Debut

[Taskmienster]

Laughing seemed inappropriate, but Einar couldn’t keep the smile from his face. There was very little he remembered about the Snowdale estate, or the family that he had long since met there, but Luca’s fierce – and often times blunt – nature was something no one would forget. Instead of complaining, offering to opt for the hard life in Radasanth for a while or any other such insulting notion he simply nodded and took another sip of his brandy. “I would be remiss if I denied a lady her request,” he responded with his beaming smile, “I would also find it simply… difficult not to accept the offer, to be honest. Snowdale was a welcoming place to my father on his trips, and the hospitality extended is to me is both welcomed and relieving. Finding any lodgings here, especially if knowledge of my past preceded me, would be like trying to hunt a pack of wolves with a dagger.”

The Salvaran lord looked away from the woman, trying to absorb what it would be like to live in Corone after spending his entire life in Salvar. The lavish nature of the world around him was a shock, even to one inherently raised with a silver spoon on his lips. The precious accoutrements of upper-society on the small island put anything the icy realm he had called home to shame. Rugs of the finest weave, decorated with elaborate pictures covered floors of more precious wood. Simple fork and knife were replaced by a myriad of silverware that had more meaning and uses then he could possibly remember. He was in a world completely unlike his own, and Luca had become the passing ship to rescue him from the harsh sea of confusion.

“I am sure there is something in Snowdale I can assist with. Be it common chores, general book keeping, or even basic security measures. I would be unable to accept your offer unless I worked to gain both trust and station. My father and yours were friends, close when situation permitted, and I would rekindle both friendship and mutual respect as their next generations.” He sipped more brandy, unsure of what to either say or do further. Political respect and personal respect were two completely different functions on Corone, the latter being almost ignored from what he could remember. However, if there was going to be a former lord of Salvar roaming through the ebb and flow of island politics, he would bring his own brand of politics along as well.

Smile and be kind as much as possible, become icy stone when necessary only.

[Luca]

“I’m sure we can find something for you to do,” Luca agreed, glancing up at the waiter with a longsuffering smile as he brought their meal to them, “But I will hear nothing of business over our luncheon. First and foremost shall be our friendship, whether that is how it was between our fathers or not. I’m quite weary of all the politics and maneuvering of Corone and will be quite happy to entertain someone who isn’t knee deep in the manure known as Coronian aristocratic duty.”

Ever so delicately Luca helped herself to her lunch, lifting each bite to her mouth as gingerly as a cat. As far as she was concerned, it would be a welcome refreshment to set aside all the tiresome parties and dinners, leave off the shopping trips with her fellow ladies, and to completely forget to answer the invitations to accompany the wives of important men on their husbands’ hunting trips. Einar would give her a lovely excuse to be remiss in her attentions to the rest of the nobility.

Of course there would be no end to the rumors. A young woman of noble blood inviting a Salvarian lord to not only visit but spend an extended amount of time in her home was a shocking development. She was quite certain the rumors had already begun to spread; the whispers and stifled laughter at the audacity of a baroness to invite a young man to her home without as much as a chaperone. They could only imagine what sort of lewd behavior would be taking place behind closed doors. Luca hid a smile behind her hand as she pictured the horrified face of Lady Moody and her fellow busy bodies.

The baroness waved her hand at Merla who was sitting a respectable distance from her mistress and ate a much more simple lunch. The older woman nodded and crossed to the nobles’ table and quickly joined them, kneeling beside Luca so as to hear her better.

“Merla, would you let Jeral know to have the carriage ready for us as soon as we finish eating? It shouldn’t be too very much longer. He can bring it here so we don’t have to walk through the streets and speak with any of the fluffed up peacocks wandering downtown this time of day.”
“Yes ma’am,” Merla rushed off, disappearing out the door, her lunch forgotten on the table.

“I didn’t mean for her to go now, I meant for her to finish eating and then go,” Luca sighed, taking another bite before continuing, “I suppose I’ll have to have the waiter pack a lunch for her to eat on the way back.”

Half an hour and an entire bottle of brandy later the pair had finished their meal and were comfortably ensconced in Luca’s carriage which gently bounced along on the road to Snowdale.

[Taskmienster]

Einar, with a stomach almost as full of brandy as it was filet mignon, retained his proper posture as the carriage jostled its way across cobblestone and eventually onto the dirt road. The meal had been beyond anything he had hoped for stepping off of the boat at the docks. The outcast noble’s trip to Corone was behind him, but seemed to have been the worst part of his exile. Luck followed him, and by whatever looked down to show its favor, he had stumbled upon the best part of the island nation. The Snowdale estate was forgotten initially, and the old allies of the family had never crossed his mind. A pleasure though it was, he felt out of place all the more relying on someone else to do for him what his own people would not.

“Luca,” he thought as he casually glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes. His head was turned towards the almost fully drawn curtains on the doors, but his thoughts and attention were on his hostess. “The cursed Sway and the power-hungry nobility of Salvar cast me out, my fate to be left to myself. My wife watched me depart the lands that my ancestors had carved out of the coast. These times are difficult, no deity watches my steps, my faith is in myself alone, yet you have given me more hope than I could ask for…”

A particularly rough jolt from the less traversed thoroughfare and Einar was unsteadily attempting to regain his seating and composure. As if pushed from mind to mouth his thoughts became words, and he was looking directly at the younger woman. “Luca, if I may be so informal as to call you that, thank you. You have done more for me in the past two hours than anyone in the past month has. I am unsure of what compensation I will be able to offer, but my services are yours.”

The former Salvaran lord turned his eyes towards the soft carpeting of the carriage. Embarrassed, slightly uncomfortable, and yet had a sense of peace deep down. With a sharp mind for running an estate, a strong body for manual labor, and an ability to defend himself and others he was certain there would be something he could find to assist her. He opened his mouth to continue, but closed it just as quickly. Gaping like a freshly hooked cod was hardly becoming, but he ignored it as quickly as it had happened. “Please, if you would, tell me more about your estates? It has been years since I last had the honor of being company as part of my father’s retinue. Both of our families have become lost to time and tragedy, and my own path has changed so drastically. It would be nice to discuss your situation instead of dwell on my own.”