Feast around and find out

As the feast got underway and the sounds of eating, conversation, and laughter filled the hall, Vel’s mother took his hand in hers to get his attention. He’d picked up on the fact that she was waiting for a moment to talk to him, and he had a suspicion what it would be about.

She spoke quietly and in the gentle tone of a parent trying not to hurt their child’s feelings.

“Baby, I know Fionne is beautiful and seems charming, but please don’t trust her. She treats people, but especially men, like tools to be manipulated and discarded. Whatever she said to you, she didn’t mean it, she just thought it was what you wanted to hear. Please, do you best to steer clear of her, Sweetie.”

Vel looked at his mother’s beautiful face, genuine concern etched into her noble features, and squeezed her hand reassuringly.

“Don’t you think I can handle her, Mother?”

Rienne let out a sigh, kind of deflating a little.

“I’m sorry, Baby, of course you can. I’ve watched her wrap so many men around her finger and I can’t stand the thought of that happening to you, but you’re right. If there’s anyone who can turn the tables on her, it’s you. But whatever else I may be now, I am still your mother, and I worry about you. It is my job.”

Vel barely caught himself before leaning in to kiss her. He had to make do with mentally letting her know he had wanted to, which did brighten his mother’s mood a little. That was good, this was a joyful occasion, no one should be worried.

Perhaps the best way to take her mind off it would be to give her something to look forward to. He again sent a thought to her mind, but this time it was about what he was planning to do to her tonight after everyone had gone to bed. It worked like a charm, arousal and excitement blooming in her mind, her worries forgotten for now.

From then on, the night really was as it should be, happy and jubilant. There was much feasting and much drinking, and if anyone noticed that none of the Andros women were touching anything even mildly intoxicating, no one said anything about it.

From conversation Vel gleaned that Lady Fionne held the rank of admiral in the Royal Imperial Navy, which was interesting. The Royal Imperial Navy and the Imperial Navy were, confusingly, not the same thing. The Royal Imperial Navy was a relatively small naval **** whose main duty was policing and protecting both Lake Crescent, the large half-moon shaped lake which housed the imperial capital on its shore, and the large river that ran from said lake to the northern coast. In the last couple of decades it had grown slowly but surely and even included a few oceangoing naval bases and ocean worthy warships now, but nowhere near what even a single coastal province fleet could muster.

That was where the bulk of the Toranian Empire’s considerable naval might was, the fleets maintained by the coastal provinces. Every such province sported a sizeable fleet of patrol and warships and even received funding from the crown to help with the cost of maintaining them. Those fleets were under the direct command of their exarch, but of course the exarch was a subject of the imperial crown. Together all those provincial fleets and the Royal Imperial Navy comprised what was called the Imperial Navy.

That massive navy was then in theory under the command of the emperor or empress, but the last civil war had certainly shown that it didn’t always work like that. Vel was convinced that was why the Royal Imperial Navy had been growing the way it had.

During the last civil war, multiple provincial fleets had been on the side seeking to dethrone the then-emperor, the late father of the current empress. They’d made an attempt to **** their way down the river to Lake Crescent to take the capital. Fortunately, the western and eastern aluvian fleets meet them at the mouth of the river and won a decisive if costly victory. But no doubt the empress had thought of the obvious questions. What if the loyalist fleets had lost? Or what if there had been no loyalist fleets? Her desire for a large fleet directly under her own command was understandable.

Vel wondered how exactly Fionne’s duties had ended up bringing her here, which she clearly said they had, but the conversation moved onto other things before he got a chance to ask about it.

“We really are so very sorry that we missed your coming of age, Inaina and Aurina, but with the circumstances at the time it sadly just wasn’t possible.”

Like his mother, Vel also regretted that they’d been unable to attend the 18th birthday of his cousins a few months ago. There’d been some unrest along the route they’d have had to travel, in addition to bickering between houses in the Lower Heartland at the time. It really just hadn’t been possible.

“It’s okay. We missed you of course, but-“

Inaina truly looked happy and bright as she spoke and cut out mid-sentence to let her twin take over.

-we really appreciated the gifts!”

Like her twin, Aurina seemed happy and entirely genuine. Vel didn’t remember all the presents they’d sent for the twins coming of age, but he vividly remembered the two magnificent pearl necklaces that had been the most impressive among them. Full strings of large, round, and almost flawless silvery-white pearls that had been incredibly pearlescent.

Vel had loved those necklaces, and he really hoped the twins appreciated them. He’d always been fond of pearls and anything pearlescent or iridescent. One might always say he was drawn to it. Like all noble imperial men, he was expected to wear jewelry like rings or pendants on certain occasions, and he particularly liked the ones sporting pearls. Not that they were something he would wear just every day, but if he did have to put on jewelry, he’d prefer it be pearl jewelry. He also owned a gorgeous master crafted knife that had a handle adorned with mother of pearl, which was gorgeously iridescent. Now that he could take part in hunting, he might actually find a use for it.

The dinner continued to be lovely, and the evening was a happy one, but eventually it had to come to an end. That meant that most of the people in attendance headed back to their own quarters to retire for the night, but Kal led both Vel and Lady Rienne to another part of the castle. There he ushered them into a small room with no windows, a blazing hearth, and three chairs arranged in a half circle facing it. The time had come for that promised talk.