It had been incredibly hard for Evadne, but over the past two days she had managed to keep up her mask of indifference almost flawlessly. With great discipline, she was learning to control and not to show her anger by meditation and placing her view of things outside herself, as if she was looking down on the situation, instead of processing events the moment they hit her. It was a tiresome road to walk, and at the end of both days she had been completely knocked out. A good thing too, because if she hadn't been, she would probably have refused to sleep in Taladan's presence. Her father, however, had apologised in his own, clumsy way, for bluntly placing the new bed in her room without even a moment of consideration or consultation for Evadne's ideas about that. And since Arthur Gabor hardly ever apologised, Evadne had found it hard to stay mad at him.
Now, as she was picking out her clothes for the festival tonight, she was looking forward immensely to talking to other people. People that weren't half as annoying as Taladan, not half so well-smelling, and twice as easy to reject. Hesitating, Evadne held up two different shirts. One was lavender, matching her eyes, with short sleeves, and the other was sleeveless, low cut and black. She decided on the black shirt, not feeling quite colourful enough for the purple one. Together with tight black pants and flats, she would look rather dark, which fitted her mood exactly. And it was a peasant's festival, with lots of beer if she assumed things were the same as last year, and since she was also going there on horseback there was no place to wear a dress. For which Evadne was most grateful.
She had only just dressed when Arthur knocked on the door and said dinner was ready, and about half a minute later Evadne emerged from her bedroom, pushing a hand through her damp, freshly washed hair. As expected, Taladan immediately took advantage of the occasion and complimented her on her outfit flamboyantly. Also, he pulled out a chair for her while taking the seat that had become his own.
Evadne ignored both.
Instead, she took the chair next to her father, opposite of Taladan. "Have a nice meal," she said in general, avoiding to speak to Taladan directly. She had figured that if happiness, anger and utter frustration didn't throw him off balance, something like this must. "Are you joining me tonight, father?" Evadne inquired while she put some salad on her plate. Arthur was already focused on his dinner, and Evadne had to repeat her question. "Ah," he said then. "Yes, I will. So I am afraid you will have to share your Romeo with Taladan. Emanuelle is not big enough to carry the burden to two people on her back, I'm afraid."
Evadne was determinedly avoiding any eye contact between her and the bard, so it took her a moment to realise her father had finished speaking. "Oh, no need," she answered lightly. "Thayer is coming here before we go, so I can ride with him."
Arthur mumbled something unintelligible, probably remarking on her stubbornness to do anything that involved Taladan. It wasn't as if he hadn't noticed she was up ridiculously early every morning to be able to take care of the cattle and horses before Taladan could join her. Only when he sent her one of his angry gazes she occasionally answered the bard, always addressing him with "Mr Ewing" or "sir". Arthur rolled his eyes. It was about time this madness stopped.