Kaltsar crossed his arms over his chest, the metal of his armor gently scraping against itself.
Julia stood outside the door with some trepidation as she inwardly cursed herself for never getting her own room. With any luck her parents weren’t home yet. She turned to Kaltsar for reassurance. “Well, here we are.”
Kaltsar was standing to Julia’s left, his posture stiff. Now that they were actually moving forward with the plan, he was getting nervous. He wasn’t really much of a conversationalist, or a liar really. Could he get Julia’s parents to buy the act? The armored man turned to Julia at her words. “Uh, yeah. Here we are indeed.” He glanced around the room, eyes shifting from object to object.
“Uh, here goes…” she mumbled as she knocked on the door. The was a momentary silence before a voice called out from inside, “Come on in, the door’s not locked.” Julia whispered to Kaltsar. “That’s my mom’s voice. With any luck my dad won’t be home before we can excuse ourselves, he’ll be harder to fool.” Julia steeled herself and pushed open the door, offering the woman inside a sheepish, “Hi, mom.” She gestured to Kaltsar. “This is Kaltsar my…” her voice dropped to a whisper, “my husband.” The woman raised an eyebrow as if to say, “Well, I’m waiting.”
Kaltsar cleared his throat, clearly nervous. He looked down at Julia’s mother. “Hello. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I hope to live up to your expectations.” He inclined his head slightly while he thought about what he might be supposed to do. Wait, am I supposed to shake her hand? No, that’s something I’d do with her dad. Should I be more affectionate with Julia? Or just appear chaste?
Julia’s mother stared at Kaltsar, as if she was inspecting his very being. Eventually her stare broke and she smiled. “Looks like you picked yourself a good one Julia! Nice an’ sturdy, probably strong too!” She laughed when she addressed Kaltsar. “Why so stiff, dear? I don’t bite.” Julia breathed a sigh of relief as she moved over to sit by her mother, gesturing for Kaltsar to join her.
Kaltsar echoed Julia’s sigh. Thank goodness. He was even able to get himself to smile. “Sorry about that. It’s just that I’m going to be spending the rest of my life with your daughter. That leaves a lot of pressure to make sure her parents like me.” Kaltsar gingerly sat down next to his faux wife, placing his hand over hers. Julia’s mother seemed easy going, so a lack of physical contact might look suspicious.
Julia held in a squeak when Kaltsar placed his hand over hers and desperately tried to conceal her blush. Her mother gave Kaltsar a sly nod of approval. “So where have you been Julia? You haven’t sent even one letter since you left. And where did you meet Kaltsar here? There’s so much catching up we have to do.” Julia seemed to become a different person. She sat up straight and her nerves had disappeared. “I’ve been doing mercenary work since I left. I met Kaltsar shortly after and we hit it off and now we’re here.” The sound of a door shutting filled the room. “Is that so?” A man stood in the entrance, glaring daggers at Kaltsar. “Father…” Julia mumbled, her composure from before seeming to have melted away.
Kaltsar felt like icewater had been poured down his back. Oh good. Her father. “It’s nice to meet you sir.” Kaltsar feel silent, panicking. Why? Things had gone smoothly with Julia’s mother. He was drawing a serious blank. Floundering, his brain latched onto the first thought threatening to form and fired it out of his mouth. “I hope that you will approve of our union.” Why did I say that?
The elf looked at Kaltsar incredulously. “Did I hear that right, Julia? You and this man are husband and wife? Without even consulting us?” Julia looked away. “Yes, father. We’re married. We had the ceremony a few weeks ago.” Her father’s glare only got more intense, as if he was trying to bore a hole through Kaltsar. “I see,” he said curtly as he reached inside his coat and withdrew a book. On closer examination it was a high level tome. “Well, I have no reason to disprove if Julia was certain enough to wed you already. However if you somehow deceived my daughter…” he nodded at Kaltsar.
Kaltsar nodded in return, still not at ease. What if both of us are deceiving you? What then? “You have nothing to fear sir. I am entirely devoted to your daughter.” Kaltsar’s hand was still resting atop Julia’s. He didn’t see any need or reason to move it at this time.
Julia’s father looked Kaltsar in the eye. “Good.” Sensing an opportunity Julia spoke up. “If we could we’d like to look around the castle a bit. We came straight here and I’ve been wanting to check up one some of my old friends.” Her mother grinned. “You mean you want to show your hubby off. Julia blushed and laughed. “You always could see right through me. C’mon Kaltsar, let’s go!” She stood up and grabbed his hand, pulling him out the door. She leaned against Kalsar for support, feeling drained. “At least he didn’t actually try to fry you,” she managed to say with a slight grin. “Last time I brought a boy home he actually threw a fireball at him.”
Kaltsar gratefully allowed himself to be pulled away by the much smaller woman. “Funny, you didn’t mention that before you brought me here.” Kaltsar’s tone was deadpan, but the side of his mouth curled up in the way that it did when he was amused by something. He lowered his voice- he didn’t think anyone was listening in, but you could never be too careful. “Sorry I grabbed hold of your hand like that. Figured it’d be the natural thing to do.”
“Yeah, but in my defense I didn’t think he’d show up; he’s usually on guard duty right now. Maybe they changed his schedule or someone told him I was back.” Julia fought back another blush. “I… didn’t really mind, you know. It was just... unexpected.” Yeah let’s go with that. “Well, let’s get going, the castle’s not going to explore itself!”
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Topic: FEF: Winds of Change IC Thread Chapter 2 The Whispers of a Storm (Read 53202 times)