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Weylind crossed his arms. “I did not scream.” His tone dripped with his usual snootiness, though his mouth twitched at the corners as if he was trying hard not to smile.

Farrendel was still shaking his head, though his mouth, too, was pressed into a line as if he tried to hold back his grin. “I paid for that. Dacha grounded me.”

“Grounded you?” Edmund nudged Farrendel with an elbow.

“Yes. I was not allowed to climb anything besides the stairs for two whole months.” Farrendel’s smile burst past his attempts to hide it. “At the time, I thought two months stuck on the ground was a horrible punishment.”

“I know now where Leyleira got her gray hair. Seriously, your entire family should be commended for making sure you survived to adulthood.” Essie clasped his hand beneath the table where no one else would see.

“Yes, he was such a mischievous terror.” Melantha’s dark brown eyes were twinkling in a way Essie had never seen before. “I thought you should be warned, considering your children could inherit his climbing tendencies.”

Now the tips of Farrendel’s ears were turning pink. Essie’s own face was burning. Their poor future child would probably blush like a tomato from nose to ear tips.

Averett, Julien, and Edmund were all smirking. Rheva had her soft smile, and even Leyleira had that knowing twitch to her lips.

Rharreth watched Melantha with a warmth to his eyes. Essie was not sure she was ready to embrace either of them as family, but it was good to see the two of them happy. It was a glimmer of things that could come: a closer family for Farrendel and a healed kinship between Tarenhiel and Kostaria.

Only Jalissa still hunched miserably in her seat between Leyleira and Julien. Essie still hadn’t managed to find a chance to talk to her about what was going on.

“Actually, Melantha, that reminds me. Farrendel had a gift for you.” Weylind jumped to his feet, hurried to the edge of the shelter where all of their things had been shoved to make room for the table, then fished through his pack for a moment.

Essie glanced at Farrendel. As far as she knew, the only gift they had for Melantha was a mug and hot chocolate they had picked out in Aldon. Farrendel just shrugged, his forehead scrunched.

Weylind returned to the table, holding something behind his back. When he halted by the end of the table, he brought his hand around and flourished an object at Melantha. “A gift from the artisans of Aldon.”

The green and white elf-ear mug perched on Weylind’s hand, just as hideously cute as it had been the day Essie had gifted it to Weylind.

Next to Essie, Farrendel went stiff. Farther down the table, Rheva was slowly shaking her head, giving a small huff of a laugh under her breath.

Melantha grinned and took the mug from Weylind. “This is perfect! Look at it, Rharreth. It looks like our magics are mixing together.”

Essie blinked. Melantha...liked the mug? Who knew that she and Melantha would have the same weird taste in hot chocolate mugs?

As Rharreth whispered something to Melantha, Essie leaned closer to Farrendel. “I guess Weylind has now discovered the time-honored tradition of re-gifting.”

That brought the smile back to Farrendel’s face. “I do not blame him.”

Melantha raised her head, glancing between Essie and Farrendel. “Thank you. A gift was unexpected.”

“Well, that gift was meant to be a joke, more than anything. Here, let me grab your real gifts.” Essie pushed from the table, located her pack in the jumble, and found the last two mugs there, since she had left the mugs for Brina and Ryfon on the elven royal train. Now that they had made peace, she was glad she had thought it best to buy a mug for Rharreth as well as Melantha.

She presented each of them with the gift, and even Rharreth smiled as he studied his gray mug with an embossed mountain on the side. Melantha’s mug was a dark red with the same tree that all of Farrendel’s family received.

“Thank you once again for the mugs and for the—what did you call it?” Melantha’s smile slipped as she studied the packet of dark brown powder.

“Hot chocolate. The instructions for how to make it are folded inside the mug.” Essie waved toward the mugs Rharreth and Melantha held.

Melantha tilted her mug, then nodded. “Of course. A hot drink would be appreciated during the long winter nights in Kostaria.” She glanced up at Rharreth, her eyes and smile going soft and warm once again.

Did Essie look that mushy every time she glanced at Farrendel?

Probably. Based on the way her family was always complaining, probably even mushier.

“If hot chocolate is something that you think would catch on, I would definitely be open to negotiating that into our next trade deal.” Averett turned to Rharreth, ever the king to take advantage of an opening when it presented itself.

Essie could only shake her head and smile as Rharreth and Averett’s discussion roped in Weylind, and the three of them moved from talking about trade to discussing the possibility of building another bridge like the one now spanning the Gulmorth Gorge, but this one across the Hydalla River to more permanently connect Tarenhiel and Escarland. It would certainly make all this growing trade easier if it could travel across bridges rather than having to be loaded on ships to cross the large river.

The noise level rose as everyone around the table laughed and talked.