Past Lives

Writers: Heather, AL
Date Posted: 9th February 2014
Series: The Unwanted Sister

Characters: Relea, Coran
Description: A romantic picnic inside
Location: Green Valley Hold
Date: month 5, day 14 of Turn 7
Notes: EFH- Green Valley

Notes: posties?

Relea

There were some advantages to being the holder's brother one of them
being the acquisition of things that would be harder for others to
get. Coran had put together what he considered to be a romantic in
door picnic for himself and Relea in front of his fireplace. He had
cheeses, fruits, sweets, and of course wine. When he heard her knock
at the door he swung it open with a smile.

"Hello." Relea's hand swept from her forehead in the silent greeting.
Coran had requested that she join him, so she had arrived at the time
set forth. "I'm here." Well, obviously.

Coran's lips tilted in a crooked grin. The sight of Relea was
refreshing, and he felt that familiar stir inside of him. He wondered
that no other men had ever tried to properly court her. Or perhaps
they had, they had never talked about her past relationships before.
And Coran wasn't really in the mood for that discussion anyway. "Come
on." He said, taking her hand and leading her in to his quarters while
shutting the door behind her. "It's a picnic." He explained, his
hands gesturing to the fur and pillows on the floor.

No sound was emitted, but Relea's lips formed a round 'O' in surprise,
and her hands clapped together before she signed, "How lovely!" What
a sweet gesture. Her smile was immediate and bright and she picked
her way over to one corner of the blanket, then lowered herself down.

The healer felt relieved because he had worried that she would think
the act cliche, "We have sweets," he lowered himself onto the fur as
well, "cheese and fruit." He opened up the three baskets as he spoke,
revealing each one before pouring them both a glass of red wine.

Relea's fingers curled about the neck of the glass as she took a small
sip before placing it beside her. It was rather romantic, to be
honest - but they were courting, were they not? She leaned forward to
peer into the baskets. Which one, which one? No, she'd be good -
cheese first.

Coran took a sip of his wine as he watched Relea look through the
different treats. When he saw her going for the cheese, he reached out
and grabbed a piece of the sweeter bread that he had gotten from the
kitchens, "Try a bite of this first," he held the bread up to her
mouth with one hand, "and then a bite of this." He held a piece of
light, white cheese in his other hand.

Relea's head tilted slightly to the side, but she complied without
complaint Her lips parted and she took a single bite of the bed and
complimented it with the cheese as he suggested. "It's delicious."
Indeed, the sweetness of the bread and tanginess of the cheese were a
lovely contrast that harmonized together in her mouth.

The healer smiled, "It is." Although the way his eyes studied Relea it
was quite clear that he was speaking of more than bread and cheese.
For a moment Coran found himself entranced in the gaze of Relea's
eyes, but a stray thought that had been working around in his mind for
a while came to surface.

"Relea," he picked up his glass of wine and took a sip, "it is no
secret that Leaton's been trying to find you a husband for a while.
Have you ever been betrothed before?"

Relea shook her head and popped another piece of cheese in her mouth
before she freed her hands to answer in more detail. "I was never
betrothed. Only one man ever showed any interest before you."

Only one? How could other men not see what a treasure Relea was?
Still, Coran was interested to know about this "one man", "What was
his name?" Coran asked, perhaps he had known the other fellow since he
had grown up at Green Valley aside from his stint at the healer hall.

"Nico." He wouldn't have understood the sign they had come up for him
back when Nico and Relea met in secret. "He was a crewmember and part
of the family on one of the riverboats." There was a sign for
riverboat, but she had never used it, so she spelled it out afterward
so Coran would understand. "But Leaton didn't like him."

Ah, the riverboat. That would explain why Coran had not known the man.
"Why didn't Leaton like him?" He asked.

"I think because he couldn't offer enough to Leaton." Relea shrugged.
She knew her brother wanted to get as much as he could from her
marriage as possible. Marriage to a Lord Holder had been a dream she
knew he knew would never occur. A holder would have been a
compromise, but then Arippa had stolen Reven's heart. Coran was the
next best thing to that. As it was, he'd been trying to 'sell' her to
various well to do craftsmen, but none had paid any attention to her
once they learned she couldn't hear.

Coran reached out and tenderly stroked a strand of Relea's hair away
from her lovely face, "I'll give Leaton whatever I have, and if it is
not enough that's just too bad, I am not accepting no for an answer."
A smile tugged at the corner of the healer's mouth. "Did you care
about Nico?"

"Don't let him do that." Relea shook her head, then paused for a
moment as she thought. "You are the brother of a holder. Use that as
leverage - he'll see the advantage." And think that because of it, he
might have exert some influence over her and eventually over the hold.
She knew it was a tenuous hope at best, but she would be sure not to
let the man control her. After all, once she was married, she'd no
longer be his ward.

"He's already told me I could marry you, anyway, so I won't let him
back out now." Coran told her, and then smiled, "You didn't answer my
question. Did you care for Nico?"

"Yes." Relea wasn't going to lie, what good would that do? And what
would that mean for a marriage, if they hid things from each other?
"But it was hard to call it love. I liked him. Cared for him. But
we hadn't been together for that long so I can not say where it would
have gone in time."

Coran studied his betrothed's face, "And he's not coming back for
you?" What kind of mind ran off like that? Even if the brother got
testy, Coran wasn't afraid to use force, or anything else necessary
against Leaton. He_would_ have Relea as his wife.

"I told him not to." Relea admitted. There was some hesitation. She felt odd to speak ill of her brother, but to do otherwise would be falsehood again. "Leaton...is not a nice man. I was afraid what he might do to Nico, so I told Nico I was not interested and to never see me again."

"Well you won't have to worry about that with me." He assured his fiancé, "I would marry you tomorrow if I could."

Last updated on the March 26th 2014

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