forum Broken Betrothal (O/O Closed)

Started May 06, 2022 by @Bunty group

tune

Markos was silent, seated at the head of the table. His brows had gathered together very faintly, and he touched Mori's hand to get her attention. She looked over at him, and he beckoned lightly. She leaned in and he murmured very softly in her ear, his gaze flicking to the brothers for just a moment, then back down to his wife. When he finished, she sat back and nodded a little bit, rubbing his shoulder with one hand in the sort of soft, gentle touch that many couples shared. He gave her a faint smile, and then stood, looking at the brothers. "My apologies, but I must take my leave for the night. I will see you two again tomorrow." he said, stepping away from the table.

Eve looked up at her father with a questioning gaze, but he just gave her a soft smile, tapping her back gently as he walked past her on his way to the doors. "Goodnight, Apa." she said, her gaze tracking his movements out of the room. She cleared her throat faintly once Markos was gone, looking between Sars and Kene. "Sorry. It's probably some sort of trade agreement that needs to be taken care of." it wasn't, but the brothers didn't need to know that.

While Kené focused on his food, Sars watched Markos' every move. It wasn't entirely intentional, just part of his nature to pick up sudden changes in the room, probably only a touch rude, nonetheless. The silent glance to him and his brother had Sars feel immediately on edge, but after a moment he tried to tone it down a bit by taking a bite of his food and making himself not stare. It was fine, everything was fine, despite the oh so familiar itch growing on the back of his neck. Markos was just going for a meeting, of course he would look to his guests, it shouldn't make-

"It's completely alright, I imagine he must be busy, along with you, of course," Kené looked to Moriana, "managing your family's holdings." The younger Esokan must have picked up on the slight change in Sars' demeanor. Some people could see the change, the way Sars' eyes dilated slightly, and he became unnaturally still. Only his immediate family learned what it meant. Sars looked at his brother's eyes, where he found a look of comfort, sympathy, and something else he couldn't identify.

Sars took a deep breath through his nostrils, forced himself to move his shoulders a bit, and put on a light smile to offer the Imbers as he said, "Yes, I'm sure you are all busy. No apologies are needed." He willed the unscratchable itch to go away, at least to go back in the far corner of his mind where he kept it in a tightly locked box. It would stay there. It would.

Mori gave Kene a soft, quick smile. "Yes. There are a lot of things that need attention throughout the day. Markos handles much of the minutiae. It keeps him rather busy. I am sorry that he had to take his leave, but I'm sure you will see plenty of him during your stay here." she said. "He will likely be the one going over the actual agreement and proposal papers with you." she didn't go into specifics of what her husband was doing at that moment. It wasn't of any concern to the Esokans, and did not pose a danger to them, either.

Eve was quiet, letting her mother handle the conversation while she ate. She was a touch worried about her father…but he would be alright. He always was.

(may I just say I've never heard minutiae before and thank you so much for using it because now I am enlightened and I love it)

Kené nodded in polite interest. He glanced at Sars, and the older Esokan didn't have time to object before Kené went right ahead and changed the topic, "Tell me, with all of your estates and belongings and responsibilities," Despite his words, Kené wasn't playing it down by any means, "do you happen to have a good place to spar, or just burn off some energy, for my brother and I to use during our time here?" If only Esokans could read minds, because right now Sars wished he could tell his brother to shut up and it didn't matter. For one, Sars didn't want to put his strength on display for the Imbers to see and anticipate. Secondly, sparring was something that really wasn't a good idea to do outside of the tribe anyways. It was something that could almost be considering sacred to Esokans- well, not necessarily sacred. Just held in a different light then most people. Sparring was never just sparring. Sometimes, a member of their tribe would shout out they needed to fight, and they'd go at it with someone in the middle of their lodgings. Other times, a fight was planned in advance, and there would be many observers who would hold each man or woman accountable. Esokans would also use fighting as a form of training, a way to learn both restraint and fatality.

(oh neat! You're welcome!)

"We do, yes. There are a few courtyards here at Esol'a Vera that would suit well for sparring in, or of course you could go out to the fields if the open spaces would suit better." Mori replied, gesturing vaguely towards one wall, in the direction of the courtyards. "I only ask that, if you do it in the courtyards, you provide some advance warning so that we can ensure no one else enters, for safety. Some of the servants are more sensitive to fire, you understand, and we wouldn't want them to be exposed to fire without warning." this was actually true; some species that lived in Islilia were far more easily damaged by fire than others, and some of ther servants were of these species.

(when you write the whole response and then accidentally close the tab)

"Of course," Kené replied quickly, a confident and affirmative smile on his face. Sars finished the rest of his food. "Do you fight or train at all?" The younger Esokan asked Everia, and Sars took a moment to study the young woman. She seemed to have enough muscle on her bones to imply so heavy lifting in her life, no doubt from working on ships, so she definitely wasn't any kind of pampered princess- not that that was an entirely wrong way to live. Just not good if she was planning on marrying Kené.

(Oh noooo)

Eve smiled at the question, thinking for a moment for how she could respond. "Ah. I do, yes." she replied slowly. "I fight, though I don't usually have time for training. The ship keeps me active and busy enough most of the time." there was always a lot of lifting to do onboard her ship, always a lot of activity, and it kept her in shape without the need for training or working out. Sure, she still did sometimes, especially if there were specific muscles that she wanted to strengthen, but for the most part, she didn't feel the need to. "I'm good at it, too." she smirked just a little bit; she could take one of the Esokans in a fight, if it came to it. Her ability would be a large help in the matter, too.

Good. She would hopefully be able to keep up and hold her own, if it were ever to come to a fight. Knowing how Kené acted around Analite, he wouldn't be surprised if he ended up wanting to have a friendly brawl if -if- they got closer. "That's nice, I'm sure. We starting training when we were little, our mother always said she wanted us to be able to defend ourselves," Kené told her as he finished picking at what was left of his meal. Kené liked to fight with his fists, Sars always suspected it was because he felt better when it was a raw battle. Personally, Sars preferred his knives and water, for reasons he didn't like to come face to face with very often.

"That's nice." she said with a faint smile. "My father was the one who trained me." she glanced at his empty seat, exhaling faintly when she remembered he had left the room. Markos and Eve were close, as Mori had often been the one to need to leave for things. So sometimes, it had been just Markos and Eve. He had been the one to first help her harness her Azfel abilities, and the first to teach her how to throw a punch and defend herself, and what parts of the body to target to inflict the most pain.

"Oh yeah?" Kené said, more of a filler for the conversation than an actual question, "You and your father seem close." It was a gentle throw, leaving it up to Everia if she wanted to touch more on the topic. Kené and Sars knew better than anyone that parental relationship could be complex. Whether or not the words would change if the other parent was present, how delicately sentences would be phrased, what aspects of the relationship would be highlighted… It was comparable to navigating a political minefield. The only 'political minefield' that Sars would ever traverse, if he had anything to say about it. Thankfully, his mother and father tended to agree with him on such things, even if it left Kené out of the loop.

"We are." she replied. "My mom was the one that had to sail out more when i was younger, so my father was the one that taught me how to do a lot of things." she gave Mori a soft, quick smile, and Mori returned it. Eve looked over at Kene after a moment, shrugging one shoulder. "Plus, he was the one that taught me how to use my magic." all of them, to be frank. The Azfel-related ones, and her metal manipulation abilities as well. She finished up her food, running a hand over her hair. "What about you? Are you close with your parents?" she didn't know much about the brothers; she hoped she had not just said something that would offend or upset them. Her mother would be furious if Eve messed this up.