Puppets and Puppeteers

Chapter VII - Family Business

When Cerys received the letter from her sister, she was ecstatic. She wouldn't stop talking about it, wondering how her sister got married and she couldn't even see her dressed as a bride. And then she got depressed, said it was all her fault because she left her family and now her sister probably resents her. Next, she started to badmouth her father, babbling about how he probably made Astrea marry some old weirdo.

"We need to go there now!", she screamed one day. "Rikka, we must go right now! What if we get there too late and Astri decides never to talk with me again?"

"Love, she said that everything is okay. And even if we wanted to, we can't leave here today. We need to put everything in order before going anywhere".

"So, we must work fast! I will get my suitcase ready!"

It didn't matter that it would take us weeks until we could leave the manor, and the journey itself would take almost a week. When the lands of the country were divided, the dukes took the cardinal points and the marquises the collaterals. Hence, we have the four dukes: Vilhjálmr in the north; Rhydderch in the West; Etxeberria in the East; and Conwenna in the South. The four marquises are: Arud, northwest; Argyris, southwest; Zubizarreta, southeast; and us, the Laukkanen, in the northeast. According to the letter, Astrea's husband, the third prince, kept the royal's summer mansion that is between the Conwenna and Argyris's dominium. Basically, we'll have to cross the country to get there. Try to explain that to your wife who hasn't seen her baby sister in eight years.

"Bowen! Let's go see auntie Astri?", she asked our six-year-old.

"Who?" Bowen looks a lot like Cerys, but his personality is mine. His serious face makes him look like an adult, not a young child.

"Aunt Astri, I told you about her". She answered childishly, as if his comment broke her heart.

"Doesn't she live on the other side of the country? Mom, are you planning on running there or doing something inconsequent again?", sometimes, our kids were too mature.

"You're no fun, Bowen".

It took a while to make her calm down and come to terms with the fact that we couldn't leave everything and go to the other side of the country. And on the way there, she acted like a kid with the typical "are we there yet?". However, when we arrived, she was exhausted and just wanted to go to sleep. She later felt frustrated because she didn't give her sister a big hug. I already came to terms with the fact that my wife is a big ball of emotions, but she still makes my life a pleasurable unpredictability.

"Love, let's go to sleep. You can just give her an even bigger hug tomorrow".

"Okay, but just because I'm basically asleep already".

However, when she saw her sister the next day, she was uncapable of saying anything. I looked as she politely saluted her sister, in a distant and extremely formal way. I could see that she just wanted to throw away all that formality and jump into her sister's arms, but she contained herself. We talked about this before, how she felt guilty for leaving her family, for abandoning her mother and sister to deal with a toxic and narcissistic father. But I could see in her actions that Astrea was much like her sister, be it her temper or personality. Cerys is much more bubbly and more enthusiastic, but they are both smart and stubborn women, with strong opinions about what they want and what they hate. And both want to just hug each other.

When we arrived, Cerys main concern was her sister's sudden marriage. Although Astrea tried to explain in her letter, Cerys was still not sure. Even in her sleep I could see her exclaiming get away from her. Cerys grew up in the Conwenna household, but she has been in the cold of the Laukkanen territory for almost a decade. Beyond her frilly exterior, she was fierce and overprotective. I could see her fight a terror and win.