They first met in New Stetvon
when Noleski formally awarded the party with their titles of baron. He was not
what Svetlana had been expecting – younger, more relatable, much more
attractive – and she wanted to know him better. She’d had crushes before, but
the feeling as their eyes met was something much more powerful: almost
intimidating in its intensity.
When the rest of the party left
for their inaugural diplomatic tour, Svetlana stayed behind for a week or so.
This was officially so a member of the party would be able to learn about
looking after a barony (with representatives of the various other new
baronies), but she offered herself for this task because she wanted the
opportunity to spend more time with him*.
Noleski attended more of the
meetings and talks than his presence was strictly necessary for, but if his
advisors ever pointed this out to him, he didn’t tell Svetlana. She was always
pleased to see him when he was there, and they would each find ways to be close
to the other whilst trying not to draw attention to their desire to do so.
Little things – eye contact across a room, brushing fingers when passing
documents, letting legs or arms touch when they managed to sit together –
mattered to her.
They shared their first kiss by a
stream running through some of the woodland on the New Stetvon Royal Estate.
She had been studying the genealogy of some of the established noble families –
not something she was particularly interested in, but it occurred to her that
if she knew how the families were related it may assist her in understanding
the power politics she was just becoming aware of – when he came to find her
and invited her for a walk: it was an invitation she was keen to accept. As
they walked further from the usual paths, she slipped her arm through his and
they talked of nothing. Once they reached the stream and stopped, they let the
moment linger but both knew where it was headed. They walked back peacefully.
It was shortly after this that
Svetlana had to head out to join the rest of her party in Pitax. She put her
disappointment at leaving Noleski behind and focused on the excitement of
travel.
It felt a long time before she
was back in New Stetvon but in truth it was only a few weeks until his
coronation, an event they were expected to attend. This visit reinforced how
much he meant to her, but also bothered her: he was now a king, she a baron. If
she were still a peasant, it wouldn’t matter if they continued the affair with
no repercussions. As a baron(ess), if/when they were finally caught, there would
be more expectation. She has probably become high enough rank, now, that they could
not keep it as a simple affair due to scandal, but she really was not ready to
be married and especially not to a
king because she has no desire to be a queen – worries, in fact, that she would
be a spectacularly bad queen. She doesn’t have the self-discipline** required
and, frankly, it looks boring. Anyway, she’s young and wants to explore the
world some more.
She knew that as king he would
need to get married and produce an heir and, as much as she wasn’t ready to get
married, she didn’t want him to marry someone else. The other woman might
resent her or, worse, he might love the other woman more and Svetlana wouldn’t
be able to see him any more.
They vaguely discussed this but
not in any detail and left it to be worried about later: they didn’t have
enough time together and wanted to spend it talking of nicer things.
This visit was when Svetlana
realised it was love and not simple infatuation, but life is fickle and it
wasn’t long before Svetlana had to leave to continue her new duties as baroness
and this time it was months before they could see each other again.
When the opportunity came for the
party to travel to Absalom, Svetlana was surprised the party did not realise
her eagerness for the journey stemmed not just from the desire to help a friend
but also from the excitement at knowing Noleski was already there and would
still be there for some time after they arrived. But they didn’t seem to notice
and she caught control of herself again.
She couldn’t get to him to begin
with, but once she’d worked out where he was staying it wasn’t difficult for
her (even with the enhanced security, which worried her more than she let on)
to shimmy up the wall and to tap on his window. He let her in, as pleased to
see her as she him, but not before she overheard him talking with Malliard
about the difficulties his sister is presenting. Malliard’s speech is magically
muffled so she can only hear Noleski’s side, but she gathers Natalya is trying
to force Noleski into a marriage with a woman of her choosing; someone she
could control.
After that, she made efforts to
come see him during the day with official-sounding excuses.
After Absalom went into lockdown
and Svetlana learnt that an attempt really had been made on Noleski’s life she
became very anxious for his safety. The assassin proper may not have been after
him, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t be another time. Once the lockdown was
lifted, she spent as much time with him as she could without drawing attention.
She didn’t want to leave him, but
still wasn’t ready to talk about forever, and that meant going once Vlad was
free. She knew she would see him again, and soon, and she wasn’t ready for her
companions to know – it was still too complicated in her young head.
They were indeed summoned to New
Stetvon for their promotion within a matter of weeks. After, the party sat with
Noleski. He asked if he could see her later and she assented readily, and the
discussion turned to various political concerns that, it seemed to Svetlana,
her companions could only see resolved by marrying Noleski off to strangers.
She leant back away so that she could message Noleski without drawing the
attention of the others.
“I think I know where this is
going” she whispered “It frightens me, but I understand.” His response
reassured her that he wasn’t going to ask anyone before her and she realised
that since Absalom there was only one answer she could give – that since
Absalom it didn’t frighten her any more.
The others returned to the party
in their honour, but Svetlana accompanied Noleski to his study where he
apologised for the lack of romance but would she consent to being his wife. Smiling,
she agreed. He apologised again – did not want her to think this was a
political move on his part, wanted her to understand that this was always
something he wanted to do. She knew, she reassured him. He wanted to ask her
mother’s blessing – she kissed him and ran off to find Natasha at the party.
If Natasha was surprised at the
request, she hid it well and, knowing her daughter well enough to see how
important he was to her and seeing the way he looked at her, she consented
readily.
The engagement ring was
ruby-encrusted and Svetlana could feel the protective magic emanating from it.
He gave her also a private means of contacting him, knowing she would still
need to oversee her lands and knowing he could not stop her from adventuring.
Knowing she would insist on being part of the forthcoming Crusade.
Together they walked back to the
party to formally announce the engagement. She found it surprisingly liberating
to be able to touch him in public – to physically lay claim to him in front of
others.
The wedding was set for 3 weeks
time. It might not be much time to prepare, but she would be leaving for the
World Wound Crusade just 2 weeks after that.
*Mostly she stayed behind because I as player had to miss a couple of
sessions with Real Life commitments. Worked out quite well, though, because
this sub-plot didn’t get made official until more recently – it started out as
a bit of a running joke but I thought we could run with it and it worked out
quite well!
**Svetlana has pretty good willpower but I always imagine it comes from
strong self-belief rather than discipline. My dice seem to agree, too – she’s
far less likely to succeed willpower tests when it comes to denying herself
something she wants than when it comes to preventing someone else having some
kind of control over her.
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