They found Nikolai amongst the carriages and carts, scurrying around the various gifts with his cane in hand and Jarek trailing behind. A bruise on his cheek was the only remnant of the previous days rituals. He would rub it occasionally and mutter curses under his breath, eyes flaring with frustration. Elya giggled at Jarek"s long suffering expression as the boy carried out his a.s.signed tasks. He would gaze longingly at the children staring from outside the area set aside for the Morales convoy, waving occasionally and sighing when he received no acknowledgement. "He doesn"t seem like such an awe-inspiring War Mage." Lidia leaned against a fence post and crossed her arms. "Bit effeminate as well. Could do with some facial hair. I"m sure a beard would give him more of a… ummm what"s the word?" She chewed on a fingernail as her brow furrowed in thought. "Oh yes. Presence! He needs more presence."
"Don"t you dare tell him to grow a beard. It"s one of the first things I got rid of." Elya growled at her sister and knelt down to adjust her boots. They rushed out of the library so quickly she just carried them in hand.
"Right. You"re fond of the delicate type." Lidia uttered with distaste. "How disappointing. Without a staff he doesn"t look like a Mage and what"s the point of marrying one if you can"t show him off. Set him down in any city of the Empire and people would mistake him for a scholar."
"What"s wrong with scholars?" Elya ground the heel of her boots to check the fit before rounding on her sister. "And I think the beard is just an inconvenience, it"s far too p.r.i.c.kly."
"What were you doing for his beard to p.r.i.c.k you?" Lidia arched her eyebrows, a smirk tugging at her lips.
"None of your business." She blushed faintly at the question and cleared her throat. "Do you want to be annoying or do you want to meet Niki?" Elya walked away before her sister could respond, raking fingers through her hair in an effort to flatten them while ignoring Lidia"s mutters.
"I would meet him, anyway. No wonder papa is sulking so much. You only met him a few weeks ago but now your family comes second."
"Not true." Elya corrected. "He just comes first."
Speechless, Lidia sputtered incoherently for a moment before following her. They wound their way through the carriages, occasionally stopping to pick up an errant bolt of cloth or a piece of jewellery from the gift carts. Lidia would hum in appreciation and Elya would roll her eyes at the delay until they reached one of the carts with weapons. Dozens of enchanted blades, spears and sets of armour were packed tightly, radiating barely contained power. They gushed at the sight, swinging each weapon to compare its capabilities.
"I should have known you"d be at one of these carts. Your family shares the same interests with a pa.s.sion I"ve never seen before." Nikolai chuckled as he came up to them, nodding at Lidia in greeting. He pointed at the crowd of silver haired children in the distance. "Even those little Suzdals came here first. I was worried they would hurt themselves so I brought Jarek along to keep them away."
The boy stuck his tongue out behind Nikolai and waved at Elya, pointing to the paper he held. "Khan you said I should help with the inventory. You didn"t say anything about the other kids."
"Jarek I"ve told you call me Master. Especially now that we"re out in public."
"Yes Khan."
"Master." Nikolai muttered. "You weren"t doing anything, so I brought you along to help me maintain order."
"There were problems?" Elya frowned, concerned her family was making trouble for him. It wasn"t unheard of when the couple were from different social strata.
"No No. No trouble." He hastily a.s.sured her, but the way he turned away from her gaze was a sure sign of guilt.
"What happened Niki?"
"Nothing."
"They wouldn"t have bothered you so much if you weren"t trying to make such an imbression Khan." Jarek nodded seriously. "You showed off your magic and gave them treats."
"Impression Jarek. Not imbression." She corrected. "Treats?" Elya ignored Nikolai"s stuttering excuses and looked at Jarek.
The boy pointed at Nikolai"s "bag of treasures" and rolled his eyes as if it should be obvious. "Even the Khanbikeh turns into a greedy girl and you expect us kids to have control? Also you promised me an egg as payment."
"I do not turn into a girl." Elya muttered and Lidia covered her mouth with a hand, faking a cough, but by the colour rising to her face, Elya knew she was controlling a laugh. Nikolai grumbled but handed an egg to the boy. Elya swallowed at the sight but looked away in guilt when Jarek hugged the morsel protectively. [Even if it"s delicious, I can"t take it from a child. Now why doesn"t Niki give me one? How dare he ignore me!]
"You just didn"t want to be the bad guy." Jarek munched on the egg even as he complained and Nikolai scratched his cheek, a flush on his face. "How am I meant to make friends now Khan?"
"MASTER! What do you need friends for, anyway? You have me." Jarek stuck his tongue out again for Nikolai to see and stalked away in a huff. Nikolai looked at them and shrugged in confusion.
"Jarek is it?" Lidia waved for the boy to return and with a sigh he did. He was always obedient, which was probably how Nikolai managed to persuade him in the first place. "Don"t worry about friends. My children will be more than happy to play with you tomorrow. They"re a little tired because of our journey but I"m sure you"ll get along."
Jarek perked up and smiled. "Thank you Nice Lady." He threw a smug glance at Nikolai as if to say "See! this is how you should treat me". He skipped away to continue his inventory of the gifts, not waiting for Nikolai"s comment. Whatever he may say, Jarek was always diligent in following his Master"s instructions.
Nikolai smiled at his apprentice"s antics and bowed formally towards Lidia. "Apologies for not introducing myself "Nice Lady". Nikolai Morales, at your service."
"No need to be so polite Count Morales. Lidia Suzdal, a pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"My elder sister." Elya chimed in.
"I haven"t heard much about you from Elya." He glanced her with accusation in his eyes. "She"s surprisingly tight lipped when it comes to her family members."
"Just like El. Always so serious and unwilling to talk about her personal life." Lidia remarked, giving her the exact same look. [If I didn"t know better I could have sworn they practiced that expression.] "Did you know she didn"t send me a single letter after she got engaged? Not one? If not for papa mentioning it; off handedly mind you, he"s as bad as El sometimes; I wouldn"t even know. It"s just so terrible, how they ignore you. One time when we were children I found her with her arm broken while sitting in the library. Not even a peep. She just doesn"t want to talk about anything. It"s so unfair wouldn"t you agree?" [I think I was crying at the time, unable to move. How did it become silence?]
"Shocking." Nikolai murmured in agreement, taken aback by the waterfall of conversation.
"So I came home in a rush to meet you and El. Still, you should have seen her, all cooped up in the library this morning with nothing better to do, leaving her poor fiancée all alone. Always sitting alone. That"s El for you."
"I am not always alone." Elya interjected. Whenever Lidia met someone new, she would go on and on unless she was stopped. "And Nikolai was busy. Speaking of which, why are you here? The manor staff can catalogue everything with help from your attendants. There"s no need for you to be here to oversee the gifts."
Nikolai grinned and called Jarek over. "Go bring Tovotesk."
"Heart breaker?" Lidia exclaimed in surprise. Elya twitched at the words and poked Nikolai in the shoulder.
"Oh? You understand Soman?" Nikolai grasped Elya"s hand and waved his finger in admonishment.
"Lidia works in the Ministry of Finance with her husband." Elya explained. "She has a gift for languages, but don"t try to dodge the issue. What"s heart breaker and why are you here for it?"
"It"s a gift I prepared for your father." Nikolai explained as Jarek arrived with a small metal rod about the length of a sword hilt hovering in front of him. Nikolai gestured at Elya and Jarek waved the rod into her hands. She almost buckled under the weight, the small rod almost as heavy as her entire suit of armour. She grunted and summoned some of her Aura to enhance her strength.
"What in the name of the Fates is it?" She breathed. Lidia stared at the rod, eyes sparkling with curiosity.
"A weapon. Enchanted of course, with a few tricks I"ve picked up over the years. I would dare to say it"s one of a kind."
"Colour me intrigued. I"m dying to see papa"s expression when you gift him this stick." She smirked and tugged Elya"s sleeve. "Let"s go and show him now." She dashed off and Elya followed, throwing a helpless glance at Nikolai.
Nikolai stood rooted for a moment in shock before calling out. "Hey! That"s my gift." Stamping his foot in frustration he turned to Jarek. "Jarek get the alignment staff and follow me. We can"t let them present it before it"s ready."
Elya giggled as they raced through the halls, following her sister as she had so many times before. Only now, she had a fiancée and his cheerful apprentice chasing after them.