Especially when those people were charming and beautiful, like Elodie.
He didn't know much about her background and he didn't really care. All he cared was that she was far too beautiful for a simple village girl, with clear ivory skin and golden hair worthy of a princess. She was too fine for hard work, but she liked stories of romance, dancing and all kinds of fun.
And Lucien was falling in love, just like it was often told in those stories. Time spent with Elodie always passed in a single blink of an eye while time without her seemed grey and empty. And when they kissed for the first time it was better than anything Lucien had tasted before and he couldn't get enough.
He couldn't imagine ever doing anything else than being with her, kissing her, enjoying this feeling.
His mother had different plans, though.
Delia had never been a great scholar herself, but she wanted the best for her children and university had always been a part of that in her mind. Now both her husband and one of her boys were dead, but she was still determined to ensure Lucien would have the best chance in life she could ensure. Even though the two funerals had swallowed most of the wealth she had counted on and she would have to work her hands raw to afford the university fee.
Lucien himself didn't really care either way, but he wasn't one to waste energy arguing. He paid only half attention to his mother's plans and expected smooth sailing throughout, but he only had to arrive to the university to see not everything would be perfect.
To begin with, he was poor once again, put in the smallest room with only simple furnishings and expected to make do. After getting used to comfort and respect, being a nobody again was hard and without riches, there was only one other way to gain any status. Hard work.
He chose his subjects by random chance and good-sounding names rather than any thought-out plan, but he started them all with the ambition to excel. To show everyone that as a noble's son he truly belonged among all the spoilt rich boys, to gain respect and admiration.
But in time the amount of required work only grew and his motivation just wasn't strong enough to keep him interested. He tried to work, he really did, but he already envied the rich boys who spent their days just having fun and their nights in bars.
Delia ended up alone in her new mansion, happy for her son but feeling more and more lonely. She even invited her brother and his pregnant wife to live with her, but Katharyn insisted on not wanting to impose on her.
They did visit frequently, so there was at least that.
Elena's life quieted down after the boys were both attending school, but otherwise not much changed. Malcolm was still working as hard as he could. The money was fine, but the big success he was expecting had still not come. Even then, life was good.
Maybe even too good to last.
She had been preparing lunch, like always, tired as usual and maybe just a little bit distracted. She had been daydreaming about the adventures she had planned to have, a career of a knight just to spite her brother, and of the grand house Malcolm was still planning to build for their family. She had been thinking about how different she had expected her life to be, how much better than the mundane progression of days, and completely forgot that it could always be much worse.
Until her simple cooking fire got completely out of control.
They fought, both her and Malcolm, fought like the knights they were supposed to be, but it might have already been too late. The fire was spreading fast and the old wooden house had no real protection.
It just burned all around them and when the stubborn pair finally thought of giving up and saving themselves, they were trapped beyond a wall of flames.
Elena's last thought was thanks to the Watcher that the boys were safely at school, far away from harm.
When the boys returned, the fire was still raging, but there was nothing to save anymore. Adrian's first instinct still was to run into the burning husk of a house to search for his parents, hoping against all hope. Ronan just stared in shock. He was only vaguely aware he was following his older brother, like he usually did when he had no idea of his own. He was unable to think, unable to speak, unable to act... and then he looked into the flames and saw - thought he saw, for surely that could not be real - a dark shape holding a scythe.
And then he was screaming and dragging his brother out and away from the house, before Death could take him too.
He wasn't sure what exactly happened next. They might have just ran around in circles, too shocked to even decide on a real direction, until night fell and they both collapsed in exhaustion.
Just before he fell asleep on the cold hard ground, Ronan noticed the first snow of that year was beginning to fall.
In the morning they were half frozen, but alive and finally able to talk clearly. They needed help, a place to get warm, a place to stay at least for a time. As they walked, Adrian talked about repairing their home with just a little help while Ronan wondered whether they would be sent to the sisters in the convent. He had heard the sisters were hard, disapproving of anything that was fun, but they were supposed to be good teachers as well...
Then they arrived to Delia's mansion and were welcome as family. Delia promised them anything in her power to help, but told them firmly that there would be no convent and definitely no living alone in a half-repaired house. There was plenty of room in the mansion, even more with Lucien at the university, and they were more than welcome to stay for as long as they needed.
Delia never pretended to be their mother, but it was clear she quickly came to think of them as her foster sons. She helped them study, read Ronan his favourite stories before bed time, everything to help recover from the tragedy that befell them.
And it was working. Though the boys still missed their parents dearly, eventually they came to be comfortable in the new home and even the nightmares filled with flames and hooded figures faded away.
When Adrian celebrated his birthday, it was a real celebration despite everything that had happened. And despite being now able to find work and start living independently, Adrian decided to stay. For his brother, but partly because he had come to genuinely like his new home and the new opportunities it gave.
Lucien, meanwhile, grew tired of studying when there was so much to do. All the other students were drinking and having fun and Lucien didn't want to be left behind. He didn't really care for the fact that he had no real experience with alcohol or that he was spending money he didn't really have.
His time then divided into the fun part - drinking, singing, dancing, riding horses and all the rest - and sleeping off the previous part. None of the other noble sons cared for their marks.
When he was finally expelled from the university, he didn't know whether it was the money issue and some kind of double standard, or if the others just knew where to draw the line.
When he got the news, he was devastated at first. He thought about how much his mother had wanted him to succeed, how much she had worked to pay for his way, and he imagined the upcoming argument. But it didn't take long until his guilt turned to anger, at the unfair university system and even at his mother for expecting too much of him.
When he got home, he was mostly annoyed and brushed off all questions. To his relief, Delia didn't ask much and almost didn't nag. She was happy to see her son again, but the silence went further than that. It almost seemed like there was an unspoken agreement - she didn't say anything about his studies and he didn't complain about Adrian and Ronan, or ask when they were going to leave.
Lucien didn't really mind them, or anything else. It didn't take long for him to fall back into his old easygoing life. He sailed through his days, playing in the snow like a child or just lazying around and made no real effort to make a new adult life for himself.
And there were other advantages to being back home.
While he was at the university life was too fast to think about Elodie, but when he met her at the marketplace everything came back. She was still the same, bright, fresh, with laughter that rang like tiny silver bells. And she was still as excited to see him and spend time with him as she was before he had to leave.
Everything was fine, everything was great. All smooth sailing, no need to change anything about this life. The only cloud in his sky was the fact, that not everybody in the village thought so.
As time passed the respect he used to have slowly faded as people started asking when he was going to find some decent work and take his responsibility. Some, especially old village harridans, even dared suggest he wasn't worthy of his inherited noble title.
He tried to argue and eventually threatened the harridan with punishment, but what had always worked for the Lorimers and his father, even for his brother, completely failed for him.
