There were surprisingly few errands to run, with a wedding a few days away and I had time to hang out at the lounge for a while. There was a small stack of mail, including, finally, the gossip magazine I’d applied to have advertisements run in.
The cover certainly wasn’t threatening, it seemed to be a lot more about plate-kinis than pregnant Sin’dorei, as Nemeore had suggested. I flipped to the table of contents.
How practical are they? Is it just for show? Editor-in-chief Sloane Duskwither on what should be covered and what isn’t.
Who is having a flighty lord’s bastard? Which ‘pillar’ of the Spire is consorting with her own retainer? We have the answers straight from the horse’s mouth about what these naught nobles have been up to.
I paused there, eyeing the rest of the page suspiciously. A best-dressed section, sights of Azeroth, and an advice column. It can’t be all that bad…
I skipped to the ad page though first, hoping my art translated well to a more mass-produced medium like the magazine.
It was pretty pleasing and I laughed aloud at the personal ad for Riedra. There is no way she put that in there herself. …Right?
The plate-kini article was silly, snobby bitches being interviewed on the Row about their fanciful, revealing armor and getting snippy about it. No big surprise. Some of the armor shown was quite pretty and there was one set even that partially reminded me of Pyriane Menethren. Just, less classy.
Finally, I sat down and flipped open to the feature on Naughty Nobles.
It seems that recently the rules in noble society has become more lax. These apparent pillars of the community are becoming addicted to various substances (always questionable), taking in vassals that are known murderers, marrying commoners and even, having bastards. So, how is it that they are getting away with things that, in Kael’thas’ reign, would have lost you your titles. Many look to The Regent Lord and his carefree attitude on politics.
But that didn’t stop us from looking further into these naughty nobles. We received a tip off from an anonymous source that business entrepreneur and vassal of House Sunborne, Chazsmyre Duskewind, who was to wed Lord Braeden Sunstorm, is carrying the Lord’s bastard! Now, this is not an uncommon practice, but it seems that Lord Sunstorm disappeared without a trace on the couple’s wedding night– leaving his wife-to-be and alleged unborn child!
"What?! Who even wrote this? He did not leave! I-…" I sputtered a bit, realizing I was shouting aloud to no one. Tch, leave it to a gossip magazine to get it all totally wrong. I left first, and called off the wedding!
Shaking my head, I read on, apparently hungry for more outrage.
Scandalous indeed. As if enough doesn’t taint the name of House Sunborne, we learned also that vassal Riedra whose upcoming twins were also children of a disappearing Lord, are apparently not the departed Lord’s seed. It was over heard by another source that a Blood Knight named Mourne, boasted that the children could very possibly look like him, suggesting they were in fact, his. It was similarly considered that the Sunstorm bastard could also be another man’s child, how ever, no name was given as to whose.
I gasped and put the page down. The talk about Riedra was one thing, her silly shenanigans, like her joke to ward off some sleezeball about being pregnant, from Braeden, invited that sort of talk. It was hurtful though, reading that last line.
Seedling wasn’t a bastard, wouldn’t be one. That was settled and fine. But, are there still people who talk about Any? Apparently not by name, since none is given, but someone had to have mentioned it.
Those arguments. My idea to pretend, to lie, and say the baby was Any’s. Because for a while, I wanted it to be, I wished it was. I knew he wanted a baby, in spite of how he acted in front of people, it was all he really wanted. That’s what separated him from Keleros. Anynduil wanted a family, wanted to be happy. He cared about people, about me. Maybe, even for a moment, about us, Seedling and I.
I skimmed the rest of the article, garbage about Sairalis Runeweaver and the Ebon Knight that accompanied her, Felano Glacierwind. Then it went on to take another stab at our banner with Divinist Suntouched and Andy.
When such canoodling goes on, often a little heir comes to light and when the baby in question isn’t a bastard, well sometimes it calls for a shot-gun wedding. A well known Knight-Master and physician to Nobles, Andy Suntouched, has eloped with her long-time sweetheart, bringing speculation that she herself is expecting and rushed into these nuptials to legitimize the claim.
Not SO bad if you ask me. At least, unlike previously mentioned nobles, the couple has managed to do what was needed to bring a child into a wholesome family. But alas, the plot continuously thickens around the nobles of Silvermoon!
That was absolutely enough. I flung the magazine onto one of the tables and stalked back to the bar to sift through the rest of the mail.
"…managed to do what was needed to bring a child into a wholesome family… She’s not even pregnant! She already HAS a kid! Wholesome fucking family, I’ll show them a fucking.. Ugh!"
I scooped up the magazine, before anyone else could see it, along with the rest of the mail and headed out the door. That’s when I saw it.
The small pallet of about a dozen copies of the magazine, tied with twine and set near the front door, as they wouldn’t have fit in the mailbox. I ordered them when I put in the ad, two-way business support, plus, something to lay around on the tables for people to read if they needed something else to focus on while getting work done, or for bored “moral support” friends who came along.
Resisting the urge to kick the small pile of glossy paper, I bent down as far as Seedling would allow, to scoop them up as well. “I’m sure I can find a place for these, where other people won’t read them. Like the fireplace…”
