?nnywella sneezes as she steps into the foyer of the guest house; she must request these to be maintained even when there are no guests scheduled to stay in them. The soles of her square-toed platform shoes leaving imprints on the dusty floor. She turns to Dyder as he closes the brown oak door behind him and Ilsenila. “Your father will be pleased to hear that you still need to buy furniture.”

  “Why is it not furnished? I would expect it to be furnished.” ?l? scrunches her face, trying not to sneeze, only to give in shortly after.

  “Viola took the furniture; we haven’t had someone staying for long enough to justify using these larger houses, so Father said she could take it—though there still might be some in the attic.” ?nnywella leads the two into the dining room. Running her fingers along the embroidered acorns and oak leaves, she opens the aged white curtains and watches the dust motes catch in the light as they drift past the burgundy leather of her shoes.

  ?l? looks around the empty room, inspecting the engraving on the mantle of the fireplace and around the molding on the edges of the coffered ceilings, pretending as though she has even the slightest idea about either. She tries to envision the floor plan Gekaryna had shown her in the library. “This is the dining room, correct?”

  “Yes, and parlor; the kitchen is through the door there.” ?nnywella points to the large arched doorway on the other end of the room. She wishes she had brought the book with her.

  She leads them through the kitchen, pointing out the door down to the food cellar. From the kitchen, she takes them back to the hallway and continues left, going past the room leading to the backyard, the bathroom, and the stairs to the basement before stopping in front of an enormous set of sliding double doors. “This is the library and or study.” ?nnywella says as she pulls the door open, revealing an empty room covered in wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling built-in bookshelves—all empty.

  ?l? turns to Dyder. “Will you even be able to use all these shelves?”

  “Most definitely not. In all honesty, I think this house is far too large.” He had thought this when Gekaryna was showing him the floor plans but had figured they could make use of all the extra space; seeing it all in person, he realizes how wrong he was. “There are still 4 rooms upstairs and an attic; my room has barely anything in it.”

  “I’m sure you will acquire things to put around here. What about when you retire? are you just going to sit on the floor of an empty study?”

  “Maybe you could put those dolls you and your brothers paint and push around a board in here—seeing as how you’ve never been much of a reader.” Adds ?nnywella, chuckling, thinking about how he will spend his watch time outside her room painting little metal men with a jeweler's glass.

  “They’re not dolls; they are miniatures of military units and legendary generals.”

  “They’re dolls.” The two women say in unison.

  Dyder does not bother arguing; he knows he will not win. He decides it is best to change the subject. “How about we go upstairs? Ilsenila and I still need to be at the family estate for dinner. Gekaryna, what are you doing giving us a house tour? I’m sure you have more important matters to attend to—could Ferran not have done this?”

  “Oh, don’t worry; my schedule is clear until 14:00.” She lies; she has a significant amount of letters to respond to regarding end-of-harvest taxes, but she forced them onto Colaus so she could live vicariously as someone who was not herself.

  Leaving the doors to the study open, the group ascends the stairs to the second floor.

  ?l? quickly makes her way to the large wooden spiral staircase leading up to the attic. “I want to see if there is any furniture up here.”

  “Verily. Let Dyder go first though; there might be squirrels or mice up there.” ?nnywella responds.

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  ?l? steps back, allowing Dyder to pass and go up ahead of her.

  The attic is dimly lit by three circular windows, each providing only enough light to see what is directly in front of it, leaving most of the attic in darkness.

  A woody thunk sounds as Dyder’s boot hits the leg of a wooden bedframe. “There’s furniture up here, not a lot though; we will still need to have some made.” He runs his hands up and down the support beams looking for some sort of lamp.

  “I thought you said this house was too big?” ?l? stops short of going all the way up the stairs, only going up just enough to see the inside of the attic.

  “I did, but you’ll spend a lot more time here than I will, so if this is where you want to live, it's fine with me. Though I get the study so I can play with my dolls with my brothers.” Dyder finds a lamp hanging from a hook on a wall; taking a wooden ring from beneath it, he completes the sigil. He returns to the stairs to get Ilsenila, helping her up into the properly illuminated attic.

  ?l? starts looking through the wooden furniture. “What do you mean I’ll be spending more time here than you? you’ll live here too.”

  “I spend most of my days with Gekaryna; that's my job.”

  “Yes, but you don’t need to; there are dozens of men under you who patrol the castle all day long.” ?nnywella says from the bottom of the stairs; after running her finger along the dusty railing, she decided it would be best to stay out of the attic. “You can disappear for a midday rendezvous if you wish.”

  “What if something happens?” Dyder responds as he makes his way back to the stairs.

  “Dyder.” ?nnywella looks to him through the gaps between the steps. “If something happens and someone intent on harming me gets past all the other guards, I highly doubt your being there with me will make any difference.” She pauses and slides Klende L?tel Myn [1] from its sheath around her waist—taking a moment to admire the flowing figuring in the rapier before re-sheathing it and continuing. “I am also the best in Iania when it comes to dueling; you cannot argue with Ensitz [2]—”

  The open study doors slam shut below them.

  “himself.” She takes great pride in her dueling prowess—though she does not really have much else to take pride in besides it.

  “Yes, you are the best at fighting with a toothpick—in duels.” Dyder responds wryly, tapping his finger on the hilt of his longsword. He dislikes it when Gekaryna shows off her rapier, not through any fault of her own; he is just jealous that his father is yet to give him the family's own Ianian steel heirloom blade.

  “132 to 5,” chides ?nnywella. “But who’s counting?” She lights a cigarette, consciously intending it to be a dramatic effect.

  “There is a 60 kg and 50 cm difference between us; I am significantly easier to hit than you are.” He and Gekaryna had consistently faced each other in practice duels for nearly a decade; the score is—unfortunately—true.

  “132 to 5.” She repeats, knowing this is the quickest way to get to Dyder’s head. He might not want to admit it, but he did get his father's pride—specifically in combat sports.

  “Didi, look at this!” ?l? points to a crib, the Dornytter family crest gilded in the end panel. “I’m surprised Viola didn’t take this.”

  Dyder walks away from the top of the stairs, leaving the smug Gekaryna to chuckle in her lonesome, and joins Ilsenila by the crib. “Hmmm.”

  “What, that’s it? a ‘hmmm’? finding this is a good omen; remember what the candle said?” says ?l?.

  “It wasn’t a bad hmmm; it was just a hmmm. I hope this is what the candle meant. We can talk about this privately later.” He’s not opposed to the conversation by any means; he would much rather have a child than let the candle mean anything else. “We need to get going; my father would not like it if we were to be late. We can move the rest of this out of the attic later.” He ushers Ilsenila to the stairs, turning off the lantern behind them.

  “So what did you find up there?” ?nnywella asks when the two get to the bottom of the stairs.

  “A crib.” responds ?l?.

  “Ahh, yes; Viola left that; they just took Fran’s old one.” ?nnywella quickly shows the two the rest of the upstairs before giving them the keys and dismissing herself; Dyder and ?l? leave shortly after.

  Footnotes

  [1] Klende L?tel Myn or Little Lover is a rapier made from Ianian steel in 4760EotTS by swordsmith ?lleck Bervelt (08/13/4705EotTS-01/22/4783EotTS), as the prize for a tournament hosted by Ensitz in the same year. It was won by Tyes Herst I (4725EotTS-4794EotTS)—cousin of the then King Athalric Herst I (4716EotTS-4773EotTS)—and has been passed down throughout the family since Tyes won the 4773EotTS succession crisis following Athalric Herst I’s death. It is of such a degree of quality as to be ranked Ealdsitz—the second highest—in Ensitz’s ranking system for blades.

  [2] The god of war, violence, and weapons. He is one of the few male deities in the Ianian pantheon; like these other male deities, Ensitz is not assigned a priestess. As there have been very few wars in Iania since the Era of the Guardsmen began, Ensitz's influence in the region since then has only come from the combat sports tournament he hosts once every 4 years, the next being in 1064 EotG, which, much to his disdain, has been non-lethal since 4984 EotTS—something he has consistently been berating the Hersts about.