Torgan Wine Ch. 58

Folding her arms she huffed, "When Daga Gildith joins us I'll go ride with him and let the two of you be horrible by yourselves. I had sisters in Ara to help me when my brothers worked together to tease me."

"And in Leria you had my father. He should have made you match wits with me, you might be better able to defend yourself." Daga Liadith grinned.

"He wanted me to like you!" She made a face and the Daga laughed.

"I would have expected her to be better at it with how many brothers?" Hesh leaned back, relaxing.

"Daga Liadith makes seven, but my other brothers never played the game Daga Liadith most enjoys." Isonei gave the laughing Daga a look of mock-reproach.

"What game?" Hesh tilted his head.

"Provoke me until I can no longer think of a reply and I start throwing things."

Liadith grinned, "I rarely play it with anyone else."

"Keth does that with our nieces." Rubbing his chin, Hesh smiled wryly. "Emheira actually bit him once."

"Perhaps I'll get to meet your nieces and your other brothers on my next visit." Isonei smiled hopefully.

"Perhaps. If I'd been staying I think you would have been introduced. They weren't very happy that I was going to be accompanying you to Ara." He winced, "Rath's match suggested you could have been left in Torga if your intention was to leave again."

Isonei felt her face going stiff and smoothed her skirt before speaking, "I hope that when you return you will be able to explain the difference between Arans and Torgans. In the North, it seems few understand it."

"There is no need to take offense, sweet girl." Daga Liadith studied her face with a hint of surprise.

"Have a great many people assume Leria and Torga are just alike and tell me how you feel about being thought less of for returning home, my Daga."

Under his breath, Hesh whispered, "I was concerned I wouldn't be able to tell when she was genuinely offended."

Just a bit louder Liadith replied, "You'll know, believe me. It feels as if the temperature drops slightly."

Exhaling, she gave them both an annoyed look. "I understand that your family would like to have you close after you've been absent for so long. But no one is going to prevent you from leaving Ara or from writing to your family. Perhaps they can use their feelings of unhappiness to better understand how my family must feel."

"I will suggest they try." Hesh gave her a conciliatory smile.

"Why don't we change the subject to something more pleasant." Daga Liadith smiled faintly. "Daga Gildith should be joining us soon."

"I do enjoy seeing Daga Gildith." Isonei inclined her head, smiling despite herself. "I wish I could go to his house on the way home as I promised."

"He released you from that promise, sweet girl, and I have no doubt that when he sees how badly you need to go home to our crypts he will be content with his choice."

"I've always found Daga Gildith to be cold. People speak of the warmth of the southern Dagas..." Hesh straightened in his seat and glanced at the Daga. "Forgive me."

"Many do find him cold, his mother was a daughter of Solvirith, but Isonei played with his daughters from a young age and I've never seen him melt quite the same way for anyone else. He was laughing and dancing at the celebration after my Ceremony with Arissa, something I was told he'd never done before. Isonei didn't leave his side for a moment."

"I meant it when I said he's like a beloved uncle. I adore him. Daga Gildith has always been kind, even though he can be stern. He expects good behavior, much like my father does. All I did was try to ease the sadness I saw on his face."

"Draeseth watched you looking after Gildith with an intensity that unsettled me. When he sent a servant to put your things in the room with his, I was told, and I made certain you had the choice. If I had allowed it, Ialath wouldn't have been alone with you and some things might have been avoided."

"Perhaps, my Daga. I would still have asked a servant to make other arrangements, I wanted to spend some time with my brother before I left." She looked into the middle distance for a moment, "I might have asked them to bring Draeseth's things as well. Or perhaps I just wish I had. Ialath would have been much less likely to strike me if Draeseth had been there, and even if he had, I could have gotten between the two of them."

"You would have stepped between the Torgan and someone else when he was angry?" Hesh gave her a dubious look.

"I did it in Torga." Isonei watched his eyes widen in surprise. "He did raise his hand as if to strike me, more than once, he even punched the bed next to me once when he raised his voice to me, but I was never afraid of his anger."

Daga Liadith's eyes glowed a bright and clear green, and a flickering like light playing beneath water moved in their depths as his face set in an expression of fury. "You said you were safe."

"He never struck me and I wasn't afraid that he would. I do know that Ximesra was."

"I thought the woman was being too nervous or trying to force me to move more quickly," Hesh covered his face. "The other servants said he was good to you."

"By Torgan standards I think he was. It did teach me that I don't want a man with a temper, or a man who is jealous. He isn't unredeemable, and he was a better man at the end of my time there..." taking a deep breath she rubbed her temples, "but I don't want to have to see him for a very long time, if ever again. I feel so..."

"Sweet girl." Daga Liadith spoke softly and joined her on her seat pulling her under his arm and against his side. "We should have left sooner, or gone directly home from Daga Velarith's."

"My father needed to see me and I needed to see him."

"Even so."

After clinging to him quietly for a few long moments she lifted her head, "Why did you say 'daughter of Solvirith' the way you did?"

"The Dagas Solvirith are known for coldness." Hesh looked at her with a small smile. "He has the farthest, most northeastern lands of Leria. I'm told they're frigid and windswept. The only food they can grow is in glass houses. No one visits him if they can help it."

"I met him once at Daga Gildith's house. He seemed sad. I gave him my puzzle box and sat with him in the garden. Arissa and Maraphina joined us and he came with us to the celebration Arissa had for two of her dolls she'd matched. He was a very sweet man. He even danced with me."

"My father said that was why Daga Solvirith was so angry you'd been allowed to leave my home with the Torgans. You'd charmed him when you were a child and when Daga Gildith and my father came to find why he was absent from their discussions he was playing with dolls. The first words out of Daga Solvirith's mouth were 'Who does this little one belong to? If she's unclaimed I will take her.'"

"That makes me want to go visit him." Isonei squeezed the Daga with a small sigh.

"You may need to. He said things that are difficult to forgive in your absence. Daughters of Liadith make peace." Her Daga's tone was gently teasing.

"Is it because the Dagas Liadith seem to upset people, or is that just you, my Daga?" Isonei grinned impishly as she asked and his reply was a poke in her back that made her break into laughter.

"Her mood is..." Hesh looked at her peculiarly.

"She tries to put on a cheerful face as much as she can but she needs someone to cling to. A few days in the crypts should help."

Hesh looked as if he thought the Daga must be making a jest and teased, "Do threats work to make her more cheerful?"

"It isn't a threat, Hesh." Isonei frowned at him. "I love the crypts and I need to spend time there. I want to spend time there. My Daga gave me permission to stay..." She felt suddenly unsure if he actually meant it.

"I will not take it back, sweet girl. You may stay in the crypts until the elder Dagas suggest you sleep in your own room or you get tired of sleeping on stone instead of in a bed."

"You'd choose to sleep on the stone floor of the crypts?" Hesh arched an eyebrow and studied her as if she were ill or mad.

"I would, because I need to be close to the elder Dagas, but one of them might allow me to sleep somewhere slightly more comfortable." Isonei smiled at his baffled look.

"My father will probably let her sleep on his sarg. He'd let her crawl inside it if he could."

Hesh blinked and studied them as if trying to tell if it were a jest. "Will you spend as much time in the crypts in Ara?"

Isonei laughed and pulled up her feet, curling next to her Daga with her head on his lap. "We don't have crypts in Ara. We have a mound. I'll be visiting it to take flowers for my brother, Ialath. You're welcome to come."

"Close your eyes and rest, I can tell him of the mound." Daga Liadith smiled down at her.