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"Would you care to have a meal with us, Zee?"
He smiled, but glanced to Talin. "I hope that wouldn't be too scandalous?"
"I know a cafe where we wouldn't cause a commotion," Talin assured him. "If you'll watch the ladies, I'll have the carriage brought closer."
"Promise," Zeal told him.
Yamina just watched her brother hiking up the snow-covered hill. "I thought he would only leave you with another guardian, Nari?"
"Um..." Yeah, I had no clue how to handle that.
Zeal, thankfully, did. "I train guardians, so I'm close enough. I've also taught your brother a few things."
"Are you any good, though?" she teased.
He grinned. "Very. My abilities could even be called divine."
Yamina groaned, thinking it was a bad joke. "Priest humor."
"Something like that," I agreed. "And thank you for inviting me, Yamina. I actually had fun."
"That was actually my idea," Maela admitted. "Your vacation with us should be enjoyable, not miserable, and my husband..." She ended with a heavy sigh.
"It's not your fault," Yamina assured her, reaching over to grab Maela's hand. "Tath's an idiot. He whines about Talin being spoiled, never seeing how our father doted on him."
"What about you?" Zeal asked. "How did you become the family voice of reason?"
Yamina just shrugged. "I kinda watched eight siblings make mistakes so I didn't have to." She flashed him a devious smile. "I was also much too curious about where my brother went, so kinda read all the books about the temple that I could find."
"Oh, a devout Ranndor." He nodded approvingly.
But Talin was back. "It'll be a bit cramped in there with all of us, but some warm food and hot drinks should make up for it. Ladies?" And he offered me his arm then gestured for his sisters to go ahead.
Zeal followed them, easily keeping the conversation going. Talin walked just slow enough that it wasn't obvious when he leaned toward my ear.
"Maela can see him?" he asked, clearly worried more about thehowthan the fact it had happened.
"I know," I breathed, turning to see him. "But it makes sense after what she said last night. They think he's a priest, though, and I get the impression Zeal wants to keep up the ruse."
"And no one will see him at the restaurant," Talin reminded me. "I have no clue how we're going to make this work."
"We'll figure it out," I assured him. "Zeal wouldn't do this if he didn't think we could pull it off."
Then we reached the carriage. The ladies were already in. Talin gestured for Zeal to go first, and then both men helped me inside. Sadly, Talin was right, and the fit was tight, but that was easy enough to fix. When Talin sat on the bench beside me, I shifted onto his lap, giving Zeal a little more room. The god gently patted my knee in a subtle thanks.
The ride was a short one, then we piled out of the carriage at a quaint little place nestled in among more common shops. Inside, it was almost empty, but the smell of fresh pastries made my stomach growl. The serving boy waved our group to take our pick of the open tables. Yamina found a round one in the very center of the room.
"Do you have hot chocolate?" she asked.
The young man smiled at her, nearly blushing. "Yes'm."
Zeal leaned toward me. "Split a cider and a chocolate with me?"
"Yeah. One cider and one hot chocolate," I said.
The young man's eyes dropped to my hands. "Yes, Priestess. And for you, ma'am?" His eyes turned to Maela.
"Hot tea?"
