will the shadows hide the colour of my heart

[sosilversoexact]

Martel's nominally improved mood had taken a downswing at the prospect of enclosed quarters of any kind with Sparhawk, for any duration, but it hadn't been too difficult to have his own coach brought around to see himself and his ladies down to the harbor behind his brother's party. Acting so swiftly hadn't left a lot of time to explain much of

Comments

[onlyhalfwild]

Nourelle has already acquired bits and pieces of information, and has...mostly accepted them. The breadth of his misbehavior, however, is not something she is versed in quite yet, so that will be interesting. Maryani, for her part, is...the same as she has always been, which means Martel probably spends a lot of time politely asking her to come down from there.

"I liked the rain," she objects, nudging him, "It always made such a nice excuse for avoiding unpleasant social engagements."

[sosilversoexact]

"Now we can tell people you're in a delicate condition, love," he says, entirely absently, as they make their way onto the ship.

...yeah, don't think nobody else heard that, Martel.

[onlyhalfwild]

"That was intentional, and I'm going to break your nose so you and Sir Sparhawk can have a matching set," she says, with false lightness, passing by the aforementioned individual called Sparhawk and pausing to say "hi" on the way.

She wouldn't actually break his nose.

Possibly because he's much bigger than her and it's smarter to aim elsewhere. He'd be able to stop her in time if she tried to go too high. Fortunately, for now she's just keeping it to idle threats.

[sosilversoexact]

"Not the face," he says, dryly, and...chooses to ignore Sparhawk, which is probably the best course of action for them both at least for the time being. He ushers Nourelle up ahead of them--aware but not inviting or acknowledging the scrutiny the three of them are under.

Stragen has interesting ideas. Sometimes they work out better than others. Martel's reserving judgment about this one for now.

[onlyhalfwild]

Hmph is her very articulate response to that, as she marches on ahead of him. If he's going to be like that he can just watch her walk, then, and she's pretty confident nowadays that he does.

As do other people. Stay away from potential pirates, Maryani.

[sosilversoexact]

She's usually right; today 'whether or not Kurik is actually going to take it into his head to thrash Martel' is a little preoccupying, and that's just previously instilled (in an almost paternal fashion) instinct, not mentioning how jumpy Martel is whenever he realizes he has his back to Sparhawk.

(Foolishness, he tells himself, Sparhawk doesn't need to hit him from behind. It's not the best kind of reassurance, but he's not really in a position to expect a lot of that.)

After a moment, he glances down at Nourelle and says, "Your pockets are Stragen's problem until we reach Deira. Enjoy." ...that is some mighty fine parenting, sir.

[onlyhalfwild]

Nourelle looks calculating. "Okay!"

She skips on ahead, intending to tell Stragen that Martel has claimed responsibility for her pockets and therefore Stragen oughtn't worry about it. This way she thinks she can get away with it. (She is wrong, Stragen will see right through that.)

[sosilversoexact]

Perfectly able to guess what she's up to, Martel laughs softly under his breath when she goes ahead of him--Stragen's leading the way to the cabins below deck, and will absolutely see through that, not least of all because it's probably not the first time the rogue Pandion has encouraged her in directions designed specifically to be inconvenient.

Theirs are all very strange friendships. Martel's not contemplating how the circumstances now might strain those.

Not yet.

[onlyhalfwild]

Maryani comes back around to bother him, giving him a skeptical look. "You know what she's up to, don't you?"

[sosilversoexact]

"And no doubt so does Stragen. Cabin to your liking?"

[onlyhalfwild]

"Oh, yes," she says, agreeably, "But then, I am ever so easy to please."

[sosilversoexact]

Martel just pauses and eyes her, like, 'what exactly have you been smoking, that can't be good for the baby'.

[onlyhalfwild]

Maryani...sticks her tongue out at him. She's a grown woman, you know.

[sosilversoexact]

The jokes Martel occasionally makes about not being convinced of that are mere months (perhaps weeks!) away from being a whole lot less funny. Of course, by that time he'll have something else to make horrible jokes about (and Sparhawk will really appreciate it).

For the time being he just rolls his eyes and gathers her in to his side. "Disrespectful. You'll make a terrible wife." There are times his sense of humor dances merrily back and forth across the lines that he should be more careful of. (It hasn't occurred to him yet that while he might have left Elenia, Petrana probably didn't go anywhere. It probably won't occur to him first.) "You're not going to be seasick this time, are you?"

[onlyhalfwild]

Maryani will say it's a lot better she looks in her mid to late twenties rather than her late teens, isn't it? And also she'll get along with Ehlana terrifyingly well, should they cross paths, because obviously what Ehlana needs is an older and possibly insane girl to tell her about the ways of men. (Sparhawk can't be trusted to do it, he's going to be quite biased.)

Meanwhile, Maryani gives Martel a look that's mostly amused but perhaaaps a touch offended at that jab. "I'll only be giving you exactly what you make me into, then," she threatens, and then leans against him suddenly, thinking the question over.

"No, I don't think so. I like the sea better than land, most of the time. Especially at night!"

You know, when other people are kind of spooked by it. Sigh.

[sosilversoexact]

If he notices the slight taking of offense--and more than likely he does--he doesn't give any indication of it, winding his arms around her. "I've noticed that about you. We'll have to find another coast to live on when we settle again."

...whenever that is, he's not making any bets. (They were going to leave Emsat sooner or later; it seems to be the way, when they pack up to chase trouble they never go home again. Possibly they need to find a right home, possibly Martel needs to be capable of having one.)