Family breakfast

Two people co-operating to walk on three legs might sound like it would be slow going, but Vel and Adeline were extremely well practiced at his, having done it pretty much all their lives. So, despite Vel’s lengthy lavatory visit, the two of them made their way to the side room where the family took most of its meals quite swiftly. The estate had a huge dining hall of course but using it for regular meals was just too much of a hassle.

Seated at the table were Vel’s mother and his three other sisters, but to his great relief, not his father. Amordina and Chielynn, his two older sisters, did not even look up or greet the twins, but that really wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Viella, his little sister and the youngest of the flock, briefly looked up and offered something that might have been half a smile. Lady Rienne Andros, mistress of this estate and Vel’s mother, did actually look up to greet the twins, but also followed it up with a mild admonishment “You know Adeline, Velas has a cane for a reason.” Adeline was entirely unphased by this, and as she helped Vel to his seat simply said “I know, he has it as a backup if he can’t make use of me” Their mother’s eyes narrowed at this, and Vel was actually a bit shocked himself, this was the closest his twin had come to talking about serving him in front of the family. He knew the family gave her a lot of crap for everything she did for him, but she bore it stoically and shut Vel down any time he suggested that maybe he should round the last corner using his cane.

Finally seated, Vel instructed a servant to get him some porridge and a mug of tea. While waiting, he took in the full assembly of the female members of his family. Next to him was his gorgeous twin of course. Opposite them was the woman from whom they had both inherited their red hair. Lady Rienne was a striking woman, with a long and voluminous red mane and an ample bosom. Unlike the twins though, who had inherited their father’s blue eyes, hers were a bright green. She wasn’t as tall as Adeline, but still struck an imposing figure at 5′8″.

On her left sat his eldest sister, Amordina. About the same height as her mother, Amordina otherwise looked very little like her female parent. Out of all the Andros children, she took most after their father, in looks and personality both. She had long deep black hair that almost took on a dark blue sheen at times, as well as deep blue eyes. She also did not share their mother’s fair skin and was quite tan. Vel thought that had something to do with her spending so much time in the training yard. Amordina had seemingly made it her mission in life to be the warrior heir that their father wanted and that Vel could never be. As such she was also quite muscular, but luckily that had not diminished her large chest, which was only slightly smaller than her mother’s, at all. Unsurprisingly, she was also the one of his siblings who seemed to like him the least.

Then left of her sat Chielynn, second oldest of the flock. At 22 she was two years older than the twins and only one year younger than Amordina. Where Amordina strove to be a warrior and treated most traditionally female things with varying levels of disdain, Chielynn was the perfect image of a noble lady. Her wavy brown hair was always shiny and immaculate, and she was rarely seen wearing anything that wasn’t a dress. Both shorter and less curvy than her mother and older sister, Vel nonetheless had to admit that she was gorgeous. She also wasn’t as much of a pain to be around as Amordina. She didn’t seem to regard him with the same level of disdain, or at the very least didn’t show it, opting instead for cold indifference. While that wasn’t exactly nice, it was marginally better.

Lastly, sat on Vel’s left, was Viella. At 18 she was the youngest sibling and was the only one to inherit their mother’s green eyes. She was also the only blonde in the family. When she was younger Viella had been quite close with the twins, especially with her only brother, who she had followed around like a little puppy. In the last few years this had changed though, Vel imagined this was probably because their family had applied more pressure to join in the ostracization as she approached adulthood. As a result, she now seemed torn and unsure how to treat Vel. She was never unkind to Vel, but also didn’t seem to dare show him any warmth. Vel couldn’t really blame her for that, it surely wasn’t an easy situation for her, but it was hard to not feel a little resentment. As annoying as her dogging his heels had been at times, he did miss his little sister.

All of this made for a rather awkward and tense family breakfast, with not much being said after the twins arrived. Vel’s mother did her best to keep some semblance of a conversation going though, asking her children about their plans for the day and reminding Viella of her appointments with her tutors. Unsurprisingly Amordina intended to spend the first part of the day in the training yard, while Chielynn mentioned that her tailor was coming by for a dress fitting. Neither of the twins said anything until their mother addressed them directly “And what about you, Velas and Adeline? What are your plans for the day?” Velas wasn’t entirely sure, he had no commitments today, but his twin took it upon herself to answer for the both of them “We’re going riding, my new roan and I are still getting used to each other, and I could use the help of an expert like Vel.” Even though this was news to him, Vel certainly had no objections, and just nodded as if this was something they had planned days ago.

The conversation mostly died down again after that, their mother made some further attempts at conversation, but the rest of the breakfast was mostly spent in silence.