Frey had to admit, even though he'd been sceptical to the idea that Marius' family would celebrate their winter holiday in a rented tavern with narrow beds, it was cozy.

He rolled over to nuzzle up under Marius' chin. For once, he was surprised to see the man sleep longer than he did but it made a nice change to not wake up alone.

That was more or less the only calm moment of that day. Just as he was about to place an arm around Marius the door to their tavern room was flung open, and Zaira stepped through it.

"Mamá!" Marius shot up from his pillow with a scowl. "We're in bed!"

"That's right, you are!" Zaira pointed a bony finger at a clock on the wall. "But not supposed to!"

"You'd think now that I have someone with me we could have some privacy."

Zaira huffed.

"Privacy ends at seven, and it's well past that." She moved her hand to point at the chair with their piled up clothes. "So get a move on before everyone else arrives. There's a lot to do."

The volume and intensity of their conversations had alarmed Frey at first. If Valdís ever spoke to him in that tone it would be if he'd set something on fire, but as it had turned out, it was just the way they spoke. Zaira was just as kind as Marius, with cheerfulness radiating from her despite her voice, and Frey just had to get used to it.

Marius let out a low groan as they were left alone again.

"Up and at 'em, I guess."

"I'm surprised you slept until now." Frey leaned back against his pillow, and Marius looked sheepish.

"I've been awake for an hour."

"What?" Frey raised his eyebrows. "You were pretending to sleep?"

"The longer I'm awake, the more I'll have to help out."

"To think my stable boy was this lazy outside of work." Frey was genuinely surprised. Even when they lived together, Marius had been willing to get up early and do chores.

"It's just a lot." Marius sighed as he leaned against Frey's head. "Even though we're keeping it small this year there's gonna be a lot of chaos downstairs."

"I don't know if twenty-three people count as small."

"Well, if Thalis' wife hadn't left him he would have hosted it as usual, and my cousins and their families would have attended as well."

"Is downstairs even going to be enough?" Frey dreaded the loudness already. "How will we all fit into one room?"

"It's a tavern, it's supposed to fit multiple people," Marius dismissed it. "And we got it all to ourselves."

A knock on the door, which Frey appreciated despite the interruption, and Symeon opened the door.

"Time to get up!" Symeon, Marius' oldest brother, declared with a grin, and Marius let out another, louder groan.

"Mamá already woke us up, Sym."

"Then why aren't you up?" Zaira's voice called from downstairs, and Symeon strengthened it with a playfully reproachful look.

"Leave them alone." Naiara appeared next to Symeon in the doorway, looking just as reproachful but aiming it in her husband's direction instead. "No need for everyone to rush downstairs at the same time."

"We've already been up for two hours," Symeon objected. "Isn't it better they get up to help out before everyone arrives and crowds the place?"

"There's time," Naiara insisted, but turned to address Frey. "I've asked Nilay and Nipia to fetch water, and I told them you'd help with that."

Frey suppressed a shudder. He wouldn't show his reluctance to join the girls in front of their parents, but he'd grown up with two teenage sisters back in the day, and he was not eager to relive it.

"Marius is tasked with firewood, so you'd better get on that." Symeon gave Marius a nod towards the stairs. "We'll need a lot."

"Fine, just let us get dressed in peace." Marius shooed them into closing the door again. "By Sihlea..."

"Happy Dumalain, by the way." Frey kissed Marius' cheek. "May you witness peace."

"Thanks, and I hope so." Marius made a face. "But definitely not today."

"Marius!" Zaira called for a third time, and Marius rolled his eyes before sitting up.

"I'm on my way!"

"Guess I should get up too, huh?" Frey lingered still, reluctant to be separated from the warmth of Marius' skin and with the small hope that Marius would defend him enough to let him sleep a while longer.

"Unless you want to be hoisted out of bed by my mother, or Symeon," Marius agreed through a yawn while stretching his back. "Late mornings are a rarely observed luxury in this family."

With late mornings being just what Frey loved, it was a good thing the excitement for this new experience kept him from a drowsy state. On the downside, however, he was sure it would overwhelm him more than once before the day was over.

"And they won't think it's strange if I just disappear now and then?"

"I've told you too many times now, no." Marius shook his head before pulling his shirt down over it. "Any person could find the spectacle too much and no one's gonna judge you for needing some rest."

"How long does it take to get dressed?" Zaira opened the door again and Marius groaned.

"We're already doing it!"

On a pleasant side, the bigger room downstairs was warmer than the room they'd slept in and most people had yet to arrive so reaching the bottom floor was not as bad as Frey had expected.

"Oh, Marius!" Gisela had barely spotted her older brother coming down the stairs before tossing a basket in his direction. "Catch!"

"By Sihlea." Marius caught it just inches from his face. "What's next? Throwing the axe?"

"Not inside the house." Gisela still picked up an axe to hand it over. Of the family members Frey had met so far, Gisela looked the most like Marius with the same color and texture on her hair and the same brown eyes and curved nose. "But get going already, or we'll all have colds by the end of the night."

"If you're in such a hurry, why don't you chop some wood?" Marius pinched her arm. "Don't let these sticks stop you."

"Ferran is asleep." Gisela turned to show the sleeping one year-old wrapped in a shawl on her back. "And he's kept me up since hours ago so I'd like to keep it that way."

Frey wanted to question the volume of everyone's conversations in light of that, but the boy didn't seem to mind at all.

"Oh, and Frey." Gisela turned to him instead. "Sym and Naiara told me you're going with the girls to fetch water, so get yourself two buckets from the kitchen.

Frey nodded without a word. Of course he would have preferred not to go. First of all if it had been his family, guests would not have to prepare anything because there would be servants to handle all that, and second of all he did not wish to go out in the cold to do chores. Staying at the summer house had been one thing, but Marius had handled the heavier labor and the weather had been nice, so Frey could find many complaints to stifle.

His inner dismay was interrupted as the front door opened, letting the poor fireplace's hard work out, and two men roughly his own age entered.

"Sym, your daughters wanna catch colds again," one of them called out while brushing snow off his clothes before proceeding to assist the man next to him with the same thing. "You might wanna sew those coats onto them by now."

Instead of Symeon, Naiara poked her head through the kitchen doorway with an exasperated look at the abandoned garments on the coat rack.

"I might just sew the gloves on as well," she agreed with an appreciative nod in the tattler's direction. "Thanks, Emilio."

Frey unknowingly squinted in thought. Emilio was one of the middle children, right? The only brother aside from Marius who was together with a man, conveniently named Frederic which meant both brothers had male partners with names starting with 'Fre'.

"Aw, don't look like that," Emilio suddenly said, waking Frey up from his thoughts by going forward to hug him. "I was going to say hello to you as well."

"That's not—"

"I'm Emilio." Emilio let go soon after that, realising Frey was not leaning into the hug too much. "And you must be Frey."

"It's a pleasure." Frey did not get further than that before the other man stepped forward.

"Frederic." He introduced himself with a handshake, possibly picking up on Frey's reluctance to hugs, or they shared a similar awkwardness around them.

"Oh, Emilio, perfect." Zaira walked out of the kitchen to greet her son. "I need you to lend Frey some clothes."

"What?" Emilio and Frey said in unison, and Zaira gestured up and down Frey's attire.

"Well he can't be wearing this." She shook her head, and Frey had to agree with her on that. "These clothes are not for wear and tear, and I think you two are the closest in size."

Frey gave Emilio a discreet glance. If he shared Marius' love for fashion just a little, he would have chosen colours fitting his complexion, and Frey could already tell they would clash with him.

"I suppose... While I help out with the preparations." He still tried smiling. "I'll just wear these later."

"You'll be wearing a robe." Zaira waved him along, and Frey followed her back into the kitchen where she pointed to a wall filled to the width with deep red robes. "It's a traditional garment for dumalain."

"Ah..." Frey nodded. At least those wouldn't be unflattering colour-wise.

"Now get on with the water, dear." Zaira handed him two empty buckets. "I hear Nipia and Nilay are already outside. Grab their coats on your way out, will you?"

After changing into what he'd correctly guessed were not fitting clothes for him and with some help from Naiara, he found the right coats and hung them over his arm to free his hands for bucket purposes. Once outside it wasn't difficult to spot the girls. They were talking to who Frey assumed was the youngest of Marius' siblings, Zinon. Just a little older than the girls and taking after their mother appearance-wise.

"Here." Frey put the buckets down to hand the girls their coats, refraining from expressing strong disagreement as they both grabbed the coat least fitting their own complexions. Just a trade would have made significant improvement.

"There." One of them held out her arms to show off the coat. "Happy?"

Not as happy as Frey would have been if they'd exchange coats, but happy enough.

"I... Wouldn't force you to wear them," Frey tried explaining under their disgruntled stares. "But your parents told me to bring them."

"Right." The other one curled her lip, but at least didn't pin the blame on him. "Let's go, then."

The fact that Zinon tagged along as well made Frey feel unnecessary at first, finding three people with two buckets each more than enough, but as the teenagers turned around to head out again after dumping the water into a larger barrel in the kitchen, Frey had to think again.

They were fetching another round.

Three rounds, actually.

Frey couldn't be more grateful that the well was not far away, but his freezing hands still ached once he poured the last water into a second barrel. Perhaps he should have asked for gloves to be sewn onto his hands as well.

"Well done, dear." Zaira ruffled his hair. "I'll leave the plates to you, then."

Great.

Not taking any chances, Frey decided to carry fewer plates at a time. He'd only placed six of them on the long dining table when the front door was opened again, and two children around five or six years old barged straight ahead into the room.

"No— No, Lyros." A man, seemingly also around Frey's age, groaned while Frey hurried out of the way to avoid an unfortunate meeting between children and the plates in his hands. "Phili— Lyros, Philipo, you can't run inside with your boots, you'll get snow everywhere."

Once again, Frey had to think. A middle child, two sons, and an absent or non existent partner suggested this was Thalis.

"Hello," Frey decided to be the first to introduce himself this time. "I'm Frey."

"Thalis," Thalis confirmed Frey's suspicions, going forward to pull Frey into a strong hug. A long, strong hug.

"It's, uh..." Frey awkwardly patted his back as Thalis did not let go. "... Nice to meet you."

"Yeah, you too." Thalis was in no hurry, and Frey gently tried to pull away without result.

"Well, I shouldn't keep you," he tried, but Thalis shook his head.

"I just need this, alright?"

Frey pinched his lips together. Right. The newly partnerless sibling.

"I'll take over here." Marius' voice was like music to Frey's ears, and Thalis finally let go to greet his younger brother instead.

"Ugh, you're much colder than him," Thalis complained, and Marius huffed.

"Been chopping wood, and you're no fireplace either."

Frey stepped away from the two, breathing out only to end up colliding with someone who just entered through the door, once again forcing Frey to experience a gust of unwelcome winter air.

"Oop, my bad." Another man held Frey at an arm's length, and this one couldn't more obviously be related to Marius. Much like Gisela, they shared an uncanny amount of features, except this one had shorter hair and a taller build.

To his dismay, Frey was already getting overwhelmed. People were beginning to flood the place, and he'd barely connected everyone's faces and names into his mind.

"Veysel," the man introduced himself, and Frey took his hand. So he was the second oldest brother.

"And I'm Irene." A woman with a Gralian accent waved from behind him. "Nice to meet you."

Veysel and Irene, Frey registered in his mind, searching it for more information. No children, and if he didn't remember wrong they traveled a lot.

"And of course Jim would be the last to arrive." Symeon exaggerated a sigh as he noticed the new arrivals. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Excuse you," another voice came from the doorway, and Veysel stepped aside to let a tall woman with curly hair and piercings covering her ears and lower lip past him. "We got here ten seconds after these two, so shut up."

"So judgy," Veysel agreed with folded arms while Irene handed out a hug to who had to be Jimena, the last sibling Frey had to learn the appearance of.

Well, her, and her husband and three children who came through the door soon after.

In a way, it was easy to separate her husband, who introduced himself as Enver, from the others. He wasn't necessarily the shortest man Frey had ever witnessed, but there was a notable difference between him and the other men, and compared to his wife who stood taller than most, it couldn't be more memorable.

Frey did conclude that the children could be a problem, however, because now there were eight of them, and while the teenage girls and the one year-old were easy to separate from the rest, the other six ranged from around five and ten years old, and he was bound to mix up some of them.

"Veysel, Jimena, I could use your help with the desserts." Zaira did not waste time putting everyone to work. "Irene, Thalis, Enver, you take care of setting the table— and don't forget the decorations."

She paused to look at Frey.

"Oh, right, I asked you to put the plates out." She looked around in thought. "Well, why don't you help my mother keep an eye on the children instead?"

Once again in a year, Frey found himself on babysitting duty instead of being entrusted with house chores.

The children had been asked to play in a sitting room further inside the tavern, and Frey soon spotted the old woman he was supposed to assist.

"I am Saray," the woman introduced herself as Frey sat down next to her. "I apologise. Not very good at Wyperan."

At last, Frey could feel appreciated.

"Actually, I speak Gralian," he replied in said language, and Saray's face brightened up in an instant.

"What a surprise!"

"My job has required me to learn multiple languages and I have a lot of connections in Gralia, so it only made sense." He ended up sharing her excitement. "And it's a beautiful language, too."

"Hey." One of the children, Frey was pretty sure it was Lyros, came up to him. "What's wrong with your face?"

For a second, or maybe third time of the day, Frey refrained from saying things out loud, this time being him retorting with asking the boy what was wrong with his face.

"I... Don't think there's anything wrong with my face..." Frey laughed sheepishly despite his annoyance. Of course he knew what the boy was referring to, but he was not going to invite further questions.

"Lyros is quite inquisitive," Saray apologised in the child's stead. "He doesn't mean any ill will, but do tell him if he's crossing a line."

Frey did not want to get off on the wrong foot with anyone, even if that anyone was a child. He wanted to make a good impression on everyone.

Then a hand passed by his nose, almost reaching up to his scar.

"Don't!" Frey had flinched away before thinking, causing Lyros to back off an equal amount.

"Why?" The child put his hand down. "What is that scar, anyway?"

"It's..." Frey did not want to tell that whole story, but he didn't want them to be so casual about it to the point of touching it either. "... It's cursed."

The childrens' eyes widened.

"What?"

"Yeah, it's... I'm cursed. I was cursed by a... garm."

"A werewolf?" One of the older girls, Sinem, looked aghast, and Frey nodded.

"One of the biggest ones, and if someone touches this scar, the garm will know and it will... Come to hunt the cursed person down."

Philipo took a step back to hide behind Lyros.

"H— How did it happen?" Lyros looked like he wanted to hide behind someone as well, but ultimately chose to stay and shield his little brother instead. "How did you get away alive?"

"Oh, uh..." Frey had to think fast. Why would he have run into a garm? Where would he have run into a garm? It's not like they strolled past the house on occasion. "... I was out in the forest. I was taking my horse for a ride, and all of a sudden we heard a loud noise from behind the trees."

The children bundled closer to each other.

"And then, a— a giant, monstrous werewolf burst forth towards us." Frey held his arm up, trying to measure the imagined creature's height. "Fangs snapping at us, claws carving in the air, until one of them finally landed."

He gestured to his scar.

"And now, if someone other than me touches it, the garm will feel it and it will come for whoever dares to challenge its ferocity."

"But how did you escape?" Sinem wanted to know, and the other children nodded.

"Well... As luck would have it, it's been said that my horse is descended from unicorns." Frey smiled. He sure could have believed it. "And unicorns are immensely powerful, so her unicorn heritage must have awoken and she fought the beast off, at least enough so we could get out of there."

Aside from a brief, sceptical raised eyebrow from Lyros, the children gawked.

"She's a unicorn?" Philipo's eyes couldn't possibly get bigger. "And she fought a werewolf?"

"Unicorns are extinct," Lyros pointed out, not without a moment of hesitation.

"They are, but she's descended from one." Frey nodded with a voice so trustworthy he almost began believing it himself. "Which means she's not completely unicorn, but it's in her blood enough to fend off a garm."

It was almost a dream come true after that. Not only did Frey get to gush over Tea For Two and her family, but the exaggerated additions to make her story more magical had the children glued to their seats after gathering around him. Even Saray seemed intrigued, whether or not she believed him and whether or not she understood all of it, but her encouraging smile served as another ego boost to Frey.

"I believe we're just about done." Zaira entered the room, eyebrows arched at the silence and stillness of the group. "So if you're ready, we can begin the mar selerhe."

Frey squinted, hoping he was not expected to know what that was. He had to believe Marius would have told him if it was something complicated, at least.

They passed by the now somehow breathtaking main room, every inch of the walls filled with colorful tapestries and garlands in red and blue. The tables had been set with cloth and napkins of the same colours, and gold dyed candles were just waiting to be lit.

Yet, they entered the kitchen, making Frey fear the event included more chores.

"What are we doing?" he whispered to Marius who finally joined his side.

"Mar selerhe."

"So I heard, but you never told me about it." Frey remained clueless as a thick, blue carpet with golden embroidery was placed in the middle of the room. "What do I do?"

"Well, we all take turns to sit on that carpet."

"Why?"

"Supposedly, you'll be able to see things from a different point of view, to understand people better."

Frey furrowed his brow.

"By sitting on a carpet?"

"It'll make sense once you do it."

Frey doubted it, but he didn't know enough to object. If he had to sit on a carpet to reflect on things, he could, if only to humour the others.

The kitchen had been transformed into an impressively cozy place, with candles lit along the walls and embroidered linens in matching colour schemes as the other room covering the tables and workbenches.

"Who's first?" Zaira looked around at the crowd, fixing her eyes on Frey. "How about you, dear? It's your first celebration, after all."

"Uh..." Frey winced. "... Wouldn't it be easier if someone who's done it before goes first so I can watch it once?"

"Don't worry." Marius placed a hand around his shoulder to lead him forward. "We can do it together."

"So it's like we'll see each others' points of view better?"

Marius nodded with a comforting smile before gently pushing Frey's shoulder down to make him sit.

"Do you know the story behind mar selerhe, dear?" Zaira asked, and Frey pursed his lips with a slow shake of his head.

"I guess I figured Marius would have told me about things like these."

Zaira sighed.

"That sure sounds like him though." She waved for everyone to gather closer. "You see, dear, it's said that back in the day, Zestrei had been caught in the crossfire of two warring countries for a long, long time. Resources had been depleted and people were suffering, enough so Sihlea, our revered deity, cried over their people's suffering for such a long time that two waterfalls of sorrow were created."

Frey would not question the logic. His own faith was no less whimsical sometimes.

"At one point, when the war was at its worst, people couldn't take it anymore," Zaira continued, gravely. "Riots began, and the leaders of the two countries were captured and brought to the waterfalls to see what they had caused. How much suffering their bloodthirst had created. Now, these two waterfalls came to represent each side, and it's said that witnessing each other's sides that way, the leaders came to an understanding, and the war ended soon after."

Frey let out a quiet breath. If only it was that simple.

"So, Frey, is there a point of view you'd wish to understand better?" Marius asked from behind him. "Some opinion or life you would like to see clearer?"

A lot of them. Frey could count forever. Up until meeting Marius he'd rarely bothered with trying to understand other people past what he needed to exploit them, but it hardly seemed like something to bring up as a first impression. Besides, Marius had already offered to be there with him.

"I... Suppose it would be nice to know you better. To see things your way now and then."

"That is pretty common, and a valid way to use this tradition," Marius agreed. "So, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and just relax.

Frey did as he was told. What was he supposed to think about, though? What Marius must have gone through his whole life? Was that possible? Was what he knew about him enough to reflect on?

Well, he could at least give it a try.

"Frey, do you remember when we met for the first time?" Marius then asked, and Frey made a face. It had not been the greatest introduction, what with the cruel treatment Frey had given him. He could see how that was a good place to begin his thought journey.

"I do, and I'm sorry."

"And it's a relief to hear you say that," Marius said softly. "Perhaps you won't be too mad then when I tell you that revenge is very, very sweet.

Frey opened his eyes.

"What—"

His attempted words were replaced by a loud gasp as a bucket of water was dunked over his head.

"Wh—" he sputtered, blinking the water away from his eyes as the others cheered. "That's the tradition?"

"Not quite."

Another round of water fell over Frey's head, and it dawned on Frey why he'd had to fetch so much from the well.

"There we go," Marius cheerfully announced, at long last having gotten back at Frey for the bucket tipping incident back when they first met. "Now you've seen both waterfalls."

Frey wiped his face with a hand.

"The... Water represents waterfalls?"

"Sure it does." Marius placed a towel on Frey's head to dry it. "The leaders were brought to stand in each waterfall, but since we can't travel to stand in the actual ones in Zestrei, we do this instead."

He leaned down to face Frey.

"So, did it work? Can you see my point of view better?"

"I can see myself sleeping on the floor tonight, yes."

The rest of the family laughed at that, and Frey was helped up to give room for the next in line. The thick carpet was replaced for a dry one, and everyone took turns getting drenched under more laughs and cheers. At least it turned out they were using a nicer looking wooden basin instead of a regular bucket, and the lukewarm water had a pleasant scent added to it.

"Here you go, dear." Zaira handed over one of the robes along with blue, loose fitting pants. "We'll be lighting a fire in the cabin outside as soon as everyone's done."

So it doubled as a bathrobe.

It was uncommon for Frey's surroundings to show an excessive amount of bare skin, but as Frey looked around it seemed everyone else were content with just the pants and open robe, and since he'd decided on following their customs, he had to commit to it as well.

"So you're not gonna pay me back?" Marius looked a little hurt as he waited for Frey. Of course, payback was always fun but Marius wanted it so it didn't count. Still, he had to humour him, so he tipped the basin twice as ceremoniously as he could, resisting the urge to rub Marius' hair with the towel to make it frizzy.

By the time everyone had gotten sufficiently soaked, Zaira and Symeon had already gotten the fire started, so Frey faced a welcome wall of heat as he opened the door to the small, octagon cabin on the other side of the garden.

The inside consisted mainly of benches and a large fire pit in the middle, so with all twenty-three of them inside, it soon became too warm. Suffocating, in fact.

"Here, try this." Jimena sat down next to him to hand over a mug of undisclosed liquid. Frey avoided looking at the bare skin showing beneath her robe out of habit, instead pretending to study the symbols he couldn't recognize tattooed on her forearms.

Along with the piercings and incredible height, he concluded if Annarósa had a type aside from her wife, this woman would be it.

He smelled the drink. Some kind of beer, he reckoned. It wasn't his least preferable alcoholic beverage, but he was on the other hand picky about the taste. Much like everything else that day, however, he was determined to keep an open mind.

"Not a beer fellow, huh?" Jimena grinned at him after his first taste, causing Frey to blink. He'd been so careful not to show it. Despite the unpleasant bitterness he hadn't wrinkled his nose or suggested any negative emotion from his body language, so why was it that easy to tell?

"I drink beer sometimes," he objected, putting the mug to his lips again to disprove her but Jimena's smile only widened.

"That was the daintiest sip I've ever seen."

"And that's enough bullying from you, Jim." Veysel sat down on the other side of Frey. "If he doesn't want to drink beer, he doesn't have to drink beer."

"It's good beer." Jimena huffed at her older brother. "And it's what we always drink."

"Hush," Veysel scolded her before handing Frey a smaller glass with a thicker kind of drink. "And you try this instead. Irene and I bought it last time we were in Zestrei, so should be appropriate enough for today."

Frey could tell already from the scent that he would hate it. It was much too sweet and the clear presence of cinnamon was not likely to help.

But, open mind.

"It's sweet," was all he could think of commenting after forcing it down, and Veysel grimaced.

"Damn, I thought maybe it would be more to your taste since you don't like beer."

"No, I— I like beer." Frey wanted to rub his eyes. Do something with his hands or to cover his face. The intensity around him was becoming too much, not to mention the stinging heat and brightness from the fire.

"Alright, let's not get him wasted." Marius broke through the rest of the crowd, shoving Veysel aside to sit down next to Frey. "And give him some space to breathe."

"It's one drink." Veysel held the glass up before downing it himself. "And barely any alcohol."

Marius ignored him, instead leaning closer to Frey.

"You alright?" he asked, predicting that might indeed not be the case.

"It's... A lot," Frey admitted, wishing to crawl into himself from all the noise and people bumping into each other, and him, all at the same time.

"Could you all maybe sit down?" Marius raised his voice to calm his family. "And behave, yes, even you children."

It was a nice gesture, but Frey was already overwhelmed. Every graze against him or sharp noise made him flinch and his skin crawl, so eventually Marius had to intervene for real.

"Let's get you some air."

Frey followed him in silence, body still restless as if his muscles didn't know what to do with themselves, and Marius let him walk up to their room in silence.

"I'm sorry about the mar selerhe." He closed the door behind them and fetched a blanket to wrap around Frey. "I understand if it became too much, I just thought it was a good opportunity to get revenge."

"It's not that." Frey pulled his knees up to his chin and slowly rocked from side to side. "It's just too much at the same time."

"They can be a lot to deal with, even at the best of times," Marius agreed. "Guess I'm just used to it."

"I shouldn't keep you," Frey mumbled. "You should go down and be with them."

Marius gave him a discerning look.

"Do you want me to?"

"I don't want to ruin your celebration."

"We haven't even eaten yet." Marius shrugged. "There's plenty of time if you want me to stay, but if you want to be alone, I'll go."

"Maybe I should be alone a little while," Frey suggested, not necessarily meaning it, but he hated the idea of keeping Marius from his family because of his condition.

Marius nodded, appearing uncertain whether Frey meant it or not as well, but he could only act on what he was told.

"Remember what I said." He pulled the blanket up to cover Frey's still damp hair. "No one's gonna think it's strange that you need some rest, so don't spiral."

Frey shook his head, sinking deeper into the blanket with his eyes fixed forward at the opposite wall

"Alright, well..." Marius looked around, picking up a vase from the bedside table. "... I can see this window from the cabin, so I'll check now and then and if you want me to come back you just put this in the window."

Frey nodded.

"I'll see you later, then." Marius smiled, patting the mattress beside Frey's leg before leaving.

It was hard not to feel bad, no matter how much Marius insisted on it being fine. Frey had tried so hard to make a good impression but his body wouldn't let him. Stupid body.

He had to make up for it. He'd used charm as part of his profession his whole life, why would things be different now? Because these people were different from his social circle? Because any time he'd interacted with similar people he'd been condescending and cruel and being nice had never occurred to him?

Yeah, probably that.

So he'd be the opposite. These people were loud, ignorant to sensitive matters, and willing to emphasize with all points of view by waterboarding each other. And he would have to embrace it, even though it would require more from his overstimulated mind than he'd thought. If not for a good first impression then for Marius.

In an attempt to sort his thoughts and calm down, he tried attaching Marius' siblings and their families to their faces, now that he'd seen them. The downside, as it turned out, was that it had the same effect as counting sheep and Frey barely reached Emilio's name before drifting off to sleep.