Marriage is Murder

"Sanks," Abbey said, glad to see the berries back. She started to eat berries, and Robert pointed to her chicken. She attempted to ignore him and eat berries instead. He moved the berries out of her way. She was tempted to start to have a temper tantrum, and he pointed his finger at her, warning her not to try it.

"Abbey," Angus said. "Eat your chicken--before Papa gets angry. And I know you like the fries. I'm sure you can have all the berries you want, but you need to eat your chicken." She scowled at Angus but ate her chicken anyway.

"I'm glad you like the fries," Angus said to them. "Sweet potatoes are a lot healthier than white potatoes, and we had a very good crop of them this year. It should make healthy eating a bit easier."

"Robert," Edward said, "are you doing some sort of a fall or winter training weekend this year?" Robert shook his head. He felt like it was just one more thing he wasn't able to do this year. He wasn't able to do it. Nor could he risk anyone else going out from the estate and perhaps being hurt or killed in the process. He wasn't going to risk anymore of them.

"Robert," Edward said, "as my friend, you can't give up. You have to keep fighting." Robert looked at Kate.

"I'm not sure he's giving up," Kate said, "but until he can free himself, he's very limited."

"Not as much as he's let himself be," Edward said. "You're a wizard, Robert, and a damned good one. You aren't as trapped inside yourself as you feel. Try using your magic to communicate, to do what you need. You didn't cause this, but you can approach all this a bit differently.

"He knows the sign language, and quite well," Kate said. "Used to use it to cause mischief in class when we were in Hogwarts, and he was quite fluent in it. I've talked to him about using it. He just hasn't wanted to use it for some reason."

Robert merely glared at her and rolled his eyes. Suki looked at him, tilting her head sideways a bit, as if she were noticing his frustration. She signed to him, and he signed back, making some short, irritated signs.

"He says he hasn't used it because no one knows it," she said. "I know it because a ward of one of my masters was deaf boy. It isn't used very much, but it can be useful at times."

"I used to know it," Kate said. "Haven't used it since Hogwarts, though. I believe Khaat knows it. Or the basics, anyway. She's probably had to learn at least a little for her job."

"What about the charms you use at Sparks?" Edward asked. He flicked his wand and made a cartoonish pictures of red sparks from his wand--a stick figure of a set of teeth, chasing a band of stick figures. He looked at Robert, while Kate laughed. Robert frowned at Edward. "Well?" Edward said. "Don't tell me you haven't had some of those irked thoughts at all of us from time to time. I know better."

Robert merely watched as Jess's charm eliminated the teeth that Edward has used to symbolize Robert himself.  He wasn't seriously considering using the spark charms for communicating.  Robert didn't see them as very useful for more than amusement.

Abbey finished her lunch and looked at the brownies.

"Papa? I has cake?" she asked.  Her question redirected him back to the table. He saw her pointing to the plate of brownies.  He nodded, seeing her clean plate, and took a brownie, cut it in half, and gave her half. He didn't think, as large as they were, that she needed a whole one.  "I share with you!" she was pleased that Robert had taken half. He nodded. "Sanks, Papa!"

Edward looked out the window and saw snowflakes flitting in the air. "Well, the first snowflakes of the season.  Its too warm for them to stick. They'll melt a soon as they hit the ground. Still, it is a reminder that we're not far from Christmas. Shall I presume you're all planning on a holiday at home?"

Robert plucked the letter from the claws of the little owl that had brought it. He fed the owl a bite of his leftover chicken and motioned to someone to find it a warm place in the barn to eat and rest before the long flight back to the school.

He opened the letter and read it and shrugged. Robert had no feelings of ill will towards John, but he didn't feel he had any right to make any such choices. He didn't own the estate, so he wasn't going to speak for Brian. Nor was he going to say to someone else's child that he couldn't come home for Christmas. It just wasn't his place.

He handed the letter to Steven and pointed to Steven. Robert had no intention of making any choices that Steven, as a father, needed to be making.

Angus got up and looked at Robert. "Shall I refill your mug, Robert?" Robert looked up. That sounded like a good idea. He nodded. "Tea, then? Kate?" Robert nodded.

"Sounds like a lovely thought with the brownies. Maybe we should perhaps get someone to put a tea tray together and take our tea and dessert into the living room in front of the fire, after we put the kids down for their naps," She suggested.

"Steven," Edward said, "Brian isn't going to tell you you can't bring your son home for the holidays. But if that's what you decide, he'll support you. There are no guarantees about whether James will try anything or not.

"Your son could surely stay at the school, but he might well be alone. And his friends will most likely all go home for Christmas. Where would you expect him to go? Is there a reasonable choice? How would he interpret his family not wanting him home? He's probably already old enough for weekend passes off school grounds to Hogsmeade. If you can guard Khaat, you surely can keep your son safe for a few days, can you not?"

Upstairs, Marcus was placing the tray on the dresser and planning on doing a few moments of straightening things up when Cassidy came up.

"She's sleeping finally. She's been holding out on me to avoid being any trouble, for one thing, and because she's trying to increase her own pain tolerance by trying to tough it out. But dealing with a crush injury is not something anyone needs to try to tough out," Marcus said. "I really must be on top of things more than I realized when it came to her potion. I missed giving her a dose this morning, and she didn't say anything.

"I think I need to find a way to get her to drink more fluids. She's not eating very well, and not drinking many fluids. She'll drink if I'm drinking something too or sometimes if I just hand it to her. I'm finding out that if I don't make an issue of it, she doesn't even notice. Can you ask someone to send something cold up for her when she wakes? Whatever she might like?"