had told her to plan the restofthe partyherself.

Alaerec, busy though he was, lent Ermliana his steward to do the catering, who was training his young son in the business.

The boy's name was Throniv, and he was thirteen. He had a younger sister, Mora, who was around ten and had goals to be a ladies' maid. Their mother had died in the childbirth of the third child in the family, and so Mora was entrusted to my maid for a short time.

Truthfully, Mora was one of the scariest children I'd ever met, and since I'd met Arthal and Galdran, that was saying something. She had perfected a Court mask that rivaled Alaerec's, and her eyes seemed almost dead. Of course, it might've been her mother's death, though I doubted it.

Fortunately, Mora was taken under the wing of a real ladies' maid (mine was just a glorified nanny who was good at doing my hair), the maid of a woman in the north who was everything Mora wanted to serve. A week after I met her, and she was gone.

Throniv was almost as inscrutable as his sister, though he did laugh at the occasional joke. When he wasn't working, he joined Ermliana and I (and sometimes Alaerec) from wherever we were supervising, where he laughed and even talked some. His father, meanwhile, was a short, jolly, corpulent fellow who was everything his tall, quiet, slender children were not. He had a penchant for bawdy songs and funny limericks and Ermliana thought he was simply hysterical. I never caught his name, for everyone called him Stew--short for steward.

And so, while Ermliana; Stew; Nira, the woman in charge of the music; and Ioni, the woman in charge of decorations struggled away to have the ballroom ready by Ermliana's Flower Day and wonderful enough to satisfy her mother, I spent what little time I had to myself alone in the library.

But I didn't read. Rather, I thought. And mostly about Alaerec.

The argument after the tea party incident had been something of a milestone in our friendship. Alaerec and I had not spoken of the fight since that night, and I certainly was in no hurry to do so. But it were his words that made me think the most.

I worry about you too much, you know.

But I hadn't known. It had surprised me. Alaerec worried little; he had little time to worry and he was optimistic that everything would be just fine. But his worrying about me told me something.

Maybe--maybe he liked me back.

Of course he likes you back,my inner cynicsaid. He's been your best friend for twelve years. But he doesn't love you.

I'm not in love, I convinced myself. I'm not in love.

What a load of horse dung, the inner cynic (and my conscience) said.

I ignored it.

Stew was friendly and kind and jolly, but I never once heard him talk about his personal life or express an opinion. His true emotions were always inscrutable, and that made him scarier than Mora, in my opinion.

However, he gave excellent advice.

I found this out from Throniv, who had told us that his father was something of a general advisor for the servants and even sometimes the Prince and Princess at Renslaeus. So, as I sat in the library, trying not to tell myself I was in love with Alaerec, I decided it was time to ask for advice.

Normally, I would've asked Ermliana, but knowing her, I dreaded what she might say to Alaerec. She couldn't know anything about it yet.

So, while Stew was eating lunch--by himself, oddly enough--I snuck into the kitchens. "Hello, Stew."

He looked up from his (very large) sandwich, and said, "Why, if it isn't her grace the Duchess of Savona!" he cried jovially. "Is there something I can do for you?"

I sat down next to him and said, "Please, just Elestra will do. And yes, there is something you can do for me. I need a little advice."

His eyebrow shot up. "Oh?"

"But you can't tell anyone. Not even your kids or anyone. And especially not the Renslaeuses."

He chuckled. "I think I know where you're going with this."

I looked up at him. "Is it that obvious?"

"You're in love with the Marquis."

The Marquis...oh. The Marquis of Shevraeth. Alaerec.

I blushed hotly. "WEll--I mean--ye--no!"

He raised an eyebrow at me. Finally I said, "I guess I am. What do I do now?"

"Good! at leastyou're admitting it."

Before I could question what that meant, he said, "I can't help you much here."

My face fell. "Whyever not?"

Stew chortled, and said, "Because, My dear, I've never been in love. And I have no desire to be. However, I will tell you this: love is nothing to be ashamed of. Tell him how you feel."

"He'll reject me! He's been my best friend for thirteen years! I couldn't do that! It would totally destroy our friendship!"

Stew laughed again and then knelt close to the table. "Well, Elestra, I probably shouldn't tell you this," he whispered, "but half of the kitchen servants have a betting pool on when Alaerec will finally lose his composure and tell you he loves you."

Oh, boy.

Post-A?N: Well, interesting stuff goin' on...ph, yes, veeery interesting.

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