Chapter Text
Laurenz thought that his best friend Matthias certainly did like to make trouble for himself. Of course, he also thought that Matthias was a better leader and knight than he himself would ever work hard enough to be, but his friend didn't know when to quit and just admit that something was out of his hands.
On this day, Lady Rozemyne, Lord Charlott, and their guards had made quick work of their lunches and gone to register the first-years at the library.
Laurenz still didn't know what to make of Lord Charlott. At first he'd thought it was just an act, but at their meeting he'd been close enough to see that Aub Ehrenfest's second child really did look like a boy now. If it was a disguise, it was a good one. Could it actually be true? Matthias had been convinced it was a trick at first, but now even he wasn't so sure. The story about a miracle from the gods was unbelievable, but scholars were always finding new things magic could do.
If it was true, it felt somehow wrong. What if every girl who wanted to inherit could just turn herself into a guy? There would be no one left to have children. And if guys started turning themselves into girls, that somehow felt even worse.
Not that it actually bothered Laurenz that much. It was a background hum of strangeness, but raising a fuss about it would just be making trouble for himself over something that was out of his hands. Compared to everything else happening in Ehrenfest politics, this wasn't worth worrying about. Lord Charlott might be bending the laws of nature, but as far as Laurenz could tell he wasn't demanding their names or contemplating a purge.
In any case, Lord Charlott and his entourage had left not long into the lunch break, and Matthias saw it as the opening he needed to be a busybody. Laurenz stuck by his friend's side if only to keep him from getting too deep in his own head and doing something he'd regret.
So the two watched Gretia, the shy yet voluptuous gray-haired girl Laurenz's father had taken in at the end of last winter. She had begun her meal late after serving Lady Natalie, and when she finally finished, the dining room was empty enough for their purposes.
Matthias approached her. "Gretia?"
The girl instantly drew back, her teal eyes flashing briefly before she bowed her head and hid them behind the gray fringe of her hair.
"I'm just worried about you," Matthias said, but his tone was too hard to be reassuring. "Professor Hirschur told us not to do anything in haste, that we can go to her, so why — ?"
"I know what I'm doing," Gretia insisted quietly.
"Do you? It looks to me like you're dispelling your highbeast before you've found a place to land."
"You don't need to worry about me. I know what I'm doing."
This was going nowhere. Gretia was reacting the same way Roderick had. To her, Matthias wasn't giving advice to be considered; he was launching an attack to be endured.
"Gretia, I —"
Laurenz clapped him on the shoulder. "Give it up. You're not going to change her mind."
"But —"
"Matthias, you're bothering a girl. Think about how this looks." Laurenz leaned closer and put on a teasing smile. "Especially with blessings of Geduldh like hers."
Gretia tensed.
Matthias jolted. "What!?"
"And have you seen her eyes? Truly, Kunstzeal and Sehweit joined hands!"
Matthias was reduced to red-faced sputtering. Gretia's face was tucked even more firmly toward the floor, and she was gripping fistfuls of her outer skirt so hard that her knuckles stood out white. Finally she made her escape, scurrying past the two boys like a frightened eifinte.
As she passed, Laurenz offered her a none-too-quiet whisper: "Good luck!" He really did hope things worked out for her.
"Laurenz, you — !" But before the scolding could get any further, Matthias went quiet and looked past him.
Gretia's retreating footsteps had stopped.
Laurenz turned to look at her. She turned back, and with slow, deliberate steps as if moving against a current, she approached them.
She came just close enough to whisper, never raising her face. "Lord Laurenz."
"Yes?"
"You don't know everything your father and brother do. If their lady wins… there is no future for me anyway."
With a deep breath, she turned again. This time she didn't scurry off; she simply walked away.
Laurenz could only watch her go, blinking.
"What was that about?," Matthias wondered.
"I don't know." But in that moment, despite all the walls surrounding him, Laurenz could feel the chill of the winter winds outside.