Lady of the Veiled Vale

Samantha

"This place is so big! You'd never guess it, at first glance."

Gwinneth wrinkled her nose. "Raiden gave me some load of gargoyle shite about dimensions, and a fold in space and time, that I'm not even sure he understood."

Her younger, more sheltered sister gasped at her language.

"Sorry, my manners seem to have... lapsed in your absence."

Raiden laid a hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "Not so far, My Lady. I think you've done well, until recently." He turned to her sister. "One hears rather rough language, in the trenches. Some of the creatures we treat can speak, and when a bone is being set, well... We men are not always our best when in pain."

Samantha noted how casually he touched her, and the way her sister carefully dislodged his hand, without seeming to. Having recently been intimate with a man, she had to wonder what the relationship between Lord and Lady was.

"I suppose 'tis good to have another woman to talk to. Aside from you, Gran, but you're not always here."

Varla set the tea tray on the little window table, which seemed to have grown overnight. Gwinn sent thankful thoughts in the general direction of the Great Tree.

"I don't mind sharing you with my other grandchildren, lass. 'Tis a joy, to be sure."

"That's goin' ta take some gettin' used to," Kevin grumbled good-naturedly. "Fancy that, a dwarf gettin' adopted into an elven family."

"Among other things," the sisters said simultaneously.

They all had a good laugh, and drifted toward the supper table. The question of seating was sorted when Gwinneth sat across from Raiden. Kevin swiftly nabbed the seat next to the demigod, so Samantha was, perforce, left sitting next to her sister.

The dinner conversation ranged over any number of topics, from the mundane to the fantastic. Samantha told of her days "shipwrecked" with Darién. Kevin spoke of his time on an island, though he wasn't sure that it was the same one they were stranded on. Sam mentioned cotillions she was missing with a wistful expression. Gwinneth told them about some of the creatures in Sanctuary, but strove not to dominate the discussion. She feared that to do so would alienate her siblings.

Samantha listened to her sister, envious of her easy, lilting Irish accent. Even Kevin spoke with one, though it was a harsher brogue. Her own had been drilled out of her in an English boarding school. For reasons unknown to either girl, their mother only allowed the younger child to attend. When pressed, Lavinia would only say that proper ladies needed a proper education.

She was forever putting Gwinn down, however obliquely. With implied slights, exclusion, and outright favoritism, she gave the impression that Gwinneth had done some unforgivable wrong. If the child said anything, she turned the words around; as if it were the daughter who hated the mother. She quickly learned to leave Mother alone and pretend nothing was amiss. Until recently, she had never considered that she might have blamed her daughter for Papa's desertion.

Both women shook off the past and focused on their future.

"Have you thought of names?" Samantha asked during a lull in conversation.

"Yes. Have you?" Gwinn winked, to remove any possible criticism from the question.

"Not really. I'm not sure yet if I need to. Let's hear yours first."

Gwinn's eyes grew distant. "I always wanted a big family."

Raiden's mouth tightened with what only she would have recognized as pain. To her siblings, he looked irritated. His scarred countenance scared Samantha a little, particularly when he scowled like that.