“So... how are you doing, Vanessa darling? How’s life been treating you?” said Hunfred.

“My life has been well, m’lord. Thank you for asking.” said Vanessa. Her response to his question curt, for all that her tone stayed neutral and polite. With the unsaid “-no thanks to you” being allowed to enter the air on its own.

Hunfred wasn’t sure, but he was pretty certain, so long as neither of them coughed, one could hear the mice mating in the walls right then.

Having had many children, and many wives, and having had them all grow cross with him at some point or the other, he could tell that the other party wasn’t feeling very fond of him at the moment.

He sat across from a young woman, fine featured with skin that was blue like the sky and hair that was white like the clouds. Her head crowned with stag horns that shined an odd silver-blue.

Despite not having been taught by the same tutors and teachers that he’d afforded the rest of his offspring, the woman had a poise and class, that could put more than a few of them to shame.

Stiff backed, with an even stiffer upper lip, and the balls to meet his stormy gaze directly. There was no denying that she was a child of good breeding. He made a mental note to have Eustice send a thank you gift to the vis-Oddmund’s for raising his little girl so well.

If things had been different he suspected that she’d have been something, someone, he could have felt proud of. However things, were what they were, and she was instead a source for one of his rare pangs of guilt.

“So...I hear you got married, since I you last.” said Hunfred. Trying to make small talk before moving on to what he really want to speak about.

“I do believe I was five or so when you saw me last, m’lord.” said Van.

*Cough*...*Cough*

Hunfred bought himself time to recover from that gut blow, by pretending to choke on the mouthful of custard he was eating. Not minding too much, when somehow pretending turned to the real thing.

The rattle in his chest reminding him that even he was not immortal, and that he’d taken life far too fast and hard, to risk wasting time and letting the things he needed to do, go undone.

He sat there trying to get his breathing back under control, wincing as he felt rare bit of guilt flaring up. Being the “mad count” usually didn’t get in the way of being a good parent, and that was a point of pride for him. The fact that unlike most noble sires he was at least an adequate father.

He provided for them the best he could. He went to his kids’ events, he made sure to see all of them at least twice a month, he gave sage advice.

In his mind, if some of them ended up shitty, that was their mother’s fault, their mothers and their mothers’ families.

The only ones that eve truly fell to the way side were those like Vanessa who he decided to send away for some reason or the other, and that was for the sake of shielding them.

And the ones who’d died.

There were only three who’d had to disown for this own sakes like that, two of which, had wandered off to who knows where, and Vanessa who now sat right in front of him looking less than pleased to have been shanghaied into meeting with her estranged father.

Which made the old man not know whether to laugh or cry. Aware that if she was feeling aggrieved now, she probably wouldn’t be loving what he was about to do in the next minute or so.

*************************************************************************************************************

“Yo, Ji-ro...did I ever tell you that you’re my favorite brother? Cause you are...totes. So, a little birdy told me that the old man’s up to something. Since you and Liam are his right hand men, I figured you’d know what he’s up to.” said a woman. Tall, broad and curvaceous. Her presence explosive, invading the room like a million moose stampede.

Jiro, a young jotun of twenty years or so, with short shorn hair, and bull horn, just rolled his eyes. Not even bothering to look up from the bowl of custard he was eating.

“Then why don’t you go and ask Liam then, Vivian?” said Jiro.

She pouted.

“If I could I would, brother...Unfortunately for some reason, are big brother Liam seems to hate me.” said Vivian McBriar. Making herself look as pitiable as she could manage.

Which was evidently not enough to get her brother Jiro to do anymore than to roll his eyes again.

“Nh...Yes, a true mystery. Well I’m sure when they find all the pieces of that fiance of his he’ll forgive and forget in due time.”

“Do you really think so?” said Vivian. Her tone bright, as if she were asking in earnest, which might well have been the case.

While all the McBriar children possessed some of their father’s madness, Vivian was of those McBriar heirs that for whatever reason seemed to attain a double helping of their father’s craziness.

With the result being that quite a few of them were either dead or languishing in dungeons across the kingdom, with only the smarter, milder ones being be allowed to walk freely.

“No...Viv...Just no.”

“Aw...that’s no fair. I was like...twelve when I set that up. I was trying to blow him up back then, not his stupid girlfriend…How I was supposed to know she’d show up at his manor to try and surprise him.” complained the woman.

“Because it was his birthday...you tried to blow him up on his birthday. Many people showed up back then. I showed up back then. We’d planned a “surprise” party. It’s in the name. Even if that wasn’t the case, it’s still a very valid reason for him to be….cross...with you.”

“I suppose.... I still say it’s damn petty.” said Vivian. Huffing, as she sat down across from her younger brother.

Jiro just shook his head and returned to eating his custard.

“Hey-hey, hold on...you never said what the old man is planning?” said Vivian.

Jiro didn’t look up as he answered.

“I never said I was going to tell you that….”

“Aw...don’t be that way, little bro. Come on...I’ll you one. I’ll even tell you what Nickie and his lot are up to…”

Jiro gave his sister a wary eye, and then with a sigh, he let his spoon rest within the custard bowl, raising his head.

“Okay, so...you know how the old man is well...old...and everything.”

“Yes, I’m pretty sure I’m aware of time and its effects on the not-young. Please move on to the good stuff, I can actually feel myself getting older talking to you here.” said Vivian.

Jiro just scoffed, moving on as if he hadn’t heard her complaint.

“So the old man is old right?...and the thing that all thirty or so of us, have been fighting for is the future he’ll leave behind for us. The inheritance. Thing is….there’s actually two inheritances. There’s the one that comes with being head of the clan, and there’s one that comes from the old man himself. His special status from the kingdom.The special honors he got in return for his services to the kingdom.”

“Okay...I’m listening. Don’t leave me in suspense.” said Vivian.

“Well, the inheritance for the clan is still up in the air…” said Jiro. Not bothering to mention the the high likelihood of it going to either him, Liam or their eldest, rarely mentioned brother, Rylin. The one who was currently also in the Capital as a Courtier in the Royal Palace and political hostage.

“...but it seems father has made up his mind concerning who gets his special status and will be passing it to the inheritor early.”

Vivian stared at her young brother eyes wide as she finished connecting the dots. First there was shock and then there was outrage.

“You mean...So that’s why he called little Van here?! That’s not okay!...What the hell?! So just like that we’re getting screwed out of half the inheritance. Do you know how much planning I’ve put in? Do you know how hard I’ve worked to stay on that old man’s good!?”

Jiro shrugged, suppressing a sneer. He finished his custard and then sat up to see that Vivian had now gone from mere outrage to full on rage. He felt a flash of admiration that the woman could call the Count’s strained toleration of her, his good side. Both amused and bemused to see how the woman across from him was acting as if she’d been wronged.

Sighing as he remembered all the headaches and near death experiences he’d had to face before climbing to his current status in the family. He decided he needed to say something before she did something rash.

“Calm down! The special status is just a special status.Trust me, its not something to lose your mind over.”

“Does it come with a money?” asked Vivian.

“Well...yes.” said Jiro.

“How about land?” asked Vivian.

“...Mhm, I’m pretty sure there’s a few islands off the coast of the Continent that are attached to the status.”

“And of course, the status comes in the form of a title right?!” said Vivian. Her silvery white locks standing on end, her aura making the hairs writhe like a nest of serpents.

Jiro could see what her conclusion would be and could only answer in the affirmative. Knowing that it’d be no good to lie.

“...Right.”

“Then this is bullshit...Fucking bullshit...Some little girl from bumfuck nowhere doesn’t get to come in and-!”

“Calm. DOWN!” said Jiro. Speaking softly but adding just enough essence into his voice to give the work an impact that would have struck like a physical blow. Bringing out the strength that allowed him to rise in the family despite being one of the youngest amongst old man’s heirs.

Vivian quieted flinching slightly, giving her younger brother a resentful look.

“Yes, our Lord Father is giving up one of his titles...but it was a title that none of us were going to get anyway, so it’s honestly not that big a deal that he’s giving it away and if what he’s planning works, giving it to little Van, will make the position of clan head as well as the holdings the rest of us were given before, worth more, in the long run.” said Jiro.

Vivian stilled, like sea after a passing storm she calmed, her greed quelling her outrage.

“Alright, I’ve calmed down. Now explain why I’m not back at my manor calling up the rest of our siblings to let them know that father’s giving away what’s ours?.”

Jiro leaned back in his seat and collected himself. Subduing an urge to just remove the annoyance in front of him using violence instead of words. He resisted because he knew that though his father had been lenient when it came to Jiro’s handling of the more heinous and incorrigible of his elder siblings, being seen as brute would affect his standing in the family hierarchy.

“So, imagine I gave you a coin. A magic coin that makes a little Count the equivalent of a Grand Duke…As well as heightening the holdings, and authority of the little Count’s family.”

“Go on…” said Vivian.

“Now imagine I put that coin under a dragon, which has a bigger dragon watching over it. What would you have to do to get that coin back? That’s an actual question by the way. I’m asking you to think about it for a second.”

“Well, I guess I’d send in something that can either kill dragons, or has no reason be afraid of-...Oh...So that’s old man’s play. Why didn’t start from there Jiro? Are you trying to so dissension within the family? Tut-tut, that’s not very nice you know...”

Jiro didn’t after finishing the custard and letting himself be pumped for information he decided he had better things to do.

The only reason he’d allowed himself to be pumped for information in the first place was because he and his Lord father knew that Vivian McBriar, was both the biggest snoop and the biggest gossip in the entire family. She also kept terrible company.

So long as she knew something, all the more troublesome members of the clan would know what he’d said, and know to stay out of it if they’d didn’t want to draw the ire of both the old man, and all the more reasonable members of the family.