Broken Hearted

Writers: Yvonne
Date Posted: 8th November 2005

Characters: Mariss, Cyrek
Description: Mariss comes home crying because Valand has been reassigned
Location: Amber Hills Hold
Date: month 8, day 16 of Turn 3

The door slammed, and Cyrek looked up over the top of his book as his daughter stomped across the floor and disappeared into her own room.
She had the good sense not to slam _that_ door as well, at least, although Cyrek was predisposed to forgive as he'd seen the expression on her face. He frowned and glanced at Trouble, who was curled up on the chair nearest the fireplace. The flit looked solemnly back and didn't offer any advice.

After a few moments, Cyrek gathered up enough courage to set his book aside and go and knock quietly on Mariss' door. "Mariss?" Cyrek held his breath: she didn't respond. "Can I come in?"

There was a long silence before she replied. "I guess so." When he opened her door she was sitting on her bed, rubbing reddened eyes and looking up at him through lashes wet with tears. She tried to summon up a smile for him. "What is it?"

"Are you all right?"

Mariss' smile became a little more genuine. "I guess so. I'm sorry."

"For what?" Cyrek came to sit beside her and put an arm around her shoulder. She leaned into him and closed her eyes. "What happened?"

"Nothing." The Steward hid a smile: 'nothing' was a single word that spoke volumes and was anything but. He kissed her forehead gently. "Nothing doesn't usually make you cry, love."

"I'm not crying!" She sniffed loudly and bit back a sob. "I'm not!"

"Then you're just upset. What happened?"

Mariss bit her lip and wished that she could climb into her father's lap the way she had when she was little. Back then, she was sure that he could make the world go away, and that he could fix any problem, and mend any hurt. Then she grew up. "Valand's been called back to the Harper Hall, for a reassignment."

"Oh, love..." Cyrek wrapped her in a hug and rested his cheek against the top of her head as she began to cry again. Mariss was usually so self-possessed, it hurt to see her upset. She sobbed briefly into his shoulder before drawing back and knuckling her tears away. "What happened?"

"He-he asked me to go with him."

A cold fear hit Cyrek's stomach like a fist. "And?"

Mariss looked down at her hands. "I said no. We argued - he wants to marry me."

"And you?" he asked tentatively, taking her hands in his own. Mariss looked up at him and shook her head. "You said no?"

His daughter nodded and bit her lip. "I... I think I love him, Da.
But I don't want to go... not forever. And-and who knows where he'll end up? In some Thread-forsaken backwater Hold where-where I wouldn't be allowed to do _anything_...!"

"Oh, Mariss. I'm so sorry." Cyrek kissed her fingertips and drew her into another hug. He felt like laughing in relief. It was all so preventable... hadn't he warned her about a harper's wandering ways?
But matters of the heart were never logical, never orderly, and never dictated by one's parents. "I told him _no_," she sobbed into his shoulder. He kissed her and held her tight. "I told him _no_, Da, and- and I think I love him!
What am I going to do?"

He held her until she stopped crying, until she could gather up the raw edges of her broken heart, and he tucked her into bed with a mug of klah laced with liquor and a good book. He kissed her on the forehead and told her that things would look brighter in the morning, that it wasn't the end of the world, and that she would be all right.
And Mariss let her father spin a web of loving lies around her until her eyes drooped, and she half believed them herself.

Last updated on the November 8th 2005

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Broken Hearted