The three rode in the Wahnera coach together – Nie thinking that perhaps for the next event he should bring his own companion. It was always allowed – Rabahni were a very social culture, so it was poor form to expect someone to attend an event without the ability to have a close friend with them.
It couldn’t be Dahm, Nie thought to himself as they road along, He’d either be swarmed by fans, which he hates, or reminded too much of his husband.
As much as the RMAC teased the opera singer about his fans, in reality, he did not like to be inundated with many people’s admiration by surprise. Especially when he was doing something else.
Sohne would be a fine choice, Nie considered, And I’m sure as an earl she’s been to upper court functions before. Derha might be too nervous, and Hahmra would definitely be so. Vehra, perhaps, if her spouses can spare her…
It would be frowned upon to bring a non-aristocratic companion, but Nie thought he could likely get away with it.
When they arrived at the Wahlem Estate, they were escorted inside by a smartly dressed butler and shown to a richly appointed dining hall.
“Lord Nie and Lady Gahne Wahnera, and companion Lady Fahn Mehuin,” the butler announced, bowing before he stepped aside.
The introduction was scarcely finished before Nie found himself greeted by his betrothed – the mahlem again soon followed by an arm around his waist and, “I was right about red.”
Nie’s face was on fire, and he could hear his sister and Fahn giggling as he replied, “You could have started with hello…”
“Mn,” was Abuin’s enigmatic response.
It was Duke Hahsen that gently cleared his throat as he approached a few steps behind, “Welcome, thank you all for accepting my invitation – and congratulations on the engagement.”
Nie forced himself to reply, “Thank you, your grace.”
“Thank you for inviting me, your grace,” Gahne curtsied.
“And thank you for having me, your grace,” Fahn curtsied as well.
“Hahsen, please,” the Duke replied, waving toward the long dining table, “For I believe we shall all be fast friends.”
More have decided, I surmise, Nie thought, but not unkindly – for they wished to use the Duke’s influence as much as he intended to use theirs, and it was a tame enough intervention.
Nie was, naturally, seated next to Abuin – Shasol on the Grand Duke’s other side. Gahne was Nie’s second seat partner, and a place was set for Fahn next to her. Most Rabahni tables were crafted to be expandable for just such occurrences. In this case, however, the extra spot was expected. The thirteen other attendees were introduced – though there was only one Nie had met previously.
“I wasn’t sure I’d heard right,” Earl Erlahm Sohmre grinned, “When they said the Nehma lad had proposed to the Wahnera boy.”
“You could have just asked me, Uncle,” the younger noble beside him said.
Erlahm waved them off, “What do you know, eh? You’re still too scared to approach the estate despite the boy not having a single duel after.”
“After what?” Shasol asked, looking between Nie and the Earl.
For his part, Nie quickly found his glass of pre-dinner wine to sip. Apparently, Wahnera peach wine was going to experience a nice bit of popularity.
His sister gave him a very unimpressed look.
“You don’t know?” Erlahm snickered, scratching at his cheek – the one under the eye socket with a golden prosthetic featuring the Sohmre grape flower vine with polished white stones for the buds.
Gahne sighed, “Nie’s the one that took out the Earl’s eye in a duel.”
Nie could feel all the eyes in the room on him, which was why he was studiously focusing on his wine glass.
“But that…” Hahsen took the seat next to his wife, figures in his eyes before he said, “You hadn’t reached majority yet, had you, Nie?”
“Boy was sixteen,” Erlahm laughed, “And look at him – embarrassed by a win against a rude old bastard like me, ha!”
Nie rubbed his forehead, “It was an overreaction.”
“It was a duel,” Erlahm returned, with a thump against the table, “Against someone more than twice your size with years more experience.”
“Oh, please do leave off, Uncle,” the younger Sohmre – Yoin, that was their name – sighed. They turned to Nie, “I am sorry, Lord Wahnera.”
“I believe you implied you couldn’t duel, Nie,” Shasol asked.
“I believe I implied I didn’t duel and allowed you to draw your own conclusions,” Nie returned, then sighed, “It’s alright, Lord Sohmre.”
“Mn,” Abuin said thoughtfully.
“My,” Hahsen’s wife, Rahmehn, said, “What an… exciting start to this little get-together. But - let us begin the first course, yes?”
The table settled into quiet chatter as a first course of soup was served, conversation opening up again once all bowls had been placed.
“I had wondered, Lord Wahnera,” Rahmehn asked, not taking the same liberty of his first name as her husband, “How you came to be adopted into your house? If you don’t mind my curiosity.”
“Not at all, Lady Wehmra. My grandfather found me in the orchards of the country estate,” Nie replied, finding the soup pleasantly warm, “It was the year after the tragic deaths of his son, son-in-law, and grandson – I suppose an orphaned boy with no memory in need of a family and a family with a few holes seemed like a natural fit.”
“That’s how grandfather puts it,” Gahne nodded, “Not that Nie replaces anyone, but apparently, I was glued to his side as a child and started calling him brother long before it was official.”
“No memory?” Hahsen asked.
“Yes,” Nie said, “I don’t recall anything about my life before ending up in the Wahnera orchards – I’ve little desire to, either, to be honest. I’m happy with my life as it is.”
“Especially now that you’ve fallen in love, I’m sure,” another guest, a Lady Ohmuin, said wistfully.
The elder Earl Sohmre scoffed loudly.
“It couldn’t possibly decrease my happiness, to be sure,” Nie smiled, though he was out of practice with the court.
“Mn,” Abuin said, a finger tapping against the Nehma hairpiece.
He couldn’t possibly be that attracted to me, Nie thought at the reminder – then considered the way the Grand Duke had greeted him and added to himself, It’s just my scent and hands, not me.
Nie had never been the object of such attentions before – it was the rare savbahn that was attracted to humans in general, and his rank was far too low to overcome that barrier amongst his fellow aristocrats. Perhaps there were those who had found him pleasing to look at in the past, but if so, they had not shown it as openly as his betrothed. Which left Nie a bit lost about how to respond to his… attention.
“Love at first sight,” Rahmehn said, but with just the right edge of benign insincerity, “It is terribly romantic.”
“Like Pahlehn and Imehln,” Hahsen agreed, referencing a popular Rabahni opera.
“Nie is in the same club as the prime man of the Greater Remeh Opera House,” Shasol said, likely due to the connection.
“You know Dahm Veshal?” Lady Ohmuin asked, tail wagging behind her.
“Yes, Dahm and I are friends,” Nie replied, glad for a topic that was not about how deeply in love he and Abuin must be.
Ohmuin gave out a little howl and quickly covered her mouth, “Oh, do excuse me – he is simply… he is rather handsome, and his voice! You’d think he was a Merlohn!”
She was, of course, referencing the ruling family of the Eastern Principality, related to Wusahl, the Rabahni Goddess of Art and Music.
“Oh, I wasn’t aware he was in a club,” Lord Farehn, Ohmuin’s seat partner, added – his tail wagging as well, “Tell us, Lord Wahnera, what does he smell like?”
It was a common question, by Rabahni standards – as savbahn had heightened senses of smell compared to humans.
“Nie wouldn’t know; humans don’t have a sense of smell like savbahn,” Gahne intervened for him, “But honestly, he usually smells like perfume and fur paint. Being an opera singer and all.”
“And he’s quite aware of his looks, Lady Ohmuin,” Nie chuckled, “They are part of why he gets those leading roles, after all.”
“A little too aware, sometimes,” Gahne snorted.
“Oh, is he vain?” Farehn asked, “I’ve heard all the best opera singers are.”
“But is he mean about it?” Ohmuin fretted, “It’s one thing to be vain, but-”
“I wouldn’t say Dahm is vain,” Nie replied – but to his sister.
“No,” she agreed with a sigh, “And certainly not when he’s in the club – but he was a terrible flirt when he first joined, you must admit.”
“I suppose,” Nie agreed.
“Didn’t he flirt with you as well?” Fahn asked.
“If he did, I don’t recall,” Nie replied, “But if he was doing so with everyone, I doubt I would have noticed at the time, either.”
“Oh, he must be terribly good at it,” Ohmuin sighed, “Knowing all those lines from his shows, I mean.”
“What club are you in, Nie?” Hahsen asked, likely determined to steer the conversation back to the upcoming nuptials.
“The Rabahni Miniature Aquatics Consortium,” Nie replied, dreading the possible influx of new applicants, “Currently headed by Marquis Wesahn.”
“Miniature Aquatics?” a Lord Mesoin inquired – Nie was almost certain the Earl and his nepesse were the only lower court member beyond his own party but did not recall everyone’s exact ranks.
“A club run by that fool?” Erlahm scoffed, “No wonder no one’s heard of it.”
“My cousin has their merits,” Shasol said with a sharp grin.
“Like finding more capable wives, yes,” Erlahm returned.
“Uncle, please,” Yoin said.
“What of it, child?” Erlahm shook his head, “I complimented the one he shares blood with, didn’t I? He can’t find fault enough for insult in that, surely.”
“What does the… Consortium do, Lord Wahnera?” Rahmehn said, a deft host indeed.
Shasol grumbled but sighed to let it be – his ears flat in displeasure. Though Nie supposed flat was a misnomer – while they were back and a bit out, as the word usually applied, he had longer ears that hung down the side of his head compared to Abuin’s upright prick ears. The savbahn members of the Wahnera family had ears that tended to fold over at the tips, and Fahn even had rounded ears.
“We create miniature ponds inside of pots for ornamental fish,” Nie replied, honestly happy to have heard the valet speak up for Derha. Their president was a nervous person, to be sure, which was why they preferred the company of the lower court. As the lowest rank of the higher court, their peers could be fairly unkind about their nerves.
Erlahm was an ass to everyone, however, and so Nie did not count him in this category. Especially as Derha outranked him.
Lord Mesoin scoffed, “Ponds? In pots?”
“I’m sure Lord Veshal makes wonderful ponds,” Ohmuin sighed.
“They’re nice,” Abuin said, “I liked the ones Nie made.”
Nie was not at all surprised at the way the table fell silent at the Grand Duke gracing them with a full sentence.
It was Gahne snorting, prompting Fahn to do the same, and both young ladies attempting to stifle their amusement that broke the silence.
“Well, of course,” Hahsen said, clearing his throat with a smile, “Betrothed should take a keen interest in each others’ hobbies.”
Nie covered his burning face with a hand, How does such a benign sentiment sound so embarrassing from him?
“Huh,” Erlahm stated, “Perhaps there is an infatuation, after all…”
“What else would there be, Uncle?” Yoin asked in exasperation.
“Blackmail, perhaps?” their uncle replied.
“You will not goad me so easily, Earl Sohmre,” Nie said, mastering himself to meet the older man’s eyes.
He barked a laugh, “No, I suspect I won’t! But this one will get better practice in as my handler, certainly.”
“I suppose your daughter has been wed then?” Nie replied.
“You remembered, eh?” Erlahm nodded, “Then, she did make such a racket about the damned eye… I’ve talked her round, you know.”
“She sent a letter,” Nie replied.
“I’m sure, I’m sure,” the Earl agreed, “But yes, she’s this pair’s third, why they’re putting up with me tonight.”
“Vesah is my prime spouse,” Hahsen explained, “We’re expecting our first children within the month, and she wasn’t feeling well enough to attend.”
“Ah, congratulations… Hahsen and Lady Wehmra,” Nie said, raising his glass.
“If I may take the liberty as well,” Rahmehn nodded, “First names are fine, and thank you, we’re all very excited to greet the little ones.”
Nie nodded, and the rest of the table raised their glasses in toast. Savbahn tended towards twins and triplets at birth, so multiple children were always anticipated. Abuin was a bit of a rarity as an only child. Gahne’s lost brother, too, had been her twin – Bahr’s other child passing from illness when young, which was why he specifically had stayed behind when Gahne was ill at that time.
The Wahnera Misfortune, Nie thought, ruminating a bit as the conversation turned to talk of the upcoming birth.
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