The Estate, Sidra, Glacia, Friday (Fandom Time)

[glacial_queen]

It was a beautiful day in early fall, the kind of day where warm sunshine poured over the land like honey, saved from being overly warm by a refreshing breeze. The leaves had started to turn colors on the edges and the air smelled green as the crops in the fields readied themselves for harvest. Glacian winters were long and bitterly cold, the summers short and generally humid, and the springs chilly and damp, but their autumns were damn near perfect.

Karla and Warren had recently had a birthday, at least according to the island's calendar, which was a good enough reason to celebrate. Nommy, who had been kind of colicky and sickly when he'd been born seemed to be growing out of both traits and now, at two months, was old enough to start meeting the family his parents had met and made at Fandom. And over in Ebon Rih, Lucivar's wife, Marian, had just given birth to a healthy son, Daemonar, leaving Lucivar both pole-axed and proud. Three reasons made for a party, right?

Sending out quick, handwavy invites over phone calls and social media, Karla and Ermengarde set up a casual tea in one of the gardens in the back of the Estate, giving the children plenty of room to run around and explore while the adults had space to relax and enjoy the good weather and better company.

[Open! Blow the dust off your alumni and have them come visit! If you think you got an invite, you certainly did. Many thanks to future_sandworm who made sure this happened! SP forever.]

Comments

[future_sandworm]

"Nothing unexpected," Leto replied, smiling back. He assumed Jack wasn't interested in the political events of his universe. "My sister is home for the summer, and I think Hania will make the most of the time with her aunt." He nodded towards his daughter who was reaching for a cookie a few tables away.

"What about you?"

[bitten_notshy]

"How'd she get so tall?" Jack marveled, before turning his attention back to Leto. "And nothing too unexpected for me, either. I'm still managing Devil's Nest and next year is my last of law school."

[future_sandworm]

"I often ask myself that too," Leto said with a laugh, before adding: "Have you made plans for after law school?"

[bitten_notshy]

"I want to do civil rights law, and if I can figure out how to pass the bar there it looks like I'll be heading to Emma's world," Jack said, with a glance to the girl in question. "We're planning to get married, but we aren't in any hurry. How is Alice?"

[future_sandworm]

"Congratulations," Leto replied. "For when you decide it's time. And you feel at home in Emma's world? It's good when you can find a place that suits you both. I'm happy that Alice could find a new home on Arrakis. And she is well, by the way." He smiled.

[bitten_notshy]

Jack hesitated a tiny bit.

"I'm glad," he said. "And I'm more comfortable in hers than she is in mind, I suppose. Besides, she's more rooted. I'm a man out of time even at home."

[future_sandworm]

Leto didn't acknowledge that he had noticed the hesitation. "That could be a reason as good as any to find a new home."

[bitten_notshy]

It wasn't anything against Emma's world. It was just that when you grew up with magic widely acknowledged, a world where it hid in the shadows seemed ... well, a bit primitive, at best.

But one of them had to bend if they didn't want to be in different worlds forever, and Jack figured it might as well be him.

"It is, isn't it?" Jack agreed. "And honestly, I've been there so much visiting her I almost feel like it's home already."

[future_sandworm]

"I suppose there are some thing you'll miss though," Leto said. "Although I don't think Alice does. She felt the Victorian age was too constricting."

[bitten_notshy]

"She took all that harder than I did," Jack admitted. "We got into a proper row about it once. Wasn't pleasant."

He sipped his tea and squinted a bit, thinking. "Personally, I like having a few rules. Makes it more fun to break them."

[future_sandworm]

Leto smiled. "Alice has never liked rules that she didn't make up herself. But then, from what I understand those rules were a lot harder for women, which might explain your differing opinions."

[bitten_notshy]

"That's true too," Jack agreed readily. "And I was raised by a vampire, which I suspect was a touch different from life in an English village."

[future_sandworm]

"Quite likely." he smiled again. "Emma's world is closer to Fandom time, isn't it?"

[bitten_notshy]

"Much closer," Jack nodded. "Honestly, I forget there's a difference unless I'm looking right at a newspaper."

[future_sandworm]

"At least that is something you're familiar with then," Leto replied with a small nod. "I find myself returning to Fandom more often recently."

[bitten_notshy]

"Any particular reason, or just the ebb and flow of life?" Jack wondered. "Not that it hasn't been charming lately, with all the hopping around in space."

[future_sandworm]

"I've missed the changing locations so far," Leto grinned. "But no, no particular reason, other than perhaps having more friends to visit. Well," he added, "It is also different from my world in ways I find I miss, but that is just the ebb and flow."