The ceremony was already over, why did she have to keep talking?

Frey threw a sideways glance at Lucius, who paid no attention to the noise that was Luna's relentless questioning of absolutely everything the priest had said, but rather seemed busy with a persistent headache.

Which of course could also be attributed to his daughter's endless chattering.

Noah sat next to his sister, looking like he wanted to sink through the floor instead of being associated with her behaviour and even Damien seemed less than pleased with the scene.

People had awkwardly begun moving away from their seats despite the priest not having wrapped things up just yet, knowing that whenever young Lady Hargreaves was involved there was a chance they'd be there for some time.

"Luna." Frey leaned over Noah to get her attention. To his fortune, he often managed to use Luna's soft spot for him to at least consider his opinions compared to many others. "The service is over. It's time we leave."

Luna's eyes flashed with only a hint of annoyance at being interrupted, but she threw a glance between Frey and the priest, and then sighed.

"Fine."

Then she sat down with a frown and the priest released a breath before wishing the already retreating crowd a bright holiday.

As soon as they exited the sanctuary Lucius drew a deep breath as though the idea of breathing had escaped him while inside, then he turned to Frey.

"So? How was it?"

"Confusing most of the time." Frey's lip curled, and he looked down at the sleeves of his rhenelis. He'd been required to get one, and since he wasn't sure about worshipping either Archon he'd gone with the colour that suited him best. It had turned out to be the green garments representing Phion, the Archon of purity. "And why do they have to do most of it in old Traquian?"

"Because people already question the texts enough, I'd say." Lucius gave his daughter a disapproving glance. "Out loud that is."

"I'm gonna learn old Traquian so they won't keep getting away with it," Luna boasted, swinging her arms as she walked and Lucius immediately shook his head.

"You will not. At least I won't pay for it."

"Vincent knows old Traquian." Luna gestured back at her bodyguard with a smug grin. His eyebrows were furrowed but he said nothing. "He'll teach me."

"You will not teach her anything of the sort," Lucius turned to look back at the man as well. "Or we'll never get to leave that sanctuary again."

Frey stopped listening. It would be idiotic to mention that he knew some old Traquian as well. It was just more unnecessary talk, and he had no interest in their usual family arguments. In all honesty, he was having a hard time finding interest in anything. Despite his efforts to get more involved in his father's faith he really could do without the holidays.

"Still tired?" Damien asked as he joined Frey's side. "Or was the service just that boring?"

"Getting up so early in the morning just to listen to someone talk about things I only barely understand is not how I want to celebrate an Archon of enlightenment. Couldn't I just read a book or something?"

"You said you wanted to take part in the usual traditions, and I told you to go to bed early."

"I thought I could stay up all night instead."

Damien clicked his tongue and Frey had a strong feeling he was shaking his head, but he didn't look.

"That seems like something Luna would do, and she's seventeen."

"We can't all act like old grumps and go to bed after dinner."

"Sounds to me like someone doesn't want a gift this year."

Frey turned his head to face Damien with an offended glare.

"You wouldn't."

Damien only shrugged.

"What wouldn't he?" Luna had snuck up behind them to join in on whatever conversation they were having and now elbowed her way in between them.

"Not give me a gift." Frey frowned as he was shoved to the side, and Luna chuckled.

"Oh, that would be mean." She bumped Damien's arm. "Pretty sure he's the only one who'd live up to the gift standard of your fa—"

To everyone's surprise Noah kicked her leg, and she abruptly interrupted her insensitive sentence to run after him, fists balled, as he retreated.

"She really doesn't think before speaking," Damien whispered under his breath, and to Frey's annoyance it looked as though he was expecting a reaction, or at least for Frey to say something.

Wouldn't it be less painful to just ignore it?

A double yelp further back caused them all to turn around and witness both twins having slipped on the merciless ice underneath them. Much like Frey had predicted, the warm weather had allowed rain to freeze over and over during nights, and as it had gotten colder even during the days, the roads might as well have been frozen rivers.
On the bright side, some proper snow had finally begun falling that day.

"Honestly," Lucius muttered and stopped to give the twins time to catch up. They were in no hurry though, and instead of rejoining the group they kept hindering the other from doing just that, pulling each other down as soon as one managed to stand up.

It was a welcome distraction from the subject that had almost been brought up. Immature and usually undesirable, but welcome at the time, and Frey couldn't help but smile as he watched them fight. It turned bittersweet as soon as he was reminded of similar interactions between him and his sisters though. Sad as it was, he still had a hard time separating the thoughts of his father from the rest of his family.

The sibling fight continued all the way to the mansion gates. Or, Noah had mostly given up, and Luna had decided to bombard him with snowballs regardless. The others had consequently cleared the area around them to avoid falling victim to her rampage as well, and while Frey couldn't be bothered either it seemed a bit sad to him that no one was stopping the torture of the freckled twin.

Turning his head, his eyes regrettably turned towards the stables where Marius was just taking Lord Neigh Clopsson out for a walk. A crushing pain went through his chest and into his stomach, but he turned away to shake it off. He hadn't talked to Marius after what had happened with Carrigan, and it seemed as though Marius had understood the situation as well since he'd made no attempt at talking since then either.

Which was fine.

Definitely fine.

It was a good thing Frey had been able to skip some kind of horrible conversation about their abruptly ended acquaintance. It was better to pretend nothing had happened.

He couldn't help but glance back, quickly averting his gaze as soon as he realised Marius was looking in his direction. No. No, he wouldn't come over to talk, would he? Frey was in the company of others. Still, Marius had never let an awkward situation go unresolved, so it wouldn't be surprising.

Then something hit Frey in the head, and his eyes went from widened in shock to narrowed in disdain within two seconds as the cold water from a snowball ran down his neck. He turned around to send Luna, who'd spent the same two seconds on a mortified grimace only to burst out laughing immediately after, a withering stare.

Of course. It was tradition by now. Frey would be ridiculed, and soon Marius, who'd most certainly witnessed it all, would come up to him with a smile and a half concerned, half amused question about Frey's cold neck.
So Frey sucked in a breath and turned around without sparing Luna a word and looked towards the stables in preparation. To his surprise though, Marius had turned away from the scene and proceeded to take Lord Neigh into the stables again.

The idea of not seeing that amused yet concerned smile felt worse than Frey could have imagined, but he tried to give his mind a dose of reason again and move on. It would pass. He'd feel like this for a while and then he'd move on. All he needed at the time was a distraction, so the Dyris' day celebration couldn't have come at a better time.
Relaxing by the fireplace with the two most dramatic families in town going about their chaotic, everyday life with a pinch of holiday quarrelling was, though unexpected, just what he needed.

The downside was that these events usually caused more than one inconvenience for Frey and yet he couldn't believe his ears, nor eyes for that matter, as he was dragged to the kitchen as soon as they got inside. As if entering such a place wasn't bad enough, for some unfathomable reason the Hargreaves and Cromwell family had apparently thought baking was a good idea on a day like this.

Baking.

"Frey, why don't you blanch the almonds?" Lucius tried handing a bowl of almonds to him, but Frey only looked at it with dead eyes.

Lucius wouldn't let him get away though.

"Even you should be able to do that."

"Why would I bake something when there are servants?" Frey finally had to ask and made no attempt at hiding his contempt. "Some of them work in the kitchen, don't they? One would expect them to know these things."

"It's for the tradition." Lucius pushed the bowl against Frey's chest. "Humour us."

"No."

Lucius gave him a tired look, but sighed in resignation before removing it from Frey's presence.

"All right, I guess new things can be scary. You can watch this time and see if you dare try it next year."

Frey wouldn't fall for the mockery.

"Doubt I'll be less scared then."

"Skinning almonds does involve hot water though so I get it." Lucius smiled, a teasing smile before handing the bowl over to Luna. "But mixing ingredients together should pose no threat."

Frey was in full process of coming up with insults to throw Lucius' way as his eyes fell on the two pieces of dough Noah was twisting around one another. If he wasn't mistaken it was that dough with anise supposed to be fried and rolled in sugar. He glanced at the recipe next to the dough. Apparently they were called 'frost wicks'.

He couldn't stop his mind from travelling to Marius of course, and he closed his eyes as if it would help.

"Are you all right?" Noah soon asked in a hushed voice, and Frey opened one of his eyes. That creepy, inquisitive Hargreaves-twin stare was back and Frey arched an eyebrow as a suggestion that Noah was turning into his sister again, but it didn't work this time. "Is it about—"

"Whatever you think it's about, it doesn't concern you, does it?" Frey smiled as if he attempted to sound nice, but that was far from his intention.

"Well..." Noah grimaced as he picked up a cup of sugar. "... I don't know exactly what happened, but did you at least talk about it?"

Frey didn't have the energy to pretend anymore. He dropped whatever hint of a smile he had left and gave Noah a tired glare.

"Since you don't even know what's going on, why do you care so much?"

"I just don't want you—Or, anyone for that matter... To suffer because of liking someone."

"You're jumping to conclusions." Frey forced his voice to remain calm. Curse those nosy twins. "If you're thinking about that note, it's not what you think."

Noah pursed his lips, and looked down at the dough in awkward silence. Finally, Frey thought, the questioning was over and he could return to any possible distraction.

"It seemed to be what I'm thinking it is when he asked me to help him," Noah then said, barely so Frey could hear, but it was enough. Frey could feel his hands trembling, and he balled them to hide it.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"He just... Looked pretty heartbroken."

It was the last thing Frey needed. He'd convinced himself so hard that Marius was fine. That he'd moved on without much trouble.

"Then you misread the situation." He wouldn't look at the boy, but his voice was steadily dropping its patience. "The stable boy knows his place and would never get his hopes up concerning a thing like that."

"Sure seemed like he did though."

Frey gritted his teeth. He'd had just about enough.

"Then that's on him."

"You shouldn't have to worry about your status in society when it comes to liking someone," Noah pressed on. "Feelings should come first, right?"

"That's not how it works." Frey said each word slowly, heart beating hard in his chest and knuckles whitening from clenching his fists too hard. "Even if there was a problem like that."

"But if you really like him—"

"I don't like him, you nosy, fucking blight!" Frey sent all his willpower into his muscles not to slam his hands down on the table, but the room fell into silence anyway.

Noah's face was even paler than usual, and his lower lip trembled as he tried to form words with no avail. Fortunately for him, he soon received help from the one person who never ran out of things to say.

"What the fuck did you call him!?" Luna strode up to them, and even Frey faltered at her fierce gaze. She'd never cursed in his direction before, much less looked at him like that, and she rarely cared about Noah being subjected to harsh treatment in other cases.

Frey didn't need to look at the other two in the room. Damien and Lucius had nothing but unconditional love for the boy, so whatever expression they were showing Frey had no interest in witnessing.

So he turned his head from the scene and stormed out of the room.