"I forgive you, Celine," Theon says, holding out his arms for a hug.
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"More like someone, huh?"
Arista let's go of Celine's hand so she can make up with her uncle. It was important to Arista that her daughter understood that it was never okay to be disrespectful to grown ups. She was pretty sure that Celine got the message.
When mommy lets go of her hand, Celine looks up at her before moving forward to her uncle's open arms as she sniffles.
Theon gives Celine a brief hug then looks at Arista. "I'll finish cleaning up in here."
Rajni can't keep the smile off of her face, "Maaayyybe."
Giving her brother a smile she nods, "Thank you. Okay Celine, you wash your hands and get in your bed. Now."
Not wanting to test her mommy for a second time today, Celine washes and dries her hands before heading back to her room.
After Celine heads back to her room, Arista let's out a sigh. Taking a wash cloth, Arista gets it damp and presses it against her face.
Alethiro comes back in the house after gathering the firewood. He looks at Arista. "What's wrong?"
Juhi giggles. "I think I'm gonna take a little nap before we get ready for the wedding."
Sighing she sits down while applying the cold cloth to her face. Trying to give him a weak smile she says, "Just Celine being a toddler love. Apparently, she wasn't keen on the idea of taking a nap, She put honey in the bath, made a huge mess....when Theon went to check on her, and reminded her of what I asked her to do, she mouthed off at him, threw one of her fits, then ran to her room and slammed the door. When I went to see what the commotion was about and Theon told me what happened, I went to talk to her." Sighing again while looking tired she continues, "When I went in her room, she was sitting on the floor in her underwear. She decided that she wanted to continue to throw her fit and scream at me, sooooo....you can probably guess how things went from there." Arista shakes her head, "I know she's a toddler, and this is supposed to be "normal behavior" or whatever, but I don't know...I guess it's just been a ling time for me since I had to deal with anything like this. Philla was pretty much a spoiled princess, so she could get away with a lot more than I could. I just don't really remember how my mother dealt with those more difficult years."
Hanging her dress back up, Rajni tries to get her face under control. She quickly finishes packing the clothes and things she would need for her night over at Dillon's house in her bag. Going to Juhi, she gives her little sister a hug, "Okay kiddo, I'll go on downstairs and let you get some rest. Would you like a story or anything before going to sleep?"
"No, it's okay," Juhi says with a yawn.
Alethiro rubs Arista's back. "Parenthood isn't easy. In time, Celine will learn to mind her elders. She's had a rough time so far."
Rajni smiles as Juhi crawls into her bed, she really did love her little sister. She had never had one before, but she loved Juhi as if she'd been her little sister her whole life. Rajni smirks as Shamara gets up on the bed with Juhi, "Ahh...I see how it is, you furry traitor." She says with an affectionate rub of her cat's head before tucking Juhi into the bed. Leaning down she gives Juhi a kiss on her forehead, "Sweet dreams." She says, picking up her bag and heading quietly out of the room. Leaving the door open a crack, Rajni heads downstairs to put her bag with her cloak and winter boots for later. No telling what the crazy weather would do next and she felt it was a good idea to be prepared.
Arista leans against her husband and sniffles, "I know...it's just...it kind of feels like she knows when I'm at my weakest and so she just wants to see how far she can push me or something. I know that testing us is part of her growing up, but I just can't let her get away with talking to us like that. I will not raise some spoiled brat that thinks it's okay to talk to people however she pleases."
"All children do that," Alethiro says. "We'll make sure that it's not a habit she carries into adulthood."
Toni comes into the shop as Rajni walks down the stairs, a grim look on her face.
Arista nods, "Okay love. I know...I really do, I guess some things are just still a little difficult for me to deal with emotionally sometimes. I know it'll all be okay, we have you to help us so I know we'll be alright."
The smile vanishes from Rajni's face as she sees the look on Toni's as she comes in. Setting her stuff down, she goes immediately to her friend, "Toni? What's wrong? Do you want me to make you some tea or something?" Seeing the look on her face, Rajni knew that things must have gone badly, "Toni....talk to me. What's going on?"
"Anyways, she's in her bed now. I'm pretty sure she's worn herself out, I know I feel tired." She says, putting an arm around her husband as she leans her head against his chest.
Alethiro kisses Arista's forehead. "That's right."
He sits up a little. "Do you want to take a nap yourself before the wedding?"
Toni looks up at Rajni. "Oh, hey. I didn't miss the wedding, did I?"
Rajni looks at Toni for a moment, "No...there's still time. Juhi is taking a nap before it's time to get ready. I was just getting some things to take over to Dillon's after the the ceremony and reception. Are...are you okay?" The concern is obvious in her voice as she takes in Toni's body language and the look on her face.
Arista nods her head before taking the not so cool cloth off of her face. Holding the cloth in her hands she says, "Maybe I should. I am feeling pretty tired, and I don't want to look completely worn out at the girl's wedding. I pretty much got the kitchen cleaned up before all that other stuff happened, so you shouldn't have to worry about anything."
"I'll help Theon hang up the wet towels and such," Alethiro says. "Go lay down for a bit."
"Ah, yeah," Toni says. "Just a little hungry, I guess. Also...I'm going to have to put the camping trip on hold. I don't know when I'll be able to do it."
Rajni gives Toni a sidelong look as she goes to the refrigerator to see about getting her something to eat. Obviously something had happened, and Toni wasn't up to talking about it just yet.
Pulling out some leftovers and things to make sandwiches with she says, "That's okay, it can wait if you have other things that you need to take care of. What do you feel like eating? There's some sandwich stuff, and then some left overs from the other night. I'm not sure what all we're going to have to eat after the ceremony but Mama and Auntie Priya have been like non stop busy for the past several days, so I'm thinking...it's gonna be a lot. What would you like for me to make you?"
Arista nods as she tries to push herself up off the couch, "Okay honey, make sure you get me up in enough time to get ready. Okay? Oh...here's this." She says, holding out the cloth she had been using for her face to Alethiro.
Alethiro takes the cloth and stands up to help Arista. As she gets to her feet, the elf steps in and gives her a tender kiss. "I'll be sure to have you up in enough time."
"A sandwich sounds good," Toni says. "I still want a little room for the food at the reception."
Arista leans into the kiss, wrapping her arms around him. Pulling back she looks at him with sleepy eyes, "Okay honey, I love you." Arista then trudges off to the bedroom.
Rajni nods as she starts pulling out stuff for a good but not too big sandwich for Toni, "Yeah, that's probably a good idea. I'm tellin' ya, they've been cooking up a storm. It's been like a whirlwind around here the last few days. There is going to be some really good food, no doubt about that." She says idly while making a warm sandwich for her with leftover lamb meat, some onion, lettuce, tomato, and a light sauce that her aunt had made, rolled up in a warmed up piece of flatbread. Putting it on a plate, she adds some sliced up fruit to it before setting it in front of Toni.
Giving her friend a supportive smile she says, "There you go, I tried to keep it light because I know how much you love Mama and Auntie Priya's cooking. You want something hot to drink with it, or something cold?"
"Something cold, please," Toni replies.
Rajni gets her a cold tankard of ale and sets it in front of her before getting her a napkin and then sitting down with her at the table. Toni was acting....strange, and it made Rajni feel uneasy. She was worried about her friend, but she didn't want to try and force Toni to tell her what was going on if she didn't want to talk about it.
"Thanks," Toni says before taking a bite of her sandwich.
Rajni sits quietly for a few minutes as she watches Toni eat. After Toni manages to get a few bites in her, Rajni finally works up the nerve to say something.
Clearing her throat, she looks up at her friend. Trying to keep the concern out of her voice she asks, "So....any chance you're going to want to talk about what's bothering you?"
Toni shrugs while taking a drink. "The Summoner thing didn't work out so I decided to just disband them."
Rajni tilts her head slightly, "What do you mean? What happened?"
"We couldn't get it together as a team and Hyggindi betrayed us," Toni answers. "I thought it better if we went our own separate ways. There's just a piece of business I need to deal with."
Rajni's head feels like it's swimming, "So, Hyggindi betrayed you and you guys just gave up? Why does it sound like you're going to try and do something dangerous by yourself? I'm sorry if Hyggindi lied to you, or used you....but it's not like you could read his mind. You had no way of knowing what he was going to do. What ared you planning on doing Toni?"
After a couple of seconds she says, "I'm sorry things didn't work out like you thought they would, but sometimes life is just like that. We never really know what's going to happen, and that's okay. Sometimes things change, and that's okay...just, please don't do something alone because things didn't go according to plan. You're...you're my best friend, and I don't want anything happening to you. Okay? Please Toni...please don't go off to do something dangerous by yourself."
"Right now, I'm just planning on being here with my friends and family," Toni says. "I'll need to head to Lysse in a few days to talk to someone."
Rajni scoots a little closer to Toni and puts her arms around her, "Okay, I'm sorry if I'm prying too much, or if I stress you out sometimes. I...I know I'm not a big hugging type person, but you really are my best friend and I'm sorry if I worry about you sometimes. I'm glad you're going to be here...for a while at least. I know you said you haved to take care of somed stuff, but you're gonna come back right?" Rajni tries not to sound as worried as she feels, but there was something heavy sitting in the pit of her stomach. Her worry was further evident in the way she kept an arm loosely around Toni, even after the hug.
Getting in their room, Arista strips and lays down in the bed. Before she even realizes what's going on, Arista starts drifting off to sleep. After just a few minutes, thed only thing that can be heard coming from their bedroom is the sound of heavy snoring as Arista slips into deep sleep.
Toni smiles at Rajni. "I don't have anywhere else to go."
Returning the smile she forces herself to release Toni, "And you promise that if you need help you'll ask for it? With all the craziness that happensx aroundc here, I can't help but worry. I just..." Rajni looks down at her hands, "I care about you, andc even though it's notg the same kind of love I have for Dillon....I do love you. So, if I seem like an annoying pain in the butt that's always harrasing you about taking care of yourself, that's why. I don't have a lot of friends, sfo I'm real protective of the ones I got. As long as you promise to be careful, and to come back home....then I'll try to stop worrying so much. I'm sorry." Rajni forces herself to shut her mouth, she didn't want to maked Toni feel like she was being smothered. She didn't mean to keep harping on things, but she was really worried about Toni.
"I promise I'll be as careful as I can be and I'll ask for help if I need it," Toni says.
Rajni looks at her for a few minutes but finally nods, "Okay....and...I know I didn't really understand a lot about that summoner stuff you were dealing with, but it seemed like it was just causing you to be stressed out, and you didn't really seem happy. Maybe...maybe in a way it's better things turned out like this? I mean, at least you found out what he was really up to before it was too late, right? It isn't too late is it?" Rajni asks, as she tries to see the more recent events in a positive way. Maybe now Toni could actually find something that made her happy.
"I don't know," Toni answers honestly. "I guess I'll find out at some point."