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“Fiorella!” Viago called out. Rook stopped in her tracks and went over to him and Teia. Lucanis followed her to meet them.
“Here” Viago held a pair of gloves towards Rook “since we missed your nameday and you can’t even manage to come back on your own. It is already two weeks late. But don’t think too much of it, I just happen to have them.” They were black with a delicate silver embroidery, artistic while comfortable and definitely very, very expensive.
Teia chirped in “Don’t listen to him. He stood there choosing, and terrified the poor merchant, for eight hours before he finally chose this pair”
“That has nothing to do with this specific pair of gloves. It is important when choosing gloves…” Viago started to go on about gloves and choosing the right fabric and material and design and when what occasion and on and on and on…
Fiorella traced the embroidery with her fingertips as she listened to Viago talk.
They missed Rooks nameday? Lucanis contemplated about it for a moment. Rook hadn’t said anything but maybe she forgot it with all the problems that have needed to be dealt with. He kept thinking, if he slips away now, he could probably run to the market, by some groceries and return here before Viago was done with his rant about gloves. So, let’s see he would need eggs, sugar, butter…
He nodded to Teia, who stood there with an amused face, and quietly left.
Lucanis had returned right when Viago was finally done explaining on how to properly choose a pair of gloves. They said goodbye and returned to the Lighthouse. Fiorella left for Emmrich’s room and Lucanis went straight to the kitchen. It was time to make a little treat for Rook.
Taash, Harding and Davrin were already in the dining hall when he entered. He focused on making a special meal for tonight. He had observed that Fiorella didn’t seem to have any specific favourite dishes, but he knew exactly what dessert to make. Soon enough the nice smell of Lucanis cooking filled the dining hall. Maybe it was the smell that attracted the others or maybe it was really just a coincidence that Bellara and Neve entered right when he was done with the first batch of churros.
Neve asked with a curious grin: “Oh? Any special occasion for you to make a dessert on top of the usual cooking?”.
“Ah, yes. I made more than enough, but these are for Rook. We missed her nameday.”
“WHAT” Bellara yelled surprised. “Oh no, we missed such an important day? Why didn’t she say anything? Wait, did she say something and I missed it? Do you think she’s sad because we missed it?”
“Bell, calm down.” Neve tried to sooth Bellara. “I am quite sure she won’t be sad or angry with you for not knowing when her nameday was.”
“Oh, right. Maybe. But we can’t just ignore it now that we know. What should we do?”
Bellara’s little outburst attracted the others attention and they joined their little group.
“Did anyone actually know when Rooks nameday is?” Davrin asked into the room.
Taash seemed to think differently “Or maybe she didn’t want anyone to know, who knows.”
As a lively discussion erupted in the dining hall about Rooks nameday and what should be done about it, Lucanis prepared the second batch of churros as well as a sweet cioccolata calda.
“Everyone!” Neve interrupted and gestured to Lucanis. “I believe Lucanis already prepared a special nameday meal. So let us just celebrate it today.”
Bellara beamed at the prospect of that. “Right but we can’t forget the candles. They are very important! … Uhm, how many candles do we need?”
…
The room was silent as no one knew the answer.
Just the the door to the dinning hall opened and Fiorella and Emmrich entered.
After the initial “Why didn’t you tell us about your nameday?” interrogation died down, everyone just kept on chattering until it was time for dessert.
Lucanis served the churros and the hot chocolate when Bellara finally asked
“How old are you actually now?” And everyone looked expectant at Rook.
“ 20 ”
Lucanis was glad no one was holding their cup, otherwise there would be a lot of shards needed to be cleaned up, because everyone would have dropped theirs in shock. Mierda, twenty! No wonder Viago looks like he wants to murder him whenever they visit Treviso. They were basically sending a child to fight gods.
Taash went on about how they thought they were the youngest, but no, no, looks like that wasn’t the case.
Bellara is just as flabbergasted and even Neve looked quite surprised.
Harding didn’t look as surprised as the others. After all she knew Rook for almost a year longer as the others, though she seems to not have known that Rook was this young.
Davrin didn’t look very surprised either, it was more of a “I fucking knew it” resignation.
Emmrich was… He was sitting at the table with his head propped up in his right hand. His eyes were wide with shock as he stared at the table. The poor man looked like he was having an existential crisis, a midlife crisis and just a general crisis all in one go. If his hair hadn’t been grey yet, this would have been the moment it would have turned. Well, that was one way to find out that your girlfriend is 35 years younger than you.
Fiorella didn’t seem to realise what turmoil she just caused. She seemed to be content to stand behind Emmrich happily munch on the churros Lucanis has made, oblivious to the distress she caused her partner.