Eiren was wandering aimlessly around the garden by the North Eastern grounds, not so far from the forest on the other side of the surrounding gate, when Caelony approached him. He looked up from the ground, where he had been glumly investigating the presence of several flowers, and blinked in surprise. She was wearing a pale pink dress - which appeared to be more suited for the height of summer, and not the start of a very cold autumn - cinched neatly at the waist by a deep burgundy ribbon. Her hair was brushed back in an elegant braid, twisting over her ears, but letting those necessary locks fall down, as they seemed wont to always do.

She stood still and held her breath. Eiren could sense that a response was desired from him, but he, quite frankly, was speechless. So used to her dirty, unkempt appearance was he, that any display of her actual station in society was rather shocking. He stuttered for several awkward seconds, until she saved him the embarrassment by laughing and pulling him by the arm.

"Well, darling, I've gone and done it," she admitted as they began to walk. "I've been horribly coerced into slipping into this disgusting thing. What do you think of it?" She turned her head to peer at him, but all he could do was gape. The expression made her smile. "Come now, you're beginning to make me believe this was a most terrible idea."

"No! N-not at all, my lady," he managed to say, but he knew he wouldn't have convinced anybody in the world.

"You prefer the overalls and the bare feet, then!" She stuck a white and pink shoe out and shook it for a second. "I told Bele just as much, but he was resolute - it's my birthday, and the birthday of a woman soon to be married should be beautiful and magnificent, and not at all boyish."

"Oh, dear," he said weakly. "Is the ceremony going to be a lavish, frilly affair, then?" This caused Caelony to throw her head back and cackle.

"Frilly?" She snorted at the expression on Eiren's face. "It may be a tad more... pretty then I'm used to, but heavens above, darling, it's still my birthday." He shrugged in response and looked down at her dress.

"Is it going to be as... uncovered, as you are now?"

"It will be indoors, silly; No need for coats and furs where there's fire."

They slowed when they approached a series of statues, rose bushes, and several elegantly carved benches. Caelony nudged him onto a bench and they sat quietly. Contemplating the statues, Eiren was struck by the expressions of the characters.

"Are these all the same person?" he asked, leaning over Caelony's shoulder and pointing up at the figure before them. There was something very familiar in the figure's face, the way she pulled her eyes...

"Yes," she replied, voice now devoid of charm and laughter. "Eiren, meet my mother." His gaze whipped back and forth between the living daughter and the statuesque mother. Now that she had pointed out the relationship, the eyes and the cheeks were strikingly similar. Not so much in the way they were shaped, but the expressions they held, how they narrowed them down. Eiren swallowed hard and found himself nervously impressed by the artist's ability to capture something so minute as the way one frowned. Come to think of it, he mused, all of them are frowning.

"Caelony," he said carefully, "why are all of these statues frowning?"

"My mother was a very bad person," she whispered in response, lifting her hands and wriggling her fingers dramatically. "At least, if you ask my father."

"What does Lord Van Wyk have to do with the way she's portrayed here?"

"Ah," she exclaimed, and she clapped excitedly. "You have yet to meet the lunatic who sculpts these! My father needs only tell him the general idea of what he wants, and the drafty-headed man will execute a statue more perfect than anything one could have hoped for." She stood up and posed beside the third statue. The figure next to her was wearing clothes not unlike those Caleony usually wore. Her feet, too, were bare, and her hair was frozen in a flurry behind her. She appeared to be in a permanent state of fear, or fleeing, perhaps. Caelony's light smile did nothing, Eiren thought darkly, to hide the resemblance in their expressions.

"Did this sculptor also construct those hideous things at the entrance?" It occurred to Eiren that, although the statues in question were mere beasts, there was something similar to that of the women here, fleeing forever in terror.

Caelony performed a short curtsy and smiled.

"Well, done, my love! Come, let us discuss the next week, and afterward, I shall show you the great and awful things decreed to remain a permanent fixture of this estate."

As she led him to the front, she chattered on about the birthday ceremony she was to have. Adamant about making this her most memorable one yet - "It shall be the last of my twenties; there is no excuse for paltry, underwhelming decorations or entertainments" - she described her ideas for the day.

"I was going to implore my father to bring in musicians, and play the most wonderous music, especially for those instruments I have not the time to practice, but he seemed almost prepared to deny me." Eiren's gaze followed her far-side hand as it trailed amongst the hedges. He noticed a ring, thin and silvery, that he had not seen before, and he made a note to ask her about this later. To disrupt her pleasant moods was not usually a wonderful idea, as he had seen the priest experience too often.

"How do you mean," he politely replied. She gave him an amused frown.

"Not even my beginning the plea in my most dulcet tones bade him spare more than a moment to give me an elaborate no. And a reason," she added with an exaggerated sigh, "that, while perfectly valid, was far too speedy to make me believe he had any intention of saying naught but no."

"What was the reason? Perhaps it was a blanket one...?"

"You've yet to experience many conversations with him," she countered, tugging his arm gently around a turn. The view opened from a restricted look at the hedges to the wider expanse of the grounds. They were on the now elevated path Eiren had first walked on, and in the temporarily fogless daylight, the beauty of the green grass and the soaring walls of the castle was amplified most majestically. He could just make out the tops of the statues Caelony had introduced to him to earlier, but the subject of their motions was hidden from up here. Not by accident, I'll wager.

"The reason, as I said, was sound: the weather is rather severe this year, and the frost settled in quickly on the roads up here. No musicians, or relatives, or guests shall be making their way to Kelforsdhire this year." She furrowed her brow momentarily. "That is, excepting Severin."

"Severin... I cannot place the name."

"My apologies," Caelony said, inclining her head. "Severin Quilby, the oddball who calls himself sculptor."

"What sort of a name is Severin Quilby?" Eiren had never been terribly fond of his name, or the jests it had inspired in school, but it was nothing short of blessed by the Golden One Himself when compared to the sculptor's. Shrugging, Caelony replied that he was foreign, but where from, she could not say.

"My father found him ages ago, before he met my mother, or his wife before her, or his wife before her. He may even outdate Bele!"

"His wife before your mother?" Eiren felt overwhelmed by the information he remembered, and that which he did not, when it came to the Estate and its inhabitants.

"My mother was the third, silly. Of course, I am his only supposed child," she almost seemed to sneer. Eiren flinched and quickly turned the conversation back to the looming birthday celebrations. He did not want or need Caelony's quick-witted anger troubling the few dreams he had.

"If there will be no additional guests," he said hurriedly, struggling to keep pace with her increased step, "then what are you allowed?"

The tactic worked - she smoothed her face over at once and began illustrating her ideas.

"Naturally, my father requires that I understand the importance of my coming age, and the responsibilities I'm supposed to take on and such, but how terribly droll!" She stopped and looked around. They were now at the front gates.

Locked shut and covered in frost, the gates were a grim reminder to the both of them that they were indeed alone and there would be nobody arriving in the near future for either of them. They unconsciously gripped one another tighter. Caelony lifted her chin to the statues on either side of them and shivered.

"On our left, we have Mytus, and on our right, Logicae." Eiren immediately decided that he disliked these names, though agreeing inwardly that they suited the dogs a great deal. "These were my father's first two hunting dogs. Nasty beasts, but then, he has never been one for the frills you mentioned earlier." They regarded the greyhounds in silence for a moment, before Caelony turned abruptly away.

"There will be a great many sweets," she continued, as they ambled their way around the grounds. "Bele, as useless as he usually is, can be quite adept with a bowl of flour and some chocolate." The idea of the timid, grey priest, surrounded by clumps of dough and tasting sweets, was exceedingly amusing to Eiren, who began to laugh in spite of himself. The sound gave Caelony cause to pause. She smiled warmly and pulled him along.

"Don't laugh, darling, else you shall find yourself sorely wanting with regard to his most excellent cookies! I shall expressly forbid you from trying any, and only the best will be available!" Here, Eiren feigned horror, pressing his hand to his chest and gasping aloud. In high spirits, they made their way back to the castle, passing a disgruntled-looking older man. He followed them with a dark look, and when they were inside, Eiren looked at Caelony in shock.

"Who was that? I thought nobody was allowed in!" Caelony snorted and prised her shoes off, throwing them in the main hall's dresser.

"He's the gardener," she said, standing tall and shrugging. "I'm not sure where he lurks on the estate, but Bele hired him on ages ago." It worried Eiren that somebody could be working on the estate that he didn't know; what if the explanations for his nightly distractions were as simple as staff? A roving maid, or a clumsy servant - anything could be responsible for the terrors that kept him up at night.

"What are the servants going to be doing," he asked her, curious as to the extent of the birthday preparations. She regarded him with a strange expression.

"Servants? We have no servants, silly."

"What are you talking about?" He felt oddly out of place, as though he had completely lost some aspect of time at Kelfordshire. Come to think of it, he mused, have I ever seen anybody? Is the gardener one of many unknown workers, or a lone mystery man?

"Eiren, my love, we have a cook, a gardener, and a priest." She swatted lightly him on the shoulder. "Who told you we had additional help here?" Eiren blushed and shook his head.

"Nobody," he mumbled, and he was embarrassed to show her that he had somehow forgotten something. Even though it had been just over ten years since his last stay, he felt that Caelony had some sort of keen memory, as though the years were more recent than not, and expected him to remember just as well as she. Everything, from her appearances to her attitudes, reminded him so strongly of their last acquaintance, that he was continuously taken aback by how little she appeared to have changed.

Swept up in these ruminations, he allowed her to chatter on about her upcoming birthday uninterrupted. As she spoke of a dance, and the many outfits she would wear throughout the day, he looked shyly at her expressions. She was lively and animated. Although it was clear that there was something she hid, something stern and angry she held on to, the simple pleasures that she took from everyday things, or the act of planning such a large event, warmed her greatly in Eiren's eyes. This slow change in perception of Caelony told him that perhaps, they were not so different as he had firmly clung to. Caelony loved Kelfordshire no more than he, and it was obvious that, although she called the Lord Van Wyk father, she desired no such relation. Was that not also how he felt toward the late Sir Kenton?

"Darling, you're not listening anymore." He blinked and bowed his head.

"My apologies, my lady," he said, reddening slightly. She looked up at the stairs they had found themselves under and she smiled mischievously.

"You haven't much to do, yes?" The question made Eiren nervous - nothing that accompanied that smile ever meant anything morally sound was going to follow.

"No, my lady... Listening to you play, or contemplating your various hobbies are the highlights of my activities." At this, Caelony brightened, her light dress moving with her as she jumped.

"Worry as you do about the actions of others," she began, grasping his hand and pulling him up the stairs, "you would love most to know about our venerable Lord, would you not?" They stared down the Western hallway, looking in awe and fear at the dark, silent walls. The severe presence of Lord Van Wyk seemed to possess the area, as though he was always inhabiting the wing.

"I suppose you are right," he replied slowly, wondering briefly what it would be like to exude the sort of easy, powerful confidence that Lord Van Wyk did. No fear, no hesitation. Always in utmost control of the emotions. The idea thrilled Eiren and made his heart flutter. "What are you proposing?"

"He'll be out for the weekend," came the quick reply. Caelony looked him full in the face and gave him her most devious grin. "Go, explore those chambers which you envy so much! You've nothing to do while the rest of us plot and prepare. Make some use of your time."

"What are you suggesting?" If he was reading her idea right, was Caelony suggesting... that he sneak into the quarters of... Lord Van Wyk himself?

"Don't play the fool, my love," she replied, and she looked down the stairs. "I'll show you some of those hobbies you're so curious about, but you must show me that you can be trusted with the knowledge." She winked and began to depart, looking up at him as she floated down the stairs. "Find a letter, if you need encouragement, and we shall see how our Lord bestows his kind words upon others."

And with that, Caelony was gone, off to finish her birthday preparations in the kitchens. The promise of learning about her peculiar hobbies struck a fire in his chest. Was her birthday the beginning of something new between them? Had that old war between them finally dissolved?

Eiren held on to the image of her in the light, pink dress and smiled in a way most unfamiliar, before walking into the dark hall.