Christmas with Athelstan

[equal_of_any_man]

Olivier waits in the bar in his finest clothes – cote and gown all warm and well made, his black hair brushed back and shining, his face clean-shaven. His hawk yellow eyes dance as he smiles.

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[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan laughs.

"How could I refuse, my lady? I shall tell you all I can of your knight."

[equal_of_any_man]

"Oh please! I want to hear all about it." She drags him over to a private padded bench by the window, away from all the noise. She refills his cup with warmed wine, watered down a little but rich of flavour. "Now, Athelstan, friend to my knight. Tell me all about your adventures. How did you meet Olivier?"

[athelstanthescribe]

He shoots an apologetic look over his shoulder at Olivier and Yves, but he's sure they'll understand her determination.

"On the road here, as I came to see if I might practise my craft in the town."

[equal_of_any_man]

Olivier knows his lady and the force of her determination. He and Yves set themselves to help with the decoration, lifting great boughs of pine and holly to hang from the rafters.

"You are a scribe, are you not? A learned man like Olivier? He speaks many languages you know, and can read and write."

[athelstanthescribe]

"Indeed I am. I first learned to read and write as a boy, in an island monastery where I was sent to study - and I also can speak several languages."

[equal_of_any_man]

"Will you teach me? I'd love to be able to sound clever, like you and Olivier." More Olivier than anything else. "Do you speak... what is the language of Syria?"

[athelstanthescribe]

"Aramaic and Arabic", Athelstan tells her. "A little - also Latin and French" (although an antiquated French compared to the one she'll have heard) "and the language of the Northlands."

[equal_of_any_man]

"Arabic." She smiles into her cup. "He recited a poem for me in Arabic once. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever heard."

[athelstanthescribe]

He smiles at that. "It is a lovely language, and our Olivier has a poet's heart."

[equal_of_any_man]

"He is." She smiles shyly and sips her wine, flushing prettily.

"But I'm being rude. Tell me more about your adventures? Does being a scribe let you meet interesting people or is it just terribly boring copying letters for lazy merchants?"

[athelstanthescribe]

"Oh, I've met some very interesting people", Athelstan assures her with a grin. "When you set your stall in a marketplace, the whole world passes by - and it isn't only lazy merchants. I'll take a poor man's penny to write to his family as readily as a rich man's gold."

[equal_of_any_man]

"How wonderful! So how did you meet Olivier? Just traveling?" She asks, clearly hoping for some heroic adventure.

[athelstanthescribe]

He hates to disappoint her, but - "Alas, yes. Nothing terribly dramatic, though I'm sure he's had plenty of that."

[equal_of_any_man]

"But clearly you've become fast friends. He won't invite just anyone to my uncle's house for the Christmas feast."

[athelstanthescribe]

"Certainly", he agrees. "When we fell in and decided to ride together, several days in each other's company was enough to seal it."

[equal_of_any_man]

She smiles, "He's easy to spend time with, isn't he?"

She leans in close, lowering her voice to a very soft whisper. "He has asked my uncle's permission to court me. And my uncle has said yes! But hush, he doesn't know that I know."

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan smiles in genuine happiness. "That's wonderful, my lady. I knew he had such intentions, but he never seemed sure your uncle would agree."

[equal_of_any_man]

She frowns. "Why won't he? My uncle loves Olivier. He is the most favoured of all his men."

[athelstanthescribe]

"And so I told him", he says with a crooked grin, "but he feared to - take too much for granted, given the station of his birth."

[equal_of_any_man]

"But don't you think his parentage makes him so much more... exotic?" She whispers, making sure no-one else can hear.

[athelstanthescribe]

"He's certainly unusual in this land", he says diplomatically. "I can see how it might be one of the things that draws you to him."

[equal_of_any_man]

She looks at him sideways. "You like him a lot too, don't you?"

[athelstanthescribe]

"I love him as a brother", he says simply. "However short our acquaintance has been."

[equal_of_any_man]

"Yes, he's very easy to love, isn't he?" She sighs dreamily. "But I am very tempted to take my time letting him court me. I was in love once before, or thought I was but it turned out I'd made a terrible mistake."

[athelstanthescribe]

"It's never wise to rush into these things", he agrees. "I don't believe Olivier would ever let you down, if he could help it, but even so."