“Lani Graham, now you are not a face I expected to see on our pirate ship.” Cinar greeted Lani as he and Braydon entered into the study. Since she had agreed to the measures that the King wanted to implement, she had spent more time hanging around in the study. Even if there was nothing for her to do, she apparently found more interest in listening to them than walking the relatively empty streets of Mapjess. And since she was going to be fighting with them and had endorsed his plan, the King was not too fussed that she was there.

“And the first mate has now returned to his post, I see. It’s good to see that your fighting spirit has not been worn down after all the years. You look almost exactly the same as when I was first introduced to you.” Lani greeted in return. Braydon was not surprised that Cinar was among the people that knew Lani, he knew everyone. Though it seemed that they also had some friendship.

“So I looked ancient even when I was younger? Oh how you wound me.” Cinar had returned to his slightly theatrical self, much to Braydon’s relief. He did not know if Lani or Aled had noticed Cinar’s prior mood, but he was glad that the man was no longer thinking about it.

“I will leave you to your discussion, I still have some things to deal with.” Braydon announced as he made for the door once again, he did not want to listen to the King’s proposal for the Nth time. He was sure that he could recite it word for word already. Not that he was going to try, Braydon had better things to do.

“Then I will join you, I think I have consumed more than enough tea to burn a hole in your pockets.” Lani stood up to join him as Braydon left the room. Braydon was not sure if her claim was true, but he was not going to turn down the company.

“So what is bothering you?” As soon as the door was closed, Lani got straight to the point.

“So you noticed then, your observation skills are scary.” Braydon started walking, Lani keeping pace.

“Well it was not hard to notice when you didn’t even try to stay for any longer than necessary.” She had a point, though Braydon was sure that she had also noticed the mood that Cinar had been in. Even if he did not catch any recognition of that when she was talking with Cinar, he was certain that it had happened.

“It is about Cinar…” Braydon did not know where to start, or even if he should be sharing something so personal about Cinar and Nela without their consent. It might not be too hard to figure out with some basic observation, but it was not exactly polite.

“The reason why he was so upset?” Lani hit the nail on the head, confirming Braydon’s thoughts in the process.

“Exactly that.”

“He went to go and see Nela did he not? Did they have an argument?” Lani was definitely sharp, she was not exactly right but was still very close.

“Not quite, in the weeks that he was in my castle he never managed to see her. To my knowledge she was working on her own project in Cliforge, she should have had more than ample time to take a break and meet him.” Braydon decided that it was better to ask someone who understood other people more than himself. He didn't know how good Lani was at that, but at the very least she understood the fairer sex better than him.

“And they last spoke in person how long ago? Two years now?” Lani immediately saw why Braydon was so concerned, it would not be odd if they had spoken recently and there might have been some kind of argument but after so long? There must have been something else to it.

“Longer, I think.” Braydon confirmed.

“So what are you going to do?” Lani could tell that Braydon was planning to do something, but in some cases doing something could be worse than doing nothing at all. It was probably not a good idea to be too intrusive, it was a family matter after all.

“I am going to ask Roan to go and check up on her, ask about her progress and if there have been any difficulties.” Braydon was of course going to ask him to keep an eye on her to see if there was anything odd. Even he was not going to be so crass as to get Roan to ask her about the issue directly. Something like this had never happened with Nela before, and Braydon knew that when dealing with Nela he had to be cautious at the best of times. Though that was for different reasons.

“Sounds alright, do you want me to go with him to see her?” Lani offered. She knew that she was far less critical to the daily running of the army. And since she had accepted the King’s plans, she would likely not need to be there in person if there was any fighting to be done.

“I assume that you intend to go anyway, but that would be most welcome. And if Mireille is still in the castle ,would you mind taking her with you? I am sure that Nela would at least pay attention to her if nobody else.” Braydon was not sure if Mireille was in Cliforge castle or not. Cinar had not been clear about if he had seen her and Braydon had forgotten to ask.

Normally Mireille would be with Nela most of the time, but as she had spent more time with them, she had become slightly more independent. At least she was vocal about her opinions on him going off to war. But this was not normally, Nela was obviously acting strangely, it would not do any harm to check.

“I am also curious to meet this Mireille that I have heard about. Do not worry, I will make sure that everything is alright.” Lani had heard about Mireille from Braydon and Nela during the several times that they had spoken in the capital. And considering her obvious lack of aversion for commoners, she had married one after all, she was more than a little curious about Mireille.

“...And you assumed right.” As they continued walking, Lani said offhandedly. It had taken Braydon a few seconds to figure out what she was talking about, but he smiled and shook his head when he figured it out.