Family vacation, sort of

“Well, for starters, our family are winemakers back in Chaldoia,” Selene began to explain.

Chaldoia, Dareios knew, was probably second only to Thirice in the quality of the wine that came out of the eastern half of Erodoria. He’d drunk a fair bit of it, and from his experience the quality was quite uneven, while some of it had been pretty horrible plonk of service only to those absolutely **** to get drunk, others had been smooth and of a nice, complex character.

“And we have been for generations. Anyway, about a year ago, dad decided that the real money isn’t in growing and harvesting the grapes and then making the wine, it’s in buying and selling it,” Selene continued on, “Merchants come up to us from Tharros and buy wine from all the different makers, then travel back down to Tharros and sell and ship it all over. It’s they that make the real profit.”

“And so your father decided to compete with them?” While asking this, Dareios again scanned Selene’s body. Thankfully, she wasn’t wearing as many layers of clothing as before, just a thin white dress which showed a fair amount of cleavage and didn’t hide the generous swell of her chest or how her thin waist blossomed out into a pair of wide hips.

“Sort of,” Selene shrugged her shoulders and met Dareios’ gaze, “Dad isn’t stupid, he realized that you can’t just head down to Tharros and try to compete with the people already selling the stuff. You need connections and a reason why others should want to work with you.”

“So he found a reason, I take it.”

“Exactly. Dad contacted other winemakers around us, people who make really good wine, people like him and mum. And he convinced them to let him try to sell their wine too. All of a sudden, he’s representing some of Chaldoia’s best winemakers.”

“Sounds like your dad’s a smart man.”

“He has his moments,” Selene smiled, “Of course, mum and us have helped out too. Dad’s spent a good part of this year down there, particularly after the harvest was taken care of.”

“I must admit that I don’t know anything about winemaking,” Dareios commented, scanning their surroundings once more.

“What do you know anything about?” Selene asked him, with a smile. Even in the faint light of the campfire, it was evident that she was even more beautiful than normal when smiling.

“Fighting and praying, mostly,” Now it was Dareios’ turn to shrug his shoulders.

“Considering that you weren’t bothered to walk to us completely naked earlier, I’d wager that there’s at least one more thing that you know a lot about,” Selene’s smile widened, and for just a moment Dareios thought that he’d caught her with a naughty gleam in her eyes.

“Oh, so you do have a sense of humour! I was beginning to worry…” Dareios grinned at Selene.

“What, did I seem that bad earlier?”

“More stoic and protective of your sisters, I guess.”

“Well, someone has to look after them. Particularly without our parents or brothers around,” Selene glanced back towards where her sisters were sleeping around the campfire.

“You have brothers too?”

“Uh-huh, there’s three of us girls and then we’ve got five brothers,” Selene explained, meeting Dareios’ gaze again, “Have you got any siblings? Fainne forgot to ask you about that.”

“She did,” Dareios nodded his head.

“But then she had other things to ask you about, I guess,” Selene’s lips pulled back to form another smile again, “So, have you got any of them? Brothers and sisters, I mean.”

“No,” Dareios shook his head, “Just a lot of cousins. Mum was a priestess, so raising a big family wasn’t really possible.”

“Oh, and did you spend a lot of time in the temple with her growing up?”

“She’s a priestess of Klyra, goddess of lust and fertility, so no,” Dareios grinned, “Not until I was all grown up.”

“And you were naked when you went there?”

“Now that sounds like something Fainne would ask me,” Dareios grinned again, happy that he’d managed to make Selene giggle, “But yes, I was.”

“Wasn’t that a bit awkward?”

“Not really. Honestly, I think she was just happy to see that I was meeting girls,” Dareios said, pleased that not only was Selene giggling again, but her cheeks had picked up a bit more colour.

“But you haven't seen your father for a while?” Dareios asked, steering them back towards the original topic before he’d accidentally made Selene too embarrassed.

“Uh-huh,” Selene fell silent for a couple of seconds, but then continued, “We haven’t heard from him for three months. That isn’t a surprise or anything, but mom wanted someone to go check on him and that merchant that he’s partnered with. I volunteered to go, and my sisters quickly volunteered to go with me.”

“Why?”

“They wanted to see the world, I guess,” Selene said. From what he’d heard about Tharros, Dareios figured that Fainne would probably like it, taking in everything she saw with wide-eyed disbelief and curiosity. Natalya though, seemed so shy that he wondered what she’d make of the place.

“And you?”

“Same reason,” Selene smiled again, “Growing up on a vineyard isn’t exactly exciting. Mom’s lived up there all her life, and it’s not that I hate it or anything. I just want to have a bit of fun before settling down and getting married and all that.”

For a moment, Selene glanced towards Dareios with a look in her eyes that he considered himself quite familiar with.