It was the normal exchange that Cixi had become used to seeing and yet didn’t quite understand why it was done. She stood quietly while Matthias went and spoke to Tobias on her behalf in order for Matthias to alert Lord Jaias that she wished to speak with him. Cixi didn’t understand why couldn’t she just walk up to the door and knock on it. However, she simply watched the two elves cloaked in brown whisper to each other. The older slowly shook his head and walked away from the younger, disappearing behind a closed door. Matthias turned and walked back to Cixi, bowing his head when he was within earshot.
“Lord Jaias is in a meeting right now. His manservant has gone to see if he will accept your request to meet with him.”
“If he is busy, then I can come back later,” Cixi replied, “No reason for Lord Jaias to interrupt anything.”
“Unless the interruption happens to be something more important.”
The closed door was now open and Lord Jaias darkened the frame. A hint of a smile was on his face as he walked through it. He signaled for the door to be closed behind him as he walked over to Cixi, robes swishing about his feet.
“You wished to speak to me, Cixithara?”
“Yes,” Cixi replied nervously. The more she thought about what she wanted to say, the more the words kept evading her. Suddenly she couldn’t help but feeling that this was a very bad idea.
“Well no reason to mince words,” Lord Jaias said, noticing that Cixi was pausing longer than usual and was fiddling with cuffs of her sleeves, ”Tell me what it is that you want.”
“I was hoping…”
Again, there was a slight pause. Cixi turned her head away slightly. She just couldn't look her uncle in the face for some reason. She knew who he was now. The status that he held. How the entire House viewed him.
“I was hoping that you would stop requesting that I accompany you for the rest of my stay here.”
Cixi kept her eyes averted when she spoke.Lord Jaias had nothing but protect her since she had walked into his home, wide eyed and naive. He had never looked down on her, never made her feel less. In fact, he had done quiet the opposite. And now she was asking him to leave her be. Cixi half expected a response that was something along the lines of anger or maybe grave disappointment. Part of her expected to be rejected again and things would go back to the way they had been before. So the soft return caught her off guard.
“Have I done something to offend you?”
“No,” Cixi answered quickly, her eyes meeting Lord Jaias' concerned face,”You haven’t done anything. It’s just that…”
“Your mother,” Lord Jaias interjected.
Cixi chewed the inner part of her bottom lip. She didn’t want to lie, but she didn’t want to mention this being her mother's doing either. There was a heavy silence however, it only lasted a few moments. Lord Jaias put both of hands on Cixi’s shoulders and lightly kissed her on top of her head.
“Your mother has not changed a bit since she was young. If she is having that much of a problem with us spending time together, I will no longer ask that you join me for anything else. The last thing I want is for you to be fighting about me with your mother. However, if you change your mind, there will always be room for you at my table.”
“Thank you, Uncle!” Cixi exclaimed. She gave him a quick curtsy and left. Now her mother would be pleased and things would go along smoothly from here until the end of the Gathering.
Tobias spoke up as Lord Jaias walked back to the door, “I am very sorry that happened, sir. I know that you wanted to make a good impression on the young lady. It would seem that Lady Alara is very much against you having any type of relationship with her daughter.”
Lord Jaias only gave a slight grin as a response, “Did you hear her, Tobias? Cixithara referred to me as her uncle. My sister has failed. She simply has not realized it yet.”
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