Cold, but bright, day had bold songbirds floating on the currents over the small valley south of the city. Part of that valley was Rumors Mill, and its owner was walking the grounds through old snow dirtied by being often trod between house and storage building further down the slope.

There were new, dainty feet upon that particular track that day. The figure from a distance was hard to make out with the thick coat and brimmed hat. But then he realized that the style of the garments were very familiar indeed. So, it was he was already smiling when he could make out the face of his sister, Laeyna. Gloved hands claimed the other and they exchanged kisses to cheeks. "So, you received Serena's letter."

Laeyna's smile held suspicion in reserve. "What a greeting to give, but yes, I did. And I cannot smell liquor on you as yet, so either you've not been studying or you've not been thinking. A good thing to my mind. Out in this cold, if you get sick you will have no one but yourself to blame. At least you dress properly for the weather. Mother will be pleased to hear it."

Oh, no doubt Mother would be pleased to hear it. Jolyon and Laeyna shared the smile of the inside joke. He offered her his arm, and she took it as they made their way back to the house. "Now, before we get inside and I escape with your bride to talk about you and how brutish you've been, you tell me what you have been doing."

"I have gotten too close, Laeyna."

"Since you are marrying her, I surely hope you have."

Jolyon soured his smile at his sister. It was impossible to stay sour with her overly innocent expression. "That is not what I meant. The experiments we ran? You recall?"

He felt her tremble, her fingers grip his arm a bit more tightly. "Cannot forget. What horrendous things you must run into here. Horrendous and fascinating."

There. Jolyon had to chuckle. There it was; that which he had felt when he first arrived. It had been all so fascinating, but then the people had become more than just people. They were friends, and such fascinations were trials of their lives. He could not be so objective any longer. "I am glad you have come, Laeyna. Come, let us get you inside. We will talk more later, I am sure."

Jolyon had stewed about the conversation with Fio Helston for a few days. It sprang sharp regrets in his chest at odd hours belittling efforts to concentrate. It had him rubbing at his shoulder where a knot remained permanently fixed. Something had gone decidedly wrong, and all his ineffectual internal debates were merry-go-rounds of impracticality. Before he was to be called to speak with them again, if he ever was, he concluded he needed an outside perspective.

It was the day and hour, in fact, when he normally would have been meeting with his student for lessons. That was why it took him some time to find his bride, as he was not accustomed to her schedule. With some help from the dogs cavorting across the land of Rumors Mill, he finally wandered his way in sight of her. She sat among the tender grasses of the meadow just past the stream that rolled along from the house and its slow turning mill down past the rows of vines into the deeper valley.

Her dark hair hung in a pair of braids that rested on either shoulder. Dressed casually in jeans and a tunic top and seated in the grass, she had drawn her knees up to her chest and her chin was resting on the rounded peaks of her knees. A book was in hand, hanging off to the side and clearly not being read. He smiled as he approached seeing that, even though she had a book in hand, it did not look like he was disturbing her reading. He was sure, however, he was disturbing thoughts. "What is that phrase? Penny for your thoughts?"

Serena's dark eyes moved up to him and a lazy smile soon followed. "I am challenging myself to think of nothing at all. It's difficult. Have you ever tried?"

He gestured his request to take a seat beside her. Courtesy, civility -- it was their courtship and their game. Yet, he answered as he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and took seat when she gestured for him to do so a tug to the cotton khaki pants as he crossed legs. Something about being out in the wild grasses always made him feel the need to roll up his sleeves. "I have tried. I hear the concept is to embrace each thought as it comes until there are no others. I think you can rightly guess I have never succeeded."

"Mm." She nodded with a secret smile, flipping the book shut and laying it aside. He watched her inhale a deep breath and slowly set it free. "Neither have I. Just as soon as I think I'm getting close I wonder if that hat stand that I like on Washington Street is still open or I start counting the days until strawberry season or something equally as ridiculous."

Forearms rested on his knees, and his fingers instantly began to play with blades of grass. The slender silk of the flat of a blade bending to the gentle touch. "I don't know if I'd call them ridiculous. They have their purpose. Sometimes, we just can't see those purposes ourselves. Or..." he stopped and shrugged, "well, I have enough people calling me annoying guy. I don't need to add you to the list." He had begun to ramble and cast his thoughts outward, away from his own hornets nest of contemplations. "Are you feeling all right?"

"Calling you what?" She questioned, but he did not return to the topic. Watching her sitting in the grass with only the birds in the trees and the breeze through her hair, she looked healthy, open, so like the young woman he had first met at the inn.

It took a moment, the distant bark of the dogs, a trickle of water, nature's background conversation to their elegant party of two. Her brows knitted as she answered. "I'm feeling fine. Why do you ask?"

"Just to ask. Just to not assume you are okay. The winter has finally passed, but that does not mean the call has gotten any easier." He smiled a bit, the shy reserve tempting to take over him again. It drew his eyes to the grasses wiggling in the breeze beneath his hands. "My being around more has put a bit of sour in Arcelia as she cannot sneak into my study and dust as much. I hope it has not had a similar effect on you."

The shoulder closest to him was lifted in a dismissive shrug before she leaned in to lightly rest the side of her head against the curve of his shoulder. "Arcelia is all bark. At least where you're concerned. She loves having you in the house. As do I."

It dulled some of the sharp cut of his worry to hear her say it. He kissed the top of her head. But there were other cuts of worry paring down his composure. He knew she had noticed his mood since he had mentioned the episode, had been patient of it. It was a disservice to her keeping the quandary bottled inside. "I just wish I knew how to explain. I really simply did not think to ask permission for something that was already in progress. What does that say of me? Am I casting judgment without realizing it?"

The thought rose up the bile in his throat. Had he lost all ability of objectivity in this world? Was it all too near for him when his subjects of study were still alive and not just bones and cryptic symbols to decipher?

Her voice became more gentle but her head lingered against his shoulder. Her hand fell to brush over his knee in a light, intimate touch. "Perhaps my view of this is skewed because of my own upbringing but Lirssa is old enough to start making some of her own decisions. Parents, particularly parents so late to the game, should recognize when their child has reached that age and not deny them independence when no harm can come from it. If they don't make decisions on their own they will never learn how to make proper decisions later on their own."

His fingers moved from the grass to entangle with hers. Her touch always seemed to soothe and calm him. It was, if he allowed his thoughts to wander the path long, interesting that a being so wild, free spirited and full of life such as she could have such a pacifying effect on him. It was like he knew she could hold him together and not let his doubts and worries assail him. He thought on her words. "Agreed, but -- well you perhaps know better than anyone I know. What would you need most if you were in Lirssa's place? I want to support her forming family and yet also support the independent child she is. I cannot seem to manage either desire successfully. Can you advise me?"

The question drew a ragged exhale of air as she finally lifted her head from his shoulder so that her eyes could find his. Lips pursed in thoughtful indecision before relaxing once more. "I don't think you should get in a battle of wills with Fio. I suppose I wouldn't want to be put in the middle of that. I think that Lirssa has made a decision to be a part of this family and you have to respect that. But I would also encourage Fio to be open and honest with Lirssa. She's getting to be of the age where she should be allowed in on the decision making." Her lips then curled into a self-depreciating smile. "But I'm hardly an expert on either parenting or teaching young wayward girls."

He searched her eyes, listened to her words and his mind was picturing her young, like Lirssa, making decisions that would affect her life in the future. He loved the woman Serena had become, the woman at his side who could help him in so many ways. "Are you certain of that? You lived something like Lirssa's life. You know what she has had to go through. I think you, of all people, are someone who understands and can help me understand." With a deep breath, he nodded. "And you're right. I can't get in the middle of things, and I want to help but it has to be help they want."

Her eyes traveled along his features before settling on his lips. "Exactly. I wouldn't pressure Fio and Ali to meet with you. Eventually, Lirssa's going to do the pressuring for you. I'd bide your time. And, to be honest, if it was me, when they do wish to meet with you I'd want Lirssa present. She's not a five year old. She deserves a say in where she's going in her life and what she's studying and what sort of interactions she has with people."

A nod to her words, he heard the truth and bone deep rightness of them. It helped to hear them spoken and not just considered and contemplated in his thoughts. He smiled and kissed her softly. "Thank you, Serena."

A smile was offered in reply to both his words of gratitude and his kiss. However, the smile quickly disappeared as she twisted her lips into a look of mock disgust. "That was so very adult of me, wasn't it? Not a manipulative word or a selfish thought. What have you done to me, Mr. Knightley?"

On impulse at her look of disgust, he drew his arms around her, took the rascal and rogue approach, and urged her to rest on the ground. "I could ask the same of you, my Serena."

A soft laugh as she gave in quite willingly to his urging. With the back of her head resting in the soft early spring grass, she reached up a hand to cup his cheek. The smile had returned almost as quickly as it had disappeared. "I have made you fall in love with me and it is the result of very hard work."

That made his stomach curl a little, but he played it out into a pout. "I hope all that hard work was worth it, or you should request compensation."

"Nothing has been more worth it," she whispered softly. Her fingers curled and slid along the edge of his jaw bone before dropping back into the grass once more.

He lowered himself just enough to kiss her, breathe in the scent of her, feel the nearness of her and know the happiness of that without reservation. When he broke the kiss, he whispered, "Three more weeks." When he said it he felt the nerves kick in again, but they were nerves of his own doubts of his providing for her. He fought them with a smile to her.

There in the meadow Serena seemed for once quite in tune with the sentiment of her given name and was unruffled by his announcement of the countdown. "Thank goodness. I'm done feeling like I am somehow wrong by living under your roof."

"We will fix that." He moved from his position over to lie down beside her. What man would not have such dreams as what he was now living? The scent of growing and life around them, the lazy contentment of resting out in nature with love so near all made Jolyon almost giddy and intoxicated. "I will make it up to you over the next several decades." He shared that time with her, drawing himself fully in that moment, and refused to let the buzz of worries pull him away, letting them drone away in the back of his mind.

((Adapted from live play with Spice, aka Serena. Thank you.))