a bloodline, a lifeline {TAG; Bree}
Bree chuckled, her warm grin accepting of his reluctance without question. If he ever chose to wed, she’d much rather him do it on his own terms, for his own reasons. “No, we’re in no need of political matchmaking … have you been worried I would do that to you?” she wondered aloud, placing a reassuring hand on his lower arm. “Please know I have absolutely no intention of that. For any of you.” An advantage of their non-hereditary power structure was that bloodlines were largely irrelevant.
“So you see,” she ventured closer to the point, “I can’t stay on the Isle much longer. I’ll be able to visit, much as Asger comes to visit Astrid from time to time, but I must begin to spend most of my time with the clan I fought to lead. I plan to name someone else as leader of Raven’s Edge,” the chieftain explained, meeting her son’s wary gaze before laughing softly to herself and shaking her head. “No matter how hard I tried, though, I couldn’t get comfortable with the idea of placing anyone in a position of power over you and your brother. Not even my most trusted.”
With a shrug of her full body, she sighed. “Elof, I never wanted to impose anything like this upon you if you did not want it,” much like a marriage, she considered. “And I never thought I would have occasion. But here we are. And for my own peace of mind, I can think of no one I’d rather entrust with the leadership of this settlement than you, my son … if you’re not opposed.”
“No,” Elof’s counter was swift; his eyes averted and cheeks a bit redder than before. It was not in his nature to be chagrined, but his joke had spectacularly backfired. He hadn’t meant to even lay the concept of an arranged marriage on the table--he hadn’t even thought twice about it before. Well. He had. He’d wondered. He’d--this was not the main point of focus right now. “Thank you,” Elof added, inclining his head slightly with a solemn little half-smile. His hand lifted to rest over the one Bree laid on his arm. Blue eyes matched a lighter; fiercer shade with the quiet relief of a stream undammed. “Your wisdom precedes you,” he teased, deep voice mellow and quiet. “And in all honesty--I would pay a pretty ruby to see you try to match Astrid off,” Elof added as a final note, his eyes crinkling with laughter lines.
The smile faded as Bree hedged further on; his focus returning to the matter at hand--the one his mother was getting to. Nerves prickled under his skin; the old scars of anxieties stirred up by dark and solitary thoughts. Changes were difficult, and they came at a cost, more oft than not--the last enormous change being that, of course, of an entire shift in time and space that rendered him lost for quite some time. His hands tightened, moving behind his back, as Elof regained his internal control by straightening upright and giving Bree the entirety of his direct and militant attention. It made sense, he supposed--she wasn’t as young as she could’ve been [a thought that made his heart sink and he sought to ignore--she was far too strong to worry over, and she wouldn’t welcome such concern anyway]. She had responsibilities; duties--as clanswoman and mother alike. The latter less these days; more a fond family tie than obligation. Elof cleared his throat; already prepped and preened for such a conversation. “I’m certain whatever decision you make, mor, Lir and I will respect--oh.”
Derailed entirely by the unexpected answer, Elof’s automated [re: parroted] response faltered. His dark eyes, usually squinted in concentration, widened ever so slightly. His mouth remained open in mid-syllable shock, a comical silence falling on the typically well-put-together warrior who could recover from any misstep and manage to parry any thrust.
“...Me?” Elof said at last, once a jaw rusted in surprise had been oiled by some impulse of Id, “I don’t--what.” It wasn’t the most eloquent restart, but he made a valiant effort to look both incredulous, excited, and stunned all at the same time.
It wasn’t much of an effort; actually, as he was, coincidentally, all of those things at once.
