Rubicon River Hold - Lord Holder's Office
The sun is disappearing over Rubicon River as a single dragon returns the Lady Holder and the Warden to the courtyard after a sombering sunset ceremony during which the Master Healer was laid to rest. Moods dampened after the goodbye, it is a silent Gaerwyn who escorts the Lady Ryeira through the Hold, her ladies running ahead, and thus as he invites her into the office so recently become his, there is already a lamp lit, and a tray of tea waiting. Silently, he opens the door to motion her in, the office still mostly untouched, the majority of the furniture still covered, the Warden hesitant to make his own mark upon the Lord Holder's Office.
It was indeed a sombre mood at the Ceremony before his own son took him between to release his body. A fitting burial for the son of a rider, a father to one, a brother to several an uncle to one. Released to the stars. The family stood stoic, the most grief stricken looked to be his youngest sister, Lisle. The one who had already suffered far too much loss in her years. She was taken away even before Odryth took off.
Ryeira was quiet for the return trip, quiet still as they walked the stairs down to the office. She turned with him into his office without thinking at first where her footsteps had taken her. On such a day she was caught unprepared by the room and pauses in the doorway, a gloved hand touching the door frame.
"My lady, I.. wasn't thinking." Gaerwyn murmurs softly as she pauses in the doorway, voice quiet yet steady. "Perhaps we shall move to your office.." The Warden offers, even as he's moving to pick up the tray of tea to escort her to the room next door. "Tonight, of all nights, enough grief has already been had." He inclines his head to her, waiting, watching her.
Ryeira lifts a hand to forestall him before she finally steps into the room. "No, it is time. He has long been buried." She replies as she moves towards the couch and draws the sheet from its form, neatly folding up the fabric and setting it on the arm of the couch. This office holds far more furniture than hers does. Hers might even be considered bare in comparison. She moves silently through the room to do the same to the other bits of furniture, a quiet ritual of her own.
Gaerwyn nods slowly, returning the tray to the tabletop, stepping back to let the lady pass him. As she slowly meanders through the room, pulling the sheets back, revealing the furniture, the Warden's eyes follow her. "If my Lady would allow me, I.. I believe it would be best to leave the majority of the late Lord's belongings to his son. This office is far greater than any Warden should have." He offers, before he's moving to stack each folded sheet on the first, falling silent.
The ritual is silent, something perhaps the maids should have done, but for her it is perhaps ripping a bandaid off a wound that has long needed to see the light of day. She finally moves to the window and snaps them open, letting the gathered dust fall about her. "There is a view to the harbour from here." She says in silent words as if she had not heard him speak. The harbour is mostly hidden in darkness at the moment though a few lanterns dot the dock. "We can have the items moved to storage in keeping if you have else you would brought in here. You are warden to my son and perhaps there are things you might teach him in this room that I cannot when he is ready."
When the last of the sheets is gathered, folded, and stacked, and the fading light of the Rubicon River evening is a bright spot along one wall, the Warden moving to glance out it. His attention lingers there, rather than upon the Lady as he hears her words. "Your son will learn all I have to offer, my Lady. He will learn to rule the lands of his birthright." Gaerwyn slowly turns his gaze to the lady then, inclining his head. "As the hold's safety is my duty, so is that of the young Lord."
Ryeira looks down at the harbour, a view she probaboy looked at hopefully for many a month after Leonidas's disapearance. There is a quiet to her, in her mood of rememberence. Her gloved fingers find themselves on his arm as she looks up to him. "I am sure you will, you have proven most dedicated to his future and not just your own."
Gaerwyn glances down at the hand on his arm, looking a bit surprised as he slowly lifts his gaze back to her. "My lady.." He inclines his head a bit. "Every child deserves a father figure. It is not fair to any child to loose there's so young." He offers softly, gaze lingering, standing straight and still as the last rays of Rukbat disappear beyond the horizon.
"Yes they do…" Ryeira responds in a low voice but comments no further before she takes a deep breath and straightens. "I should say goodnight to my children, it must be past their bedtime by now." With that, she is quick to leave the room, leaving memories behind both painful and wonderful.
"They will have it, my lady." Gaerwyn replies with a nod of his head, before he's stepping hurriedly aside to allow her to pass. "Good night my lady." He calls after her, watching her depart before he is too, closing the window and the door, casting the past and the future once more into shadowed darkness.