An Answer

Heron was surprised to have gotten another letter from Kur. And delighted by what he read in the letter. It rambled on about how Tira's brother had gotten married, for which Kur was obviously excited.

Then it went on, and this was the part that Heron found delightful, to confess and inform that Kur himself would be getting married to Tira. Heron wasn't too surprised that it was eventually happening, though he was glad that Kur had managed to speak on the subject.

Kur had invited both him and Elswyth to the wedding, so Heron wrote a reply saying they would plan on coming. Kur's wedding wasn't for a while though. Heron looked forward to it. He wanted to see his friend again.

After deliberating for a while, Heron also mentioned that Elswyth and himself were probably going to end up in a relationship. Though he had yet to give a response to her feelings, Heron was quite aware that he was not going to turn her down. He just needed some time.

He sent the letter and standing up he went to go talk to Elswyth. He found her out in the gardens, which were not all that lush or bountiful especially when compared to her native lands. But the climate of the two countries were quite different. She was stroking her hawk's head, but smiled when she saw him.

His cheeks reddened a bit, and he glanced away. He really wished he could keep from getting so embarrassed. But whenever he met her eyes, he remembered that this woman had designs on him and couldn't help but be somewhat embarrassed. Not that he was upset or anything. Just embarrassed.

She grinned as she noticed his red cheeks, but refrained from teasing him. Well, mostly. She did step closer and brush her fingers through his hair. He allowed it, not wanting to draw more attention to his embarrassment. Besides… he did like the attention.

He took a deep breath to calm himself down. "Kur sent a letter. He's going to be married soon."

"Oh. Good. I wondered how long it would take him."

"He was pretty obvious huh?" Heron said with a slight laugh.

"Mmhm." She continued stroking his hair with a soft smile on her face.

"I told him we would plan on going. It will be in late Havisar next year."

"You told him we would both go?" She said, a teasing lilt to her voice, "As in, you and I will be going together?"

Heron's cheeks flushed, but he looked her in the eye. "Why not? I'll be a full adult by then."

She was taken aback but a pleased smile spread over her face. "I really look forward to when you're of legal marriage age."

"…Me too." Heron murmured, then sighed. "When I am…let's get married pretty quickly."

She was silent. He was pretty sure he had caught her off guard. But then she laughed and hugged him about his neck. "I'd be quite happy to. We could even get married before Kur and Tira do."

"It would be better to wait until after then, I think. But we could be already engaged by then."

"Oh? Would you be giving me a more proper proposal at some point?" She still had a teasing note to her voice.

"Yeah." Heron nodded. "This…was more of an acceptance of your feelings towards me. But I'll properly propose at a later date."

When Heron walked away, heading back up to his study, he found himself wondering what came over to him to so suddenly speak on this matter. Not that he regretted it. It did have to be done at some point.