Flower Gleam and Glow

I've Got a Dream

Later that night, as Erzsébet was cleaning the counter, Iryna came down the stairs and sat down.

"Iryna!" Erzsébet said. "I thought you'd gone to bed!"

"Natasha did," Iryna said, fiddling with the hem of her shirt. "You know she likes to be up in time to watch the sunrise. But I wanted to talk to you about something."

Erzsébet set the rag aside.

"Go ahead," she said.

"Do you and Roderich keep secrets from each other?" Iryna asked.

"Well, we don't know every single detail of each others' lives," Erzsébet said. "But I don't think that's what you mean. Is this about Matthew?"

Iryna sighed.

"Yes," she said. "This is about Matthew. Natasha—there are things she doesn't want me to tell him. Family things."

Erzsébet remained quiet, listening; she remembered how when Iryna and Matthew first started dating, Natalya would send Matthew icy glares; at least she wasn't doing that anymore.

"It's hard for her," Iryna continued. "I think she's afraid to let herself get close to anyone else after losing our parents, so she's convinced herself all she needs is me and she'll be fine. But I don't want to keep this from Matvey, either."

"Well, look at it like this," Erzsébet said. "Roderich and I are going to be married. We are family. And while some of his brothers may not like it—"—okay, so it was mostly Gilbert who was annoyed (they'd never really gotten along)—"—they accepted it. You have to decide how important Matthew is to you. It's your life, not Natalya's."

Iryna nodded.

"Thank you, Erzsébet," she said.

"Anytime, Iryna," Erzsébet responded.

________________________________________________________________________________

Alfred awoke to light creeping in through the window; he immediately woke Tolys, whose hair was strewn across the room.

"Tolys! Tolys, wake up!" he cried.

Tolys blearily sat up.

"Alfred?" he said after a moment. "What—"

"Breakfast!" Alfred said, bouncing on his feet. "Then we should head into town. The lanterns are tomorrow remember?"

Tolys nodded, and followed Alfred downstairs.

"Hello, Alfred," Erzsébet greeted as they sat down at the bar. "Hello, Tolys."

"Good morning, Erzsébet" Tolys said.

"I got you some rye bread with butter and cheese, just like you like," Erzsébet said to Alfred.

"Thanks, Erzsébet!" Alfred said as she put the plate in front of him. He didn't mean to be so picky--it was just that some things were just so gross, he couldn't eat it, no matter how hungry he was. It was something that worried Matthew, but Alfred hadn't been worried about it since Erzsébet had taken them in as teens. She'd never let them go hungry.

As she asked Tolys what he wanted, he tentatively asked for varškė , which she happily obliged—and, of course, Eduard got some breakfast as well. As the patrons filtered down for breakfast, the smell of food wafted through the air, and the chatter grew more animated—now that everyone was well-rested, they seemed even more interested in Tolys than they were last night.

"Roderich and I saw the floating lanterns last year," Erzsébet recalled. "It was very beautiful."

Roderich was currently not here—as someone who was adopted by a Germanican merchant but of noble birth, he had duties in the capital.