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"And Maela had a rather difficult delivery," Lina explained to me. "Little Haryth wasn't so little!"
"Almost ten pounds at birth," Pia bragged. "And that boy hasn't stopped growing since."
"He's starting to stand now," Jelica added. "I just hope the second is a girl."
"Going to be a while before there's a second," Maela assured them. "I have no interest in letting the nurse raise my babies for me. I'm hoping Haryth will be walking before I have to worry about another."
"Just don't wait too long," Lina teased. "You don't want Tath to forget about the joys of marriage!"
The group of women laughed, but when Talin's voice joined them, a few stopped to blush. He just shrugged, proving he was neither shocked nor offended. Lina flashed him a knowing smile.
"So," she said, changing the subject slightly. "Maela, are you using the fact that you've already produced an heir to put him off?"
'Well," Maela said, "Tath was so proud that our first child is a boy, he hasn't actually pushed. He just prefers if his brothers think he does."
Talin chuckled, giving her a way out of the awkwardness. "And Thiemo was probably crushed, because being his brother's heir could've made finding a wife easier, huh?"
A hush fell around the room. The ladies all looked at each other carefully, but it seemed Talin had just hit on a family secret. It was Yamina who seemed the least worried about it.
"He was caught in a man's bed last month," she said, her voice pitched so it wouldn't carry. "Tath is furious, saying it won't look good on the family. Thiemo said it should be expected for the Ranndor family."
Talin just nodded, turning his attention to Pia. "Mama, he'll find a wife," he promised. "And Thiemo's right. Temptation is a part of our heritage. He's just young and experimenting."
"He's older than you," Pia said. "And with all the stuntsyou'vepulled, you never managed to cause a society scandal like this."
I just lifted a finger into the air. "I'm curious to know what Talin's done."
"When he was ten," Lina said, "he stole a horse from the Baron of Ambition's stable."
Talin groaned. "It was a bet! Tath said I was just a simpering priest in training and not brave enough to do it, so I had to."
"And caused quite the stir between the lords," Pia told me. "His father swatted his bottom until he couldn't ride that horse home."
"He spiked a lady's punch at the Tulip Festival," Nena added.
"I really didn't," Talin told her. "That girl, um... What was her name? She was caught in the library with her skirts up, and I told her to blame me. So everyone wanted to know where I got the alcohol to put in the lady's punch, and they all forgot that she'd almost gone too far with that footman."
"Really?" Pia asked. "But you were prohibited from attending balls for the rest of the year because of it!"
Talin just gestured to Jelica. "And I'd seen what happened to women when they dared to want the same things as a man." He leaned toward me. "And so you know, I rode the horse halfway across town before they caught us. Always thought that since I only got twelve years of freedom, I should make the most of them."
A bell sounded before I could respond, making me look for the source. There, on the wall just inside the entrance of the room, was a spring with a bell on it and a cable that disappeared into the setting. I'd never seen anything quite like it, but everyone was making their way to their feet, so it clearly meant something.
"Dinner," Talin said. "That's the chef's warning so the ladies can find their seats." And he offered his arm.
"Sit beside me?" Pia asked. "Talin can catch up with his sister and still keep you in sight."
"Mama," he grumbled.
She shushed him. "I have no intention of causing her any problems," she promised. "Talin, this young lady may as well be a Ranndor now. It's been so long since a Ranndor priest had a ward, but the family tradition is to treat her as if she's your wife, no different than a partner."
"And if I'd been matched with a man?" Talin asked.
"Don't say such things," Pia snapped. "Zeal would never!"
Talin just sighed. "Welcome to Sandrest, Nari. Mama, if you're going to sit beside her, just understand that her values were those given to her by Zeal, not your peers. I doubt she understands at all why you're so scandalized by my brother's latest tryst."
"Two men together?" she asked, glancing at me. "It's not natural."
