AN:/ features unrequited Azel-Tailtiu, so if that's not your thing, click off. (no Claud/Claude distinction? what is this site)
"Claud and I kissed last night."
"Claud?" Azel echoed. He took his gloves off, soft leather lined with rabbit fur. His gloves went to her hands, and he took her basket for her. "Like, the father?"
"What other Claud is there?" Tailtiu tugged his gloves on, right hand first. His hands weren't too much bigger than hers, a little longer in the fingers, warmed by him. Her gloves sat atop her dresser back in the castle, no good there, but these flakes of snow falling were new. Not enough to close a market or send them inside, but cold enough to irritate her.
Azel gripped the basket, hooking it on his hip. "I don't know. A Silessian?"
Her nose crinkled. "Not nearly blond enough," she said; he shrugged in agreement. Lewyn wasn't bad to look at, but the dancer always hanging off of him and the bard shtick didn't do it for her.
The streets weren't too slippery today, both of them chicken legged. "I knew you and the father were close, but not-" she kept some of it to herself; he didn't need to hear all the things about Claud she liked — tall, soft in the face as well in the heart, easy to talk to and a sturdy arm to hang off.
"We've been gettin' close. I went with 'im to the church yesterday and got to talking about...us, I guess." She sighed. "The father don't treat me differently 'cause of my dad either."
"I don't," he said quickly, then cleared his throat. Tailtiu pulled her collar higher against the bite of the wind. She ventured into the streets today to buy her own sturdier gloves and her own hairbrush. She didn't leave home expecting to end up in Silesse, and while the castle was accommodating, she wanted her own comforts. "Lex doesn't."
"Of course you don't." After all these years together? He'd better not. "Lex has that wife of his he's busy with, and when you're not hung up on Princess Aideen you hole up in the library. Those sad puppy eyes betray you."
"My eyes aren't sad."
Sure, sure. She looked at the signs on the shops. Could she tell him? Speaking it into the air could do anything to it. "The father and I were thinkin' if we make it through the winter we'll get hitched."
Her basket clattered to the wet ground. Thankfully, it was empty, but he clambered to gather it up again all the same. "Married," he echoed, good at playing the chorus for her. "Ain't that-" she raised a brow at his language, him fixing it quickly. "Isn't that soon? How well do you know the father?"
"Well enough. I protected 'im up at the Tower and we got to talking there too. He ain't a stranger, Azel."
Doubting her wasn't like him. Thick, thin, stupid dances, strange countries. "I know!"
She reached for his sleeve to pull him inside a shop. "Come on," she said. "I need a brush and other stupid girl things."
Being in the shop shut him up for a moment. The shopkeep was busy, pointing her to the back of the store for the things she needed. One of these days she'd need to try her luck in the arena again, coin light in her hands.
"Claud," Azel suddenly said again.
Looking at him, the dour look in his eyes in the low light, Tailtiu wondered if she missed something all this time. How could she fit in his heart when Aideen was still there? Had he missed it too? "Yeah," she answered, "Claud."