Playing Nice Like Grown-Ups

Writers: Chelle, Eimi
Date Posted: 17th April 2010

Characters: Parale, Ioven, Venrys, Syren
Description: The two of them meet again and manage to come to an agreement.
Location: Garnet Valley Hold
Date: month 8, day 18 of Turn 5

Ioven picked Syren up. Holding her in one arm, he reached down
for Venrys' hand. "And then what did you do?"

"And then she taught us how to make cookies!" the older answered,
skipping a little as she walked alongside him.

"Cookies? Where are _my_ cookies?" the smith asked, turning a pitiful
face towards his younger daughter.

"In my pocket," Syren said as she rested her head against her father's
shoulder, worn out from a long day.

"Cookies don't belong in pocket's, silly!" Venrys laughed. "And then,
daddy, she taught me how to braid Syren's hair!"

"What?" He hadn't even noticed, but she perked up quickly and turned
her head from her father to admire. "That's beautiful! You're like a
little lady! You did that, Venrys?"

"Uh huh!" she beamed. "Parale showed me how."

"But when Venrys did it, she pulled my hair," Syren grumbled before
laying her head back down.

"She'll get better," her father assured her as he reached for the key in
his pocket. He handed it to Venrys to open the door. "Well, sounds
like this woman has been very kind to my girls! We should do something
for her, don't you think?"

"Yes!" Venrys was already thinking of how fun it would be to give
Parale a present and see her surprised face. "Will you come with us
tomorrow, Daddy?"

"As soon as my work is finished, trundlebug," her father promised.

~~*~~

"It's this one!" Venrys said, running ahead and pointing to Parale's
door.

Her father's look was a little wary as he recognized the door she
pointed to. It was coming back now. Parale. The foster mother who had
been acting rather dodgy when he had come to talk to her. _She_ was
this wonderful new friend his daughters had found? He was of half a
mind to collect his daughters and leave, but Venrys had already knocked
on the door.

"Aye who's there?" came a voice from inside. She was folding laundry,
putting it away in the clothes chest.

Venrys opened the door. "It's us!" She grabbed her father's hand and
began pulling him inside. "We brought our Daddy!"

Parale's eyes widened. Well she was in it now. Sighing, she closed the
chest and straightened her back, preparing for battle. "Come in then,
girls."

"Daddy, this is Parale!" Venrys beamed up at him, proud to finally show
off her new friend to her father, and vice versa.

Ioven knew this was important to his daughters, and as much as he had
disliked the woman's dealings, it seemed she had been extraordinarily
kind and attentive towards that. For that at least he was grateful.
And for that reason he mustered a smile. "Good evening."

"And to you as well." Parale walked forward, from the rear of the room.
"Syren, no hello?" Her eyes were on the smaller girl, noticing who was
getting more attention.

"Daddy brought you a present, but he said I could give it to you," the
little girl said in response, holding up a small basket to her.

"Well thank you very much." She took it very gingerly, peeking into the
basket. "How did your harper lesson go today?" she asked both the girls.

"I can count to a hundred! Wanna see?" Syren asked excitedly.

Ioven chuckled softly as he laid an affectionate hand on her head. He
had already been treated to her proud recitation, and could remember how
boldly she had counted "Nithy-one, nithy-two, nithy-three..."

"Maybe later dear. Right now I think it might be good to let your father
sit down. He might be tired after a long day hm?" And it would be rude
for Parale not to invite him to sit. He was being polite after all.

"Ah, well, I..." he was beginning to protest until Venrys took his hand
and started dragging him towards the sofa.

"This way, Daddy!"

Ioven knew he was defeated. "All right," he said, letting Syren crawl
into his lap. "But, we really shouldn't stay long, girls. I'm sure
Parale has things to do before her husband comes home."

"Oh, she doesn't have a husband," Venrys assured him as she lifted her
skirt to scoot up on the couch next to him.

She set about making a tray with some juice for the girls and water for
Ioven. Parale only drank klah in the morning. When she was done, she
brought it over and made a big show of letting the girls pick their
glasses.

"Thank you," Ioven said politely as he took his glass. "Did you thank
the nice lady girls?"

"Thank you," they said in unison. Venrys was careful to set her glass
down on a coaster. Syren didn't seem to care.

Their father cleared his throat as Parale took her own seat. "I wanted
to thank you for the kindness you've shown my girls."

"Aye well it was my pleasure." She settled back and sipped a bit of
water herself. "They've been a big help."

"Oh?" he asked, looking at his oldest daughter.

"Venrys is pretty good at folding. And Syren, bless her, can draw pretty
pictures for my wall." Smiling, she grabbed a biscuit from the tray and
bit into it.

"Folding?" Ioven's look was even more skeptical.

"Yes, Parale taught me how to fold laundry!" Venrys declared proudly.

"Oh, she did, huh?" Considering the conversation he and the woman had
before, he was starting to worry a little about their association. Only
one way to sort this out. "May I have a word with you please, Parale?
In private?"

"I suppose so." The look on her face told of how confused she was by his
sudden change in the conversation.

"Thank you." He decided out in the hall would be the better place to
talk than the bedroom. "Please be on your best behavior girls," Ioven
said firmly as he held the door open for her.

As they stepped out into the hall, Ioven was suddenly not sure exactly
what to say. It took him a moment to gather his thoughts. "I have to
be honest, ma'am, I'm just not sure what to think of you."

"You're not the first person who has said that." Her earrings shook when
she walked. Her skirts were a lovely red purple color. It was clear
Parale didn't care about fitting in.

He was sure that was true. "First it seems that you tried to scam both
me and my hold out of marks and or labor. I have to admit, I thought
you were rather... shrewd. My girls, it seems, can't stop talking about
you. It seems you have been very kind and attentive towards them."

She tried to stay rational, though his comment did stir up resentment
toward his former attitude. "You were the one that decided I was being
dishonest, judging. Despite what disagreements I may have with your
judgment, they have nothing to do with the girls."

Ioven could not believe she was trying to lay the blame on him! "I
don't see how you can find fault with my judgment, madam. You wanted to
be paid not only by my Hold for your services, but you also wanted me
_personally_ to pay on top of that. I don't see how any person with any
kind of intelligence could have judged differently in that situation."

"Not true. I said the Hold wouldn't pay due to them not being
traditional fosters. So that's why I asked about bartering trades. Then
you promptly cried false and I turned you out," she said very
matter-of-factly.

She still acted as if he had no right to be upset by her scheming? "I
don't know how this Hold does it's business, but my Hold would not ask
you to care for my children for nothing. They would pay you fairly for
your time, the same rate as they would pay for the nursery."

"And now you're impugning my Hold? Do you really have any sense
of propriety? I know the girls do so they have to have learned it from
somewhere." She was very angry, but she was determined to keep her
wits.

He threw his hands up in the air. This woman was unbelievable. She was
taking offense where there was none! "I am not impugning your Hold. I
am defending _my_ Hold by saying that they would have paid you fairly
for taking care of my children while I was here on its business!"

She put a hand to her forehead. Turning away from him a moment to
collect herself, she had a few breaths. Then she faced him again. She
came from a long line of proud holders.

"Ioven, forget the whole sharding thing. Obviously you're not going to
say you were wrong and judged me harshly. You have two beautiful
children in there that are probably wondering why we are taking so long.
So I suggest you wipe the sweat from your face and we go back in there
and play nice like grownups."

And now she was talking to him like he was some sort of sharding child!
Ioven dug his fingers into his hair in frustration. He just wanted to
take his girls and get them as far away from this woman as possible!

But the look on Venrys' face when she talked about this woman... Her
eyes would positively sparkle as she talked about Parale. They had
lived in Sun Stone a relatively short time, and neither girl seemed to
talk about anyone as much or as excitedly as when they talked about her.
After dragging them away from yet another home, could he really deny
them this?

His sigh was long and drawn out as his arms dropped wearily to his
sides. Finally he asked in a very calm tone, "Can we begin again?"

Quiet as she watched him, judging if he was sincere, Parale finally
relaxed somewhat and nodded.

"If you would agree to take care of my children while I am about the
Hold's business, my Hold would compensate you accordingly. They would
pay you the same rate that they would pay any creche worker for their
care. I swear on Faranth's Egg that I will personally make sure that it
is a fair rate for the services you provide. However," and he wanted to
make this point perfectly clear to her, "all compensation will come from
the Hold, _not_ from me personally. Would that be agreeable to you?"

"That would as long as it was a fair rate." She put a hand up against
her cheek, leaning slightly to the side.

"I will ask your Headwoman what the current rate is and would pay you
that fee." That way she couldn't complain that _his_ Hold was trying to
cheat her.

"Then we have an agreement." She put her hand forward.

At least finally she was being reasonable. For now, at least, the
situation seemed resolved, but Ioven wondered if he would come to regret
this arrangement as he took her hand.

Last updated on the May 3rd 2010

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Playing Nice Like Grown-Ups