@montclair / plotted starter (canon).
No doubt he will detect the lingering scent of blackberries and plums long before he sees her; he is ever aware of his surroundings, ever aware of her, and that is exactly as she prefers it. Still, she waits patiently in the library, a book she isn't actually bothering to read held in her hands, a cup of tea she isn't bothering to drink sitting beside her, straining to hear any hint of his arrival. Long minutes pass; the tea grows cold; she is still, all the same, and then she hears the faintest hint of his voice and she forgets her book, forgets her tea. She stands at once, eyes trained on the door, the corners of her mouth tugging upwards and into a near-blissful smile at the mere promise of reunion.
Her feet move of their own accord—not that she would try and stop herself from meeting him. She can hear the moment he realizes that she's home; he reaches the top of the stairs by the time she does, and at once, Astoria throws herself into her husband's grasp, her legs around his waist and her hands at his neck, tipping his face up to meet hers so she can kiss him in greeting. Vaguely, she is aware that Philippe and Ysabeau are both near, but she ignores them, caught up as she is in being so close to Baldwin again.
Three weeks separated and it feels like a lifetime. She spent more time than she cares to count washing the blood out from her hair, scrubbing it from under her fingernails, at his father's command. (Matthew is the family's assassin, she already knows—but Philippe knows she is loyal to Baldwin before the de Clermonts, knows that there may come a day that Baldwin cannot rely on his brother the way he can rely on her. He will not leave his eldest surviving son with a useless left hand. She can't blame him for teseting her.) Even so, every minute separated fades, and when Astoria withdraws from him, hands moving to cup his face lovingly, thumbs brushing against his cheekbones, she's smiling so widely it almost hurts.
"Hello, husband." The word tastes sweet on her tongue. "I missed you."