Happy Birthday

Writers: AL, Suzee
Date Posted: 12th April 2011

Characters: Zathris, Benani
Description: A private birthday party for the Lord Holder.
Location: Amber Hills Hold
Date: month 1, day 16 of Turn 6

Zathris

Benani

Benani was actually a little bit nervous. She wasn't preparing a large
party for Zathris' birthday. At least not like he'd done for hers. But
she had something small and special ready. They had pulled together a
wedding for the Steward and his bride even though she still had
severe reservations about the match. After the drama surrounding that
she didn't think he wanted to go through another major event so soon
after the the Turns End celebrations.

So she had organized a small acknowledgement on the steps of the hold
sending small baskets out to the cots and workers in the crafts and
fields. No one had been forgotten in honor of the Lord's birthday.
Many had gathered to offer their congratulations and thanks.

She didn't think that tonight her husband would want to be on display
for the entire hold. So, she had gone to the kitchens to arrange is
favorite meal. Zelanka had made sure they would have a special cake
and the baker had gone all out. There were decorations with the last
berries of autumn.

Now, here she was with it all prepared and waiting. A pair of harpers
sat behind a screen in the corner play gitar and harp giving them a
lovely atmosphere.

"Make sure that gets taken care of." Zathris grumbled as he spoke
with Taenifer, one of his Assistant Stewards through the Hold. The
last few days had been insane and certainly not pleasant. Benani's
mood had been shifting like the stars but nowhere as near as
predictable. His own mood had a blackened spot recently and he wasn't
recovered yet from the mess of recent events. At least he had the
Holders placated. For now.

"Of course, my Lord." Taenifer bowed low and then scrambled off to do
Zathris' bidding. While Zathris didn't regret giving his Steward some
time off to deal with...his new marriage...he would be glad when
Wirnan was back at work. The man was efficient, good at what he did,
and made things so much easier.

The Lord of Amber Hills turned the corner and continued on his way.
Benani said she'd wanted to see him so he didn't dawdle. He just
hoped she was in a better mood. They both needed a break from all
this misery. The doors to their quarters were well familiar now and
he pushed through them without hesitation. Zathris stopped when he
saw the small affair, then relaxed, a smile spreading over his face.
The music was simple, but quite pleasant, the atmosphere intimate.
The decorations were nice, not overly fancy or flowery, but sweet to
the eye and a reminder of the pleasant days of the current season.
Much better than flowers. "Well, this is a surprise." He murmured,
his hazel eyes finally moving over to rest upon his wife.

Her dress was simple and she floated toward him with a big smile.
"Happy birthday my love."

"Why thank you." Zathris drew Benani in his embrace and planted a
kiss upon her head. It was a shame there were harpers there. He
probably would have done a bit more than that had they been alone.
"You planned on this for me?" He murmured, not letting her go right
away. Obviously she was in a better mood and he wanted to enjoy it as
long as possible.

"Yes," she said with a smiled and took his hand to lead him to the
table. She lifted the cover as she sat to reveal his favorite dinner.

Steak! Red meat and rare, it couldn't get better than that. Zathris
grinned and pulled out the chair for his wife to sit down before
crossing over to the other side and taking his own seat. "I should
have known you'd plan _some_thing." And he was glad she had kept it
quiet. With all the craziness of the last few days, he didn't need a
big to do.

"Don't forget this" she said pulling up a bottle of the best red wines
she had selected with Master Fayazel. Of course she was sorry she
couldn't drink it too but she was doing everything as right as she
could during her pregnancy.

"Perfect." Zathris admired the bottle a moment before popping the
cork and pouring himself a glass. "Don't you have something you could
drink?" he asked, placing the bottle off to the side. He leaned
forward to take the piece of steak that looked well done and put it on
a plate for her, then piled high the tubers and fingerroots and greens
that accompanied the meal. "You need to eat too."

She smiled, loving the way he always seemed to take care of her. She
picked up the pitcher and poured herself some water. Then she began
with the tubers.

"I thought you'd like something quiet this evening."

"I think you must have read my mind." There had been too _little_
quiet as of late and Zathris was more than happy to keep things to a
minimum. "So tell me, wife, what have you been doing today besides
putting together this little number?"

"I went to visit the healer today." she smiled softly at him. "He says
that I am indeed pregnant and we can expect the child around the end
of the fifth month."

"Ah, so you're further along than I thought." Not that Zathris
minded. While he wasn't always good about expression his emotions, he
was excited about becoming a father. "Everything else looking all
right? You don't seem to be getting ill quite so often."

"So it appears," she said. The healer had seemed only a little
surprised by her condition. At first she'd been worried by his
expressions but then he'd reassured her that everything was just fine.
"I'm feeling better, still strange smells can hit me wrong at the
strangest times. Hows your steak?" she asked.

"It's good." Nice and juicy, not overly cooked and seasoned very
well. Benani (and Zathris knew that Zelanka should get a lot of the
credit as well as whomever cooked the steak!) did very well. "It was
sweet of you."

She'd nibbled her way through her tubers and had taken a few bites of
steak as well but she wasn't really hungry. She enjoyed watching him
eat his dinner and just relax. Sometimes like recently the trials of
being Lord of the Hold were hard on him. She just wanted to make a
place where he could just be her Zathris. Her fingers reached out to
stroke the back of his hand.

It didn't take long for Zathris to finish. He was hungry, the food
was tasty. Why would it take long? When he was done, he leaned back
in his chair and pushed his plate away. "I think I might need to let
out my belt if I keep eating like this." Not that the man had a belly
on him. He was far too active for that. "So what next?"

She leaned over and pulled a package out from under the table. "This,"
she said "I made it for you." She couldn't remember the number of
times he'd walked into the room while she was stitching and she'd
distracted or hidden the work as unobtrusively as possible.

"I get a present?" Zathris laughed and reached forward to take the
package. He unwrapped it, pulling off the ribbon without a second
thought, then unfolded the shirt. It was beautiful, white with
redwork all over the sleeves and collar. He eyed it with great
appreciation. "It's great, Benani. I'm going to have to be very
careful when I wear this!" It was too nice to be careless with.

She smiled happy he liked it. "I though it would look well in the
summer with your red leather vest."

Last updated on the April 27th 2011

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