Is this married life?

Rihan had spent most of the morning adjusting the Hold's census records, figuring in new families who'd transferred their registers recently. The numbers would begin reflecting on food rations and within workplace productivity, and he would have to take new numbers into account when planning for how many mouths there would be to feed in his hold, especially over the winter months. The new numbers would also have to reflect on the amount of produce and goods taken from Telgar River Hold for Weyr tithes. There were so many things to take into account as the population of the Hold was growing. And since prior to the wedding, it had been growing by significant leaps and bounds.

The young Lord of Telgar stood from his desk, stretching his arms overhead with a yawn before he went briskly to the door and moved down the hall to the stairs leading into the main hall. He figured Eolyn might be somewhere thereabouts, directing Hold affairs.
Rihan topped at the bottom of the stairs, eyes searching for her whereabouts, moving forward again when he did not immediately spot her.

A drudge came from the direction of the kitchens, Rihan stopping her to ask after his wife. "Do you know where I might find Eolyn? I need to speak with her."

Eolyn had already figured out all the preparations for the day and had something special planned for herself while Rihan was busy. She had a mind to learn how to bake something, just to know all the work that went into it. Her mother had never allowed her near an oven. So under the guise of going to the kitchens to order what she wanted for the evening meal, she in fact went for a baking lesson.

“Speaking with the Head Cook my Lord.” The drudge said before hurrying off to do what she had been. The young Lady Holder’s laugh could be heard, from outside the kitchen. The Head cook was a robust middle-aged woman with a good sense of humor. She had taken a liking to Eolyn pretty quickly and the two of them had no problems working together whatsoever.

Eolyn shrieked then followed by a laugh. The entire kitchen was covered in flour, including the lovely Lady.
They were not being purposefully wasteful, the thought of wasting never even came to mind. Eolyn was in such a good mood she hadn’t really thought what other people might think. The head cook and her were flinging flour back and forth at eachother.

“You cheated! Look at my loaf, its like something squashed it!” The Head cook began laughing more loudly till she had to catch her breath and tears were in her eyes. “Some of us were not meant to be bakers my Lady.” The words were said in good humor and were answered with a bunch of flour in the older ladies brown hair.

Eolyn was laughing as she got more flour thrown in her own face.

Nodding to the drudge who hurried off, Rihan headed in the opposite direction, toward the kitchens; but when he heard the shriek, knowing that it was his wife's own voice, he rushed through the door to find out what was the matter. Rushing into a cloud of ...flour. Waving a hand in front of his face, Rihan's digust might not have been heard over their antics, "Chi!"

Having figured out what was really going on, the worried expression Rihan wore gradually melted away and for a moment he stood there looking a bit dumbfounded, the white powder gently floating to setting in his black hair and creating a light dusting over his clothes. Abruptly though, he turned on a heel, putting his back to the two responsible for the mess, taking a deep breath.

Clenching his jaw, Rihan was actually fighting laughter at that point, not only because of their antics, but glad to know that everything was...well...relatively OK. At least Eolyn was not hurt. But this did put a bit of a damper on his plans. No. He was determined not to let it. Maybe a little irked by that though, Rihan took another silent few breaths, swallowing the laughter before he could turn around to face his wife again.


"Eolyn." Walking right up to her then, he still struggled to maintain that stoic composure that was so typical of him. He opened his mouth to speak again, but was unable to go on, seeing as that the cloud of flour they were standing in made it difficult for him to consider his own words at all seriously anymore -so he reffrained from sharing them. Instead, he rocked back on his heels again, standing near his wife now, taking another deep breath to consider what he would say instead.


No. No...that just wouldn't do. Rihan had come here for one purpose, and that was to speak just a few quick words to her -even granted the hilarity of the whole situation he found his wife in, he was determined not to let that deter him. Yet, Rihan still had trouble taking himself seriously as he finally decided to address the issue he'd come to her for.

So...he started over, doing his durnedest to be serious, "Eolyn. I have heard." He took another breath, struggling with teh words still, but this time reaching up to wipe flour dust from his face where it began to tickle. "I've heard that married women often prepare meals for their husbands. We are married so,...please prepare dinner for us this evening. I want to try some of the food that you've made."

So that he could get back to his work -or perhaps just to better hide the fact that he was quite amused- Rihan turned to leave them.

She turned quickly to face Rihan, not sure what he was going to say to her. He seemed so serious. Of course he was quite serious except when he had her alone. Then he was all about having fun. No one else knew how much fun her husband could be and it was a real shame.

He remained quiet do she tried to think of something, anything to say. Every time she tried to say something she giggled. When he mentioned her cooking she couldn’t hold in anything, she laughed right there in his face, not knowing if he was being serious. Then when he turned to leave she sobered up looking at the Head Cook for encouragement. She walked quickly to get in front of him before he left.

The Head Cook said loudly, “But my Lord, the Lady Eolyn can’t cook!” And it was so true.

Eolyn smiled up at her husband, “You didn’t come looking for me to tell me to cook for you.” She said, trying to pry information out of him. She realized she was covered in flour and not at all presentable. She looked a complete mess most likely but she made no apology for her behavior or appearance. “Tell me or I will have to do something you’ll regret.” She said, keeping her hand with the flour in it behind her back.

Stopped in his tracks first by the cook's exclamation, and next by Eolyn moving into his path, he regarded her with some curiosity and wonderment, his lips mouthing something about it in silence. Rihan's silvery eyes met Eolyn's skeptically then, watching her intently while she pressed him about his purpose. "That is why I came here. To ask you to cook for me."

Somehow, the expression in those sincere orbs of gunmetal hue were saddened to be met with such a realization. Rihan..was truly disappointed. "Is it true?" His voice however, did not betray such emotion, but Rihan would not deny that he would feel truly crestfallen if that were the case.

“Really?” She asked, knowing that he didn’t need to repeat himself. The flour she had in her hand she dropped behind her dress. She began to mess with her hands, but her eyes were on his face, she didn’t want him to be upset. “She is being honest. I cannot cook. I’ve never learned.” Suddenly feeling incredible inadequate, she looked past Rihan to the Head Cook. “But that’s why I’m here. I’m learning.”

The Head Cook backed her up. “She just made her first loaf of bread.”

Eolyn didn’t know what else to say. She was kind of disappointed in herself. She tried so hard to be the perfect wife and Lady. It probably showed on her face that she was upset. Eolyn felt maybe he was expecting too much from her. She was good at other things but they didn’t matter. He wanted her to cook him something.

“Why would my mother have wanted me in a kitchen? It creates coarse hands which are un-ladylike. Accidents create burns and scars which would mar a Lady’s beauty. Why should I fill my head with things I don’t need to know…” Eolyn was quoting her mother; these were not necessarily her own beliefs. “The only reason I know so much about Healing is because the Healers begged my mother to allow me to have special instruction.”

She kind of irritated now. What all did he expect from her? She didn’t know how to do everything. His expectations were obviously set much higher for her than he must have thought. It wasn’t fair of him to expect so much from her.

Eyes lighting up a bit as she mentioned having just finished baking the bread, Rihan found secret delight in knowing he'd have a chance to sample some. The young Heir to Telgar's holdings smiled softly down at his Lady then, in a way that might have struck his expression through with something akin to innocence; an expression that was enough hopefully to disarm the whit of frustration he was able to read in her eyes, even had he not known the extent of it.

Rihan brought a single index finger to his lips where he kissed its tip and then reached to set it upon his wife's lips in turn, silencing her ramble, "You tell me on one hand that your mother did not want you in the kitchen and it might be troublesome for you as my wife, yet you are here on your own accord, baking before I have even requested it. I do not intend to have you working a kitchen day and night." The thought must have amused him, because his lips turned up into a bigger smile, chuckling under his breath.

"Forgive me if it was too much to ask -wanting to know how my wife's food would taste." The smile persisted, and in a rare instant, Rihan opened up about his personal life around those outside of his family and circle of friends, "Did you know that I once worked as a drudge in my Father's Hold; when I was a kid? I think the experience left me feeling pretty familiar with kitchens. Though I don't recall ever having as much fun as the two of you are, now." Referring to the mess of white dusting that now covered much of the space.

In any case, he was turning back toward the lady cook now, confirming there was bread to be tasted, "Would you break us some bread to try, from the loaf that she made?"

Eolyn could never stay mad long enough to think about saying anything to him. His intentions were always good even if he didn’t always express himself in a way that made it easy to discern what he was truly thinking. Looking into his grey eyes she knew, he was not as disappointed as she thought he was initially. His finger stopping her from saying much more, she listened to Rihan’s words.

“Yes… I wanted to know how to cook but I’ll admit my reasons were not so sweet as yours.” She leaned up to kiss him gently on the cheek. “I’m trying to learn many different things so I might know what time and how much work is required to go into certain things. I want to be able to run the Hold as efficiently as possible.” Of course wasting flour to play a game had not been efficient but keeping the staff in good spirits was.

“I had no idea your father had you do that. Sounds like a great opportunity to walk among the normal people and be treated as one. I would have enjoyed it.” She said with a smile. Then there were people in the world who somehow made everything better. Whether it was charm or just her kind nature, Eolyn seemed to be one of those people. She never came out of a situation worse than when she went in. Even if she hadn’t been a Lord’s daughter she would have made the most out of her life. It sounded as though his experience wasn’t as much fun as hers would have been.

“You would have had fun if I had been there.” Eolyn teased him. She liked to see him smiling and laughing. He was much too serious sometimes. “Bread for now. Once this lazy cook teaches me how to make a full meal, you shall have one.” She winked at the cook who feigned being upset for about three seconds before dissolving into a fit of laughter. The woman was about to slice the bread but Eolyn had left Rihan’s side to do it herself.

“I think it will be better if I do the serving…” She said with a grin. Hopefully, despite looking squashed it would taste just fine. She broke off two pieces and walked back to Rihan, where she lifted his part of the bread for him to take. “Now remember this is the first time I’ve done anything cooking related so if it is bad you have to give me more time to learn.”

“You would have had fun if I had been there.” Eolyn teased him

"If you'd been with me, neither of us would have gotten any work done." Rihan was winkly slyly back at her before he moved to take the bread she'd broken from the loaf.

Watching her intently, Rihan set the bread to his lips to take a bite, not sure what to expect of the taste. Finding himself pleased enough with the flavour, it might could use a little tweaking but it wasn't really...missing anything -maybe just a little more salt? Well he wasn't all that experienced when it came to baking himself, so who was he to say. It was her first attempt anyway; so he simply smiled, and then putting the rest of the bread into his mouth, used his right hand to draw her near to him. Rihan placed a kiss on the top of her head before putting just a little distance between them again, "Well done."