>>5981354>>5981329>>5981101>>5981033>>5981031“W-well,” you begin, then clear your throat and start again. “Sir, we have a fairly massive undertaking ongoing at the moment… Actually, a FEW, if I’m being honest.”
“This new business of yours?” Mister Fanucci asks.
“’Business’ involving the Queen, and Prince Consort, and the Gods,” you say, “but yes—the business at Old Maple Hill and in town here is important, too. There’s going to be a lot to do-for me AND for Costella.”
“Business for a man to attend to,” Edmondo Fanucci says pointedly, tapping your chest. “A woman’s business, once she’s married, is caring for the home and for children., first and foremost.”
Costella frowns a little, but you see something else in her posture and body language as you glance over her father’s shoulder: consideration, and an ambivalence that is not wholly ne-sided. She’s considering it. She’s… Interested in the idea. And by the way she hovers back, rather than interrupting to rescue you, you infer something else: she is interested, too, in what YOU have to say on the subject.
“I… Ah… Well, I mean, there’s not really a RUSH, exactly. As a half-elf, my age is… That is to say, both myself AND Costella have a long life ahead of us, with lots of opportunity. Right now… Well, it’s like I told Missus Fanucci: I want to be there to care for any children we have, and set up a firm foundation and—”
“And, and and,” Mister Fanucci sighs. “Ezreal, I appreciate you taking your time to plan, and not being reckless with the decisions which affect you and my daughter, but at a certain point a man’s got to ACT. You almost lost Costella to Carlos, putting off this engagement! Who knows what you’ll miss if you dilly-dally on this forever, huh?”
You… Wouldn’t exactly characterize it that way, but again you simply frown and listen, neither nodding along nor arguing the pint. Not yet.
“Costella’s mother was two years younger than she is now, when Costella was born. Women who put off having their children too late never have them, or they’re more likely to have a difficult pregnancy.”
“Again, we’re both quite young and with my magic—”
“Magic doesn’t change anything, Ezreal. I don’t want my daughter living alone with someone like this, so people will talk about her, and to have her putting off her life until there’s no more ‘business’ to attend to. Take it from someone who knows, boy: business never sleeps, and it never stops. There’s ALWAYS more ‘business’, one way or another.”
