We were at Nieburn at the time to celebrate Ariane’s birthday, which came the following day. Rafael had offered her a small celebration at court, but Ariane declined this for the warm and friendly surroundings of our family home. It was much better to spend a personal holiday in the presence of loved ones than amongst detractors and back-stabbers.
By the time of that conversation everyone had appeared at Nieburn who intended to appear: the siblings, children, nephews and nieces and many of the in-laws of the honored. No one among the guests had never attended a court at the Appero, as Ariane only trusted her long-time friends to present an enjoyable celebration.
Davidt had ordered four live swans to be brought to the house, where they would be killed and served for the dinner. However, Ariane had learned of this some time before, and heroically pardoned the graceful creatures and released them into the river that afternoon. In their stead, Ferand delivered a pair of ducks and a great goose. We took this great meal six hours after noon, filling our bellies with the meat as well as cheeses and baked fruits such as apples—a rarity in Allonia, but we now had easy access to them, as they grew throughout Lylya and the Kingdom.
When we had had all we could eat, Davidt produced six bottles of Luvian wine, which was Ariane’s favorite. “Oh, brother, you have thought so deeply and delicately about this meal,” she proclaimed. “This birthday is hardly a milestone, yet you have made this seem the most important day in all the year!”
Davidt clapped his hands and smiled. “We have had a few good years and prosperity has overtaken our family. If I have plenty there be no reason why I should not share it with the people I love and use it to honor them.” Then, as the servants poured each of the adults a few drops of wine, Davidt raised his glass and cried, “to my sister, Ariane, and her husband, Grand Chamberlain Ferand!”
We all repeated this cheer and then downed what was in our glass. This was a traditional Allonian toast: everyone above the age of sixteen and in good health was served a sip of wine and expected to drink it to honor the guest. After that, consumption was entirely optional and only elected by the bravest among us. This, however, was Ariane’s day, and as she enjoyed wine more than anyone else I knew, we were all pleased to join her as she partook in this luxury.
“It is so rich!” Ariane cried. “Davidt, had you tasted this before you ordered it? How did you know how much I might love it?”
Indeed, this might have been the most delicious wine I had ever tasted. It was sweet but powerful and bold, ushering me into a world of dramatic, almost aggressive contentment. This wine was bent on taking control of its host and forcing a good time upon him, and I knew few men might be able to resist it once the first drop had danced upon his tongue. Indeed, of the fourteen adults who had been poured a toast, nine of us requested a full glass.
The laughs continued late into the night. I had begun to feel the effect of the liquid as soon as I finished my first glass, but I threw aside my usual caution and commanded another. “I am sorry Nathia has needed to miss our celebration this night,” Ariane called out to me, “but I do not think she shall wish you to ail as she does the morrow morning!” She winked and made a nod toward the wine that brimmed within my glass.
“How ail?” Did she make a pun on ale? Either the drink had caused her to jest without sense or else it had prevented me from comprehending her point. Then it hit me. “Oh, yes, she ails.” I smiled sheepishly. “Indeed she does, and so shall I might, but blessed are we that we do not have to see one another when we awake!” I attempted this recovery and Ariane and a few others laughed heartily, although I know not whether they accepted my cover or if they merely chuckled out of politeness.
I had forgotten until just then of a little lie I had told about Nathia. Just before I left court the previous day, Nathia had suddenly taken to her bed, claiming that an illness had made her faint of head and stomach. I saw no physical signs of this illness, but my wife was a generous actor, reinforcing her claim with fits of tears and various occasions of retching her stomach, despite producing nothing therefrom. Between these, she explained to me that she would have to skip the festivities.
There was little doubt in my mind that Nathia had invented her illness entirely, either to avoid making nice with my youngest sister or to avoid having a glass placed before her that she would not drink. For this reason I did not even for a moment consider staying by her side, and I perhaps even cherished the idea of attending a family function without her uptight eyes upon us. So I brought her a jug of water and told a servant to attend her with special care, and then slipped quietly out of the room and away from the palace.
My sister Kate decided to tease me further about this little escape. “Yes, perhaps you are blessed not to awake at her side, but how joyous can she be as she gives up her bread while you are here celebrating?”
“Oh, Kate!” Ariane retorted. “Do not say such vile things!”
“Thank you, Ariane, for rushing to my defense,” I told her as I took a great swig from my glass.
“No, defense of you nothing! It is vile what she said about the bread but entirely appropriate what she said of you! Imagine her in bed weeping while you are here drinking!”
All of the attention had now turned toward us, and we all had a good laugh. At that moment I realized what I had tried to deny to myself before, that Nathia would surely be sore with me for my having abandoned her. “My brothers and sisters, we have all spent many years together. You all know my wife and thus very well known why I am here while she is there.”
At this they roared with approval. “Is it her ability to will herself ill as she drops her hat?” Alix asked.
“Nay, I believe Andrew says how well he likes to be away from her,” Kate responded.
“My sisters, you must know you are both correct in interpreting my claims, but that neither is appropriate for me to say!”
“But come, brother,” Davidt called from across the table. “What does appropriate matter when you are around us, your family?”
“Indeed,” I told him. “If there is any family to act inappropriate around it is this family!”
We all laughed much more, and the whole house seemed to echo with the sounds of our joy. We enjoyed ourselves well into the night, disrupting the sleep of our children and servants, forgetting the troubles that Ariane and Ferand had recounted to me the day before. I wish this sort of merriment could have lasted eternally, but two realities were determined to crash down upon the happy night we built. The first was the following morning, when we all found ourselves feeling weak and a bit nauseous from the wine and the lack of sleep. The second was that we had to return to court, where we all had to face our critics and I had to face my wife.
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