Torgan Wine

Since this is the last chapter I wanted to give my sincerest thanks to both Todger65 who helped edit nearly forty chapters and to Nthusiastic who beta read and helped with editing for roughly the last half of the chapters! Your time and effort were greatly appreciated.

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Isonei tried not to sigh at Arissa's peevish whining,

"Come back upstairs! Your father and brother are starting to worry and I'm getting tired of trying to entertain them by myself."

"The daughter of Liadith may stay where she is for as long as she wishes."

The veiled priest sounded annoyed as well and she recognized the voice as Iehmarthe's. The way the priests could put on the voices of the elder Dagas both baffled and charmed her all at once.

"She probably smells at this point!"

Arissa folded her arms above her noticeably rounded belly.

"I do not! I've gone to bathe. I just like it here!"

"We miss you upstairs."

"I haven't gotten to talk to everyone down here yet."

Isonei used her best imitation of Arissa's whining tone and earned Iehmarthe's laugh from the priest.

"I'll have our Daga escort you and bring you up afterward."

The look she gave suggested there would be a chiding if Isonei argued. When Isonei inclined her head, Arissa left the chamber.

"Your father and brother are beginning to worry, as are the Sons of Mun. They don't understand why you would need to be here with me and they feel that two days is too long. Two days is nothing."

As the prospect of returning to Ara loomed, the thought occurred to her that things might go back to the way they were before she met the eldest after she left and returned again. He'd been very clear when they'd spoken, spending so much time with a daughter was something rare.

"Will you still be so happy to see me the next time I come home?"

"Always, my heart."

His tone grew slightly teasing,

"But I may not allow you to stay here in the crypts with me when you return."

She put on an exaggeratedly thoughtful face,

"Perhaps I should stay another day."

Iehmarthe laughed again,

"Go with the young Daga and speak to the others. Return to spend another night here, if you wish. Perhaps the party you missed the first evening can be attempted again."

"That would be wonderful! You could enjoy my house instead of helping me clean and arrange it."

"I've enjoyed that, my heart."

The veiled priest beckoned for her to come off of the sarg.

Isonei kissed the name and pressed her cheek against it before she climbed down.

"I've already promised to return in the month of Obris."

"I had hoped you would be more interested in the baby and in helping Arissa than in spending time in the crypts."

The young Daga teased as he appeared in the doorway.

"I've grown very attached!"

She beamed as she laid a hand on Iehmarthe's sarg.

"As he intended you to!"

The young Daga frowned slightly looking at the sarg.

"My father believes that you will have enough difficulty parting from us when you-"

"He held onto her so loosely she was gone for years."

The veiled priest's sharp tone made Isonei wince. In a more measured tone, he added,

"I am not chiding, my heart."

"You are. Please don't chide them, it was my fault. I promise I won't be gone for so long again."

"You would learn what it sounds like when I chide if you did."

His tone was faintly teasing and he laughed as she put on her meekest, most innocently contrite face.

"I will not object if you stay another day."

"Her father may."

The young Daga beckoned.

"Tell him he should not have kept her from us. She might be less charming if she were less Aran."

Isonei laughed and shook her head moving to take the young Daga's hand.

"I'll come back to sleep close to you again, Iehmarthe. Don't forget that you said you'd come to the party."

"I did not, I said the party could be attempted again."

The priest made a shooing motion.

She tried to imitate Iehmarthe's face when he narrowed his eyes with annoyance, a look she'd gotten to see several times.

"As if it would be a party without you."

"I will consider it."

With a smile, she brushed her fingers over the statue's hands as she left the chamber.

"Aside from my father and yours, I can't think of anyone I've ever adored as much."

"Try to remember that he needs to rest as well."

Before they reached the next statue he stopped and turned to face her.

"He isn't the only one who's needed to speak with you. I wanted to do this with Arissa next to me or with my father, but I feel as if it should be done now."

Taking his hands she looked at him with concern,

"Is something wrong?"

"I should have spoken my name to you before you left."

"There was so much going on-"

Squeezing her hands, he frowned,

"I know the excuses, I told them to myself many times. They don't ring true. To have to ask another Daga to allow me to see you is bitter and shameful. Lothlaerith is a friend and he was willing to do what he could, but I owe him a debt."

When he paused for a long moment looking down at their hands, she squeezed his in return.

"My Daga-"

"Boraethe."

He glanced at her nervously,

"I was taught all of my life never to say it. It's more difficult than you'd think."

"Boraethe is a fine name, my Daga."

His muddy green eyes flickered with brighter shades, clearing as he sucked his lips against his teeth,

"You like his name better."

"Iehmarthe is-"

"No!"

Boraethe began to laugh,

"Not the eldest's name, Lothlaerith's."

Isonei gave him a flat look,

"He also has a lovely name."

"Which is lovelier?"

The Daga's tone was teasing as he led her toward the closest statue.

"Little Raithe refused to believe that men argue over who's prettier. He was so shocked when Draeseth and Burgath did, if he learned that Dagas do it too, he'd probably scold you for it."

"You're avoiding the question."

He grinned broadly.

"Iehmarthe is a prettier name than either."

She made a face at him and he stopped to push her head to the side playfully before straightening to face the statue.

"When daughters are raised here they behave better."

She sucked her lips against her teeth in response and the priest who had been silently following laughed.

"As much as we all wish to spend private time with the daughter of Liadith, it will have to wait. The woman of Mun is asking what would happen if she ventured into the crypts. The Arans are trying to dissuade her but she is a stubborn creature."

"She is and I love her for it."

Isonei smiled wryly.

"You'll come to the party?"

"Of course. I hope this time you will as well."

The unfamiliar voice sounded teasing.

"I will do my very best."

Stepping forward with a warm smile she rose onto her toes to kiss the statue's cheek.

"Why kiss the statue?"

The priest sounded deeply amused.

"You all have such handsome faces!"

Isonei worked her way through the crypts laughing and talking briefly with each of the elder Dagas and kissing each of the statues. By the time she reached Boraethe's father, she felt light and joyful. She pressed her face to his statue and kissed his cheek with a beaming smile.

"Sweet girl, I have never chided you,"

his voice sounded both annoyed and amused,

"but you will come inside and read my name as you should have the first time you were permitted to kiss it or I may have to scold you."

Isonei inclined her head but couldn't manage a contrite expression with the joy bubbling inside her.

"I didn't realize I was meant to."

"As much time as you spent with me, and as often as you kissed my name, I expected you to have noticed it,"

his tone sounded slightly chiding.

Dutifully, she approached and studied the name for a moment glancing at the priest for permission to speak it.

"You may speak my name, sweet girl.

"

"Berdinothe."

Somehow the name felt as if it suited him and speaking it made her feel closer. Isonei bent and kissed the name, pressing her cheek to it.

"You've called me like a second father, and my son like a brother, but it is not enough."

The elder Daga's voice sounded a little sad and she leaned against his sarg.

"You have two mothers, accept me as a father and allow your brother to look after you."

It was true, saying he was like a second father was somehow different than claiming him as one. She took a breath as she considered it. The father's House is the most important and her father had already lost a son.

"House Ernelis will not be lessened,"

the priest reassured her gently.

Bending again, she rested her forehead against his name and murmured,

"Berdinothe... father, I do love you both."

The tingling, electric feeling that shot through her reminded her strongly of the first time she'd kissed the eldest's name.

Boraethe helped her stand and she buried her face in his mantle drawing a deep breath and taking in the sweet smoky smell of Liadith.

°°°°°°°°°°

Isonei smiled warmly as she joined her father and brother, and the Sons of Mun in the Garden. "I didn't mean to make you worry."

"Isonei!" Ximesra clambered from the bench she was lounging on and came to embrace her. "I was starting to think you'd been locked down there."

"Never. I adore the elder Dagas and the crypts feel like home. It's where I've needed to be."

"You need a bath." Ximesra wrinkled her nose, "You smell like smoke or some sort of incense."

"She does not need a bath." Boraethe, Daga Liadith around company, she corrected herself in her thoughts, gestured to the benches. "She's been sneaking up while we're all asleep to bathe."

"I wasn't sneaking!" Isonei made a face at him. "I'm almost certain I'm allowed to poke you, brother."

"I'm almost certain I can endure the scolding after I've poked you back, sister." Noticing the peculiar looks from Lord Eliorith and Ivorith, he raised his hand placatingly, "Father insisted on correcting the mistake he made years ago. She has been claimed not only as a daughter of Liadith but as my father's daughter. It changes nothing in our agreement-"

"It changes a great deal!" Ivorith rose and gave Isonei a look as if she'd slapped their father.

"Sit down, brother. I am still-"

"Which brother?" Ivorith glared and tilted his head.

"I have seven now and you've never had any difficulty with the rest." Isonei moved closer keeping her voice cool and firm. "Sit down, brother. I am still Isonei of House Ernelis, daughter of Liadith. I was raised with two mothers, and now I have two fathers. House Ernelis has not been lessened in this. We add to what we have, we do not give things up."

Ivorith hesitantly took his seat and glanced to Lord Eliorith. "Father?"

"My father said that to me once." Eliorith looked at her with bemusement, "He didn't approve of parting you from your sisters or of cutting ties with your mother's House. 'In this House, we add to what we have, we do not give things up.' He was adamant. There are few times in my life I ignored his advice and I have regretted each of them." He held out his hand and she joined him on the bench. "I will try to understand this, my little love, but I can't pretend that it won't hurt to hear you call someone else 'father.'"

"I may be too old to keep calling you Atha, but that is what you are, father. My Atha." Isonei cuddled close to him on the bench.

Sighing, he held her tightly for a moment, "Have you considered airing out your crypts, Daga Liadith? Breathing so much smoke might make her ill, the smell hangs on her so strongly that it concerns me."

"I will take it under advisement, Lord Eliorith."

Isonei tried not to laugh as Ivorith joined the embrace, snuggling behind her and holding her pressed between the two of them.

"You look uncomfortable, Lady Ximesra." The Daga's voice sounded amused.

"Perhaps I've been around Torgans for too long, but that looks indecent."

Arissa began to laugh and Isonei couldn't hold hers in either. "They aren't indecent, just Aran. My Daga says Isonei and Ivorith still bathe together like children."

"Aran families are very close." Eliorith sounded slightly annoyed and Isonei could feel that he shifted to squeeze her brother's shoulder.

"To be fair, it's been a while since we've cuddled together, father." Isonei teased gently. "I've missed it."

"I'll insist on it more often." He kissed her head and Ivorith laughed softly.

"Ialath and I were always a little jealous. We would come home and find the two of you curled in the room next to your study sipping wine or discussing something that the two of you had done together. We might have been jealous of the room you gave her too, but the ladder she had to climb down to visit with us in the evenings made it less appealing."

Eliorith sighed, "The ladder was meant for emergencies."

"I would've been glad to use the stairs, father, but you always sent me back to bed!" Isonei grinned impishly.

"I should have let you sleep with your sisters. If they'd seen how unbearable you can be in the mornings they'd have sent you back to your room on their own."

"I'm not that bad!" Isonei laughed and held her father more tightly.

"You are!" Ximesra piped up, making Lord Eliorith laugh.

"Antagonize her after she's spoken on our behalf and we go home with the purse, Ximesra," Xagorath teased.

"Two-thirds of the purse," Isonei corrected him, "and I'll see to it you have it even if you antagonize me from here to Ara. You both have done so much for me, money can't come close to paying the debt."

"Hesh-Caeridith declined to claim any of the purse." Ivorith sounded almost smug as he added, "You'd know that if you hadn't been hiding in the smoke-filled crypts."

"I wasn't hiding, dear brother, and it doesn't matter if he wishes to claim it or not, he earned it and I'll see to it he has a reward for it. He can choose to give the money to Xagorath and Ximesra, or to the men who risked their lives to help him, but he will have it to make the decision with." Isonei tried to sound firm but even to her own ears, she sounded deeply annoyed.

"Daga Caeridith will appreciate your insistence," Daga Liadith's amusement was clear in his voice, "I think Daga Gildith will as well."

Isonei took the opportunity to ask, "Is Hesh getting along well with Maraphina?"

"She begged my father to take him home with them for a few days," Arissa giggled. "I think the last of us will finally be matched. I may give them the pages you gave me as their gift."

"I'll see what I can add to it when I come home from Ara." The furious sound Arissa made sent Isonei into giggles as well.

"You'd give her more than you gave me?!"

"I'll write them while I'm here so that you can see them too! And if you'd taken longer to decide I'd have had longer to prepare your gift!"

"Yes, but she would have been having less sex with me," Daga Liadith teased and Arissa made a strangled sound.

"With a few pages more, the sex might even have been good enough to have been worth waiting for," Isonei needled him on the Lerian woman's behalf.

She heard him suck his lips against his teeth, "Is this what having a sister is like?"

"I have three, Daga Liadith, they're merciless," Ivorith snorted a laugh.

"I think she's wonderful, most of the time," Arissa still sounded a little annoyed. "Does she imitate you, Ivorith? She's infuriating when she does it."

Her brother began to laugh, hiding his face in her shoulder. Before he could compose himself their father answered for him, "She's imitated her brothers relentlessly all her life. Her sisters less so. The boys would give her a reaction, chase her or quarrel with her, her sisters would ignore her, she could never stand to be ignored."

"I could never understand how they managed it. Isonei could be so infuriating, she was impossible to ignore." The smile in Ivorith's voice made her feel warm.

"I did my very best! You were all older and I had to find some way of getting your attention."

"I remember how you begged for a younger brother or sister." Eliorith tilted her face to smile at her, "Your mothers told me to send you to the priestesses of Maeralya. You were always interested in the Gods and you would have had many children your own age to socialize with. You would have enjoyed it, but I couldn't bear the thought of my little love only returning on certain holidays."

"I might have enjoyed it for a few weeks, father, but I'd have been miserable away from home. I would have missed you bitterly. When we go home, I want to go walking in the fields with you again."

"I've always loved taking you with me." He gave her a doting smile.

"It always seemed like more of a task when you took Ialath and I," Ivorith poked Isonei's hip.

"It's important for you to pay attention and to understand the labor involved." Eliorith swatted her brother's hand. "Your sister always reminds me that it can be pleasant as well. I try to judge the health and quality of our lavendela while she frolics with the bees, finding the prettiest flowers to show me.

"She tried to climb the trees in the orchard once, when I took her while they were in bloom." He kissed her head, "I made certain the trees had finished blooming before I took her again. Watching my little love scramble up the tree as if she could never fall was terrifying."

"You were there, father, what was there to be afraid of?" Isonei gave him a sweet smile.

Daga Liadith snorted, "You are sickeningly sweet, sister."

"If you have a fearless daughter, Daga Liadith, you'll hear those words differently." Eliorith gave the Daga a wry smile.

"I wished sons on them, but it would be so wonderful if they had a daughter. I could teach her all kinds of things."

"I'll hope for sons." Daga Liadith muttered and then made a startled sound.

"Poking does work nicely, Isonei." Arissa sounded as if she were grinning.

"Have Isonei show you how she makes her mother's pitiful wide-eyed face and you may not be poked back." Eliorith teased. "Her mother could get away with anything."

"I'm looking forward to spending some time with House Neriris, they sound delightful."

"Delightful or infuriating, my little love, there's surprisingly little middle ground."

"An entire House of people like Isonei." Ximesra started to laugh, "Why aren't they ruling Ara?"

"House Neriris has made Arrangements with House Lunedelis more than once, but they usually prefer to remain in the south of Ara." Ivorith pressed his cheek to Isonei's shoulder. "They stay close to home. They don't go wandering off to Torga."

"I won't be going back to Torga! I already promised, father!" Isonei tried to poke him without looking and her father caught her hand.

"Behave yourself when you sit with me, Isonei." He kept hold of her hand, "Speaking of home, I've been feeling much better and I'd like to leave tomorrow."

Isonei felt her heart sink, "I wanted to stay another day at least..."

"Perhaps we can compromise," Daga Liadith suggested carefully, "I'd like Hesh-Caeridith to accompany you and to stay close to Isonei. The thought of a daughter alone outside of Leria is troubling to many of the Dagas, and I believe his presence on this first visit will help to allay their fears."

"How is that a compromise?" Lord Eliorith sounded cool and Isonei knew he was seething.