The House of Oldenrock

The Farewells: Part I

A/N: I am generally not in the habit of dedicating my stories, but when someone comes along, and unprompted, reads a story with just about no reads and a very vague description, then comments, continues reading, advertises the story, and gives advice on how to make the story more readable (dividing the chapters into parts), I think that we can all agree that that deserves a dedication.  Congratulations alexkarola.

PS. You may want to check out alexkarola's stories.  They are pretty cool.

Chapter Four: The Farewells

King Gregor presided over a private family dinner where only servants, the immediate royal family, and Gregor’s brother Mark were present.  Not even the lower Houses of the Oldenrock Clan could attend these private dinners.  There were only feasts on select days of the Clanmeet, so that individual families could enjoy some time alone and together. Gregor sat at the head of the table, and his beautiful loving wife sat across from him at the end of the table.  They had decided that tonight no one was to be dismissed from dinner, which was usually what happened during family meals.  Líess would dismiss Margot or Mark, and Gregor would dismiss Selene.  There had been nights when Robeilla was the only child left sitting at the table because all of the others had misbehaved, but the usual culprits were Selene, Margot, and Mark.

Tonight, the dinner was roasted fowl with a side of salad and lemon cakes from South Port for desert.  Although there were no lemon trees in the Olgenoct, the cold climate did not support them, South Port, being the southernmost port in the Olgenoct had the most access to delicacies from warmer southern realms.  Luckily, the Pines, the Clan that ruled South Port, were very generous with their wealth.  South Port was also in the Woodlands, where under the rule of Ashton Oak, all the goods that came into the Woodlands had to first help the realm before the Woodlanders were able to consume them.

King Gregor watched the dinner unfold.  Selene, Robeilla, and Stierra were talking about the dresses that they were going to wear to the banquet the next day, the one with the masked ball.  Gregor always found it odd that that Robeilla had the patience to talk about such trivial and girly matters such as dresses, because he knew that she knew just as much about weapons and defense as her brothers and Margot.  It seemed that she wanted to belong to both circles of the family, which probably was not a bad decision on her part.  Rodder and Joar were talking about getting dirty and little adventures that they had had during the week, adventures that they probably should not have been talking about at the dinner table in the presence of Gregor’s wife and their mother.  Oddly enough, his beautiful and powerful wife seemed relaxed.  It was if she had chosen to ignore Rodder’s and Joar’s conversation.  Margot and Mark were smart enough to realize that it would be a very bad idea to test Líess’s relaxed mood, and chose to remain silent.  Margot also had an empty seat across from her that hindered her from talking.  It was where Asher would have sat had he lived.

The two boys soon started laughing at something that they had found amusing during the day.  “I can’t wait to go back to the training area again tomorrow,” Rodder said.

Oddly, it was that sentence that caused the Queen to perk up and pay attention to the boys’ conversation.  “Speaking of the training area,” she said, “I heard that there was a fight there today.”

An oppressive silence suddenly took hold across the table, and everyone looked up from their food and no one spoke.  Fights were never good during Clanmeets, even if they were only between some rowdy boys.  Everyone looked at each other silently, and Gregor watched as Margot rolled her lips together.  She knew that something was amiss.

Finally, Robeilla broke the silence and said in an almost merry voice, “There was a little skirmish in the training area, Good Mother, but nothing too bad.  Boys, you know how they are.  Anyway, Lady Mayenna Oak and I ended the fight.  We thought that it would be a good opportunity to practice our diplomatic skills, for it seems that we will need them.”