A/N: Here, to celebrate Valentine's Day, are some cute starlets FINALLY getting somewhere with their arc (and it's about damn time).

Rough ages are as follows: Daniel at 59, Martha at 54, Sterling at 20, and Oriana and Maglina both at 18. Off in the background are still Johan (76), Clara (57), Lena (26), Olly (32), Astra and Tara (24), Grant (23), Seren (12), Jasper (2 1/2), and Astra's second child is born in between the two parts.

Chapter Fifty-Five: Silver and Gold III

Sterling breathed deeply as he walked across the castle grounds. The air was cool, though the sun was warm against his skin and civilian clothes, warning him that summer indeed was just around the corner. Having only been permanently home from the border for one day, it was a relief that he could wander about and not worry about shirking his duty to his comrades. His eldest sister could send him places, he could spend his days preparing to enter university, and there would be no guilt over whenever he wanted to simply take a day to himself, to take a day to do something important, or take a day to do absolutely nothing at all.

Finally he made it to the large cottage he knew as the preferred home of his boyhood tutor, tucked amongst trees to dapple it in shade. It was a comforting sight, despite the fact the reason he was there churned his stomach; nerves ultimately won out over other emotions as his innards knotted themselves tighter with every step. He went up to the door and knocked almost timidly, taking off his hat and fiddling with the brim while he waited.

The door opened and Sir Daniel smiled kindly at him. Long gone were the days when he had to look up to see him; they were now both adults and looked one another in the eye with ease. "Sterling? I thought I heard that you were home. Please, come in; is life outside the uniform treating you well?"

"I can't stay for very long—dinner's soon enough," Sterling lied. The quicker he could make his visit, the better off he would be in the end. He followed Sir Daniel into the sitting room, where Oriana was reading on the couch.

"Oh, hello," she said, putting down her book and standing up. "Would you like some tea, or…?"

"No, I just wanted to let you know that, well, this isn't common knowledge yet, but Lena's getting married for certain and you both are invited. Lady Martha too, if she can manage time to get away from the front."

"Just because we all saw it coming doesn't mean the news is any less wonderful," Sir Daniel beamed. He sat down in a large, comfortable chair and grinned. "When is the wedding?"

"During the autumn colors, like she planned, but the exact day isn't decided yet; that will come after Lena visits Althos to properly talk to Grant's papa," Sterling said. He then turned towards Oriana, who was still standing, his face flushing with color. "M-Maggie says the both of you are going to be presented in a few weeks even though you had your inheritance ceremony."

"That's right—I'm really nervous about it," she replied. "I feel like I'm going to make a fool of myself."

"I don't think so," he assured. He then grew quiet. "Even though you will have been presented and had your inheritance ceremony at that point… would you, um, would you like me to escort you? To Lena's wedding? Th-That way you don't have to worry about finding someone else in the new crowd…"

"…but then I'd be sitting up with your family," she nearly gasped. "I don't know, Sterling…"

"You'd be sitting up there anyways—your mama and papa sat with us at Astra's wedding as well," he reasoned. "Please…?" He bent his neck forward, hunching his shoulders slightly as he waited for the answer. Oriana paused, staring nervously at his brown eyes and upturned brow.

"Then I accept," she breathed. Sterling took her right hand in his and bowed his head, nearly kissing her knuckles. He stopped himself, knowing that not only did they have an audience, but that he had not yet told her about his feelings and that could have made things worse.

"Thank you," he sighed, a look of relief washing over his face. He put his hat back on and nodded politely to both Oriana and Sir Daniel. "Now I'm sorry, but I really must leave. Hopefully I'll see more of you both again, now that I'm home for good."

"Don't act a stranger," Sir Daniel said, leaning forward in his chair. He rested his elbows on his knees as he watched Sterling retreat and show himself out.

Oriana observed carefully through the curtains as Sterling left, his gait conspicuously quick for someone that was only headed towards a family dinner. She glanced over at her father and frowned at the smirk he wore on his face. "What?"

"Oh, nothing," he replied. Sir Daniel leaned back in the chair smugly, which only seemed to irritate his daughter.

"That doesn't look like nothing. What's so funny?"

"Just, I remember the two of you as children—playing at March and acting out faerie stories—and now he's escorting you to a wedding."

"It's just Lena's wedding," she frowned, attempting to go back to her book. "You make it sound like it's something that could change everything."

"It could," he shrugged. "Just remember that Sterling's a good lad, even if you don't realize it. You've almost always been together—the boy doesn't know what to do without you."

"…but we always had Maggie there," she said. "She and I are the ones that are childhood friends."

"You may be of an age with Maggie, but you're also close enough to Sterling. Wherever you two girls went, chances were that he was on your heels whether he wanted to be or not." Sir Daniel laughed as he remembered days gone by, only to quiet just as quickly, pensive. "Did you know that I'm the reason his parents even married, let alone fell in love?"

"How? You were just a soldier then."

"Exactly." He stood up and crossed the room, sitting down on the couch's armrest so that he could place a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "I may not always agree with his father, but he is a good man, and his mother is why I'm alive today. I'll tell you the full story eventually, but now just know that you could definitely do plenty worse."

Oriana raised an eyebrow. "Do worse? Dad, he asked to escort me to his sister's wedding; how do I do better or worse than that? Not going at all?" She watched his face as he smirked before standing back up to walk towards the kitchen. Her mind connected the dots and she began to laugh. "You can't be serious!"

"He's a lad, and I know you like lads," he mentioned, now in the other room. "Don't think I didn't catch which book you're reading with a dreamy look, young lady."

"Dad! Stop spying on my stuff!"

"It's not spying if it's my house!"

Topic of conversation thus changed and the previous point was quickly forgotten, because honestly, Sterling? Oriana could not imagine him being capable of romance, only awkward conversation and quiet existence. He was to escort her to his sister's wedding, nothing more, and she went to bed with dreams of a grand ceremony and ball to follow, knowing that it would be nothing less, and that maybe, just maybe, she might be able to meet her Moon and Stars there… with a little bit of luck, anyhow.

Months passed and it was the morning of the Marchioness's wedding. Castle Gallifrey was nearly bursting with excitement as servants, guests, and the governing family alike all prepared themselves for the festivities. Despite the Earlessa's marriage a few years prior, there had not been a wedding attached to the governance chair in over three decades—many had not yet existed, nor had the clear memory, of the day the Black Spectre brought home his Blackpudlian bride, and there were few around to able to recall the last ceremony involving the governance chair to take place within the castle.

Near eighty years was a long time, even in Gallifrey, and the march and earldom both were rejoicing.

There was one, however, who was more nervous than even the bridegroom on that morn. Sterling smoothed out the front of his military dress uniform—a request of his sister's—and frowned in the mirror. He had not been at either front for months and was instead taking correspondence courses with the Royal University; it was too much to ask for him to don such finery as though it was still his life. At least he felt better as he put on his cloak, as it would hide much of the uniform, but the bars would still be there, mocking him along with shiny brass buttons, fringed epaulettes, and the military cut of his jacket.

"Sterling! Are you ready yet?!" He glanced over his shoulder and saw Maglina barging into his room, not bothering to knock or do anything else decent. Her dress was the color of her eyes, a sea-blue-green in the flowing cut that was fashionable in the capitol. He was startled by the height she had gained with her heeled shoes, bringing her nearly up to his chin.

"What's the matter with you? Do you need to reach a shelf?" She hit him at that, his shoulder stinging from the contact. "Ow! What was that for?"

"Being irritating," she frowned. "Ori? What will we do with him?"

Sterling blanched as he turned, seeing that their friend was also there in his bedchamber. Dressed in Gallifreyan red with a coal-black shawl wrapped around her shoulders, she looked absolutely stunning as the child of two parts of the kingdom. He began to breathe slowly as he watched her enter the room; his knees grew weak and his palms sweaty beneath his gloves, hoping that his panic would not betray his admiration.

"It's his job, remember?" Oriana smirked. "He irritates you and you irritate him, and it goes back and forth and back and forth, but stars help the sorry sack that irritates one of you, as then they'd have both to answer, if they only answer to you two at all." She looked Sterling over and nodded in approval. "Good—you made an effort and it paid off."

"Uh, thanks," he blushed. Maglina glanced between them and placed her hands on her hips.

"Come on, Sterling; we don't have all day for you to be weird. Not only does Lena need us downstairs, but we all should be out there for ourselves! This is the first major event outside of the Season for us and I don't want to screw up this networking chance."

The young man frowned as his sister grabbed his elbow and tugged him along. "Networking? Please, Maggie, you sound old."

"I sound sensible; you and I are lesser children in the family and Ori's family is still comparatively new to the aristocracy. If we don't get out there and mingle, there's a good chance all of us will end up single."

"That rhymed," he noted. He heard his sister grunt in disapproval while their friend snickered. They hurried down to the governance hall, where they were made to take their places soon after arrival.

The ceremony was, as expected, elaborate and just a touch overdramatic, as in line with Lena's personality. Sterling noticed how it was more overdone than Astra's had been, and for good reason—a sitting marchioness's wedding compared to an earlessa's heir was to be naturally attended by more dignitaries and regional rulers, else risk the wrath of the earldom and march in the unforeseen future. Even the bridegroom's family behaved, despite their dislike of the match, and it was considered by most to be little short of a miracle.

It was not until later in the evening, after dinner was done and dancing had commenced, did anything seem to go even the slightest bit wrong. He was standing off to the side with the Baron and Baroness Coal-on-the-Hill, quietly conversing as they could over the music and laughter of the evening. As they talked, Oriana and Maglina were out on the dance floor, twirling around with the other guests together until they returned at the end of a song, the former limping whilst the latter held her up.

"What happened?!" the Baron gasped. He tried to not sound alarmed at the fact his daughter was injured, yet it came through anyhow.

"I twirled at the end of the dance and broke my ankle," Oriana explained through her grimace. "Luckily, Maggie caught me."

"We'll see about that," the Baroness said.

Once Oriana was sitting in one of the chairs along the wall, her mother lifted up the hem of her skirt and carefully examined her ankle. The young woman winced as it was touched and manipulated—she had not felt such pain in a long while, since she had fallen from a pony when she was first learning how to ride.

"It looks like you only twisted it, and lightly too, thank the stars," she said. The Baroness stood and helped her daughter stand before glancing over towards Sterling. "Can you help me get her back to the cottage? She needs to get this up sooner rather than later."

"Yes, ma'am," he said.

"There's a good lad; Daniel, stay here while I'm gone. If all three of us vanish, it'll look bad."

"You have a point," the Baron nodded. He gave his wife a quick kiss on her lips and his daughter a kiss to the top of her head. "We'll see how that ankle is in the morning, yeah?"

"Okay, Dad," Oriana said, attempting to keep a straight face. "Maggie, please make my excuses to Lena and Grant; you need to stay here and continue your networking." Her friend hugged her in an attempt to banish her frown and nodded.

"Don't worry—they'll understand. I'll come see you first thing in the morning, promise."

At that, Sterling and the Baroness helped Oriana back towards the cottage. Once they were inside and definitely out of sight from the regular party-goers, Sterling switched to carrying Oriana on his own, bringing her up the stairs and gingerly placing her on her bed.

"Can you please get me one of the clean dishcloths and a bowl of ice?" the Baroness asked as she moved a chair to her daughter's bedside. He complied, going down into the kitchen and chipping off bits from the block in the ice box before grabbing a dishcloth from the cupboard. By the time he was back upstairs, Oriana was changed into a nightdress and her mother using extra pillows to prop up her leg.

"Here we are," he said, holding out the washcloth and bowl. The Baroness wrapped some ice chips in the cloth and held it to her daughter's ankle. "How does that feel?"

"Cold," Oriana replied.

"Good—if you can still feel it, you'll be close to normal in a couple of days." She draped a towel over her daughter's foot and turned her attention to Sterling. "I want you to change this at least once before she goes to bed; make sure it's nice and cold the entire time."

"You mean… you aren't staying?" he wondered.

"I have to get back to the castle. If I'm not around then Daniel is liable to get grumpy and the last thing we need is for me to be performing cleanup on something I wasn't even around to witness." She rolled her eyes as she shook her head in jest—she loved her husband, but also knew that he did not have the ability to handle some of the more… interesting other lords and ladies at the party. "You've helped me plenty of times out on the front, enough for me to know you can handle this. Don't worry; we'll be back soon enough."

"O-Okay…" The two young people then bid the Baroness goodnight and she let them be, truly making her way back to the castle. A silence settled over them, the only sound being the rustling of the leaves just beyond the bedroom window.

It was Sterling that talked first. "Would you like some tea?"

"Yes, please," she said. She watched him unclasp his cloak and place it on the peg on the back of her door; the uniform did look nice on him. "We have a tin of fresh biscuits in the end cupboard—the kind with slaeberry jam."

"As you wish," he said with half a bow. Sterling left the room and went downstairs to the kitchen with the aim of putting together tea. He procrastinated, panicking over the idea he had been purposefully left alone with Oriana in her bedroom, by her mother, before actually going and boiling water. Once the tea was steeped and the biscuits found, he brought the teapot, biscuit tin, and a couple of mugs up the stairs on a tray, finding that Oriana was reading by lamplight when he returned.

"I was beginning to wonder if you got lost," she joked as he set the tray down on the bed.

"No—just had to light the fire twice when it didn't catch the first time," he claimed, having heard of the issue not even an hour prior in conversation.

"It's been doing that lately. Dad thinks it's a draft in the chimney, but Mum's not sure about that." She sat up to take a sip of the tea and hummed in delight. "Lady Clara's tea; it's good you know my favorites."

"Your parents seem well-stocked," he replied. Sterling glanced at the book and raised an eyebrow. "What are you reading? I don't think I've seen that title before."

"I don't think you'd like it much," she claimed, her tone making it clear she had been caught. Oriana glanced sideways and he could catch a glint of embarrassment in her eyes. "Maggie and I got it last we were in the capitol. It's a bit… graphic, for lack of a better word."

"Mama has shelves of books like those—you should ask if you can borrow some," he said nonchalantly. He averted his gaze as well, munching on a biscuit as he stared at the pattern on her bedspread. "We're all allowed to borrow from them except Seren for what I hope are obvious reasons. I think Lena even owns some herself, and Tara definitely has more than should be decent."

"How does it get less decent than this?"

"Diagrams."

"Oh."

The pair finished up their tea and Sterling quickly made himself busy cleaning up. He brought the tray downstairs and took care of the dishes, which was easy enough, and procrastinated in going back upstairs yet again. Despite having been left alone by the Baroness, he wasn't entirely certain that it was proper for them to even be in the same building by themselves, let alone a bedroom. He went up the stairs and she was reading again, though the look on her face now was more of one who was caught.

Putting his hand underneath the towel, Sterling could feel that the cloth draped over Oriana's ankle was now warm. He took and held it out the window to wring it out properly, then wrapped some more ice in the folds before replacing it.

"Sterling, I was thinking," she said once the towel was over her foot again. Closing her book, she placed it on the nightstand and waited for his full attention. "You should go back to the party. I'm sure that you need to socialize just as much as Maggie does—the Moon of your Sky could even be out there and you'd miss your chance because you're here instead of searching for them."

"I already know who is the Moon lighting my way at night, if she'll have me, that is," he said, sighing softly. Avoiding eye contact, he blushed as he continued. "If she will not, then I do not mind, for I cannot sow where seeds have not been properly planted. Lena would be glad to have my hand as a bargaining chip, and I would be glad in turn for the match, as it would be made for the greater good of things."

"…but love is the greater good, isn't it?"

"The greatest good, so I hear, but that doesn't pale other actions made in selflessness."

"Can I ask, who this woman is who has your heart?" she asked. The corner of her mouth twitched upwards in a grin, finding this new side to Sterling interesting. "Did you meet her on the border?"

"No."

"How about in the capitol?"

"No."

"Blackpoole…?"

"I don't remember meeting her—it's been a long time."

She paused for a moment, her face twisting in confusion. "You can't be serious… Netta…?!"

"Far from," he replied, a tired smile creeping onto his face. Sterling took her hand in his and lifted it to his lips, kissing her knuckles gently.

All time seemed to stop, their hearts leaping in their chests out of nervousness and fear. Oriana slowly, cautiously, took her hand back, staring at her childhood friend as she finally truly understood him.

"That's why you're here," she realized. "I'm your Moon."

"Yes."

"Why didn't you tell me before now…?"

"I did." Sterling motioned towards her desk, where there was a stack of letters left out in plain view. "Never in those precise words, of course, but each letter I wrote you, I tried to express how much you mean to me. I never knew how to tell you directly before now."

"That's unhealthy, Sterling. Pining after someone without knowledge of their returned feelings can warp a person into something they're not."

"I've known I wanted to be with you since we were kids, even if I didn't realize everything that fully entailed, so I've had a long time to consider what it would be like should you choose to give your love to another."

"Since when?" Oriana sat all the way up and looked him straight in the eyes. "How long have you felt this way?"

"It was not long after I moved out of the nursery, when we were playing March," he confessed. "I was the marquis and you were the marchioness and when you kissed me, there was something that I knew was right—that one day you could be passing me a real child and not a doll in one of Seren's old dresses. I didn't realize what that entailed until much more recently, but that didn't mean that my feelings changed." His skin flushed red in embarrassment, having not spoken of this aloud in such a manner for a long time. "I'll never be a marquis, and I don't want to be; I'm more than happy being there for you, whatever that may entail. Please don't hate me."

"Sterling, I could never hate you," she replied. She placed her hand against the side of his face, her thumb brushing against his cheekbone. "I don't know if I can love you in that way, though. Stars, until now I didn't even realize that you had those sorts of feelings for anyone, let alone me. Now that I know, you need to give me time to see if it is there for me as well. It may have been there all along—maybe not—so I will give it a decent chance, but you will have to be patient while I figure out where I stand. It's a lot to think about."

"I've waited this long."

"If it's been since we last played at March? Then yeah, I guess you have." She laughed and laid back down, patting the empty side of her mattress. "Would you like to rest here? You must be exhausted."

"It's alright? You're not… worried about anything?"

"Sterling, I was beginning to think that you weren't even searching for a moon, that your nephews would serve as the stars in your sky—if I were to start worrying about your behavior now, it would say much more about me than it would about you."

He smiled at that before unlacing his boots and pulling them off. He removed his jacket, though took his cape from the peg and brought it with him as he laid next to Oriana on the mattress to use as a blanket. Holding one of her hands in both of his, he kissed her fingers as he gazed longingly at her.

"I cannot promise you anything," she said.

"I know."

"We may still be married to others after this."

"That will not erase tonight from existence." He gently squeezed her hand, his heart pounding in joy. "I can move on from this, if I have to, so don't make your decision out of pity or guilt."

She did not reply, instead closing her eyes and beginning to drift off into sleep. It had been a long day for her as much as anyone.

"We're still friends?" she eventually murmured.

"Yeah," Sterling said, eyes closed as well. "We're still friends."

…and that was all he needed.