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Ygraine 3/7

Asa had been speaking, before the noise from downstairs - but Ygraine was tired enough that it slipped from her mind almost immediately. She hummed in quiet agreement, just as bemused by their son's independent nature as her husband, but at his wishful thinking she let out a soft bark of laughter. "Not very likely." She could smell the spices in her brief, surprised inspection of the kitchen when she came in.

Reaching to steady Asa was as natural to Ygraine as breathing, and thankfully his words overwhelmed the initial urge to fix him with a worried look. Instead, her eyes creased in love and amusement, and for a second she forgot that she was an exhausted middle aged mother, and instead she felt like a lovestruck teen all over again.

It was difficult not to smile and feel giddy when her husband still called her by that age old 'Miss'. "Are you kidding? With my husband in my arms, I can take on the world!"

Without argument, Ygraine slid her arm with practiced ease around his back and under his other arm. It was a tight squeeze for her down the stairs, stooped with him under her arm, but he was light as a feather to her.

Downstairs, the kids were already populating the sitting room, so all Ygraine had to do was guide Asa to his chair, where he was deposited with a final fond touch to his cheek before she broke away to take her own seat. "It smells good, Arden! Were you inspired today?" She asked sweetly.

Colm could almost feel the spices emanating off the plates as Arden served, but considering his little brother cooking for the family wasn't a common thing he didn't dare complain. If anything, he was fond of the other teen for stepping up after the heavy conversation today - he didn't know if it would last, but it was nice to see Arden treat the exchange with the proper gravity it deserved.

The tremor in the younger boy's hands was noted, but Colm didn't comment on it, and instead he made sure to take the plate with both hands, almost as if to silently say 'Don't worry, I've got it.'

"Maybe not. He might want to talk to mother first--"

Almost as soon as he said this though, the sound of heavy footsteps from the stairwell made him look up in surprise. Well. Guess he was wrong then.

Quickly, he helped Arden with the rest of the plates and carried them to the table, just in time to watch their parents settle down at their spots. Colm silently fetched a pitcher of cool water and poured it for them before he sat, Zev's book bag hooked over the back of his chair.

Arden ll 4

He may not have said as much, but Arden's eyes shown with gratitude. 'Thank you'. Even as tense as things had been between the brothers over Arden's lifestyle choices something of this magnitude seemingly wiped the slate clean. With his family taking their places at the table, Arden remained standing to presumably hand out the last of the dishes, prep glasses with cold drinks, and handle any last minute tasks.

In truth Arden was trying to delay the inevitable. He was content where he was for the moment, until his mother addressed him and a tick started in his jaw. "Just felt like it." Arden wiped his hands off on the closest dish rag and hesitantly found his spot; Colm on his left, Asa at his right. He couldn't even begin to look at the man.

So, instead, he kept his eye on his mother. "I hope it's not too hot; I was feeling pretty heated while I was cooking." And with that he stabbed a potato with his fork and plopped it into his mouth.

Ygraine 4/7

Ygraine pursed her lips and leaned back just a bit in her chair, watching Arden with open speculation. He was making no effort to hide his annoyance over something - but for once it didn't seem directed at his older brother. She wondered if he'd been escorted home by a truancy officer again, but that had never prompted him to cook before.

The twins could tell something was amiss, given by their grave expressions, and Ygraine was at her wits' end, ready to demand an explanation, when her angel of a husband had mercy on her.

Only - her breath sucked in at the familiar surname. She had to turn to look at her husband, but since she on sitting to his right it meant she was looking at Arden's moody profile as he angrily chewed his potatoes.

She wished she was as skilled at reading between the lines as Asa. He wasn't packing his bags in a panic like she would have expected him to react if their little family was ever discovered by the Sargsyans. "... It's been a long time since I've heard that name." Ygraine finally said, expression strained as she looked at Arden again.

Yona 4/7

Yona's eyes snapped to Zev when his tentative grasp registered. But after a moment she gave up her arranging of the silverware in lieu of reaching down to cover his hand with her own. Which was when Arden finally flopped into his seat, and none too subtly hinted that he was upset... about SOMETHING or other. What was he so upset about? Did he finally get expelled?

Okay... some guy had followed him home. Someone... important, if even MOM knew who they were. But it was Colm who finally shed a great deal of light on the situation, enough that Yona sat up straight, eyes wide, hand going tight against Zev's. "Wait wait wait- this is a joke, right?" She looked between the grave faces, waiting for Mother or Father to cut Colm off, or say he was exaggerating or misunderstanding the situation - then scowled when they remained silent (Mother even looked stunned), slapping her free hand against the tabletop.

"If Father - if WE are from some illustrious family, why are we living in a tiny apartment here? Why are they dangerous to us, if they're our family?" Of course - Zev and Yona weren't immune to being teased, but hybrids weren't unusual in Belrea. The teasing they received was more because of them being foreigners, non Belrean natives, rather than hybrids themselves - she hadn't been raised in a world where her pureblooded father marrying their hybrid mother was something that could lead to violence from her father's family.

Arden ll 5

Unlike his father Arden's eyes were sharp and pointed. He looked at his mother as she spoke - taking in the expressions that crossed her face - and then looked to his family. Zev with his understandable fear, Yona with her shock and Colm...the true heir.

"What a mess." He growled. Arden stabbed another piece of meat and brought it to his mouth. The hybrid was 'content' enough to let this all play out, since he'd already said his piece when Amon had been there; at least, until Yona spoke up and he slammed a fist onto the table. "Are you seriously that dense? You're a threat, Yona. You, me, Zev and especially Colm." He pointed to his elder brother with his fork. "For those people legacy means everything and if they want father dead what do you think they'll do to you? Amon's the perfect puppet, but we-" He made a vague gesture around the table, "-are a liability. I'm surprised no one's kicked in the door already."

Ygraine (5/7)

Ygraine reached to gently lay her hand over Asa's, but when he kept his eyes towards their children she didn't press. The resignation had a painful cadence in his tone, and she wanted nothing more than to carry him back upstairs and hold him in her arms, where they might pretend for just a while longer that the world hadn't finally caught up with them.

It was terrifying to know they'd been found, after all this time; she could still remember the mercenaries that had hunted them down all that time ago, and the few close calls they'd had in the years since.

That contemplation was broken, however, when Yona broke the peace with open disbelief. And the barely restrained anger in Arden snapped. "Arden." Ygraine chastised, quickly, before turning her face toward Zev. "My sweet boy, we're not going to let that happen."

An empty promise - they'd run for so long, and if this Amon boy had truly had bad intentions then she would have returned home to a massacre, instead of a dinner. He could have had soldiers ready to strike if his conversation went awry; but the fact her sons and husband were allowed to remain unscathed meant they had time, at least, to react.

... Or so she hoped.

Yona 5/7

'A name is only as strong as its brood.' It would be one thing if Father spouted that nonsense with an eye roll or a disdainful scoff. It would merely be an example of the backwards, stupid thinking of that family, and that would be that. ... But he didn't. Father spoke it like it was a doctrine, with an almost resigned reverence as if it was an explanation that made sense. And he punctuated that not by looking at Colm, his supposed heir (that would confirm that the issue was that they were hybrids), but by looking at her and Zev.

Maybe Father looked at them because Arden and Colm had already had this conversation with him. But the fact was, when speaking of 'the strength of the brood', their sickly, pale father gazed at her (shaking from exertion and the remnants of her fever), and Zev (trembling with anxiety and a near panic attack), as if they were mere illustrations of that very statement.

He spoke like this was a fact of life that couldn't be contested, that they were Weak, and so that fact alone merited him and their family being hunted down like animals.

It probably wasn't what Asa had intended (at least, distantly, she hoped so), but it was how the statement impacted against her heart. Her hand trembled then curled into a fist, painted nails pinching at the delicate skin of her palm.

Arden's derision felt secondary, but it only made her bristle further, nostrils flaring as her temper surged, but it was only Zev, his hand tight in her other hand, that kept her from letting it loose entirely.

"Why should they bother?" Yona said, acidly, in response to her twin, eyes locked on Asa as a cruel smile lit up her lips. "They probably expected us all to keel over by now. A little longer and they'll only have the boys to worry about, right?" She waved towards Colm and Arden with a disparaging laugh. "So what, big brother - are you going to be a martyr and march in to take down the family empire? That's the only other option, right?"