Torgan Wine Ch. 08

Once again, huge thanks to Todger65 for helping me edit!

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The tunic Draeseth chose to wear to lunch was one that looked like it was made to go with her gown, black with the same flowers as her dress, embroidered in her dress' shade of grey. Walking through the halls and courtyards on his arm, Isonei felt giddily happy. Getting to bring her Draeseth into the family rooms was a joy.

It was marred slightly by the servant directing them out into the gardens when they reached the family dining area. She wondered what had changed the Daga's mind.

Approaching the table laid in the garden, she saw immediately why. Burgath was seated at the table laid for four with her Daga. She hoped he understood what a rare thing he was being permitted.

"Daughter of Liadith." The Daga smiled wryly as he inclined his head. Burgath rose politely to offer a stiff bow. "Prince Draeseth."

"My Daga." Isonei offered a warm smile and bowed her head, before turning to greet Burgath more coolly, "Prince Burgath." The inclination of her head was far more like that which Daga Gildith had given him than her usual friendly greetings.

Draeseth bowed to the Daga when she had finished, "Daga Liadith." He glanced to Burgath, "Brother."

The Daga was clearly amused as he accepted Prince Draeseth's greeting graciously. "When Prince Burgath said there had been a small family quarrel this morning I wasn't expecting this. It usually takes a great deal to make Lady Isonei angry."

"My wife has been taking up my bad habits." Draeseth made certain she was settled in her chair before he took his own seat beside his brother.

"It wasn't a small thing to me." Seated next to the Daga she gave the larger of the two Torgans a rueful smile.

"I would have that explained more fully." The Daga looked intently at Prince Burgath.

"I interrupted them. Twice. The first time my brother and I quarreled. The second time his servant would not allow me into the room. Foolishly, I believed it to be owed to my brother's annoyance. I struck the servant and entered." Burgath paused, glancing at her. "This was not well received, particularly because the man was trying to prevent me from seeing the daughter of Liadith in a state of undress."

"You entered the bedroom?" The Daga was frowning and straightening in his chair.

"No, my Daga. We were at the breakfast table." Isonei tried to suppress her smile as Draeseth began to blush.

"In your chemise?" The Daga half turned to her with a questioning look, switching to Lerian.

"No, my Daga, only the black silk stockings my husband pleases." She had to struggle not to laugh as he looked to the blushing Torgan and then out into the garden before sucking his lips against his teeth.

He cleared his throat, "A man might be forgiven such a mistake, once."

"It is my intention to listen in the future, Daga Liadith. My brother's fury was less fearsome than Lady Isonei's." Burgath inclined his head apologetically.

"I didn't know my Isonei could speak so sharply. It was..." the look on Draeseth's face made her flush with delight, "pleasing."

"It pleased you to hear her speak to me that way?" Burgath frowned and sounded as if he wished to begin a new argument.

"It pleases me to know my sweet wife can be sharp when she desires. It would be less pleasant if she turned that sharp tongue on me, but for turning it on the man who struck my servant for doing his duty and laid eyes upon what is mine? What man would fault his wife for her words or tone?" Draeseth's stern face as he spoke to his brother made her wish she could be sitting next to him, if not in his lap.

"Not a man whose wife looks at him that way." Daga Liadith reached out and stroked one of the Torgan braids keeping her silver hair up. "I may consult you on how to persuade my wife to look at me like that, once the match has been finalized, Prince Draeseth."

The growling grunt he responded with made the Daga's eyebrows raise and sent Isonei into a fit of giggles.

"Once again your eloquence astounds, brother." Burgath ran a hand down his face.

"He may be giving me a demonstration." The Daga made a gesture and tiered trays bearing food were arranged on the table in front of them. "My father always swore laughter was the way to win a woman's heart."

"I don't think I ever knew him to be wrong, my Daga." Isonei smiled at him warmly.

"Do you make him laugh as well?" He began filling both of their plates with the bite sized morsels displayed in front of them.

"I try, and sometimes I succeed." She gave Draeseth a mischievous smile and watched his lips curve.

"She does. I am not a man who laughs often and long, but she brings me joy." He lapsed into Torgan and Burgath smiled, nodding.

"She brings out the poetry in you, brother. He said she fills him with joy like a cup running over, the more he drinks of it the more he has."

"My father would approve." The Daga glanced at her with a faint smile. "If he brings you as much joy you might consider a more permanent match."

"I am considering it, my Daga. He is uhhmm a need of my heart." The desirous look Draeseth gave her made her blush.

"I would suggest you misspoke, but that is such a charming way of phrasing it I can't think of better." The Daga tapped the table next to her plate. "Eat. If you keep speaking so sweetly you may sour the food."

Burgath snorted as Draeseth murmured in Torgan, "You might try speaking a language she can understand if you're going to flatter her shamelessly."

"If he were trying to flatter her he would." The Daga offered the annoyed prince a commiserating look as he put a bite into his mouth.

Isonei beamed at the adoring Torgan across from her as she took a bite of the crisped bread, not paying attention to its toppings. She shuddered, and Draeseth laughed reaching across to take the other half of the bite from her. "What is it?" He put it in his mouth and smiled. "It's good, why did you make that face?"

"Capers."

The look on the Daga's face as he took a bite said he'd remembered her dislike of them and had done it deliberately. She eyed her plate suspiciously.

"Your Daga is repaying you for your childishness?" Draeseth began to take several of the crisped breads from the tray, as if he intended to eat heartily.

"He knows I can't object after my bad behavior." Isonei tentatively took another bite and reached for her cup. She enjoyed spicy food but whatever he'd had them fill the dates with made her mouth burn.

"Won't object, not can't." The Daga was enjoying himself.

"Can't, my Daga." She drained her cup and shuddered again, her mouth no longer burned but the drink had been the soured milk drink he favored when they were children. After she was certain she wasn't going to throw up she continued, "I behaved horribly. Falling asleep while hiding like a willful child-"

"You're forgiven." He was smiling as if he'd won a prize. "I hadn't expected you to drain the cup."

"Whatever is in the dates, my Daga... it burns."

He looked less pleased and tried one, spitting it out and reaching for his own cup. "I told them to make it spicy enough to make you drink, not to burn your mouth." With a frown and gesture he summoned the servants, "Remove these and bring Lady Isonei something cooling for her mouth."

"Sit with me." Draeseth was scowling as she looked up at him, "You look ill."

"The sour milk has never agreed with me." Isonei let her lips twist ruefully. "I stay where I sit until I'm given permission to leave the table."

The Torgan shifted his scowl to her Daga. "You would punish her for childishness by being more childish?"

"It seemed appropriate." The Daga's careful tone should have been a warning but Isonei could see that Draeseth wasn't going to take it.

"How often did your father speak 'Turnabout is fair play'? Your children are going to be exciting, my Daga. May you have as many as Daga Gildith." She gave him the sweetest smile she could muster.

"You forgot to say 'may they all take after you.'" He sipped his milk with a sparkle in his muddy green eyes.

"I wouldn't do that to Arissa, my Daga, may they all take after your father." Fluttering her lashes sent him into a howl of laughter.

He patted her cheek with the back of his hand as he smiled broadly. "There is a reason you were my father's favorite. After lunch we'll take your husband down to speak with him."

The intake of breath from both Torgans got her attention. Draeseth looked as though he wished to firmly decline, but Burgath began speaking in a hushed tone. The pair began to argue in Torgan.

"Is your husband religious?" The Daga leaned to ask quietly.

"Yes, my Daga. The grave flower upset him and uhhmm when I explain-"

"He was afraid?"

"Yes, my Daga."

The Daga interrupted the two Torgan Princes by knocking on the table. "It would please me to take Prince Draeseth into the family crypt to speak with my father. But if he is religious, as Lady Isonei says, I will not be offended if he declines."

"Thank you, Daga Liadith." Draeseth bowed his head respectfully.

"You will have to explain to me, how did a religious Torgan find himself participating in the Festival of Maeralya?" The Daga resumed eating.

"I have been asked that many times, Daga Liadith." Draeseth looked at her with a grim smile. "I saw my Isonei, glowing, beautiful and cold, afraid in the moonlight. I ached to wrap her in my cloak and protect her. I did not intend to drink with her, and I after I did I had intended only to speak with her in my chamber." He scowled as Burgath smirked and muttered something in Torgan.

"But I found, once her mask was removed, I was face to face with the most exquisite creature I had ever seen. And she..." He stopped as if he could not find words looking at her helplessly.

"What did you do?" The Daga asked with amusement.

"I touched his beautiful face and asked him-" She took a breath and was interrupted by the servant bringing her a small delicate glass of goat cheese custard drizzled with honey.

"She asked me, 'Who would want to hit such a beautiful face?' The way she looked at me, I knew. I knew I would make her mine." He blushed slightly, "I took her to bed and begged her to stay with me."

Isonei began to laugh, shaking her head. "I remember it differently." The look on Draeseth's face was almost a pout. "You took me to bed and told me I was yours, and that my father could keep his wine, you would take his daughter."

The Torgan grinned. "I keep my word as well as you do. Promising to allow you to leave me was the most difficult thing I have ever done. And I did beg."

"You persuaded. Or were you not talking about convincing me to stay?" Isonei dipped the tiny silver spoon into the custard and took a taste.

He blushed and growled with a faint smile, "I will turn you over my knees, woman."

"Areshen." Burgath's dry, pointed observation reminded her of his presence.

"I will have a wedding gift arranged. I will be truly surprised if this is not a permanent match. The two of you are so taken with one another it would take a great deal to part you." Daga Liadith was looking entertained as he gestured for the cleared plates to be taken and three more delicate bowls and spoons were brought.

"My wife gave me the only gift I require." Draeseth reached under his tunic drawing the knife she had given him from behind his back. "Perhaps you might wish to see it?" He offered it across the table to the Daga.

"Why this?" He turned the blade over in his hands. "A blade as a gift is ill luck."

"Andnaeuth said it's a common gift from a woman to one she cares for in Torga. I chose the colors and designs."

"Colors?" The Daga looked at her oddly. "It's black."

"And silver." Burgath offered pleasantly. "That is a very traditional wedding gift from a wife to her husband. Elements representing them both combined as one in a beautiful knife. Even the blade of it represents their union."

"These flowers are the same as those on their clothes." Daga Liadith touched the engraved silver guard.

"They are the flowers used to make the wine I favor, the wine we drank at the festival. I chose the motif for the clothes before I knew of her gift." His booted foot touched hers under the table. "I am her flower wine."

"You call her a jewel." He looked at the pommel.

"My silver Aran jewel."

"And the motif on the other side?"

"The seal of Kroscur." Burgath looked at her with approval. "How did you find it?"

"It's tattooed on my Draeseth's chest. I didn't know what it was, only that it's beautiful and important to him. I drew it from memory for the silversmith." Isonei smiled and looked to Draeseth, the man radiated pride.

"I'd forgotten that, brother. Your Aran wife has managed to give you a wedding gift that is perfectly Torgan."

"It is a perfect gift. As is she."

"If she were a gift you wouldn't have had to fight for her and tear her from her family and Andnaeuth." Burgath's light jest still had teeth, and the look he received from Draeseth made him swallow nervously.

"I think he meant a gift from the Gods." The Daga smoothly intervened and changed the subject. "You've had a more robust appetite today, Prince Draeseth."

Isonei tried to suppress the giggles that threatened to bubble up as he flushed slightly and looked at her with glittering eyes, "Breakfast left me wanting."

"It wasn't to your taste?" The Daga's question made her cover her mouth. "What is so amusing, Isonei?"

Struggling to compose herself and look at least a little bit contrite she cleared her throat and managed to get out, "He ate no food, my Daga."

"My Isonei could not behave herself. What man could think of food with his willing wife-"

Burgath coughed and spoke emphatically in Torgan cutting him off.

"That would be why there were broken dishes?" The Daga gave her an arch look.

"And a broken washing seat in the bath." Isonei offered meekly.

He sucked his lips against his teeth and looked at Prince Draeseth, "Is the bed not to your liking?"

"May your wife stir such desire in you, Daga Liadith, that you cannot bring yourself to wait. And may she be so eager for you she does not ask you to." Draeseth's words made something in her belly flutter and the proud, regal way he lifted his head and met the Daga's gaze as he offered his wishes made him look imposing.

"I will see to it, that when she is not required to serve, you have her to yourself." The Daga took her hand, curling his fingers around hers. "If you wish, I will have you moved into the family quarters. Lady Isonei's room will be available to you."

"Please." Draeseth inclined his head.

"Family shares a bath and living areas." The Daga continued with amusement. "You will be required to contain yourselves somewhat."

"I understand, Daga Liadith."

Isonei saw the Daga's widening smile out of the corner of her eye. "I am your Daga now, as well. But that can be discussed further in more comfort. Isonei will go speak with my father and rejoin us afterward."

"You do not visit, my Daga?"

"I've already visited my father today; I would have gone again to take your husband, but..." He squeezed her hand. "Go. Perhaps he'll ask you to forgive me a second time." His tone was teasing.

"There is nothing to forgive, my Daga."

"Always such a sweet girl." He released her hand and she rose from the table.

Draeseth rose as well to take her hands, kissing them before she walked away smiling. She still had to apologize for her behavior to the elder Daga, but she felt cheerful. Making her way inside, she asked a servant to make her some silphium tea before she went down into the family crypt.

The veiled priest was waiting for her, escorting her to the chamber that held the elder Daga. Isonei sank onto the kneeler trying to think how she should begin to apologize. But when the veiled priest laid his hand on her head he began to laugh.

"Turnabout is fair play. Sweet girl, he apologized to his father with all his heart. His anger turned to fear, and fear to realization of what he had done. It was wrong and childish but it has made him a better Daga."

"I was very childish. Falling to sleep was not uhhmm..."

"You did not intend to. I know. You will not run from your Daga again. You've both learned something, I think."

"Yes, my Daga."

"I was proud you did not leave when he allowed you to go. You love your Daga; not allowing him to postpone the match was wise."

"He should not be alone. I would see him happy."

"A Daga is never alone. But he was unhappy before you came and when you leave he should have regained a measure of it."

"I will stay until that, my Daga."

"I will be sad to see you leave, sweet girl. Do not forget to visit your Daga." The slight sadness in the voice made her heart ache.

"I will visit my Daga." Isonei sighed wishing she could still snuggle under the man's arm as she had done as a child.

"Tell me of your Torgan. Come sit with me." The priest lifted his hand, "He will allow you rest on the sarg."

°°°°°°°°°°

Her tea was cold by the time she came back up from her talk with the elder Daga. It had been oddly nice to recline on the carved sarg and talk about Draeseth and Andnaeuth. The Daga had had things to say about both.

Isonei was shown out to where the Daga and two Torgan Princes were lounging in the garden. Burgath looked as though he were well pleased by their conversation. Draeseth looked sour until he saw her, and his relief washed the sourness away as he rose, coming to her wordlessly.

"You were gone so long your husband began to worry." The Daga adjusted himself on his cushions with a smile. "I told him my father likes to talk."

"He does, he also likes to listen." She let Draeseth pull her close, smiling contentedly.

"And my brother likes to worry over you, Lady Isonei. The longer you're out of his sight the more sour his mood." Burgath eyed her as if she had done him an enormous favor.

"Your dress is wrinkled, my jewel, as if you were lounging. Did you not come directly to us?" Draeseth's large hands smoothed the back of her dress.

Rising on her toes she kissed his frowning lips as he looked down at her. "I came directly to you. I did have my tea after I came up; it was cold so I drank it quickly."

"My father allowed you to sit with him?" The Daga sat up with a piercing look, his green eyes clearing and growing brighter.

"He did. It was almost like-"

"The way you used to tuck yourself under his arm?" He sucked his lips against his teeth. "His favorite. Do you know how rare it is to be invited onto the sarg?"

"Onto..." Draeseth took her face in his hand and made her look at him. "You will not do that again. That is disrespectful. I dislike that you converse with the dead, but if you must, you will do it with caution and courtesy."

"She was invited. It was not disrespectful." Daga Liadith fixed the large Torgan with his piercing gaze. "You will not give the daughter of Liadith commands on how she should behave with her Daga. Neither the living nor the dead." His gaze shifted, "Sit with your Daga."

The way Draeseth's hand tightened around her waist told her he was not pleased with that command. Isonei lifted her hands and caressed his face before looking to her Daga, "Your father says I may uhhmm make quarreling with you, when you are not so nice."