Libramentum

“She must go to court, she’s more than a woman grown and her comeliness won’t always overcome the fact she should have bore at least one child by now,” Lady Tansay chided, pacing the room in front of her husband, her hands tucked into her thick dagged sleeves. Her hazel eyes were thin and narrow, creased from years of scrunching them. In a manner, the saying ‘If you keep making that face, it’ll get stuck like that’, held salt with the middle-aged woman, as her once lovely fox-like eyes were prematurely etched by deep crow’s feet. Lord Donovar remained in his chair, arms crossed, unmoving. His bushy brows furrowed over his drooping eyelids. He was a decade his wife’s senior, but age had worn him for the better. His thick, chestnut beard tumbled down his chest, mustaches twitching as an answer finally came to him. “She’s been too frail to go before and I did not want anyone taking advantage of her as they have Raina.” “Her illness from childhood barely affects her anymore, you know as well as I do… Anyways, what is so bad if she remains thin? It’s more attractive anyways, I say she was blessed, so many other ladies have trouble keeping the weight off. Perhaps she feels ill from time to time, at least she doesn’t have to worry about growing fat from too many sweets. And she’s got magick, she truly is a blessed child.” Donovar gave his wife a glum glare, finally sitting up in his chair. “That’s why I’m afraid to send her. She hasn’t got magick like you think she does, it’s for healing, not for frightening people or killing. She’s a gentle, sweet thing and I know that damned place would have ripped her apart. I was waiting for the proper time to send her, but I never knew when it would be-” “You dote on her too much!” his wife snapped, though he was nonplussed by the sharpness in her tone. “Soft or no, she would have learned had she been sent sooner. We’ve gotten many offers for her hand, all of which you have turned down! Better matches than Raina got and she’s the eldest daughter.” “Raina has no magic and doesn’t possess the kindness or wit that Eleanor has,” the man grumbled, pushing himself to his feet. “I did not accept any of those offers, because they were not worthy.” Standing, Lord Donovar Blacktyde was a monster of a man at nearly seven feet. He was barrel chested and burly, his eyes barely visible beneath his bushy brows. His cheeks were bright red dimples beneath a weathered, tan skin. He thrust the doors open to their chamber balcony that overlooked the ocean hundreds of feet beneath them. The castle had been built on the stone cliffs of the Black Sea, for which the house was named for. Even as high as they were, the ocean crashed and boomed beneath them. During storms, the spray could even reach as high as a balcony, roaring and beating against their chambers. “No one is worthy of my baby and only she might convince me otherwise,” he told his wife, staring across the ocean. He had sailed it many times, the sway of a deck beneath his feet more comforting than that of his limestone castle.  Tansay sidled up beside him. They had spent nearly three decades together and over that time, their love had thinned. In their youth, when Tansay was without child, he could recall fonder times. It wasn’t until the birth of Raina, their second child, and the death of their son, Ryden, that she became a shrewd woman with eyes like a weasel . Tansay bore another son after Raina, but she had grown distant after Ryden’s death and Donovar’s comfort fell on deaf ears. Tansay had not expected Eleanor to survive long and thus, spent her time with her healthy children, leaving Donovar to care primarily for his youngest child. He had a bond with Eleanor he did not have with the children Tansay clucked about. Donovar had resented Tansay for a time for ignoring Eleanor, but he came to understand that she kept her distance in fear of losing another child. Her thought process was that if she didn’t get close to her, if she died, it wouldn’t hurt as much.  But it always hurts, I remember Ryden as if he were by my side on a ship learning how to tie knots yesterday. It hurt me too, he thought as he saw her hands clutch at the railing, knuckles turning white.  “Raina is at court and I know other ladies from House Beesbury that will gladly show her around court,” Tansay soothed, her voice becoming gentler.  Donovar’s mustaches twitched again. The two sisters had never gotten along, that much was terribly obvious anytime the two were near each other. However, he trusted his in-laws more than his daughter. “She’s got a younger cousin who is also unmarried, right?”  “Taliya is of 16 years, a little more than a handful of years younger than Eleanor, but she’s more experienced in the court than she,” Tansay informed him. “And Eleanor is more clever than you give her credit for. You call her a sweet child, but she’s done nothing but study and learn all her life, be that in her magic or how to be a lady. It’s about time she applied what she had learned.” “I-” the large man was at a loss for words. Sending her away to court would mean he would no longer have her at his table every evening for dinner, no one to share in his jests, no one to accompany him on trips just for fishing… Was he being selfish by keeping her here? Or was he protecting her? She was more than a woman grown, she should have been married by then, but he clung to her desperately, afraid to be alone with his wife in the keep. Perhaps… with all the children gone they could repair their fracturing marriage. “Will miss her sorely…” he finished weakly, large hands clutching the railing now. His stomach roiled and he wanted to heave over the edge.  Tansay squealed with glee, almost as if she was her youthful, maid self again. It made Donovan smile, despite being displeased with his daughter leaving the nest, finally.  “I’ll send the falcons at once, it’s a bit overdue for Eleanor to go to court.”