But you didn't want to get married

You open your mouth to say something then close it when nothing comes out.

Vatarie deeply inhales and let out a happy noise.

You open your mouth to say something but still nothing comes out.

Vatarie plants another soft kiss on your lips and pulls back smiling happily at you.

You open your mouth to say something but still nothing comes out.

"I'll let my mother know I've found a match and she'll contact your father to arrange your dowry."

You open your mouth then shut because you already know nothing is going to come out.

"We'll have to wait until next spring." Vatarie hooked her arm into your and she started walking to the dorms. You were still recovering from the verbal flashbang so walked with her without resistance. "It's a family tradition for wedding to take place in spring. Oh I forgot to ask is your father a Viscount or a Baron?"

The question required no higher reasoning so you responded, "He's a Lord."

Vatarie stopped. "What?" She asked looking at you in confusion.

"What?" You ask as you started to recover enough to regain high reasoning. "Wait married? W-we've only known each other for a day?"

"How is your father a lord? You have a higher class room, and you were eating middle class food?" Vatarie was suddenly very intensely scrutinising you.

"I here on a sponsorship." You answer feeling a little defensive at the sudden scrutiny.

"B-but why didn't you tell me?!" She pulled her arm free of yours.

"I-I didn't?" You recall all the interactions you'd had with her, surely you mentioned it at least in passing.

"No you didn't." Vatarie looked incredibly uncomfortable. "I-I can't-"

You finished your recollections and no, you hadn't told her, you very suddenly feel guilty about this. "S-sorry I thought you knew."

"How could I have known?" Vatarie hissed as she started pacing. "No, no, no, if my mother find out..." She didn't finish the thought out loud. "Asune..." Vatarie looked like she was about to breakdown.

"Vatarie." You reached out to touch her. Seeing her so distressed, you wanted to try and help her.

She took a step away from your hand. "Please." She held up a hand to stop you. "I, I need to think." She rushed to the dorms leaving you standing there alone.

Well that is one way to avoid a marriage. The joke wasn't as funny as you were hoping, all it did was make you feel worse.

Waiting for a few moments to ensure Vatarie would have enough of a head start you walked to the dorms. Your chest felt tight. You replayed the exchange over and over in you head. You didn't even want to, you didn't want to think about what just happened, what you had, no matter how unintentionally, done to Vatarie. But your brain just kept playing the scene over and over again. When the front doors to the dorm closed you stretched out your perception. Hoping to find Vatarie.

If she wasn't in her room you didn't know what you'd do. That wasn't true, you'd been the cause of her distress, if she wasn't in her room you'd run to her to try and make her feel better. Your chest tightened.

You couldn't feel her and walked to the steps then stopped. You were facing the stairs but your eyes weren't, they were looking at the door to the baths. She could be there. The only thing that would be between you would the door you didn't have a key stone for but that would hardly stop you, if disintegrating the locking magic on the door didn't work you could just disintegrate the door itself.

Your chest tightened and their was something new. A heat. A heat on your skin?

You raised a hand to feel that heat and felt your mother ring under your tunic. You fished it out and looked at it on it's string.

It looked the same as it always did, then you relaxed your eyes. Those twenty dots around it's edge were the same but for one. One was glowing very faintly before fading to match the others. You blinked a few times. You knew you saw it but didn't understand it. It was the first time it had done anything aside from make you forget it's existence.

"Christopher?" You let the ring fall back down to your chest and looked over at Wilfred. He looked at you for a long moment. "She went to her room."

His words took the weight of indecision off you didn't know was there. "Thank you." But the tightness in your chest hadn't loosened.

"My pleasure Sir. And I'm sorry if it isn't my place, but you and her Ladyship," He paused and leaned a little further out to make sure you were alone, "does your sponsor approve?"

"What?" It was a question that made that tightness knit itself into a knot. Anastasia how would she react, you'd not wanted to involve her because it wasn't her business, but the attendants know your relation to her they could tell her. Was he trying to tell you that if you didn't tell her he or another attendant would?

"It's just that if she approved, nothing else would really matter would it?" He raised an eyebrow at knowingly.

You responded by raising your eyebrow questioningly. "W-what?"

"I'm an attendant my Lord, it's my job to help you, not my place to inform others of its need." He smiled earnestly at you and the knot relaxed. "Breakfast will be served soon if you want to change for it."

"R-right." You took the first step then leaned back to look at Wilfred. He'd helped. "Thank you." You say with a smile.

"My pleasure my Lord." He bowed and you took the rest of the steps up.

When you reached your floor Vatarie's door was closed, you considered knocking to talk to her but didn't. She needed time to think and so did you, Wilfred had given you an option you hadn't even consider, time was needed to digest, to consider. You carefully opened your door stretching your perception into the room to check if Edin was awake. He was on the bed still asleep and you slipped inside.

You returned your sword to its place on your dresser and pulled off your clothes. You crept to the bed and lifted the covers scooting in to pull Edin against you. He mumbled softly then snuggled against you.

You couldn't sleep, your mind was still replaying recent events. You'd accepted it was going to do that but rather than let it replay the end, you focused on the training Vatarie had given you. You'd not trained in any unarmed combat because you knew you could never counter an imbued weapon they are the trump card that negated unarmed effectiveness. But Vatarie used unarmed combat as her, as far as you knew, primary method of engagement, to the point her family had its own developed style. You must be missing something, the thing that made it effective.

You spent so long in thought you didn't notice Edin stir against you. "Good morning Sir." He said rolling further over you so his head could rest in the middle of your chest. "Hmmm, warm." He mumbled seemingly drifting back to sleep.

You were happy to let him bring your arm to hug his back, running fingertips gently along his spine. "Good morning Edin. You're soft." you used his name as an indicator to him. With what just happened with Vatarie you weren't in the mood for sex but wanted the closeness. He got the message shifting a little closer to you.

The two of you stayed like that for a while before he spoke. "If you aren't going to feed me we should get breakfast." You hesitated. Vatarie could be down there and you didn't know what was worse, seeing and not talking, or not seeing her. "Could just stay here, you're comfortable enough I could sleep all day."

You smiled. It hadn't even been a full week and Edin was in tune with you. "You're amazing Edin." You mumble. You can feel his face heat up a little against your chest at the compliment. "And I can't have you starve." You moved a little and he took the hint, sitting up with you.

"I'm yours to do with Sir." He fixed you with a sultry gaze and bit him lip. You kissed for forehead then planted a soft one on his lips.

"Mine." You confirm making him smile.

The two of you dress and you take the door handle. Opening it a little your stretch your perception into the corridor checking Vatarie's door. It was closed but many other's weren't. You had spent long embracing Edin than you thought.

Opening the door you and Edin made your way to the dining hall. Your perception checking everyone it touched, seeking Vatarie. It didn't find her.

When you reached the dinning hall Edin's company had done more to calm you that Wilfred's words. But opening the dining hall door you still checked it for Vatarie. She wasn't there.

Together you grabbed your plates and got some food. It was similar to yesterdays and you wondered if you would ever enough encounter a grain in any form aside from bread.

You ate with Edin happy in each others company. You managed to get all they way through your meal without interruption, you hoped that would be the more common than it had been, it was lovely spending time with him like this.

Finishing you left the dining hall contentedly full and more in the mood for Edin's company than you had been. The moment the dining halls doors closed and you turned to the stairs you were stopped by the sight of a familiar carriage driver. He was talking to Wilfred and you hoped Wilfred's comment about keeping thing to himself was holding true.