Vidkun Trost:Queen of a Heart

“I think he was more impressed with you,” Valeria replied. “And with me only by extension. Dress me up however you will and call me a princess, I'm still more suited to their kind,” she inclines her head toward Amric and Mael, who are helping move some firewood, “than nobles."

“I know,” she adds. “You will change all that, and turn me into a proper lady. I fear that will prove a greater challenge than the current task at hand.”

Vidkun took her in his arms and gently kissed her. "One can change, and become a noble." He kissed her again, and smiled. "Yet one can also become and be noble. A much better course of action for a beautiful princess."

"Besides." He added, looking down on his sweat covered chest. "I doubt anyone would mistake me for anyone important whether or not I had a bath and clothes to fit whatever station might be mine."

Valeria ran her finger tip down his chest. "It is not too much to be ashamed of, my lord husband." She giggled. "Though you seem to have more scars than hairs here. Someone might think you need to be more manly and better with the shield."

Releasing her partially and starting to walk a little away from the others, Vidkun reveled in the fading sunlight as it capped the tree topped hills and darkened the dale. The gentle breeze wafted hearth smoke towards them and the pangs of hunger for a real meal, cooked over a real fire, in a real home, bit at him deeply. He pulled her tightly to him in comfort.

"When you searched for criminals in Thieve's Wood you learned skills to do your work well. You became a hunter and that suited you. Being a noble is really the same. By accepting me as husband you are now noble. What will you do? That is what makes your nobility count for something. Wearing a dress is part of the hunt, not the end of the chase. Listening to squabbles over this territory marker or that one is not what being a noble is about."

He took a moment to look over the growing wood pile and past it to the trail coming up to the house. "This is a wonderful place, is it not? A good family, the Clans bound together through codes of behavior and bonds of honor. Being a noble means keeping everyone productive so things like taxes and troops can be paid for while at the same time leaving well enough alone so that people can grow under good leadership. Growth is good, even if it is not exactly how you would guide things."

"It is what you look at sometimes that helps." He said, waving a hand to encompass the dale. "I see hills and valleys and places to find troops and to feed people. I cannot do all that on my own, just as I can only cut so much wood and build a log pile so large in a day. Even that attempt at manilness does not empassion the eye of a comely young maiden, it would seem."

Valeria snorted. "No idea who you're talking about there. I had hoped you were done with the pretty young girls and were going to be happy with one old and smelly hunter. Am I to be cast aside so soon?"

He squeezed her tightly. "Not in this life. If there is a next, probably not then, either. You will always be my young huntress queen."

"Even when I am old and grey?" she asked somberly.

"Especially then, my love. You will never have to ask if your man loves you, so long as I live." He stopped and looked at her and his tone changed as his arms wrapped around her. "Ever." They stayed there for several long moments.

"Continue my education in being a noble." She pulled him along to walk again, and smiled, "I see that we are headed to some of the earliest shadows and a goodly distance from the house. It would seem I have a lot to learn."