After long period of courtship, young lord Anselm and lady Leandra were finally getting married. The church was full of their family and friends, but the groom and bride only had eyes for each other. Maybe it was a good thing, though, as they could ignore all the talk about the size of Leandra's dowry or the price of engagement gifts Anselm had given her.
If he had heard, Anselm would reply he couldn't care less about any of that. What mattered to him was that he had found a kindred soul and a companion. He was only sorry he had to bring Leandra to the same house his aunt was still proudly proclaiming hers. But maybe now that he had a family, life at the manor could change somehow?

And then all the vows were said, the newlyweds walked out of the church and the family and friends, turning to follow them, couldn't ignore each other any longer.
"You don't belong here!" Ellara glared at Damien, the bastard son of Watcher knew who, and especially at his red-headed wife.
"We were invited." Anna snapped back. "By lord Anselm himself." She thought to mention Ellara's own husband, but stopped herself just in time. She was sure Ellara had no idea about Tristan, if only by the fact she had not heard any screaming, but it still might be better to be careful.
"That does not mean you are welcome here. This is a ceremony and while lord Anselm may have gotten carried away in his joy, we do not want peasants here to ruin the mood." Ellara's tone was icy cold, pouring all her bad mood onto the one safe target.
Anna opened her mouth to reply, but she noticed Adrian behind his wife's back shaking his head. In the end she just turned, her head as high as she could hold it, and walked out of the church, trailed with Damien, who tried to appease everyone with uncertain smiles.

Even at home, Ellara was becoming harder to live with every day. With the new lady Lorimer moved in, everyone expected lady Ellara and her husband to finally establish her own household. Even Adrian supported the idea, but Ellara wouldn't hear about it.
"What do you mean, our own home? This is my home and always has been. I have ruled over the village when Anselm was still a child and if that woman thinks she can push me out like I was beneath her..."
"I only said you might be more comfortable if..." Adrian tried, but completely in vain.
"Enough. It will never happen and that's my final word on this matter. She thinks she's so beautiful, but..."

With his wife on the warpath, Adrian was feeling even more trapped in the mansion than usual. And his son, who should have been his pride and joy or at the very least a companion in his misery, was turning out to be a bitter disappointment. Pampered by his mother since early childhood, Desmond was spoilt and vain, often acting younger than his real age. Adrian wasn't sure if the boy even had a genuine interest in anything else than rolling his eyes.

He escaped this atmosphere to the same place as he always did, the woods outside the village. He had taken to spending whole days there and eventually stopped caring about much else than getting outside of his wife's reach.
He came to regret his carelessness when he came across a wild bear. Adrian reached for his sword and prepared to fight, wishing Damien was there to assist him.

The fight was short, but vicious and bloody. In the end the bear was lying dead on the ground, but Adrian was badly wounded.

He managed to get to the manor, where the servants got a physician for him. His lady wife refused to even speak with him, which seemed to be the only good thing to come out of this mess. She made it clear she had always disapproved of his hunting and expected him to crawl to her and admit she had been right all along.
Adrian supposed this at least made his recuperation bearable, but he still wasn't sure if the blood loss and forced rest were wort it.

Even after Adrian was finally allowed out of his bed, just before he could gnaw his leg off like an animal caught in a trap, the physician stressed that more hunting might mean reopening the wound.
Luckily for him, there were other places to go when he desperately needed to escape the manor and his unbearable family. Damien's home was as free and pleasant as always and a game of darts made for a nice substitute for more dangerous or demanding activities. Anna's little boy, already showing more promise than Desmond, was playing in a corner while the adults enjoyed themselves.

Damien said being free to crawl around the house encouraged little Tristan to explore and helped make him into a strong independent man, while heavily pregnant Anna just didn't have the energy to spend much time with the child.
But Damien made sure the boy was never hungry and he couldn't imagine what else he might need. Certainly not the strict rules of the convent he had been subjected to growing up.

When the time came for Tristan's birthday, Adrian made sure to be present. Anna baked a cake on the occasion and Damien noted she spent more time on it than on any other meal in months. He wondered if was really meant for the boy or for his supposed father.
When Anna helped Tristan blow out the candles, the two men looked at each other, once again wondering who would be the better father for the boy.

Tristan himself, at least, was excited by the idea he was a noble by birth.
"Have you ever fought in a war? With huge war machines? Has your castle ever been under siege?"
"No, not really... there haven't been wars in this part of continent for decades."
"So what do you do?"
Adrian was overwhelmed for a moment, but he could almost see himself in the boy's enthusiasm, energy and easy charm.

If only it was Tristan who had been born as his rightful son instead of the one he had. While Desmond never cared for any sort of physical activity, only planning to be a great lord one day and judge people from a comfy chair, Tristan was excited about the idea of fighting and determined to become a knight. And while Desmond seemed to have learned from his mother to look down at Adrian, Tristan was eager to impress him with his agility and strength.
Adrian had never fancied himself the fatherly type, but he was almost sorry he could never acknowledge boy as his.

Not everyone shared Adrian's liking for Tristan, though.
When he invited Celestine for a visit, he thought she would be overjoyed. After all, everything had to be an improvement over the convent, which his father made out to sound as the most boring place in the world. He did his best to make it up to her and be fun, but the girl didn't seem to appreciate jokes about nuns or about her mother.

"I thought you would be happy to be friends..." Tristan was growing desperate, especially as he didn't understand how come the girl didn't seem to like him. He was almost a knight, his father had the best company ever and she was... nobody, and still she only rolled her eyes at him.
After some time he just gave up trying. If Celestine was as boring as the convent, it was her own loss. He was the son of a noble and a real knight, he should have no shortage of much better friends.

He had much greater success with his cousin Devin and soon the two boys were best friends, playing together whenever they had free time.
They would pretend they were knights, soldiers or even robbers, Tristan always leading the way and making all the decisions. Devin was more than happy to play along, even when Tristan decided he would be a powerful king and his friend a defeated rebel. Devin was eager to please and grateful for the company and Tristan loved the sense of power he got from ordering the other boy around.

Anna kept expecting to go into labour for some time, unsure if she was afraid of it or hoped it would come soon and she would be able to move once again. But when it really came in the middle of a night her strongest thought was that it wasn't a good time. Actually, it never would be a good time, not for the labour and not for a pregnancy.
She screamed for Damien to bring a midwife or someone, but she mostly wanted him and Tristan, both useless men, out of the house.

And then, when everything was over and she was holding her newborn daughter, she wasn't even sure what her strongest emotions were then. The baby girl was healthy and fully hers, but somehow it didn't feel completely real to Anna. The fact that the girl showed promise to have golden hair, just like her older brother, just added to the strangeness of it.

It wasn't long before life got back on the usual track. Even a newborn in the house couldn't stop Damien and Anna from inviting their friends over, and their highborn friends were glad to come.
Tristan spent as much time as he could glued to Adrian, talking loudly about anything and everything, basking in his importance. "Do you sentence criminals? Have you ever sentenced anyone to death?"
Delia flinched at that question. She couldn't help but remember her and Finn's recent close escape and her father's brush with lady Ellara before that. The memories would feel all to real even without the presence of the guard who had escorted her back that night.
"Don't worry. There won't be any hangings as long as I can prevent them."
Delia turned after the voice and saw Anselm, the lord himself, smiling awkwardly at her. She smiled back and did a little curtsy, not knowing how else to respond.

She needn't have worried, though. Damien and Anna's gatherings were always informal and always fun, sometimes even too much for some of the guests.
Alysanne came when invited, but usually kept mostly to herself, ill at ease in a company that was supposed to be respectable and lost amidst all the noise. Damien did his best to draw her in a few times, but most of his jokes just startled her even more.

Still, it was Alysanne during her visits who helped take care of baby Elena, making sure she had enough of everything.
Unlike Damien's jokes and pranks or Adrian's talk of hunting and adventures, the baby was something Alysanne did understand, and something that made her feel useful. After a while she wasn't sure if Elena wasn't actually the main reason she kept coming.

And as even days turned to months and eventually to years, nothing really changed. Little Elena kept growing and she soon learned to turn to Alysanne every time her aunt was around.
Alysanne often wondered whether she should say something to Damien or Anna, but the other woman's radiant self-confidence always made her hesitate at the last moment. She never felt she had much in common with Anna and saw no reason why she would listen to anything she had to say. And it wasn't like she didn't enjoy helping with Elena...

Alysanne's life was mostly quiet and uneventful, which was just like she wanted. The days passed between care for little Devin, work and sleep.
She never knew she was pregnant right until the sharp pain of a miscarriage, but the fact that she had never expected the child didn't make its loss much easier.

In her sorrow, she clung even harder to little Devin, checking for any signs of illness in him and never resting even when she found none. With Delia almost grown and out on her own most of the time, Devin was the one who needed her as well as her future. She did her best to give him all the care he needed and more, all the care she would have given the dead baby, but she still couldn't help but wonder if it would have been a boy or a girl and what would it have been like.

Marcus, meanwhile, was still circling around Delia and her family. He still felt a little strange about approaching the girl herself, unsure about what to speak to her about, but her parents were something completely different. He found out he could find common ground with both Tomas and Alysanne very fast, drawing on their desire for normal, stable lives. A few compliments and reassurances and they were both completely on his side.
Not that he knew what exactly that side was... but good relations could never hurt, right?

And all the time Devin continued growing. Still smaller and more delicate than Tomas would expect from a boy, but healthy and curious and learning very fast.

Soon it was his birthday again and, just like the last time, both of his parents celebrated with genuine joy while Delia just stood there, lost in her own world.
"If you blow out all the candles, you will get a wish!"
"I want..."
"Ssh! If you tell, it won't come true!"
Delia just rolled her eyes at how childish her mother was. And she wanted to tell her what to do?
Still, the more focused on her baby brother her parents were, the more freedom she had for her secret life. The less they knew about her trips with Finn or her budding relationship with Adrian, the better for everybody.

Time passed quietly, until one day the Arell family got an unexpected visitor.
"Are your parents inside?"
Delia turned after the sharp voice, recoiling at the same time. She had never had any direct contact with the lady Ellara, but she knew that her presence here could only bring bad news.
"Has the cat got your tongue, you insolent girl? Where are your parents?" The lady asked again, her tone even sharper.

"Yes, they're home. What...?"
But the lady was already turned away from Delia before she could finish. Ellara swept into the house as if it belonged to her and walked straight to Tomas.
"How dare you lie and insult me?!" She spat at him.
Tomas was too shocked by the lady's sudden appearance he was unable to speak at first. "M-my lady...?"
"I heard you were calling me old and ugly. That you said the future lady Lorimer is more beautiful than me. How dare you insult me so?"
"New lady...?" Tomas still had no idea what Ellara was speaking about, but he did his best to appease her. "I would have to be blind to deny your beauty, my lady."

Ellara was still frowning, Tomas took a step back and Alysanne came to his aid.
"Please, my lady.. we would never dare insult you in any way..."

Ellara exploded. "Stop lying!" She screamed and slapped Alysanne hard across her face. "I don't want to hear your pathetic excuses. Like father like daughter, everybody knows what you are and not to trust you."
Alysanne just bowed her head and stayed silent as Ellara glared at both her and her husband.

At this point, Delia could just bear it no further.
The house's walls were thin enough for her to hear everything, every drop of venom in Ellara's voice and all the fear in her parents'. It was just so unfair!
She had stayed outside, hiding her helpless rage behind the wooden door, but when she heard the slap, it was finally too much for her. She just couldn't listen any longer.

She stormed into the house and flew straight to Ellara, too fast to think about what she was doing.
"And everybody knows what you are!" She spat at the lady. "And everybody hates you for it. Can't you just leave us alone?"
Lady Ellara was so surprised at this outburst, that she stepped back. She wanted to strike back, to put the insolent girl back in her place, but faced with her energy and conviction it was hard to find the right words. For a few seconds they just stared at each other, Delia clinging to her fire and Ellara doing her best to hide behind her haughty expression.

What was worse than having no suitably scorching reply for the girl was not having one for herself. Delia's words, however crude, had hit a weak spot Ellara didn't even know she had, but couldn't deny once uncovered. As much as the lady enjoyed being universally feared, it was a poor substitute for the genuine respect and love she missed ever since her father's death. Even her husband rarely looked at her the last few months.
One last look at the girl and Ellara turned and walked out of the house, her head held high and her skirts flowing behind her. She would never admit any weakness, but she just couldn't be sure it wouldn't peek behind any further action.
Tomas, Alysanne and Delia were left staring at each other, their faces mixtures of fear, surprise and incomprehension.

Delia had half expected a terrible punishment for insulting the lady, but as days passed and nothing happened its lack made her even bolder. It was easier to forget any regret and decide she had been right.
When she told Finn about the encounter and her victory in detail, this belief grew even more solid and she felt like a heroine, the only one standing for what was right. Lady Elara was a bully, she had no right harassing her family, and she needed to be put in her place. And as Finn clapped and congratulated her, she got an idea so bold and crazy she just had to say it out loud.
"What about visiting the manor at night? Just to remind her. She has so many enemies she wouldn't know where to look and if anyone needs some broken windows, it's this witch."
"For her, we would have to think of something truly special..." Finn's eyes were shining as he already started imagining the grand excursion and himself as a rebel fearlessly protecting the weak.

The night they had decided on came and the pair set off full of excitement, feeling heroic and untouchable and with no idea how soon they would regret ever leaving their homes.
Delia once again went through everything that happened, trying to find the exact moment everything went wrong. It was still better than thinking ahead, to the interview with her parents and whatever would come after, as she walked behind the resolute-looking guard.
She supposed she really should have been grateful to him, if she wasn't too frightened and angry to feel anything else. When he discovered them at the manor, they hadn't really done anything yet, but it was already too clear what their intentions were. They had tried to run - Delia once again cursed herself for not running sooner or faster - but then Finn tripped over something, she went back to him and then the guard was on top of them. He shined his light into their faces and when he saw Finn he looked as if he had just been given a great gift. From what Delia understood, the guard had been suspecting Finn for a long time, looking for a way to finally punish him, and now he had a perfect opportunity. And then came the surprise. She herself was not supposed to suffer the same fate. When Arthur was getting ready to escort her home rather than to any prison Delia had tried to argue, to defend and support her friend, but it took a single mention of a public whipping to shut her up.
Only now, as they were almost at the door to her parents' house, she was starting to doubt it was the right decision.

When her father heard everything, Delia thought he would strangle her on the spot. "Caught stealing? From the manor? After everything... have you lost your mind?"
He turned to the guard, thanked him both for the mercy and for informing him, and promised he would punish his wayward daughter soundly himself. Just the thought of this made Delia shiver, and her father was in no way finished.
When the guard left and Tomas turned back to her, he exploded again. "Look at me! Can you even imagine what happens to thieves and other criminals? Were you even thinking? Public whipping is the very least you could expect, do you know how your grandfather Dorian ended up?"
Delia only cringed as her father continued, describing the punishment he would give her himself and prohibiting her from ever even speaking to Finn again. When he finally sent her to bed, she was grateful, even if she knew she wouldn't be able to get any sleep.

"I still think hanging would have been better. But I suppose there's always next time, these types never learn..." Finn just growled in response. He knew what would come in the next few moments, but he was too angry to feel scared. He was angry at Arthur, who was no doubt enjoying his victory, angry at Delia for dragging him into this business and then getting away herself, angry at Ellara, even angry at lord Anselm for his so-called mercy. Whatever the accusations Arthur piled on him, whatever other punishments he could have faced, Finn still hated being in a noble's debt.
But soon anger and shock were replaced by completely different feelings.

He tried to distract himself from his punishment by inventing ways to get even with all of them, but it didn't really work. Even the most creative payback scenarios couldn't really hide the situation he was in,as all the facts begun to show clearly to him.
It was the humiliation that was the worst of all, the fact that everyone was looking down or downright laughing at him. This would never happen to any of his heroes and models, he was sure of that. And what good would revenge be, when he it wouldn't make him the rebel king of the night again?
When he was finally released, he was in despair. His whole life seemed in ruins and he had no idea how to change it.

Damien's life continued as normal. The sun was shining bright, Adrian was welcoming and there was always good company and something to drink at his hunting camp.

Not everyone seemed to enjoy it as much as Damien did, however. Young lord Anselm, who had gradually become a regular participant in their hunts, was growing more and more distant, often drifting into his own world that none of his companions could understand.
Anselm was always one to blush at Adrian's jokes about women, but now every time the topic was mentioned he became even more withdrawn and defensive of the fair sex, sometimes almost snapping at the other men. He had never liked those jokes, but now couldn't bear the thought of ladies being abused or ridiculed.

Not since he had fallen in love himself.
He wasn't even sure himself how exactly it had happened. Ever since he met her, he liked the company of lady Leandra, thought her gentle, wise and kinder than he had thought people could be. All he knew was that with her he had found a completely different world and he never wanted to leave it.

Damien's home was becoming less welcoming as well, with a little baby always demanding attention. Damien left almost all the childcare to Anna, but it still meant less fun for him than he would have liked.

And Anna was becoming more and more desperate, cursing her useless husband and needy son. Her life was suddenly much smaller and duller, filled with diaper changes and other annoyance. This definitely wasn't the life she had imagined or ever wanted.

She wanted to curse Adrian for forcing the marriage and getting her stuck with what may very well be his child, but it usually only lasted until he visited. When he rode in on his horse, his personality radiating from him, Anna could only smile and accept his attention.
She would claim it wasn't love, just the force of his charisma, but it seemed to come eventually to the same thing.

At least her house was a safe place where the usual stupid rules of the society had no power. Here the fact that she and Adrian enjoyed each other's company had nothing to do with her love for Damien and there were no insults or constraining boxes.
Even most guests seemed to understand it, whether it was in their selection or in the place itself. Damien's half-sister Alysanne was maybe the only one with reservations, always fearful about everyone's good reputation. Delia, however, was completely different from her mother.

Delia was young, fresh and innocent-looking, and above all eager to experience real life. It only took one chance meeting for Adrian to notice how good looking she was and to want to meet her closer.

"I haven't seen you here before, have I? I'm sure I would remember such beauty."
Delia blushed against herself. Finn's rather clumsy attention was one thing, but she had never before been complimented by a real nobleman. Her heart beat madly in ecstasy mixed with panic - hadn't each and every interaction her family ever had with the nobility ended in disaster?
"Thank you, my lord?" She desperately tried to appear grown-up and calm, but even Jocelyn's advice didn't prepare her for this. But surely he had to be a different kind of nobleman? If he was stuck-up, arrogant or vindictive, he wouldn't be here, would he? Damien's house surely wasn't a proper place, so maybe...?
And she definitely didn't want to insult him by refusing the attention.

Anna watched them for a while, Adrian being his usual smooth self, Delia eventually trading confusion and worry for genuine enjoyment. The girl was so obviously inexperienced and trying to hide it it was amusing.
She would have watched further, but then Damien appeared behind her and soon she was too distracted to pay much attention to anything and anyone else.

Adrian and Delia meanwhile snuck out of the house to relax in the soft grass, shaded by trees and far enough from anyone's sight.
"This is almost like being on an adventure. When you travel to foreign and mostly unfriendly lands, you must always take every opportunity to rest. But never let your guard down at the same time, of course." Adrian said, putting his arm around Delia as she laid down next to him.
"Have you been on many adventures? Will you tell me about them?" Delia wanted to add "my lord", just to be sure, but stopped herself. Just moments ago had Adrian told her to be informal around him and that she was too pretty to bow. "...Adrian?" She finished instead, tasting his name like a strange fruit.
"Of course. This was n the far south, where the sun never stops shining and people are strange and dark-skinned..."
Delia listened with bated breath.

Some time later Tristan became a toddler. Anna was definitely happy and thought he couldn't grow too fast. She couldn't wait for the kid to be able to take care of himself.
"Maybe soon you'll be able to get out of those diapers, what do you think?"
Tristan just grinned at her, happy that he had his mother's attention for once.

And once little Tristan was back in his crib, Damien and Anna got in their own bed and started the real celebration. Damien called it the "thank the Watcher we survived" party and Anna added with a laugh "And let's try not to make the same mistake again."
They got lost in each other's embrace and hot kisses and soon they forgot not only Tristan, but the whole world as well.

While getting rid of the baby's diapers wasn't as fast as Anna would like, Tristan was still growing fast. He was an active child who loved all contact with people and Anna enjoyed playing games with him from time to time.

Still, most of the time he was left to himself, his bottle and a few carved toys. Both of his parents learned to deal with his temper and grouchiness and thought it a lesser evil than constant attention, as long as the baby was provided for.
"After all, most great men become so by taking care of themselves. It will only be good for him." Damien said while planning another meeting with his grownup friends.

Delia visited even more often than before and always when Adrian was supposed to come. Somewhere deep down she knew she should be even more nervous than before, that beginning an affair with a married noble couldn't possibly be safe, but mostly she managed to ignore that knowledge. Adrian was kind to her and with him she always felt beautiful and wanted. And she was sure she could trust him.
She just had to do her best to not think about his wife.

And so life continued, sometimes demanding but usually smooth and easy. Until Anna discovered they had not been careful enough and she was pregnant once again.