Page 4 of Quest of Fools

Then the memories dropped over him like a blanket.Or maybe a bucket of water.

There was nothing to be late about.No work to find.He no longer had to worry about such things.

It still took several minutes for his heart to stop racing.He felt glaringly out of place as he left his bedroom, which was bigger than his whole house.That reminded him of all the errands he needed to run that day, from collecting belongings to speaking with the landlord, selling off everything he no longer needed, which was… well, nearly everything.Take what little food was in the house to the neighbors or temple…

"—dy!Daddy!"

Warf startled, then registered Kalla's imperious tones and that she was standing at the base of the stairs."Yes, dearest?"

"You weren't at breakfast!"

"Sorry, dearest, I was enjoying sleeping past dawn."

She huffed and folded her arms across her chest."We wanted to tell you all about our rooms, and our nurse and our teacher, and—"

"You can tell me everything at lunch," Warf replied, even as his stomach growled for the breakfast he'd missed.Hardly the first time he'd skipped a meal."Have you been behaving for Marian and his staff?"

With a look of deeply pained patience, she replied, "Yes, Daddy.I'm to get measured for new dresses today!Marian said I could pick out the colors all by myself!And I get ribbons and shoes, more than one set!"

Warf really needed to get a handle on the sudden urge to cry over everything.Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he swung her up and hugged her tightly, ignoring her huffs."Sounds like you haven't needed me at all, dearest.Where are your siblings?"

"In the nursery," she replied, saying the words slowly, carefully pronouncing each syllable."It's a whole room just for us and our toys and where we do lessons.There are so many toys!It's like going inside that shop we always passed on the way to temple."

"I imagine so," Warf replied, mind spinning with questions, like how could the nursery already be filled with toys when Marian hadn't even known that he would wind up with someone who had children?But he'd said he'd hoped for someone who'd want to have children.Perhaps he'd simply been thorough in his planning.

Setting Kalla back on her feet, Warf said, "Run along and play with your siblings, or return to whatever it was you were doing.I need to run some errands, to get things out of the old house and such, so I'll see you at lunch, maybe as late as dinner.All right?"

Kalla wrinkled her nose, but only said, "Yes, Daddy."Then she ran up the stairs like she was fleeing a fire.

Well, at least the children seemed to be adjusting with remarkable ease and speed.

A soft voice said from behind him, "Lord Marian is in the study, if you would like to speak with him, Master Warf."

Warf turned to address the woman, dressed in a maid's uniform."Just Warf is fine, please.Marian is exactly who I was looking for, thank you."

She smiled, bowed, and faded off with the stack of towels in her arms.

More bemused than ever, Warf went in search of the study.Thankfully, he heard movement, someone walking around and shuffling papers, and followed it to an open door where Marian proved to be pacing around the room while reading through something.

Warf knocked tentatively on the door, which made Marian stop and snap around—and then break into a stunning smile."Good morning!Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, but through breakfast, for which I have been thoroughly admonished by Kalla."

Marian laughed."She and Rosi were quite put out you weren't present, but I told them you needed your sleep after working so hard in the tournament.I'm not surprised she was wandering around; that one has your stubborn determination and fortitude, to be sure.If she marries less than royalty someday, I will be very surprised."

"I don't even want to think about all that yet," Warf said with a laugh of his own."I actually came to let you know I need to return to our former residence to collect some personal items, speak with the landlords, that sort of thing.I'll try to be back for lunch, but I may not return until closer to dinner."

"Would you like company?There's a cart in the stable you can take to bring everything back."

"Anything worth keeping I can carry.It's not like I need to bring back a tattered straw bed or heavily patched armchair."Warf cringed inwardly at the idea of Marian seeing his pathetic little hovel of a home."You don't need to interrupt your day."

Marian frowned and moved to the enormous desk at one end of the room to set his papers down."Assisting you is not an interruption to my day.I'm not doing anything important, just going over a speech I'm giving later this week before the city council, and I've already gone over it a hundred times."

"A speech?"The only speeches Warf tended to hear were the temple sermons and the criers sharing the daily news, the occasional drunk standing on a fountain ranting about whatever had driven them to drink in the first place."About what?"

"An amendment to city taxes that I do not think should pass, as it would only hurt those who already struggle to pay taxes, and everyone on this side of the river would scarcely notice, if they bothered to pay it at all, instead of squirming out of it.Not many are looking favorably on it, and there are better ways to acquire the income, which is mostly what my speech is about, and the proposals I've drafted to back up my pretty words.Boring stuff, to most, but it's not me who will suffer if I fail."

Warf smiled softly."You're extraordinarily kind."

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