People of Daventry

“Well, we’ll just keep the mistake between you and me, then,” Neese assured him, giggling a little. “Really, though, even around the castle, plenty have assumed I’m due by now. I suppose it’s just because I’m so small, though the midwife says there’s a chance it may be twins. Personally, I’m hoping for that.” She gave her stomach a light, loving pat. 

“Oh, I can show you to the local inn, no trouble, if you just want to follow me. Perhaps I can show you a few good places to stop by on the way?” she suggested. 

Waving a hand, Neese began leading him down the path. Her steps were a bit slow and awkward due to her current size, but with the elderly man having his own limitations, Neese doubted their pace would differ much. “I take it you’re not from here, then,” Neese commented as they walked. “Are you headed anywhere in particular? Or are you and your wife simply traveling for the sake of traveling?” 

“Oh, no -- I’m travelling alone,” Mannanan corrected her, “I happen to be heading back to my town in the mountains. I was doing some trade down in the south for a little while, and now I’ve gotta haul myself back,” Plausible enough. He’d seen a great number of stubborn old men that refused to let people replace them at their jobs until they were on their deathbed.

He followed behind her, slowing his pace and mentally cringing at the idea that Graham may actually end up a father of twins. Disgusting. Looking at her size, however, he knew the possibility was great. 

“I just thought I might stop for a day trip, since I left a bit earlier than expected and have the extra coin to spend.” He repeated himself purposefully, still smiling pleasantly as he spoke like he hadn’t noticed.

“Not due enough, I’m afraid,” Neese replied with a tired laugh. “I still have about a month left. But I’m sure I’ll be making visits out here up until the end. The little one will already be familiar with all the townspeople before they’re even born.” 

Her smile faltered a little when the guard cut in, insisting on them moving along. With a wave of her hand, Neese shook her head. “Oh, no, don’t be silly. I don’t have any specific errands today. I’m only visiting everyone. This qualifies as visiting, does it not?” the queen pointed out. 

“Don’t worry, you aren’t being a bother at all!” Neese insisted, shaking her had at the old man, as well. “Of course, if you have your own business to attend to, I don’t want to keep you any longer.” 

“A month? Oh my, I beg your pardon. I didn’t realize.” Seemed as though this brat wouldn’t exactly be inheriting Graham’s old physique, if it was already this big within his wife. He had to physically hold himself from roll his eyes. Oh, how he missed that helmet sometimes.  “Mary Elizabeth would have my head if she heard me assuming you were already due,” He told Neese with a bit of a hearty chuckle.

“I’m not particularly busy -- I was just hoping to find an inn for the night. I’ve the extra gold, so I thought I may treat myself to a hot meal and a bed, rather than subjecting myself to sleeping in the wagon again. If you wouldn’t mind the company, or wouldn’t mind the ramblings of a silly old coot, I’d love to continue wandering about with you,”

“Careful!” Neese exclaimed, watching the man try and steady himself. Despite being a little wobbly on her own feet, she reached out to help him find and keep his balance. When it seemed they were both fine on their feet again, Neese let go. 

“It’s really all right,” Neese assured him again. "A little collision here and there isn’t uncommon when the marketplace is busy, and thankfully neither of us got hurt.” On her own, Neese certainly exhibited a fair amount of clumsiness, but with a couple of guards in tow, she honestly didn’t worry about it. They could – and did – easily catch her when the need arose. She just found herself relieved that nothing happened to this elderly man. 

His comment made her blink a bit in confusion. Just about everyone in Daventry knew that the king and queen visited town frequently – or at least as often as they could manage. Personally, Neese always found it a bad move when monarchs didn’t – how else could they help the people if they didn’t bother spending time among them? Then again, this man didn’t exactly look familiar. He must be someone new, or a traveler passing through. 

Smiling, Neese shook her head. “Well, I do admit being with child has kept me from mingling in town too much. But I’m not about to coop myself up entirely. The people of Daventry are all dear to me – I’m not about to cease all visits for a whole nine months.”

“Oh, I’m sure you’ve not cooped yourself up all too much. My wife refused it, and kept leaving the house to work up until just before each of our children were born--” Ugh. Just the thought of having his own children made him feel nauseous. Even in this form, where his children would turn up human, he found it sickening. “You just look about due. It’s a bit of a surprise,” He told her with a small chuckle.

“Let’s get your errands done, Your Majesty. We wouldn’t want you to get to be too uncomfortable before we do everything you wanted to do,” One of the guards suggested, verbally urging the Queen along and perhaps to leave the elderly man off to do his own business. 

Manny, however, had no intention in letting that happen.

Walking along through the Daventry marketplace, Neese took a deep breath of fresh air. She didn’t get nice, long walks throughout the castle town nearly enough at these late stages of her pregnancy, but the midwife approved a few short outings here and there, so long as she didn’t do anything to strain herself. Neese did her best to adhere to that, happy to just get out into town, even if her back ached and her ankles felt awful by the time she got back to the castle.

She paused now and then during her walk, greeting or sometimes stopping to chat with the townsfolk, or other times to look at people’s wares. As she turned her head to wave at her favourite candy seller and start in that direction, however, Neese suddenly found herself colliding into someone, knocking her off balance before she felt a guard take hold of her shoulders and help her back into place. 

“Wha–?” Her hand rested on her stomach and she blinked in confusion up at the guard, then at the man she apparently ran into. Quite tall, but clearly elderly, and he appeared a bit caught off guard by the situation as well. 

“Oh, no! No worries, really,” Neese insisted, waving her free hand in front of her. “I wasn’t exactly watching where I was going. Are you all right, sir?” 

Taking a bit of a step back, Mannanan made an attempt to look as though he was trying to steady himself after nearly falling over from that little collision. He did try to hold himself more like an elderly man would, hunching over slightly, and definitely consciously making his voice sounds all the sweeter than usual.

“I’m all right, excuse me for bumping into you-- I wouldn’t want to knock you or your little one over,” He acknowledged her very prominent bump, letting his eyes fall on it briefly before looking back up to her face. 

He hadn’t been able to wander freely through Daventry since the tournament. The once-goblin man didn’t know whether this was a blessing or but an unremarkable result of his brilliance. ...Likely the latter.

Without his helm to cover his expression, he did his best to keep a neutral one up, as to not cause anyone to suspect him all too much. 

The old-appearing man’s bright green eyes lingered over people as he walked through the slightly larger marketplace within the castletown, a place he hadn’t really gotten to see, outside of Daventry Square itself. He walked slowly, going through as inconspicuously as he possibly could manage. 

Manny needed to do some reconnaissance, and with Mordack still very much just as banned from the kingdom as his goblin form was, it was up to him to do this.

He appeared to be lost in thought, apparently, as he ran into someone without realizing. His old, wobbly legs nearly left him falling over, only for a nearby guard caught the wibbling Manny, and another had caught hold of the woman he’d bumped into.

“Watch where you’re going,” The guard warned casually, no harshness to his voice in the slightest. “I’m afraid you nearly knocked over the Queen.”

The wizard blinked in surprise, the -- the what?

The Queen? Was out here? In the open? Manny’s eyes were immediately drawn to the red-headed woman before him, with a guard holding her still by her shoulders. His eyes guided down toward Queen Valanice’s large stomach, and immediately had several ideas working themselves through in his mind.

“But I–” Rosella stopped, giving her husband a clear look of irritation at his words as he kissed her temple. She really didn’t like admitting defeat – even if this wasn’t technically a defeat. Still, it was close enough. 

Between feeling so sore and hungry, however, Rosella truly didn’t feel like standing here arguing about it much more. With a roll of her eyes, Rosella released a heavy sigh. “Fine, it was a draw,” she said reluctantly, although she added in a grumble, “But I still came closer to winning.”

Looking down at her daughter, Rosella gave a little pout at her in return, then bent her head to press a few tiny kisses to Josephine’s cheek. “Aww, don’t be upset, love. Gart and Mama are fine. Or, we will be after we eat.

“Speaking of, do you know if supper is ready yet, Edgar? I’m famished, and I definitely want food before I take you up on that massage.” 

“I’m not sure, honestly. I’ve not smelled or heard anything about supper just yet, but I’ve also had my hands full with miss Josephine all afternoon,” He must’ve gone back and forth between Josie’s room and the throne room to go see her cousin and grandmother at least four times. 

“We could probably get a snack for the both of you to hold you over, however,” Edgar hoped that, at the very least, would suffice until supper was properly ready. 

Even while given a few kisses, the toddler in her mother’s arms pouted pathetically. With much reluctance, however, she did end up returning the kisses, placing a few soft and cautious kisses to a couple places on her mama’s cheek.

“Aw, I’m sorry for worrying you, sweetheart. Everything’s fine,” Rosella assured the little girl in her arms.

She pressed a couple of quick kisses to the tip of Josephine’s nose while Edgar rustled their daughter’s hair. Then, a smile spreading across her lips, she leaned up to kiss his cheek. 

Opening her mouth to answer that question, Rosella stopped when Gart spoke up. Instead, she rolled her eyes as well, then nodded at Edgar. “Yes, he threw me into the nearest room and made a run for it. And all because I won more rounds than him!” Rosella shook her head. 

“So I tackled him. And I’m sure I’m going to need a considerable massage for it now, after all that sparring today.” 

“She keeps saying that, and yet she did not win more rounds than me. We tied, and she’s being a jerk,” The moody teenager huffed, and rolled his eyes again. 

Edgar already didn’t like the sound of this, his eyes falling on his wife with a sigh.

“Let’s just appease him. No need to get into an argument over something petty,” He insisted quietly, so their son couldn’t hear him. Again, he pressed a kiss his his wife’s temple. Returning to his normal volume, he spoke again. 

“I could give you a massage, if you’d like,” Edgar insisted, then looked back to Gart.

“I could give you one, too, Gart! I’m sure you’re just as sore as Mama. Daddy and Josie’s strong fencers both deserve a little rest, right, baby girl?” He turned his attention back to their daughter, smiling and hoping for a response, but she still was pouting and resting her head down against her mother’s shoulder as she sucked on her thumb.

Rosella couldn’t help giving a small snort, shaking her head at that. “I don’t know. Perhaps, but I also think your grandmother’s still got plenty physical endurance for her age. Not that I care to test that theory, of course.” Regardless of the truth, Rosella didn’t doubt her mother would make them all very sorry for testing it.

A smile warmed her features as Josie finally floated down towards her, flooding her with relief as she gathered her daughter into her arms. After the competition with Gart, Rosella definitely didn’t feel up to chasing her throughout the castle trying to get her to come down. “There, it’s alright, sweetheart. I’ve got you. Now who did you scare by flying off again?”

The answer came only seconds later as she heard her husband’s voice calling out. Glancing up, Rosella waved at him with her free hand. 

“I just finished tackling Gart,” Rosella answered matter-of-factly, offering a shrug. 

Finally, she pushed herself up onto her feet, taking care not to jostle the toddler in her arms too much. Once she stood again, Rosella adjusted her in her arms. “Now, Josie, haven’t we talked about you flying off like this love? You know it ends up scaring us all when we can’t find you.” She gave her daughter a worried frown. “Why didn’t you stay with Daddy?” 

“...Probably because she heard you tackling Gart, love. We both heard the thump from down the hall, and Josie was worried.” The initial noise had startled the little girl, and left her wondering what exactly it’d been. So, she followed it.

Out of her father’s arms she went, and sped off to the hall where she’d heard it. Needless to say, Edgar ran off after her. He’d alternated between flying and running a couple of times before just settling on running after the raven haired little girl. His brown eyes fell on the little girl, watching her suck her thumb worriedly. 

With a sigh, he stepped forward and rustled Josie’s hair when he got close enough, then leaning close to kiss his wife’s temple.

“Now -- I believe a better question might be, why did you tackle Gart?”

“Because her response to me throwing her is to tackle me.”

“...Y-You threw her?”

“Throwing your mother and making a run for it is not a joke, Gart,” Rosella huffed.”And you’re very lucky I’m not your grandmother, otherwise you’d be very grounded right now.” 

She couldn’t help giving him a slightly amused look as she reached over and nudged him with her elbow. At least she didn’t intend on grounding him for it. Of course, Rosella didn’t exactly feel happy about getting scooped up and thrown off, but the two of them playing dirty during or after their competitions wasn’t anything new.

Letting out a deep breath, Rosella moved to finally stand as well, but stopped when she heard a few small, familiar whines. Glancing up, it didn’t surprise her to see Josephine wobbling on her brother’s shoulders before floating upwards again. 

“HI there, sweetheart. What are you doing out here all by yourself?” Rosella asked, motioning her daughter forwards. “Come down here, Josie. Let Mama hold you, please?” 

It typically made her a little nervous seeing her toddler floating so high up. The same happened with Gart in his early years, though at least he didn’t do it anywhere near as much – with Josephine, it seemed near constant. Rosella had long ago accepted it as rather unavoidable when her children were half-fairy, though. No doubt Edgar, her mother, or the nursemaid would come around the corner shortly in pursuit of the runaway (or rather, flyaway) princess.

“To be fair, I think Grandmother is far too fragile to be thrown across the room.” And certainly not because she was a fragile person, but at her age? It probably wouldn’t have been the best idea, for a woman in her 70s. Still, he definitely knew not to mess with Grandma Vee like that. While he did respect her a great deal, she also scared the holy hell out of him when she was in some sort of upset mood. Stars only knew how frustrated she could occasionally get with him, his mother, and Gwendolyn at times.

He looked up at his baby sister as Rosella beckoned her to come closer. The little girl plopped her thumb in her mouth out of some form of comfort as she lowered herself down more toward where her mother sat on the ground. Josie sniffled again from her having been startled. Unfortunately, she did seem to get herself frightened fairly easily, as quite a lot of little boys and girls often would.

Of course, as predicted, it was only but a few moments before a pair of feet could be heard rushing about.

“Josie? Josie?” Edgar called to his daughter, eyes looking more in the air for the time being and thus not noticing that his entire family was in the hall before him. “Josie, sweetpea, this isn’t funny...”

His eyes finally fell on his family when he was beginning to look down in exasperation. 

“Oh -- oh, thank the stars,” He sighed out, approaching the three of them. Though, he did send his wife a look of confusion. After all, beside her stood their teenage son, whom now was getting close to even surpassing Edgar in height, while Rosella was still on the floor.

Rosella released a laugh of triumph as she grabbed onto his legs, taking Gart down with her as she fell towards the floor. It lasted mere seconds, however, as her body made contact with both the ground and the back of Gart’s legs. With her body as sore as it felt from their fencing today, hitting even the carpet felt painful. 

“Ow,” she groaned. “Worth it, though. …I think.” She moved to release her grip on his legs, but Gart managed the task himself before her. For now, Rosella rolled over into a sitting position, taking a moment to catch her breath. 

“You did throw me into a room first, you know,” Rosella pointed out after a moment, giving him a disapproving glance. “You didn’t really think you were going to get away with that, did you?” 

“Perhaps because you don’t know when to pipe down,” Gart huffed, looked back toward her with a mildly irritated glare. The teenager rolled his eyes as his mother continued with what she was saying. 

“It was just a joke. Zards, Mum, you’re starting to sound like Grandmother.” Because, of course, picking up and throwing your mother was a classic joke. 

The young man was about to stand when he felt a pair of tiny feet on his shoulders. Jolting a bit, he felt the little girl wobble extremely briefly before being afraid enough to jump farther into the air again. From the tiny figure, a pair of tiny whines.

Rolling her eyes, Rosella shook her head. Regardless of what he thought, Rosella simply wasn’t the type to let go of a clear win in her favour. She spent far too long typically being the reigning champion in fencing competitions throughout her life to give in so easily. Even if it did make her ‘bigheaded’.

“Alright, fine. Call me big-headed, deluded, whatever you please, then. I still w– Ahh!” Rosella let out a shriek of surprise as Gart reached over and suddenly grabbed her. In the span of only a couple seconds, she found herself dangling over his shoulder. Naturally, Rosella began flailing immediately, but his tight hold on her legs and being upside down made it difficult to properly right herself. 

“Gart, put me down! What are you doing?!” she demanded in confusion. As he carried her towards the nearest door, Rosella elbowed him in the back repeatedly, trying to get him to lose his grip. It didn’t work – while she was usually faster than him, he’d become stronger than her in the past couple years. Before Rosella could work out any further attempts, she suddenly flew across the room, landing unceremoniously on the guest bed.

Rosella let out an irritated huff, blowing an array of stray curls that escaped from their tie out of her face. “Gart!” she called out, frowning as he shut the door. She could hear the sound of his boots thudding against the ground outside – clearly making a run for it. 

Recovering quickly, Rosella bounced off the bed and threw open the door. Sure enough, she could see him racing down the hall, blond curls bouncing. “Gart, get back here,” Rosella called again, this time running after him. He got a bit of a head start, but she was still quick. As soon as she deemed herself close enough, she leaped, launching herself at his back. 

Having continued to run as she launched herself toward him, she’d really only gotten hold of his legs as she toppled over, and subsequently  caused Gart to fall flat on his face, as well. A hiss off irritation escaped him, while the full on breath in his lungs had been completely knocked out of him.

For a few moments, he couldn’t say anything. Instead, he turned his head to gasp for air. It took a few terrifying moments to get another breath in, but was able to manage it. A sharp inhale, and he could breathe again.

“--Zards! Mother, get off of me!” Gart yelled at her, voice weak from him still getting his bearings after falling and losing himself for a second there.

“Yes, your uncle loves saying that about me,” Rosella replied with a roll of her eyes. “I won’t pretend he’s not right. Sometimes. But it’s not really ‘big-headedness’ if I did win.

“Besides, there’s nothing wrong with having a healthy dose of confidence. And for the record, I’m glad you’ve inherited mine,” she said, glancing over at him with more of a genuine than amused smile this time. She knew that his confidence really did take a large hit after Graham’s death. But Rosella felt proud of him, the way he eventually bounced back, even if things weren’t always easy for him.

Rosella couldn’t help but let out another snort of amusement, though, at his following comments. “Well, in that case, you’d better join me in learning some. After all, you said it yourself. We’re too much alike, and she spends quite a bit of time around you.”

“I hate to break it to you, but regardless of whether you win or lose, it’s still big-headedness. You really do sound deluded at this point, do you not realize that, Mother?” Gart wondered if she really understood what she was saying, or if she was saying it to get a rise out of him.

By the time she was getting to her final point, that they were “too much alike,” and that Josie spent a lot of time around him, Gart was beginning to not care for the conversation at hand anymore. It was boring and trite, leaving him uninterested in arguing with her any further. Instead, the much younger man stopped.

With ease, he began to reach out and grab his mother, lifting her up over his shoulders. He held her by her ankles and calves over her dress, to keep it from falling down. For now, she hung upside down. Gart looked around at his surroundings for a moment, and did realize there were a few guest rooms right near them.

“I do remember. But the point stands that I knocked you over first. Which means that I clearly won that round.” The fact that they both ended on the ground did still make it a draw, she supposed. But if she made that first move, then why shouldn’t it count as a win for her?

Rosella scoffed again, shaking her head. Her son really did have a big ego sometimes. …And, well, Rosella supposed she couldn’t blame him, really. She did, too, at times, and he took after her quite a bit. Regardless of what he wanted to believe, though, it didn’t change anything. 

“Being a sore loser would have required me losing to begin with,” Rosella said matter-of-factly. 

“Really, Gart, I am very proud of your progress. But I think you’re getting a bit too ahead of yourself thinking your better than me. Just how old do you think I am?” She gave a small pout in response to his cocky grin. “I’ll be carrying that torch for a good while yet. You should use that as incentive to train even harder instead of gloating.” 

“You know, I was just wondering why Uncle often says you have a big-head. I think I’m starting to see it.” Gart rolled his eyes at his mother’s statements. “You’re ridiculous,” He scoffed, not honestly sure whether he was actually getting frustrated with her now, or if he was still joking. 

Sometimes her comments like these really did bug him.

“You’re definitely one to talk, telling me not to gloat,” Pot, meet kettle. Rolling his eyes a second time, he glanced back over to his mother again with a rather typical teenage sort of glance. Looking a little bemused with her. Occasionally, he wondered how his father could handle the both of them. After all, he and Josie both were so, so different from both her and Rosella.

“It is if I catch her before she’s out of reach,” Rosella pointed out. “I’d like to think I’ve gotten pretty good at that, provided I’m in the room when she starts.” Though, Josie had also started catching onto the best time to do it – when Rosella wasn’t looking, just before she left the room, before she entered the room, and so on – more than Rosella cared to admit. 

Still, that wasn’t the point. The point was that, despite not exactly practicing as much as she wanted these past few years, Rosella most definitely won that last round. 

“Delusions?” Rosella scoffed and shoved into his shoulder again when he started mimicking her. “Have some respect for your mother! My moves are far more graceful than that. And in case you forgot, I knocked you right off your feet near the end there. If that had been a real fight, you’d be in no position to argue about who won after that, you know.” 

“Ah, more delusions of grandeur. Do you not recall that we both ended up toppling over? That’s why it was a draw in the first place.” Gart rolled his eyes at his mother and his continuous insisting that she was the victor. Now that he was older, he was beginning to see why his uncle often told his mother that she had a big head.

Not that he was any better, honestly, and he knew it.

“…I don’t know. Maybe.” Rosella gave a shrug as she wiped at her eyes again in annoyance. She supposed that might be true, but really, how difficult could it be to understand? They all loved him. They didn’t want him leaving so soon. Simple as that.

Still, while the matter of missing him was Rosella’s greatest issue, it wasn’t what she needed him to understand most. No matter how much the dreaded feeling of him being gone gnawed at her, the concerns she had were surely more important. Ones he should listen to, instead of simply accusing her of pitching a fit. 

“You don’t think it’d be wise for you to at least mention the possibility of waiting to him?” she asked, brows furrowed as she glanced back at Cassima. 

“I mean– I don’t want it to seem like I don’t want you both getting married, or I don’t approve of you being together. That isn’t it.” A bit of a frustrated sigh left her lips as she tried to push through her tears and gather her words. Cassima seemed understanding enough so far, and Rosella didn’t want any misunderstanding now from irritation getting in the way. “I just– I’m worried that all this might be too much for him too fast. He’s made so much progress since he came home, and I’m so proud of him, but– but like I said, it’s only been a couple of years. I’m afraid that jumping right into marriage and becoming king and being hundreds of miles from home might be too overwhelming, and it’s not like it’s something he can easily back out of if anything happens.”

W-would it really be so bad for you to– to try and talk to him about it? I don’t know that he’ll listen to me – at least, not in time for it to matter.”

The way Rosella was putting things, Cassima could certainly see how some of those things could become an issue to Alexander. He, of course, was very young. Very young to become a king, just as she was very young to become a queen. The difference being that she was the true heir to this land. She’d been training to become a queen since she was rather young.

So, of course, she did expect to be the primary decision maker of the kingdom for a while, but Alexander would certainly have a place as well. 

Eyes trailing down, she didn’t really feel as though she had too much of a choice in this matter. After all, there was no good reason for her not to speak to him about it, other than the simple fact that she didn’t wish to “rock the boat,” as they say.

As she handed her own foil off to a servant, too, Rosella blew out a winded breath. Even she felt a little sore – they both played even tougher than normal today. With Gart clearly getting better and better at his fencing as time went on, it left the both of them even more determined to beat each other during their matches. Naturally, it left them exhausted, but satisfied. Rosella was proud of her son’s progress, even if he only beat her twice today. 

“That was a good match. You’re really getting better, love,” she breathed out as they entered the castle and headed through the hall. Unfortunately, it didn’t feel as cool in the castle as it did outside. She already tied up her hair before their match, at least, so Rosella settled for fanning her hands at the back of her neck to cool herself off now. 

Gart’s comment made her let out a rather unladylike snort. Raising an eyebrow, Rosella glanced over at him incredulously. “You’re joking, right?” 

Rosella laughed and bumped his side, as well. “You’re getting good, but not that good. Just because I haven’t practiced as much the past few years means nothing. Your sister’s given me more than enough practice in agility. I’m still sharper than you.” 

Gart’s smile faltered as he realize his mother’s implications. While that last match had been close, he’d obviously been the victor. The young man shook his head lightly, rolling his eyes at his mother’s insistence.

“Because attempting to catch a toddler you can’t even reach is really agility training.” Josie really did have no care in the world when it came to her flying. It wasn’t often at all that she was actually within reaching distance. At least, not for his mother. While she wasn’t as short as Grandma Neese, she was still very much shorter than him at this point.

Feeling Cassima’s hand on her back, Rosella sniffled again, though it sounded louder than she intended. “I-I’m fine,” she insisted, but her voice caught in her throat. Hurriedly, she gave a small cough. “I’m fine.” 

Despite her insistence, Rosella’s eyes misted over again. This time, she lifted her hand and quickly swiped at them. She couldn’t deny it felt rather relieving receiving some sympathy after touching on her concerns, especially after arguing so heavily with Alexander. Rosella wondered if Cassima would feel as sympathetic if she continued. 

“Well, at least one of you does,” she noted quietly. 

Rosella let out a heavy sigh, wiping at her eyes again. “It’s just– We’ve all been so happy having him back home after searching for him for so long. There’s hardly been a day Alex and I haven’t spent together. But it’s only been a couple of years. It’s nothing compared to all the years we’ve been without him, and now… w-we’ll barely get t-to see him–” 

As the tears welled up again, Rosella’s voice cracked, and she couldn’t bring herself to talk again for a moment. Stars, she hated crying like this in front of Cassima, but at this point she couldn’t help it. Rosella forced herself to take a few long, deep breaths, wanting to steady her voice if nothing else. “…The worst part is, he doesn’t seem to understand why I’m worried, or why I don’t want him to leave yet. He just got angry at me. The first thing he did was accuse me of getting upset that he was the one getting the attention.” 

“...To be truthful, I could see why he doesn’t understand.” Cassima added, hoping that her wording of this wouldn’t just make Rosella feel all the worse. Her intentions were not to make her upset, and just hoped she would understand her own thought process.

“I did speak with your father a bit, about  Alexander’s behavioral issues and problems with emotions. I think perhaps that maybe... well, perhaps Alexander doesn’t understand that separation anxiety? After all, you all desperately missed him for all of those years. However, Alexander had no idea you all existed. I’m not saying that your bond with your brother isn’t deep, but is there any possibility that Alexander just doesn’t really understand the feeling of “missing” someone?”

Of course, she didn’t know Alexander as well as Rosella, but she did feel like she could try her best to understand things from another’s point of view fairly well.