Heirs of the Gods

Ch 56: Victory in union

As November forged ahead, the days grew shorter and colder, and work grew heavier and duller. Along with the season and its changes came a new, unspoken pattern.

It had started as something sporadic. One gloomy afternoon, when the raging thunderstorm outside made it impossible to even step out of the palace and the grey skies made every room dark, Valren had burst into Ella's room whilst Aedion and her worked and promptly announced they all needed a break. Well, more like, she'd dramatically dropped onto the sofa, groaned that work was giving her a headache, and demanded Aedion make her food. Aedion had rolled his eyes and griped, but as he was wont to do anytime his friends requested anything of him, he'd complied.

Soon, this sporadic occurrence had turned into something frequent.

It had seemed like a brilliant idea at first. Aedion cooked whilst they all pottered around the kitchen and poked about like bad house guests, and then, they all ate whatever marvel he'd decided to make them. They even brought their work along, intent on getting it done. A perfect plan, truly.

Well, almost perfect, save for one very important detail. They never got any work done.

It wasn't that they didn't have the intention, truly, but it was inevitable to get sidetracked. Dinner turned into dessert and dessert turned into hot chocolate and wine around the fire, which led to them playing cards and lazing around, sometimes even falling asleep. Clearly, the arrangement wasn't working.

This led to Valren's second brilliant idea; having a designated place to finish their work, to avoid lazing around Aedion's house. The obvious answer to this was Ella's room, she'd said, given that Ella's room was the largest and held the most comfortable chairs. Ella had protested and said all the rooms were the same, but they'd all agreed that this wasn't the case. And so, it had become the second unofficial designated spot for reunions.

Against all odds, it worked. Dinners at Aedion's house and then work in Ella's room afterwards, and sometimes, they even extended the evenings well into the night. It was their comfortable routine. Quiet evenings between the four of them, something to look forward to, no matter how dreary the day had been.

"I still find it entirely too amusing tweedle-dee and tweedle dum here have the same birthday. It's like the Gods have the worst sense of humour," Val said, cutting into the berry pie on her plate, precariously perched on her knees.

"Not the same one, my birthday is on the 13th, Aedion's is on the 14th." Ella narrowed her eyes and flicked a crumb in her direction for the nickname. It was one Val picked up from Blaise, who constantly called them either that or "partners in stupidity".

"You're right, it makes such a difference," Blaise placated, his serious tone contradicted by the teasing smile he tried to hide. This earned him a half-hearted glare from Ella as well.

Val waved her hands, swallowing a mouthful of pie. "It's exactly the same thing. Do you know what it means? Double party, two days in a row! That's the only thing that matters."

Ella shook her head. "We're not going to have a party, Val."

Aedion hummed in agreement from the other end of the sofa. "It would be in poor taste, given the tensions. Besides, I really don't care to spend my birthday, or any day for the matter, with stuffy nobles making dull conversation. I already do that on a daily basis."

Ella surged forward and clinked her mug with his. "I agree with the old fellow. I don't really care for formal galas. I've already done enough of those to last a lifetime."

"I'm not old," Aedion scowled indignantly. "I'll have you know, I'm not even to my first quarter in elf years. That's extremely young."

"Decrepit. Already with one foot in your death bed." Ella dodged his hands, laughing at his scowl. "Almost senile."