Drop In Visit

Vedran wasn't sure if either of the girls would be home, and whether Agyness would have had a chance to fill Beryl in on what had happened in Ahkas. But Kier and Marys had asked for a little time to get Macen's things ready to go back down to Undertow for the next few days at least, even if Macen himself had come away with Vedran. If they weren't home, he would hit up Thru and Cael and Alia, but their place was sometimes a little more dangerous for toddlers, depending on what kinds of projects Cael had brought home, and he needed to talk to Beryl anyway. Hoping for a little luck, he knocked on the door.

Hearing the knock on the front door, Beryl looked up somewhat reluctantly from her sheaf of papers. She'd been fairly engrossed in what she knew would have bored most, but the promising reports of the new hybrids were eminently exciting to her.

As she rose to answer the door, she idly wondered who it might be. Had Alia left something last night? Certainly it couldn't be important enough to delay her trip out this morning.

Curious, she opened her door to the pleasantly surprising sight of Vedran and Macen. Beryl smiled brightly at the pair, gesturing for them to enter.

"Heya cutie," she she cooed to Macen, "what brings you and your dad up here today?"

"Mals?" Macen answered, shoving a felt approximation of a ridgeback drake up at her.

Vedran chuckled. "Sorry, its new - he's a little fixated. But good morning! And kind of a combination of needing to kill some time, and wanting to check in with you about a few things, if you're not too busy..."

Beryl gave a momentary frown, considering, but her smile returned pleasantly.

"Nothing I can't make time for later. Please, come in. Can I get you something? Tea or...well, probably just tea. Otherwise its wine or beer, and even the weakest we've got isn't really a morning drink."

She led them through to the apartment's small private kitchen, a luxury in the neighborhood. She began raking the coals on the small stove, preparing to put water on for tea.

"Anyway, I'd be happy to help you kill some time. How was your trip. I assume everything went okay?"

"Thanks, I appreciate it." He came inside, settling Macen down to play with his new toy, taking out a few of the other little felt figures of Ahkasic drake he'd picked up in the Oshuar marketplace while trying to find information about portal coordinates and Aleyn's mother's family. "Things went about as well as I could expect, I guess. Actually maybe slightly better in some ways - I think this is the first time I've ever made a real profit off an adventure." He grinned at that, then shrugged. "But there is always a flipside."

Beryl gave her friend a quizzical look as she stood, grabbing a kettle from over the stove and beginning to fill it from the pump over the sink.

"Well, congratulations on you profitable adventure. What's the flipside?"

Vedran picked up one of the drakes that Macen had discarded, turning the soft toy over in his hands, tracing the stitching pattern of its scales with more focus than it probably deserved. "You remember the political problems I was telling you about after the charity fight? The woman I told you about - Sorrow. We wound up having to bring her back from Ahkas."

Beryl frowned as she turned, placing the full kettle on the stove and fixing Vedran with a concerned look.

"I take it from your tone that isn't resolved. Did someone find her?"

Vedran smiled down at Macen, who was staring up at him now, and passed him back his toy with some vaguely drake-like grunting and snuffling. Macen squealed in delight, then passed the toy back so that he could do it again. Vedran obliged, having the lizard snorfle its way up Macen's chest to be caught and summarily cuddled. Once macen was satisfied, turning to collect all his toys together, Vedran looked back up to beryl with an apologetic shrug.

"Well, no. We just got back this morning, and in the short term we're going to keep her stashed at the Union. But that's really not ideal. I know you had offered to help before - I wanted to see if that offer still stood."

"I'm surprised you have to ask," Beryl replied, smiling again. "If anything, I've got more potential places to keep her hidden than before; I've got more contacts since the last time we talked about this."

She bent down to ruffle Macen's hair as he played with his toys.

"Not that I mind whatever the case, but how long do you think this will be for? Is there any way to permanently ensure her safety?"

Vedran sighed, running a hand through his own hair. "Honestly? I haven't had a chance to think about it. I mean - I guess if the experiments work out, maybe, but that's a long-term long-shot at this point." He sighed, then smiled as Macen beamed up at Aunty Beryl ("Aun' Ber?") "I'm not really sure where things stand right now, though I don't imagine they've at all improved."

"All right, well, maybe no news really is good news. Regardless, we'll get her safely hidden away, poor woman."

Trying to switch to a more cheerful subject, Beryl nodded towards Macen as she picked up a winged drake, making it flap around the child's head.

"He's getting so big."

"He's getting harder to keep up with, is what hes getting." He leaned back, happy to watch Beryl play with his son. "How do they move so fast on such little legs? I swear, toddlers ought to be rated at a speed of, oh, at least seven."

"Or six if they're a dwarf," she responded, laughing.

Turning back to Macen, she continued.

"Before you know it, you'll be a big strong adventurer like your dad." She paused a moment, considering. "Or gods know what your grandfather wants you to be."

The druid looked back up at Vedran.

"How's that going, by the way? I see Jesseryn pretty regularly for business, but you know him, he doesn't really do idle chit-chat. I know you and he talked out plans with, ah, the split and whatnot, but I wasn't sure how much time he gave you."

"Oh..." His face fell a little, and he shrugged after a moment. "He gave me six months and that was... three months ago now. Before going on the market. And then however long..." Vedran waved a hand, and then sighed. "I do't know, Beryl I don't feel like I'm going to be ready. And things with Aleyn...They're good, really, and he's really patient with me, and that has to be hard and... I don't know what going to happen there, either."

Beryl gave Vedran a hopefully encouraging look.

"Well, maybe you can negotiate for more time. At least you'll have more say in the match this time. I'm certainly reaping the benefits of that right now."

"Yeah.... If I'm really not ready... Well, I don't think he wants to deal with that, either." He smiled trying to put that all out of his mind. "And now - what are these benefits you're reaping?"

Beryl obviously had been waiting to share her news with Vedran, her expression enthusiastic.

"Well, long story short, lets just says Alia was here last night. And every night for the past week."

Vedran grinned broadly at that. "Really? That's great, Beryl!" He was happy for her, but also curious. Beryl had seemed resigned to giving Alia up before, in favour of fulfilling her duty to her family... He couldn't imagine her turning her back on them, and her earlier statement had implied something else anyway. He sat up a bit in his chair, not quite sure how to phrase the questions it was raising for him. "And everyone is more or less happy with...whatever the arrangements are?"

"Happy enough so far," Beryl replied, smiling wistfully. "It was never Alia's hangup, it was mine. I just had to get my brain around to the idea that I could serve my family and be happy."

"To be honest, I owe it to you," she added with a nod in Vedran's direction. "After our talk a few months ago, right before you moved down to Undertow, I realized that neither I nor Torvan needed to be unhappy. We like each other and work well as partners, but its not like we're the loves of each other's life."

"We both already had someone, and while at the time I didn't think Alia really wanted anything to do with me in that regard again, I didn't see a need for Torvan to be unhappy. The next time I was home after that, I told him I'd be happy to marry him and he could still be with the woman he loves. Well, loves romantically. I'd like to think we've got a solid friendship going."

She shrugged.

"Anyway, work keeps me away from Grimfar, and I ended up settling down here for a bit to help your father negotiate and manage some deals with my House. That gave me the chance to try and see what I could salvage with Alia. Things were a bit weird at first, but living with the boys has been good for her, and I'm in a more comfortable place with things, so...well, here we are."

"That really is great - I guess I was a little worried about Alia for a while but... You're right about living with the guys, and I'm sure being back with you will help improve things too." He shook his head. "Glad someone can learn from my mistakes, anyway."

"Hey now, you said things with Aleyn are going well. It sounds like you're learning from the past as well."

Beryl smiled, still idly playing with Macen as she spoke.

"On that note, I would be failing in my friendly duty if I didn't ask. Details? How are things with the earnest Mr. Harrowden, beyond just 'well?'"

"This are good.... I think. I mean, this is all kind of new for me. But I really like him, I like being with him... I feel like I can trust him. But there's still lots of things I don't feel ready for, and ... I don't know. Still make me feel... crazy? But that's not Aleyn. Aleyn's great. Being in Akhas was great, and now having to worry about who might be paying attention... That part's hard." He smiled anyway, as one of the drakes stared climbing up Beryl's leg. "We've met each others mothers though, that a step right? And he's great with Macen."

"That's great, Vedran. I mean, I know how rough it is to keep things quiet in public. Maybe you should take him out to Leyksied sometime. You know, in your abundant vacation time."

Vedran chuckled. "Maybe. I still kind of feel that if I actually show up at Leykseid, the people there will mostly be left wondering who I am. I think its mostly my father's people, running various experiments too, so it's still not *really* private." He grinned wryly, settling down on the floor to help corral the wandering drakes and send them back to where Macen was trying to herd them. "Maybe I need you to arrange *me* a secret safehouse."