“With Her Highness,” Gahne sighed, sitting as well, “Do you remember her?”

“Remember?” Shasol asked.

“When I petitioned to adopt Nie into the Wahnera family, and she was still a greater princess, she came to speak to him, Your Grace,” Bahr answered.

“She wished to see if I truly could not remember my past,” Nie added, then sighed, “I have a vague recollection, but ‘tis been so long…”

“You cannot remember your past?” Shasol asked.

“Nothing before I ended up in the Wahnera orchards,” Nie sighed again, touching the small scar on his cheek. While he truly could not recall where he came from or how he had ended up in Rabahn, he just… had a feeling the scar had something to do with it.

“Huh,” the Greater Marquis said, then rose with a stretch, “Well, I suppose I shall leave you all to it—I only came to convey Abby’s happiness at your acceptance. If you do not think you would mind the cuddling, feel free to call at the Nehma Estate after tea, and I know he would be overjoyed to express it himself.”

“I shall… decide after tea,” Nie replied.

Shasol waved a hand as he departed, “Fair enough.”

Since it was still some time before Nie would need to begin preparing for tea with the grand princess, the Wahnera siblings spent a few more hours deciding which invitations they would accept and which they would reject. While they usually would not decline any invitation from much higher-ranked court members, there were too many time conflicts for that rule to apply. While Gahne could prioritize the invitations from high nobility, Nie had too many higher court invitations to do the same.

By the time the royal coach arrived, Nie felt exhausted despite having only looked through invitations and sent notices to the Consortium about his upcoming nuptials. The Guild would have to wait until tomorrow.

Nie was met by an attendant at the entrance of the castle and tried not to let his nerves get the better of him as he was led through the grandiose hallways to a small parlor.

“Your Highness,” Nie said, bowing as he entered.

“Lord Wahnera,” the Grand Princess replied, “You may rise—come, sit with me.”

The human did so, wondering what she wanted to say to him.

She had straight blue roan fur and hair, with seven braids on the right side of her face representing her seven spouses. As she was the primary in their relationship, she had braids on only one side, while her prime spouse would have a single braid on the left and six on the right, and the rest two braids on the left and five on the right. Her eyes were gray, and she regarded Nie with a kindly expression that seemed etched into her aging features as she said, “I heard young Abby caused quite a stir at the debut balls last night.”

“Your Highness is well informed,” Nie replied.

Princess Grahnah waved, and an attendant came forward to pour the tea.

“I recall when we first met, though you may not,” the princess said, “You look much improved from the scrawny, suspicious lad I met sixteen years ago.”

Nie felt his face warm in embarrassment, “Thank you, Your Highness.”

“It seems I made the right decision back then,” Grahnah nodded and accepted her cup from the attendant, “Especially if you would be able to assist me now.”

“I would be honored to do anything in my power for the crown,” Nie replied, accepting his cup as well. He took a moment to smell the contents. He relaxed a little in contentment—peach blossom tea, no doubt in consideration of Wahnera sensibilities.

The princess nodded again, “Ah, but this is not a request I could force upon any of my subjects. I understand you worked as Grand Duke Nehma’s masseur for the past year?”

“Yes, Your Highness,” the human replied. He had no doubt that the princess kept a close eye on all the ducal ranks, at the very least.

“But the debut ball was the first time the pair of you met in your capacity as nobles, yes?” Grahnah continued.

“Yes, Your Highness,” Nie confirmed again.

The princess nodded, then sighed, “I suppose in this case it is best to be blunt—Lord Nie Wahnera, I would like you to convince the grand duke to marry you.”

Nie just stopped himself from choking on his tea, needing to cover his mouth to prevent it.

“I take no offense at your surprise,” Grahnah sighed again, “It is a most odd request, and to a man you no doubt have your own opinions of. Even in private settings, he is hardly one to socialize. But if you were to perform this task for me, the crown would be happy to—”

“Your Highness,” the human interrupted ungraciously, “I have already accepted the Grand Duke’s proposal.”

“As I said, I know this is much to ask, however—” the princess continued, then paused as she realized what he had said. She looked up, blinking in surprise, “Your pardon?”

“I am already betrothed to the Grand Duke,” Nie repeated, “You need not convince me of anything, Your Highness.”

“... Lord Wahnera, it has not been a full day since the balls,” Grahnah said, “And I have it on good authority your prior relationship with the Grand Duke was entirely professional.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” Nie replied, “On both counts. He sent the request this morning, and I… replied immediately.”

The human could tell what question the princess had on her mind. She even started to form the word ‘why’ before clearing her own throat to stop herself. For his part, Nie thought he might faint from all the blood that was rushing to his head.

“Well then,” the princess said at length, “Congratulations to you.”

“Thank you, Your Highness,” Nie replied, sounding too loud and stiff to his ears. He was glad she had not asked; the reasons he had listed to his family certainly felt too shallow to offer to the Grand Princess. And to explain Abuin’s reason for proposing in the first place? Impossible.

“You,” Grahnah stared at her tea for a few moments, then looked up, “You may depart, Lord Wahnera.”

“Good evening, Your Highness,” the human said, setting his tea down to rise and bow, forcing himself to walk out of the room instead of running.

Once the door to the parlor was shut, a surprised attendant escorted Nie back outside. He was sure they were curious about the extremely short audience, but they did not actually question him. Which was just as well since all of the human’s focus was on walking through his embarrassment rather than finding the nearest closet to sit in until everyone forgot about this entire incident.

The attendant left him at the front of the castle, a coach waiting.

“Could you take me to the Nehma Estate?” Nie asked the coachman. He knew Gahne and Bahr would want to know what had happened as soon as he returned to the Wahnera Estate, and was still too embarrassed to relive the short tea with his family. Feeling a little lost, Shasol’s parting invitation to visit his betrothed gave him some direction.

“Of course, my lord,” the coachman replied, seemingly unbothered by the change.

Nie spent the carriage ride with his overheated face in his hands. Honestly, while Abuin’s proposal was absurd, the human had not anticipated the level of investment the higher court would have in it.

When he exited the coach, a Nehma household attendant was at the front gate to greet him.

They bowed, “Lord Wahnera, I believe this is your first time using the front entrance to the estate.”

Nie chuckled nervously, “Yes, it is.”

“Greater Marquis Shasol instructed me to guide you should you arrive,” the attendant rose, “I am Yehmun, one of the senior butlers of the Nehma Estate.”

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Nie replied, following them. The front of their hair was down to frame their face while the back had been pinned up. Any style outside of fully loose and fully up indicated a gender which was not man nor woman in Rabahni tradition, which was how the human knew not to refer to them as either.

“I understand you have accepted Grand Duke Abuin’s proposal,” Yehmun said, voice utterly neutral in tone, “Congratulations, my lord.”

“Thank you,” Nie replied, wondering what they really thought about the situation. While he had met a few of the guards that stood watch at the North Gate, the human had never encountered any other Nehma staff during his time as Abuin’s masseur.

Yehmun led him through the well-appointed halls of the estate, allowing Nie to note a few details. For one, the Nehma staff were all watching him curiously, though that was to be expected. Secondly, most Rabahni noble estates would have curtains hung at intervals and tables and ornamental vases lining the halls as decoration. The Nehma Estate featured neither. However, paintings and wall ornaments were abundant—still lifes and landscapes, mostly.

There was not even a carpet running the length of the halls, and while the wood was well cared for, it was not as highly polished as Nie would expect.

Interesting, the human thought to himself.

Yehmun stopped before a door and knocked before announcing, “Your Grace, Lord Wahnera has arrived.”

“Mn,” came the reply through the door.

“Very good, Your Grace,” the butler replied, stepping away from the door.

Before Nie could question it, Abuin threw the door open. His amber eyes were wide, his tail whipping behind him and ears forward.

Nie flinched, forgetting to greet the man entirely in surprise.

“You said yes,” the grand duke said.

“I did,” Nie replied.

“And you are here,” Abuin added.

“I am,” Nie added, again noticing Yehmun had left when he attempted to look to them for aid.

“... Mn,” the grand duke frowned, growing still, tensing for something.

Nie shifted his weight, “I am… not here to rescind.”

Abuin immediately picked the human up, rumbling happily as he rubbed his cheek against Nie’s face.

Oh, wow, Nie thought, echoing his sister’s sentiment from that morning, Shasol was not joking.

Abuin froze after a moment, holding himself still.

“You aren’t bothering me,” Nie said, recognizing the hesitation.

The grand duke relaxed at once and, without further comment, carried his betrothed back into the room he’d come out of. It appeared to be a study, though Nie noted it was in a bit of disarray.

After the episode with the grand princess, Nie found he was quite content to be silently carried about the room as Abuin worked. By the way the chair for the desk was pushed back against the wall, he guessed the duke usually walked about the room as he read and did figures. The Nehma family was most famous for its textiles, but there were plenty of related industries to oversee.

While it was certainly typical for newly betrothed to spend time in each other’s company after a proposal was accepted, it was usually when the requester stopped at the home of their new betrothed to express joy at their acceptance. As the news spread, close friends and other family members would stop by to congratulate them as an informal event before the official announcement party.

However, with the way the day had gone, Nie far preferred Abuin’s… enthusiastic affection to the prospect of entertaining guests.

Shasol breezed into the study without so much as a knock not a quarter hour later and sighed, “I will admit, I had not expected you to make an appearance, Nie.”

“I am not surprised,” Nie replied.

“How did the meeting with the grand princess go?” the man continued as if it were perfectly natural for Abuin to be carrying his betrothed about the room.

“Mn?” the grand duke said, turning his head to lightly scent the human.

Nie sighed, rubbing at his face, “She had intended to persuade me into convincing His Grace to marry me.”

Shasol started laughing so hard that he collapsed to the floor.

Nie sighed again but could see no fault with the reaction.

“What did… what did you tell her?” Shasol finally asked when he was able to master himself.

“That we were already engaged,” the human replied, “Though I am fortunate she asked no more questions…”

“Mn?” Abuin questioned.

“Well, he could not very well tell the grand princess you proposed just because you find him attractive and he is a noble,” Shasol replied.

Abuin huffed.

“Just because there are worse reasons hardly make your reasons good,” Shasol rolled his eyes.

“Speaking of,” Nie cut in, “I have been wondering—what about me do you find ‘attractive’, exactly?”

“Your scent,” Abuin replied, rubbing his cheek against the human’s face again, “‘Tis very nice, like peach blossoms.”

“Huh,” the human replied, “I can accept that.”

Humans, of course, were built very differently than savbahn. With his smaller stature, two arms, and lack of fur, Nie didn’t exactly fit traditional Rabahni beauty standards. If Abuin had said anything about those physical characteristics, Nie would have doubted him—but attraction to his scent was easy enough to believe. Particularly with the grand duke’s sensibilities.

“And,” Abuin added, “your hands.”

“My hands?” Nie asked skeptically.

“Mn,” the grand duke hummed affirmatively.

“Have you told the Guild about your engagement yet?” Shasol asked, when it became clear Abuin was not going to elaborate, “They won’t consider it a conflict of interest, will they?”

“Considering the proposal came a month after I was dismissed, I doubt it,” Nie replied, “I’ll inform them tomorrow—I thought it best to do so in person.”