Meeting Vedran's Mom

Aleyn had been planning to accompany Vedran and Macen on an outing to walk by the river and look at the boats, when Vedran had received a note from his mother asking if he could bring Macen by that afternoon, since she had to reschedule their intended visit on the following day. After a moment's consideration, Vedran had suggested they could all go together, and Aleyn had agreed. He was curious to meet Vedran's mother, and hopefully an encounter under relatively casual circumstances would be less stressful for everyone.

They had walked together, Vedran alternating carrying Macen and letting him walk when he got too squirmy, up to the point where they could catch a carriage to take them the rest of the way up the hill. "So," Aleyn said as the carriage set off, making Macen squeal happily, "is there anything I should know? Um, things to mention, not mention, whatever?"

"Everyone loves my mom, I wouldn't worry too much about it. I did tell her I've been seeing someone, but not any details, so she might be a little surprised, but pleasantly so?" Vedran paused for a moment as Macen tried to stand up in his lap and look out the window. Once he was secured and calmed, he continued.

"Her last name is Falrin, she doesn't have a title. She'll probably tell you to call her Vinalia, though, but she won't be bothered one way or another."

He shook his head. "I don't know, I haven't ever had someone to bring home like this. Not anyone serious anyway." Things had been very different with Jacinthe, of course, but he wasn't sure if that was worth mentioning.

Aleyn nodded, relieved to hear that Vedran had already forewarned his mother, and feeling pleased that (even obliquely) he considered them 'serious'. "I'm looking forward to meeting her. I mean, I'm a bit nervous, but everything you've said makes me feel it should go okay. Um, what does she actually...do?"

That he had to grin at. "Well, she's a musician - she does solo concerts and performs with various groups in the city. But she also has very good connections who are happy to do favours for her, so really... she does what she likes."

"Did she teach you, then? I mean, about music, not about how to get people to do favours for you. Although..." Aleyn smiled, teasing. "Maybe you know a thing or two about that too."

"She did, yeah - music and arcana. She's not a registered bard anywhere, but she knows some rituals. But I think it was always important to her that she could pass on her love of music in some form."

"Then she must be very proud of you. And how about you, Macen, are you going to learn all about music too?"

Macen looked up at Aleyn from where he'd been playing with (or at least bashing together) a couple of little toy trams, eyes wide, then resumed his banging with a happy squeal.

"Macen likes percussion best," Vedran deadpanned, then broke out into a grin. "Mom's been trying to get him to take an interest in things though. You'll see."

Aleyn chuckled. "All right, I'm looking forward to it." He glanced out the window, seeing the houses grow ever larger and more impressive as they climbed higher, reinforcing how out of his element he was in this world. Still, he was with Vedran, and it would be all right, he hoped.

Clifton Heights had some very impressive manors along it's main streets, and was often spoken of as a successor to Overloook, populated by rich patricians whose roots didn't extend quite as far back, or whose ties with the marked houses weren't quite as strong.

Another quality that set the neighborhood apart from it's elevated neighbor was that many of the homes along the minor streets, while still opulent by most of the city's standards, were relatively modest. It was down one of these streets that the carriage eventually turned, pulling up before an elegant two-story home with a small garden out front.

Macen burst out into the garden as soon as the driver opened the door. vedran spared him a glance to make sure he wasn't going to get into to trouble, and relaxed when the front door opened and a woman with soft dark curls slipped out and scooped up the toddler for a big hug. Vedran paid and tipped the driver before ushering Aleyn down the path, past a little bench by a moondial impressed with the mark of the crescent moon.

Vinalia smiled at the two men as they approached, setting macen back down to cling to her skirts. It was clear where Vedran got his deep blue eyes, his curls, and his smattering of freckles, though his mother was shorter and rounder. "Hello there boys."

"Hi mom. I figured we may as well just drop by now. This is Aleyn Harrowden. He's, ah, my boyfriend."

If she seemed concerned at her son's stammer and blush, she covered it well in the radiant, happy smile she extended her unexpected guest as she held her hands out to greet him. "Very pleased to meet you Aleyn. I'm Vinalia. Please come in , I'll put on some tea."

The house, although charming and certainly costly, wasn't as large and imposing as Aleyn had feared it might be - he admired the garden and the moondial in particular - and Vedran's mother was certainly as welcoming as promised. He offered her his hands in return, a little self-conscious of his scars, but he smiled, trying not to show his nervousness. "It's very nice to meet you, Vinalia. Some tea would be lovely." Picking Macen back up again, she ushered them inside, and Aleyn followed, trying not to stare at the elegant surroundings.

Once inside, Vinalia sent one of her maids off to the kitchen to fetch the tea. She smiled at her son, then down at her grandson.

"You're very wiggly today, Macen - are you excited to see your grandmother? Or maybe just her toys, hmmm? Do you want to go to the play room?"

"Yuss!" With a final wiggle, he managed to squirm free, but after a moment of hesitant peering around the large room, dominated by a grand piano in one corner and a floor harp set opposite, he too the hand she offered, sticking his fist into his mouth.

"Is that alright with everyone else? I'll take him up and get settled if you wanted to show Aleyn around, dear."

Vedran nodded, and turned to Aleyn. "If you like? This is pretty much where I grew up..."

"I'd love the grand tour," Aleyn nodded, glancing after the maid. He thought he might recognize her from ceremonies at the church of Sehanine, but with her clothes on it was hard to be certain. Well, Vedran had suggested his mother was involved with the church in some capacity, so it would make sense if some of her staff were also followers. "And maybe later I can hear some stories about Vedran when he was a kid, too," he added to Vinalia with a smile. "He already managed to hear all the best - or worst - ones about me from my sister, so I feel the need to redress the balance."

"Oh, I'm sure I can think of one or two," She grinned, while Vedran shook his head. Macen was tugging at her hand though, and she ruffled his hair. "Okay, kiddo, I just need to give your daddy a hug and then we can go play. You wanna give daddy a hug with me?"

Macen toddled over to wrap his little arms around Vedran's legs with a serious look, while Vedran returned his mother's hug.

"There. It's good to see you, dear, let me steal away my grandson, and you can get a hug from Aleyn too." She winked over at the sorcerer, lifted Macen back up and took him away back up the stairs, leaving the two men alone.

Once Vedran's mother and Macen had left, leaving Aleyn blinking a little, he turned to Vedran. "I believe we were just ordered to hug," he said, smiling, and held out his arms. "She seems really nice," he added, as Vedran moved to embrace him. "Definitely less nervous now."

Vedran followed up the hug with a quick kiss, and a smile. "I told you. So grand tour then? This is the drawing room, and the 'big' music room, I'm sure the reasons for that are obvious. Mom has a smaller room off her bedroom as well for practice and, ah, private entertainment."

He gave Aleyn a moment to look around before leading him back through a set of double doors. "This is the dining room, but it is more for hosting big events. There's a door to the back garden if you want to take a look around there, and the kitchen is just off to the left."

Aleyn admired the garden, full of lovely late summer flowers and even a small arbor with seats in the shade, before returning to the tour of the rest of the house, with Vedran pointing out various artworks and other points of interest. Although any servants they encountered were far too polite to stare, and all made polite nods in their direction, he still wished he'd worn something a little nicer, so he wouldn't feel quite so much like a tradesman who had accidentally stumbled into the boss's home. It was probably all in his head, he decided, and after all, Vedran's mother had been nothing but welcoming, and it was what she thought of him that mattered most on this first meeting.

"So, which one was your room when you were a kid?" he asked as Vedran led him upstairs to the second floor. From somewhere further down the corridor he could hear Macen's happy screams and some banging sounds he couldn't quite identify.

He grinned as they headed upstairs. "I actually still have a room here. Macen's playroom was my playroom, and it spent the intervening years as an extra guestroom. Agy lived here for a little bit, Alia used to crash a lot, Brenn occasionally. Cael once when we managed to get him thoroughly plastered and he was too scared to go home. I think most of my friends have stayed here at one point or another - these ones are all other guestrooms on this side. This one is mine though."

He opened the door at the end of the hall, across from the rooms where Macen was obviously thoroughly enjoying himself. The inside wasn't too different from his current room in overlook - the bed was a bit smaller but still big enough to comfortably fit two, and there was a large wardrobe and a chest under one window. A desk occupied the space in front of the other corner window, and the large bookcase beside it contained what at first glance seemed to be a mix of pulp adventure stories and classic literature.

"I stayed here for a bit...before I moved to Undertow. And sometimes I'll bring Macen overnight and stay too."

"Right. I guess I'm not used to there being more rooms than people - when I moved out, my room, well, my half a room, the one I shared with Maynard, immediately got taken over Ciryl, because he was sick of sharing with our littler brothers. It's nice that you're able to still have a room here for when you need it. When I had to ...move back home for a while, fortunately Alynna was little enough that she was still sleeping in her parents' room most of the time, so they put me in what's the girls' room now, and then when she was a bit older I shared with Len for a while, and that was pretty cramped, because he was a teenager who was used to having his own room, and I was doing better enough that I got my place that I have now, and, uh, I'm rambling... It's a nice room," he trailed off, smiling bashfully. "I'm jealous of your bookcase."

"Different worlds I guess... But thank the gods for good parents in bad times, right?" He smiled, but it was clear they were both feeling a little nervous, so manybe it was best to postpone his initial plan for makeouts. "Seen enough?"

"Oh, hm?" Aleyn looked up from the books he was admiring. "Yeah, I'm lucky - my parents were there for me when everything kind of fell apart. It seems like your mom is like that too. It makes me feel kind of bad for people like Kallista and Del who don't have that kind of family to fall back on. Although my mom seems to have kind of taken Kallista under her wing, at least," he added with a wry shrug.

He glanced over in the direction of the generously-sized bed. "So did you have a bed that big when you were younger?" he teased.

"That was waiting for me when I got back from Ahkas. It is pretty comfy..." Well maybe makeouts weren't completely off the table.

Aleyn sat down on the edge of the mattress, testing it out. "Maybe not quiiiiite as comfy as the one at your place, but definitely nice."

Vedran sat carefully beside him as if to compare the experience more thoughtfully. "Well, I think she wanted to make sure I didn't stay indefinitely..."

It was weird to be there with Aleyn - this was where he'd lived before he'd gotten married, and the room carried a lot of memories from his batchelor times in Highmar, as well as the more recent ones from just after he'd left Jacinthe. Being here with Aleyn was more confusing than he'd expected. In the end, he offered Aleyn his hand, and leaned his head against the other man's shoulder. "Is this okay?"

"It's fine with me, as long as it's okay with you." He squeezed Vedran's hand. "Will your mom be wondering what's taking us so long?"