Wanderlust - Chapter 19: Chapter 19

The ladies were in Clairia's favourite sitting room. They had dainty cups of tea and two plates of cut fruit. Tandar excused himself instantly and Acell took up his post beside the door, leaving Tanden to join the ladies alone. Some men, his brother apparently included, might have found sitting and chatting boring, but Tanden was always delighted to hear all the gossip. He walked across the room, grinning widely.
"Clairia, Brilana—looking stunning, as always."
They stood up to greet him. Brilana pulled him into a hug. Tanden was always caught off guard by how strong she was. Brilana truly was a perfect match for Tandar. She had grown up near Lothin on a huge villa, where she had spent most of her days out riding and hunting with her father and brothers. She dressed up when she had to, but preferred more comfortable clothing that she could move around in. She had, of course, moved to Zianna with Tandar, but part of Tanden always wondered how she felt about the stuffy city.
Brilana released him and he turned to hug Clairia. While they hugged, a servant had pulled over a third armchair. Tanden collapsed onto it and accepted the teacup that was offered to him.
Clairia raised one eyebrow while she picked up her own tea. "Why so dramatic?"
Tanden smiled and made the slightest effort to sit more elegantly. "Oh, just preparing myself for the lecturing I'm going to endure at this dinner with my brothers."
Brilana rolled her eyes. "Everyone knows you love them, you can drop the act."
"Ah, fine. So what were you lovely ladies talking about?" Tanden sipped his tea. It wasn't his favourite drink, but it was still pretty good.
"The children," Brilana said. "Tilana is thirteen, can you imagine it? We've already started to receive letters asking for her hand. I've insisted that we wait before agreeing to anything. Most of these families just want her because she's a Tandran."
Tanden nodded. "In that sense, the name's a burden."
"When we finally decide who she's going to marry, she's going to be old enough to have a say," Brilana said firmly.
"You're an excellent mother," Tanden said. "I've got a gift for Tilana, actually. For all four of them." He glanced at Clairia. "And how are my other niece and nephews doing?"
"Pretty much the same as last time you were here," Clairia pointed out with a light laugh.
"You were telling me about Tandrin's knights," Brilana said.
"Oh, yes." Clairia took another sip of her tea. "They're really an interesting group. The biggest boy is from Lothin, actually. Lord Jeppson?"
Brilana looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded. "The Jedars. That's a respectful family."
"I suspect he'll be named captain, eventually," Clairia said. "He already seems the most eligible."
Tanden hadn't been given a plate of fruit, so he plucked a berry from Clairia's plate. "Has any thought been put into Tandrix's tryouts yet?"
Clairia shook her head. "No, it's far too early to—" Realization dawned across her face, and she turned to the door. "Sir Atricell?"
Acell seemed a little startled and Tanden stifled a chuckle. Knights always acted surprised to be addressed. "Yes, my lady?"
"There was talk earlier this year about your nephew. How old is he?"
"Thirteen, my lady."
"I thought so. I hear he's becoming quite the soldier, but he isn't part of the army."
Acell nodded. "My brother has been grooming him to be part of Lord Tandrix's guard ever since it occurred to him that Atricen would be the perfect age. He thinks he's being subtle about it, but it's really quite clear what he wants."
Tanden flashed him a grin. "Well, it certainly runs in your family's blood. You managed to get into my guard, after all. If Atricen is as good as you are—"
"He's better," Acell interrupted him. It was a habit he had gotten comfortable with back when they had been closer, and Tanden didn't mind it happening again, although the ladies looked a little shocked. "Honestly, Atricen's a better fighter than I was at his age. I've no doubt he'll be talented enough for Lord Tandrix's guard."
"There you are, Clairia," Tanden said, stealing another berry. "Someone to look out for. Of course Tandrix won't need anybody when he's off at the Order." His gaze went to his ring quickly. "It's an odd tradition, isn't it? Useful, I suppose. But everything I learned there I could have learned here. And I wouldn't have spent so much time on things I had no interest in."
"Yes, but you've been taking quite the unconventional route through life," Clairia pointed out. "I hope Tandrix has an easier life than the one you've chosen."
"He might. But I think the boy might have a bit of his uncle Tanden in him."
Clairia laughed. "Goddess, protect me from having to raise a second Tanden."
"I'm not so bad," Tanden complained, but he was laughing, too.
Most of the guards remembered Soren, so he didn't have much trouble heading up to Tanden's chamber. Acell was standing in the hallway, leaning against the wall near the door. He glanced up when Soren appeared and nodded a welcome, but said nothing. For the sake of appearances, Soren knocked on the door and waited for Tanden to call him in.
Nothing happened. Soren raised his hand to knock again, but before he could, the door swung open. Tanden stood there, shirtless, and smirked. "Usually, you knock to announce your presence before walking in. I didn't expect you to wait for permission."
Soren didn't know what to say, but his gaze flickered to Acell quickly and Tanden noticed.
"Oh, Acell wouldn't have cared." Tanden walked away from the door, leaving Soren to awkwardly follow him in after another glance at the knight. Only once the door had closed did he feel bold enough to speak.
"What if it hadn't been me?"
Tanden shrugged. His back was turned to Soren as he leaned over his dresser, and Soren couldn't help but be distracted by the tattoo. It had healed up nicely. The lines were crisp and perfect, and somehow looked so fitting on Tanden's back that it was already hard to imagine it not being there.
"The truth is..." Tanden paused to pull a dark blue-green tunic over his head. "I didn't know it was you. But Acell would have announced most people, and my brothers probably wouldn't have waited for me to answer the door. Or bothered knocking. So I felt pretty confident in my guess, and— what?" He had turned around while doing up the lacing across his chest, and he smiled. "Would you rather I undo the lacing?"
Soren shook his head, not to say no, but in a vain attempt to shake his thoughts from where they'd been going. He needed to make a good impression at the dinner and being distracted wasn't going to help.
Tanden's grin returned. "I know I promised you some fun tonight, mate. You've just got to be patient a little longer."
The taunt worked to snap Soren from his thoughts. "You're one to talk about being patient."
"Self-control, mate."
"You have none."
"Ah, well." Tanden shrugged again and picked up his jacket. "I wouldn't be nearly as fun if I had self-control." He slipped the jacket on and looked at Soren thoughtfully. "Maybe I should have brought my cutlass up. Just to annoy Tandar."
"Is that your main goal?"
"Oh, always. Isn't that one of the perks to being a younger sibling? You look good, by the way. It's almost a shame I'll have to tear those clothes off of you later."
Soren crossed his arms. He wasn't as dressed up as he had been for the feast. He'd been a guest then, for this meal he had assumed he was taking on more of a servant role. He'd picked out his cleanest tunic and worn his cutlass, although he asked the Goddess to make sure there wasn't an opportunity to use it. "You've got to pay attention during this dinner," he pointed out. "Your brothers won't be happy if you spend the entire time imagining what you're going to do to me later."
Instead of looking annoyed, Tanden chuckled. "Aye. Suppose you've got a point."
Meeting a lord was intimidating. Meeting a Tandran lord was even worse. But being in a room with three of them was downright terrifying. Soren was used to Tanden and he'd almost gotten accustomed to Lord Tandrael the last time they had visited, but throwing Sir Tandar into the mix changed things. Soren kept having to remind himself that it was real. He really was in a room with the most powerful set of brothers in the kingdom.
When they entered the room, Soren immediately tried to blend in with the servants who were moving around the room. Acell took up his post by the door and Soren hung back beside him, unsure of what else to do. He didn't want to stand out.
Tanden paused before heading for the table. Soren was worried that Tanden would ask him to join them at the table, but instead he shrugged off his jacket. Soren took it wordlessly.
"Thanks, mate," Tanden said quietly. He hesitated a moment longer, like he was debating leaning in for a quick kiss, then he turned around abruptly and strolled across the room to greet his brothers. In an attempt to dispel his nervousness, Soren compared the three lords. Tanden had changed, from Lord to friend to something else entirely, but he was human. Maybe comparing him to his brothers would humanize them.
They had similar faces, the same blue eyes, same noses, but aside for that their appearances varied greatly. Tanden was darker than his brothers, his skin tanned from his years sailing. His beard was short but scruffier, his hair was longer and braided, then tied back in his usual Morcean style. His clothing was looser and less formal, aside for his jacket. He was tall, like his brothers, but slimmer than both of them. He moved differently, too, like he was always calm and didn't care much for formality. Not that Tanden did care much for formality. After greeting his brothers he sat down in the chair pointed out to him, leaned back, and propped his feet up on the table.
Lord Tandrael West Draulin was the epitome of a Teltish lord. He presented himself perfectly, from his posture, to his clothing, and his neatly kept hair and beard. He was wearing the long blue cloak that signified his position, but he took it off as he joined his brothers at the table and draped it over the back of his chair. His sword was a fancy two-handed weapon, the hilt more elaborately decorated then necessary. Soren doubted the sword had ever seen a fight, and doubted it ever would. It was a symbol of Lord West Draulin's power. That was a man who would never need to protect himself. The huge bodyguard stationed at the door was there for that. Lord West Draulin sat down, picked up his wineglass and took a sip. He and Tanden were eyeing each other across the table.
Then Lord Tandar sat down. He was well built and looked stronger than both his brothers put together. His hair and beard were cut short, and a scar cut across his left eye. His sword looked heavy and sturdy, and the two knives Soren could see seemed just as dangerous. He had been wearing a cloak as well, but instead of West Draulin's blue it was the gold of Zianna. It was slung over the back of his chair. Lord Tandar grabbed his wineglass, tipped his head back, and poured all of the wine into his mouth. As he held it out for the servant to fill, he eyed the room as a knight would, carefully examining every person in sight. Soren looked away just as Lord Tandar's attention fell on him, and he stared at the floor to avoid accidental eye contact.
When food had been placed on the table and the wineglasses filled again, the servants stopped bustling around. A few stayed behind to serve the food and hold jugs of wine, but they blended into the background, as did the handful of guards who stood near each door. The room suddenly seemed very quiet. Lord Tandar started eating, the other two were still staring at each other.
Finally Lord Tandrael spoke. "Get your feet off of my table, Tanden." There was no malice in his voice, his tone was one of someone who was used to the antics of his younger brother, but who still expected to be obeyed.
"Your table, is it? Thought it was the family's table."
"I told you, Rael." Tandar swallowed his mouthful of food. "You let him buy a ship even though I told you he would turn into an ill-mannered sailor."
"Excuse me?" Tanden swung his legs off of the table and sat up straight. "I'll have you know that sailors have very good manners if their captain insists upon it."
"Of course, little brother." Tandar was close enough to reach over and punch Tanden's shoulder. "And why do I doubt that you insist upon it?"
"Because you've got no faith in me, mate."
Tandar groaned. "You haven't."
"Haven't what?"
"Picked up that habit. You're doing it to bother us. You don't really talk like that, do you?"
"Aye, sometimes." Tanden quickly glanced over his shoulder, meeting Soren's gaze for a moment. "Nothin' wrong with soundin' like a sailor, mates. Not when I'm workin' with them constantly." That was pushing it a little, Tanden was definitely laying on the accent to annoy his brothers. He said mate and aye often enough, but he almost never changed the way he pronounced other words. Soren stifled a sigh—at this rate Tanden was going to make his brothers hate Crelans.
"Shall we move on?" Lord Tandrael asked. "Tanden, tell Tandar about your travels."
"Oh, I've been everywhere. Once we got bored of the Deorun coast, we moved on to Morcea. We're planning to head into the lakes next, get some trading going in the Dons, and—"
"The dons?" Tandar interrupted.
"Faldon and Valdon. It's a Morcean term, I've just adopted it into Teltish. Anyway, we just took a trip out to Crele."
"So trading is profitable?" Tandar asked.
Tanden shrugged. "Profitable enough. But you know I don't care about that, I'm in it for the adventure. I've perfected my Deoran, and my Morcean is coming along nicely."
"See, that's exactly why the Order wanted you to work as an ambassador," Tandar said. "The ease with which you pick up languages is incredible."
Tanden laughed. "I don't think you've ever praised me before."
"I'm just surprised you've been keeping this up, instead of actually getting a job."
"I'm perfectly happy with what I'm doing," Tanden said. "I don't want to answer to anyone. Out on my ship, my word is law and I'm free to do whatever I want, with only my crew depending on me. It's exciting, and it's all I've ever wanted to do."
"Really?" Tandar paused to drink more of his wine. "I thought all you ever wanted to do was sleep your way through the navy." He chuckled to himself while Tanden gave a sarcastic laugh and Soren tensed up. The taunt clearly bothered him more than it did Tanden.
"How witty, brother," Tanden said dryly after a moment. "No, in fact, that's never been a goal of mine. I've settled down some."
"Oh really?" Tandar asked.
"Aye, really. You and Rael got married, what's wrong with me trying to find someone?"
"Nothing's wrong with it, I simply don't believe you. You got bored of women, and then you got—"
"Correction, I did not get bored of women, that isn't how I work."
"Hmm, well, nobody understands how you work," Tandar pointed out. "All we know is that you get bored of people. So go ahead and claim to have settled down. We know you better than that."
"I just had to find someone capable of keeping me interested," Tanden said.
"And you expect me to—" Tandar's gaze suddenly locked onto Soren, who nearly flinched from the unexpected attention. "Oh. Your Crelan."
"He isn't..." Tanden sighed. "Come here, Soren."
Soren swallowed nervously as he approached the table. "Yes, sir?"
Tanden glanced at him, confused. "What did you just say?"
"I, uh..."
"Have you ever in your entire life said the word 'yes'?"
"Reckon I have..." Soren mumbled.
Tanden shrugged. "If you say so." He stood up and put his hand on Soren's shoulder. "Rael, you've met him, of course. But Tandar, this is Soren. My first mate. Not my Crelan."
Tandar cocked an eyebrow, exactly the same way Tanden always did. "I think you mean to say bed mate."
"And I think you oughta—"
Tandrael cleared his throat loudly, effectively cutting off Tanden's retort. "Tanden, you know better than to let him rile you up. Tandar, let them be. Pleasure to see you again, Soren. Take a seat."
"Aye—yes, sir." Soren internally grimaced. All he wanted to do was talk the way the lords did, to impress them, but it was much harder than he had expected. The last time they'd been in West Draulin, Lord Tandrael hadn't spoken to him very often, and Roland had usually been there to smooth things over. While Tanden sat back down, Soren nervously took the fourth chair from the table, moved it closer to Tanden, and sat down.
"You can keep interrogating me all you like, but if you were proper gentlemen, you'd leave Soren out of it," Tanden said. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, and the look he gave his brothers was enough to scare any sailor he would come across—problem being that his brothers weren't lowly sailors.
"I'm being civil, I'm not interrogating you," Lord Tandrael said. "And I'm glad you found someone capable of keeping you interested, as you put it. Soren, you're from West Draulin, I seem to recall? When did you two meet?"
Soren expected Tanden to answer for him, but when Tanden said nothing he realized he would have to actually talk to Lord West Draulin. "About a year ago, my Lord, on Mora." As he finished the sentence he was pleased with himself, he had managed to speak normally and not let his nervousness steep into his voice. He could tell Tanden was watching him and that only emboldened him further. He wanted to impress Tanden, so he continued speaking before he could second-guess himself. "In Deor-Morcea, specifically. Captain found me in a tavern."
"Captain?" Tandar asked. "Tanden, you don't let him use your name?"
"He's allowed to use my name. He just doesn't." Tanden replied to his brother quickly, but Soren could tell that it was an automatic response and that Tanden hadn't actually thought about it before. Maybe he hadn't even noticed that Soren used his title as if it was his name.
"What were you doing in Deor-Morcea?" Lord Tandrael asked, drawing Soren's attention back to the fact that he was actually having a conversation with Lord West Draulin.
"To be honest, my lord, nothing but drinking."
Tanden shot him another glance, this time with a smile. "Wasting away, really."
Soren felt the need to defend himself. "It wasn't that simple. I was fired and abandoned on the island, and I didn't know what to do. I had no money and no belongings, but I found a tavern willing to take me. I kept promising I'd pay, but—"
"I paid," Tanden said. "So how about we move on?"
Tandar shook his head. "No, I'm still curious. Why'd you pay?"
Tanden fixed his brother with a glare. "Because he was good in bed," he said dryly. "What do you expect me to say? I wanted him to join the crew and in order to convince him I paid the tavern and he worked off his debt."
"When you say worked—"
"As a sailor," Tanden interrupted.
Tandar took another sip of wine. "But you did sleep with him first."
Tanden groaned. "Goddess help me. Why do you care? I don't think you'd appreciate it if I questioned you about Bri..." he cut himself off as Tandar's hand tightened around his wine glass. "Exactly."
"Both of you settle down," Lord Tandrael spoke up with an exasperated sigh. "No more personal questions, Tandar, it isn't any of our business. I apologize, Soren. Tandar's being rude but it's because we both care deeply about Tanden. Ever since the evening we walked in on him with Sir Atricell."
"Rael!" Tanden protested. "He's right there. Do you have to bring that up, too?"
Lord Tandrael ignored him. "We've felt, unnecessarily, perhaps, that we need to look out for him. While we aren't offended by who he is, plenty of the nobility would be. Do you have any siblings?"
Soren shook his head.
Lord Tandrael smiled. "They're both a blessing and a curse, I'll admit. We were already quite grown up when Tanden was born, and to us he'll always be our little brother. Our desire to protect him far outweighs the irritation he causes with his antics. So to hear that he's settled down with someone, we can't help but want to know more. That said," he paused to look at Tandar, "I've already formed quite a favourable opinion of you as Tanden's first mate. You seem like a good, loyal young man, and this revelation hasn't changed my opinion. You're welcome to eat with us." He waved at a servant, and soon a plate of food and wineglass appeared in front of Soren.
"So." Tanden picked up his fork and knife and started to cut up his beef while pointedly changing the topic. "Tandar, how's life in Zianna? Stifling and boring, I expect?"
"By your standards, I suppose," Tandar replied. "Doing drills, standing guard. I've been sent out a few times, to deal with minor issues in Adeno and Jak. You'd hate it all."
"Not the travelling part."
"No, but the having to do actual work part."
Tanden rolled his eyes, but the friendly banter continued. None of them spoke to Soren again, but he didn't mind quietly eating and listening. They were human, after all.