Chapter 10

"Mr. Ivers." Charle caught his attention "I was wondering if you could teach me how to fight. So that I could join the city guard."

Tamlin looked up from the wool to Marguerite´s son. A young male with his whole life ahead of him, wanting to join the city guard and fight. Not that he didn't understand, but…

"I want to fight for The Alliance." Charle manoeuvred quickly, rolling the sheep slightly to get rid of the dirty wool around it´s bum. Tamlin would rather the sheep stop looking at him with that stupid face. "I have to protect my mother and sister."

Marguerite was so quick at shearing that he had no idea how the sheep didn't get dizzy at being turned one way and then the other, Daphne wasn't far behind. Even Katherine was skilled enough to help, while Allie made them food and he was left to roll the wool and help where requested.

"And who would care for the farm if you joined the guard?" Tamlin tried to dissuade the boy.

"My dad. And we have a cousin, only a second son. He can come live with them." He had it all planned out, of course "You fought for what you believed in your youth, didn't you? To protect your family?"

That was, unfortunately, true. He had believed all the wrong things back then, and of all his family the only one he should have bothered to protect was his mother.

"It caused me to do horrible things. You shouldn't want it."

"I don't want to, I have to. It's my duty as a partisan, you understand, don't you? Or are you a traditionalist?" Charle scowled.

"You can't hate the High Lord more than I do, boy." That much was also true.

"The Alliance needs every male." Charle insisted "If Summer leaves… you'd fight, why not me?"

Because you're young, your whole life is still ahead of you, you've done nothing to justify throwing yourself away at war, there's so much you can still do.

"I'll do it either you help me or not."

Tamlin sighed.

"Fine, then. If your parents agree to it." He hoped they wouldn't, but Jules Wyatt being the mayor, of course the initiative would likely be applauded "Are all of you Elliots like this?"

Charle laughed, the same open, trusting laughter he had heard so many times from Allie. The boy had no idea of what war was like. Tamlin prayed he would never have.

"Dan, can you help me with the back?"

Tamlin turned from Charle´s laughing blue eyes to where Katherine beckoned him with a shearing scissor.

"Sure."

"Have you ever been to behind the priestess´ back?" Marguerite´s question caught him completely off guard, and he couldn't help thinking of Ianthe.

He himself had never, despite that night when she got so drunk she forgot her whole history with Lucas and decided he had always been the handsomest of the brothers.

"The Tilted Thorn, I think that is the correct name." Katherine clarified "But everyone calls it 'Behind the Priestess´ Back' because is directly behind the old temple."

"You folks do have an interesting line of thought." He chuckled, relieved "I've never been there."

He actually had, in one of his travels ages ago. The place supplied beer, amazing food and a working space for some ladies of the night, if he recalled it correctly. It was the sort of place a lady of court would never set foot on, but the farmers and townsfolk had more pacific relations to the stigmatized lines of work.

"It's so good even the folks from Willow Gate go there."

"It's the nicest place, really." Katherine endorsed "The meat and mushroom pie is beyond."

Marguerite grunted in accordance.

"I'm looking forward to seeing how much beer you can hold. Kate has been the uncontested queen of the tavern for ages now, it's about time someone knocks her down."

"Is that so?" He arched an eyebrow at her "You must all drink like girls then."

"Oooooooh." Marguerite teased Katherine from where she sat across from them, and Katherine gasped at the provocation.

"What are you saying?" She feigned offence "I'm going to wipe the floor with you."

"Let's see."

Marguerite made some remarks to add fuel to the fire, but he was looking at Katherine now, at the sharp sparkle in her smart amber eyes She had been acting different ever since the Calanmai, less guarded, both with him and with Allie. She had even winked at him that day, and he wondered how many males had perished by that wink alone.

He finished shearing the sheep´s back and rolled the wool along with some more that was laying around from the others who worked faster than him.

It was a peaceful life. A good life, truly, sowing fields and shearing sheep, laughing with friends and neighbours and planning a respite to get drunk at a local tavern. Katherine had indicated that he was welcome to stay at least until the summer solstice, and he found himself wishing that perhaps he could stay a while longer. She would need help with the harvest, probably, and Allie…

She had gone to his room two days after the Calanmai, while Katherine was washing. He had been oiling his knives when she got in, threw her arms around his chest and started to cry for her mother´s lost jewels. Allie´s chances of marriage were…scant. But Katherine didn't know that, and opted for selling her jewels rather than taking any money from her daughter´s dowry to keep them afloat. So how could Allie tell her the truth now, that the selling of her gold had been for nothing?

There was no clear way out of that mess, even though Tamlin had tried to assure Allie that, given how much Katherine clearly loved her, she surely wouldn't mind, but there was no convincing Allie to talk to her now.

The summer solstice seemed too soon.

There was little sound but for the breeze stirring the grass. That was one reason Katherine had stopped coming here, it was terribly lonely.

Judging by the weeds growing over the stone, it seemed that Allie also hadn't been here in a while. She dug the weeds from around the stone and then washed it until she could see her reflection on the marble, her hair braided back from her face and gathered at the back of her neck, like she had worn before. She looked even more foreign like that, but it didn't bother her. That was who she was, who she had always been beneath the stays and petticoats and all that Spring mask.

"Do you remember that's who I was when we first got married?"

Birds were singing in the trees nearby, and Noble´s snort broke the near-silence of the graveyard.

"You wouldn't believe who I got to meet." Kiril would be ecstatic to know that Tamlin had been living in their home. She wondered if he knew, or cared, wherever he was "It was all Allie´s doing, of course. I've only carried her, she's every fibre your daughter, that one. And growing more beautiful by the day. She's as tall as me now."

Kiril would be pressing her to see Allie married soon, as it was usual in Spring, but Katherine would never rush it. Her daughter would choose the time, even if it took hundreds of years.

"I've done some things… I can't say I'm sorry, but I'd never want to hurt you. I hope you understand." That was as close as she dared come to admitting to what she had done in the Calanmai. If she closed her eyes and thought back, she could still recall Tamlin´s taste on her mouth and his scent of rain and earth.

Of course, one day she would have done it again, if not with him then with someone else. She couldn't be expected to give that up for the rest of her days.

"I wonder if you think worse of me for it. I have lied to you, you never knew what I really was and still we loved each other very much. Do you know now what I was? What I am?" She spelled the tangled ball of weeds into a flower garland to lay at his stone "I wish I had been me when you were still here, but then perhaps you wouldn't have loved me."

Katherine touched some blades of grass by the grave, turning each to a different flower. Kiril had loved his pretty farm-wife sipping tea in stays and stockings and her hair in a bun, would he have loved her drinking ouzo in her braids and loose-flowing dresses, covered in gold and singing spells to the wind?

"Your sister has invited me to the tavern this week, in exchange for helping with the sheep. Her farm is doing really well, and Jules is the Mayor now. Your nephew was pestering...our guest to teach him how to fight today, he's going to join the guard, who would have believed it? The boy used to be scared of flying beetles. They're all grown up now, Charle Wyatt looks so much like Jules I may start calling him by his father´s name any day now."

It was odd. Kiril had been gone for over seven years now, and still, life had gone on. She didn't think it would be possible the day she first learned he wouldn't be coming back home, but time was relentless. Katherine´s heart was broken, but they still had to eat, and Allie kept growing like a fawn, then New Hope joined The Alliance and the name Elliot was drawn as first to serve, followed by Wyatt. One season followed the other, they started rebuilding the Town Hall, Daphne started serving as her clerk and Charle Wyatt´s voice changed from that odd squeal into a lovely bass. Daphne and then Allie came into adulthood and now…

"I wish you had been here to see it, Kir. I hope you can, wherever you are." And share it with whomever he was with, whomever else watched over them "Send my love to Charle and to Grandpa Titian. We miss you very much."

There was nothing left to say. The wind that blew from the woods was less chilly now, despite the clouds that were doubtlessly heading their way. It would take a couple of days for the clouds to gather enough to rain, but when it did it would be one lovely spring storm, to wash away the last of winter and water the crops to grow in the fields. If there was lightening, she could try a spell or two she had been curious about. Spring at last, to bring her back to life.

"Let's go, let's go, let's gooo!" Marguerite was shifting her weight from one foot to the other while Katherine tried to shove a rebellious curl into her hairdo "You look fine already!"

"You are in a hurry, huh?" Katherine managed to tuck it behind a braid and turned to Tamlin "Are you ready?"

He nodded, offering his arm to her. The Elliot Town House had survived the Hybernian fire with minimal damage, but still looked much deserted when compared to their country home. Katherine had spent the last four years residing there, but most of the decorations were from the time Elliot´s parents lived there, with only a murder or intrigue book here and there to mark her presence, and a few hats, embroideries and trinkets that must belong to Allie.

"Let's get drunk!" Marguerite pulled Jules´ arm to her, not very first-ladylike "It's going to be packed already! Are you happy?"

"Thoroughly." Katherine purred playfully, and Tamlin made a point not to bring to her attention that other stray curl down the back of her neck. She would take the whole night to get it in place, and he really missed the energy of a good country tavern.

The place was just starting to get crowded, and the ladies of the night were already at work there, just like he remembered, but they paid no attention to the escorted males.

"Should I let go of your arm so that you can patronize the local talents, cousin?" Katherine teased, not even looking at him.

"Are you trying to keep me from drinking you under the table?"

"Ah, you lay my strategy bare."

Katherine was certainly in an extraordinary mood tonight. She had put aside the structured Spring fashion in benefit of a loose Day-made dress that brought up her eyes and made her look every inch one of Helion´s folk, and it seemed to do wonders to her state of mind. Tamlin kept his eyes on Jules as she sat down on the bench and shuffled closer to the wall, the thick leather belt she donned around her waist made the dark green fabric highlight her shape very beautifully, and the abundance of her shifted freely with each movement, earning a gawk of one of the younger patrons.

The tavern maid skipped to where they now sat, wiping her hands on an already speckled apron.

"Look what the cat brought in! I was counting you with the dead already."

"What did I tell you?" Marguerite directed her comment at Katherine.

"It's so good to see you again!" Katherine got up from her end of the bench and bent forward over him to half-hug the maid and give her a kiss on each cheek "This is my cousin Dan." She turned to him with her dimpled smile "Ingrid owns this place."

Tamlin could only try to find his voice as he extended his forearm to Ingrid with a mumbled pleasantry.

"Your cousin? How wonderful! First round on the house, then."

"Ingrid, no-"

Ingrid shoved Katherine back towards her end of the bench, sparing Tamlin from the olive-leaves-and-daffodils scent.

"I've never got to thank you for your service, now sit down and I'll get you something to drink. You look like a sin tonight."

"Thank you, love." Katherine waved her hand with a satisfied giggle.

The drinks arrived in no time, and Marguerite got up to make the toast.

"To our health, to our family, and to the night when boisterous-ass Kate finally gets dethroned!"

"Oh, get fucked Maggie." Katherine rolled her eyes.

"To Maggie getting fucked." Jules added, raising his cup and earning a scandalized squeal from Kate, that pretended to cover Tamlin´s ears.

"What is my poor cousin going to think?"

"I will try not to think." Tamlin mumbled.

"Isn't it why we are all here tonight?" Marguerite lifted a sandy eyebrow at them.

"To family and to health." Katherine lifted her cup.

She drank a healthy sip with them and turned to fix Tamlin with a devilish amber gaze.

"Let's get this started."

In her lips, it sounded like a challenge for a melee instead of drinking.

It was the best existence one could ever aim for. The pie was even better than he remembered, the beer was dangerously easy on the mouth and the band was rather talented, and, amidst all that, there was the noise of laughter from other tables, the giddy chat of the night workers across the room and the animated talk in their own table.

"...what paramount stupidity it was, the poor devil was down for a fortnight."

They were already some beers in, and the ambiance of the tavern had grown even louder than when they first arrived. Tamlin caught himself wishing for his fiddle, so that he would join the band. He hadn't played since before his almost-wedding. It was best not to think about it now, surrounded by all that joy, living a piece of the quiet life he had always wanted.

"Would you do it, Dan?"

"What?" He blinked back from watching the band play.

"The White Bear Swim?" Marguerite pressed "Winter´s tradition for New Year."

The memory made him shiver.

"Once was enough, it took me three days to find my cock again."

Shit, did he say that aloud?

"That's your poor innocent cousin." Jules laughed, but Tamlin was watching Katherine.

She had tossed her head back in laughter, and she had the type of bubbly laughter that commanded one to laugh with her. It was… lovely. The dimples on her cheeks, her thickly lashed eyes shining with tears of laughter, the elegant golden throat, the way she tried to cover her mouth with her hand.

"You are terrible, Dan." She said it like it was a compliment.

Tamlin chuckled and took a sip of his beer to hide his stupid smile. He had never seen Katherine laughing before, but it was worth the embarrassment he had put himself through. She deserved that laughter and that joy and he was glad that at least he had been able to give her some of that. It was the least he could do, after everything he had unwittingly put her through.

Katherine´s title as queen of the tavern was entirely merited. By the time Jules gave up on out-drinking her, his speech already a bit slurred, Katherine didn't show any signs to have been drinking any thing other than water. She had taken to marking the tempo of the music with her hand on the table, and Tamlin couldn't help accompanying her with his foot.

The band was playing an all-time tavern favourite he knew so well he could have played it in his sleep, and, by lack of his fiddle, he started singing along. The charming ladies of the tavern were all at work in the rooms upstairs, but a handful of drunks remained, all accompanying the music, two of them trying to lean on one another in a semblance of a dance.

"You have a nice singing voice." Katherine appreciated, turning her empty cup around itself.

"I hadn't sung in a while." Tamlin admitted, earning a smile.

"Are you ready to go?" Jules waltzed back from the cashier, having adamantly refused Tamlin´s offer to share the bill.

Katherine hummed an agreement while Tamlin got up.

"I have no idea how the two of you can be looking so tidy and clear." Marguerite mumbled, leaning a bit heavily on Jules´ arm.

Perhaps tidy and clear wasn't the best way to describe it. Sometime along the night, the strand with which Katherine had been battling had escaped the braid and was now dangling charmingly on her brow, and his own tunic was covered in scraps from the pie and smudged with beer in one place, but they surely looked better than the current ruling family.

So much so that Katherine insisted in escorting them to their house before they returned to the Town Home.

"I hope it wasn't too much of a mess for you." Her hand was resting lightly on his arm, not one sign of how much she had been drinking "It wasn't a court function, but we have fun our own way in the country."

Tamlin had to commend her, for a female she surely knew how to hold her drink.

"I had a great time, you surely do know how to have fun." He agreed, walking slower to keep up with her pace "And I've never liked court functions all that much."

"Ever?" Katherine cocked her head to look at him.

"Well… I think I've enjoyed them some more right after Amarantha, but I would have enjoyed watching a boat race, just for the delight of being rid of her and seeing my friends again."

Katherine laughed lightly at that.

"You have a lovely laughter."

He shouldn't have said that. What if she thought he was flirting with her? He should have kept his damned mouth shut for once.

She only smiled and squeezed his arm.

"Thank you."

The street was absolutely deserted, no sound but the night insects and the occasional cat fight.

"You drink like a sailor."

Shit, he had drank too much. He could hear Lucien´s roaring laughter if he closed his eyes. At least now there was no way in hell Katherine would think he was trying anything.

She squared her shoulders back and lifted her chin proudly.

"I know. You didn't do bad, either."

Tamlin chuckled at the condescending tone. He could still out-drink her twice over, if only for the difference in weight.

"If I didn't know you, I'd think you've had extensive practice."

"But you know me." Katherine´s tone suggested the opposite.

"Well, now I'm guessing I don't." He admitted.

The foyer lights welcomed them to the Town House, casting a golden glow around, and Tamlin shifted back into his own skin, shaking his hair free of the ribbon.

"Thank you for coming with us tonight, Tamlin. It wouldn't have been as fun without you."

He had made her laugh. Just that had already been worth the night, but it had been really fun, the females bickering and gossiping, quiet Jules making a jest every now and then, the music and the food. He had missed that more than he had known.

"It was my pleasure."

Was it wrong of him to want more of that? Was it terribly wrong to want that life?

Perhaps…He could buy a farm around when it was time to leave. That way he would be close by if they ever needed him. Perhaps then he could just…stay there in New Hope, living as a farmer, like the rest of them. When the time came for him to face the battlefield once more, he knew he would miss them, Allie´s loyalty and Katherine´s steadiness, and their kindness towards him, but also Marguerite´s friendly chatter and Charle´s determination. He would regret it to have to leave them, but it was better than never having met them. He would enjoy what was granted, for however long it lasted.

Just a little tuesday chapter, have a nice week sweets