#earthrunes

As his lady goes off , August ..waits

And works.

A soft knock

"Who goes?" he asks... and normally, he does not.

A whisper he can't quite make out

He rises and goes to the door, opening it.

Squire Velvet is there, carrying a small tray with tea "My liege, may I come in? " She asks "I brought tea and some food suitable for you" tiny cookies. Peanut butter

"Yes, you may." he stands aside to let her in "Thank you. This is very thoughtful of you. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"I hoped for haven" She admits "Fiona holds must Fiona, I know, and pooka must pook, but there are times"

she leaves the rest unsaid

And she does enter in, setting the tea down and preparing some for him

"Ah. Well, you are welcome here, Squire. Thank you." he takes the tea and a seat, himself.

She says "Thank you, my lord. Is there anything I can do to help you in your study while we enjoy tea? Paperwork or the like?"

"Oh, thank you. If you don't mind putting these in chronological and then alphabetical order? I was going to get to it but...." there's rather a large stack of material there.

Her eyes light up with delight. One thing that must be said about both of his squires, neither shivers in the face of honest effort "Wonderful. Right away, my liege" And she gets to it. It is clear this gives her something to focus on besides what's going on 'out there'

And her Baron bends his head back to his work.

It goes quite smoothly. His squire knows proper indexing and while the work is over even her inteligent head, she categorizes well

A blessing, to be sure. August sips his tea and, yes, enjoys his cookies.

If he likes peanut butter, he'll LOVE these

Solace is found in cookies and productive distraction, when finally it is the sluagh who speaks "Baron, forgive me but I just remembered something I meant to inquire of you"

"Mm? Yes?" He looks up and put his work aside.

"Regarding Yule. There is time still, but I am not sure what to get the Baroness. She is affluent, and not prone to waiting on things she does want. I do not disparage this, but it does make it hard to buy things she will like"

August smiles. "I understand the feeling."

"You know there's no -need- to provide a gift, yes? It is exactly as you say; she has, or can have, all she needs and wants." gently.

"Manners are involved, my lord, you know we sluagh are sticklers for this sort of thing. "

"it would eat at me" She admits

"I do. But I felt the disclaimer needed to be said." he agrees easily "Hm." he thinks.

She sips her tea and waits patiently. He need not rush

He sighs. "As you say, she can buy whatever she wishes.... so perhaps it is best you make something?"

"mm I am not overly gifted in crafts" A troubled look at this "I have tried my hand at a few, but nonee would I consider truly good"

"Sometimes the gift is the effort, not the outcome." he observes.

"I see.. the journey not the destination?"

"Yes." he considers "In fact... Mm. When I look back on my earlier work.... caligraphy and that sort of thing.... I'm often embarassed by it. The earlier it is, the less refined. I can see my journey there."

"OH" She seems surprised "it is hard to visualize anything you wrote not being quite stylish"

A soft smile. "Thank you for that but... it is a learned skill, and like any other, improves with practice."

" I suppose. I just wish I could give the Baroness my better effort rather than a begining one" SHe considers

"Your penmanship is exquisite." August says "Do I understand correctly that you do some textile work?"

"Oh, yes, but it's nothing compared to Vashti's"

"Perhaps something there, then." he ponders "It doesn't matter if someone else's work is or isn't 'better.'" he insists "It matters that it comes from you."

the young woman actually blushes, "True. Oh. I think I have just the thing. Thank you, my liege"

Indeed, her blush fades and she smiles "just the thing for you both actually, so I shan't spoil it"

And she gets back to work sorting the papers

"You're welcome."

Yes, it goes much smoother then

"Thank you for that work, Squire." August says when she's done "That will be of great help."

"Most welcome, my liege. Such organizational skills will serve me well in my life. And I needed the distraction"

"Squire, in truth, there's no need to fret over a gift for Coradel." he reassures her.

"I shan't fret now that you've given me good counsel" SHe says then admits "And that's not what drove me to haven here in the first place"

"Ah. Lions?" not without gentle humor.

"And that 'contest'" A sniff "Miss Zara does not wear 'sexy librarian' outfits"