After cleaning the house, not out of it needing it but due to something being on her mind, Lenika was now sitting outside repairing a few clothes. Only she gave a silent curse and an audible "ow" as she pricked her finger yet again from the distractions of her own mind. The children were off doing their own things outside and in. Lenika looked as a ball of blood welled on her thumb then she stuck it in her mouth to try to help soothe the pain.
Gaerwyn avoided a near collision with Gaer who went racing up to his room with barely a hello for his father. It had been a short conversation with his accountant and with the crew master, and Gaerwyn found himself at home. Making his way through the house in a methodical search to find Lenika, he just opened the back door when he saw her abuse her finger and exclaim the pain of it. "Are you all right, love?" He came over to check on her, a kiss to her cheek. "The clothes aren't worth you attacking your fingers in such a fashion." Though, as he looked over her face, there was something in her eyes that told him her focus had been elsewhere.
Her thumb popped out of her mouth as she glanced up to Gaerwyn with a slight, but filled with love, smile. "Well, maybe I'm not good at sewing." That's entirely not true as she has done many times before. "How did everything go?"
Taking a seat beside her, he provided the brief answer. "It will take time, but we will be back to normal operations within a month or so." He looked at the sewing, the fine stitches, and gave her a shrewd sidelong glance, "And don't try to tell a fish tale to me, my good woman. I know well and good that you sew just fine, and better than some of my masthands, so tell me what has you distracted from your stitching? Did one of the children get out of hand today?"
She was attempting another stitch and as a result there was another poke of her finger. She muttered an incomprehensible curse as she raised the poor finger up. "The children are darling dears, and you know that."
He reached to take the finger, pressing his lips gentle against it, and then folded his hands around hers. "I think you give them too much credit. Well, Lina, maybe, but Gaer?" It was a chuckle meant to ease the way so she would speak to her trouble. "But, if not them, then what is the matter?"
Lenika smiled at his healing touch of her finger. "Gaer is very much like his father, so I love him all the more for it." She glanced to the shirt to make sure there was no blood on it. "Did I ever tell you that I had a child in possession once?"
It was a most abrupt and unexpected question, rather like a northeaster accompanied by a squall, and he was not quite sure which tack to take or course to set. It was best he go with caution, turning the course with the wind, he did not turn away and only said. "I do not recollect you telling me of this." His hands had warmed with unexpected adrenaline, and he swallowed hard against the dry mouth.
Her smile was tiny and crooked and she gave a half hearted shrug. "Well, I was. You've seen him, actually."
This stunned him the more so. His brows rose and he stammered at his own rather shameful inability to recollect a child of Lenika's. "I'm cast out of sorts, Lenika. I do not recall meeting a child of yours. Great roaring seas, what you must think of me!" His hands drew away and rubbed them over his face. Was it the troubles of late that cast the entire memory from his mind? Struggling to think back, he wondered what else he might have forgotten.
"I never introduced him as mine, Gaerwyn." She reached to try to take hs face in her hands and press a kiss to his lips. "And I did not bear him, so he'd have no resemblance of me."
It was either the kiss, the touch, or the words - more likely a combination of all three, that stunned him into an inability to speak. So, instead of continuing to interrupt, he looked to her for the entirety of the story, particularly with the latest incongruous clues.
She pressed another kiss then released him as her hands went back to try and stitch. Her gaze drifting down. "When I lived in Rhydin I befriended a woman named Tara. I introduced you to her once. She's an odd sort of woman, who is not always in her right mind...." She trailed off as she stabbed her finger yet again.
A rather uncertain nod, to him many seemed odd and not particularly in their right mind, but he believed he knew this one, not only from Lenika, but from some side references his cousin had made.
When she damaged her finger again, he placed a hand over hers to claim them from the sewing. If it was motion she needed, then he began to massage her palms and fingers, letting them move and have motion without the danger of being repeatedly stabbed by a needle.
She glanced up the sewing to look at him. It pained her to not finish what she had started but she accepted his massage without question. "She bore a child with a man then they had a rather difficult parting and Tara was left with her son, but she feared she'd take his life because the boy was very much like his father in appearance and behavior, so she gave the boy to me for safekeeping. During that time I was not ready for a child and I still lived in Rhydin, so I took him to live with my family. You met him when we went to visit."
Gaerwyn avoided a near collision with Gaer who went racing up to his room with barely a hello for his father. It had been a short conversation with his accountant and with the crew master, and Gaerwyn found himself at home. Making his way through the house in a methodical search to find Lenika, he just opened the back door when he saw her abuse her finger and exclaim the pain of it. "Are you all right, love?" He came over to check on her, a kiss to her cheek. "The clothes aren't worth you attacking your fingers in such a fashion." Though, as he looked over her face, there was something in her eyes that told him her focus had been elsewhere.
Her thumb popped out of her mouth as she glanced up to Gaerwyn with a slight, but filled with love, smile. "Well, maybe I'm not good at sewing." That's entirely not true as she has done many times before. "How did everything go?"
Taking a seat beside her, he provided the brief answer. "It will take time, but we will be back to normal operations within a month or so." He looked at the sewing, the fine stitches, and gave her a shrewd sidelong glance, "And don't try to tell a fish tale to me, my good woman. I know well and good that you sew just fine, and better than some of my masthands, so tell me what has you distracted from your stitching? Did one of the children get out of hand today?"
She was attempting another stitch and as a result there was another poke of her finger. She muttered an incomprehensible curse as she raised the poor finger up. "The children are darling dears, and you know that."
He reached to take the finger, pressing his lips gentle against it, and then folded his hands around hers. "I think you give them too much credit. Well, Lina, maybe, but Gaer?" It was a chuckle meant to ease the way so she would speak to her trouble. "But, if not them, then what is the matter?"
Lenika smiled at his healing touch of her finger. "Gaer is very much like his father, so I love him all the more for it." She glanced to the shirt to make sure there was no blood on it. "Did I ever tell you that I had a child in possession once?"
It was a most abrupt and unexpected question, rather like a northeaster accompanied by a squall, and he was not quite sure which tack to take or course to set. It was best he go with caution, turning the course with the wind, he did not turn away and only said. "I do not recollect you telling me of this." His hands had warmed with unexpected adrenaline, and he swallowed hard against the dry mouth.
Her smile was tiny and crooked and she gave a half hearted shrug. "Well, I was. You've seen him, actually."
This stunned him the more so. His brows rose and he stammered at his own rather shameful inability to recollect a child of Lenika's. "I'm cast out of sorts, Lenika. I do not recall meeting a child of yours. Great roaring seas, what you must think of me!" His hands drew away and rubbed them over his face. Was it the troubles of late that cast the entire memory from his mind? Struggling to think back, he wondered what else he might have forgotten.
"I never introduced him as mine, Gaerwyn." She reached to try to take hs face in her hands and press a kiss to his lips. "And I did not bear him, so he'd have no resemblance of me."
It was either the kiss, the touch, or the words - more likely a combination of all three, that stunned him into an inability to speak. So, instead of continuing to interrupt, he looked to her for the entirety of the story, particularly with the latest incongruous clues.
She pressed another kiss then released him as her hands went back to try and stitch. Her gaze drifting down. "When I lived in Rhydin I befriended a woman named Tara. I introduced you to her once. She's an odd sort of woman, who is not always in her right mind...." She trailed off as she stabbed her finger yet again.
A rather uncertain nod, to him many seemed odd and not particularly in their right mind, but he believed he knew this one, not only from Lenika, but from some side references his cousin had made.
When she damaged her finger again, he placed a hand over hers to claim them from the sewing. If it was motion she needed, then he began to massage her palms and fingers, letting them move and have motion without the danger of being repeatedly stabbed by a needle.
She glanced up the sewing to look at him. It pained her to not finish what she had started but she accepted his massage without question. "She bore a child with a man then they had a rather difficult parting and Tara was left with her son, but she feared she'd take his life because the boy was very much like his father in appearance and behavior, so she gave the boy to me for safekeeping. During that time I was not ready for a child and I still lived in Rhydin, so I took him to live with my family. You met him when we went to visit."