"The world needs her, dearest." 

"I'm not saying she should quit crusading. And I know paladins don't get teleports. But--" she swallows. "You're stationed where she is, sometimes, right? And you can take passengers when you teleport. You... you don't have to come home every time you can. You could bring her to visit him. It would just be a few minutes." 

Oh. 

Oh, her poor, brave, compassionate girl. 

Lavinia scoops her up into a tight snuggle. 

"We'll see. I'll talk to her." She is not going to make any promises for soooooo many reasons.

"Don't tell her I said he was lonely and hurting. He doesn't want her to think he's a crybaby." 

"Anyone would be lonely and hurting after what happened to him." 

"Well, don't tell her he's lonely and hurting about her." 

"Very well." 

...Lavinia isn't going to admit to how relieved she is that she doesn't have the opportunity to speak to Queen Galfrey immediately. If she were relieved, that would be like shirking, and she doesn't want to shirk something her daughter asked her to do. 

It's just--

--the Queen has so much on her plate already. Lavinia hates to add something more to it, even the delightful task of caring for a child. And it might not be so delightful, when not freely chosen... 

...But the opportunity does, ultimately, come. 

"Your Majesty," she says, bowing. 

"Lavinia Wex," the Queen smiles at her. "You know, I don't think we've really had the opportunity to speak privately before. Your record on the battlefield is quite impressive." 

Haha Lavinia is the worst. :)))

"I'm flattered that you have any idea how I've been doing," she says honestly. 

"Nonsense. How could I possibly fail to notice the woman who so impressed Terendelev?" 

"Right. Speaking of that--" Lavinia's own Splendor is not nearly up to the standard set by the Queen's, or by her own Cunning; it's probably best to just rip off the bandage. "After that horrible tragedy at Heaven's Edge, our daughter decided to take it upon herself to befriend the young Count, and she mentioned that--that he was the only relative you had left. I--hadn't been aware that you were related to Countess Arendae, when the event occurred; you have my condolences. Anyway. I--sometimes, when I have the spell slots going spare at the end of the day, which doesn't happen very often, but when it does, I Teleport home to my daughter to see her for a little while, and then Teleport back before sleeping to regain spells. If--that was something you wanted to do. I know how much of yourself you pour into the war," she adds hurriedly, "you deserve--something for yourself." 

I know how much of yourself you pour into the war,

No You Bloody Well Don't. 

You have a wife and child. You have living loved ones. You have a life. You're not even forty. You cannot begin to imagine what I have put into this war. Not just the Fourth Crusade, every moment since the fucking Arch-Traitor of Humanity split the world asunder. 

You don't know anything. 

...But the offer was kindly intended. Galfrey smiles gently at the song-sorceress. "Thank you for the offer. But I have my own resources. Don't let me keep you from your daughter." 

"--Alright. Sorry to bother you." 

"Not at all. Give Terendelev my regards." 

"Will do," she says, and leaves. 

...She probably should go see the kid, at least once. He is her only living relative, at least as far as anybody knows, and while she certainly has no expectation of being allowed to intention of dying, for it to be relevant that that makes him her heir presumptive, it will give him political clout when he's older, beside his own title, already come into. If Terendelev's daughter has decided to befriend him, that won't lessen his influence. She's good at making people like her, not just feel the kind of awe that keeps soldiers from routing on a battlefield. Usually she uses that when the politics of the nation have become tangled enough that she needs to personally detangle them, but she can use it on a grieving child. 

She has never, not since the Fourth Crusade started, had spare charges on her Boots of Teleportation left unused at the end of the day. It will wait until she's in Nerosyan on other business. 

The young Count Arendae receives notice, a week in advance, that his cousin is going to visit. He's--nervous. He's nervous. He wanted this, and it's not that he's stopped wanting this, or anything, but--

He wants her to like him. What does he do about that? He'll be clean and dressed nicely, obviously, but that's just what's expected, he doesn't know--

"I promise not to tell her how many naughty words you know." 

"You're not even going to be there." 

"So it's an easy promise!" 

Snort. 

"I don't know anything about her except--what everybody knows. That she's--amazing, powerful, Iomedae's favored, that Mendev would have fallen ages ago without her--we weren't close before, I don't know anything about what she likes--" 

"You're not gonna get to know her by magic." There might be magic for that but Daeran doesn't have it and neither does Lucette. "If you don't know, then ask her!" 

"But if I don't know before I meet her then I can't plan on how to meet her based on it." 

"I think she ought to like you for who you are."