Ghis (closed)

[KieranSoares]

Once Marianne had her beloved grandson in her arms, she remembered herself and looked to Kate and Kell. "I suppose it's 'welcome home' this time," she murmured with a smile. "It'll be lovely to have the castle full of life for a while."

 

[heartofcourage]

"YOu just spoil that little boy and relax. It's my turn to protect Scotland." Kate said softly as she greeted Marianne.

 

[KieranSoares]

"We'll start talking business tomorrow, then," Marianne nodded. "All the rot and blight I get to hand off and such." She chuckled to herself, a sound rarely heard from Marianne anymore, and she welcomed Kayla and Aleister to come follow her as she showed them their room. Servants came to show each family group to their own cluster of rooms, and Kate and Kell we're shown to theirs before they came back down and found Ashien and Kayla and their families waiting for everyone. Ashien had his son by his side and Kayla hers while Dylandra and Christopher happily looked after the girls.

 

[heartofcourage]

Christopher stood serene with Lena in his arms, the tiny baby sleeping peacefully. Dylandra played peacemaker among her girls. The young Ghis brood was loud and vocal, arguing with one another as any band of sisters might.

 

[KieranSoares]

"Girls," Ashien spoke up to quiet his daughters as Kate entered, Kell close behind her. Ashien stepped forward to hug her tightly and kiss her cheek. "Hello, my love," he murmured, unwilling to let her go for a long moment.

 

[heartofcourage]

The girls quieted at their father's insistence, but they still groused. Kate grinned as her uncle came to greet her with open arms, holding on to her tightly for a long moment.

"I'm happy to see you, Uncle Ash." Kate said softly, kissing his cheek in return.

 

[KieranSoares]

"I wouldn't miss this all for the world." He drew back and took a long look at her with a soft smile. "None of us would."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Besides, it gives us an excuse to get together when we otherwise wouldn't." Kayla said softly as she greeted her niece just as fondly. "I'm proud of you, Kate. We all are."

Kate smiled at the both of them, feeling a little teary at the attention that everyone was giving her.

 

[KieranSoares]

"And we brought a present for Khan," Ashien mentioned. "Asha and Ballas are outside."

 

[heartofcourage]

"Good. Maybe they've can keep him in line. He's a terror." She said with a smile as she pulled away from her uncle and looked at her gathered family. "It does me a world of good to know that you all are here."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Mostly, anyway," Ashien chuckled, catching his son seemingly daydreaming. He nudged Burke and the boy quickly straightened and glanced between the adults. Ashien smiled to Kate once more. "We arrived yesterday, Kayla a day before us. And Marianne immediately recruited us into dealing with some troublesome nobles trying to rain on your parade."

 

[heartofcourage]

"They can rain all they like. The only people that matter are my family." Kate said with a smile as Burke straightened up at his father's judge. "How are things at Darkwood Manor, Burke? All of the horses and drakes staying in line?"

Burke was getting tall, much taller than his sister Ashleigh. He would also be a handsome man when he was fully grown. If he could shake loose of his shy and serious ways, he might also make a great soldier in his own right.

 

[KieranSoares]

Burke, whom most people had only heard speak a handful of words in all his years with the family, only nodded. Even his own immediate family rarely heard him speak, and they barely knew more about him than anyone else.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Bo." Dylan said softly as he only nodded. "Your cousin asked you a question. Answer her politely."

Dylan worked hard on all of her children, struggling to keep them from dissolving into a band of heathens. She was close to each one, but the youngest girls and Burke seemed to have an even tighter relationship with their father. They all seemed to be cut from the same cloth. Ashleigh was the only one remotely like her mother.

 

[KieranSoares]

Burke looked to his mother for a moment, his gaze telling her silently that he'd rather not. But because he knew and liked Kate, he obliged. Looking back to Kate, he murmured, "They've all been good."

 

[heartofcourage]

"It didn't kill you, did it?" Kate said with a grin to her younger cousin.

 

[KieranSoares]

Burke didn't answer that, looking ever so slightly sheepish. He wasn't shy of Kate. If anything, she was one of the cousins he was fairly close with despite almost never speaking. Ashien sighed and shooed him away to join his sisters, to whom he was an able and beloved chaperone that tended to get their attention and cooperation better than their parents.

 

[heartofcourage]

Dylan wrapped her arm around her son's shoulders, hugging him against her side before she let him be. Burke never let her show too much affection in public. She took what he would willingly give her and was happy for the moment.

 

[KieranSoares]

It wasn't that Burke didn't love his adoptive mother. She was, after all, his savior. She had found him desperately digging through Darkwood Manor's trash in the dark and cold of winter when Ashien was away and Dylandra had just returned from the palace. The ragged boy with nothing but a shirt and trousers, not even shoes, had attempted to flee in terror at her arrival, but Kiva had caught him at her suggestion, and they brought him inside. He had never told her his story, only that he was alone and had nothing and no home. Kiva had considered the boy might be a workhouse runaway, an orphan sent to a horrible boardinghouse with barely enough to eat. Such boarding houses were nightmares, turning children into monsters as they aged, mimicking the brutality of those who hired them out. The only way many could sleep through fear, hunger, misery, and painful exhaustion at night was through a heavy helping of alcohol allotted by the house overseers who wanted the children rested and able to work in the mornings. Kiva was certain by Burke's lean and muscular build, completely out of sorts for a child of his age at the time, and the look of depression and the old soul in his eyes that this had been Burke's previous fate.

After keeping Burke for a few days to feed and clothe him, a man came looking for him, confirming he was from a work house. When Dylandra had refused to send the boy back to such a fate, the man summoned guards to seize Burke. In a moment of desperation for the boy's safety, Dylandra insisted that she wanted to hire him. And within the week of keeping Burke at the manor for his safety, she chose to adopt him the moment Ashien returned.

 

[heartofcourage]

Dylan loved all of her children intensely. Burke had proven to be a smart and lovely little boy, willing to protect his new baby sister when Ashleigh came along. It didn't matter that they were not related by blood, he was going to do his best to repay the kindness that Dylan had shown to him by taking him out of his horrific home and into the manor without hesitation.

"Amy, stop!" Gracie's voice called out as her older sister Amalia did something that had escaped her notice.

Dylan let out a sigh and glanced towards Ash, knowing that the three sisters were going through some growing pains. It seemed that the trip from London to Edinburgh had stretched them all thin. They couldn't be kind to one another any longer.

"Ashleigh. Amalia. Grace. I have had enough." Dylandra scolded, her daughters all looking towards her with their wide, dark eyes. "To your rooms. Now."

 

[KieranSoares]

When the girls hesitated, Burke shepherded them along. "Go on," he muttered. "Time to settle down." He ushered them to the stairs and saw each of them to their rooms, taking a moment to assure each that they wouldn't be in trouble, just that everyone's nerves were frayed. He eventually came back down after bringing books to the girls, and went about his own business.

 

[heartofcourage]

"Pace yourself when it comes to children, Katherine. They are lovely most of the time, but they will wear you down." Dylan said softly, looking back at her niece as Kayla nodded in agreement. "And when they outnumber you, it is magnified ten times."

 

[KieranSoares]

Ashien chuckled to himself, looking at Dylandra. Ashleigh had been planned, and while they knew they wanted a second, Amalia had come unexpectedly, a bit soon for their plans, and then Gracie had come without any warning despite the couple being careful. Ashien had gotten absolute hell from Dylandra the first night that all three girls needed their attention at once, but Burke had saved his skin by quietly distracting Ashleigh until they could get to her. And after that, he often preempted his parents in tending to his sisters' basic needs. He knew Ashien had a job, and he knew both of his parents still loved their art, and so he gave them that precious time to pursue it.

 

[heartofcourage]

Dylan had given Ashien hell when she found out they were having Gracie. Their family was supposed to be complete after Amalia. She had made Ash sleep in another part of the manor for days until she had decided to forgive him. She loved her little Gracie, but she hadn't been prepared for a third baby. Burke had been a lifesaver and still was when it came to all three girls.

 

[KieranSoares]

The entire family gathered properly that evening, those from Inverness meeting the others with the noisy and endearing love the clan was known for. Adoring aunts and uncles greet nieces and nephews, not with the awkwardness some families had, but real and adoring excitement. Ashien's girls were scooped up by Boar and Durban while Dylandra greeted Alex, a boy much like her own, but more socially adjusted. He and Burke got along particularly well, though wordlessly. They understood each other.