I doubt that Ailede ever took her head out of her ass long enough to see anyone around her and certainly wouldn’t have doted on anyone else because that would mean she had less for herself.

In contrast, Romi treats Romeo like a golden goose. He’s spoiled and overindulged by her and she uses him as a lever against Colby. He’s also figured out that he gets more (attention, food, toys, etc.) than his siblings by more or less acting like his mother. She looks at him and sees he’s just like her. Colby’s fairer, but Romi’s the one who holds the purse strings unfortunately.

Thanks for the explanation, Van!

I think it will probably be a road to making everything alright between Jared and Elias, but they’ve crossed the first bridge and they want to make things better between them, which are the first couple steps and show promise.

Colby’s never quite been the hapless goof that Falidor was and so it puzzles just about everyone why he’d end up with Romi. Let’s just say there is a gypsy witch in River Sulis who bares startling resemblance to (but is, I promise, not a reincarnation of) the first duchess of Orkney and deals in certain types of potions. I’ll also say that Romi has been known to be a patroness of this particular witch’s shop…

Although I will say that Romi actually wasn’t trying to ensnare Colby. She was chasing a bigger fish and Colby was just her fall back option.

It won’t ever fall out between Darin and Eve the way it’s fallen out between Reggie and Sara-Beth, for all that Darin and Sara-Beth are a lot alike, Darin is a lot less inclined to hold grudges than his step-sister. Also Eve is not the type to ask something of Darin that he would be unwilling to give.

Also, Darin and Eve have been friends for a very long time. Reggie and Sara-Beth started out as sweethearts, I don’t know that they were ever really friends. So, yeah, if all went south for Darin and Eve on their date, they could sit down and talk a bit and realize that though there’s attraction there, there’s not the stuff of a romance and both walk away neither with a completely broken heart. (Sara-Beth did basically do the slap dance over the top of Reggie’s heart when they broke up. That’s a big difference.)

Anyway, we’ll see how their date goes and what comes out of this.

Thanks, Van.

Poor Elias indeed. The kid has been confused and somewhat isolated and the people he should have been able to turn to so he could get this sorted out are the very people he’s confused about.

Jared’s never wanted Elias to feel like he didn’t fit in or wasn’t loved. He’s just not the most demonstrative man in the world. I’m glad he did here, though. And I’m glad you liked Star, she is a pretty practical woman and yeah no point in making emotional breakthroughs if you die for pneumonia next week…

Well, Reggie probably could scare him completely straight, but I think, at least at this juncture, that it would be a little too much for the kid. There are some people that Reggie knows who would scare him half to death and he’d never leave his house again.

But yeah, the problem will probably be Romi and the fact that Romeo’s not really personality-wise predisposed to being a good kid.

If it doesn’t work, I certainly wouldn’t mind shipping him off to Simberia for a few rounds as a cabin boy.

Thanks, Morgaine!

They’re generally a good group, or at least the girls and Lonel are. I haven’t thought much about Orrick and Senwick yet, but I’m sure they’re not evil. Fenrick is probably the meanest of the Wythleit kids, but he’s more Aglovale mean than, say, Mordred mean. He’s also eased up a bit since marrying Lyssie and becoming a father, for all he didn’t ease up quite as much as Riala and Cord might have preferred.

/hijack

I’ve got to wonder how a stand-up guy like Colby ever ended up with Romi. He doesn’t seem like a hapless goof like teenage Falidor, though who knows, maybe he was once upon a time. Was it just an instance of getting involved young and confusing lust with love and getting married too quickly to actually get to know each other beforehand?

I hope that Reggie’s chore detail and seedy associates will be enough to at least cut Romeo down to size, even if it doesn’t quite scare him straight. And I really like Eve’s character! I’m sure she’ll be able to hold her own at Elizabet’s party. She’s also a good combination of energy and down-to-earth for a romantic prospect for Darin, assuming that their date goes well (and if not… well, they’re both practical people who could probably get past one bad date and manage to remain friends).

But that being said … this first part made me want to cry. Poor Elias. But thank goodness his father was able to step in and tell that kid what he so clearly needed to hear. And I’m glad that Anna-Marie was able to find her so easily. A presence that smelled like fresh-baked bread and cinnamon and floor wax? Helping a child in trouble? I wonder who that could be …

Star made me get a little choked up there, too, reminding Elias that he always had a friend in her — and pointing out that, no, she doesn’t want to seem too much like a mom or anything, but it’s foggy and it’s raining and this conversation will go so much better if nobody catches their death of cold halfway through.

As for Romeo … well, I hope that polishing Reggie’s marble and spreading manure in his garden, all the while seeing the bad characters who regularly waltz through that place, scares him straight. But I’m not too hopeful. If Romi is like Ailede … and Colby like Falidor only not really around … I don’t know much hope there is for that kid. Heck, I don’t know how Falidor’s kids turned out as well as they did (for all we know), especially since most of them weren’t even biologically his!

But if all else fails, there’s always the cabin boy route? Maybe?