In the few months since saying farewell to Lady Ebony, Lear had sent a few letters, though her responses were sparse. She was clearly busy settling into her new place.
He had also pulled strings to set her business in high standing across the kingdom, and Morganshire wine was now almost exclusively the wine sold across Venia.
If Elia had stopped and just sat on her pile of money, she'd be rich till she died of old age.
However, he and Romulus both knew better than to think that would happen. Reports from Uriah had shown Lady Ebony to be a decent manager, and a good influence on the two kids. They had also shown her to be an increasing drinker, which was a problem. She'd drink herself to an early grave, and Romulus needed her alive, preferably sober, if his plans of putting the Calistar's back on the throne was ever going to succeed.
Lear had also received exactly one letter from Lily and Calvin, and it had been extremely welcome. The handwriting was neat, if crude, and Lead could tell they'd conspired to write it themselves. They were taking to education quickly, Lily in particular. She used several words that would have been far outside her vocabulary only a month prior, and had an easy eloquence that was surprising for the shy, quiet girl Romulus had been kind to. Calvin wrote like a man more suited for action, though he did say the studies of strategy and business he was taking were extremely interesting to him. He'd make a good Lord, and if Lear was reading between the lines correctly, and excellent soldier.
They were doing well, were happy and healthy, and their only concern was the same as Uriah's: Lady Ebony's drinking habit. The kids avoided the wine like the plague, and watching what it was doing to Elia was hurting them. Lily didn't know what to make of it, since she'd never known Elia to have such an issue, but Calvin had a theory.
Lear, I never found satisfaction in my job. Ever. I hated servicing gruesome men on a regular basis. But… My Lady enjoyed a sense of power, and because of her position, a sense of freedom. Here she lacks that particular outlet, and has switched out another. For lack of a polite way to say it, she gets drunk because she cannot get laid.
Lear had sighed heavily as he'd read it. There was no easy resolution.
He'd sent a letter back, encouraging the young ones and assuaging their fears.
He'd also sent a missive to Uriah, asking how close he and Lady Ebony had gotten. Uriah had responded that they'd gotten decently close as Lady and guard, but that she was closed off to him about the things that drove her to drink. Lear suggested to him that he very carefully try to help her, and Uriah had responded that he'd be very careful about attempting such a thing. That had satisfied Lear, and it was the best thing he could offer her as of yet.
Romulus would have had more to say on the matter, but his mind had been focused elsewhere. For one, he'd needed to heal, and the concussion symptoms had gotten worse before they'd gotten better. For another thing, the war effort was ongoing, and Romulus had his attention split between readying his Corps, and trying to quietly mitigate the effect of this new war on the Venian people. He'd been making policy changes left and right, risking his father's ire to make sure the cost of this war, in money and lives, landed squarely one the Haradrim shoulders. It was heavy work, and Lear had needed to comfort him many times as the Prince grieved killing his own people for the sake of a place he couldn't claim as home.
In all that mess, Romulus had also made 2 more trips into the Venian countryside, and freed multiple more people. Calegon had kept quiet, and Romulus had managed not to make a mess of anything else.
It was on the third such trip that Lear realized they'd need to pass through Morganshire on the way home. He kept it to himself, as the Prince always kept his travel plans secret, but he hoped that maybe something would come of it.
~~~~
Uriah was in the habit of waking up long before dawn, to be ready for whenever Lady Ebony woke up. This morning, the sun was well set, and if the trail of sticky, half-dried wine leading to her bedroom door wasn any indication, she'd gone to bed drunk and would likely wake up hungover.
He waited in the antechamber of her rooms, having given a few orders to the servants, who'd been waiting as well.